Umbral

The single target choosing capability is designed into the functionality of the class's powers. Rogues do not get a whole slew of AoE effects and they actually get a remarkably large number of abilities that allow them to maintain combat advantage. If you can leverage combat advantage against a specific target, you're obviously doing something wrong. Barbarians have their single target focus built into their attacks. Their target choosing capabilities are built into their additional mobility. Mobility is a way to pick a specific target to take out because it allows you to get into the back and take down protected Artillery monsters that the Defender would have to spend 6 turns getting to. Sorcerers, on the other hand, are not the AoE monster you act like it is. Sorcerors have AoE damage assigned to them as a secondary functionality. They still operate best when they're using their much more substantial single target powers to take down hard targets.

There is bleed over through the roles. This is why you can make fighters that inflict status effects with the best of wizards or clerics that take damage just as well as paladins and are just as hard to kill. The only role that doesn't have significant bleed through is the leader because you just can't make up for the ability to increase healing surge efficiency.

The Striker role is not defined by Sneak Attack, Hunter's Quarry, or Warlock's Curse. Those are simply mechanisms used to accomplish the purpose. The purpose is not simply damage. A Wizard can quite easily outdamage any of those classes with saturated AoEs which even the Sorcerer is incapable of equaling (because Wizards have larger AoEs). The role of the Striker is to make their damage arrive on priority targets so that they can restrict the tactical options of the other side. The Striker either blasts the leader, artillery, or other monster that the other side's strategy is based around from range or uses their substantially better mobility to get themselves there. Once that is done, they move on to other targets that the rest of the team is tying down.

Just looking at PH1 powers (if you want, I can site more from any other book you'd care to mention), Ranger's get all kinds of attacks that allow them to shift. Hit and Run is an at-will power that allows them to disengage without penalty and Nimble Strike allows them to shift 1 before or after the attack. More than half of their encounter attacks allow them additional movement to go along with an attack. Compare the number of powers that a Ranger gets that allow him to move with the number of powers that a Wizard gets that allows him to move. Wizards get a couple utilities. Rangers get a plethora of powers of all types that let them get into superior positions while they make their attacks. Even worse, just check out the MP2 for the Marauder which is based on charging from target to target like the Barbarian.

First off, Druids are the worst controllers from an AoE standpoint and Sorcerers are the best strikers from an AoE standpoint. Comparing the two isn't altogether fair, since you're ignoring the additional benefits and costs associated with those powers, much less those classes (Sorcerers are striker sub controller for AoE whereas Druid is controller sub defender/striker with emphasis on mobility). Sorcerer AoEs that can compete with Controller AoEs on a point for point basis require that Sorcerers be in melee (Storm Sorcerers have substantially lower damage dealing capabilities than Draconic Sorcerers). Sorcerer AoEs are also smaller. When Wizards are getting access to area burst 3 AoEs, Sorcerors are still using area burst 1s. When Sorcerers get area burst 3 AoEs, Wizards are using area burst 4s and 5s. Magnitude of an AoE isn't the only thing that matters. When you get to higher levels, the size of an AoE matters just as much because not everything clumps up nice and happy.

I think getting off-topic is getting to be something of a trademark of mine in these discussions.

Except that in CoX, enemies can't choose to ignore them. It's a function of predictable AI. A more clear statement would be to say that allowing Tankers to deal more damage to targets that aren't attacking them is a good idea.

Tyrant is in the middle range, in my experience. I've never found his normal attacks to be particularly distressing, but his Laser Beam Eyes hit like a truck and are AoE positional (even though they're ST). If anything, those will probably be what gets you because you're pretty much guaranteed to be softcapped to melee (which is everything else he does).

Just to nitpick, but the four roles of 4th ed. D&D don't really apply to the confines of CoX. Each role has 2 primary functions that define it as such. Defenders have the ability to mark (and the ability to enforce those marks with reciprocal damage) and superior survivability. Strikers have superior single target damage and target choosing capability (whether through superior range or superior mobility). Controllers have area effect abilities and status effects. Leaders have buffs and the ability to heal.

Tankers and Defenders easily fit into the Defender and Leader roles respectively, but the Blaster, Controller, and Scrapper ATs don't fit into any of the D&D roles quite as well because they don't have quite the same focus. Blasters have substantially more AoE than a Striker would have in D&D because Strikers are all about taking out a single specific target, which means they're something like a Controller meets a Striker. Scrappers make a decent case for being Strikers except that they don't have superior mobility or target choosing capability, which is part of the Striker hallmark: they're more like a Defender meets a Striker. The Controller AT isn't an easy fit for the Controller role because, while the Controller AT has substantial ability to provide mez effects, they don't provide much AoE damage and they provide nearly equal support to a Defender. Controllers are almost equally split between the Leader and the Controller roles, thanks to almost completely lacking a real ability to provide one of the big benefits of Controllers.

