Organica

Apparently all I ever do is sit in the marketplace buying and selling. I have no idea how I've gotten my latest scrapper from 1 to 44 in the last 3 weeks. All those TFs I've been on must have been my imagination working overtime while staring at the market interface. And I have a bad build... who knew softcapping to all positions was such a terrible way to build your shield scrapper?

Really, since I apparently have so little knowledge of of the game, one wonders how I'm able to make money at all. I mean, how do I even know what IOs are worth buying and selling?

(Heck, on Wednesday alone I apparently imagined joining 3 consecutive Hami raids, going on a Hess TF, and then helping take down Lusca. Such an active imagination I have! How could a marketeer ever have time to do such things?)

I don't think I have any major regrets, but early on my first character Organica, a katana/dark scrapper, was deleted at 17 because of endurance issues. People told me stamina would fix my problems but I just couldn't imagine it making that much of a difference. I remade her as katana/regen, which I didn't regret, but it was a silly reason to remake the character. And I still haven't played a dark armor character higher than that.

By the same token I deleted and rebuilt the first Mouse Police at level 20 because an invulnerability/energy melee tanker just seemed far too week to me, I despaired of ever being able to do any real damage. I made her into a dark/invul scrapper. This was pretty silly too. In point of fact, one of my favorite characters to play these days is my level 50 invul/EM tanker Sailor Shinobu. EM still isn't overpowering damage but the final attacks in the set at least aren't so bad.

I sort of regret how I left my first SG. When I came to the game, I joined up with a bunch of people that I sort of knew from a message board for another game. These were not close friends that I'd actually played with, my close friends from that other game never made the move to CoH. But I kind of knew these people from this message board, so I picked up the game and joined their group.

They were nice enough people but there were a lot of things where we didn't see eye to eye or share the same interests, or understand each other that well. But in any case I stayed with them for about a year. By that time, I had met other friends in the game that I played with most of the time, and I'd also joined a catgirl supergroup that had me playing on other servers. One day I realized that I hadn't actually played with the members of my own SG in several months, and I didn't anticipate doing so in the future either. They'd never really felt like real friends, just people I happened to be in a SG with. It seemed to me pointless to remain in the group, so I removed my characters.

Later that night I was on an 8-man team in the middle of a big fight when one of my old SG mates sent me a /tell asking why I'd left the SG. I really didn't have time to explain properly, so I tried to explain as best I could in a couple of short sentences. We had a website for our SG and I tried to log on later that night before going to bed to give a better explanation for why I was leaving... and the SG leader had already revoked my password, so I couldn't use the message board.

Anyway to me that only highlighted how we weren't really good friends and one of the reasons why I didn't like him that much. But it always bugged me that I really didn't get a chance to properly say goodbye or why I was leaving. I never talked to any of them again, and I'm pretty sure none of them still play the game.

And I suppose my one other regret is that none of my actual friends have ever stuck with the game, although quite a lot of them have tried it. My old EQ guildmates all got bored, except for one who I don't actually play with (but at least we have each other as global friends); my local friends are all either addicted to WoW or (in one case) addicted to EQII; my friends from Second Life, including the one who convinced me to renew my CoH subscription after I'd been out of the game for a year, all have tried the game and then left within a month or so.

Generally speaking it doesn't make me happy but I can understand why they'd do it. I doubt BotZ prices will drop that much though -- you're still getting ranged and AoE defense and KB protection from three slots in a travel power. It's not like you can easily replace that with something better, especially if you need KB protection anyway.

I'm not sure If I'll even worry about it much on my scrappers, since it won't change my melee defense at all. It's nice to be softcapped at all positions, but it depends on how much trouble I have to go to to softcap ranged/AoE. It may or may not be worth the effort.

I'm always in Brickstown in the 30-40 range. There are always radio teams there. I don't know why you would call it forgotten; it's no more forgotten than Founder's Falls.

I've run the respec trial probably 8 times in the last five months. People run this all the time. Granted, they don't spend a lot of time in TV, but still... you make it sound as if nobody ever heard of it.

You might as well call Striga Isle a forgotten zone. For all that it has two very nice task forces and series of missions leading up to them, most people never go there, and it's usually pretty empty when I visit. Quite a bit more empty than some of the zones you list.

Personally I think for a large portion of the population it's the PvP zones that are lost and forgotten.

