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Mastermind Pets (I tested with bots) take a long time to use building doors (I tried the police station, front door and inside elevator). This means the Mastermind is left on the other side of the door without any support. This should be adressed, as it not only casues a danger to the player, but also wastes precious time.
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I can confirm this. And it's REALLY annoying when the Longbow you're RUNNING from get through the door faster than the henchmen who were right behind you. -
Actually, I was finding that my time bonusses for randomly destroying things were not updating properly. For a while, it'd be +1 minute per car I blew up - but every now and then, it'd "skip" a car. Boxes and barrels, eh, I don't know if it's thirty seconds EACH, or, thirty seconds for X number of them, or, what.
And my supposedly twenty-minutes-to-start mayhem mission started the clock at thirteen minutes and fourty-nine seconds (?!?), two minutes of which were consumed with setup time (I was on my Mastermind at the time).
This was, specifically, for a Mayhem Mission gained in Sharkshead ... was sent to rob the bankin Steel Canyon. -
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I really like the Pistol powers. They have a nice style and flow to them. Heroes need pistols too, I dont care what AT gets them. After messing around with a thug MM I so want a run and gun pistol Hero.
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/agreed.
Just at L6, with two (equipped) Thugs, and both Pistol attacks ... damn but the alpha strike is fun - and effective, too. Most white-con minions drop in one salvo of dual-shots. -
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Personally, the process is still a bit slower than I'd like on teams, which is why I have SuperJump (so I'm usually the first person to the mission, and with enough time that I'm well into the summon/upgrade cycle before the Fliers and SSers make it to the door).
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I have Teleport for the same reason. Well, Teleport + Hover. 'Cause I kept missing when I tried to chain-teleport. And falling hurts. Especially into clusters of purple enemies. -
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Well this is one of the sillier comparisons I have seen. The OP corectly points out that Heroes have all of the major powers in the game, and you cite the villains ummm niche roles as if they matter? Stalkers are the best umm stealhters? great they can hide!
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Okay. So that team of four villains you can JUST make out, way over there? Is it really a team of four villains, or do they have a stalker or three tagging along, too ...? No way to know for sure, except find out "the hard way" - by which time, dependign on builds/powers ... you may already be sucking pavement.
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MMs are the Pet masters! Wahoo! as if that mattered since the superior damage and defenses of the Heroes make short work of the MM and then they pets fall dead as puppets with the strings cut.
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Helooooooo ... Bodyguard, remember? Put all six pets in Bodyguard stance, and suddenly I have an un-de-buffable 75% Damage Resistance - that, I might add, stacks multiplicatively with any damage reduction I might have from OTEHR sources. Like buffs applied by team-mates, or by eating some inspirations, etc.
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Brutes? Highest damage? In what world do you live in? firstly the DPS output of Brute is significantly lower than both Blasters and scrappers.
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I did specify "with full Fury". You know, that little inherent that gives them up to +300% damage? -
Heh, nine pages in. I hadn't gotten anywhere NEAR there.
So ... maybe this'll just count as a vote in favor of the GUN version of "Cricket" ...? ^_^ -
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An avatar contest is an excellent idea. Help this "newb" out and give me your ideas... just post your avatar here and I'll pick one out. And just an FYI-my name is based off of the bug-not the sport.
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Here're two suggestions related to NEITHER the bug, NOR the sport - i both "original" size as I found them on the web, and "resized" so as not to violate the restrictions on Avatar size.
In all cases - it's The Noisy Cricket, from the movie Men in Black - the tiny-but-POWERFULY "little popgun" used by Wil Smith's character, to be specific. ^_^
#1, full-sized
#1, re-sized
#2, full-sized
#2, re-sized -
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WHAT? You find you're having trouble choosing a second target and equipping and then switching back during the twenty eight second downtime between upgrades? That doesn't make any sense at all.
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Perhaps it will make sense when you consider my secondary: /Force Fields. The two mini-bubbles pop back VERY quickly. I find it faster - and, no less importantly, EASIER - to select a single pet, and tap out the number keys for the various buff-and-bubble powers I'll be applying.
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Oh please.
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"Oh, please", your own damned self. Like I said, P E R S O N A L P L A Y S T Y L E (maybe writing it that way will help it find it's way through your skull, this time ...). I simply don't like to go into a fight with less than everything at my disposal up, prepped, and ready to rumble. Literally:
<ul type="square">[*] Select the next pet in the list[*] hit "5" for Upgrade[*] hit "6" for Equip[*] hit "7" for dispersion shield[*] hit "8" for insulation shield[*] IF unbuffed pet(s) remain THEN repeat process[/list]
So, "click, tap ... tap ... tap ... tap", for each pet. -
EDIT: stupid forum software and non-attributed quotes ...
