Stormwalker

Excellent! As a writer, it's always good to hear that someone is reading and likes your work.

I would say most likely a whole lot. As Arcanaville once observed, the CoH community seems to have always had (from the beginning) a much larger percentage of players who actually want to--and now do--understand the game's underlying math than most other games Then you add the invention system, which is explicitly designed in such a way that you can calculate exactly the effects you are getting out of it - which means that if you know what you're doing, you can absolutely maximize your performance. In a lot of other games, there is still some guesswork involved in optimization, and there's essentially none here. As such, experience is everything.

Thanks! As you surmised, two of the procs removed were the resist debuffs. I also used to have Scrapper's Strike in Shockwave (5-slotted with the Overwhelming Force KB->KD) and had Focus slotted with 5-piece Apocalypse (no Dam/Rech) and a Gladiator's Javelin proc. Rearranging that allowed me to pick up the 6% Smash/Lethal resist from Scrapper's Strike, the 1.5% S/L and 1.5% E/N from Detonation, the 12% Regeneration from Overwhelming Force, and add the Force Feedback proc, as well as the 12% Toxic and Psi resist from Hecatomb and Armageddon (I fight a lot of Carnies, and those non-directional psi attacks tear me up).

And if any of you were wondering, yes, "Prof. McDull" is definitely also a hero, and he was out all night just like Celeste was.

I had been holding off on releasing the next scene until I got more written, trying to maintain some kind of buffer, but I've been way too busy to write and don't want to let this languish, so... here's a little more. Celeste stifled a yawn and propped her chin on her hand as she listened to the professor's monotone. This was a sucker class, she thought. Indeed, it was a trap worthy of Nemesis himself. Anyone would think that a class on "Heroic Literature" would be interesting and exciting, wouldn't they? Here she sat, though, trying desperately to stay awake as Professor McDougal droned on through his lectures. Truly, "Prof McDull" had earned his nickname, and she wished she'd heard about it BEFORE she signed up for his class. The fact that she'd been up almost 'til dawn breaking up a gang war between the Freakshow and the Warriors didn't help. That the Warriors were better at reciting ancient heroic stories than her professor, though, made it almost painful. She found herself wondering if she could have gotten a better lesson by visiting some of the previous night's arrests in the Zig than by sitting in this class. She was sure at least two or three of them could tell her everything she needed to know about Jason, and they'd probably have been much more engaged by the topic. She pushed down such uncharitable thoughts and tried to focus on what the professor was in fact trying to teach her. It wasn't *his* fault she hadn't gotten any sleep, after all. Besides, she was pretty sure a couple of her classmates had been at the same throwdown the night before, and they might be asking her for her notes later. Even more importantly, it would look really bad if she fell asleep in class. Even so, it seemed as though it might be a losing battle. Her eyelids got heavier and heavier, and the thought of putting her head down on the desk for a minute grew more tempting with each word the professor spoke. She'd read the story before, after all... she knew what it was about, didn't she? Her rationalization was abruptly cut off by a shrill whistle from her pocket. She sat bolt upright, startled by the sound, and it was only when she saw everyone-- including the professor--staring at her that she realized it was coming from her cell phone. She winced at that. She was certain she'd set it for silent mode, and that meant the call couldn't be anything good. Like many of the ruggedized models built specifically for heroes, her phone had an override for emergency calls. Fishing the phone out of her pocket, she checked the number. It wasn't one she recognized offhand, which was in some ways good. It wasn't her parents, and it wasn't one of her teammates from from TI... that eliminated most of the worst possibilities. On the other hand, it also wasn't one of her regular contacts, which worried her. She flipped the phone open, still acutely aware of the eyes of the entire class on her as she did so. "Hello?" "Miss Alexander?" The voice on the other end of the line was shaky, as though he was nervous. He might be in trouble, she thought... but there was no way some random citizen could get her phone number. "I'm... I'm afraid I have some bad news." She really didn't like the sound of that. Images of potential disasters swirled through her mind. *Was* it her parents, or one of her friends, in some kind of trouble? It had to be something personal; who else would have her phone number? She shook herself, throwing off the panic before it could take hold. "Ah... I'm in class. Give me a minute." she looked up then, holding her hand over the phone's pickup. "I'm sorry," she said to the room in general. "I've got an emergency, I've got to go." The professor nodded understandingly to her, and she felt a little relief over that. He must have been able to see how disturbed she was by the call. As she stood up and slipped her way past other students to the end of the row, she heard a couple of whispered encouragements. "Good luck," one said. "Be careful out there," was another. She'd long suspected there were other heroes in her class, given the subject matter... from the tone of those quiet words, she became certain of it. Once she had made her way out the back doors of the lecture hall, she took her hand off the phone. "All right, what's going on?" "Ah, yes..." the voice hesitated again. "This is Dr. Harold, from Rhode Island Childrens' Hospital." She froze in mid-step. That was the hospital she'd visited so many times as a child... the one in which she'd lived at times, and the one in which she'd believed for so long that she would die, before the miracle that had given her life back. It was the same hospital she'd been visiting of late, donating cell samples in hopes that her transformation might yield data that could help other terribly ill children as well. Why would they be calling her? What could it be, that would merit such urgency? Had they found something wrong with her again? The voice continued. "Miss Alexander, about the cell samples you donated..." "Yes, what is it?" she pressed, his hesitation only driving her worries. "Well, Miss... I'm afraid... they've been stolen."

