Eiko-chan

Primary difference, ToySoldier: Breathing underwater confers no mechanical benefit.

I'll never understand the need of some people to make sure no one else gets what they have.

I just wanted to add that, because of the higher health base (and higher regen that goes with that), playing a "Brute like a Brute" doesn't generally require a good supply of greens. I will agree that playing a Scrapper like a Brute does.

Also, for anyone that thinks Stalkers are weak, I'd like to introduce you to my VG's Claws/Regen Stalker, who has often been the last one down on a team wipe in our VG teams (and more often than not pulls off finishing off the pull and letting us rez rather than run).

I'd like to, but the scaly traitor is playing CO these days.

Why not just do away with Veteran's Rewards altogether? Award them to everyone. The game isn't in trouble of dying. Veteran's Rewards don't keep people subscribing. It's really a meaningless system anyway.

It'd be a nice way of letting players know they are valued, and new rewards can continue to be added every three months - available to all players with active accounts.

I've never seen an issue as divisive and rancourous as Veteran's Rewards here. It is the single issue that is apparently unsafe to discuss, and even more unsafe to criticise.

If they want the name back, they should watch the thread too. I've given up a name, and I no longer consider it "mine" to reclaim.

Until they actually make PvP functional, and make it operate in a way at least reminiscent of the real game (rather than it's current existence where things that work in PvE have little or no effect in PvP, so that the game is entirely different in PvP), any "improvements" to the PvP culture should be put by the wayside.

Let's get working PvP before we start talking about improving the PvP "way of life". Cart before the horse and all that.

Brutes are neither Tankers nor Scrappers. They are Brutes.

Their lower health and lower defence/resistance scale makes them ill-suited for taking alpha attacks (SOs, not IOs), and they cannot withstand prolonged assault any where near as well as a Tanker - but they don't need to, because they are capable of high levels of damage, so they are quite adept at dropping off their assailaints much faster than a Tanker can.

Their higher health base makes them tougher than a Scrapper - a Brute can hold a prolonged assault longer than a Scrapper, falling in-between Tanker and Scrapper in survability. To call them either is a falsehood; Brutes are Brutes, and the redside classes do not correspond with the blueside classes in any meaningful fashion.

Brutes are not Tankers.
Stalkers are not Scrappers.
Corruptors are not Defenders.
Dominators are not Controllers.
Master Minds are unlike anything else, and Blasters stand alone.

Playing redside content and classes as if they were merely equivilent to blueside content and classes will lead to inevitable failure. They are very different beasts, and should be treated as such. That's why Brutes have a mix of Tanker and Scrapper powersets (and also why Stalkers have some unique, as of yet unproliferated sets.)

Time paying subscription doesn't tell you anything about who knows the game. I've seen a lot of clueless Veterans.

And I'm really not sure how a "free power choice" isn't "game breaking".

The damage debuff only lasts 10 seconds. It's not that big of a deal. Switch to low damage attacks that have some other aspect (Jab or Boxing, for instance, for Stun chances) for 10 seconds and then let loose a KOB once the damage crash ends.

The only possible worry is the endurance crash, which can be mitigated by Recovery and blue insps.

For a ninth power (for Scrappers, obviously; Stalkers get Hide) I think some sort of power like transference - a +end power. If you're going to go, a little thing like fatigue isn't going to hold you back.

If you're not already capped from powers (which is probably the case if you're not FF), getting to at least the Ranged defence cap will make a huge difference. Blood Mandate is a fairly well-balanced Pet set, and offers a nice large Ranged defence bonus in it.