Castratotron

Ok, so the Force Feedback "Chance for +rech" enhancement IO still has my head spinning, and here's why:

I put Force Feedback into my Battle Bot power a while back, expecting it to proc on my pets and enhance their power's recharge.

I then am informed on the boards that this will not work on the pets. That in issue 14 they made it so pet's powers are not affected by any recharge buff/debuff.

Check, so I just wasted a bunch of inf. on making that enhancement.

So I leave it in my pets, just because I'm not wanting to deal with that just then. So I do a bunch of missions.

I then realize on my Pet HUD, that my battle bots are showing the icon for the Force Feedback proc. I assume that it is proccing, but the pets are not gaining any benefit. But this seemed strange to me.

I then keep a close eye on it, and once it procs for one of my pets, I quickly view it's combat abilities. Listed there for 5 seconds is the 100% recharge bonus from the proc.

Check, getting weirder. Not consitant with what I've heard. So I check the patch notes.

Here's the exact quote (emphasis added): "Recharge times on pet attack powers will no longer be affected by any outside source.

So, does the pet itself proccing count as an outside source? Does the pet benefit from the recharge? Or is it that the pet is, but the powers are not?

Anyone got an answer to this? I swear that the in-game information is just trying to screw with my head or something.

Thanks for any info.

I tend to make it a point to read the mechanics of the powers/enh in game. I learn about them and try and make informed decisions based on that information. Normally, that turns out pretty well.

But recently I started working on IOs on my MM and Brute, spent a significant chunk of money on some IOs that, by their descriptor, seemed pretty good.

Then I turn around, build and equip them.

Then, when I'm wondering why they don't seem to be working correctly, I come here and do some research.

Lo and behold, it turns out that the devs decided to nerf these IOs (specifically, Force Feedback), yet no where in the descriptor of these powers does it mention that nerf mechanic.

"Gives a 10% chance to boost the recharge time of all your powers by 100% for 5 seconds."

No where does it talk about a supression mechanic. No where does it inform me that it's going to be about 10% as effective as the math that it tells me.

Seriously, I'm fine with trying to balance stuff for the most part. I am.

But no where that I've seen in game, or in the patch notes, did it tell me that now MM pets can't be affected by bonuses to their recharge (thus making me craft and waste the FF IOs)

No where under the IO descriptor did it tell me that it magically has a suppression effect that makes it infinitely less useful than the mechanics it lists.

Seriously Devs, if you're going to change the mechanics of something in game, allow me to actually find it out in game, rather than spending 45 mins on the internet trying to figure out why I just wasted several mil Inf. and two hours of my time.

Actually, I looked into it, and in the last patch they made it so pets are NEVER affected by recharge bonuses on their powers.

That's right, FF IO bonus wouldn't effect them. Nether does speed boost, Accelerate Metabolism, anything.

I have no idea why they wanted to make MMs offense (Pets) even more screwed on buffs than other characters (seeing as ours require more buffs to get an equivalent boost compared to other ATs).

But now we can't effectively increase our attack rate at all.

Way to go Devs. Best move ever.

~Murphey

Follow up question:

My Robot pets can take Knockback sets. One of the knockback sets (I forget which) has a "20% chance at smashing damage" enhancement.

If I equip that to the pet's power, will each of their knockback powers (or all powers?) have a 20% chance of doing the extra damage?

Further question: One of the knockback sets has a "10% chance of getting +100% recharge to all powers" enhancement.

If I equip that enhancement onto my pet power, would they benefit from it. I.e. Would every attack they use (or only knockback attacks) have a 10% chance of them gaining a +100% recovery bonus?

Thanks a ton in advance

Ok, we all know how more than 2 of the same SO enhancements in a power start to lose their effectiveness. This was called Enhancement Diversification back in the day, I'm not sure what they call it now.

Also, we know that Granite Armor gives a -66% recharge to all powers when active.

So, my question is, does that -66% get factored in when applying ED?

For instance, I have a power in which I slot 2 SO recharge reducers (+66% recharge speed), and then I activate Granite armor, I about break even. (the math is a little tricky, but it's close enough.)

