Hence me leaving my MM and turning back to doing what i do best... BLASTING!
I have at least one issue to enjoy my MM so I will when its nerfed into non existance I can go on to other ATs, that is if I still have the will to play.
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I have at least one issue to enjoy my MM so I will when its nerfed into non existance I can go on to other ATs, that is if I still have the will to play.
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And build up a lovely inf bank for your lowbie characters, and have fun doing it!
IN MEMORIUM OF GAYBABY
CRUELY TAKEN FROM THIS WORLD WHILE SO YOUNG
the nerfs, as you call them, were introduced so that all the AT's were balanced for PVP, masterminds have a great weakness in this respect as if they die, so do all their minions, and they are vulnerable without their minions, ive seen it happen many times, if the petsa re gone, the mm is lost.
Exactly. We're perfectly balanced thanks to our useless PvPness. So no need to nerf at all Mr Dev. I'm already wailing and gnashing my teeth at my useless PvP powers.
*scurries off and continues uber-pveing away happily*
Oh and Spirits seem to hang around after your death for some reason.
Ehm, absorb damage? MM's is the most Squishy AT that you can find ! They don't absorb nothing!
PvP wise we suck, PvE wise it's one of the best characters to play! That is how it should be, and they will keep it that way... No nerf is iminent IMHO!
Projected interview with a developer regarding the changes to the Mastermind, in the near future.
Q: So what was your vision regarding the Mastermind, why these changes?
A: Well, the initial group of three minions felt alright. Especially when they operated a level below the player. That's fine. The next group was slightly overpowered we thought, so we had to put them on a timer, and reduced their numbers. You can only have one from the second group now. But it will last for 3 minutes, and only be down for 6 minutes. That should be good enough.
Q: And the last pet?
A: Uh, yeah, that was not in the vision. Clearly granting the player superior advantages. We removed it and gave the Mastermind 5 percent more damage to compensate for it. Not that the MM truly needs any compensation, mind you. The last pet power will now resurrect a fallen villain, and boost his powers for a limited time.
Q: And the pet upgrades, they were changed too?
A: Yeah, we were kinda happy about the first upgrade you could get, but we felt that it came too early, so your first upgrade is now your last upgrade. But you CAN still use inspirations on the MM pets, we like to see more use of inspirations. They are fun! Besides, in the future we believe we can give the MM some kind of aura, to compensate for the pets. You see, we don't really believe pets should be a large part of this game. Oh yes, we will put in a good temporary pet buff that lasts for a grand total of 20 seconds, in the place of the upgrade power we removed. Just to show how nice we are.
Q: Thank you!
Dear god no!
Why that would make MMs the most pointless thing since... something really pointless.
It's not running away. It's advancing in reverse!
I think any fool can see that MM's are vastly overpowered. I have done the CoV respec three time now and everytime, the MM's made the Brutes and Stalkers pointless.
OK, they aren't hugely effective in PvP but how much time do people spend on that compared to PvE?
I've actually got to the point where I try to avoid teaming with more than one MM as it takes the key compnonent out of the game for me... Fun.
Sititng back and watch AI play the game for me seems nothing more than pointless.
I've played an MM and yes it was very easy to level but if that is the only reason for playing the game, what's the point of playing?
The numbers of MM's in the game are also a joke and when you've got VG's made up of more than 50% MM's, it must make the other members of the VG question why they are in there.
Give me a challenging Stalker or Corruptor over the mindless gameplay that is an MM any day.
I can just see the cries going up now when from MM players when they get the PvE nerf they so rightly deserve.
Having been a CoH player and a CoV plyer from day one in both cases and being in the CoV Beta from the second week, it does annoy me somewhat to see the idea of teamplay, tactics and build design offers no rewards when compared to just playing an MM.
Regardless, I'll continue to avoid them while they offer no challenge to the game whatsoever.
Different people have different ideas of what "fun" is. A stalker is slow by nature, and compliment a unique playstyle. Just as the MM is fast by nature, and compliment a unique playstyle. Should one be nerfed, because the other is different? Do one have more fun than the other?
Should not the goal be to make sure all playstyles can be fun in their own way? But of course, that would require a more complex game, and more varied missions. Easier to nerf that which stands out!
Nerfs will come because fast gameplay let players beat the game, thus they will leave sooner. What the player actually like, is important only as long as they stay. ;-)
The sad part is, that the MM provide the efficiency and speed of pre-I5 gameplay, and the feeling of achievement is notable. As such it must "deservedly be nerfed", in order to be downgraded to the current sub-hero/villain standard. :-)
As for not liking pets, that is a personal problem, rather than a game mechanical issue. There must be a real choice left, not a crude mockery of an AT, when the dust settles.
