FreshFish

I'd like to see the ability to change our pets' descriptions. Seeing as how fire imps can now be made yellow or black or white, and many other pets can be changed, it would be nice to be able to say that the pets are actually other creatures in their description. That way when people click on our pets and read the descriptions, they would get additional game content and backstory that would enrich the game for them and us.

More non-lethal weaponry for traditionally lethal weapon sets. I.E.- I'd love to make a dual pistol defender, but the notion that I'm arresting a Hellion by shooting him in the face with a 9mm is rather discouraging to me. I'd like to see energy-shooting style handguns so that at least I can reasonably say that I have my phasers set to stun instead of kill. The bullets don't even have to be visible or that graphically amazing, as long as the energy blaster wasn't popping bullet shells out the side. This suggestion goes for assault rifle and archery as well. The broadsword and katana already have energy versions, which is nice, but the sound on those two sets still makes a metal striking sound instead of an energy waving sound; fixing that would help improve those experiences for me.

Seeing as how I don't see a lot of sonic (or force field, for that matter) players on my server, and having played a sonic defender, I wanted to suggest a few changes that might make sonic a bit more appealing and potentially more balanced with some of the other sets that exist out there.

Changes:

Add psionic resistance to Clarity. --- Other people have probably mentioned this, but given that sonic has no heal, it seems fair to add psionic resistance to it, not to mention that the power is about clarity of mind to begin with. It's also worth considering making clarity an aoe buff as well if the psionic resistance is added, as damage and debuffs still take people out often enough that mez isn't as much of an issue. Not to mention incarnates can get mez protection anyway, and Pain Domination gives psionic resistance in its resistance buffing power already.

Change Sonic Repulsion to a chance-for-knockdown click power. --- The devs don't want to change the core function of powers in sets, and this would help make the power useful. Take the power, cast it on an ally, the ally now has a repel field like singularity, but the power would not trigger as often and it would do knockdown instead of knockback (knockback on a click ally aura would be used too much for griefing). This change solves the problem of the current Sonic Repulsion costing way too much endo when Sonic Dispersion and Disruption Field are running, as a person can decide when they want to use the power and the endurance, as the "per target" endurance cost would be removed. A knockdown to knockback proc could always be made if someone wants to have knockback when they don't already. Knockdown is more useful.

Alter Liquefy. I don't know how to make this power more useful. If Sonic Repulsion was changed, then Liquefy stacking with it often would still cause knockback often, which would be annoying. If Liquefy did knockup and had lower debuff rates, it might be able to have the recharge on it shorter and still stack nicely with a click Sonic Repulsion. On the flip side, one could make Liquefy's hold or debuffs stronger, while lowering the knockdown rate, and perhaps this would stack better with a click Sonic Repulsion.

Actually, i have a bots/traps lv. 50. And I have it slotted with both Accurate Defense Debuff IO's that do Acc/end/recharge. With both on the highest level u can get them, it puts those three attributes at roughly 39%. A little low on the recharge, and i wish the others could be higher, but the other 4 slots i have an achilles' heel -resist in there, as well as three damage procs in it. And let me tell you, i luuvs my acid mortar. Not only does it add some nice numbers (may actually do more damage than a teir one robot in large groups), it has the ability to debuff somethings resist by 40%, and it actually takes aggro every now and then even in heavy fire battles which means my bots get spared from taking that damage. I dont have tactics, and i find its accuracy to be pretty good, considering there is no such thing as toxic defense in the game. If something has aoe defense acid mortar might miss a bit more, but it only takes hitting once to knock out some defense to make acid mortar hit easier the next time. And acid mortar has an 8 foot radius and fires every 5.5 seconds. Meaning it fires its procs almost 2x as fast as caltrops, AND its -resist, especially with achilles heel, can increase its own procs damage. I've seen it hit harder than my assault bot's single target attack, and the most damage i've seen it do without outside assistance was 171 damage to a +1 minion.

But yea, thats my suggestion for slotting. The extra damage procs also help if ur bots are down, because the acid mortar can attract a little attention and provide some cover in order for u to resummon. And as for recharge, I have hasten on my bots/traps, and just got 30% global recharge, and probably 66% of the time i have out two acid mortars at once. It will probably go up more once i get more recharge bonuses.

As for the knockdown proc, mids is saying it only has a 20% chance, which isnt any better than a damage proc. Damage procs hitting can also provide valuable damage mitigation in defeating an enemy, and knockdown doesnt always last that long. But your mileage may vary.