Actually, you're a bit wrong here. While a target can only be marked by one target at a time, a Defender (or anyone else that generates the marked effect) can have any number of targets marked at any time. Fighters have the option to mark any target they make an attack against so simply making a close burst 1 attack will mark every nearby enemy. Wardens have the specific ability to mark every adjacent enemy as a free action once per turn. Paladins and Swordmages are restricted from marking more than one target with their baseline capabilities, but Paladins are capable of marking other targets with powers that generate divine sanction (i.e. short duration, unrestricted divine challenge) and Swordmages have feats in the paragon (double aegis) and epic tiers (total aegis) that allow them to mark multiple targets along with a number of powers that specifically allow them to mark additional targets.

The bigger advantage of having more Defenders in D&D is that Defenders don't just tank: they provide substantial damage on their own and having more around means that you can spread out the damage in a more effective manner. Unlike in CoX, even a buffed Defender can drop if he gets aggro from every enemy on the field because hits are much more brutal than they are in CoX.

I had this idea a while ago when I was discussing with a friend of mine what really defined the various roles in 4th ed. and how 4th ed. dealt with the logical problems of the guy in armor being the preferred target. Defenders in D&D actually have the highest damage potential of any of the roles because of the potency of their reciprocal damage (i.e. the damage they deal if you don't attack them when they're telling you to). This is limited by the fact that a target can choose at any time to prevent this bonus damage (with a few exceptions like an assault Swordmage marking then running out of range of the marked target so that they can teleport in and beat the target's face).

This works pretty much exclusively because the target is controlled by the GM that is capable of making intelligent (though not too intelligent if he's playing a stupid monster) decisions and weighing the various factors on the field. An MMO wouldn't be able to manage with a system like this without some stronger AI (most likely involving randomization and comparative chances of various actions based on situational modifiers) which would necessitate substantially more server effort.

The benefits of giving Tankers the system as I described it was that it provides a logical basis for Gauntlet to operate off of, gives Tankers a bit of a damage boost on team, and prevent redundant uselessness while on a team without making them an automatically preferably choice to other damage dealers thanks to having lower damage scalars. In reasonably sure that determining whether a target has you selected is already possible (think reverse placate), so all it would require would be a single check through a binary function all in order to determine if the attack is going to deal extra damage. It would take about as much server effort as calculating Striker crits.

I would have to agree with this sentiment overall. The only problems I ever see with Tankers are DPE and team based redundancy. The first isn't that bad of a problem in my experience because Tankers can generally last longer in a fight thanks to having better survivability contributions per point of endurance spent, but the second is a bigger problem because Tankers get redudant faster than any other AT in the game. You can always use more damage or more support, but you really don't need more than one guy to focus all of the fire on himself. There isn't much need for another Tanker after the first unless the first Tanker isn't capable of doing his job (i.e. getting aggro and not dying), at which point the first Tanker isn't pulling his own weight.

My personal solution for this is to simply give Tankers a "secondary inherent" that causes all of their powers to deal an additional 25% damage to any target that isn't currently targeting them. If there are multiple tanks on the team, then the second is going to be dealing a bit more damage to let him fulfill a "damage" role to go along with being an offtank. If he's the only one on the team, when the Shield Scrapper steals agg because the Tanker didn't slot Taunt for taunt duration, it'll be a bit easier to pull it off because the Tanker is dealing a bit more damage.

Personally, I think it addresses some of the logical reasons why Tankers would be getting aggro in the first place. It doesn't make much sense for enemies to attack a Tanker just because he's there and punching lighter than the other guys around. If anything, it would make less sense because he's taking less damage and dealing less damage. It does make a decent bit more sense to attack the Tanker if he's going to break your face in if you don't start attacking him. He demands your attention. If you don't go along with that plan, he's going to make you regret that decision. The Scrapper is going to hurt no matter what, but if attacking the Tanker is going to lighten the damage load a bit, it makes sense to focus on the guy who gets hurt less.

The Hulk is more of a blueside Brute than a Tanker, imo. He's actually empowered by his anger and causes almost as much, if not more, damage to the surrounding area than villains he's fighting do, not to mention that he's oftentimes on the receiving end of hero and military attacks thanks to his lack of control.