Ah, I misread your earlier post. I thought you were saying there isn't much def to be had in set bonuses, but I see now that what you were saying is that you aren't using set bonuses for defense. It sounds like you've gone for a more defensive power selection than I did. My build is more of a mid-point between offensive and defensive builds. In fact, in terms of what was being run back on Live, it would probably be considered a pretty offensive build, but offensive builds have evolved since then and run up to stratospheric heights. I don't have the massive offense of a modern proc build, but I still wanted enough recharge to run the Follow-Up -> Focus -> Slash and Follow-Up -> Spin -> Shockwave attack chains gapless at any time, thus allowing me to double and sometimes triple-stack Follow-Up, so Hasten was pretty much a must.. The only defense powers I've taken outside the set are Weave and CJ (well, technically Infiltration also gives defense but that defense doesn't work in combat, so I don't count that as a defense power); I got the rest of my defense from sets. Mind you, in many cases, that defense comes from sets I was going to slot anyway (the ATO's, for example). As for mitigation, I have a fair amount of +HP and +regen, but I focused more on augmenting my defense with damage resistance via set bonuses. After all, the way resistance works, the more of it you have, the more each bit you add helps. Tough by itself doesn't do much, but Tough stacked with set bonuses stacked with the Reactive Defenses unique stacked with /SR's inherent scaling resists does quite a lot. This is where dropping the procs from my build came into play as it let me six-slot certain sets (like Scrapper's Strike) that give large resist bonuses. EDIT: All that said, whoever it was further up the thread who pointed out that all this SR and defense discussion is off-topic because this thread is supposed to be about Regen is correct, and we should probably endeavor to get back on topic.

The Fighting Pool makes anything harder to kill. That's one of its two functions - provide offense, and provide mitigation. Which is why the idea that sets shouldn't need outside mitigation is a bit ridiculous... if they didn't need outside mitigation, why would we have a power pool which provides so much of it? I even take Fighting on some of my Blasters, my Sentinel, and my Defender. Taking it on a melee is just a given. Besides, as noted, what power pool could possibly be more in-concept for someone who spends all their time in melee than Fighting? As for Hasten, whether or not I take it depends as much on the Primary as the Secondary. Almost any set can benefit from it, but it's practically mandatory for some (Claws, DB come to mind). Actually, I have to admit, /SR makes me MORE likely to take it, because having Quickness makes me greedy for all the speed I can get. One of the reasons I like /SR and /EnA so much is they feed my need for speed. For +def in set bonuses - the Scrapper ATO's have quite a bit (5% AoE on Sup Critical Strikes and 2.5% Melee on Sup Scrapper's Strike) The Melee Damage (Touch of Death has Melee and Mako's Bite has Ranged) and Melee AoE (Obliteration has Melee and Scirocco's Dervish has AoE) sets tend to have some defense on them also (but not the purple ones, mostly). Red Fortune (defense set) has 2.5% ranged. Numina's Convalescence (heal set) has 3.75% ranged. Mostly these are the 6-piece bonuses, however. The other thing to remember with /SR is any damage resistance you pick up stacks with your scaling resist, which makes that scaling resist substantially more powerful. Aside from allowing us to slot the resist set uniques, this is why Tough is so useful to an /SR. Not to mention all the resists available in various IO sets. I just posted a build in another thread for my Claws/SR who has 47% S/L resist (not counting the scaling resists). And that's on a build that is very nearly perma-Hasten and is perfectly capable of demonstrating why people call Claws a "fast blender". I had to give up some of my procs to accomplish this, but let's be honest, I think we all know the Aprocalypse is coming soon, anyway.

