Two questions... for now, lol.

[Rinwen]

Hello, folks,

 

Couple of questions if I may.

 

1) Do you think it would be easier to level villain side since the population seems to be about 1/3 of hero, (according to the server status page)?  I'm thinking maybe easier to finish outdoor missions due to less competition for mobs.

 

2) Which do you think will have an easier time soloing and able to handle more, or higher difficulty, content;  Claws/Invul Scrapper  or Invul/Claws Tanker?  This is really just a solo character, I have a team oriented Tanker.

 

Scrappers kill faster but have less durability.  Killing faster is a form of defense, but is it enough vs a Tanker's survivability?

 

I prefer to kill more slowly and not die as often, than to kill more quickly, but die more often.

 

But I want to solo as much content as possible.

 

Thanks for any insight you may have.

 

Take care.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

1. Outdoor missions are incredibly rare so a lower population doesn't really matter there. In general a lower population leads to slower leveling since there are fewer teams and teams are the fastest way to level.

 

2. In general Scrappers solo better than Tankers. Extra survivability means you can potentially fight more enemies at once but if you take longer to kill them then this doesn't really matter. High AoE Tankers can potentially out-solo scrappers but those tankers tend to have Fire or Shield as their primary, not Invulnerability. For solo play I'd go with the scrapper over the tanker.

[subbacultchas]

1) Some things may be easier, but I doubt a whole lot will be significant. I'd say blueside would be your best bet.

 

2) Scrapper, always. Tank may be more survivable, there's no doubt about that, but it's significantly boring to play solo. Scrapper gets the edge in taking things out quickly and being quite survivable. But have you considered a brute? I'd take the brute version over both the scrapper and tanker personally.

 

[Rylas]

1) Do you think it would be easier to level villain side since the population seems to be about 1/3 of hero, (according to the server status page)?  I'm thinking maybe easier to finish outdoor missions due to less competition for mobs.

 

Sorry, can't really help much beyond speculation since I haven't been red side in years. If you're just soloing, then maybe it would help for those hunt missions, but outside of that, I don't really think either would have any advantage in the solo area. Hero-side would definitely take the lead if you're looking for teams.

 

2) Which do you think will have an easier time soloing and able to handle more, or higher difficulty, content;  Claws/Invul Scrapper  or Invul/Claws Tanker?  This is really just a solo character, I have a team oriented Tanker.

 

Scrappers kill faster but have less durability. Killing faster is a form of defense, but is it enough vs a Tanker's survivability?

 

I prefer to kill more slowly and not die as often, than to kill more quickly, but die more often.

 

But I want to solo as much content as possible.

 

Seems like you're answering your own question here. If you want to handle more at a higher difficulty, and prefer killing slower and dying less, then go tank.

 

If you plan on going IOs though, you might consider scrapper if you're boosting defensive numbers.

[Pixie_Knight]

At high levels, scrappers are incredibly hard to kill. So are tankers. And while tankers can do respectable damage, eventually, it takes them far longer to get their attack chain set up. On the other hand scrappers take longer to get their defenses set up. Thus a tanker closes the gaps in their defenses faster, but a scrapper doesn't need to close the gaps as fast.

 

Personally, I feel brutes encourage a reckless play style. While a high level scrapper can race from enemy group to enemy group with rarely slowing down, brutes are encouraged to play like this from level 1. In fact, they need to do so to keep their damage output up because of how quickly Fury degrades. The problem is that while a brute can eventually do so as an unstoppable juggernut, they're encouraged to do so when their defenses are still paper thin. And it can teach some bad habits. No matter how survivable you are, there's situations where you really shouldn't be just rushing in without thought. A Lord Recluse or Statesman AV fight are among the top ones in my mind. Especially Lord Recluse. Regardless of your defenses, he'll hit like a few mack trucks. And worst of all, he keeps summoning bane spiders. While an individual bane spider isn't a threat, a dozen of them is. Especially when they show up while you're trying to fight an AV. They also hit like a mack truck. Each.

[ghost emoji]

Blue/red side doesn't really matter, in my experience. Blue side outdoors missions took me longer but not a lot longer, the enemies spawn pretty quickly and you can always coordinate with other players. Red side is busier than when I was starting, the outdoors mission areas on Mercy are less deserted now so you'd probably have the same problem. There aren't many outdoors missions anyway and the game is pretty accomodating about them.

