Erratic1

That's odd...I do not recall my widow, Arachno Lad, being an endurance hog and he's all SO (well, basic IOs...Why keep paying for replacements?).

Scrappers do better damage than brutes but the only time I feel their survival is comparable (ignoring easy content) is when looking at Defense reliant builds because the trick is the same: Don't get hit. For any build which is based on resistance or is hybrid Brute survives better. And as noted, Brutes NEVER have troubles with runners whereas I am regularly treated to complaints in the forums from scrapper complaining about runners. Moreover, a brute is not there to be just a damage dealer, its purpose is to be a damage dealer that survives. Most assuredly there are very survivable Scrappers and Stalkers. Add too I have seen some utterly stunning Tankers when it comes to dishing out damage. But if you have to take Defense sets on the Scrappers/Stalkers or build very specifically on the Tankers in order to make a damage juggernaut either way you have to confine yourself in ways you do not with a Brute because damage and survivability come baked in. Case in point, I have not played Invulnerability since my beloved DM/Inv scrapper, Vae Victis, made in the first month of release back on Live. I am contemplating StJ/Inv or Staff/Inv. Right there Scrapper and Stalker are out of the running despite Invulnerability cheating into defense via Invincibility because in my experience Invulnerability's heal on its own is not going to get me to the levels of survivability having gone with a full defense secondary would when faced with 75% capped resistances. Both Brute and Tanker can get to 90% with higher health pools. So why not Tanker? Brute plays smoother on the way up with less endurance starvation to get the kill when playing solo. Add too solo spawns are not 20+ and everything you are fighting will be close enough to be hit by area attacks. Love my Rad/Elec Tanker, but I know who disposes of groups quicker between him and my SS/Bio Brute. But that is not to try to convince you your view is wrong so much as to explain why I still very much find Brutes have a place in the game...well, at least my game. YMMV.

Yes, it is labelled Haste. Not sure why it says 0% on mouseover. I'd figure that to be a bug of some sort.

Pretty sure Rad/Fire is the new hotness in terms of Brute farming

Isn't that enough to offset the Resistance penalty for being in Bio's Offensive Stance? Seems like a marriage made in Heaven.

I have not touched Staff since Live and am not disagreeing with your call, though I do want to ask in light of having played in the past couple of months with a person who runs an incredible Bio/Staff tanker and Staff/Bio brute (though frankly I think the player gives the nod to the tanker) if it is Bio doing the lifting or if it is just a particularly effective combo.

Running a solo at level 41 using basic IOs and noticing that while fighting my endurance stays pretty much full with triple slotted Stamina and two endurance reduction in all attacks.

I am not sure, "Better on a ...." is all that meaningful to a list of what is stronger or weaker in comparisons of brutes to brutes. To the assertion (possibly correct) that Shield and SR blow everything else out of the water, I do not come across in play that very many SR or Shield brutes. Lastly, part of me wonders what happens when one combines Primary A (better on AT 1) with Secondary B (better on AT 2), particularly when AT 1 does not have access to B and/or AT 2 does not have access to A. There are not exactly a lot of SS/EA scrappers, stalkers or EA/SS Tankers running around.

Waitaminute...you did NOT take Contaminated Strike?

You want head scratching, probably wanders into Sanity Check territory with a guaranteed loss even if you make the roll? Try to figure out a reason behind what has been given a thumbs down. I'm guessing random yes/no operator personally.

D'oh! You are correct. Somehow my mind translated Sentinel to Stalker.

Edit: Will just filed this under Emily Litella's, "Nevermind!"

It is not just you.

Proton Sweep is just plain not worth having. Replace it with Cross Punch. Devastating Blow is disappointingly slow but some stick by it. It does hit hard and is a near guarantee for applying the Contaminated status to a target, however I found Radiation Siphon performed only a little less reliably and with sufficient +Recharge you could apply Contaminated status with it and have it recharge to consume it for the healing/damage splash.

I've already fought the portal invasion of my duplicates. Best we just agree to stick to our own dimensions. 😁

I commonly say to my friends when they bring up someone doing something incredibly odd, "Eight billion"--meaning there are that many humans on the planet and someone, somewhere, will have thought of doing whatever weird, nonsensical thing you can imagine. Even so I am actually surprised that someone is so bored and has so little to do with their time that they go through a thread they started and give every post a thumb's down.

😱 That's like saying, "I'm not sure I need oxygen at this time either."

Theft of Essence?

Fortunately ours techs did not care. The trick back then pre-ISPs was maintaining an account after one had graduated.

Savage Melee's is reliable. Is Electric's?

Let me tell you about the early days of MUDs pre-MUD clients....

Trusting my poor luck with regards to doing things at the last minute, I made sure to login and purchase last night before going to bed.

I am not sure I would lay that solely at the feet of Stone Armor. Yes, it has a lot of toggles but my experience with Rad/Shield (scrapper) and Elec/Rad (tanker) suggest to me that Radiation Melee is far from innocent when it comes to delivering endurance woes--I struggled to overcome endurance issues on both characters and the thing they have in common is Radiation Melee. By contrast my recent go at Elec/Stone (brute) has felt better as goes endurance than the worst of the experiences with the two aforementioned characters1. I am fairly sure non-extraordinary set IO slotting along with making use of the Energy Mastery2 epic set will alleviate her endurance issues. At the very least she is looking at a 2.2/s endurance recovery difference between what she generates and what she consumes at rest with my current build plan for her. [1] Using basic, non-set IOs on each of the characters. [2] I generally avoid Energy Mastery because I see it as taking one down the road of lost opportunities since it is taken quite often to address endurances woes while giving up more potent build opportunities were endurances not an issue. In the case of my Elec/Stone brute most of her slots were allocated elsewhere, with only three added slots for powers taken from level 35 upward. As such Energy Mastery provided the best bang for such limited slotting bucks.

My sentinel Mind Blaze will have to invite you over for some fiery philosophical debates. 😁