Ston

Would be cool if they can make a force field aura that conforms more to the shape of the body. Thinking something like the sonic resonance auras but with the force field bubble FX. I love the idea though, would definitely use this for a few characters.

Players put a lot of work into finding those outliers. This is evident by Scrappers/Tankers being preferable 4* tank roles instead of Brutes. Also evident by DPS and durability tests done for all melee ATs. A lot of this comes down to minmax’ing their stats and making efficient use of their ATOs. If you set the bar at a mid point, the effort of maximizing those ATs is for nothing if the goal is for everything to be mid together. I don’t see requests for Brutes to outperform Scrappers and Tankers. I see observations that they don’t reach the same level of performance and should get changes to make them a more appealing choice than they currently are.

This is really discouraging when it comes to these kinds of discussions. I think the best design comes when you balance around the highest levels of performance. This way we can set the bar high and see what needs to be brought up.

Problem I see here is Tankers and Scrappers are better jack of all trades melee ATs. They can both do the job of brutes while having higher ceilings in durability or dps. Tanker because of recent buffs to their inherent ability. Scrappers because of ATOs. Brutes don’t really have anything makes them a good replacement for either of those ATs. Even if they can’t reach the same levels of performance, they should have a tool that’s more interactive that makes them at least a “fun” alternative to those ATs.

I hope farming isn't supposed to be a convincing argument for any archetype mechanics. I use a Brute, but can just as well use a Tanker. Anything that has a damage aura that I can leave alone and be confident it won't die for periods of time. Pretty sure tankers are preferred farmers lately anyway.

IMO every AT does have a stand out feature besides Brutes. Except maybe Masterminds...? Khelds / VEATs - Too many to name Blaster - Several tools for more damage / mez protection (interactable) Controller - Team buffs / containment (interactable) Defender - Team buffs / more damage while solo (interactable) Corruptor - Team buffs / scourge (interactable) Dominator - Permadom (interactable) Scrapper / Stalker - Controllable crit damage (interactable) Sentinel - Vulnerability via fury meter (interactable) Tanker - AoE radius/cap buffs / AoE punchvoke (interactable) Brute - Fury that you can't interact with and barely changes in combat

Depending on the base layout, it takes like 15 seconds to use the p2w base teleport power and buy the empowerments you want. Is that really a core gameplay mechanic that would lead to power creep if it were to be altered? Is looking at loading screens really that important?

Asking for a QoL improvement to not need to go to your base every hour is not power creep. Asking for a new base buff that gives you negative energy damage procs to all your powers would be power creep.

I haven’t collected any for Controllers. This is largely due to melee sets being much more inconsistent in their attack recharge/damage numbers compared to ranged sets. Also, all melee powers have access to a minimum of 4 damage procs while ranged powers have access to a minimum of 2 (blaze, blazing arrow, etc).

I've done some testing on proc vs procless builds. My findings are that most of the top performing sets benefit from procs more than the lowest performers. Yes, even fire blast. A proc nerf will do nothing to make the game more enjoyable. I'd be willing to hear out changes to procs, but any flat nerfs to damage procs will just make the game slower and reduce variety in builds.

A project I threw together with lvl 50 gameplay for each archetype

Most of the builds on here are a couple adjustments away from being viable PvE builds. Mostly changing some pool powers and adding AoE.

Correct. The bigger the radius of an AoE attack, the less damage it will do. But on the flip side, you will be able to hit more targets. If you compare a single target attack to an AoE attack with similar recharge rates, the single target attack will always do more damage according to the damage formula.

Storm Kick slotted with 5pc hecatomb (all but dam/rech): *Assumes both ATOs are being used. Brawl with same slotting: I don't know where you are getting your numbers from.. but Brawl will NEVER be a good replacement for any attack in an attack chain.

Here is the build I used for my submission: fire_bio_mace.mbd And the video: