Umbral

It's not really an issue that -regen is either underpowered or overpowered: it's both. In a vast majority of situations, it's useless because nothing regenerates fast enough to make debuffing their regen worthwhile. In the small number of situations in which it is useful, it's absurdly powerful because of how it reduces dam/sec requires by such a sharp degree (not that stacking up to 50-70% -regen would actually do much to an AV that resists that down to 7.5-10.5% -regen).

Honestly, I don't think that many people would complain about a blast set with -dam as long as it wasn't absurdly large. It wouldn't be enhanceable, and it would most likely only stack up to 20% or so after a full string of attacks, so it's not particularly dangerous either, especially since it's a lot more likely for the set itself to be more DoT oriented than direct damage oriented (which would necessitate a greater level of survivability to account for the greater risk posed by having a larger degree of delayed damage).

Considering that there haven't been any chances to the game that have made baseline play either the enemies harder or Blasters weaker, I'm going to have to go with the basic party line that it's all in your head. Either you suck more now than you did than or it's simply an observation bias.

First of all, Castle has stated a number of times that tier has absolutely jack and **** to do with the potency of a power. The only thing tier has anything to do with is the level in which you gain access to a power and, therefore, a loose relationship to its fundamental importance to the set as a whole.

I can think of another couple of significant differences between ET and KO Blow: ET deals 28% more base damage and recharges 20% faster.

That's not a problem. SS is still getting KO Blow (which is actually substantially stronger than most tier 9 ST attacks because of its significantly shorter animation time) at a lower level. The powerset gets ST damage focus early on and gets what AoE focus it gets later on. Besides, it's not as if SS is even a decent precedent to use for a set anyways. The entire set is a representation of why heuristic balancing mechanisms are completely facepalm when you don't holistically analyze a system. The set is only "balanced" because Footstomp, KO Blow, and Rage are overpowered but everything else is horrible underpowered.

The only place ET was the power that EM relied on was PvP. In PvE, thanks to recharge times, you actually got more real use out of Bone Smasher and Energy Punch and still do. Even so, ET is still incredibly powerful, it's just not as borked as it used to be. It's still got a DPA that's through the roof. It still recharges faster and costs substantially less endurance than its damage says it should. It's not a bad power. It's just not as awesome as it used to be (which was absurdly awesome and in need of significant nerfing).

The question as to whether the set should once again be absolute top tier for ST damage is the debatable point. Honestly, I think that EM should get a bit of an AoE boost either through an improvement to WH (by increasing its radius to 10' or its damage scalar to 1.2) or turning ET into a targeted AoE (which I think would be a great idea, though the devs would need to make the -hp a cost per activation rather than a cost per target unless they drastically reduce the -hp). Tweaking TF so that it's not a giant waste of animation time might also be nice since it sucks miserably with the animation time it's current got.

Your best bet is to simply go for positional defense. Slot up some Obliteration 6 piece sets and Touch of Death 6 piece sets where you can. Take Weave, Maneuvers, and Combat Jumping/Hover. Slot a Steadfast Protection 3% +def IO in Temp Protection (which you did take because of the slow resist, right?). Throw in some BotZ 3 piece sets in SJ and CJ. That should net you 33.4% +def(melee) and 17.9% +def(ranged, AoE). With a few more +def set bonuses thrown in (Aegis, Mako's Bite), you should be able to manage at least 20% +def to ranged and AoE. Those defenses, combined with the preexisting resistances FA has, should be enough to get you where you want to be.

The math actually disagrees with you quite a bit actually. Accuracy enhancement is of paramount importance until you saturate it because everything else is functionally diminished by your chance to hit (your chance to miss is a chance to waste damage, endurance, and recharge). Damage enhancement is next because it directly increases dam/sec and dam/end by simply increasing damage (making you both more effective and efficient at damage). End redux and recharge vary in importance depending upon the specifics of your build: Recharge increases your end/sec consumption while similarly increasing your dam/sec by pretty much the same amount (increasing effectiveness but decreasing your efficiency) while End Redux ignores your dam/sec while only improving end/sec (increasing efficiency by ignoring effectiveness).

Essentially, you should always slot Acc until you have 95% chance to hit, Dam until you have gotten it to at least 90%, and then devote the other enhancement values to End Redux or Rech as your build needs. End Redux is more important if your blue bar is hurting and Rech is more important if your blue bar can take a bit more punishment.