Kong-Fu said:
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Why aren't you equipping all of your bots during the downtime from the first upgrade?
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After much practise, I find that I lose more time changing targets around fromminion to minion, than just "pick a bot, run him through the complete cycle ...lather ... rinse ... repeat".
Weekend_Avenger said:
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I have a level 40 MM, it takes me a minute and a half to be "ready enough" to start a mission. That's all Tiers spawned, and two with the second upgrade on them. If I'm still waiting I keep upgradeing if not, I roll with the rest of the team and finish upgrades on the fly.
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I consider "less than 100% prepared" to be "as good as 100% unprepared". Personal playstyle issue, perhaps.
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I will have to disagree some with Pax_Arcana on the Defender / Linchpin thing however. Controllers have Defender primaries as thier secondary powers, I know I surely use them on my Trollers.
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Some controllers have Defender Primes for their secondaries. Stormies don't really count. And regardless, most controllers are probably not going to make as heavy an investment into their secondaries, as a Defender will make into his or her primaries - yes?
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Villains by their nature are better at this, since they are all focused on damage and there is really never an "optimal" team for them anyhow.
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That, actually, is my point - Villain teams have the pseudo-advantage of no single member's loss cutting any significant ability out of the team's repertoire, barring specific builds on the part of various team members.
Hero teams can see entire categories of ability reduced to the point of near-nullification by the loss of a single member.
Speaking, in my case, of five-member "one of each AT" teams, which is probably how the developers look at PvP balance. -
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controllers >>>>>>>> dominators without Domination active
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Fixed that for you. Remember, Domination brings up the MAGNITUDE of their holds, too. Once the dominator can trigger their inherent, they don't need help to "stack" stuff on resistant targets.
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corrupters are good, they're kinda like controllers but less controls and a bit more dmg
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Corruptors are essentially inverse Defenders - a.k.a. Offenders.
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villains dont get the great buff-bots, we have to make do with corrupters, even though many of them completely ignore their secondary (saw a lv 20 fire/thermal today that hadn't taken any thermal powers except for the first one)
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Masterminds also get buff/debuff secondaries.
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defenders are what make heroes greater than the sum of their parts, we get weakened versions of those buffs (if our powersets include them at all) on an AT with damage as its primary function
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And again .... linchpin. Take the defender down, and the heroes have no buff/debuff mojo. None. Nada. ZILCH.
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in a 1-on-1 fight, the only hero who would (probably) lose is a defender (against their counterparts, etc....)
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Brute against a Tank or Scrapper, 1-v-1? I'd say it's a tossup - except for how hard t is to build Fury in PvP (which the developes have acknowledged as a flaw in balance). -
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Well, according to the binder guide, every final upgrade has a base recharge of 60 seconds. So assuming you're trying for max speed with 3 SO recharges it should take you about 2.5 minutes to fully equip.
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And the time to summon them, AND the time to apply buffs from our secondary (if any).
<ul type="square">[*] Summon #1: Assault Bot (a:2.03s, r:n/a) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 2.03s[*] Summon #2: Protectors (a:2.03s, r:n/a) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 4.06s[*] Summon #3: Battle Drones (a:2.03s, r:n/a) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 6.09s[*] Upgrade #1: Assault Bot (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 8.12s[*] Equip #1: Assault Bot (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 10.15s[*] ... wait 28.39s Elapsed time, +28.39s = 38.54s[*] Upgrade #2: Protector A (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 40.57s[*] Equip #2: Protector A (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 42.60s[*] ... wait 28.39s Elapsed time, +28.39s = 70.99s[*] Upgrade #3: Protector B (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 73.02s[*] Equip #3: Protector B (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 75.05s[*] ... wait 28.39s Elapsed time, +28.39s = 103.44s[*] Upgrade #4: Drone A (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 105.47s[*] Equip #4: Drone A (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 107.50s[*] ... wait 28.39s Elapsed time, +28.39s = 109.89s[*] Upgrade #5: Drone B (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 111.92s[*] Equip #5: Drone B (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03 = 113.95s[*] ... wait 28.39s Elapsed time, +28.39s = 142.34s[*] Upgrade #6: Drone C (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 144.37s[*] Equip #6: Drone C (a:2.03s, r:30.42s) Elapsed time, +2.03s = 146.40s[/list]
And that presupposes three things. One, perfect, well-pratised reflexesin lining each power up "just so", so there's no "human error" downtime involved, nor any extra time for chatting, etc. Two, three recharge SO+++'s in both Upgrade and Equip. Three, it does not account for the MASSIVE quantities of Endurance that the above process costs.