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Different people have different ideas of what "fun" is. A stalker is slow by nature, and compliment a unique playstyle. Just as the MM is fast by nature, and compliment a unique playstyle.
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I think you've answered your own question there. MM's level much faster than any other AT in PvE. That alone shows that they are overpowered in PvE and need to be boutght in line with the other AT's.
While I'm not happy at constant Nerfs, my opinion is they shouldn't rush testing in the first place like they do, I do agree with player balance.
There is no blanace with MM's and other AT's in CoV at present. The whole idea behind these ganes are that balanced teams should be the key to good gameplay.
This is achieved in CoH to a reasonable extent, though blasters aren't really required. The simple fact is that MM's destroy the whole idea of teamplay and I already know many Brutes and Stalkers who just don't like teaming with them for any reason.
MM's are too much of an AT apart from all other AT's
I don't dislike pets, I actually think they're a useful tool. What I don't like tis the fact that pet's make the rest of the team irrelevant
Perhaps the team balance is off. But perhaps the stalker has been made *too* slow, and some styles made incompatible for other reasons than the MM. Maybe the sheer number of pet users create bad blood in itself. Perhaps the other AT's was weakened too much by ED. :-)
Axing the most popular AT, will always be faster than changing the environment. Looking at team dynamics, and tweak powers positively, in orther to create synergy, that takes much longer time. :-)
If people was made irrelevant by pet users, they most likely was at a lower level, or the team had mostly MM's. It is a logical assumption to avoid heavy MM teams, if you like more varied styles.
I say the MM works. Now fix the rest of the game. ;-)
Ok, I am feeling generous so here comes the quick and dirty MM fix:
Q: What would you do to fix the MM for now, if you had no other choice Gravitos?
A: Reduce the experience gained by pet kills. Enough to scare away some, but not enough to make the MM obsolete. That way gameplay is preserved, at a slower pace, but yet at the same speed.
The MM must however not slow team experience gaining in any way, because then nobody would like to team with them. So the loss must be personal. This create a whole new set of issues. ;-)
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Hello fellow English Players 
You all ignore the fact that for a MM the lvls between 20 and 32 when you get your final update for the pets are the hardest lvls you will see in your MM Career.
In this lvls i had no SO Enhancements and the lvldowns that the pets received cost me much of my power... after lvl 32 its pretty easy as i could buy me SO's now and i have the final update for the pets...
And something to think for the players that want a MM Nerf:
I am currently testing every AT in CoV and when you want an MM to be nerfed:
for Example:
Nerf Brutes as i was able to attack and survive big groups of mobs.
If you want to be effective in PvE like an MM is... try to build yourself a character with powers that combine...
Try to come up with a strategy and dont just run into a mob and try too bash than without thinking...
I think if you are a good Player you can beat the Game with every AT at the same Pace...
my 2 cent...
and greetings from Germany 
The only 'problem' i had in my career, 1 to 32 (i'll be back but corruptor alt now), i felt that the missions were too easy & short with Ruthless. Some of them were over in minutes, maybe if the mission engine would know that MM is starting the mission and spicing it up alot.
Sure you could lower xp/inf for MMs in general but why would you like to punish someone who likes to play MM . Just up the mission difficulty as the MM gains levels, give us the insane challanges on newspaper/storyline missions, we can take it. What i mean is, the mission engine should count unsummoned minions as players and adjust mob count. "Lich", "Commando", "Assault Bot" counts as 5 players alone etc.
It did say "Mastermind is a very difficult class to play." in the description, so far i dont think its true.
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32 Robotics / Poison
11 Fire / Rad Corruptor
Would you post a link to that Q&A you got that from ? I'd like to see it...
If they indeed go ahead and make such drastic changes (being reduced from 6 active pets to 3 and NO lich IS drastic) then I'm gonna have to start thinking about quitting....
So, practically. If this is true and if it will happen? Then please do explain on how we are going to do damage to our enemies. How to keep our pets alive from the damage whilst keeping ourselve alive since every heal and bubble we cast also attracts the aggro of our enemy.
5% extra damage?...That is a complete insult. Upgrades timed? Why would you do that since they boost pets slightly in their damage. Luits and bosses still kill them like it's nothing. Removing the last pet?? That's taking the complete backbone off a mastermind away. Reducing pets to 3...oh goodie..now Robotics get less again.
But this could also be a result from someone who's [censored] about the MM cause he cannot play with them as it should. (See Regeneration incident) *Sorry for my language*
Sorry, I misread :P The changes were PROJECTED :P hehe...
