DeusExMachina_NA

Speaking as someone who is in a small SG, I can say right now that I am disinclined to ever make use of the 'buff' from the Empowerment station. I have no interest in making our Base PvP raid enabled, so a lot of the Workshop items are of limited interest to us - only aesthetics would compel us to construct one of the defense measures and that would be after a bloating of salvage inventories and Prestige that I don't foresee happening. Now, I understand that that's a big part of what Bases are supposed to be for by design... and heck, I don't mind that the functionality is low. But this is just frustrating. We were told these were included with smaller SGs in mind and they just do not bear up to that.
For those who don't run in a small SG, this is my experience; the small SG tends to be more tightly knit. People ask what the SG needs, AT-wise, and build it. If we need a Corruptor (or a Defender, or whatever), we're willing to ask. If we need some funds, we ask. If we make good use of, say, Sturdy Inspirations, where most folks don't much care for them, we chime in on that. So... I'm not seeing the utility of a weak, short-term buff for a tightly knit group. Inspirations are cheap and drop regularly. Sure, they don't last 15 minutes, but you actually notice a difference between running with a Luck or a Rage up. Maybe if you wanted to ghost a mission, the Invis would be handy. ... I'm just not seeing a lot of utility in the Empowerment stations' buffing aspect. If I'm full on Salvage, I'll sell back a room at cost, build the Workshop and whittle things down into more compact bits (foci, etc). Or I'll use the new Salvage Storage. But... dumping my Salvage on a throw-away buff? No, I don't think so.

I built a Thug/Dark Mastermind (kind of a rogue Skull Bone Daddy concept) and tried it out for a bit. Wound up stuck in Port Oakes while that bug was up. Anyway, these are my impressions of the set.

1) The pistol attacks are pretty good stuff. For a game simulating a comic book feel (not reality or gritty action movies) they do a good job of feeling like pistols.

2) The first tier Thugs are interesting.
a) They're described as skilled Brawlers, but they favor range more strongly than the Bots, who are horrible in melee. I don't so much mind, of course.
b) ...because their Pistol attacks are comparable to your own.
c) Art-wise, I'm not sure how I feel about them using revolvers. Like many art choices for attacks, it's something that's so effort-intensive to alter, I just don't see it happening any time soon. But it's not the most "punk" weapon in the world. I like it on the principle that these guys would be robbing convenience stores without my leadership, though.
d) Lacking any buffs (only Dark power taken til 10 was the Heal), they seem to hold up pretty well to damage through Level 11. I make the caveat, because I'm just beginning to have trouble with them when one gets a lot of attention (or attention from a Boss). But of course, all the first tier pets go down hard under that kind of assault.

3) Once I got Empty Clip, I found I would swiftly run out of End if I used it regularly - not on "auto" but... Using Empty Clip in conjunction with other powers quickly led to a very dry End reserve.
a) Empty Clip's arc of fire seems VERY wide. I keep seeing damage numbers popping up over objects that are immediately but completely to the left or right of me.

4) I know this has been stated, but the Equip Thug animation is extremely similar to the Equip Merc animation, and that's a little disappointing. I'd rather have I7 out the door sooner, but I would humbly request that this be considered for revision.

Overall, I'd say they performed up to the level of other MM sets. Honestly, I think the Thug set attacks are a little better than some of the others, but that seems fitting, since the Thugs seem to lack integral defenses. The Pistols don't do a *ton* of damage, so the Pets can still pull the hate off of you, but they do enough damage (again, this is L11 and down) to be useful.

DeusExMachina

Okay. I've only managed to do two Mayhem Missions so far, with two different characters. I'll try to keep it to the highlights.

1) SWAT is really powerful. Like scarily. They make Longbow look like pansies. And Longbow are not pansies, in my book. I'm thinking they need tweaking, personally.

2) There seems to, at times, be a delay with Bonus Time awards. I'll be three blocks over, heading toward a goal or angling for attack on some SWAT when I suddenly get a Time Bonus for Boxes. Or Resisting Arrest. Or something.

3) I seem to have some of the Ambushes stacking and loading in two or three at once.
i) Now, this becomes a serious issue when SWAT is involved, because A) I've rarely seen SWAT members speak, so I often have no warning of the impending doom and B) SWAT's propensity for glue grenades and flash bombs leaves me so thoroughly Debuffed that I die an agonizing, impotent death. Dying isn't the issue, it's the inability to flee or go down fighting [meaningfully] that I have some problems with.

4) I have mixed feelings about Citizens right now. Their immunity is kind of annoying, though I understand why it's there. It does render them somewhat dull if you lack Knockback/down or some other flashy secondary; frex Acc Debuff is pretty meaningless to a Citizen. Still, it's nice to finally be able to accost Paragon's natives.

5) I'm loving the vast percentage of things. Destroying objects, the fast and furious timed aspect, having side missions... All very cool stuff. I do wish there were more interactables/destructibles inside buildings, but ... it's hardly fair to expect those everywhere. I'm content with where they are now.

6) The Arson side mission could use a brief countdown or time delay to flee the building. You're setting demolition devices, after all. It'd be nice to not set them off with you inside.

There was a night and day difference between using a Mastermind and using a Brute. The MM's lengthy re-set-up times and handling constraints were somewhat problematic. Thankfully, I wasn't soloing that particular Mayhem Mish. My Brute, on the other hand, was mowing through things like it was going out of style. Of course, we all know that SMASH!!! is never out of style.