Well, it's not going to be a crazy fast farmer like Spines would, but Claws is the #2 AoE set, iirc (Evis, Spin, and Shockwave). You could probably make a decent farmer with virtually any secondary, since Claws brings a decent bit of AoE mitigation from Shockwave, low end costs, and good AoE damage.

What you're forgetting is that -regen is pretty much useless except in the most extreme cases. You'd be faced with the problem of having a secondary effect that does pretty much nothing except against the absolute toughest enemies in the game, at which point it is disproportionately useful. Every other secondary effect is useful against at least a large majority of enemies (except for end drain, which is pretty much useless thanks to enemy recov and end costs) and none of them are only noticeably useful against only the toughest enemies. It would make a great deal more sense to simply have a more generally useful secondary effect such as -dam (2-4% -dam per attack, stackable to 10-15%) to represent the weakening of the target.

Well, first thing, Blasters have already been made tougher than they originally were by having their base hit points increased to their current value from back when (I6? 7?), so it's not like they have never been made tougher than they were at release.

Secondly, Blasters' primary contributor to survivability is operating as an indirect reduction in damage by reducing the time exposed to danger. In simpler terms, killing stuff is how you survive. Your secondary survivability tool is mez effects, but you've sacrificed that option by going with a pure damage powerset combination. It's not the fault of the AT that you chose a powerset combination that doesn't mitigate incoming damage. I've seen a number of quite hardy blasters that could remain in a fight for quite a long time because of their powerset combination and the incredible control effects that it afforded them.

I agree with everything you've said here except one thing: DA is no easier to stack than Parry since they both share the exact same numbers (same damage, animation time, duration, accuracy, recharge, end costs, everything but cosmetic differences). The only way that you could possibly construe that Kat/* is better than BS/* where stacking DA/Parry is concerned is insofar as the Kat/* attacks animate faster, but that's not really an issue since you're cycling 2-3 attacks between DAs with Kat/* rather than 1-2 Parries with BS/*.

Personally, I'd probably go with Kat/*. It's got better top end performance in virtually every category, and the animations are a good deal more attractive. Of course, BS/* has the best/most weapon customizations (tied with DB/* for most because Main Gauche and Main Droite are identical; the names simply refer to which blade the heavy dagger is held in) so if that matters, I would go with BS/* since the differences don't appear until very late and are a rather small difference.

Well, duh, you're not Jewish. I called up my resident Jew (well, not resident seeing as she doesn't live with me, she's just a friend) and found out it's spelled Chanukah. The "Ch" is used because the "H" doesn't quite get across that wonderful Yiddish noise in the back of the throat that's just like clearing your throat (and thereby the reason that it's the best language evar). The second 'n' isn't used because the 'n' sound isn't supposed to be present at end of the first syllable (it's only supposed to be present at the start of the second).

You're correct there. When you're already recovering 50 hp/sec, it's kinda pointless to add an extra 3.

This is an excellent train of thought because of how damage mitigation (defense, resistance) and damage recovery (regen, heals) interact. The more mitigation you have, the more you functionally regenerate because that regeneration is acting upon a smaller amount of incoming damage. Furthermore, the powersets are themselves balanced around their performance exclusive to external benefits, so a set that has no damage recovery is going to have substantially more damage mitigation to make up for the lack thereof, further allowing any additional regeneration to add to contribute more.

The best I can imagine would be for an Invuln/* Tanker. Invuln/* has excellent mitigation, very little native damage recovery (a little bit from Dull Pain), and, most importantly, a boatload of hit points. Because regeneration is a function of max hp, any +regen you get is going to add more hp/sec to a toon with more hit points than another. Invuln/* is a win because it is almost exclusively focused on damage mitigation over damage recovery (making damage recovery more valuable on a comparative basis) and can max out hit point to further maximize hp/sec from what +regen it gets.

Whenever I see a discussion involving discussion of the Trinity (and it's not exclusively to MMOs, it's been around for at least as long as video games have had classes), I always get all smiley inside and bring up 4th ed. D&D. It's a wonderful thing from point of view of role interaction.

