I don't see a change that will cause already weak Henchman to take even more damage being a good thing. 
I will really not want to see my MM get hit by AIM + BU + Fireball or Fire Breath with my Henchman in Bodyguard mode.
The AoE taunt/placate would've worked a whole lot better.
Hmm Is this from the suggestion I made a while back 
...this is so awesome!!! Great implementation!!
ArchRex Dojhrom x ?
* Sidus Loricatus: B-NRG2, S-BS/Reg, T-Fire/Ice, MM-Bots/FF, St-NRG2, Dom-Psi/NRG, Cor-Son/Traps, Cor-Ice/Kin, Ctrl-Fire/Kin, PB-LB/LA
* Arachnos Loricatus: Soldier, Widow
* Praetoria Loricatus: B-DP/Dev, Cor-Elec/Elec
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I will really not want to see my MM get hit by AIM + BU + Fireball or Fire Breath with my Henchman in Bodyguard mode.
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Oklay, so the henchmen die - but, you live, and can run away.
WITHOUT Bodyguard, you die ... and your henchmen drop dead immediately, too.
IOW, WITHOUT bodyguard, everyone dies. With bodyguard, YOU LIVE TO RUN AWAY.
Think about it. Anything strong enough to one-shot your pets through the Bodyguard linkage, would have one-shotted you at least ten times over.
I think the point was that it's much easier now to take down all the Henchman, leaving the MM WITHOUT Bodyguard to take the full damage from the next attack.
Shard Warrior - 50 MA/Regen/BM Scrapper
Founding Member and Leader : Shadow-Force
Co-Leader: Council of Heroes
"Whatever evils come this way... we will be there to stop them."
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I think the point was that it's much easier now to take down all the Henchman, leaving the MM WITHOUT Bodyguard to take the full damage from the next attack.
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Anyone who could do that could have one or two shotted the MM without the bodyguard feature anyway.
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I think the point was that it's much easier now to take down all the Henchman, leaving the MM WITHOUT Bodyguard to take the full damage from the next attack.
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Anyone who could do that could have one or two shotted the MM without the bodyguard feature anyway.
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So the net result of this change is...?
Shard Warrior - 50 MA/Regen/BM Scrapper
Founding Member and Leader : Shadow-Force
Co-Leader: Council of Heroes
"Whatever evils come this way... we will be there to stop them."
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I think the point was that it's much easier now to take down all the Henchman, leaving the MM WITHOUT Bodyguard to take the full damage from the next attack.
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Anyone who could do that could have one or two shotted the MM without the bodyguard feature anyway.
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So the net result of this change is...?
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Perhaps the change is that in situations where you're not hit with an absurd amount of overkill you can survive where you wouldn't have without Bodyguard? i wasn't aware that the Devs were expected to add a "survive any and all alpha strikes" ability to masterminds. This change seems like it has it has the potential to improve MM survival in PvE and PvP situations. Yes, there are ways to counter or nullify it, but the same is true with any AT. i suggest waiting until it goes to test and testing how effective it can be and then giving assessments and suggestions regarding the power.
Not that there's any harm in commenting on what we know now, but at this point Bodyguard sure as hell sounds like it will do more for my MM's than Vigilance does for my defenders or Desperation (oops, was renamed Defiance) does for my blasters.
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
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Currently I see MMs with 5 minions roam freely near the hero base able to inflict heavy damage without going down (in single combat - 1 squishy hero vs 1 MM w/minions). I think it would be fair to add a shared 'effect' on the MM too, so that if the MM got mezzed or held, those minions in bodyguard would also be effected. The total time effected could be cut/shared by this same 2-1 ratio.
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You want to NERF MMs? Excuse me??? We have the lowest health, after dying it takes us several minutes before we can get back into the game, our pets draw aggro everywhere we go, and we're constantly ganked by players who simply ignore the pets.
This MIGHT help with the last part, but I'm not very hopeful. I think it will simply promote people using TP foe to bring us away from our pets long enough to 1 shot us. This "buff" has varrying degrees of usefulness depending on the type of minions you use, but also depending on the secondary you have. This is going to be extremely useful for darm miasma users, since they can heal all of their pets at once. Not very useful for FF users, because not only do we lack a heal, but the damage we "share" with our pets bypasses their resistances and defenses...making all the bubbling we do WORTHLESS. Why should any hero ever attack a pet, knowing they're harder to hit, and harder to hurt once they are hit, than the MM is. People will be able to kill my pets faster by simply pumping damage into ME than targeting one specific pet after another.