I say bots/traps. Dark doesnt have hold and disorient protection for yourself, and your main -dam and -tohitt debuff will get knocked off every time u get mezzed. With bots having heals, u having repair, and also having triage beacon, the bots last a long time. As well, trip mines can add a ton of damage. And acid mortar with a couple damage procs will actually start taking a bit of aggro. It also does -def, and PGA does -regen. Everything u need basically.

It might not show in the pet combat window, but its numbers arent hard to miss. Just get in a big group of baddies, even grey name colored ones, and only use acid mortar to attack them. Eventually u should see a large number go up under one of their heads. That will tell you its working. Maybe if i only had that proc in my acid mortar, it would be easier to tell, but i have three damage procs in it, and i definitely know the other two are working. heheh.

Im assuming your bots dark? I bet you could use mids and come up with a much better build, but maybe you don't want to go toward the expensive end. U can get two +3% defense uniques, one Steadfast and the other the P vs P IO unique from the resist set, which would add 6% defense all, so then u have 11% from bots, we'll say 6% from shadow fall, 4% from maneuvers, that right there 27% all right there. And u still have all the other slots u could use for IO's after that. Slot your travel power with a full blessing of zepher set (3 slots), which gives u kb protection, and u have an extra 3% ranged and aoe defenses. so now ur almost 30% defense all (but psy). Slot Howling twilight with the stupefy set and it will gives u another 3-4% ranged defense. And i bet there are a ton of other sets u could use to probably get u to roughly 40% defense all (but psy) or so, and still have your resist shield. But then u would have to build your set for maximizing defense and only go for moderate recharge or something. Just depends on how bad u want things.

I have a bots/traps build (i know, ffg gives like 10% more defense than shadow fall, but still), and my defense numbers while having charged armor as well, will end up being roughly 44% melee, 54% ranged, 47% aoe. And that's without gimping. But i also took combat jumping to slot another blessing of zepher set in it, as well as get a little extra defense and get another Luck of the Gambler +recharge in there. I did not take weave. So it's entirely doable to get high numbers, at least on sets that give at least some +defense like dark or traps for forcefields, especially paired with bots, it just depends on how bad you want it and how much you want to spend.

Also know that a lot of mezzing is psionic and dark based as well, like all those ruin mages and rikti and stuff, so s/l/e defense isnt going to save you from getting mezzed there. Might want to look into investing in a Aegis Set: Psionic+Mez Resist Unique. 20% mez resist, especially stacked with other mez resist, can help quite a bit. (unless u went the acro root, then maybe it wouldnt matter as much).

Neither? I can think of better powers for you to take. What about repair? have that? It's a great heal. Or hasten, or if u dont have maneuvers, or seeker drones, or caltrops. Or photon grenade slotted with stupefy's chance to knockback IO. Or ....

But if i had to pick between only those two, i would pick detonator, simply because you wont find as many uses for teleport foe, because it doesnt work on very many bosses, and u still have some chance of aggroing people around the person u try to tp, like u attacked. It's better in p vs p, but for the normal game, i would go with detonator.

So i was thinking, instead of people having to send countless tells over and over to people to ask if they want to join a taskforce, why not make a spot in a few zones where people can click to say they would be interested in doing one, like an in-game sign-up sheet; and when there was enough for a full team or so, everyone that was interested would get a message from the game saying that there were enough players online to do it, and what their names were. This could allow for players to stop wasting so much time sitting around trying to form TF teams, while still being able to play the rest of the game and find a team at the same time.

And if the player logged off, that person would be removed from the sign-up sheet and would have to re-signup. Also, having a handy list of what the level limits of each TF was, a brief description, and standard time necessary to beat each TF would be nice to have with the sign-up center as well.

Heheh. I have the guardian on my energy/stone brute, and it looks great with two giant pieces of earth whacking things side by side. Too bad he is super squishy. Not to mention his attack rate can't be boosted by IO's anymore either :/ .

lol p vs p. Web'nade+hover can keep some melee'ers almost permanently unable to hit you. And yes, bots/traps can p vs p, though like someone else said, your own defenses suck in p vs p, so maybe build for regen or +hp for urself if you plan to go the IO route (haven't researched it myself).