But of all the zones you list, there's one that I haven't set foot in in more than a year, maybe two. The troll tunnels. You see, there are no exploration badges there. ^_^

I don't have all those restrictions necessarily, but Sewer Ratty is a toon I created who only plays on Sewer Teams.

I dunno, it's a bit like comparing Bill Gates to all of those Microsoft millionaires who made their money working for him. Being a millionaire these days doesn't mean much... but I wish I were one anyway.

To probably a majority of players, a billion is still a lot of money. To those who are serious about their builds, a billion is a drop in the bucket. You can spend it all and not even outfit one power with a full purple set.

At least I can tell myself that I made my post last Summer, and it displayed more than 6 billion spread over five characters. ^_^

It depends on what you mean by fun. Dual Blades and Martial Arts are fun to me due to the attack animations. Broadsword is fun due to the "crunch! smash!" factor. Dark Melee is fun due to the variety and versatility of the attacks. I enjoy fire melee and electric melee too, and my main is katana... hard to go wrong, really.

Yeah, he got away from me, and I was angry about it, but that passed. But that's a rare mission objective. Generally speaking, I like it when they mix stuff up. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but having the same objectives over and over is boring.

For example, Croatoa mission arcs. You get the "stop 40 fir bolg from escaping" which many many people loathe... first, because the mission objective wording can confuse people encountering it for the first time, and second because guarding the exit makes for a long, boring mission.

Contrast that with the mission where you guard the fairy ring from red caps while the mystics complete a spell. Similar in concept, but most people like that. You have a 15 minute timer, which is just long enough without being too long, and you have a hill road to guard which hems the enemy in, making it easier to accomplish. Enemy ambushes spawn regularly so you're not bored waiting for them to show up.

I think the Crimson one is mostly a failed attempt at a different kind of mission, but I'm glad they tried to do something different. And it's good for those who like a challenge. It's a bit like that PI mission that you have 9 minutes to complete -- early on I was told it was a mission that you were intended to fail, that it was impossible to pull off, but if you have people with stealth or superspeed prepared for it you can do it. I've completed it several times, solo and teamed. And when you do manage to pull it off, you feel like you've actually accomplished something.

Rut roh Raggy....

That's showing Parry stacked more than once, right? Still, that's not very hard to maintain really.

That's pretty impressive for true budget build. ^_^

I tend to jump from project to project. This Winter my project was to level up four different scrappers I was working on, three of which were MA/WP (don't ask why I did that). I got all four to 50, and promptly rolled a defender named "Sonic Girl Seven" whose back story was that she was a buffbot in an AE mission who had escaped into the real world.

I liked this concept so much that I created eight other buffbots -- six more defenders (Rad Girl One, Kin Girl Two, Dark Girl Four, Empathy Girl Five, Bubble Girl Six and Ice Girl Eight) and two Corruptors (Fire Girl Three and Pain Girl Nine). These would be my first two characters made specifically to cross over from one faction to the other, since I want all the buffbots together in the future. I also ran Valentine's Day missions for each of them to get the toga and sandals, made identical costumes for all, and leveled most of them up to 20 (my Empathy was already 20 before I converted her to this cause, and I have two who are still level 17).

Currently Sonic Girl is 42, and Ice Girl and Dark Girl are 35. Many levels were gained during DXP weekend.

In the process of doing all that, I completely failed on another planned project: to get one of my older defenders named Valentine Candy from 45 to 50 during Valentine's Day weekend.

But in the last week I played my broadsword / shield scrapper (the only scrapper I leveled to 50 this year that wasn't MA/WP) in order to gain access to Cimerora, run to ITFs so that I got the nictus shield and broadsword, and ran a ship raid so I could buy the Vanguard shield and sword. That was my project for the last week. ^_^

I started a new project yesterday; I created an electric/shield scrapper. She's 20 now, after gaining 5 levels this morning on a Synapse TF. She's a member of a friend's new SG which is very large (multi-SG with coalition channel). I plan to level this character to 50, but I may jump back to my defenders or jump to some other project first, who knows?

(My friend who invited my newest character to the SG they're in is running a similar multi-defender project, 9 as well I think, where every character is named Multiple Girl II. "At least you can tell which powers yours have based on the name," he said. Heh.)

