DrGemini
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Posts
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Joined
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Actually, to correct some information...
Assault and Control hybrids DO work but only if you summon your pets while the toggle is running.
I have built a T4 Assault for my Mastermind as well as Support. I did notice that the Assault +15% damage buffs were activating. But, I don't think the damage buffs were applying correctly because it seemed to have no effect on my kill speed.
I will make a point of testing this stuff more thoroughly to see if it helps at all. From what I observed, the buff does trigger but it is unclear if the buff is then applying to the pets correctly. -
So, after looking through all of the Issue 24 patch notes on beta, I came across some things that may or may not be useful to Masterminds. Mostly, these are changes to the Pet Damage set bonuses.
I hope the Devs don't mind me sharing these details of coming changes!
Unquestioning Loyalty: This set's 2 piece immobilization resistance bonus was changed to a fire/cold/mez resistance bonus.
Brilliant Leadership: This set's 4 piece debt protection bonus was changed to a lethal/smash/mez resistance bonus Its 6 piece toxic/psionic res bonus was changed to a toxic/psionic/mez resistance bonus.
Edict of the Master: This set's 4 piece lethal resistance bonus was changed to a Lethal/Smash/Mez resist bonus. Its 5 piece Hold resistance bonus was changed to Energy/Negative/Mez resistance bonus. Its 6 piece toxic/psionic resistance bonus was changed to a toxic/psionic/mez resistance bonus.
Blood Mandate: This set's 4 piece stun resistance bonus was changed to a fire/cold/mez resistance bonus.
Sovereign Right: This set's 2 piece sleep resistance bonus was changed to a regeneration bonus. Its 3 piece confuse resistance bonus was changed to a lethal/smash/mez resistance bonus. Its 4 piece stun resistance bonus was changed to a max HP bonus. Its 5 piece hold resistance bonus was changed to a energy/negative/mez resistance bonus.
Soulbound Allegiance: This set's 5 piece hold resistance bonus was changes to a toxic/psionic/mez resistance bonus.
Those are some nifty changes adding additional resistance bonuses for us to have.
There is also a new power being added to Leadership (a pool most masterminds take most of)
New 5th Power: Victory Rush - You use the defeat of an opponent as an opportunity to rally your team, giving them a surge of adrenaline, boosting their recovery and lowering the endurance cost of powers temporarily. The strength of the buff applied to your teammates is unenhanceable and depends on the rank of the foe on which this power is cast, with Archvillains and Giant Monsters providing the largest bonus. No player can be affected by more than one Victory Rush bonus at a time, with the stronger effect always taking precedence. However, if a player does receive multiple applications of Victory Rush, these will persist and take over automatically when an earlier applied or stronger effect fades.
So with Victory Rush, you will probably find yourself able to keep steamrolling mobs easier with less endurance issues.
Yes, Ranged Blast sets will get the most benefit from Issue 24 but there are some nifty changes that will help Masterminds! -
For reference, I use the KD proc from the Ragnarok set on my DP/Dev and have it slotted into Caltrops. I do find that the proc helps provide additional soft control particularly when I can create a choke point the mobs have to run through to get to me.
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If you want a preview of the MSR, you should make an effort to be at my Mastermind Sunday event. We have been having 24 Masterminds all show up for Incarnate Trials.
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I suspect by the time this event comes we will easily have 48 MMs. And a bunch of jealous Controllers, Dominators, and "Crabminds".
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Quote:Don't forget Lore pets and HVAS and any other temp pet powers.Originally Posted by Mad Grim
Lets see, 48 masterminds, x7... plus a few extras for Thugs, necros, and dark miasma...
We're looking at about 350. On the low side. -
We will have fun for however long the server lets us.
I am wondering, though, if there is enough space on the rikti ship to fit all of us... -
The time has come to finalize our plan for world domination. It is time for Masterminds everywhere to stand up and be counted! So without further ado...
THERE WILL BE AN...
