Mad Grim
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Posts
1107 -
Joined
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What do you mean 'replaced'? Statesman and Recluse held the same power as them, if that's what you mean.
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Time manipulation can keep just about anyone alive, unless they are actively trying to die. Moreover, unlike sets like Empathy, it can keep you alive.
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PRAF, you appear to be completely making up stuff at this point, unless you want to actually show some proof.
The basis of your argument appears to be that you are a more reliable source of information about the game's lore than the game's lore itself. -
I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, that setting them to Passive while traveling makes them attract less attention.
There is one weakness to MMs that I'm surprised no one has mentioned, probably due to how rare it is: Confuse. If a Mastermind is confused, all of his pets will turn on him. Its actually kinda funny.
Most of an MM's problems can be described as a quality of life issue. In actual, straight combat they are one of the most fearsome ATs in the game. Patches do get annoying but that is one of the trade-offs for being so powerful. The devs have shown repeatedly that they can fix AI issues. They have rigged the gun drone and the singularity to prefer range, yet they can't do the same for MM ranged pets?Sometimes I do start to think that the AI issues, while originally unintentional, are now a balance point. Think of how much more powerful robots could be if they actually stayed at range, or if the Oni prioritized his attacks and Jounin didn't waste their Hide crit on a Poison Dart. How much more useful could the Arsonist and the Medic be if they didn't try to punch things? Mastermind AI may very well be the only thing keeping them from taking over the world.
Not that I agree that using a bug as a balance point is ever a good idea, but this might be why, after years of asking for a fix, Mastermind AI still sucks. -
Now all we need is Toggle Suppression, and the only advantage human forms will have is more survivability.
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There is no reason to speculate. They said they aren't working on any ATs, so unless they were flat-out lying, they aren't working on any ATs.
If they had finished working on an AT, it would have been announced already. -
I'm sure Hamidon would be immune, since he's immune to everything else.
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Darkness Control's Posses is just like Decieve or Confuse, only with cooler graphics. It is a long ST confuse on a low recharge.
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Maybe if we have enough people use Chronoshift at once we can travel to, and invade, the future.
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You can't just compare the forms individually, you have to do it for the AT as a whole.
As for the Dwarves... Well, Black Dwarf has Mire. And with the instant shifting... -
If you run into a spawn with Bodyguard mode while the pets aren't there, that is your own fault. They already do teleport to you if you get too far ahead.
MMs, as an AT, are not under-performing at the level the game is balanced at. The only time they start to lag a little, and not even that much, is when IOs are take into account. And the game is not balanced around IOs. So just letting the pets all receive half of the set bonuses you have so long as they are in Supremacy range would solve them at the IO level without impacting the normal game.
... That said, a power that teleports them to you would be convenient. But I'd rather them actually listen to my commands than drag them to me forcefully. -
Personally I don't want a rehash of an enemy group as a pet set. That's what Lore is for.
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Yes, PBAoEs do kinda suck when fighting a single hard target. I don't notice it much due to all my pets being soft capped, but when they do hit my entire lower tier can get wiped out. Which is bad, because being ninjas that was most of my DPS.
But then I just summon them, and get on with killing whoever it was, lets say Statesman.
The secondaries that seem to struggle most are those lacking an AoE heal, because just like an AoE attack will be like 7 times damage on you, and AoE heal restores 7 times as much health. This is one reason /Time and /Dark are so popular, both have very powerful AoE heals. Both also have great debuffs and buffs. /Time gets Farsight and Time's Juncture, which together can nearly softcap a pet (barring tohit debuff resistance), a powerful control in Distortion Field, and a massive -def and -res debuff. Whereas /Dark gets Fearsome Stare, a fantastic crowd control, and enough -tohit to floor most enemies, as well as Tar Patch.
Both of these sets perform amazingly well because of a combination of buffs, debuffs, and AoE heals. Sets like Sonic and Force Field have amazing buffs, but lack in heals and debuffs. Trick Arrow has good debuffs, but no real way to keep your pets alive. /Traps, while great, also lacks in an AoE heal, and to lay something like Trip Mine you have to stop moving, exposing your pets to AoE damage. Pain has amazing heals, but the resistance buff in World of Pain just isn't enough in higher difficulties. Poison has amazing debuffs, but only a ST heal and no buffs.
Like all ATs there are combinations that are more than the sum of their parts, like Bots/Traps and Beast/Pain.
But, and this is the important part, even the least synergetic combinations are still powerful. A Merc/Poison is probably the least synergetic thing you can make and you can still kick the game's behind with it. When you go up to something like Demon/Time then most content becomes trivial.
Like I said earlier, the weaker sets do need to be brought in line with the others, but this is more for the sake of balance within the AT than balance compared to other ATs. Comparing MM performance to that of any other AT is difficult due the different weaknesses, but by general consensus Ninjas and Mercenaries ARE under-performing... for an MM set. Not necessarily for a set as compared to the rest of the game. -
Actually, a Mastermind can potentially hold more aggro than a tank, because each pet has an aggro cap of their own. Now, maintaining that aggro is another thing, and pets are terrible at it.
A high innate AoE defense (kinda like what Stalkers get in Hide) would be cool, if the AT was under-performing. But it isn't. The ATO proc does give quite a bit of AoE defense, for the IO level. -
If 48 MMs show up, and the server survives, I'll eat my ninjas.