Aside from adding more costumes, more story arcs, TFs, zones, base building tools and items, AE items and tools, revamping zones and Tfs, etc. etc., I'd want to merge the server lists, and one thing that occurred to me today was that I wish I could view all of my character's costumes from the character selection screen somehow. Probably too much trouble to do that for very little benefit, but still, I wish I could manage it.

I'd really like to add several more "time travel" zones for the Midnighter's Club to visit. There are so many possibilities -- a Victorian/Steampunk/Age of Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper setting would be splendid.

Especially with more Steampunk costume pieces and full skirts for women.

Oh yeah. Merge the markets.

Just for comparison purposes, this is my own broadsword/shield build. I know I'm straying well out of the "on a budget" realm here, but I don't have any purples slotted and the Luck of the Gambler +recharges, the miracle and regen tissue uniques, the steal IO (which I still don't actually have) are not the important part of the build anyway. The rest of the build is still pricey, but I'm pretty certain you can do it for less than 300 million by putting in bids for, say, level 32 IOs, and then waiting a couple of weeks for everything to fill. I've IO'd multiple toons this way.

Anyway, just for comparison purposes, this build is softcapped to all three positions even without Hover on. Maybe not the perfect build but it works for me.

Running the wall in Cimemora with this toon is fun. ^_^ You WANT to be softcapped against the Cims, believe me.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

valkyrie of atlantis: Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(3), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Dam%(5), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Deflection -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(7), LkGmblr-Def(9), LkGmblr-EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 2: Battle Agility -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(11), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(11)
Level 4: True Grit -- Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal(13), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(13), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Numna-Heal/Rchg(15), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(17)
Level 6: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 8: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(17), Zephyr-ResKB(19)
Level 10: Slice -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(19), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Oblit-%Dam(23)
Level 12: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(25), Zephyr-ResKB(27)
Level 16: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), RgnTis-Regen+(29)
Level 18: Whirling Sword -- Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Oblit-Dmg(27), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(29), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(31), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Oblit-%Dam(31)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(33), EndMod-I(33)
Level 22: Build Up -- GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(33), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(34), GSFC-ToHit(34), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(34), GSFC-Build%(36)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 26: Disembowel -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(36), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Dam%(37)
Level 28: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(39), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Oblit-%Dam(46)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-%Dam(40), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(42), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(42), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43)
Level 38: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(40), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(43), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(43), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(45)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(A), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(45), P'Shift-End%(46), P'Shift-EndMod(46), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(48), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(48)
Level 47: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(48), GftotA-Def(50), GftotA-Run+(50)
Level 49: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 0: Ninja Run

Eric: can't click on your build to open either. >.>

You know, one thing I forgot to check in your build is whether you had hover on or not. If you turn on parry and hover, your original build is going to look a bit better already.

Most scrappers prefer the leaping pool and combat jumping. I think it grants a bit more defense? But most of my scrappers actually have hover/fly, because Fly is my favorite travel power, and hover can be very useful on some maps.

And Eric has a point, if you can softcap melee then you don't need parry. I don't have parry on my own broadsword/shield scrapper.

Here's another version of your build (modified by me) with grant cover instead of parry. This is softcapped to all three positions, but in order to get there you'd need a third set of Obliteration and a set of Touch of Death instead of Mako's (along with the fighting pool), and you'll need to have Hover on.

Also: I tend to stick LotG +recharges in wherever I can, but that doesn't mean you need them for the build to work. Often I'll slot some other LotG in until such time as I can get my hands on the +recharge.

My advice: buy IOs below level 50, put in bids and wait for them to fill. I usually slot level 30-33, or maybe a little lower or higher, and I can put together "expensive" builds for 200 or 300 million (not counting the LoTG or heal uniques, which may take me a while to add to the build anyway.)