Without those recharges? Adding a mere half-second to each step to account for a less-perfect human operator and/or dealing With END issues ...??
<ul type="square">[*] Summon #1: Assault Bot (a:2.03s, r:n/a, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 2.53s[*] Summon #2: Protectors (a:2.03s, r:n/a, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 5.06s[*] Summon #3: Battle Drones (a:2.03s, r:n/a, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 7.59s[*] Upgrade #1: Assault Bot (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 10.12s[*] Equip #1: Assault Bot (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 12.65s[*] ... wait 58.97s Elapsed time, +58.97s = 73.62s[*] Upgrade #2: Protector A (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 76.15s[*] Equip #2: Protector A (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 78.68s[*] ... wait 58.97s Elapsed time, +58.97s = 137.65s[*] Upgrade #3: Protector B (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 139.86s[*] Equip #3: Protector B (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 149.39s[*] ... wait 58.97s Elapsed time, +58.97s = 218.36s[*] Upgrade #4: Drone A (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 220.89s[*] Equip #4: Drone A (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 223.42s[*] ... wait 58.97s Elapsed time, +58.97s = 282.39s[*] Upgrade #5: Drone B (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 284.92s[*] Equip #5: Drone B (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53 = 287.45s[*] ... wait 58.97s Elapsed time, +58.97s = 346.42s[*] Upgrade #6: Drone C (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 348.95s[*] Equip #6: Drone C (a:2.03s, r:60s, h:0.5s) Elapsed time, +2.53s = 351.47s[/list]
So, we've got a worst-case scenario of nearly six minutes (~5:51.47), and a best-case time of just under two and a half minutes (~2:26.40). And in both cases, that's just for the primary. Admittedly, even for /FF, with both shields to apply, that's only about 13 seconds (~0:12.84, actually). But it's also [bmore endurance[/b].
And that's what's REALLY slowing the MM up - if you're not built PRECISELY for dealing with huge "peak END usage" ... you'll spend a lot more time just waiting to recharge end. Or else do what I do - carry blue insps into every mission, to use JUST while in the summon-and-buff phase. TWO of them, per resummon-cycle, in fact.
So. An average time of ~5 minutes? Yeah, I can buy that. Easily. -
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yeah yeah we all know that's the excuse the devs say all the time, you dont need to repeat it again
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It's not an excuse, it's the design paradigm - IOW, the very GOAL the developers are aiming for.
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Thats the stated goal, and its nice to say, but the way the two different sides are being designed is not leading to the stated goal.
1-1 heroes currently (I say currently because it might change someday) excell in every single area of the game over villains. The best healers are heroes, best damage dealers are heroes, the best damage takers are heroes, the best controllers are heroes, the best buffers/debuffers are heroes.
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The best Stealthers are villains (Stalkers), the best Pet-summoners are villains (Mastermind), the highest-damage-output characters are villains (Brutes in the full swing of Fury), and the best jack-of-all-trades characters are villains (Corruptors and dominators).
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If heroes excell over villains in every single category of the game, then how can villains SUDDENLY be balanced with heroes in a group environment, if all player skill levels are equal? They can't.
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One word: SYNERGY. To elaborate: the whole is grater than the sum of it's parts.
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If the members of a villain team are individually less capable of what their purpose is than the members of a hero team, that villain team is NOT going to be balanced against the heroes.
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No one villain is really intended to be "the" person for X, Y, or Z purpose within a team, however. A Hero team with a single member of each archetype, who loses the defender? They now have almost ZERO serious buff/debuff capability. A Villain team that loses ANY particular member, however? Corruptor goes down? The Dominator and, perhaps, Mastermind are still able to send out ranged damage. The Mastermind can keep up with the buffing/debuffing, and perhaps healing.
Villain teams don't have linchpins; they don't have single, clearly-defined roles on their teams. Instead, they blur the lines between archetypes, and between those roles. -
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Also, do they have to be in follow mode.... or can they be defensive + in range of mm
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They have to be in Follow mode, in supremacy range, and be in Defensive stance. All three are required.