Now, same scenario, but I have put 4 SO recharge reducers in that power. Now with granite armor active, does that power have the equivalent of 2 SO recharge reducers in it? Or does ED still kick in and reduce the benefit I can have from recharge reducers over 2, and thus I come out with maybe 1 SO recharge equivalent?

Thanks for your time.

The level is 34. The attacks are, if I'm not mistaken, their AoEs. Their shotguns, grenades, and missiles seem to be the ones that auto hit. The reason it's so noticable to me, is I have the number of guys turned up a bit.

The chat doesn't say auto-hit, but it does not actually show the roll to hit at all.

Also, when I get brought from full life to dead while at 101.9% defense (Personal Force Field) by 7 whites, something is very wrong.

I would encourage people who want to test it to turn the number of enemies up to 2X-4X. Turn on Personal Force Field, and agro a large group.

Like I said, really bad.

Let me clarity a bit: It is not dealing with the pets that are bugged from zoning. It is in no way associated with that.

The problem, is that Robot pets will randomly take it in their head to run directly at their target, regardless of how clear their LoS is, and then simply stop in front of the enemy. They will not melee, or take any action directly after running at the enemy.

Furthermore, they will ignore all commands given to them while they are running at the enemy, as well as for a second or so after.

So essentially, a pet will randomly run 100 ft to it's target, despite having clear line of sight. While it's running, I will issue it commands to return, which it will give an "acknowledged" response, but will not change it's course or return. Once it reaches the enemy, is will stop, and stand there for a second. Then, it will finally respond to my command, and run back to where it's supposed to be.

Anyone know why they do this?

The first mission of the Ouroboros mission arc, the one where you must retrieve the computer data, there is a huge problem with the 5th column's powers.

Primarily, that many of them auto hit regardless of defense.

I play a very defensive based Robotics/FF MM. At first, I was extremely surprised when my pets started dying for some reason, very rapidly. Normally they have around a 60% defense, the enemies were white. Also, I started noting that AoEs would hit me with alarming regularity, killing me multiple times.

After a while, I inspected my combat and pet combat history, and realized that many of the enemies attacks auto hit, and didn't have to roll at all. (thus negating Defense entirely).

Then, to test this further, I activated my Personal Force Field (101.9 defense on my guy then), and ran into a group of enemies. I died near instantly. I checked my combat log again, and saw that may of their attacks simply hit me, with no roll to hit whatsoever.

This is a HUGE flaw for anyone who depends on Def to survive. FFers, Ice tankers, Stone tankers, etc.

If the devs could jump on that ASAP I would very much appreciate it. Most of my characters use defense as their primary dmg mitigation, and it's just ridiculous to have one's def completely ignored.

Note: I believe that the reason this glitch exists, is because they are using 5th column units, which are very old, and probably have not been updated since many of the mechanic changes that made everything require a to-hit roll, and thus their powers are still flagged for "Auto Hit".

Heyo,

I'm not sure if this has been happening to anyone else, but it's been happening to me pretty much since I started playing CoV again.

The issue, is that even on flat, open areas, my robot pets (almost always the Protector bots) will spontaneously run across the screen (out of the protection of my dispersion bubble) towards the enemy, and upon getting in Melee range, simply stop and do nothing.

Now, it seems like the pets who run forward are the ones who have the enemies agro at that moment (because the moment they get within melee range, the enemy unerringly kills them with some melee attack), although I can't be 100%.

Now, at first I thought it was a Line of Sight issue, and they were trying to get line of sight on the enemy. This has since been proven to not be the case, since this still happens, even on wide, open/clear areas.

Next, I thought that maybe it was an attack issue. That the robots were attempting to use a melee attack on the enemy. This is also not the case, since they do not attack once they reach the enemy. They simply stand there and eventually die.

Also, when this occurs, the pet(s) in question do not respond to my orders until they have ran up to the enemy. If, in the process of running across the screen to the enemy, I order them to come back. They will speak the conformation, but will continue to run at the enemy.

This is a VERY irksome glitch for me. The sheer number of times I've had my healer bots run at the enemy and die in one swing is ridiculous.

Does anyone know a workaround to this? Or maybe some devs are working on it?