In 4th ed., there are 4 roles as the designers have set them: Defenders, Strikers, Leaders, and Controllers. Every class fits within the confines of these 4 roles, often with a secondary role or two depending upon your specific choices within the class in question. Defenders are harder to hurt remarkably (with slightly higher hp and slightly higher defenses) and have the only real methods of encouraged target differentiation (by getting free attacks when specific enemies attack their friends and not the Defender). Strikers are all about damage (specifically single target) and are equipped with the ability to bring the pain to targets of interest (whether by having excellent range or gobs of mobility). Leaders are about support and healing surge efficiency (which only matter in long, drawn out campaigns with little rest time). Controllers are about AoE damage and control (though not always in that order).

Upon first glance, it seems like the entire game was designed around the trinity: there is a "tank" (Defender), a "healer" (Leader), and 2 "DPS" (Controller and Striker). The interesting thing, however, is that none of those roles eclipse the fundamental role of simply dishing out damage. Defenders protect their team while dishing out damage (and oftentimes specifically by dishing out damage because their "taunt" is balanced to such an extent that it allows them to deal slightly more damage per turn than a Striker if the targets trigger their retributive damage capabilities). Leaders support their team while dishing out damage (their primary heal is only a minor action, allowing you to still use attacks, all but a small number of which deal damage and provide a supportive effect as well). Controllers deal damage while they're controlling.

It's an incredibly well developed system because no specific role is absolutely required for a well rounded party. Defenders aren't needed if you can tactically spread the damage around in a fair manner or everyone is already tough enough. Leaders aren't needed because there are already numerous methods of healing available to everyone: all Leaders do is make the healing more efficient (which makes them the only role that could, feasibly, be considered "necessary", but only for campaign structures that don't allow for many extended rests). Controllers aren't necessary because every class has some degree of control and AoE damage available to it. Strikers aren't necessary because they're not the sole source of damage. I've run one party with 4 Strikers and a Leader, another with 3 Defenders, a Leader and a Controller, and another with 2 Leaders, 2 Defenders, and a Striker among more traditional splits.

The best way to describe it is to say that everyone was given the ability to perform at 100% before any character choices were made. From that point on, every choice you made serves only to make your character more than that 100%, but only by a few points. Every class totals out to 120%, and the differences between the classes are in their implementation and playstyle, which makes that 20% extra seem like so much more. It's a wonderful design for a class based game. All of the classes are different and specialized based upon specific roles but none of them are necessary but all of them synergize.

Archvillain resistance doesn't contribute to resistance debuff resistance. It does, however, contribute to virtually every other form of debuff resistance. The only form of resistance debuff resistance that I know of is the debuff resistance inherent in having resistance itself. I'm also not entirely sure (re: too lazy to check right now), but I believe that -res is affected by the purple patch, but I could easily be wrong. That won't matter much if you're soloing AVs though since you're going to be tackling them at an even level almost assuredly.

The reason the -res proc is better than a simple damage proc is because it does more. Using the attack string I gave you, the AH proc would provide you with 10.5% -res (and thusly 10.5% more damage). The Hecatomb proc would provide you with 9.45 DPS (107.1*.33*3/11.22). In order for the two to have parity, you would need to be dealing only 90 DPS.

Slotting specifically for +dam isn't something I would recommend for a PvE Scrapper because the amounts are so small. If you slot heavily for it, you'll manage roughly 30% +dam, which still isn't all that much to cheer for.

Alright, according to the limitations of no purples and no PvP IOs, here's the build. It's a little too slow to run the attack string I gave you (I'd need to dip into purples to get there), but it should be more than enough to take out AVs. I included The Lotus Drops (which, thanks to SSK, you'll always have available) but excluded Flashing Steel. If you really wanted to spec into it, you could do away with SJ, and steal 2 slots from BU. I'd probably give it a Scirocco's Dervish 5 piece. Of course, if you went for the purple sets, you'd be able to fit in some more Obliteration loving (because you're replacing GD with Armageddon and GC with Hecatomb).