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 25 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(3), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Deflection -- RedFtn-EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def(7), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(11), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(50)
Level 2: Battle Agility -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(13), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(13), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(15), RedFtn-Def(15)
Level 4: Slice -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-%Dam(17), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(19), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21)
Level 6: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 8: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(11), Zephyr-ResKB(17)
Level 10: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 12: Boxing -- Dmg-I(A)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-ResKB(23), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(27)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(27)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(29), EndMod-I(29)
Level 22: Whirling Sword -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(31), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(31), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33)
Level 24: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(33), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(34)
Level 26: Disembowel -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(34), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(34), T'Death-Acc/Dmg(36), T'Death-Dam%(36), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 28: Grant Cover -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(37), LkGmblr-Rchg+(48)
Level 30: True Grit -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(33), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(43), Numna-Heal(43), Numna-Heal/Rchg(43), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(37), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Oblit-%Dam(39)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(40), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Oblit-%Dam(42)
Level 38: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(42), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(45), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 41: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(46), LkGmblr-Rchg+(48)
Level 44: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 47: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(50), EndMod-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(3), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Deflection -- RedFtn-EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def(7), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(11), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(50)
Level 2: Battle Agility -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(13), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(13), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(15), RedFtn-Def(15)
Level 4: Slice -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(17), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(19), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(19), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21)
Level 6: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 8: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(11), Zephyr-ResKB(17)
Level 10: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 12: Parry -- C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(23), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(25), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(37)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(27), Zephyr-ResKB(48)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(27)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(29), EndMod-I(29)
Level 22: Whirling Sword -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(31), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(31), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33)
Level 24: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(33), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(34)
Level 26: Disembowel -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(34), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Mako-Dam%(36)
Level 28: Boxing -- Dmg-I(A)
Level 30: True Grit -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(33), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(43), Numna-Heal(43), Numna-Heal/Rchg(43), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(37), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Oblit-%Dam(39)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(40), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Oblit-%Dam(42)
Level 38: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(42), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(45), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 41: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(46), LkGmblr-Rchg+(48)
Level 44: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 47: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(50), EndMod-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run

One thing to keep in mind is that parry grants 15% melee defense, and one application of that is pretty easy to keep up, so you don't need to have melee defense at 45% per se. (You can click on the power in Mids to show the defense it adds).

However, I wasn't able to get to the softcap using the Leadership pool. The problem is that it takes 3 power picks to get to weave, so in the above build I don't have grant cover. There's probably a way to reach the softcap without going the tough/weave route, I just find it easier to do this way. (It also might be more expensive to do it while avoiding tough & weave.)

Generally speaking I'm not big on 4 pieces of Kinetic Combat all by themselves, they grant too little accuracy and recharge... even in parry it kinda bugs me. I put in 5 pieces of Crushing Impact for more recharge. And the Blessing of the Zephyr grants ranged and AoE defense, so I didn't feel that you needed to six-slot Red Fortune for the measly 2.5% ranged defense. On a scrapper I'm happier with six-slotting my attacks as opposed to my defenses. ^_^ (Anyway, adding a Steadfast 3% defense in place of that last piece of Red Fortune is a dramatic improvement, 3% across the board instead of 2.5% ranged only.)

The Blessing of the Zephyr KBs will be expensive... and the Numina's unique will be expensive... but I tried not to alter your build too much or add too much cost to it.

Ah, you have gaussian's in tactics, my bad.

Let me look at this a moment.

I can't click to open your build for some reason, but here's a few things:

6-slotted Guassian's in Build Up will grant 2.5% defense to all positions. (Three of those pieces can be a bit hard to come by, at least at lower levels which is what i usually slot.)

6-slotting True Grit with Numina's (the unique is expensive of course) will grant 3.75% ranged defense, and slotting with heal IOs is the best way to go for that power I believe. The numbers guys can explain why that is I'm sure.

Do you have a Steadfast Protection +3% defense slotted? I didn't see it, but I'm just scanning the post here. But those aren't too expensive and that's a big help, 3% across the board.

Most people go the tough/weave route (rather than leadership). I think that would help a great deal too, weave adds about 6% defense to all three positions for me. But I believe it's possible to softcap without it.

Blessing of the Zephyrs for your travel powers help a great deal for ranged and AoE defense. Only the KB one is really expensive.

While you're at it, don't say hello to people. Don't ask how they're doing. Don't say it's a nice day. These are pointless words that accomplish nothing.

Don't welcome people to your team or your supergroup. In fact, don't say anything on a team unless it involves strategy. Friendly banter is pointless.

For that matter, don't post to the message board unless you have something to say that's actually of use. Oh, wait....

I'd say Virtue, Justice, and Freedom top 3. Which the replies here also seem to support.

Not sure if Freedom does villain raids, they only started regular hero raids within the last 3-5 months I think.

Right now Virtue seems to be the most hami-crazy. I can barely get into them anymore, they fill up so fast. I'm going back to my regular Monday schedule though so I may try joining again this coming Monday.