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Quote:The AI... is bad, I'll admit.Originally Posted by ryu_planeswalker
This is a great idea in theory, but it also means that you have a severe hole in AOE mitigation as your health pool is getting hit 7 Times.
In all honesty Masterminds do need a look at as a class that does not work as intended, and as a class that was designed with specific things in mind 7 years ago, with a lot of very archaic and frankly very poor design choices made. Not blaming anyone on this, but with the half a decade of experience they have had with the sheer amount of issues with MM pet AI going back and looking at every pet one by one and working around the issues would be a good idea.
However, as for the AoE weakness, it isn't as bad as you make it out. Direct cones away from your pets and keep a good 15 foot distance from them. Hop around a bit. For the most part you can keep stuff just hitting you. -
Quote:I was under the impression that Global Cooling had set in and mittens were mandatory.Originally Posted by Agent White
Yeah, an elastic set, as we think of it, would involve stretching the model. And that breaks it. badly.
Kind of like trying to give us individual fingers. -
I think they said Elastic was somewhat impossible due to how character models are made.
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Quote:Maybe as an option in the customizer, I like mine how they are.Originally Posted by Agent White
I always thought Illusion control's graphics should've been changed to dopplegang you. Same 'powers' as they use now and all, just they look like copies of you.
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And you have to do it with 8 enemies to get the Army of Me badge. Normally I just OD on inspirations, but a lot of 'force multiplier' kinda sets make me wait till I'm high enough to kill them.
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I think currently the closest you can get to an armored suit is a Crab Spider.
You get lasers, blades, grenades, bombs, venom gas, ect. -
Well in the villain arc, you get to choose how many of you you face... all the way up to 8. It gets pretty absurd. I did it as a Demon/Thermal once. They were all hardcapped resistance, they kept rezzing and healing each other... I had to wait five levels and come back.
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Quote:You could just replace the T7 in Bots with Combine. You and your pets become a Voltron with you as the brain.Originally Posted by ThePill
I'd make it a Mastermind set.
Wait! Hear me out.
Each pet would be a piece of armor that gets added to your character. So, it'd be all laser turrets and missile bays attached to shoulders, back and your feet.
That'd differentiate it from Iron Man, I'd think. Yeah, I have no idea how this would work for PVP.
Oh yes, duplicate masterminds please.
But not before Pirates, air blast, light blast, and that morphing melee thing. In that order. -
Quote:Well... there is this thing called Bodyguard Mode. Use it, take Provoke, and tank for your pets. It makes everything much easier.Originally Posted by Wicked_Wendy
Sadly your favorite MM (Mercs) has always been considered the weakest link among the others.. Personally I dislike Ninjas more but that's because they seem the hardest to actually control (picture 6 pets that all tend to act just like the combat medic and want to run up into mobs and die). LOL
I have a Merc/Dev that has managed to have some limited success on Incarnate trials but it is much more difficult than with my other MMs.... My Thugs/DM rules BAFs and Gang War has helped leagues I was on Polish off Mother Mayhem in under 2 minutes duringa MOM. I never had a problem with my Bots/DM either but Bots was always one of the stronger original sets. I'm not saying I don't EVER have to resummon but I have taken Thugs and Bot on UG, TPN, BAF, and even DDs and been a useful member of the league.. Any squishy has problems on Lambda and an MM is probably the worst At to send into a warehouse after anything.. They usually just wind up dead.. of course if the 50 +3 level tanks and Brutes didnt run off to show how cool it is they can solo in there and stucjk with the team an MM might last a bit longer but you can't ask for miracles
Now my new BM/Thermal MM does quite well on any trial . She can heal and buff not only the team but her pets so they tend to last a lot longer.
Do I think MMs need/deserve a buff? YES .. they have the lowest hit point total of any AT mainly because the devs assumed the pets would pull aggro off the MM and keep them alive. Well I have seen plenty of cases where my pets were almost completely ignored and the mob came straight for ME! Plus as we all know at the higher levels the mobs all catch up and then pass the pets and they start dying like flies. Once they are gone I am left standing there with 3 attacks, no defense and LOW hit points .. may as well paint the target on my chest and point the enemy in my direction. Better control of pets would be a real treat.. can we please PLEAS PLEASE .. stop the crap where my arsonist, my combat medi, ect, ect etc.. feel the need to rush forward after one attack and DIE? Every single minon I own is capable of long ranged attacked.. why do they all act like Skulls? fire off one shot and then run up and try to club the enemy to dealth with a completely loaded gun?
and finally either allow the pets to keep that almost dominance they have over enemy mobs at low levels when they get to the high level content or give ME some inherent defenses or MORE health.
Of course no one will ever be 100% satisfied with any AT and we all want more out of each and every one but yes I do think the Masterminds deserve their turn on the table and hopefully they come out better than before. Oh I almost forgot to add.. either stop counting them as attackers or make dang sure any league wide BUFF you create buffs enough attackers so I don't have to dismiss my pets like we did for a while during the MAGI. yeah who though up THAT bright idea? lol
Also, while in bodyguard, you effectively have over 5000 health. They don't need more. -
Ok, lets assume half of them are incarnate enough to have Lore. Thats another 48. Add in some more for HVAS, other temps, and for demons (forgot about the fire imps!), and now we're looking at about 450. Not counting the countless rikti.
And that is still probably on the low side.