ALL MASTERMIND RIKTI MOTHER SHIP RAID
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012
AT 3:00 PM EASTERN (USA)
ON THE FREEDOM SERVER
Yes, that's right folks! We are going to put together 48 Masterminds and show the world just how much power we have! After this day, there will be no doubt who is greatest in all the land!
Tell all your friends and if they do not have a Mastermind they have a whole month to get set up.
I would offer the chance to reserve a spot but due to the nature of it being a public event you will just have to show up and hope there is room left.
If there is enough interest and the turnout makes it possible, we will try to coordinate for a simultaneous raid in another zone (eg RWZ 2).
Hope to see you there! -
Quote:How is it condescending to be realistic about your complaint? 99% of these types of complaints are from people who don't bother to use the 2 main avenues the game gives you to deal with people/speech that bothers you.Originally Posted by kevinmmm
How very condescending of you...and how very mistaken. As I mentioned, these individuals are harassing people who are using the HELP chat area to ask for help rather than for reenacting their favorite lunch-room diatribes...and those diatribes seem to be primarily about how everyone else (for some reason primarily Canadians) are inferior.
You can A) Ignore them. or B) Report them if their conduct falls against the rules.
This is also why I do not use the help channel very much because many of us know that the "Help" channel has simply become an extension of the kind of chatter that makes Atlas park no longer the place to be. -
Quote:I just wanted to highlight the 2 points in my post that both of you seem to have missed.Originally Posted by DrGemini
There is this wonderful thing called IGNORE. If you don't like the conversation going on, you can add those people to ignore and go about your business. Should the conversation be going into an area that might be worth sending in a petition about someone's conduct, you can petition and maybe the GMs will put a damper on it.
However, I would like to point out that there is this wonderful thing (tho sometimes annoying) called Freedom of Speech. People have a right to say just about anything they want to (with few exceptions) without fear of retaliation. Given that this game is run by a private company, they do have the right to restrain speech when it violates their rules. But, the only real measure you have against it is to /ignore. -
In my experiences, the difference between Tankers and Brutes is that Tankers have the ability to command the aggro more easily. Yes, Brutes can taunt and manage aggro. But, from my observations, they have to put more effort into it.
However, the greatest difference to me is explained like this...
If you want to play a melee AT that can tank, play a Brute. Those who play them can easily get away with being poor at tanking by using the excuse of "I'm not really a tank."
If you want to play a character through which you can force your opponent to move and act according to your whim and herd them like cattle, then a Tanker is what you want. Yes, others can step into the role of "tank" when coming up against certain situations. But, they can never really replace your ability to step up and make the mobs completely ignore your team with Taunt -- a power that is as effective as any other power and requires no additional slots to be useful (though the Taunt IO sets do offer some good bonuses).
And, it also relies heavily on how well the person behind the Tank/Brute plays. Anyone can jump behind a Tanker and do OK. But, there is a level of "skill" that only shows with experience. -
Quote:My interpretation of "TankerMind" is a character that is built to be able to adequately function in the role of "Tanker." And, aside from an actual Tanker or Brute, I believe that a well-built Mastermind can fill that role very well (Tanks and Brutes have punch-voke and other things that allow them to maintain the aggro better than us).Originally Posted by Deacon_NA
I can't help but think that people are answering the question "what is the best MasterMind", or, as I more strongly suspect, there are different thoughts on exactly what a TankerMind is, since it's a player made term and thus susceptible to different player interpretation.
I'm taking it to mean who can keep aggro off of pets where "better" is determined by who can take the most massive damage and survive. That is basically the fundamental (but not only) role of a tanker after all.
But, I do believe that taking on the role of a Tankermind is not something your average player is going to build for. It does take a certain measure of planning. Though, I would argue that building a good Mastermind is not exactly hard. -
There is this wonderful thing called IGNORE. If you don't like the conversation going on, you can add those people to ignore and go about your business. Should the conversation be going into an area that might be worth sending in a petition about someone's conduct, you can petition and maybe the GMs will put a damper on it.
