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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!
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Any [native english speaker] one who didn't spot that this this was a sarcastic exageration, needs to grab a little cynacism. Humour, sarcasm, metaphor [Lies] don't allways need smileys plastered all over them to be obvious.
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Any [native english speaker] one who didn't spot that this this was a sarcastic exageration, needs to grab a little cynacism. Humour, sarcasm, metaphor [Lies] don't allways need smileys plastered all over them to be obvious.
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And what about non native English speakers? A fair misunderstanding surely!?
nah, me is not native English speaking and I had no problem spotting the "humour" in the original post. Of course - I got brains the size of northern Europe 
My hope is that rather than reducing my damage output or reducing number of pets, or in someway changing the way I play. For instance making it too long to buff a team of pets. They reduce the XP gained so slowing my leveling speed.
Looking at the previous AT nerfs they have nearly al be designed to slow leveling down, rducing XP gained from pets would do this without actually reducing the effectiveness of said pets.
If they have to nerf MMs then XP is the best option, or would you rather have less pets?
I choose neither. As I've said - a properly slotted MM (regardless of type) should and will tear through mobs like hot knife through butter. And why shouldn't that AT do just that? It is frantic as heck, the risk is proportional to the gain and it is refreshing to be able to order a small army of minions around.
If the xp-gain is nerfed it goes against the very concept of a Master Mind. "Hey, you master-mind there! I see you have very good control over your minions, therefore I must remove a percentage of your reward..." It's like being taxed, and almost noone likes taxes.
Oh and for anyone who thinks we're overpowered I suggest they play Necromancy vs. Sky Raiders... no lethal resistance means orange minions can do 80% damage to my minions in one shot. Everyone has their weaknesses.
Yes LostNinja. I am also afraid they will remove something fun, or just turn it into some kind of micro-management hell. I would rather have the fun gameplay intact, and level slightly slower. I am afraid some in-bred *vision* will be forced down our throats yet again.
But if they want slow leveling, perhaps they should look at the game for a change, and not the player characters. Looks to me you just generally level faster after ED... MM or no MM. :-)
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Brilliant...
You are missing the point, my orginal reply was to the question that the OP expects MMs to be nerfed, Kinslayer thinks they are very over powered now, if the devs think this too then a properly slotted MM won't be ripping through mobs they be without much hope.
I agree with you 100% I love my MM but if it gets a nerf for being able to rip through mobs like hot knife through butter then I want them to nerf XP gain first not actual pets or powers.
Argue away if you must but I'm on your side already, I don't want us to be nerfed at all, but if we are, what would you prefer to lose, pets and powers or a bit of XP?
ahhh.... sorry about that LN 
I failed to see your posting in context.
If they decide to do something, which in all honesty I don't think is needed, and we get a choice between loosing pets/powers or a wee bit of xp - then of course a reduction in xp-gain caused by "AbM" (arrest by minions) would be preferable. Not that I would applaud such a change - I would instead throw rotten tomatoes and eggs in Cryptics general direction, and argue for hours on end on which bird is the fastest one. (spot the reference? no prices awarded tho)
then of course a reduction in xp-gain caused by "AbM" (arrest by minions) would be preferable
That implies there's actually another way for Masterminds to defeat mobs...
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then of course a reduction in xp-gain caused by "AbM" (arrest by minions) would be preferable
That implies there's actually another way for Masterminds to defeat mobs...
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Well, actually no. We still defeat mobs as quick as before, but with some sort of code implemented will give us less xp pr "arrest". The side-effect here is that we'd be shunned from certain types of teams, i.e. teams not wanting to have fun and only looks at ways to maximize the xp-pr-minute/hour ratio (which is OK by me, 'cause I'm not in this game to get to a certain level faster than anyone else). We'd still level ok-ish but not as fast as some think we do now.
edit: just thought about way to circumvent this one - order minions to whop, then put in passive mode when just a sliver health left and finish off said mob with a puny force bolt / whatever
Unless they figure out at way to grant xp based on damageoutput and diffentiate between minions and MM and other potential members in team. Not doable, because these calculations would surely kill the server
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Unless they figure out at way to grant xp based on damageoutput and diffentiate between minions and MM and other potential members in team. Not doable, because these calculations would surely kill the server
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Doesn't it already do this? If you jump to help a non-team villain/hero kill a mob xp is rewarded by damage done and then modified by level isn't it?