Yeah, I never did understand that one. When I'm roleplaying, I don't want to be thinking about the person behind the character; that's just a distraction. I mean, even if it's a friend and I know who they are, I'm still trying to focus on their character rather than them during the scene.

On the subject of sound modding - if you set your volume way down (mine's at 15%), be sure to grab one of the mods that makes the glowie sound louder so you can actually hear the things!

I've never made a melee that didn't have it by level 50. I've made Blasters that didn't, though.

I should really look up how to do that at some point yeah.

So, after a lot of experimentation, and a lot of tweaking, and spending a fair chunk of inf (but not so much that I am done spending inf yet). Experience tells me that I really hate dying, and I can deal with being slightly slower in defeating enemies if it means that I don't die, and so I should tune my build accordingly. Given that, I think this is what my final build is going to look like. Main differences: Dropped Focused Accuracy. Not needed with the level of +Accuracy in this build. Dropped some of the procs in favor of more damage resistance. 10% more S/L resistance than before, 11% more E/N resist than before, 14% more psi resist than before, 6% less fire/cold resist than before (and yet, still quite a bit, because purple sets have a ton of F/C on them) Hasten gap is still 1.8 seconds... except now there's a Force Feedback proc in Shockwave, so it will tend to be perma in AoE situations. Employed my two unused attacks (Strike and Kick) as two-piece set mules for more Energy/Negative Resistance (thanks, @SomeGuy, for giving me this idea with your comments on my EnM/EnA build). Squeezed in Infiltration because cats are stealthy, right? Feedback is, of course, still welcome. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.2.17 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Kitten America (ver. 4): Level 50 Science Scrapper Primary Power Set: Claws Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Concealment Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Strike -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(19) Level 1: Focused Fighting -- RedFrt-Def(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(3), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(3), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(5), RedFrt-EndRdx(5) Level 2: Slash -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(11), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Hct-Acc/Rchg(13), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Hct-Dam%(15) Level 4: Agile -- ShlWal-Def(A), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(7), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(17), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(17), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(19) Level 6: Spin -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(21), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Arm-Acc/Rchg(23), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(23), Arm-Dam%(25) Level 8: Follow Up -- SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprCrtStr-Dmg/Rchg(25), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), SprCrtStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), SprCrtStr-Rchg/+50% Crit(29) Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 12: Focused Senses -- RedFrt-Def(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(31), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(31), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), RedFrt-EndRdx(33), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(33) Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A) Level 16: Dodge -- ShlWal-Def(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(33), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(34), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(34) Level 18: Focus -- SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprScrStr-Dmg/Rchg(36), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), SprScrStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprScrStr-Rchg/+Crit(37) Level 20: Quickness -- Run-I(A) Level 22: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(37) Level 24: Kick -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(50) Level 26: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(39), UnbGrd-Max HP%(39), UnbGrd-ResDam(39), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(40) Level 28: Lucky -- LucoftheG-Def(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(40), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(40), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(42), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(42) Level 30: Weave -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(42), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(43), Rct-Def/Rchg(43), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Rct-ResDam%(45) Level 32: Shockwave -- Dtn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), Dtn-Acc/Dmg(45), Dtn-Dmg/EndRdx(45), OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg/End/Rech(46), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(46), FrcFdb-Rechg%(46) Level 35: Evasion -- LucoftheG-Def(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(48), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(48), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(48), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 38: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 44: Physical Perfection -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(50) Level 47: Infiltration -- Clr-Stlth(A) Level 49: Elude -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A) Level 1: Critical Hit Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Rest -- Heal-I(A) Level 1: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 1: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Heal(7), Prv-Absorb%(9), Prv-Heal(9) Level 1: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(11) Level 14: Double Jump Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 50: Portal Jockey Level 50: Task Force Commander Level 50: The Atlas Medallion Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon Level 50: Vorpal Core Final Judgement Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Robotic Drones Core Superior Ally Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1544;713;1426;HEX;| |78DA6D944973125110C7DF842104C212B6908D4030614D866079702DB7889510148| |3F1A065C5011E7114816230261FC02FE0C5AB27CB8B56F91D3CB97E05BD79C9E276| |F084CD743F9D544915F59BEEF7FEFDFEDD3CA6B8BDE4ACD7F3E798E4BED850757DA| |35CEDA8ED36EFD8CA558D37AB9CC12754D0BA5DDE8C9E7FC03B5A558D26B7784789| |1E4BD9602D20041B45DEE05C812A8FF4C8DFE412AFF3A6CE95F2C37EB4C6EB0DBEC| |D75E62CB55A0D6595AB6DADB9E93082729BF39ACB78CC6B9B77BBB0E035A2E5E696| |A66B15ADA17577BC97DA5A55B9D0AAED6C1455BDCB3B3B63E0210D5FAD6F46EABB6| |53D89DD042464E6BB852C9A1665E686A79CCC061CC461A4EC227A90F7402491C82A| |C5078CA4238174268929A43B4DCC20AF82D8224EB4AC588CE4E065E4489E5840FA8| |278E27D1059C589D6E3582970827812397A8A781A397606D900B10DBBEC596D7764| |5C54911315621539552372640994763A99D933CC485E81E4B0B0334C539BA6A94DD| |3D4A6696A519A5AD4890C81D8252ABA9258F11A243D622A1E9A4A94A63143D39959| |26D2549A20F20A1BDEB7B878E41DF13DF10372F623F113720DC47E61C3BF8036629| |00C8ABB12A46E678903B018128B21BA4839BA4816581C170D8CF7B78565163F8A67| |C57F137F2213BF9065104D0AD16400BB4A8C10FDC814759BF2D22D045158741DDEC| |34AA97D64FA80F88DF81D39FF03D9067104EF6ECF1A798D8DCDBF24BE422E7CC6CD| |0B5F888FF1225D07714CD88D91DD2CD9CD92BD2CD9CEF990A3209A13739EA35ECA5| |0382992499AEF7317631931DFCC8A84F39D410F1E28A33052287634B40EC945915C| |A4DA53F2BFBF346313583B624AF6560FEDA09FBE248B1C24A5594CEE3AFEB373DF9| |4B4B01B78EAE03A726817FD0E7D45EE1DAA40B7FDC0617E253DA517C813E41B7869| |B9C848AF043B73C2F76D73A09A838A3928F84D4127640AF2E6E06CD0143CEB6BC4A| |12F62A6E00F5077CE6F| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