Your taking things WAY too far over the edge... if any changes are gonna be made, they wouldn't stretch that far!
Besides, they HAVE said that no more Power Pool changes was going to happen, and what you project in your Q&A, is just that. Major changes.... to the whole power pool, ripping out powers replacing them with others... not gonna happen
Again, sorry that i misunderstood, it was written very convincing hehe
Believe me, I don't want any nerfs to the MM ever. And yes that initial Q & A was a satire. Don't read it as the truth in any shape or form.
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Your taking things WAY too far over the edge... if any changes are gonna be made, they wouldn't stretch that far!
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Really hope so. I played pet user in AO and SWG, and the pet user started strong there as well. *Started* is the keyword. ;-)
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What i mean is, the mission engine should count unsummoned minions as players and adjust mob count. "Lich", "Commando", "Assault Bot" counts as 5 players alone etc.
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But wouldn't that mean that MMs rake in even more xp and level even fast... (hang on...)
Why, yes, an excellent suggestion which should be implemented at once. (/em nonchalant whistle)
"If there's anything worse than being sacrificed, it's being sacrificed incompetantly."
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Really hope so. I played pet user in AO and SWG, and the pet user started strong there as well. *Started* is the keyword. ;-)
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No twinking in CoV though, well not the kind as in AO anyway. So I hope the Devs think all MM are nicely balanced because of the slow ramping up in power.
The fun for me IS sitting back and letting the minions do my job for me. It certainly isn't a passive role though. I'm constantly doing something be it healing, debuffing or whatever else. It's not easy either. I have to be very careful with my pulls since the henchmen die incredibly easily and I only have a single target heal.
The Mastermind is an AT that lets me solo without needing to rely on pickup groups (I have very dismal expectations of other players...). My computer actually can't handle the volume of enemies that comes with grouping anyway. It's bad enough solo in an Archnos lab...
I wouldn't be particularly surprised if our damage got nerfed though. Personally I'd suggest raising other ATs to the same rate of levelling as the Mastermind rather than nerfing.
Are we really that much better at soloing than other ATs though?
I think the suggestion to reduce the XP gained from the pet kills is a good idea.
Look at my pets, yeah they're so... no they all died, why? Five yellow mobs and a red boss wiped out the entire team including me. I have no defenses or attacks but my pets, if I lose them or their power I become useless and I can just imagine the queues of people wanting to team with me then.
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I think the suggestion to reduce the XP gained from the pet kills is a good idea.
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I hope you meant this in jest, my good mate
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Look at my pets, yeah they're so... no they all died, why? Five yellow mobs and a red boss wiped out the entire team including me. I have no defenses or attacks but my pets, if I lose them or their power I become useless and I can just imagine the queues of people wanting to team with me then.
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I try to see this statement in context with the one above, and I think there is a major leap in perspective here that I don't get. First you like the idea of lowering xp when pet kills, then you state the obvious that without pets an MM is worthless (well, not entirely - with "proper" secondaries an MM is still usefull in a team, but solo? heck no).
Granted - properly slotted (if you have enough infamy that is) an MM is very good in PvE. Multiple proper slotted MMs in a team -> xp jackpot machine.
It requires quite different slotting to be effective in PvP, and PvP is not a viable option until atleast lvl 26, maybe not until lvl 32.
replay to all: So the whole discussion about nerfing MMs - don't. Don't even go there. It _is_ a whole different AT, and if one does not like MMs - don't play one. AoEs from bosses will wipe my minions in seconds if I don't pay carefull attention, and I must confess that I haven't been this busy playing an AT since the "snipe-run-hide-pop greens-blast-bolt-run/hide-snipe" playstyle with my blaster in CoH
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Projected interview with a developer regarding the changes to the Mastermind, in the near future.
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Does "projected" mean the same as "made-up"? Where are you getting this from?
I am now writing my darkest thoughts.
MM's level fast, and you get to absorb damage. Absorbing damage is the exact opposite of every nerf philosophy of late.
Why was the MM introduced, because it is nothing but a big tease, ready to be removed. Is it a trick to get people to play, and then axed in all but name, because such tricks never can outlast hard MMORPG reality?
Fast and furious leveling, that actually is fun, represents a big no-no for the developers. I am tired of great concepts, that ultimately was destined to be taken away. Why must this cycle repeat itself? It causes great frustration.
When those robots launch their rockets, you just shake your head and wonder how long it will last. I find it quite deceptive to tease people like this. Just like the regeneration, this is a doomed concept, that could have made this the best MMORPG ever. But it will be another blip on the radar, nothing more...
There are some great assumptions here, but I have every right to believe they are true. :-)
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