MaestroMavius

I'm guessing an Aberrant caught ya napping.

One bit of advice, I have breakfree's bound to the back button of my mouse for Blasters, one quick click and I'm back in action without even opening my tray.

/bind button4, inspexec_name breakfree

It's set for Respites on everyone else though.

If it isn't Superhero related, count me out.

This has been my only MMO for 7 years, tried all the rest and either can't stand the theme or the gameplay is lousy.
I don't wanna be some nameless slub with sword#7
I don't wanna be some nameless elf with bow#3
I just... I don't wanna think about a world without this place so I leave thread now k...

Yeah BaB's wasn't switched over to the 'new project' like Tv and the others, it was clear he was just 'let go' while the others are still within the company, just doing something 'else'.

I still miss BaB's postings.

Sounds like a fun concept!

I agree that Fire/Dark might be your best bet, with a conceit that Energy's Nova would look cooler.

I can't claim to know all the nuances of the code, other than its messed up.

Yeah, the 'rage on anything that appears' bug is new and I have to imagine being investigated. I'm just refering to those that think the pets not being 100% controllable is 'bugged'.

Just in case nobody can produce the standard copy and paste for this request...

The main reason why:

It would be to lucrative to take a set that excels from 1-30 but then slows down, then switch to another set that would've struggled 1-30 but excels in the 30-50 game. Allowing you to breeze to 50 with an AT, just to get there and switch to a new AT that would've been harder to level.

Then you have the issues of not knowing how to play your brand new 50 tank, when he was a blaster for 49 of those levels...

Yeah, not gonna happen ever.

Don't take this the wrong way, it's nothing personal. We've just seen this one suggestion somewhere on the magnitude of once a week for 7 years straight.

I think the only suggestion that is brought up as frequently, only to be systematically slammed back down, would be vehicles. (Yeah by the by, don't suggest that. It tends to get some vets riled up a bit more than most suggestions.)

Edited to add: I do like your name for it though, Retcon. In hindsight they should have called Respecs, which is short for respecification (for those unaware) Retcon instead, to keep with the comic theme.

I learned to deal with the occasional typo in game years ago, because they were occasional and because I most always alter the dialog mentally to fit my character by default.

That said, while running the SSA and DA content, the sheer overwhelming amount of typos started to get annoying. Towards the end it seemed like every single line of text had a typo...

I can handle the occasional typo, these things happen. As a hobby writer I know how it is, you can read and re read a paragraph a dozen times and never spot the msall little mitsake simply because you know what it should say in your head.

The end of DA started to feel really rushed and sloppy as a result.

To reiterate:

I can tolerate the occasional typo in game, even though once live they are immortal, these things slip by from time to time.

I can't tolerate the increasing trend of rushing things out unpolished, be it costumes, powers or text. I have no clue what this 'Text Lock' deal is, but all we are asking is to have someone who hasn't read/wrote the text to proof it as a final step before the lock, as quality control, due to the nature of resources meaning once live they are immortal.

The fact that Rulu-Wade made it live with 'Insert bio here'...
For him to be such a huge end boss encounter, that was really kind of a bad slip up.

We're not trying to rag on you guys, we know what pressure your under, we're just giving advice to help produce great content.

Very impressive THB. Soloing a GM on a blaster is something to be proud of.

The point we're all trying to make though, is any build can be uber with 2 billion pumped into it.

The point is, you shouldn't have to resort to fantasy builds, and face facts, this build was a long time project even for you and thus a 'fantasy' for most players, just to get the AT up to par.

I'm not even worried about the whole Drain Psyche issue, as that is just a tool in your arsenal.

The ultimate point is, Blasters shouldn't have to wait til endgame, incarnate powers and 2 billion builds just to finally start living up to their design.

No other AT is required to jump that many hoops just to be stable.
In the start, it made sense for Blasters to pay such a hefty price for their damage potential. That is no longer true though.
Just because you can build a single outlier doesn't diminish that fact.

I understand that you view this as a dedication issue foremost. That if we'd only put the time and effort into the characters that you do, we'd never have all these complaints. I also know that you are smart enough to not truly be that arrogant, as you've shown by apologizing for getting heated.

Just try to see the other side of the coin, the side that is chock full of players that will never see 2 billion inf ever, let alone that they could spend on one toon. Realize that they deserve to have a competitive and reasonable AT just as much as the more dedicated like yourself.

One concept I'd like to see is a new EAT, a heroic version of MM's.

Manipulators.
The set would be based around having coercion powers, which would act as permanent confuse. Basically you'd be able to turn 3 or 4 bad guys into pets until they died, complete with MM controls once coerced. You wouldn't have control over their enhancements/slotting. But you'd be able to cherry-pick your group or just roll with whatever group is in the vicinity. Could be tricky to pull off but interesting to play. You could have the health bars turn blue to indicate that the coercion power is being applied, which takes time. Then once fully manipulated they con as allies, etc.