First, you're exactly right. Second, I'm not going to immerse myself in the argument again, but II am going to make a quick observation about why certain pool powers are taken. You can already soft-cap defense on an /SR with just Combat Jumping and IO's. You don't actually need Weave! People take Weave, not because they have to take it to soft-cap, but because it's easier to soft-cap with Weave, and allows more flexibility elsewhere in the build. And they also take it because as an /SR you have to take Tough anyway or else you have nowhere to slot the resistance set uniques (which are far too good to pass up on), because you have no resistance powers in your armor set, so you're already invested in the Fighting Pool anyway (never mind that any shred of damage resistance you get get is always useful to a scrapper!). Once you've taken Boxing or Kick and Tough, you might as well go ahead and take Weave while you're at it! And then they also take it because the Fighting Pool happens to be really in-concept for people who spend all their time in melee! Which most of the other power pools... are not. None of which is going to change even if you raise the accuracy floor. If you magically took away the Fighting pool from me, I honestly don't know what powers I would take to replace it on several of my scrappers. There aren't any other options that are in-concept for them. In fact, I was just commenting a couple of days ago in another thread that even WITH the fighting pool, I was having a hard time finding powers for my DB/SR to take to fill out her last slots, because nothing that was available was in-concept except for Focused Accuracy, which I didn't want to take (and ended up taking anwyay, and just sticking a single end-redux in it, because I couldn't find any better options)! If the accuracy floor was raised, so that the soft-cap sat at 40%? I would still take the Fighting Pool. Because 1) it's in concept for my characters, and 2). what the hell else am I going to take? Power pools consist of several types of powers: Offense (mostly useless to a scrapper because pool attacks are almost universally inferior to scrapper primary attacks) Mitigation (the thing a scrapper generally needs most, since we aren't Tankers and aren't that tough out of the box) Support (largely useless to a scrapper, since most scrappers solo 95% of the time) Travel (which almost everyone takes already unless their concept disallows it) Utility (i.e. stealth, combat teleport, etc., which is largely a "take this if it interests you and fits in your concept" sort of thing). Given this, what are most scrappers going to take? A travel power, maybe a little utility if they want it... and mitigation. This is the pool system working as intended. If you want to see more diversity in pool power selection among scrappers, create more pool powers that are useful to scrappers. Nerfing defense is not going to accomplish this. EDIT: Something I realized I should add: this is partly a side-effect of Inherent Fitness. Whether or not to take the Fighting Pool was a considerably more difficult decision back when you had to cram Swift (or Hurdle if you were going SJ), Health, and Stamina into your build somewhere. But now we have lots of power picks open for pool powers, and not all that many pool powers that are actually useful for a Scrapper and fit well with Scrapper concepts.

