Eiko-chan

It's a trap!

********. If playing had anything to do with it, then the basis of rewards would be on time played, or some complicated algorithm balancing time played and time paid.

It only rewards time paid, and that is all it is meant to reward.

Pfft. I've killed a thousand of those gun-toting spandex soldiers. My Villain badge says so.

You still didn't have to pay for it, while they did.

I really wish the people against this would stop trying to justify it any other way and admit that the reason the support the program as is and like the program as is is due to the feeling of being special, valued, and favoured it conveys. You like knowing that the time you've put in makes you valued more than the people that have put in less time.

It's that simple. It's human, it's understandable, and it's what's really behind all the objections.

Bots/Traps is one of the classic Tankermind builds, as well as the AV-soloer. And your Traps should never be "supporting from the back" - a lot of Traps best tools come from being in the thick of things (Triage Beacon for the Brutes and Stalkers, toe-bombing with Trip Mine, Caltrops being a fairly short range power). With pools and FFG, you get just about the same personal defence as FF, with the utilities of Traps. And your Bots will only be a few points off the softcap with just their own bubbles, your FFG and Manoeuvres (close enough that Edict of the Master plugs the hole), so the added benefit of the individual bubbles from FF is minimal. And Traps offers a lot more tools for controlling the battle and attracting attention away from your bots (if not always on your MM, in the case of Acid Mortar).

And when they do, it's usually BABs coming to dis an old beleaguered icon of superhero eras gone by.

Another note: Scrapper players (usually) don't expect to be saved (which you probably already know), so it's okay to let them go sacrifice themselves. That's why we have the word "Scrapperlock".

I love this whole idea, but especially this part. The badge names are brilliance.

I whole heartedly agree. I actually have a couple toons that would not sit that demurely, and it kind of bugs me. Especially since they routinely wear pants (and it's not like the emotes stop skirts from clipping as it is.)

Won't anyone think of the children?!?

You know, in nations owing fealty to the British Crown, the age of consent is 16, not 18. America is one of the few nations (and most states don't even conform with the stereotype) where there exists some belief that 18 is a magical age at which sex suddenly becomes okay.

You need to watch a little less Dateline, I think, and stop trying to protect other people's children. Protecting your own is work enough for anyone (and it really isn't our job to protect your children for you).

According to Mids, MM and Corruptor numbers are the same for defence (both at 2.63), with Corruptors granting a 15% vs. 11.3% damage bonus and a 10% vs. 7.5% to-hit bonus.

MM Vengeance has a slightly higher (1.2%) defence bonus, but a correspondingly lower (1.8%) to-hit and damage bonus.

Looking at the numbers, I stand by my statement.

Red/Blue turf fights, teen villains hanging out in the food court telling heroes they "made a wrong turn", heroes shopping at Fabulous Fashions and spotting their arch-nemeses trying on new spandex?

Brilliant.

One thing to note: several of Traps' powers (Acid Mortar, Trip Mine, Triage Beacon) require you to be on the ground to deploy them, so Hover-fighting is often counter-productive for Traps players.

I think some of them might be usable if you're hovering low (I've never played a Hover Trapper) but considering their usefulness, it's probably best to err on the side of caution and avoid Hovering/Flying in combat with your Traps characters (this isn't to say avoid Fly as a travel power if you like it, just turn the toggles off in combat.)

This is one of the few cases in which Mids is wrong. End Redux enhancements in your summoning powers will both reduce the cost to you to summon and the cost the pets pay for their own powers. A little bit of End Redux in the Protector bots is a good idea. Ever since I put an Acc/End in my Protector bots their endurance has run out far less frequently, and I've personally tested to be sure that the summon endurance cost was reduced as well. (Recharge used to apply to pets too, but now it applies only to the summon power itself.)

That said, from a defensive standpoint, you'd be well advised to get the extra 5% ranged defence you need to soft cap it on yourself (I'm assuming an 11% buff from the Prot bots - IIRC, that's about what I get). This would be fairly easily achieved by slotting the Drones and Assault Bot both with full sets of Blood Mandate. I don't think the extra damage from the Procs you have in them is going to be worth not getting to that all-important 45% defence. With my Bots/Trap, the 45% makes her pretty much indestructible (it helps that my Bots also have soft-capped defences) and allows her to solo +1x8 with ease.

I don't think the stun enhancements in the Prot Bots is going to make a difference. I'd switch to Edict's Defence Aura held in the Prot Bots (I have both, personally) and switch out the stuns for something else.

On the subject of the Build-up Proc: I had Gaussian's in Tactics on my Tanker once, but even checking every 10 seconds it simply doesn't come up enough or stay long enough to really be worthwhile. My Assault Bot still destroys things with just a full set of Blood Mandate.

If you don't really want to mess with the Assault Bot's slotting, you can get the defence you need by fully slotting Caltrops with Pacing of the Turtle as well. PotT's -recharge proc might not seem like much, but I do notice a difference in incoming attacks between using and not using it.

It's a crazy world. We sane people need to immerse ourselves in crazy every now and then just to keep perspective.