My 2 cents. The MM will be nerfed. Bank on it. Happened to Blasters way back, regen scrappers, tanks and controllers when they were all top dog. I don't think it will be a XP nerf I'm afraid because MMs will still be felt to be overshadowing their teamies in power. Plus it would be easy to get around that system as Bolt has just shown.
Part of the problem is that the MM powers are so visible I think. My pets don't actually do that much damage. But people think they are uber. Until they see them go up against miners / dockworkers on Sharkshead Isle ....
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"AbM" (arrest by minions)
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ehm... my zombies cry "braaaiiins" my grave knights say "aggressive!" and have a huge sword and my lich goes "I'll bring swift destruction to $target" they do NOT arrest ANYONE.
My minions kill, might be you pansy heroes that waste time arresting, but as far as I go, I destroy my enemies (they are lying on the ground, not in handcuffs!)
Please...
Im kinda a little suprised that people seem to have convinced themselves that Masterminds are over powered with no mention from Devs that it is the case and are basing it on the fact that they are fun to play and are successful when they fight.
Then to top it off, your coming up with suggestions on how we can be nerfed in response to the nerf that has been decided is on its way.
All a little premature if you ask me.
Basing it on whats happened to every build that was considered more powerful in every issue so far to be honest.
That would be overpowered according to the game designers of course, Players just create too much static these days. Hell, read the US boards, they are embarrasing.
Masterminds are consistent, they dont have some giant alpha strike like blasters used to and Stalkers do now, they dont have a summit point where they suddenly become supreme like dominators or rage for brutes.
People are mixing consistency up with potency I think.
Whoa mate, I am _not_ waving the flag for a nerf here I've spent my time with blasters in CoH, and it's quite refreshing not dying every mission or being outranged by a crey pistol in the 35+ game Heck, even a lvl 12 troll boss in Hollows throw those rocks 40% longer than my blast...
High consistency - yes. Huge initial damage - yes, but in the post-32 game (we get kinda like an alpha strike when all minions have be upgraded max and let loose on an unsuspecting crowd) only. 3 drones + 2 prot bots + 1 assault bot unleashing carnage is something I look forward to.
And in regards to the "differentiate xp-gain calculation". What I meant that there are too many things to calculate if the minions were to be dragged into the loop, causing more stress on the servers - hence more lag.
The problem is that you can do more things faster than average, as an MM, because of all the tools. That, and developers love to hand out shiny toys like these, only to decide they shine too much later. Typical fresh release syndrome. :-)
Besides, if a majority should gravitate towards one AT, that AT will be nerfed by default. Directly or indirectly. Does not matter how consistent it may be. Or any argument for that matter. Balance issues. Easier to cut the tallest tree in the forest. Because it stands out. ;-)
Finally, it's a gut feeling after going through a lot of MMORPG's. You just look at gameplay, and can see that this is too good to be true. 
Boltmeister: Yes you are absolutely right, we don't need more lag. I was furious when those new AoE calculations was found to cause lag. That's the last thing we need. *sigh*
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That would be overpowered according to the game designers of course, Players just create too much static these days. Hell, read the US boards, they are embarrasing.
Masterminds are consistent, they dont have some giant alpha strike like blasters used to and Stalkers do now, they dont have a summit point where they suddenly become supreme like dominators or rage for brutes.
People are mixing consistency up with potency I think.
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Masterminds are very, very easy to level in PvE. Much easier than any other AT I can think of except my I4 Controller, post level 32. And we all know what happened to them. Ditto with the Stone Tanks, Burn, Regen and now SOs (via ED).
There is very little chance that MMs are not going to nerfed. Thats what happens. They can easily level in a team or solo with little/no risk to themselves. That's not going to last IMO.
It's the rate of leveling that always grabs the devs attention. If something is seen to be racing ahead its beaten over the head with the Bat-O-Nerf until it promises to slow down and behave.
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And in regards to the "differentiate xp-gain calculation". What I meant that there are too many things to calculate if the minions were to be dragged into the loop, causing more stress on the servers - hence more lag.
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Not really. You don't need to store damage per minion. Just "damage done by Xs minions". So you can lump all of one persons minions together for these purposes. So it's not 6 extra people to keep track of, its 1 who happens to be a group of minions.
