The old defiance I barely got any use out of it. The damage buff only really made any noticeable difference (at least to me) when you were almost dead, so one, maybe two shots while getting huge buffs then you died. Dying on a blaster is usually so quick, you only got a second or two use out of the buff. But using powers while held.... got use out of that all day long
I always felt like they got the inherents for Blasters and Scrappers reversed. Defiance 1.0 was based on the idea that as your HP dropped, your damage went up, which doesn't work on a toon meant to be a glass cannon. The HP dropping meant you were pretty much already dead. Likewise, the idea that you landed a "critical" hit, to me, meant the mark of precision a marksman would have. Blasters should have been the ones having critical hits that did the occassional double ranged damage because it was a very accurate shot, while Scrappers, who were the ones often in the thick of things, had the will to defy the odds and fight even harder the more they were hurt. Granted, that's eventually what Brutes got, but it should have been Scrapper's inherent first. Brutes Fury should have been more like Dominators' inherent, where they built it over time and then could release it at will in a fit of rage. Interestingly, this would also have solved the problem brutes had of having to constantly fight non-stop in order to do decent damage, and would even have allowed us to have Ice Brutes. :-( It would also have made the change they made to brutes where you gain fury faster and lose it more slowly unnecessary.
For me, it should have gone:
Blasters: Inherent:
Critical hits = Your expert control over your attacks sometime hit so perfectly they do more damage than expected. (extra damage when an attack "crits".)
Scrappers: Inherent:
Defiance: = Your a fighter, inside and out, and the more pain you take, the more determined you are to dish it out. (as your HP drops, your damage increases.)
Brutes: Inherent:
Fury: = As a brute, you are driven by rage. The more you fight, the deadlier you become. (This would have been changed to become more like domination, where you build rage while fighting (attacking or being damaged) and unleash when charged to give you a massive temporary boost in damage. Unlike domination, it could be released at any time, but the more charged it is the bigger than damage boost.)
Of course, the two archetypes I'm missing most are Corruptors and Controllers.
Corruptors: I have yet to find a game where debuffing is as useful as it was in CoH. The other three MMOs I've used really seem to make debuffing negligible, at best. Corruptors, with their ability to debuff and their ability to Scourge, were just plain FUN. The right combos made you feel perfectly useful on a team but also perfectly able to solo.
Controllers: I just haven't found another game that takes controlling seriously at all. They seem almost completely unique to City of Heroes, and they were a great balance for just about any team make up.
My favorites, in order, are:
Corruptors: Scourge FTW!
Brutes: The best of both worlds from a melee standpoint. Hulk Smash!
Controllers: Pets and holds and buffs, oh my!
Blasters: I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of all this dying.
Masterminds: All your base are belong to us!
Fortunatas: Now you see me, now you're dead.
Scrappers: I'll just tank these guys while the tank makes his way back from the hospital.
Stalkers: Nothing like killing a boss in one hit. Repeatedly.
Defenders: Honestly, Defenders rock. I know that. But I found them SOOO hard to solo.
Banes: Meh. Cool guns...but crab arms? No thank you.
Tankers: Boring. But survivable.
Warshades: So fun. Seriously. So fun.
Peacebringers: I hate knockback...but so fun.