 

As to your second question, just pick the one that suits you best. If you change your mind within the first few levels you can always go back and start from scratch without wasting a lot of time.

[MunkiLord]

1) No. I've never had competition for mobs be much of an issue at all, especially since you get credit for mission completion if you hit a mob at least once and somebody else finishes it off.

 

2) Scrapper is usually the better choice for this. But there are situations a tank might be better, but not many in my opinion.

 

But have you considered a brute? I'd take the brute version over both the scrapper and tanker personally.

 

I'm gonna have to disagree here! First and foremost because Scrapperlock is life. But in low and mid levels not having a fury bar to maintain is nice. Now I realize this is my problem, but constantly chasing fury at lower levels caused me to run out of endurance and/or get in over my head way too many times.

[Belgerath]

I'm not an expert and it's been a long long time since I played but...

 

1) I found playing the villain's side to be more challenging, although the missions were way "Better"....although the original missions on the hero's side have they're charm as well...COH/COV was a great game.

 

2) it depends if you want more DPS and less Def go Scrapper with claws/invul if you want more Def and less DPS go Tanker Invul/Claws...it really depends.  Both are viable, scrapper might be faster if you play careful solo.  I always just joined a mission with people cause the scaling in this game was just soo soo good.

 

hah nostalgia....

[Leogunner]

Hello, folks,

 

Couple of questions if I may.

 

1) Do you think it would be easier to level villain side since the population seems to be about 1/3 of hero, (according to the server status page)?  I'm thinking maybe easier to finish outdoor missions due to less competition for mobs.

 

The answer is yes.  Villain side, any missions that need you to go to fight certain mobs will be in that zone not to mention the missions are more likely to be in the zone of the contact.

 

Having made my first hero since I got back, I am reminded of the annoyance of the contacts hero-side giving you missions several zones elsewhere or kill mob objectives in an isolated space in another zone or to speak with a contact halfway across the city.  When this happens villain side, it's not as often and the amount of zones to traverse across is less.

 

Players will tell you to use various teleport methods to get around quicker but still, it's only a bandaid on a bleeding wound vs villain-side being merely a bruise.

 

 

2) Which do you think will have an easier time soloing and able to handle more, or higher difficulty, content;  Claws/Invul Scrapper  or Invul/Claws Tanker?  This is really just a solo character, I have a team oriented Tanker.

 

Scrappers kill faster but have less durability.  Killing faster is a form of defense, but is it enough vs a Tanker's survivability?

 

I prefer to kill more slowly and not die as often, than to kill more quickly, but die more often.

 

But I want to solo as much content as possible.

 

Thanks for any insight you may have.

 

Take care.

 

How many Scrappers do you have?  How many Tankers do you have?  If Scrap>Tank, make a Tank.  If Tank>Scrap, make a Scrap.

[Mr. Vee]

I'd second the brute because claws works so well on brute, but I found invulnerable to be pretty bad on brute, so idk. As to side, doesn't matter. Just send money from an alt for utility powers at the p2w (you're doing this anyway, right?) and use your new pocket d teleporter to get to null the gull to change to rogue or vidge.

[Rylas]

But have you considered a brute? I'd take the brute version over both the scrapper and tanker personally.

 

I was constricting myself to OP's original question, but personally, I'd go with this. If you're really struggling with a toss-up, then take the middle and get the best of both worlds. You can IO a brute pretty easily for Tanker survival and great damage. Brute's can easily solo a lot of content in the story arcs. You'd probably be pretty happy with the performance.

[Rinwen]

Thank you all.

 

I might give a Brute a try, but frankly I'm not all that keen on the Fury mechanic, but it can't hurt to try.

 

Before I say what I'm about to, let me preface with this...

 

Back in the day I THINK I recall the Dev team saying that archetypes don't really start coming into their own until Lv 10, and by Lv 20 are pretty much who they are.  Meaning, sub 10, and especialy sub 20, a Scrapper has pretty much the same survivability as a Tanker and a Tanker does about the same damage as a Scrapper, so on and so forth.  That by Lv 20 the Scrapper significantly outdoes the Tanker in damage and the Tanker can survive significantly more damage than the Scrapper.

 

Having said that, IIRC in the first place, that may explain what I'm seeing and hence my question regarding the Claws/Invul Scrapper vs the Invul/Claws Tanker.

 

I currently play both right after the other... as soon as one levels, I level the other one.

 

They're both Mutants taking on the same missions, and with very very few exceptions, fight the same "con" mobs; white, yellow, orange, etc in a mission.

