biostem

You're concocting a scenario in which both are damage capped. I'm presenting one in which they aren't. Have both at 500% then talk to me. Have the tanker only get the -res and the brute only get +dmg. I care about how things pan out in actual play, and this supposed brute damage advantage becomes negligible, especially if the difference in tanker defensive values or other resources tied to their armor means they live but the brute dies.

And? It just means that that extra damage cap isn't as important. And if we're just pulling scenarios out of our butts, then a tanker on a team with lots of -RES will do as well or better than a brute on a team with just +DMG. That's my point. You also fail to ignore the greater AoE range/size that tankers enjoy, if we're now talking about lots of spread out enemies...

Not true, as -RES effectively puts you beyond the damage cap. I'd also have to see specific build info to make sure we're comparing like-for-like. I'm happy you did such big numbers, but without the proper context it's just an anecdote, (and under extremely specific circumstances to boot). Even if I took you at your word, now let's compare a similar scenario but against multiple enemies, where the tanker enjoys larger AoEs...

How much of that damage was due to +DMG and how much was due to -RES. Could more -RES make up the difference? They're basically 2 sides of the same coin...

No, it requires teaming with people with very specific buffs. That tanker can easily gain access to -RES debuffs via IOs or PPPs, thereby effectively pushing them beyond that cap. The question is, if you could have either a tanker or a brute on your team, which would you pick. Ignore your own AT/powers for the moment, and assume you know nothing about the rest of the team. Which do you select? On a slightly related note, I wonder what it'd look like if +DMG buffs also applied to the buff from fury...

Here's the issue - how strong *should* a brute at 100% fury be? Stronger than a scrapper? Stronger than a stalker outside of their hidden AS? Let's establish a baseline then go from there, otherwise the mechanic needs a revamp, because it isn't working as "intended"...

Brutes definitely need something. I wonder if fury could be tweaked to work on a sort of diminishing returns system, since, as you pointed out, it is nearly impossible to really max out the bar - something like the first 25% of your fury bar would account for like 50-75% of the damage boost that a full fury bar gives now, then the next 25% would account for 10-20% of that full bar, and the remaining amount would count for that last little bit. It would also be cool if build up, in addition to the existing buffs, fully maxed your fury bar. Another idea would be to have things like debuffs also act to increase your fury. Even with all that, perhaps buffing their secondaries to some value between scrappers and tankers, would go a long way to increasing their durability...

Not that I'm necessarily an advocate for adding an attack to the teleport pool, but they could do something like a single version of the vorpal judgement power, where a clone of yourself quickly appears near the enemy to deliver a kick or such....

Or they could do something like leaving the coloration baked in, but perhaps allow you to alter the outline and speckled colors only...

Well, there's no teleport power that is either a toggle that you can keep on all the time, or is an auto-power. I mean, do a combat tp once every 2 mins or so and you'll be covered... I usually bind such a power to lalt+lbutton for ease of use, and the tohit buff is nothing to sneeze at, either...

It would be interesting if there were a few random elements thrown in to spice things up. For instance: 1. When rescuing a hostage, have a tiny chance that the last enemy of the group guarding said hostage sees the error of their ways, and becomes a temporary ally. 2. When fighting the named boss for a quest requiring their defeat, have 1 enemy do a similar heel-face-turn as mentioned in #1 above. 3. Opposite to #1, when rescuing a hostage, (that's not part of a "escort them out" mission), have a tiny chance that hostage was actually a double agent, and becomes hostile. 4. Have a tiny chance that an interactive quest object be boobytrapped - provide a short countdown after said interaction, followed by an explosion. 5. In a "defeat all" mission, have the last group, while marked on the map, actively try to run away from you and your team, (this may be too cruel, though). >:-3

It also provides a tohit buff, and can take Gaussian's IIRC.

That hover you get after each TP *is* the bonus power. Clearly other forms of TP do not include this hover period...

The game only allows 2 colors per costume piece, unless it has the customization disabled and the colors "baked in". Still, this could be quite stunning!

I would love to see LRM replaced with something like seismic blast's meteor power, except you call in a missile strike instead...

Dark Miasma has a good variety of tools that you can use while solo or teamed. Tar patch now also applies a -RES effect to enemies, making it a great AoE debuff. You also get a PBAoE stealth, a cone fear, a heal centered around yourself, and even a cool pet as your T9, (which is available even sooner due to a recent change in what levels you gain access to each tier of power).

Weapon customization?

On top of what's been said, NPCs use end "differently", in that the end cost of their powers, and their pool of available end, vary quite a bit from how players utilize these resources. Basically, regular enemies tend to die before any end sapping becomes worthwhile, usually getting off their alpha strike beforehand. Tougher enemies, like EBs and AVs, tend to have very high recovery and larger end reserves, so unless you sap 100% of their end and halt any recovery at all, they'll still attack with full force. On top of that, they don't have toggles to drop should you bottom them out, so it's not really like they'll be much weaker. Stacking holds and slows tends to, IMO, be more effective against such enemies...

The animated stone from earth control is very tough and hits pretty hard. The only issue I've had with it is that you kind of have to drag it into enemies, since it, (and most pets, really), tend to lag behind you. If you paired a stealth IO with the stealth power, you can probably get it to initiate combat before the enemies see you. I also find earth control to be both a versatile and powerful set in its own right. I have an earth/pain controller that is very fun to play, and both world of pain and painbringer make for a potent combo on any target!

Build for recharge so you can keep your phantom army out at all times, and you're set. Just keep in mind you can't buff those particular pets, so you may want to pair it with a secondary that instead debuffs the enemy's damage resistance.

Well, for instance, if you're gonna take fistful of arrows, and if it counts as a ranged AoE attack, an Annihilation chance for -RES could work nicely. If your secondary is trick arrow, then the entropic chaos chance to heal self could fill in a bit for the lack of a self heal. Frankly, though, I'd worry about slotting your attacks after all the other mainstays are taken care of...

TBH, I take the attack for their added effect more than the damage they do, (which is still nice). The -res from merc AR attacks, the extra crit chance from ninja archery ones, and the temporary pet summons from necro dark blasts all assist you and your pets, but I wouldn't say you have to worry too much about particular slotting - maybe just an acc or 2 to start...

I have a 50 en/en stalker, and she's quite good.

My issue with AR has more to do with it trying to do too many things at once, (AKA being a "Frankengun"), instead of being a really good assault rifle. For instance, you could have a series of short controlled bursts for cone attacks, instead of a shoehorned-in shotgun blast and magic flamethrower. Have it ablate the target's armor, thereby imparting small but stacking -DEF and -RES with every attack. You could include W.P. or explosive ammo if you wanted to add a bit of a different damage type and some more AoEs. Maybe give the set a unique mechanic where all attacks start with a few charges, and it requires no end to use powers with charges, but you have to expend end to reload your weapon. In short, it's not, (at least IMHO), that AR is a bad set that causes me to not play it, it's that it doesn't really feel like an AR at all to me...

They are part of Black Scorpion's patron arc - basically, Crey got a hold of his suit schematics and tried making their own knockoffs. AFAIK, it is just a Crey Power tank with an additional attack from the tail. If that is the case, then the question you need to ask yourself is whether you want both the melee and ranged energy attacks, (go with a blaster), or if you want to be tougher, and get melee attacks elsewhere, (like a sentinel with energy blast and maybe air superiority or some fighting melee attacks).