Well, it's more of a "Nerf Defense (Because SR is Underperforming?!)*" thread now. * No, you didn't read that wrong.

I mean, a lot of my characters back on Virtue (and still now) had differences between their concepts and what their powersets actually provide. Skylancer, in concept, has hypersonic flight. Obviously, the game doesn't provide this power (in my story that I am writing about her, I interpret this as the city having a ~100mph flight speed limit below War Wall altitude for safety reasons, which she of course observes... usually). Blaze Atomica has FTL spaceflight abilities (she's a cosmic-type hero, gotta be able to get to those other planets!), obviously the game doesn't provide that, either. Of course, she can't do that in atmosphere so it's less relevant than the above. Sylvie Stardrive (who is something of a "mad engineer" and gets her SS/Invuln powers form her powered armor) wears a psi-damper that makes reading her mind difficult. If she didn't, she wouldn't be able to keep any of her inventions a secret, would she? It is notably less effective against concentrated psionic attack, in keeping with her in-game powerset... though she does slot some psi-resistance. By contrast, Scarlet Diamond (or as she was on Live, Red Diamond), is explicitly vulnerable to psi-attack, but you can't get her to drop her forcefield that way, because... she can't actually drop her forcefield (she can make a hole in it to eat, and even that is a reflexive thing she doesn't actually know how to do consciously). Several of my /Willpower characters aren't actually defending themselves with willpower, they're defending themselves in various ways that there aren't powersets for in the game I generally noted this stuff in my bio when I was on Virtue as it might be relevant to roleplay. I also maintained Virtueverse pages for a number of my characters (Skylancer, Kitten America, Red Diamond, Smokemeister, and others)

I can attest at least that the Lightsaber SFX mod helps for DB, if you can justify it (lots of energy blade options in weapon customization). It's still loud when you hit with an AoE, but it's a much less harsh sound and so doesn't set off my sound sensitivity the same way.

Interesting thoughts. What I may do is refluff the DB/WP (and probasbly rename her, too, so I can re-use the name) into a concept that is more suited to Willpower, and then remake the original character as DB/EnA. I just need to think of a technological defense that is more suited to WP than EnA... though, actually, one jumps immediately to mind - a combination of subdermal armor and nanite regeneration. Which means my DB/WP is getting refluffed as a sort of Street Samurai. That's cool, that's a concept I don't have in my character array yet!