And there's no reason to suspect Bodyguard is intended to affect positive changes to HP totals - while that may actually happen, I'm pretty darned sure the developers would classify that as a bug, and move to fix it ASAP. -
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yeah yeah we all know that's the excuse the devs say all the time, you dont need to repeat it again
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It's not an excuse, it's the design paradigm - IOW, the very GOAL the developers are aiming for. -
Any example which presupposes a one-on-one fight is fundamentally flawed. COX balance in PvP is not based on 1-v-1 encounters; it's basted on team-versus-team encounters.
Sure, that blapper might jump out and whack the MM hard - and unless the WHOLE hero team does likewise, the MM probably doesn't go down. So s/he can still support their team-mates (buffs, debuffs, resummoning tier 1 and maybe tier 2's, heals, running leadership toggles, etc, etc).
Team-mates, by the by, who're going to be tryign to drop that BLAPPER (and said blappers allies). -
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I picked it knowing full well it was passive - which means, as the director-of-minions, I take less aggro. Other than strong EBs, and outright AVs/GMs, I am 100% safe in PvE combat; I haven't faceplanted there due to ANYthing except simple stupidity on my own part (IOW, not running away when I should have, and/or simply not paying attention to where I was at the time).
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This has been bugging me for a bit. /FF is NOT very good at avoiding aggro, at least not if you're using the other half of the set. If you only use the Buffs in /FF, then it's not surprising that you're finding it lackluster and boring. /FF is a Buff/Crowd Control set. If you use the crowd control powers, you'll likely take more aggro, but you'll also offer considerably better protection to you and your minions. Keeping enemies disoriented and out of melee range can go a long way to improve your survivability.
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Keep in mind - per my SIG - my /FF is in his mid-20's, so I don't HAVE most of the "affects other people" powers yet, nor have I had the opportunity to get them.
Further, I do not "finding it lackluster and boring" ... indeed, I have NO IDEA where you got the impression that I was. I am finding it to work precisely as I had hoped it would, when I chose the powerset: I play form almost total safety and security, while my minions rip various new orifices in the bodies of my enemies.
Force Bubble is a definite "yes". Repulsion Bomb? No thanks - runs contrary to my concept ("I ain't GOT any real attacks - that's what I have minions for!"). Repulsion Field? I might have gotten it, except I simply don't have room in my build for it. I will happily skip most, if not all, of the PPP's simply to complete my conceptual build.
I'm already looking at being one power pool SHORT; I'm a Teleporter at present. I may need to respect out of Teleport, and make heavier use of Flight (right now I have it solely for Hover, to make chain-'porting easier to pull off). I'll miss Teleport Foe, though. Still, you can't always have EVERYthing you want ...
And I want, other than Teleport/Flight, to have Stamina (Fitness pool), Assault/Tactics(/Vengeance) (Leadership pool), and Aid Other(/Self) (Medicine Pool).
Core's built as pure, 100% support ... he just brings his "team" around in his back pocket, so he's guaranteed to have someone to support (and order around, heh).
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What's more, very very few sets in the game have Repel protection, which means that once you have Force Bubble you'll be nearly immune to Melee attacks (with caveats naturally), which can greatly improve your survivablility.
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Yes, I eagerly anticipate the day I get the Mega-Bubble ... ^_^ -
I picked it knowing full well it was passive - which means, as the director-of-minions, I take less aggro. Other than strong EBs, and outright AVs/GMs, I am 100% safe in PvE combat; I haven't faceplanted there due to ANYthing except simple stupidity on my own part (IOW, not running away when I should have, and/or simply not paying attention to where I was at the time).
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Open your own eyes! In PvP, AoE attacks are the extreme minority. It is the single target damage that kills us, and when we share that with our pets, our bubbles do NOTHING to help.
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Right, okay .... and this is different from PVP NOW in ... precisely WHAT way, again?
NOW: Single-target damage dealt directly to the MM ignores any benefit from the MM's secondary powerset with very few exceptions (mainly, debuffs already applied to the damage-dealer) ... and when the MM is nigh-inevitably one- or two-shot, the pets die anyway.
SOON: Single-target damage dealt directly to the MM ignores any benefit from the MM's secondary powerset with very few exceptions (mainly, debuffs already applied to the damage-dealer) ... but now it is almost impossible to even THREE-shot the MM, because some of the damage is spread out among their pets.[/i]
Ao ... what exactly is the problem, again ...? -
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And that's if I keep them around me, shooting their craptastic bows, and shuriken. Not sending them off to take out the threat, using their awsome melee abilities.
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You could always walk them into melee yourself. They are on Follow.
