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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MrMyth" data-source="post: 5545017" data-attributes="member: 61155">I think the Superior Weapons/Implements are close behind Expertise in being universal, but none of the others even come close.  And even the Superior Weapons... if I upgrade to a really cool weapon, it might give me +1 to hit. Or, more often, will give me an extra +1 or so damage per W, or some conditional damage in the form of High Crit, or defensive benefits. Same thing for the Superior Implements - either just +1 to hit, or a conditional +1 to hit and some damage, or some other minor unique effects.  Expertise gives me between +1 and +3 to hit, plus other benefits. Which could themselves be another untyped +1 to +3 damage, or benefits like not granting combat advantage or not provoking with ranged and area attacks... There is simply such a huge difference between that and the ones you list. Sure, many common optimized builds take them, but not all of them - giving them up for other choices, whether build-specific choices or reasons of flavor or otherwise, those are relatively easy to do.  But how many characters will you see at Paragon levels without Expertise? I'm in one game that has been played since level 1, and is just into Paragon levels. Our Human Ranger has Action Surge and Weapon Focus and Expertise (but no Superior Weapon Proficiency). Our Dwarven Paladin has Expertise. Our Human Warlock has Action Surge and Expertise. Our Human Bard has Expertise. Our Dwarven Invoker has Expertise. Our Dragonborn Fighter has Superior Weapon Proficiency and Expertise.  Notice the one common denominator?  In another 5-player Paragon game (started at level 15, up to level 18), it is a dungeon crawl with a heavy emphasis on optimization. And even there, 4 players don't have Toughness. 3 players don't have superior weapons or implements. 2 players don't have Action Surge (even though all characters are human) and 1 player doesn't have Weapon or Implement Focus.  Everyone has Expertise.</blockquote>

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