Energy Aura is very strong: easily-softcapped defenses to everything but Negative (and Negative is still do-able, just takes more work) and Psi Substantially better built-in resistances than Super Reflexes A heal with a built-in Conserve Power effect (Energize) An AoE endurance steal that also adds a bit of free +defense (Energy Drain) A stacking recharge buff, complete with taunt aura (Entropic Aura) Built-in Stealth (Energy Cloak) It's arguably the second-strongest scrapper armor set behind Shield, and unlike Shield it doesn't restrict your choice of Primary. Plus, it synergizes beautifully with the two most powerful Scrapper primaries: For Energy Melee, it offers thematic unity, plus a heal to offset Energy Transfer's self-damage. For Claws, it offers +rech (which Claws needs a ton of for maximum performance), and since Claws/Shield is not available, it's without a doubt the top performance choice for Claws. On top of that, it's fun to play, being more interactive than /SR because of the heal and the end steal, and the Taunt Aura is a very nice QoL feature. And it looks cool. Energy Aura has quickly become my favorite Scrapper secondary since I created my Energy Melee/Energy Aura scrapper a few weeks ago (Super Reflexes, my previous favorite, is now second, Willpower is third, DA is fourth). I wish I'd discovered it before I went and created 35 characters, as I'm short of concepts now to make another one that don't overlap with my existing characters (I really should have made my DB/Willpower as DB/EnA, for one; Energy Aura suits her concept much more closely, given that she is a Technology origin and her defense comes from a skinfield)

Of course it does, that's why the agents at the door always shout "FBI!" instead of just saying it. Now I am just imagining Aaron Thiery's dialogue with him shouting "SERAPH" every time. This is comical.

This is the root cause of the problem right here. There's no limit (well, technically there is one, I think, but it's way too high) to how many times the same sound can be played simultaneously. So, if you hit 12 targets with an AoE, it plays the sound on top of itself 12 times. If 10 Nemesis Jaegers turn and fire at you simultaneously, it plays the sound on top of itself 10 times. This results in absurd volume, way out of whack with the rest of the game. And this is why I hardly ever team, because I have some sound sensitivity issues and teaming invariably leaves me with a headache.

It's "Bios", not "BIOS".

So, I've got to add a new one here. My new Staff/Willpower scrapper is more fun than she has any possible right to be. Yeah, Staff's single target damage is kinda really poor, but when I'm playing her? I don't care about that. Yeah, Staff's AoE is no match for my Claws/SR... and I don't care about that, either. Staff just feels completely awesome to play. It's the beautiful animations, plus the two cones with the same arc and range so they work together beautifully, plus the huge AoE in Eye of the Storm (I have Critical Strikes in Guarded Spin and run Guarded Spin -> Innocuous -> Guarded Spin -> Eye of the Storm for AoE, and there is just something glorious about proc'ing Critical Strikes on that second Guarded Spin and then critting half the neighborhood with Eye of the Storm. No, my Staff scrapper is not going to win any DPS contests (especially in single target), but she's so freaking much fun to play. Plus, while her offense is not the best, she is proving to be vastly tougher than I ever expected. At level 40 I started running +0x8 missions. My other scrappers haven't gone to x8 until they hit 50, typically, but anything less just seems too easy for this one. I made this character last week and got level 41 tonight, and that's doing everything solo via contacts and story arcs, and in spite of spending at least enough time on every single one of my 30+ characters to use all their patrol experience over the weekend.

For a Super Strength Scrapper from DC, here's a perfect example: The Metropolis Kid (later a.k.a. Superboy), from the Death and Return of Superman story. He was substantially less invulnerable than Superman, at least originally (I know he got substantially retconned later, but I don't know that much about the retconned version; I'm talking about the original version of him that wasn't actually Kryptonian at all), to the point that sometimes he had to rely on cleverness rather than just tanking everything. He was much more aggressive as a fighter than the Big S, too. Definitely more in the Scrapper mold.

Captain Knockback. Gotta love it. I'd be tempted to make that character (slotting all powers with extra knockback, of course) just to see how much hate mail I got standing around in Atlas Park for having the nerve to exist. Probably be fun to play, too, if not terribly efficient. As one person put it in a thread about energy blasters, "Power Thrust will never not be hilarious." I wouldn't want to be a scrapper in a party with that character, though, unless they are much more disciplined at managing their knockback than it sounds like. There is a reason that my rule #1 as an energy blaster is "I will try not to knocback your melee targets", because I know how frustrating it can be. Speaking of which, why, oh, why, does every helper NPC we ever get for missions have powersets with Knocback?

Yeah, what I usually put in my bios was blurb containing information that people might know about the character (either things that are a matter of public record, or have been on the news, or that you might know if you have certain connections (like excerpts from their Longbow or Arachnos dossiers). Like, one of my brutes' bios was basically the contents of her Wanted poster.