What you're forgetting is that those are stories and not games. In games, you have to balance out characters. In stories, you're allowed to have obscenely overpowered characters working with substantially weaker characters and have them both be interesting and enjoyable because no one has specific ownership of any single character and the author can control how the story goes. In games, you can't do this because each person has specific ownership of a single character and will demand fairness be applied. If you were to realistically put Batman up against Superman in a game like CoH, Batman would get his face creamed because Sueprman is tougher, faster, stronger, and smarter than Batman to such an extent that, unless Batman had an "instagib" temp power, Batman would fall over dead within the first few seconds.

The comic book reason has more to do with the themes of the characters that fit those archetypes and what role they would fulfill within a team based environment. Super strong characters that fight with brute force as their weapon (rather than using a specific fighting style or weapon) aren't really Scrappers because the defining characteristic of Scrappers in CoX is the Critical Hit mechanism, which are dev defined as precision strikes rather than lucky blows.

Because Follow Up requires substantially more animation time to provide that benefit and doesn't provide BU levels of damage and tohit permanently with SO grade slotting. FU is only 37.5% +dam and 10% +tohit for 10 seconds on a 12 second recharge with a 1.056 sec animation time. Rage would be 100% +dam and 20% +tohit for 120 seconds with an enforced 10 second downtime after on a 240 second recharge and negligible animation time. You can't compare the two of them by the numbers and find FU to be the broken one if you actually know anything about numbers.

Except that those numbers are wrong.

Now, let's just ignore caps right off the bat because balance deals with SO grade performance. If anything, capped performance would skew Tanker performance even higher than Scrapper performance because Tankers can get so much harder to kill than a Scrapper.

Tanker defense mods are 1.0 and Scrappers are .75. Tankers are 33% more survivable than Scrappers and Scrappers are 25% less survivable than Tankers. Right there, it's already demonstrated that your comparison values Scrapper defenses too high. Combine this with the fact that Tankers have 1874.1 hp at 50 and Scrappers only have 1338.6 hp, and you see that Tanker's are 40% harder to kill and have 40% better heals than Scrappers while Scrappers are 30% easier to kill and have 30% weaker heals. Overall, Tankers are 86% harder to kill than Scrappers and Scrappers are 47.5% easier to kill than Tankers.

Now, Scrappers have a base damage scalar of 1.125 with a 7.5% raw damage contribution from their inherent giving them a functional damage scalar of 1.21. Tankers have a base damage scalar of .8 with no other raw damage contributions. Scrappers have 50% better damage than a Tanker and Tankers have 33% worse damage than Scrappers.

Now, using this information about base scalars which completely ignores powerset options (which would favor Tankers even more thanks to sets like Stone Melee, Stone Armor, Super Strength, and Energy Melee which are incredibly powerful but Scrappers do not have access to), your "ratings" should look much more like this:

Scrappers: damage (10), defense (5.25)
Tankers: damage (6.66), defense (10)

You seem to be inflating Scrapper defenses by a large amount while ignoring the fact that Tankers actually deal some rather respectable damage.

The problem in the SO grade isn't so much the size of the buff so much as the duration. I'd have no problem with Rage if it had an uptime ratio or average buff contribution on par with Soul Drain rather than the ability to be perma with SOs.

Assuming a 5 target Soul Drain (20% +tohit, 100% +dam) and ignoring animation time (long recharge makes the animation comparatively minor), that's an average 50% uptime ratio for 10% +tohit and 50% +dam on average. To get even uptime, you'd need to double the baseline recharge which would turn the +dam benefit into 10% +tohit with 50% +dam with a 4% enforced downtime. To get even contribution factoring in the enforced downtime (assuming 95% +dam slotting), the devs would need to increase the buff to 120% +dam if the uptime were equal or pull the +dam down to 70% (with a likely reduction in the tohit bonus as well because perma 20% +tohit is just crazy OP) if the uptime ratio was left as is.

Also, the other big problem I'd have with nerfing KO Blow, FS, and Rage is that the set would suck miserably if you did that. Jab, Punch, and Hurl are all horrible attacks thanks to their comparatively long animations. Haymaker is only barely decent. I'd much rather the entire set get a near complete overhaul rather than an attempt to balancing it by bringing the overpowered powers in line without improving the horribly underperforming attacks at least a little bit.