I can't believe someone actually came in here crying for us to be nerfed so that status effects get shared also.
Have you played an MM in PvP? Do you even have a clue what its like, how frustrating and difficult? If not, don't call for Nerfs, because you don't know what you're talking about.
Suriyama
40 bots and bubbles
400 PvP rep
Justice
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Sounds like a much need hand in the MM's direction
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Sounds like something Tankers should also be able to for their team.
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Something i passed up to the Devs a LONG time ago from EQ abilities.
ArchRex Dojhrom x ?
* Sidus Loricatus: B-NRG2, S-BS/Reg, T-Fire/Ice, MM-Bots/FF, St-NRG2, Dom-Psi/NRG, Cor-Son/Traps, Cor-Ice/Kin, Ctrl-Fire/Kin, PB-LB/LA
* Arachnos Loricatus: Soldier, Widow
* Praetoria Loricatus: B-DP/Dev, Cor-Elec/Elec
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I think the point was that it's much easier now to take down all the Henchman, leaving the MM WITHOUT Bodyguard to take the full damage from the next attack.
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Anyone who could do that could have one or two shotted the MM without the bodyguard feature anyway.
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So the net result of this change is...?
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The result of the change is that moderate AoE that wouldn't kill the MM or his pets just became killer to the MM pets.
Fireball, say hello to the mm with the pets around him.
MM, say goodbye to all your pets from one fireball.
The pets take the AoE from the fireball AND they take the bodygaurd damage.
Not to mention, but this is really not going to help my Melee MM in PvP. Not one bit. Maybe if they fixed Ninja to never use their ranged weapons except when they cannot path to the enemy it may help. It is not a net loss, but it is not some overpowered ability like Castle suggested it was. For myself it is a wash.
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So as a Robot/FF mastermind, I had to have a 2 min timer on PFF...WHY?
Please explain to me why it is that the damage I take goes to my minions and IGNORES their resistances and defenses! They should still get a chance to apply their own resistances. Lets assume it automatically hits, because they are leaping in front of the attack or some such, so they don't get their defense...ok.....why don't their RESISTANCES apply?????
I took forcefield so I could help DEFEND my minions...now I'm happy they can help defend me, but I'm not at all happy about the way all the bubbles that I take the time to renew every 4 minutes ARE IGNORED!
Why should any hero in PvP ever target a robot? They're harder to hit than I am, and they would get to apply their resistances to the damage. NOW, the heroes can just attack me directly. I'm MUCH easier to hit, I have FAR fewer resistances, and the damage will get transferred to the minions anyway!
We wanted a reason for the heroes to have to kill our minions. You just gave a solid reason for them to NEVER target them.
Sure, this is better than nothing...but it sure wasn't very well thought out. This may be a nice boost for PvE (which we didn't need a boost for) but it will be of little help in PvP which was where we were hurting.
Suriyama
40 bots and bubbles
Justice
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Your using you a gut guesstimate of how you think things will turn out. I've learn not to trust my initial gut guesstimates in certain areas. Math is one of them. I need to work through the numbers before I make a judgement. I think you need to as well. Let's make it very apparent of how good a thing this really is for Masterminds.
2000 pts of damage on you, all 6 pets in Bodyguard mode.
Total parts = 8 (2 parts for you and 1 part for each henchman)
For for you 2000 * (2 / 8) = 500 pts
OUCH! But at level 40, you are still on your feet.
For you henchies
2000 * ( 1 / 8) = 250 pts
Most vulnerable is Tier 1 pet. They have 505 Health at level 40. Tier 1 pet are at almost 1/2 Health. But they are still up. Your higher tier pets are in even better shape.
Now let's look at the results. You just to an attack of a magnitude that only an Arch-Villain/Hero can throw. You are hurt pretty bad, but you are still on your feet. You pets are in rough shape but still on their feet. And they are now responding to the damage in kind. And you think this is a bad thing? 
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Setting to Bodyguard
You can set any Mastermind Henchman to Bodyguard by selecting the Defensive Stance and the Follow Order. Your Henchmen must be within Supremacy range for this function to work.