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

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Regeneration
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Achilles-ResDeb%(7)
Level 1: Fast Healing -- Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Reconstruction -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(7), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Dct'dW-Heal(9), Dct'dW-Rchg(11)
Level 4: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(11), EndMod-I(13)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(13), Winter-ResSlow(27)
Level 8: Divine Avalanche -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(15), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), LkGmblr-Rchg+(19)
Level 10: Dull Pain -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg(19), RechRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(21), Heal-I(23)
Level 12: Build Up -- AdjTgt-Rchg(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(23), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(25), Zephyr-ResKB(27)
Level 16: Integration -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(29), RgnTis-Regen+(29), Heal-I(31)
Level 18: The Lotus Drops -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(31), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(31), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Oblit-%Dam(33)
Level 20: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 22: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(34), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(36), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 26: Soaring Dragon -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(36), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(37), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), T'Death-Dam%(39)
Level 28: Instant Healing -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(39), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(40), LkGmblr-Def(40)
Level 32: Golden Dragonfly -- Oblit-Acc/Rchg(A), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(42), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Oblit-Dmg(43), Oblit-%Dam(43)
Level 35: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(43), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(45)
Level 38: Moment of Glory -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(40), RechRdx-I(46), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(45), P'Shift-End%(45), P'Shift-EndMod(46), EndMod-I(46)
Level 47: Tactics -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(48), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(48), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(48), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(50), GSFC-Build%(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: Critical Hit

I can give you a build if you give me a budget. I feel reluctant to give you a "dear god, I can feel my wallet shrink just by looking at it" build, especially if you've already got one of those toons.

Yes. Kat/Regen is an excellent build for ST damage. It's got decent DPS and excellent survivability (thanks to high damage recovery from */Regen and high damage mitigation from Kat/*).

I would go for at least 150 DPS, though DPS is less important than survivability and endurance sustainability when it comes to AVs and Pylon soloing because you're in there for the long haul. Assuming 300 DPS (i.e. more than any scrapper we've found can do), it would take a little over 2 minutes before you killed the target (roughly). Less damage is going to increase the time much faster.

The only procs I would recommend investing in are the -res procs, and, even then, only one of each. The AH proc is going to be relatively easy to get but the Gladiator proc is going to be a great deal more expensive, and it doesn't grant you as great an increase in DPS, so you can put it off for a while.

I highly doubt that was the attack string that anyone on these boards was using. It's much more likely (especially for a +rech hound like */Regen), that the attack string was DA>GD>GC>SD>GC>GD>GC>SD, assuming the build had was softcapped with only a single DA. For a that attack string, you'd need 250% +rech in GD, 136% +rech in SD, and 90% +rech in GC (none is required for DA).

You'll want to sacrifice some DPS to fit in at least 1 application of DA every 10 seconds. If you're not, you're giving up one of the best reasons to roll with a Kat/* Scrapper. I would recommend getting enough +def(melee) so that you'll be able to softcap with a single application of DA. With an LotG +rech slotted into it, this means you'll want to get at least 27.6% +def(melee). Any other +def you get should focus on AoE and Ranged, though you won't need to focus on it especially hard.

I'm not sure if I would recommend taking both, but I can definitely see recommending at least one of the two AoE powers for Kat/* since Obliteration is such a great set. You may want to look into taking SJ or SS because the BotZ sets are incredible (though you can slot them into CJ to save a power selection if it really means all that much).

I would put my money on it not getting proliferated to Brutes and Tankers if only because Parry would be disturbingly powerful in the hands of a target with the already substantial survivability of a Brute or Tanker. If it ever were proliferated, I would expect some other power to replace Parry if only to prevent the inordinate survivability that would come from giving what amounts to free melee defense softcapping capability to the high hp ATs.

Well, the bigger problem, as I see it, is that while click powers benefit from recharge, it also increases their costs in the form of animation time. As you decrease the recharge time of the power, there is an exponential (though a slow exponential) growth in the amount of animation time consumed. This translates directly into a reduction in offensive and defensive capability as you have more and more powers competing in ever increasing quantities for a single resource that is never capable of being increased. Sure, you can become more survivable on a */regen, but, by doing so, you're reducing your own damage capabilities as the same time.

Well, first things, Invuln has no movement penalty. You may be thinking of Stone, which does have the movement penalty, but isn't available to Scrappers. On the question of uniqueness, you've first got to confront the magnitude of the difference in which the set is made unique. */Regen operates off of a completely different scale than the other sets and uses a completely different mechanism for its contribution. Whereas every set you've mentioned uses toggles and passive powers for the vast majority of its survivability, */Regen uses click powers. Whereas every set you've mentioned uses defense and/or resistance (and mez effects, in the case of Dark), */Regen uses straight up damage recovery (Resilience doesn't count by any stretch of the imagination). Whereas every other set has a decent enough suite of debuff resistance and other debuff countermeasures, */Regen has none. The magnitude of difference between */Regen and every other set out there is huge.

