Werner

I've seen it too. Never took screenshots, and couldn't figure out the pattern of when it would be more than ten. Never really paid attention, honestly, other than noticing it.

They're that tough. One of the old scrapper challenges was running Gaussian's arc with no temps, no inspirations and no deaths on... unyielding? The setting below invincible, which would be probably closest to +1x2 no AVs these days. So basically, if you can do it on +1x2 no AVs, you're still doing very well.

And yeah, last time I ran it, I died in seconds on the first mission because I hadn't turned down my difficulty first, and that IS with a soft-capped build.

Pretty much. The standard approach on a Regen is heavy emphasis on recharge to get your heals and other useful clicks up faster, with the side benefit that global recharge also gets your good attacks up faster. That tends to provide better survivability than emphasizing regeneration itself, though it will take more focus, since now you're in charge of healing yourself instead of doing it passively. A lot of us like having a lot of regeneration on our Regens, but if you go that route, I'd think of it as a quality of life improvement, and not the optimal approach for maximum survivability. And the standard approach at a low level is to emphasize attacks and damage over defensive powers and survivability, because at a low level, the best defense is usually a good offense. This can change, and often significantly, by the high levels, but it's where things start.

You're doing pick up groups in hardcore mode? That's hard core.

Some people WANT lower level IOs for exemplaring. If those people have a build planned out, and have the funds, they might as well buy them while they're leveling up and get to enjoy them early. I almost never exemplar, so I wait. I want maximum level 50 performance. I think I've spent more time in this game playing my 50s than leveling up or playing alts.

Yeah, I only have three live min/max builds, and two of them are old. Still good, but not keeping up with the Joneses. Generally speaking, I DO try to have high performance as I level, but only within the bounds of getting along with SOs, common IOs and frankenslotting. Also within the bounds of typically not planning a leveling build, just having a very good idea what to take and when, and planning for a respec in the 30s or so to fix any mistakes or just shift things around to better target the higher level game. And I do sometimes do things just for fun, like taking and slotting up Hover and Fly on one of my more recent toons.

My guess is that the majority of the multibillion influence builds being posted are "just for fun" or "a goal I hope to achieve someday". I suspect that few of them are actually achieved and played regularly. Still, I'm willing to call you a min/maxer if you have an awesome build planned in Mids' and all that you're lacking is the moneys.

Huhwhat? OK, look, I know the difference between to-hit and accuracy is complicated, and frankly unnecessary to understand for most people most of the time. But line of sight? If you can't see them, you can't attack them? If they can't see you, they can't attack you, so they'll probably run towards you to attack? When pulling, ideally keep other people where the bad guys can't see them? That kind of thing? Am I missing something? Maybe I need line of sight explained to me, because that all seems obvious and intuitive to me, seeing as how it's based on how vision works in the real world.

What you said. I know that people occasionally think we're telling them how to play. That's certainly not my intent, and if someone were telling me how to play, I'd get my feathers ruffled too. But if you post a build with no mez resistance, for instance, I think it's important, even critical that we suggest you pick up your mez resistance. If you respond, "I think it's awesome being held or stunned; it feels just like being a third rate super hero in a comic book, and I love that! I don't want to play someone invulnerable. I want to play someone with real weaknesses to overcome." Well, OK then, have at it! That's a real weakness, so you should have a good time overcoming it. I just want to make sure you're making an informed decision.

Anyway, yeah. Min/maxing is probably uncommon, but it does depend on your definition of min/max. Uber rare if by a min/maxer you mean someone with a very solid understanding of the game mechanics who plans out an uber build based on that understanding, and then achieves that build. That might be too restrictive a definition, though.

That's kinda weird.

For that matter, I think the teens are just a generally difficult period for Scrappers. It gets better in the twenties. Super Reflexes is a late-blooming secondary, so it could even be the thirties before you're feeling really solid. It's worth the dues you have to pay.

Yeah, Iggy keeps breaking the game. Bad iggy!

I assume that people built up a lot of stock of crafted recipies, and then the price collapsed, so now everyone's just dumping at whatever they can get to get out of the niche. When the stock dries up, it'll stop being upside down. Whether it returns to being a good niche or not is an open question.

I plugged away at a couple of high-volume medium-margin niches for well over a year before moving on to bigger and better things. The profit went up and down, but they were never unprofitable.

Nobody NEEDS a Scrapper. But they make CUTE pets! A little prone to aggroing bad guys, though, so be careful with them.

Well, being a fan of Dark Melee myself, I can give it a shot.

Let's talk "Challenge Scrapper", by which I mean a scrapper specifically designed to be able to beat some of the toughest challenges in the game without using temporary powers or inspirations. Generally speaking, such things as the Rikti War Zone challenge, soloing AVs, trying and failing to beat Arcanaville's challenge , shooting for a fast time on a Pylon, running Storm Palace Laps, and so on.

AoE isn't a huge factor for a Challenge Scrapper. Some of these challenges are single targets, where AoE damage output won't matter at all. Some of them involve groups, but the groups will be standing long enough that survivability takes precedence over AoE damage output. It matters that you BEAT the challenge, not how FAST you beat it.

And for a Challenge Scrapper, survivability is key. Unless you're Bill Z Bubba, who's just too awesome to waste his time healing, you NEED a quick-recharge heal or massive regeneration. And some secondaries don't come with a quick-recharge heal or massive regeneration - Invulnerability, Super Reflexes and Shield Defense.

Now, you could take Aid Self, but it's slow, interruptible, takes away from your damage output, and requires two power picks and slot investment. Plus you use a tricorder. Lame. Enter Siphon Life, the cure for what ails you. It's rapid fire, doesn't require any power picks you wouldn't have made simply for the damage output, doesn't waste slots, and doesn't take away from your damage output in the least.

So Dark Melee is a good choice just from that standpoint. But look, what else do we have in this toolbox? An endurance recovery power! That's just what the doctor ordered for a Challenge Scrapper, because sustainable endurance is pretty much a requirement, and you can't chug any blues. Plus you'll be running at high recharge for your main chain and to boost survivability, so your endurance recovery will be on rapid fire as well.

And let's not forget Soul Drain, a VERY good damage and to hit boost. Again, you're using very high recharge on a Challenge Scrapper, which will have Soul Drain up the majority of the time, and in some cases, virtually all of the time.

Challenge Scrappers, regardless of their possible comparative lack of utility in the game as a whole, are pretty popular on the forum. A lot of the min/maxers like playing them. And if you're in the Challenge Scrapper crowd, Dark Melee is an ideal primary to combine with several of the secondaries.