As for p vs e, I got my hands on some acc/dam IO's of different levels to start (some sets are much easier to get than others because people don't want them), and then worked from there. I do have two def IO's in my prot bots, and that gives me 11.2%. I also have maneuvers and the pet unique and etc; all but my prot bots have 46% defense all or so. Two defense in the prot bots is nice. And to the people who say that putting a heal in them is a bad idea, i say poo poo. I currently have them slotted two acc/dam hami's, one acc/dam pet IO, two def IO, and one heal/endredux hami, and it works great. Not only is the heal not worse, it's better. Now the prot-bots wait til my teir 1's actually need a heal (when they are below half health), and they heal the other prot bots for a noticeable amount now, and actually put a dent in healing the assault bot (before it wasn't all that noticeable).

On teams, do what u want. You are considered the tank of CoV, so if u want to make sure you have your defense, do it. Personally, as a MM, you don't have to buff other people. I put myself to a rule on my forcefield MM's, and the rule is that once i have all my pets (lv. 26), i often will only bubble the two people who i think will benefit from it the most, unless we are facing an AV.

And you think you have it bad now, try getting powerboost from the patron pools, and then trying to remember to keep all of your pets powerboost bubbled (can keep at least 6 perma, with rotation of pb) AND bubble other people. Now that's a pain in the rear. But Soft-capped mercs is nice though. heheh.

When playing my peacebringer, I find that while Light Form is useful, since you can't change into the other forms, you are stuck sitting in Light Form for a long time before it wears off. Part of the whole reason to be a kheldian is that you can change forms, and so having to wait like 3 minutes before you can do it again is pretty rough. So my suggestion is to cut the duration of light form by 1/2, but also cut the recharge some, and leave some endurance after the crash so that it becomes a more useful tool, and this way a PB can move with a better flow.

Detonator is the most skippable. Caltrops are quite good, and u can slot them with a lot of procs.

I've known about this for a while. Sands of Mu vet power is famous for it, especially combined with superspeed. I find myself doing it and not even realizing that I've chosen to do it sometimes. And though the power may have a 5 target max, i think u may be able to hit more people because of the lag or whatever. Try doing it on a tank jumping over a big group.

And yea, my gosh doing it with recall friend would be awesome, if u could hit that many.

As for normal fights, my typical pattern on my bots/traps is to send in seeker drones and as they get shot at to throw down a poison trap. This gets the enemy held, and i get shot at, which gets my bots firing. After that I'll open up with my other traps.

Some things that might help- do u have maneuvers? Yes bots have defense, but the closer u get to soft-cap, and of course the more defense u have in general, the less they will die. My bots right now, outside of the protector bots, have 46% or so defense to all but psy, which means they dont get hit much. This is with the prot bot bubbles (two lv. 50 def IO's in prot bots), FFG, maneuvers, and the defense aura pet IO. Which brings me to another point, if u save up your money and buy both pet uniques and slot them in, they will help keep your pets alive as well. 10% resistance can easily mean the difference between getting one-shotted or not, and if they arent one-shotted, it means they can be healed.

I do lose pets here and there, but it is often because one of them chases a guy down a hallway when im not looking or something. Or the battle is really intense and I have like 40 guys shooting at me at once. Every AT was meant to have a limit and weaknesses, otherwise the game would get boring eventually.

First off, we're talking about 15-20% damage mitigation to all damage types if both auras are slotted. This is just two enhancement slots, and these things are always on and cost no endo. And only some MM's can slot it? Seriously, how is this not broken? If only some scrappers were able to slot for two enhancement slots a free 15-20% damage mitigation to all types, there would be no end to the complaining that was going on. And this is what is happening for some MM's at the moment.

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Nope, doesn't seem unfair, recharge intensive pet sets go into pets that are recharge intensive. You could always just play /dark or /storm. Then again, if tornado is a pet, OSA and acid mortar should be too.

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In the least for tornado, it doesnt even have Hitpoints that can be attacked. Acid Mortar and Seeker Drones do have HP that can be attacked, and Acid Mortar stays out and can be killed (and can kill, especially with three damage procs in it, heheh). But I still contend that anything that gives 15-20% damage mitigation to all types for two slots for only some powersets of an AT isn't fair, even if a person can pick a certain secondary. Because not everyone wants to be a clone of everyone else and play a certain powerset. It's called balance for a reason.

While I understand why the sets were made to begin, and why only certain pets are allowed to slot them, I still have an issue with only some MM's being able to slot them. An extra 10% resist and 5% defense is a ton of benefit. For only some MM's being able to slot it, I would say a broken benefit. That would be like saying only tankers who get a regen increasing move could slot an IO for the same thing. People would get really upset. 5% defense can easily be the difference between soft-capping defense on a MM build or not, and having 10% extra resist can be the difference between losing a pet or not, which means a noticeable amount less of resummoning. I thought MM's werent suppose to get RIP sets because it would make them overpowered, but now that Castle has added the RIP sets to Soul Extraction, they probably will stay.