You forgot the desire to torture yourself.

We aren't likely to see another MM primary ever, if sells for BM didn't go as planned.

They're more likely to spend the time and resources on pet customization, which would open up a virtual plethora of options and further drive sells of the AT and 2 sets in the store!

That said, I do like the angry horde/medievil feel of this proposal.

The problem is Masterminds were balanced for years around the 'bug' both before the Dev's even realized the code was messed up and the whole time after up until GR.

So it isn't that they won't fix MM pet ai, it's that the can't.
As far as the Dev's are concerned, pet ai is WAI.

It would be far to costly to re-balance over 5 years of balance passes by totally removing the messed up ai and giving MM's the true control we were always meant to have. So they have no choice but to change the internal stance from "It's a bug we're dilegently working on" to "Here's how you do that properly."

I wasn't just blowing smoke or making stuff up in the other threads. I was one of the biggest supporters for 100% MM control years back. Until I used reasoning and logic to realize what happend, (When Demons were in Beta, everything became clear.) Suffice it to say, I had to man up and roll with it at that point.

The reason why I've been so adamant about pointing this out in all the recent threads about it, as I knew they were coming, isn't because I like that the pet ai is considered WAI, but rather because I want the community to be going at this the right way, to avoid wasted energy and creativity on our part.

If we can finally realize that the Dev's no longer consider this a problem needing to be fixed, we can start to mobilize options for reversing that stance first, then move on to solutions...

*Head desk* I hope someone gets this finally. Be my guest, PM any and all Red's you want asking for clarification that pet ai is bugged. It will never come. Pet ai is WAI...

Lets figure out how to change that viewpoint first please.

"I am making the air sounds at you" is priceless though, in any medium.

One thing I found interesting is the pyromanic tendencies the disease manifests in some of the infected.

Because I recalled reading something similar recently with the hastily diagnosed conversion disorder outbreak in New York. Those girls displayed some of the same symptoms...

Actually...

I'd think Bruce Wayne would have to have far more than that before even considering being Batman.

Tony Stark would need twice that amount.

Half a billion, while absolute overkill to us peons, would go very very quickly for a superhero creating never seen before state of the art tech.
Not to mention the cost of silence and secrecy...

Then you have the added problem that, it's a one time deal. Since it isn't a sustainable income, you'd end up having a busted ol rusty batmobile in a few years.

My money is now on a brand new Mech AT being constructed and destined for the market...

If this is true, I is happy.
If this stays hypothetical, I is happy they're open to the notion of new ATs.

Win/Win.

I went with Agility on my Claws/Electric, since my resists are already great but my defense was lacking.

Just FYI:

This isn't that recent, only coming 'to light' now due to the Kony viral campaign.
This nodding disease goes back decades and is thought to be caused by malnutrition.

That said, something like this combining with SARS or H1 and... we could have something!

If they could make a decent live action TMNT in the early 90's, that stayed fairly faithful to canon, I see no flipping reason why it needs to be mucked with. Other than the 'cause I can' ego trip.

For the record:

Personally, I'm doubtful that allowing us 100% control would indeed make us overpowered. While I can see some outliers maybe needing adjusting, overall I don't think it would be that bad really.
That doesn't mean the Dev's feel the same though, and the evidence I've pointed out seems to paint a clear picture.

It's nowhere near as bad as it was before GR...

These days, usually a simple Passive>Attack is enough to 'snap' them out of it and close to melee.
Though, the way I play my Necro/Dark, they all stay passive until goto has them surrounding the mob then I hit attack. This playstyle was developed specifically to avoid that issue, but I found this guy played great as an ambusher.

As for the suggestion, for reasons pointed out, it isn't that much of an issue.

Back when my Energy/Energy was nearing 50 I began defining his 'style'.

The first redesign I tried was turning him into a Sniper. Hover and boost range etc.
(This was pre-IO's)

That didn't work out so well, for the exact reasons you mentioned. Worked fine and all outdoors but once inside, my advantage started to feel more like a handicap. Since this was long before Hover would be buffed.

I ran that build for quite some time until I eventually realized I was ending up using Bonesmasher in every fight regardless due to the foes jumping up and balancing on wires to reach me at the ceiling etc.

So I reworked him into an Assassin instead, taking stealth and SS and maximizing his Melee attacks. That clicked like magic for him and it became who he was always meant to be. A Boss killer pure and simple.

If I was to try making a true Sniper again in the modern game, I'd most likely go with Arch/Energy. Just for the added ability to rain death AoE style from the sky.

I'd even be willing to say go all out and use Swap Ammo, heck abuse it...

I expect the results will start to skew in favor of the Stalker around level 16-18 when it comes to soloing. Teaming on the other hand, the blaster should stay competitive until the 26-30 range at least, with a small boost at 32/33 but will then start to fade fast compared to the stalker.