Bodyguard Mode
When set to Bodyguard mode, the Mastermind and his Henchmen share damage from any attack that the Mastermind takes damage from. Each Henchman takes one Share of the damage, and the Mastermind himself takes 2 Shares. This is in addition to any damage that the Henchmen themselves might incur from Area attacks.
Example: If a Mastermind has 3 Henchmen set to Def/Fol, and he gets hit with a 100 point attack, each Henchman will take 20 points of damage, and he himself will take 40 points. (total of 100 points of damage).
Example 2: If a Mastermind has 3 Henchmen set to Def/Fol, and he gets hit with an Area Effect attack for 10 points of damage, then each Henchman will take 2 points of damage, and he himself will take 4 points. Henchmen that were also in the Area of Effect will take an additional 10 points each.
What Does This Mean?
Bodyguard will work as long as a Henchman is in Defensive Follow. This means that they will follow you around and attack back when you or they are attacked. Issuing an order of Attack my target will take them out of bodyguard mode, as will issuing any other stance or order. You can set as many of your Henchmen to bodyguard that you want. As long as the Henchman is in Defensive Follow and within Supremacy range, he is in Bodyguard mode. Being stunned will not turn off bodyguard mode.
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Will there be a way to lock your henchman into this mode? I have some keybinds to set them into Defensive mode but not Defensive-Follow as far as I know. I would also love a feature to lock henchman into ranged mode as I am constantly tired of having to recall a Robot for charging into melee for no reason with the usual result of being defeated or damaged significantly. Or maybe you could make a new non-Bodyguard attack button so that every henchman attacks your target except the Bodyguards.
Anyways, I hope other MMs agree that they would like some henchman functions that they could LOCK against all other commands.
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So basicly what you are saying is, that if we don't do anything and just stand there, we will be protected. If we actually try and fight, we will be cut down, in pvp just as easy as we already are...
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No, they need to be set to Defensive/Follow not Passive. Defensive means they retaliate when they (or you) are attacked. The idea is that if you're getting attacked, you can switch to Def/Follow and bring up your bodyguards who will not only take damage for you, but attack the foe that is damaging you.
In PvP you can use Bodyguard to avoid alpha strikes, which will cause your bodyguards to attack the player attacking you. You can also get the alpha yourself by choosing attack my target, then quickly switching back into Defensive mode to absorb the retaliation. Actually, I can think of a lot of ways to use this. Good job!
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that'd be nice if the pet AI actually worked that way on a reliable basis
most of the time when pets are in defensive they just sit around and take a potshot every 10 seconds or so, even if they're being shot
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Nice they get 60% Resistance. Now how about some for Tanks.
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It's not quite 60% Resistance. It has limits. Think of it was ablative damage resistance.
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Nice they get 60% Resistance. Now how about some for Tanks.
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It's not quite 60% Resistance. It has limits. Think of it was ablative damage resistance.
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And it doesn't work at all if the MM is directing their henchmen to attack.
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Another couple of questions:
Will bodyguard still work if the MM is Mezzed?
Will Hences count as bodyguards if they themselves are mezzed?
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I would thing Bodyguard would still work so long as the basic requirements are met. Supremacy range, line-of-sight, and Defensive/Follow status on pets.
However when you or a pet is Confused technically you/they are now an enemy. In that situation, I don't think that Bodyguard would work.
Now Confuse powers will be FOTM for use against Mastermind in PvP.
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Now Confuse powers will be FOTM for use against Mastermind in PvP.
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i dont know about you but thats always been my fav way to kill masterminds or aoe heavy blasters/corruptors
Confuse powers are always popular against MMs.
Do confused pets get the supremacy bonus? I've never looked close enough. If I'm confused, do the pets lose their bonus?
The way I see this is that it'll be added onto supremacy, so as long as your pet is getting the supremacy buff, then he can act as a bodyguard for you.
I originally thought it was a little unfair that the bots won't be able to reduce the damage via their innate resistance, but upon thinking about it some more, ignoring the resistance is the only way to make it fair. Since defense obviously won't be of any use, if the devs make resistance work they would be punishing Ninjas (innate defense instead of resistance) unduly.
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I think the point was that it's much easier now to take down all the Henchman, leaving the MM WITHOUT Bodyguard to take the full damage from the next attack.
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Anyone who could do that could have one or two shotted the MM without the bodyguard feature anyway.
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So the net result of this change is...?