What do u guys think? Fair, unfair? I mean, it is giving an extra 10% resist to probably 75% of your health.

Depends on how many free spots u can spare. Oppressive gloom is indeed impressive for a single power pick, but the aoe taunt in the presence pool can be incredibly useful for a mastermind, especially on a pain where your secondary is about responding to damage after its happened (though getting mez protection or resist would be vital to using it). And if u use invoke panic among a lot of minions and then use the ST fear on a boss, u have both the minions out of the picture and the boss in fear for a while as well. But it does all cost a lot of endurance, and the ST fear is wretched, possibly being one of the worst moves in the game on its own, because it only affects minions and its other stats like endurance use are horrible. But I had fun with it on my Nin/pain, and it's worthwhileness might have shown more if my tier 1 pets weren't made of paper.

It's a known issue. I think it may be because their ranged attacks aren't cycling fast enough, and since they dont have anything to do, some default AI probably given to all the hench tells them to run into melee (maybe because many pets do have a brawl attack). I've noticed I dont really have any problems with them running into melee after lv. 32, though they used to get stuck on seeker drones, but I've heard the devs fixed that for issue 15, so that will be cool.

maybe it fell through the cracks, I would love to see it changed too. It is a little long, though the bots do put out pretty good. Maybe it isnt going to be changed because Bots DPS isnt horrible, and as well, you can still use all of your own moves while A. Bot is using flamethrower. On the other hand, when a player is using a 7 second or so flamethrower, it can get them in a lot of trouble.

Survivability- bots

ST damage- ninjas

aoe damage- thugs

Honestly, ive seen high level thugs MM players and i know they rip though stuff. i have a lv. 50 bots and I know they are survivable, but they also rip through stuff. Incendiary missiles only has a 16 second recharge, same as swarm missiles. For the damage those burn patches do, as well as for how long they last, thats crazy good. But i still think on average thugs might do more. And as for the boasting about having the extra resist and defense from RIP sets in Gang War, dont expect it to last. They already removed it from MM pets having it already, even though the teir 1's for many players die a lot. And as far as i know, Soul Extraction and Dark Servant can't slot it, even though they are definitely long recharge pets. It was probably just an oversight, just like the recharge IO's from sets affecting pet attack rate. It will get removed eventually, so enjoy it while u can. As it is, my 4 out of 6 of my bots on my bots/traps have over 45% defense all (but psy), and the probots will have like 35% or so, which isnt horrible. Considering I also have seeker drones which do tohitt debuff, I do just fine. But yea, i still stand on my opinions so far.