However, I would like to point out that there is this wonderful thing (tho sometimes annoying) called Freedom of Speech. People have a right to say just about anything they want to (with few exceptions) without fear of retaliation. Given that this game is run by a private company, they do have the right to restrain speech when it violates their rules. But, the only real measure you have against it is to /ignore. -
While I haven't had much experience with others, I must say that I've found my Ninja/Time/Scorpion Mastermind to be a very good "Tankermind" when I need him to be that role. In fact, I even have Provoke in my build so that I can tank a tough boss/AV when I need to. And, I can actually hold my own pretty well if I need to step into the role of taunting the Yellows during a Hami raid (though my build could probably be tweaked to handle that role better).
I suppose the point with Time Manipulation as my secondary probably makes the build work for tanking as well as the inclusion of Provoke. I would say that any secondary that gives you a wide array of additional survival for both you and your pets will allow you to be a Tankermind. -
Well, I am one who has run with the OF set in my Ninjas for a little while. I thoroughly enjoy the set because it adds another layer of control that my pets can have access to (when it goes off) that I don't have to have an active part in.
I chose to slot my OF set on my Genin. I decided they would be the best candidates for the extra knockdown because they attack the most AND the OF set actually increased their damage enough to be noticeable.
My Jounin run with Soulbound Allegiance and my Oni uses the Mastermind ATO set (just for reference of how I have them slotted).
Basically now, it feels like all 3 of my pets have "purples" slotted. I compared OF to my set of +5 Sovereign Right and Overwhelming Force actually generates better numbers!
Quote:Yes, T1 pets are weaker than your others. But, I think it is unwise to discount their contribution to your over-all damage. T1 pets (because there are 3 of them) attack more often than your others. That is why I believe "Overwhelming Force" deserves to be in the T1 pets.T1 pets, being up to -6 to enemies (if you play at +4) do such a fraction of the percentage of all of your pet damage, that it's usually more beneficial to put it in your T3 pet (or T2 if they are the main damage dealers, such as with Necro). -
Just so everyone knows. There may not be an event this coming weekend due to me being away.
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Quote:The problem, though, that I have with "the bad" is the fact that it is based upon facts that aren't necessarily true.Originally Posted by JayboH
I want to hear the good with the bad, he's welcome to stay in my thread.
In my experience, Cathedral of Pain has been run (by us) such that participants are actually walking away with *more* reward than the effort put in. You are spending about 5-10 minutes worth of effort doing something that is now so easy. And, for that effort you can walk away with a pretty nifty week-long accolade-level buff. I've looked at the buff numbers too and they are on par with the buffs you'd get from acquiring badges like TF Commander, Freedom Phalanx Reserve medal, Atlas Medallion, and Portal Jockey. I used to just shrug them off until I realized that those little boosts were actually more useful than they appeared.
But, it is one of those things people may decide they don't want to get. Certainly, there are people who don't even bother getting all the accolade badges on each character.
Likewise, we normally have Hamidon Raids now down to a science so that it usually only takes about 30 minutes. Yes, you can get similar rewards from running STF/LRSF. But, to me, I enjoy running the large-group raids and having an extra opportunity to score either 53 merits or add another Hami-O to my collection. There are still some HO that are quite useful.
Again, I'm simply encouraging people to participate in these events when the opportunity presents itself. Whether you do is up to you. Yes, we do have some occasions when some idiots show up and cause problems or we take longer to get organized. But, over all, I'd say we have a good group of people who make COP and Hami enjoyable.
Oh, and just to put some perspective on it... I have people who threaten to eat me if I *don't* run enough events for them on the weekends!
Sorry, I just can't sit by and watch someone spew all this negative attitude when the majority of experiences I've had with these events has been nothing but positive. So, I encourage those who've had negative experiences to try running with us and experience some great stuff! -
By my estimation, an All Mastermind MSR would be amazing. However, it would be something that requires some significant pre-planning so people can make it.