The only set that could potentially rival */Regen in the level of difference is Dark and that's only because it uses a different cap on performance. */SR isn't anywhere near as different from the "standard" than */Regen, since, as you pointed out, the only way in which it is unique is in that it doesn't have a method to increase survivability through +rech (which isn't even true because neither do WP or SD), which is, if you look at every other set, a rather minor contribution. Invinc's contributive benefit from +rech is pretty much summed up in more time with DP active. The comparative benefits of that are decent, but not so incredible as to make +rech more important for survivability than offense. Basic SO slotting already provides 66.66% uptime which is great. More +rech isn't going to make the difference completely. +Rech, for every set except for */Regen, primarily an offensive tool. The defensive benefits of it are secondary.

I hope it hasn't been me that made the suggestion that Clicks>Toggles>Passives because I don't believe that. Toggles definitely trump Passives, but that's because they are almost functionally identical except that Toggles have endurance costs and passives don't. As to clicks, you have a lot more to analyze because you have to address animation time use and activation cycles along with everything else. Since Toggles use up virtually no animation time (unless you get mez'd, they're up all the time), it would stand to reason that, if you account for animation time, the click should be stronger because that's a cost that the Toggle gets to ignore.

Essentially, Clicks, Toggles, and Passives should all be balanced but each category of power has additional costs associated with it that the "lower" categories don't have to deal with in. Passives don't have to deal with endurance costs or mez shutdown. Toggles don't have to deal with animation times (or, at the very least, deal with them in an almost nonexistent manner) or being rooted. Click powers have to deal with absolutely everything. If you ignore the mitigation qualities of the powers, you would naturally conclude that Click>Toggle>Passive makes sense, but that's ignoring the factors that actually cause the powers to be balanced anyway (especially considering that sets are balanced as a whole rather than as a set of independent powers).

Or you could just realize that the OP is pulling your leg because he's only got a single attack that's actually slotted for damage. Everything else is fully slotted for the secondary effects of the power, which is obviously facepalm.

Actually, I've never sent him a PM starting that way. I generally start with asking why whatever I'm sending him a tell concerning is present and then show my evidence. The suggestion is only present at the very end and is almost always a list of potential solutions (with the various pros/cons of each that I could identify). I do realize that he probably knows more than me about the balance of the specific sets, but there are just some things that I wish he would clarify since there seems absolutely no reason why they shouldn't otherwise.

Even so, I don't think Castle even thought about the animation time use differences between */Regen and other sets. */Regen is pretty unique in that regard, and you'd only really notice it if you were specifically looking at the comprehensive differences between */regen and the other sets. Trying to point out a specific disparity between a set that already operates on a near completely different scale of effectiveness than everything else is something I'd hope he'd actually look into, especially when you consider that he's been trying to address the whole issue of animation time balance in attacks for a good, long while.

Comic book super strength and the varying degrees in which it exists is nowhere near the same as the single degree of super strength that exists in CoX. The only available setting that we've got for super strength (insofar as you can simply say "super strength") is Hulk Smash type super strength. Sure, Peter Parker has the proportionate strength of a spider, but that doesn't mean he's using it in even remotely the same way as the Hulk does (much less that he even has strength of a remotely similar magnitude).

As to what Spider Man would actually be in the context of this game, you first have to realize that his combat style matches MA on a visual level much more than it does Super Strength. He does mostly kicks and super-agile aerial attacks. Super Strength is pretty much just Hulk Smash melee. You'd never see Peter Parker doing a baseball style wind up punch or try to attack his target with a super powered hand clap or foot stomp. He's smaller, more mobile, and much more focused on using what super strength he has in a focused manner, rather than simply letting loose with it. He doesn't need training to use it in that manner, either, since his spider sense does all the work for him.

The only "finesse" they've given was a single set that required a great deal of work that the devs gave to every melee AT at the same time pretty much only because they wanted to get the most out of that single set. The devs have still separated tankers and scrappers based on the raw power v. graceful application level for everything except for that single exception. For power proliferation, they have yet to proliferate a set that didn't match the thematic aesthetics of that AT. Brutes got Claws (because, while they require a bit more finesse, are pretty friggin' vicious), but you didn't see them going to Tankers as well. Sure, you can claim precedent, but it's not really appropriate especially when you realize just how absurd it looks to have a character in Granite Armor spinning and dancing around.