Of course, this is ignoring my view that Scrappers should never get Super Strength. In comic books, you don't see Scrapper characters running around ripping through buildings. They might have superhuman strength, but they use that strength with precision rather than outright brute force. With the exception of Dual Blades (which I am sure Tanks and Brutes only got because they wanted to give the new set to as many ATs as possible), Tankers have brute force based powersets. The same applies to Brutes with the additional exception of Claws. Scrappers have more graceful/precision based sets, and Super Strength belongs on Scrappers about as much as Stone Armor and Stone Melee do.

I think the OP is referring to a Field Analyst for mish difficulty modification rather than a trainer.

I've already got that. I just don't bother showing stuff like that in Mids' because it has no substantive effect on the build.

BF>AV has very low recharge requirements (134%, 14%, 77%, 113%, for each attack respectively) so you can manage it without much cost. If you want to do it without Hasten, however, it's going to cost you a bit more than by taking Hasten because it's doubtful you'll get 95% +rech in those attacks so you'll otherwise need to get roughly 70% +rech from enhancements along with 65% global +rech or simply take Hasten.

Typed defense followed by +hp. +Regen is rather redundant for the same reasons as it applies to */Regen. +Rech is nice for your attack string, but it does nothing to increase your survivability so you should probably focus on a good-but-not-the-best attack string and focus on maxing out your unkillability.

Be warned. It's expensive.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

+def concept: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Regeneration
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), T'Death-Dam%(46)
Level 1: Fast Healing -- Mrcl-Heal(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(48)
Level 2: Shadow Maul -- Armgdn-Dmg(A), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(7), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(9), Armgdn-Dam%(11)
Level 4: Reconstruction -- Panac-Heal/EndRedux(A), Panac-EndRdx/Rchg(11), Panac-Heal/Rchg(13), Panac-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(13), Panac-Heal(15)
Level 6: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(7), EndMod-I(48)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(17), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(19), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), T'Death-Dam%(21)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(34)
Level 12: Dull Pain -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal(25), Dct'dW-Rchg(25)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-ResKB(15)
Level 16: Integration -- Panac-Heal(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(17), Numna-Heal(27), Panac-Heal/+End(27)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(31), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Oblit-%Dam(34)
Level 20: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 22: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(37), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(37)
Level 24: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(37), LkGmblr-Def(39)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(39), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Oblit-%Dam(42)
Level 28: Instant Healing -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Rchg(29), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Dct'dW-Heal(31), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(42)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(A), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(36), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Hectmb-Dam%(45)
Level 35: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(39), S'dpty-Def(46), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(46)
Level 38: Moment of Glory -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(42), RechRdx-I(43), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(43), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(43), GSFC-Build%(45), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(50), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(50)
Level 44: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(45)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A)
Level 49: Resilience -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GA-3defTpProc(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

You're looking at the Mids' number, and I'm looking at the City of Data numbers. CoD might be a bit out of date (I think RedToMax quit or something), but the numbers are right. The Mids' numbers probably don't properly correct for the damage from hidden so they show Dark Blast dealing twice as much damage as it should.

Except for the fact that that fix only applies to a specific case involving the Numina's unique wherein both values were being enhanced by either enhancement type being present (i.e. putting it into a power with heal enhancement enhanced both the regen and recov of the heal unique).

The behavior is being left alone as far as we know and is simply correcting that specific behavior in the Numina proc. If they do correct it, I'm more than confident they would say they were correcting a problem with all of the heal uniques rather than just one.

PvE leveling, they're all roughly equal. All three sets are on the "low" level of the survivability scale and provide different benefits: Shield is pretty much all damage, Elec is a bit of damage but mostly utility in the form of endurance assistance, and Fire is pretty much a decent mix of the two.

Well, any of them should be able to solo EBs without much effort. They're EBs. I'm not entirely sure any of them would be able to solo AVs without a decent bit of investment and, as soon as you start talking about investment, Shield wins hands down. Softcapping defense does more for you than almost anything you can do with Elec or Fire, and AAO's +dam easily beats out any damage contribution of a normal damage aura.

While I'm not a PvP expert, nor do I even make the vaguest supposition of being so, I'm reasonably confident that Shield is pretty laughable at PvP: defense is supposed to be pretty much useless thanks to high player accuracy and +tohit. Between Fire and Elec, I'd probably put more money on Fire thanks to have FE for better burst damage and endurance modification of any kind being relatively useless in PvP (which is kind of Elec's schtick).

DM Stalkers and DM Scrappers are entirely different beasts. Losing out on Dark Consumption, Quick Recovery, and Soul Drain hurts.