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Quote:Well, I've done what I can encouraging you to join us and have a positive experience. If you don't want to run it that's your call. But, please take your negative stuff elsewhere now.Originally Posted by Necrotech_Master
thx, but im good, i ran it a few times when it came out so i could get the badge on my main, havent touched it since because the rewards are not worth it in my opinion, same reason why i rarely do hami raids is cause i dont feel the rewards are worth it
when they changed the original IOPs to the current retarded temp powers it killed all interest i had in running CoPs, the only thing worthwhile to me in a hami raid is 54 reward merits, and even then i can get about the same with less people doing a tf -
Quote:I would encourage you to make at least one character on Freedom (or transfer one if you have something to transfer) and run a few times with us. Failures happen rarely, if at all, due usually to a bug that shows up.Originally Posted by Necrotech_Master
1. i dont play on freedom, was merely response to what was being said about why poeple dont run this that much
2. it only takes 10 minutes if you have a solid group to run with, otherwise its 1-2 hours of forming, then you spend 45 min in the trial cause nobody has good timing to take down the obelisks to make it to the 2nd part, ect, and no drops at all is still extremely awful, its like running an AE in test mode with the only difference being you get like 2.5 mil inf for completing it (which isnt all that hard to make in the first place)
when we first got this back, i was also extremely disappointed about the new items of power, the old items of power were fine, they could still have lasted for 7 days but it would give the sg something to show off and everyone would get the bonus
the few times i ran it, it was nothing more than a half hour frustration, the no drops + the simul kill stuff wasnt fun at all, and the change to items of power didnt make it any better
Our groups form up fairly quickly and we can often fit around 3 runs in the course of an hour. In fact, we often do our runs before kicking off a Hamidon Raid event on the weekends. The idea is to allow people to get a nice little buff prior to running Hami/MSR events.
Perhaps our success can rub off on you! -
Quote:There are a handful of SGs related to the "Freedom Hami Raids" channel that run this trial several times throughout the week. I encourage you to join the channel so you can be informed of upcoming events.Originally Posted by JayboH
I just wanted to thank Star Incarnate for letting me try the Cathedral of Pain for the very first time.
I can't believe how incredibly short and easy this thing is.
Here is the video of my first experience with this trial. Does the IoP change randomly for people? The one I got was completely pointless as I have a tier 4 Nerve Alpha - I got an acc IoP.
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To be blunt...Quote:there are 2 reasons why i dont do the CoP more:
1. the major focus of the trial is all the gosh danged simul killing, that stuff is very annoying to me, even more annoying that simul glowies
2. the rewards for this are AWFUL, you get NO drops the entire trial, and all you get is a mediocre inf reward
otherwise i like the idea of an sg trial, it gives you some more reason to be part of an sg than just a giant storage warehouse
1. If you ran with us more, you would see how easily we handle the simultaneous killing. It really is not that difficult.
2. For a trial that takes 5-10 minutes to complete, the rewards are actually pretty good. The game asks you to spend around 10 minutes to acquire an Accolade-level buff that lasts for the whole week. And, the numbers on those buffs aren't too shabby.
Also, keep in mind that if the game allows you to run it as many times as you want on the same character until it comes up with a reward that you like (you just can't pick the same reward twice in a row for 7 days).
I'd say the reward is actually on the "Overpowered" side for the little bit of effort you put into it.
Honestly, I'm not sure why more people don't run this trial more frequently. -
Wanted to provide an update to this event which has been happening for several weeks now.
So far, we have run every trial except Magisterium with great success. Here are some notes about tactics and strategies we've found...
BAF trial is basically a snooze fest for our average 16+ masterminds. We can easily achieve every badge toward the "Master of" in one run. Most sessions we run a BAF as a warm up prior to the week's feature.
Lambda trial is a bit more tricky with running around the warehouse/lab. But, given that your pets tend to keep up with you, it is still fairly simple to hit the objectives without any issues. Similar to BAF, this trial is easy for 16 masterminds to get ALL of the badges in one run. Marauder isn't even a challenge for us because of all our debuffs. And, Marauder's Nova Fist barely phases us!
