Official Thread for Mastermind Feature: Bodyguards

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I have found that bodyguard hurts me more then it helps, I won't be using it at all. I'm to fragile as it is being a MM, but then taking part of the dmg my pets take...too much sadly. Plus it only works against single fire powers, AoE shots just multiply the dmg.

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You've got it backwards. You don't share your minion's damage. They share yours.

As far as I can tell Bodyguard is of fairly limited utility in practice. It protects me from a targetted alpha strike.
That's about it.
An AoE alpha strike seems even more likely to wipe me out now though.

I've tried using it as a playstyle. Letting my minions deal damage via counter-attack. I find I am FAR more likely to get mezzed.
Since my minions won't actually attack till I take damage, I sometimes stand there for a while waiting to get hit. When I do get hit my minions scatter out of healing range and die.
I could try to herd them up to attack a single target, but that would negate Bodyguard.

In the end, trying to "use" Bodyguard always seems to get my minions slaughtered rather hastily(and then me shortly after).

Aside from how devastating AoE attacks have become with it, I guess I'm glad it's there. I just don't ever see it applying to me except in the case where I am getting alpha striken unexpectedly.

I suppose that could be all it is really there for. Gank protection.

Ummmm, call me stupid, but pets dont just start ignorin you at 40 they ignore you from level 1. They may just be ignorin you cause you made 40 and think you are teh uberest J/K

Now I dont know if this has been said but the only way to make a MM a more dangerous PvP enemy is, when the MM dies the Minions dont die and get huge Res, Acc and DMG Buffs, makeing players have to deal with the Minions first. Although some might complain about this it really would make PvP moreinteresting then the standard Gangbang that I've experienced with Bodygaurd

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Now I dont know if this has been said but the only way to make a MM a more dangerous PvP enemy is, when the MM dies the Minions dont die and get huge Res, Acc and DMG Buffs, makeing players have to deal with the Minions first. Although some might complain about this it really would make PvP moreinteresting then the standard Gangbang that I've experienced with Bodygaurd

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Or, how about giving a rez power to a minion to use on their MM?

the problem is that pets can't chase targets down. everyone just superjumps away after they kill a MM

The jumping away thing is something every AT has to deal with. It's something the devs need to do something about, it's not a problem unique or even exasperated while playing an MM.

However, making pets stay alive after we die would be nice. If the person jumps away, we can use awaken.

That and making the pets stay on a leash while in defensive or passive mode would be nice, while making bodyguard on all the time.

I don't know, but on the test server when one of my pets gets shot in BG mode I take dmg.

And on a second look, bodyguard is broken at the basic level. That is because bodyguard is really empathetic dmg spreading, not bodyguarding. As long as TP enemy is out there no amount of this type of 'bodyguarding' is ever going to help me in PvP play.

Here is an idea on how Bodyguard should be. As long as a minion is in supremacy range the MM shouldn't be able to be targeted for direct attacks (though the minions can be). Simple, to the point, no fuss. An actual Bodyguard power.

that's what some suggested, but it would be a bit overpowered since mm's can re-summon pets relatively often

a similar but less abusable way would be is if a single-target attack on a MM had a % chance to be taken by a henchman instead. they could even use the same %'s that bodyguard currently uses, so it maxes out at 75% evasion (i think that's the max)

oh well, not gonna happen

Not being able to be targeted for direct attacks would be way over powered. If they were to do that to bodyguard then we should give blasters "chaff" flares they can shoot to make pets go running in another direction after the heat source. Bodyguard was not implemented to make MM's nearly indestructible, it was put in place to help with their survivability.

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Now I dont know if this has been said but the only way to make a MM a more dangerous PvP enemy is, when the MM dies the Minions dont die and get huge Res, Acc and DMG Buffs, makeing players have to deal with the Minions first. Although some might complain about this it really would make PvP moreinteresting then the standard Gangbang that I've experienced with Bodygaurd

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Absolutely won't work. Due to the lack of movement abilities in our pets, even if they got those boosts, heroes would be able to kill us and run off, still ignoring the pets.

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And on a second look, bodyguard is broken at the basic level. That is because bodyguard is really empathetic dmg spreading, not bodyguarding. As long as TP enemy is out there no amount of this type of 'bodyguarding' is ever going to help me in PvP play.

Here is an idea on how Bodyguard should be. As long as a minion is in supremacy range the MM shouldn't be able to be targeted for direct attacks (though the minions can be). Simple, to the point, no fuss. An actual Bodyguard power.

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That is the bodyguard suggestion I have made many many times. It is the best possible way to increase MM survivability in PvP while forcing heroes to deal with the pets FIRST, or rely on AE attacks.

1. Give all minions in supremacy range a 20% to intercept attacks aimed at the MM. This means that with all 6 pets out an MM would have 120% (automatic) chance of a pet jumping in front of an attack aimed at the MM (once the attack is actually fired, the target the hero has selected would change and he'd realize who/what he actually fired at...he could then concentrate attacks on that pet to get rid of it). This would mean that pets could still get their full defense and resistance against the attacks. If it is too much, then reduce the percentage chance of a pet intercepting the attack....10% seems too low, but 15% may be acceptable (that would give a 90% chance with 6 pets out).

This would force heroes to deal with our pets BEFORE targeting us. It would allow our pets to still use their defense and resistance (so FF MMs wouldn't be adversely effected). Sure, we'd still have the same health, and we wouldn't be sharing damage, but heroes would have to go through at least SOME of our pets before they could get to us.

THAT is what bodyguard should be about.


Suriyama
40 bots and bubbles
Justice

I agree, targeting a MM when all his/her pets are up and in supremacy range is like being able to target a tank and ignore his toggles.