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They've raised the bar a LOT on what it takes to one-shot a MM. In fact without bodyguard it's not that hard for a Stalker or a Blaster to one or two shot a MM. With Bodyguard, it shouldn't be possible for any player to one-shot a MM, even if they're at the damage cap and get a critical.
A even nicer change would be for Body Gaurds to randomly take effects like Confuse, TP foe, Stun, mezz, sleep and randomly effect you or any of your bodyguards.
So in theory the bodyguards would sacrifice themselfs for one of those effects. It would be random so that it would occasionally still effect the MM. But, depending on how many bodygaurds you have it would reduce the chances of it effecting the MM.
Just a thought.
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I think the point was that it's much easier now to take down all the Henchman, leaving the MM WITHOUT Bodyguard to take the full damage from the next attack.
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Anyone who could do that could have one or two shotted the MM without the bodyguard feature anyway.
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So the net result of this change is...?
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The result of the change is that moderate AoE that wouldn't kill the MM or his pets just became killer to the MM pets.
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Only if they're in Bodyguard. Facing someone with AoE? turn off the def/fol Bodyguard bit. Facing a single-target, heavy-hitting opponent ...? Dime for the Defensive Six Pets thing to strut it's stuff ...!
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MM, say goodbye to all your pets from one fireball.
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Any fireball able to do that much damage to the pets, even with the MM's share shunted to them, would have killed the MM anyway.
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The pets take the AoE from the fireball AND they take the bodygaurd damage.
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Leaving the MM alive and on his feet, screaming "AAAAAAAAAAAH! RUN THE **** AWAY!!!!!". Instead of laying facedown on teh pavement, muttering "goddammit, back to the ****ing hospital. AGAIN. argh."
Which, by the by, is the whole POINT of Bodyguard. Even just ONE expendible Tier 1 in Bodyguard stance is 1/3 less damage to the MM himself!!
no, tp foe will be (as it already is) the easiest and cheapest (available at lvl 6) way to kill a mm
Its entirely situational, and useless in PvP.
1. Pets still have serious problems keeping up with Masterminds in PvP. (I doubt bodyguard will work if your pets are still trailing behind you in the zone)
2. Makes pet loss MORE likely. Higher survival rate at an even higher loss of offensive capability combined with long down times does not equal an improvement in PvP.
3. Can be exploited by certain types of Masterminds in PvE and to a lesser extent PvP.
4. Does nothing to solve the melee problems with needing to use Go to + Attack my target inorder to effectively fight.
My only complaints would be:
Why not let it work in focusfire/defensive/follow mode, It's already limited by supremacy. If that's not feasible, give it it's own aura/range half (or even 1/3) that of supremacy. As is, the bodyguards will be randomly shooting at random attackers. Not overly useful, and may cause inordinate aggro onto the bodyguard.
Why not let it work in passive mode as well, for better control. FocusFire/Passive/Follow would be even better. In some of the crazier missions on large teams I often run in Passive/Follow mode exclusively and use Focus Fire.
My 2 cents.
Edit:
I checked, supremacy range appears to be 60 ft. So I'd be more than happy to have the BodyGuard range 20-30 ft if it would work with focusfire while the bots were defensive/follow. However, that still leaves Melee MM's in a pickle, since they almost always need to use goto+focusfire. With that in mind I'd be more likely to allow 20-30ft with ANY / Defensive or ANY / Passive. If you stick to the thick of battle and stay with your minions in a tight group, then you get the bonus. If not, you don't. That seems to me the better solution. Again, just my 4 cents.
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Let's see.. Necro has seven henchmen, not six (the ghost from Soul Extraction is a true henchmen, whereas Dark Miasma's Dark Servant is an old-school pet that can't be set on defensive/follow, like real henchmen).
So, if they're all on bodyguard, that's seven shares, plus my two... nine shares of damage. I'll be resisting damage at 78% (2/9 of damage). Then with Twilight Grasp, and the ability of every henchmen to self heal.... looks good to me.
Then, I'll be testing out a PvP build which combines Group Fly (three slotted with EndRedux) and Group TP (three slotted with EndRedux and 3 Range Increase) to get around the lack of travel power for the minions.
There's a few flying blasters I'd like to talk to....
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Doubt it will affect any non-commandable pets, but even so, this will make handclap and a lot of knockback powers rather useful against masterminds. Slot it for knockback, clap pets away, onepunch the overconfident mastermind!