 

Now, they're only Lv 10, but BOTH kill the same mobs in the same number of hits.  Whites regularly take 4 hits, barring misses.  Yellows and OJ are a bit tougher to quantify since both miss them more often... but I assure you the Scrapper is not killing them in less attacks, not on average.

 

HOWEVER, the Tanker is very VERY noticeably taking much less damage against a group, (2 or 3), of yellows or OJs.  So, while the kill speed really isn't differing, (yet), the damage being taken, (or should I say my HP remaining?), after fights is very definitely noticeable in favor of the Tanker.  He runs group to group without stopping all the time.  In fact he's never stopped to use the Rest skill... the Scrapper has, and definitely can't go group to group as easily as the Tanker.

 

In this respect I prefer the Tanker... but from what I'm reading here and elsewhere, for normal, even a bit harder, content, this will change and the Tanker's defenses will be overkill, while the Scrappers will be enough and EVENTUALLY be out damaging the Tanker by a great amount... True?  In normal to a bit above normal content, will a Tanker's defenses be like using a 10 lb sledge hammer to crack a walnut?

 

To reiterate, at Lv 10, neither is killing faster than the other, but the Tanker is coming out of each fight with noticeably more HP, (whether due to better defenses since it's his primary, or simply hie has a larger HP pool, I don't know).

 

Oh, and they both have the same defensive powers: Temp Invul and RPD, and slotted exactly the same way, 3x Dmg Res in Temp and 1x Dmg Res in RPD.

 

 

[Erydanus]

One of the biggest factors in defining an Archetype are its caps on various parameters.

 

Right now you have newbie tank and scrapper and you're right they're probably doing about the same damage since you have nothing but training enhancements if that only. You're seeing the tank's slightly sturdier nature start to show itself and it's edging out scrapper but just a smidgen. (Not sure but I'm guessing you're seeing the tank having more hit points which at your level is noticeable.)

 

What you're not seeing is the effect of a high level tank having a higher defense cap and having external buffs lift you to it and a high hit point pool let you take more hits; or alternately a high level scrapper having a damage cap that's blowing the roof off even a brute. Basically, if you were level 50 on a team with a Kinetic defender who dropped Fulcrum Shift during a Rikti mothership raid you'd be seeing the scrapper outdamage the tank by orders of magnitude. However you're talking about a solo experience, and you should ask yourself while soloing what your resources and buffs are really going to be, as well as what teaming do you eventually plan to do.

 

If you are literally just making a character to slowly progress through story and enjoy a slow but safe leveling experience then what you need to do is roll a tank and focus on shoring up your damage and prioritizing it somewhat over your defense because as a soloer you just need to be as selfish as possible so you have a great experience. If you're not teaming with anyone, ever, then skip your taunt and take Leadership: Assault because hey, more damage. Put slots in your defensive shields but slot up your attacks more heavily. That's how you make a solo build. But if you're going to team *sometimes* then you probably do need a regular build or to use the dual build system and have a solo and a teaming spec.

 

On the flip side, you could try building a scrapper spec that plays more like you prefer soloing, but just going by feel I think it would be easier for you to make a damage-up tank work for you than a defense-up scrapper. And while I also like brutes as a nice middle ground but if you don't like the frenatic bambambam play style of a brute then it may not be for you; feel free to skip it!

 

But you know, there's one last option for soloing you haven't mentioned here. Stalker.

 

Stalker got a bad rap in the beginning because it needed a lot of tuning at launch and it has low hp. But it got improved. If you think a stalker plays like a dagger-wielding blapper with stealth I have news for you. It feels like a second "warrior class" compared to scrapper, just maybe dex-based instead of strength-based. I mean, number of hits to kill the first guy? 1, because I shanked him with Assassin's strike from Hide and did triple damage. Number of hits to kill the second guy? Like 3 regular melee attack. Number of hits to kill the third guy who was standing there peeing himself with fear since I shanked the first guy because of the fear effect built into assassin's strike? 1, because assassin's strike just came back up and I placated him and shanked him hard or else if I wasn't able to placate him the auto-crit counter came up.  Then I go back into stealth, walk right by that trash group of 3 even con minions who aren't worth my time, and go shank the Tsoo sorcerer before he becomes a problem. I mean for soling at your own pace it's the absolute best. Kill a bunch of guys and then when you get bored go into hide and ninja run to the end of the mission and finish it off. I just finished up the Night Ward content on my Psi-Blade/WP stalker and at one point I had TWO EBs spawn on me and I killed them both. I ate every inspiration I had on me and came through with 10% of my hit points left but I soloed two elite bosses. (To be fair Psi-Blade might be a little OP I'm finding...)