I am willing to bet you almost beyond anything that the reason that Tankers and Brutes got Dual Blades wasn't that the devs wanted to give those ATs a bit more finesse, as you seem to be implying, but rather that the devs wanted Dual Blades to get as much exposure as humanly possible to provide optimum returns for the costs incurred in generating it.

No matter how you try to argue it, Scrappers already have a decent bit of smash already in the form of Broadsword. I doubt we're going to get much more than that because BS is smash meets finesse. War Mace, Battle Axe, Stone Melee, and Super Strength are all pretty just outright smash with no finesse whatsoever.

If you're asking for set parity between Brutes and Scrappers, we're much more likely to get the Energy sets before we get anything else. If those are brought over, Scrappers will have just as many as Brutes do and it won't involve giving Scrappers powers that are outside of the existing aesthetic theme of the Scrapper sets, especially since you can already get some very Scrapper style super strength animations via MA.

Well, that still doesn't really answer the question. Are you looking for advice on what to do with your toon that is already at 50 and is feeling rather weak compared to the IO'd toons that are flitting around or are you looking for advice on what to do while you are leveling up a toon (at which point, your best bet is to just get a decent SO or common IO build in order to run with because claws/regen doesn't really get much benefit from low level set IOing).

The reason I say this is because the advice I'm going to give you is vastly different. What you should take and how you should slot an IO build is vastly different than what you should take and slot on an SO/common IO build. Giving you advice on what to do with a top tier Claws/Regen looking to spend 2 billion inf isn't going to do you much good when you've got a total of 300k on a level 18 character and vice versa.

If you can tell me what exactly you were following the guide for and the current state of your character, I can give you the advice you need without needlessly confusing you or overloading you with a mountain of advice.

Except that you don't need the best IOs to softcap an */SD Scrapper. You don't need LotG's, purple or PvP sets, or anything more expensive than the basic rare IOs to softcap yourself. With CJ, Weave, and SOs (55% def slotting), you're going to have ~32% +def(all). Add in the Steadfast Protection +def IO (3% +def all), 3 ToD 6 piece sets (11.25% +def melee), 2 BotZ 3 piece sets (6.26% +def ranged and AoE), a Scirocco's 5 piece (3.13% +def AoE), and a Mako's 6 piece (3.75% +def ranged), and you're nearly there. The only thing that's even remotely expensive on that list is the BotZ sets, but those bonuses aren't too hard to get (and I'm too lazy to put together a budget build right now anyway). You'd be amazed what you can do with a 200 mill and intelligent purchasing habits (along with a little TF running as you level). Softcapping */SD is only minorly harder than softcapping */SR.

Thematically (according to comic books), it doesn't make sense for any Scrapper to be even remotely equal to a Tanker. Batman v. Superman, Spider Man v. The Hulk, Wolverine v. Colossus, etc. In all of those cases, the Scrapper does substantially less damage than the Tanker and is squishier (often to the point of only winning through sheer gumption and determination through most conflicts). In comic books, Scrappers are more akin to lower powered Tankers that have to rely on stuff aside from their powers to win them through the day.

Thankfully, game balance allows us to ignore the horrible imbalance that is comic book power comparisons. Scrappers need to deal more damage than Tankers to specifically counter the massive survivability advantages that Tankers get. You don't get the best of both worlds like you do in comic books.

As to why or why not Scrappers should get Super Strength, I think it has a lot more to do with theme. Scrappers are supposed to be more skill and agility based while Tankers are supposed to be more brute strength and raw power. The various elemental sets are rather neutral so it makes sense for both of the ATs to get them (except for Stone, which shows an exceedingly strong preference for crunch). The weapon sets still have that preference. Katana and Broadsword have Parry/DA (which, for balance reasons, will most likely never be given to Tankers or Brutes) which suggests a certain grace to fend off enemy blows. Battle Axe and War Mace are more oriented towards simply outright crushing their targets. Dual Blades breaks the mold if only because it was a complicated set to design and the devs most likely wanted to get the most out of it as possible (no matter how little sense it made for Tankers or Brutes to have a sword set that had them spinning and dancing around).

Oh, some things have happened nearly identical to ideas I've suggested on the forums (i.e. CP > Energize used disturbingly similar numbers to what I originally suggested in a random thread), but I never seen him outright say he takes anyone's advice or ideas except for Arcanaville.