I presume you mean from the Patron pool. If I'm correct, it's not. Smite>Siphon>Smite>MG is still going to be a better attack string for you. Dark Blast animates at the same speed, recharges in the same time, and uses up pretty much the same endurance, while dealing less damage than Smite. And Smite is probably the worst power in that attack string.

I wouldn't. At that point, it becomes just another self heal on a 6 minute base recharge. Completely not worth it in my opinion.

I would aim for the same defense numbers that I recommend for all non-sword Scraps: 35% +def(melee) and 25% +def(ranged/AoE).

I would kill (well, maybe not "kill", but definitely "maim") to have Shadow Meld on a Scrapper. It's probably just the power to make up for not having Dull Pain since, with a decent bit of recharge, you can get Shadow Meld up to a 33% uptime, which is beautiful when it's softcapping you.

I would aim for at least 70% +rech outside of Hasten.

Here's what I could manage for a build. It doesn't quite get as much defense as I'd like, but it manages the recharge and attack string requirements rather well. I'm not entirely sure about the endurance sustainability of it, though with MoG it should be enough to solo an AV (8:44 seconds of sustainable endurance).

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Stalker
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Regeneration
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), T'Death-Dam%(31)
Level 1: Hide -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(42), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(43)
Level 2: Shadow Maul -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(7), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(7), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Oblit-%Dam(42)
Level 4: Reconstruction -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(11), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Dct'dW-Heal(13), Dct'dW-Rchg(13)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 8: Build Up -- AdjTgt-Rchg(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(15)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(15), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(17), Zephyr-Travel(17), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(19)
Level 12: Placate -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(19)
Level 16: Integration -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(21), RgnTis-Regen+(21), Numna-Heal/Rchg(23)
Level 18: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(48), Numna-Heal(50)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(23), EndMod-I(25)
Level 22: Siphon Life -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(25), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(27), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), T'Death-Dam%(29)
Level 24: Boxing -- Amaze-Stun(A), Amaze-Stun/Rchg(40), Amaze-Acc/Stun/Rchg(40), Amaze-Acc/Rchg(40), Amaze-EndRdx/Stun(42)
Level 26: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam(31), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(31), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 28: Instant Healing -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(33), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Dct'dW-Heal(33), Dct'dW-Rchg(34)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(34), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(34)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(A), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(36), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Hectmb-Dam%(37), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 35: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(37), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 38: Moment of Glory -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(39), RechRdx-I(39), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 41: Moonbeam -- ExtrmM-Acc/Dmg(A), ExtrmM-Dmg/EndRdx(43), ExtrmM-Acc/ActRdx/Rng(43), ExtrmM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(46), ExtrmM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), ExtrmM-Acc/Rng/Rchg(46)
Level 44: Shadow Meld -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(45), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 47: Fast Healing -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(50), Numna-Heal/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Resilience -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Assassination

How about Any/*. Honestly, the outright "best" is going to be Fire Melee because the only thing that really matters is ST damage, but they'll all do fine.

Enough protection for what? Leveling, yes. Low budget AV soloing, no.

Not really. Just stick a recharge or 2 in there and stick it on auto and you'll barely notice a difference.

Yes. It's an excellent blend of ST and AoE damage.

The mobs do. The Perf Shifter proc grants endurance to the initial target of the power.

A*/Regen with melee attacks. Self healing is one of the only things that is actually successful and melee attacks are the primary use for Scrappers.

What you're saying here is pure preference. There is nothing stopping a manipulation set from loving the crap out of melee. Fire Manipulation has only a single ranged attack; everything else is melee and a good deal of it is pure damage. Elec Manip is similarly designed with a heavy emphasis on melee damage and a bit of melee range utility. If anything, the existing manipulation sets have demonstrated that they're supposed to be light on buffing and evenly split between control (with special emphasis on soft control rather than hard) and melee damage.

There is no precedent for not getting a power just because another set has it. If anything, there is precedent for a new set getting a power even though another set has it if the fit is thematic. Fast Healing and Quick Recovery are in both Willpower and Regen (Reconstruction is in both for Stalkers).

Of course, even if there was a problem with that, you could just as easily give it a different name and have the same functional benefits similar to how Charged Brawl and Havoc Punch are virtually identical to Energy Punch and Bone Smasher.

My old build had Sense of Humor fully slotted, but I wasn't quite happy with it. I switched over to a build with Hate, Bile, and NerdRage fully slotted, and I'm liking it a lot more.