I dont feel like looking at all the different set abreviations and tinkering stuff out, but i have a bots/traps build u can look at to check out ideas. The two blank spots in it are- caltrops blank is for the p vs p chance for -resist pbaoe set IO; charged armor blank- resist+def p vs p unique. Im not saying ill ever get my build finished because of the cost, but i try to build ideal and then work towards it. And as a sidenote, this build was made specifically because i wanted to be able to have a lot of defense so i could trip mine much better, part of the reason i went with bots to begin with. If i ever get the p vs p defense IO, ill have roughly 43.5% melee, 56% ranged, and 49.5% aoe defense while under forcefield generator. Oh, and not all powers were taken in that exact order. I couldnt stand not having an attack early on, so i took Photon grenade early and put repair off until lv. 47. I may have taken seeker drones a bit earlier too. Acid mortar with 4 procs in it is simply awesome, but it does indeed need to have a bit of accuracy in it, hence making sure it has a bit in it.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Natural Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Robotics
Secondary Power Set: Traps
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Battle Drones -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Nucle(3), HO:Nucle(3), SvgnRt-PetResDam(5), EdctM'r-PetDef(5)
Level 1: Web Grenade -- HO:Endo(A)
Level 2: Caltrops -- TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(A), Empty(9)
Level 4: Triage Beacon -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(7), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(7), Numna-Heal/Rchg(9), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(23)
Level 6: Equip Robot -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 10: Acid Mortar -- AnWeak-Acc/Rchg/EndRdx(A), Posi-Dam%(11), LdyGrey-%Dam(23), Achilles-ResDeb%(25), ShldBrk-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(31), ShldBrk-%Dam(33)
Level 12: Protector Bots -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Nucle(13), DefBuff-I(13), DefBuff-I(15), HO:Golgi(15), S'bndAl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17)
Level 14: Health -- Numna-Heal(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(19)
Level 16: Force Field Generator -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(17), LkGmblr-Rchg+(19)
Level 18: Repair -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Poison Trap -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-%Hold(25), Lock-Acc/Rchg(34), Lock-Rchg/Hold(37), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(37), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 26: Assault Bot -- S'bndAl-Dmg/EndRdx(A), S'bndAl-Acc/Rchg(27), S'bndAl-Build%(27), HO:Nucle(29), HO:Nucle(29), ExStrk-Dam%(33)
Level 28: Super Speed -- Zephyr-ResKB(A), Zephyr-Travel(39), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(45)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), LkGmblr-Rchg+(31), HO:Cyto(33)
Level 32: Upgrade Robot -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(43)
Level 35: Trip Mine -- Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(A), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(36), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Ragnrk-Dmg(37)
Level 38: Photon Grenade -- Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(A), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(39), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(40), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(40), Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(40), Stpfy-KB%(43)
Level 41: Charged Armor -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(42), Aegis-Psi/Status(42), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(42), Empty(43)
Level 44: Electrifying Fences -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(45), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(45), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(46), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(46), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(46)
Level 47: Seeker Drones -- Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(48), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(50), Zephyr-ResKB(50), LkGmblr-Rchg+(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Supremacy
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[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]3% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]3% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]3% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]3% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]3% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]3% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]3% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]3% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]5% Defense[*]7.06% Defense(Smashing)[*]7.06% Defense(Lethal)[*]10.5% Defense(Fire)[*]10.5% Defense(Cold)[*]11.4% Defense(Energy)[*]11.4% Defense(Negative)[*]3% Defense(Psionic)[*]7.38% Defense(Melee)[*]19.9% Defense(Ranged)[*]13.3% Defense(AoE)[*]2.25% Max End[*]2.5% Enhancement(Held)[*]3% Enhancement(Immobilize)[*]48.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]3% Enhancement(Stun)[*]15% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]6% Enhancement(Heal)[*]72.3 HP (9%) HitPoints[*]Knockback (Mag -8)[*]Knockup (Mag -8)[*]MezResist(Confused) 2.5%[*]MezResist(Held) 8%[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 2.5%[*]MezResist(Sleep) 2.5%[*]MezResist(Stun) 2.5%[*]MezResist(Terrorized) 2.5%[*]9% (0.15 End/sec) Recovery[*]48% (1.61 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]10% Resistance(Smashing)[*]10% Resistance(Lethal)[*]12.5% Resistance(Fire)[*]12.5% Resistance(Cold)[*]10% Resistance(Energy)[*]11.9% Resistance(Negative)[*]10% Resistance(Toxic)[*]13% Resistance(Psionic)[*]5% RunSpeed[/list]

Put a defendable object in a room that can hold many defendable objects. As well, put a boss in the same room with 3 ambushes attached to him. This would have to be an indoor map, because outdoor the items spawn in random locations. Attach an ambush to the defendable object, which will give it a total of two, and the boss will have 3. You can then add one or more other defendable objects which will create more ambushes. When u run out of ambushes, fill the rest of the room with destructible objects with the groups set on medium or hard. All of this will make a ton of enemies be around if the room is big enough/there are enough objects close to each other in the room.

It may not be exactly a tower defense, but it comes close, especially on large teams. I made one of my mishs in Abandoned Office 11- Hero offices- I believe, which only has two floors and the last room has places for quite a few destructible and defendable objects, as well as room for a boss. I tried using Hro'Dotz or whatever the Rikti AV's name is so that he would summon his own ambush as well, but he never uses his transponder power.

There are probably better maps with better rooms, but this was just an example.

I think some tweeking will need to be in order. And i think keeping katana and broadsword on scraps and giving brutes and scraps sets that make them them, would help to keep them with some of their own flavor. I would love to have some tanks redside, especially for masterminds so they dont have to lose their pets as much. But my Eng/Stone brute can tank through pretty much anything a stone/eng tank could, and it does far more damage, and it has a pet. I think giving tanks something special, that isnt related to damage or HP, would help. Maybe have their taunts have some extra sort of special effect that can happen- im sure that would make it interesting.

But really, im not too worried. As others have said, many people play their brutes like scraps and never take taunt anyway. So tanking still has a roll. What i will have a problem with is that brutes have to have aggro to build fury. So if a tank and a brute are on the same team in one spawn, the brute will start to do closer to tanker damage because the tank is holding the aggro. heheh.