Tyrannis

I'm gonna have to agree on them being broken by i17. I've tried all the MM's with the exception of DS, and originally found that the mercs had -the- best AI in terms of retarded pathing choices and just generally listening to what the hell I tell them to do. Its one of the main reasons I even stuck with it. Ever since i17 came that is no longer the case. Noticing that sudden "random pet wants to just take off in any direction across the zone," behavior again too, that was so prevalent with ninjas.

Wow. I see a lot of Merc hating. In the case of min/maxing, I suppose no its not the best in anything, but I definitely disagree with them being the worst. Its a matter of playstyle. Mercs/Traps goes very well together. It is an arduous road until you get force field generator, and the later powers but unlike most other sets, IMO anyways, there wasn't that feeling of "God, this is taking forever." -to kill some mobs when you only have one tier 2 pet, and constant focus fire isn't an issue since I always use the numpad keybinds.
You won't walk into a room with the same AOE effectiveness as the bots, and you won't have the Single target dmg of Ninjas either. However, you will have some serious control with prep time.

Someone above said that the Spec Ops mez's aren't useful due to the skills they cycle through. Again, I wholly disagree.
Between the tear gas 'nades, flash 'nades, and their rifle butt attack, You have a lot of lock down going on, optimally. Throw in on top of that- poison trap, seeker drones and caltrops and very rarely will you have things get out of control. I would say other than my perspective of the easier time with only one tier 2 pet though, its major positives are late. Definitely, worth it though.
Just like all MM sets, you can't really judge it until you get your last equips for 'em and playstyle is very key.

Forgot to add in, yes the medic/tier 1 always dies once you get your tier 3. All the MM sets suffer from this AI issue. Tier 1's are really just bodyguard and fodder in the mid to late levels, anyways. At least you get one that heals. If you deny him the 2nd upgrade he seems to be a bit less kamikaze. Summon soldiers - Dismiss Medic - Resummon Soldiers - Equip Medic. That's if you care enough though.

Hell, I keep forgetting to address it all. Your concern about a group heal gets answered with healing beacon. Yes it downright sucks with training enhancements. Yes, it only marginally improves with DO's. Once you get it 4-5 slotted with SO's though its pretty good. Not /Dark's "That saved my life just in time!" heal, but will still save your ***.

Most of it is fixed by using appropriate binds, I find. I've been gone a long time, and I'm just happy my mercs aren't sitting there redrawing and shooting at burn patches and Crystals of Pain until I direct them with GOTO. MM's that don't use binds IMO are only gimping themselves. A keystroke vs right click, *choose option,* is no contest and to hell with adding those buttons to my already filled hotbars. Though it would be nice to have better AI, thematically as MM's were "supposed" to direct our henchmen. If you're wondering why a system hasn't been put in game sans keybinds...that would accomplish the same thing as the usual numpad keybinds, why make one? Extremely redundant and a waste of time and resources.
For the most part even when I played bots, it was about proximity to the mob/target. If your bots just cycled through their main ranged attacks and the mob is closing in, it seems like the AI is programmed like this: *use ranged power x* *ranged power x not available* *melee power available* *use melee power* and then out comes the shoryus.
Not to sound snobbish or holier than thou...but if you pay more attention to how your pets perform, the tendencies of suicide can be prevented using micromanagement and adapting to the situation.
We all know that as much we want it, the AI will never be perfect. That's where you, the MM steps in.
This wasn't in response to anybody in particular. I'm just blanket addressing the concerns I see most prevalent regarding the topic and I'm in no way referring to the melee pets.

I have no clue as to whether this has been mentioned yet, as I'm not going to sift through all the pages, so here. When I put the level 30 Auras on my costumes, almost all (the only piece that wasn't affected was the scarf) the colors were changed to black. Granted I used black in parts of the costumes but any other colors were changed to black. Odd thing is, in the costume selection window and in the tailor costume change selection screen, the original colors are still there.

[ QUOTE ]
First...I confirm that we're working on right now (as in pohsyb in the next room) to add CoV costume parts into CoH if you own both games....

Then we repeal the hated stealth nerf. The reason why: many well reasoned posts. It's that simple. You guys pointed out the problems.

AND now...we're changing the way Archvillains spawn. A ton of forum goers disliked adding so many AV's into missions a while back...so we've come up with a solution. If the team size and mission difficulty are ABOVE a certain level, an Archvillain spawns. Below that, players will face only an Elite Boss. If the mission is set on the first two levels of difficulty, it takes 4 heroes or more to spawn an Arch Villain. On the third level, 3 heroes or more. On the fourth level, 2 heroes. On the highest (Invincible), a solo hero will spawn an AV. Note this works in BOTH City of Heroes and Villains.

In order to incentivize larger teams, Positron is going to add a bonus to AV rewards!

[/ QUOTE ]

YES! Huzzah! I uh...<.< >.> take back most of the foul things I said about you Jack. No more AVs making a roadblock in my progress! *goes off to form a parade*

If "Lil Timmy"(doesnt sound very much like a teenager to me. ) chooses to download a female nude patch and as long as its only client side, I don't see a problem. The game that Cryptic made is indeed teen rated, but if someone mods that to his or her own liking, the rating still stands as long as its only client side because its not affecting any one else in the game. Even if over protective parents found "Lil Timmy" with a nude female character on his screen, what could they really do? "OMG SUE CRYPTIC!" Nope. The mod was made to their original design, therefore its similiar to when you put aftermarket parts on a car. You void the warranty and the car company can no longer be held accountable to certain things. The fact that the Devs dont allow mods(as long as its only client side) is rather retarded IMO. They can say "it violates the TOA" all day, but for what reasoning is beyond me. Just seems like they're being control freaks, to me.

As a former army brat whos father served in Saudi back in 92-93? Or anyone for that matter, I gotta salute your brother and all the armed forces who are currently serving in Afgahn, Iraq, etc.

Now, pleasantries aside, these I5 changes just arent working man. I could reiterate what I have already, but it'd be redundant and you already got ALOT of reading to do. I.E. a good 99% of us all are PISSED. As for the PR vs honesty issue. I'm very honest and blunt, so I can appreciate that, BUT I also know when to use careful wordplay and tactfulness. Your explanation for I5 was anything but that. I'm pretty sure I'll a dapt for the sake of friends who play, but these changes really are neutering to the hero aspect of our heroes.