[/ QUOTE ]Hmmm, Dokunoichi stays out of melee range, poisoning her targets, while my ninja concentrate all attacks on that one target, when that one dies, I pick a target, command them to attack, poison it, and kill it. I repeat this process till my enemies are dead. I need all my ninja to be doing this, not hanging around me.
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You do realise that the pets only have to be within supremacy range for Bodyguard to work, right? Select a target , hit "attack my target", wait a second for the animations to begin, hit your "follow, defensive" button. POOF, concentrated fire and Bodyguard.
And you simply need ... well ... to be in range to hit your own minions with Alkaloid. -
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HELLO!!!!! Detoggles are being nerfed!!!!!
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HELLO!!!!! "Nerf" is not the same as "eliminated entirely".
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It wasn't me you were responding to, but I wanted to put in my 5 cents
I have 3 accuracy 1 range and 1 recharge in my forcebolt. Slotting of forcebolt isn't the issue. Please address the issue, which is the fact that Bodyguard is making FF secondary virtually useless.
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Read my SIG. My main IS a /FF mastermind, and I don't think my secondary has been rendered "virtually useless" by the advent of Bodyguard. Indeed, my bubbles mean that AoE stuff will do LESS, inherently, to my pets. Thus, I can survive LONGER against AoE's, with my pets in Bodyguard stance, than many other MMs.
See, they work together ... IF you're willing to open your MIND and EYES, and look at it from perspectives different from the one you start at.
As for me? FB is slotted 3 ACC, 3 Recharge. Fast-firing and reasonably likely to hit. -
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Lemme examine FF ...
You've got Force Bolt...in PvP knockdown is a thing of the past especially for the folks like brutes an tanks and even scrappers an stalkers.
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It's still a detoggler.
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Chances of hitting it twice in a row on anyting are also nil considering even blasters seem to have amazing def (yay APPs).
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So slot for accuracy. *shrug* -
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Detention field- I can hold someone...oh wait....its not a hold, it phases them so they can't be hurt. Sure, they're not hurting me, but they also can't be effected by the outside world.
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Nor can they affect the world. Slap it down on that annoying Controller, so she stops whacking your team's brute with holds and immob's. Smack it on their Empath, and stem the flow of Heals their way. -
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Incorrect. FF does not have a form of control.
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Knockback is a "soft control", and /FF offers two powers that provide that: Forcebolt and Repulsion Field.
Then, there's always the single-target Hold, Detention Field.
And arguably, the "very soft control" of the Repel that comes with Force Bubble. -
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Perhaps the Dev's should consider buffing up those often skipped Primary Pool attacks with some nasty side effects or extra damage.
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If they'd just make ti worth my while in terms of END usage, I'd be happier with them. MUCH happier. -
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I don't mean to get under anybody's skin with this comment, but I haven't seen it made and I think it needs to be said...
To be perfectly clear, what is the common Mastermind doing while his pets are trying to duke it out with the Hero?
If he's standing still like a statue being an immobile toggle platform, he is naturally going to be killed (and really should be killed) rather quickly, bodyguard power or no...
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My main is a Mastermind. Only level 24 at present, but, a mastermind nonetheless. And here's a shocker for you ... HE HAS NO PERSONAL, DIRECT ATTACKS (I don't count Forcebolt; it's not an attack, it's a single-target "ghetto hold" / "soft control" power). There's nothing I can do during a fight, except ... standing off to the side, choreographing my minions' efforts to take down the enemy.
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I'd like to point out that defenders haven't been complaining (or at least I don't see them complaining) about being the initial squishy target in group PvP. Why? Because they're used to being more active in their defense. But Masterminds aren't, because the PvE game has largely taught us that pets will take aggro reliably and we can just stand around. Not so in PvP.
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Masterminds have fewer hitpoints than Defenders do. And pets aside, their offensive powers are less useful than the blasts a Defender gets.
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People talk alot about the setup time for the pets. What nobody seems to mention is the setup time for the battle! Stalkers stalk their prey, blasters seek out their advantageous positions, defenders assemble their posse, why aren't masterminds planning ahead of time? Isn't the Mastermind's job is to be tactical where his boneheaded minions cannot be? Terrain usage, clever maneuvering, and active application of the secondary set powers would seem to allieviate alot of the problems we're complaining about...
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All the time that another AT spends in the activities you describe, Masterminds have to deal with too. However, the extra two to five minutes the MM spends getting their pets set up, no other AT has to go through. It doesn't take a Tanker five minutes to turn on their toggles. Nor does it take that long for a Scrapper. Indeed, no other AT even comes close.