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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WalterKovacs" data-source="post: 4555096" data-attributes="member: 63763">For the fighter: each of the four options has a value. Dual wielding drops your AC a bit compared to the shielded fighter. The battlerager is a different way to go with the fighter where you give up the +1 to hit that the other 3 builds have in order to get temp HP (and you have to be even more inaccurate by wielding hammers or axes to get the most use out of it). Wouldn't same obsoletion is there. For the rogue: Arguably brutal scoundrel makes the ruthless ruffian obsolete. However, if you are willing to give up some accuracy, a mace wielded in both hands packs a bit more punch than anything else a rogue can swing, and if you pick exclusively rattling powers you can be arguably better at what you do than the brutal scoundrel with the +1 from versatile and the +str applying even if you don't get the sneak attack off. For the warlord: Neither of the options obsolete the old ones ... they offer alternatives. The resourceful one combines elements of the two previous ones, but getting a bonus to hit is better than a bonus to damage in most situations, and guaranteed healing is better than a potential for healing. The ranger is the only one that is arguable. Ultimately, you can't have a beast companion without picking that feature, but you can still wield a pair of weapons, or a bow, while you have the pet. Then again, the same question arose when the ranger first came out, except for the paragon paths, you could just pick the two-weapon ranger, and be a ranged ranger ... it's a combination of silo'ing and NOT silo'ing that was the issue ... the ability to pick the melee option, and take all the ranged powers anyway, makes it easier to obsolete the ranged path. That has more to do with the ranged path being nothing but a bonus feat and a prereq for paragon paths (and no power being modified by having that path, like rogue powers that give bonuses for having the brutal scoundrel option).  In general ... most class options won't be obsoleted by new stuff ... the exceptions, like the ranger, comes out of the class options being bonus feats only [which the animal companion is much better than in comparison]. They should perhaps have included powers that were keyed to the specific build option to give incentive over the beastmaster that is also a dual wielder or archer.</blockquote>

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