 

Anyway Claws/Invulnerability is an option for stalkers. I just pulled up the planner and it looks like to make room for hide they just combined the resist elements and resist energies powers together which, actually, that's a slot saver. Then they took the Invincibility power that has a taunt aura component and took that out and increased the tohit buff instead. I mean like, DAMN these are good upgrades to Invuln for a soloer and I might be about to roll another stalker at this point.

 

ANYway in the end it's whatever feels best with your play style. Whatever feels most fun to you! Having fun is winning!

[Without_Pause]

Level 10 isn't a good time to judge any build. You don't have Eviscerate yet and that has a higher than normal chance to crit. Follow Up will also give a bigger bonus to damage. SOs/IOs will further differentiate the two builds as they get closer to their AT caps. You don't mind safe and slow so a tank might be the right thing for you, but I can't imagine making one for solo play when scrappers and brutes exist.

[MunkiLord]

I also feel for normal content to maybe +2 levels, at level 50 you can make the Scrapper and Tank survivability very similar with invention sets, but the Tank will never approach what the Scrapper can do in damage.

[Shinobu]

 

My standard for tanks is basically:  how well can you tank Lord Recluse on the MLTF/STF?  Because to be honest, that TF and various incarnate trials are the only times where having a well-built tank really matters.  (And often a brute can be just as good, plus better at damage.)

 

I can farm my Council farm on my 50 elec/shield scrapper all day and kill much faster than any tank, even a good fire tank with burn.  I can play pretend tank on an ITF or similar.  But I would not be an effective tank on an STF.  ^_^  I mean, with good support and hover tanking even some well-built non-melee can do okay in that situation, maybe with a couple of deaths, but to really go toe to toe with Lord Recluse you want a well-built tank or brute.

 

 

[Pixie_Knight]

Yeah, pre level 12 everyone's defenses feel like paper. Tankers will be more survivable then scrappers, but only because they are closing up their defenses faster. Meanwhile the scrapper has more attacks thus less down time between hitting the enemy. Then you start equipping DO enhancements or level 15 IO enhancements, and things really start to take off. Scrapper damage begins to ramp up, and tanker defense also starts ramping up. Okay, yeah the scrapper's defenses are also improving. But again, the tanker gets the defensive powers earlier. Thus they can get more slots into them sooner, and close up those holes in their defenses sooner. An SR/* tanker will be laughing at Council mobs using aoe when the */SR scrapper still has to be wary of said aoe. And once level 22 comes around, you can definitely feel the differences. While both classes will be able to easily handle most mobs, the tanker will be able to handle more enemies at once, although they'll deal with said enemies noticeably slower.

[Ironblade]

1) Do you think it would be easier to level villain side since the population seems to be about 1/3 of hero, (according to the server status page)?  I'm thinking maybe easier to finish outdoor missions due to less competition for mobs.

Emphatically, no.

 

I made my first villain today and was shocked at how long it took to find a team for Death From Below - while I could see the DFB spam on LFG for blue side runs.  If it's that hard to find people for DFB, it's going to be harder to find people for EVERYTHING.

 

My suggestion (and what I did after 3 DFB runs), go talk to Null The Gull in Pocket D and switch to Rogue or Vigilante (I went with Rogue, since the character started as a villain).

[Pixie_Knight]

1) Do you think it would be easier to level villain side since the population seems to be about 1/3 of hero, (according to the server status page)?  I'm thinking maybe easier to finish outdoor missions due to less competition for mobs.

Emphatically, no.

 

I made my first villain today and was shocked at how long it took to find a team for Death From Below - while I could see the DFB spam on LFG for blue side runs.  If it's that hard to find people for DFB, it's going to be harder to find people for EVERYTHING.

 

My suggestion (and what I did after 3 DFB runs), go talk to Null The Gull in Pocket D and switch to Rogue or Vigilante (I went with Rogue, since the character started as a villain).

 

Or, and I know this may sound like crazy talk, run other content besides DFB. Then when you get high enough, if you still wish to change your alignment do the in-game content that allows it. Tip missions and the alignment change/confirm missions are actually fun content.