MM use 5 powers just to get pets, then other just get to ignore those 5 powers at there convenance.

PS: And if a first tear Power Pool "Teleport Foe" can remove a MM from the Bodyguard pets, then the Bodyguard function is nothing but a bunch of *$#(%(*#. If Bodyguard does not prevent TP Foe then this whole thread has been for nothing. Sheesh a level 8 power that removes over half of the MM primary powers.

you can get tpfoe at lvl 6, fyi dont have to wait til 8

I set my pets to Passive. All pet problems are gone. They don't even listen to other MMs anymore, where they might on Defensive or Aggresive. But, now I have to target and give attack orders for every enemy. It's not that hard. And, my point here, is I can't use the Bodyguard Mode while pets are Passive.

I'm telling you guys, try it. Put ALL pets on passive and when you respawn a pet you have to remember to reset it to passive. I use the "All Pets" actions in the advanced control box, and I even drag those "All Pets" controls to my tray. When you use "All Pets" controls and keep them in Passive, they mind just fine, every time, in every situation.

They NEVER grab additional aggro, and they always take 1 target down at a time, which is a very good way to do it anyway. Don't knock it until you try it.

Yeah, I used to do that with Defensive. Kept them in Defensive and constantly told them which target to attack. They weren't too bad to control that way before.
Was hoping Bodyguard would at least be useful on the stray shot I took between attacks when they revert to Def/Follow.
Now that they have gone mental I guess Passive is the way to go.

i wish a dev cared enough about mm's to see that their terrible AI is making all the hours making bodyguard nigh useless

Bodyguard sounds like compensation for the nerf to PFF.

I was stunned by the PFF nerf. SUddenly I had no control over the targets my bots were choosing, and pretty soon they ran off into the distance creating more and more aggro while I was helpless to do anything but watch them die.

For me PFF has always been an emergency power for when the pets were pretty much going to die anyway, but still at least I could plan my retreat from bad situations by still commanding my bots while I fell back to regroup.

Now I am forced to either drop my shield (which is nuts because it has a huge recharge time now) or just flee, leaving the bots to die horribly.

Is this a deliberate change to PFF? Or a bug?

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I set my pets to Passive. All pet problems are gone. They don't even listen to other MMs anymore, where they might on Defensive or Aggresive. But, now I have to target and give attack orders for every enemy. It's not that hard. And, my point here, is I can't use the Bodyguard Mode while pets are Passive.

I'm telling you guys, try it. Put ALL pets on passive and when you respawn a pet you have to remember to reset it to passive. I use the "All Pets" actions in the advanced control box, and I even drag those "All Pets" controls to my tray. When you use "All Pets" controls and keep them in Passive, they mind just fine, every time, in every situation.

They NEVER grab additional aggro, and they always take 1 target down at a time, which is a very good way to do it anyway. Don't knock it until you try it.

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That sounds weird, because I've always played this way. I don't understand why anyone would play any other way.

I have my bots set up with 4 buttons on my power tray:

passive follow
aggressive attack (attack my target)
defensive stay
passive goto

I've never needed anything else. I have my pets following me in passive all the time, then when I want to fight I target an enemy and tell them to attack it. When the enemy is dead or close to death, I either recall the pets to passive follow, or target a new enemy and reclick on the attack button, ordering them to go for that enemy.

This way, unless I am really stupid, they never attack anything I don't want them to. I can even play around with targeting so that some pets get some shots in against one enemy, while others attack another.

If I want to explore without my pets around, I put them on defensive stay, which works so long as I don't get too far away (or they respawn at my position).

Goto passive isn't something I use a lot. If I want the pets in a certain position (like if they are in melee against an enemy and I want them to fire from range) then I just recall them on passive for a moment to regroup.

Defensive mode always seemed a really stupid idea to me, except when I left the pets behind with teammates who might get ambushed and need support. Why allow the pets choice of target, risking unwanted aggro?

To pull a mob - I target the nearest enemy, switch to aggressive attack, wait for the first pet to fire off a shot, then run backwards while switching the pets on to passive follow. Most of the time this ensure I only ever pull one enemy at a time when required.

My pets do exactly what I want them to do all the time, unless either they get mistakenly ordered by another MM, or they Go Nuts(tm) as only MM pets sometimes can

If I'm not mistaken, Aggressive Attack switches their mode to Aggressive. I think you want to grab the "All Attack" button from the advanced tray. They will attack your target but will remain in Passive Mode. They will come back to you when the target is dead, regardless of any other thing going on around you.

Let me know what you find out.

i liked their AI in the first few months when they wouldn't run off on their own

too bad the devs felt that was too "simple" or "user-friendly" or something

Ok I have a Robot/dark MM but in my pet window I do not have a Defensive stance macro button (yes i chkd under advanced and ind options) can anyone tell me where to find it?

I have to say, I disagree with all of the people who dislike bodyguard the way it is now. I love it, I take a hit the would normally 1 shot me, and it doesn't even take my bar down a noticable amount, or kill a single pet. I think this is a much better way of doing it then having the hit 1 shot a pet, like some have suggested. Because, when all pets share damage, they're still around and can be healed.

If someone wants to kill my pets first, I taunt so they can't. If someone TP foes me, I fearsome stare or black hole them. And with my /FF, force bubble is great protection against any melee AT that doesn't resist repel.

This bodyguard feature is a huge buff to all MMs, and more then makes up for a nerf to one power in one secondary.

Does anybody have a link to the first and original Dev post about Bodyguard? I think it was Geko who posted it, but my search-fu is pretty non-existent, and I can't find it.