Its kinda wierd, but everyone in my group seems to be leveling at the same speed as me ? And when I group Masterminds are not the only people my level, theres some Brutes, some Dominators even some Corruptors, not sure about the stalkers you can never see em.
My Mastermind is lvl 30. Could I solo a ruthless mission which is what I play on ? not sure. probably not. I would thus drop my difficulty and eat through missions.
Leveling is easy for all AT's. CoH/CoV is built that way, you dont need to play with anyone really, just drop your difficulty and hop to it.
I just think its a touch premature that were planning a major overhaul of an AT thats only about a month old.
Especially when there is no obvious big flaw. Its just this 'feeling' that everyone is getting because they are good to play.
The other thing of course is Im fairly sure that not all masterminds are equal...they may well spend an issue looking at that balance rather than trying to change the whole AT.
Is robots/forcefield better than Ninja/Poisons ? is it just Robot and Merc guys wading through missions and making it look easy ?
Personally I love MM's, I've ben playing CoV since early beta and CoH for around a year now, and I can say for certain that MM's are the most fun I've ever had.
They suck in PvP, I'm usually dead before I've even summond all the pets, let alone spent 8 minutes trying to upgrade them all, but it's so nice to be able to solo missions and level at a reasonable rate!
A lot of people have complained that they're over-powered, but I'd like to put that down to good gameplay. I've seen MM's that can clear out a mission so easily they hardly have to do more than run over the entire map. But I've also seen MM's that manage to agro most of the mission with almost no effort and lose pets faster than they can make them!
Each architype takes skill and carefull slotting to get it's full potential, but too many people (including the devs) seem to think that if a lot of people manage to get it right, then the architype is over powered.
As someone who loves their pets, and seems to be genetically unable to play as a scrapper, tank, brute or stalker, MM's are a wonderful alternative. Nevermind getting the pets to scrape and grovel at my feet, I bow down and worship them, after all, I couldn't get very far without them 
So many alts, so little time... Where's an Altoholics meeting when you need one?
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Its kinda wierd, but everyone in my group seems to be leveling at the same speed as me ? And when I group Masterminds are not the only people my level, theres some Brutes, some Dominators even some Corruptors, not sure about the stalkers you can never see em.
My Mastermind is lvl 30. Could I solo a ruthless mission which is what I play on ? not sure. probably not. I would thus drop my difficulty and eat through missions.
Leveling is easy for all AT's. CoH/CoV is built that way, you dont need to play with anyone really, just drop your difficulty and hop to it.
I just think its a touch premature that were planning a major overhaul of an AT thats only about a month old.
Especially when there is no obvious big flaw. Its just this 'feeling' that everyone is getting because they are good to play.
The other thing of course is Im fairly sure that not all masterminds are equal...they may well spend an issue looking at that balance rather than trying to change the whole AT.
Is robots/forcefield better than Ninja/Poisons ? is it just Robot and Merc guys wading through missions and making it look easy ?
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Can I ask how many alts you've played. Not being sarky or anything, just asking over your "Levelling is easy" comment. Cos it's not for a lot of ATs. My Flame Tank is currently 27 and finds it hard going. My Spines / Dark scrapper is only 12 and again its difficult for him.
Oh, and the Big Flaw is that I can deal damage, heal, tank mobs and debuff all at once. Although I wouldn't call it a flaw personally Its great. But a little too great. My MM is far more powerful than any other AT I have was at that level.
[Edit : Forgot I can heal too ]
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Besides, if a majority should gravitate towards one AT, that AT will be nerfed by default. Directly or indirectly. Does not matter how consistent it may be. Or any argument for that matter. Balance issues. Easier to cut the tallest tree in the forest. Because it stands out. ;-)
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But is the reason MMs is the most popular AT that they are the most powerful or because they are more fun and completetly diffrent from CoH ATs? All the other CoV ATs is just a sligthly diffrent version of an CoH AT. Corruptor/Blaster is shoty, Tank/brute is punchy etc. So isn't it possible that many old CoH players choose MM because they were new.
Besides MMs is really funny to play. You can give your pets wierd emotes and make them talk.
IMHO that's the main reason why MMs is so poular not that they are a more powerfull AT than others.
Besides it seems like ppl think that MM level faster. If that's so how come all the players that started out at the same time as me has kept up to my level pace? Not to mention that not matter AT it allways take me about the same time to get it to lvl 14.
very much made up, no dev with more that 2 braincells would be this honest