Keyes Trial. Same theme here, not really a challenge for an army of masterminds. We are usually done with the reactors before Anti-Matter even shows up. Or, we are significantly far enough along that he is nothing but a fly. We have attempted to get "Avoids the Green Stuff" since our pets don't count in terms of getting caught. But, all those pets are a little counter productive because the lag makes it difficult to see the green target area.
Underground Trial. This trial was literally built for Masterminds to love. We ran this with close to 24 Masterminds and it might as well have been a giant wave of piranhas consuming everything in its path. The bomb phase is the only part that is challenging due to being unable to see them due to all the bodies. Otherwise, every AV in the mission just gets eaten.
TPN trial we've only done one time but it turned out to be a lot easier than expected. We use pulling tactics to avoid killing cameras outside. Otherwise, 16+ Masterminds handle the TPN as well as any other group. Perhaps we do it better because the terminals are cleared so fast we don't really lose any PO points.
Minds of Mayhem is something of a joke for us. The part of the trial involving the DOT circles doesn't really bother us because pets are immune to it. The parts of the trial where mobs need to be pulled are made easy if a few of the Masterminds have Provoke in their build.
Dilemma Diabolique is a trial we actually haven't been able to complete due to a bug. We experienced a bug where Diabolique was either consuming the Essences too fast or we just couldn't see them to target them. Otherwise, this trial went off without any problems.
General notes:
1. Provoke is really a great power to have on a couple of the people for an All Mastermind run. It makes it easier to handle the mobs that need to be pulled. And, it allows you to maintain Bodyguard and tank while the rest of the group focuses on damage.
2. Incandescence is useful for this kind of group. But, you have to use it wisely otherwise you can rob people of pets for bodyguard. Though this does boost the effectiveness of the healing bubble and keeps everyone going strong.
3. There really as much lag as people expect. There are some situations where all the bodies and powers make it difficult to see certain things but with that many pets obliterating stuff you don't really need to see much!
4. Our group literally makes other people jealous that they can't join us. I will get angry tells from people who play characters that have "lots of pets" but I have to turn them away because they aren't Masterminds. So, you can take heart knowing that people are jealous of how easy we run these trials!
Anyways, I hope this update encourages more people to turn out on Sunday afternoons. It really is a fun event!
My eventual goal is to put together an All Mastermind raid on the Rikti Mother Ship! That should be really fun and make a lot of people jealous of our power! -
I'd have to say I do like having this in Solar Flare. It does make it less annoying of a scatter power. Though, I may be the only one who sometimes enjoyed the ability to cause complete chaos in a mob.
Likewise, I would have preferred it if the effect of the proc was global. It would have made the set more of a help to characters that have multiple knockback powers. -
Quote:Actually, leveling any Mastermind (to me) is far easier and more fun than any other class. What other AT in the game lets you attack, heal, buff, debuff, control, and tank all at the same time without having to sacrifice something?Originally Posted by Nethergoat
Not having fun, which is why I deleted that MM.
I have a ton of fun characters to play (including a couple of other MMs), I'd rather not waste time on trying to keep a bunch of ridiculously fragile, brain dead ninjas alive.
I'm sure some enjoy that "challenge"....I'm not one of them.
And I'm sure it was much more difficult & irritating than leveling just about anything else would have been.
The game's forgiving enough that anyone can level anything to 50. And even the lamest MM (which I'd say ninjas are, by a fair margin) are still 'easy mode' compared to playing a blaster.
But I judge characters by how fun they are to play....and I had less fun with ninjas than pretty much anything else I've tried over the years.
And, to me, the primary of a Mastermind is not intended to stand alone. Your secondary powers make enough of an impact to turn your henchmen into monsters with soft-capped defense/resist as well as improving other stats. Or at least that's what I do with mine.
It would be nice, though, if the devs would buff the Ninjas somewhat seeing as all these newer sets are getting better stuff. -
Even though it is Father's Day, I will be attempting to run some kind of event today for Masterminds.
I'll wait to see how many people turn out before deciding exactly what kind of trials or missions we do.