There has been talk of not HAVING to take a Patron... but I can't see that would mean ditching all Epic powers. Mr. Normal certainly doesn't fancy what's on offer atm.
I confess to being slightly underwhelmed 
I can see why the devs didn't give us another pet, but ultimately some MM's are going to get more use from the patron powers than others 
Unimpressed. They're all the same powers, so the only difference between patrons is purely cosmetic. I wont say no to the hold, but other than that...given the number of MMs that skip the fitness pool, I was expecting Conserve Power or Consume.
"I know 653 ways to kill a man. Fist to the face is #56."
All i ever wanted on my MM was a hold, but now that i see other people get pets..i'm wishing i would get one more pet as well instead of the hold.
At first I thought they were quite interesting, but the more I think about it, the more I think "Why bother?" My MM is robo/dark, so he already has a group hold and a single target hold, what does he want with yet more immobs and holds? What I was hoping for was some damage powers, and while there are some, they all seem to be cone. Now, why give the squishiest AT a power that will grab *lots* of aggro?! Just seems daft to me... 
(I'm not knocking holds or immob powers, they just weren't what I had been hoping for.)
EDIT: But then my MM is only lvl 25, so I've got lots of time to think about it 
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The Mastermind - master of pet control doesn't get any new pets? No new upgrades? Personally, I feel we feel better if we had a copy of Dominators' (who with most builds will now have two pets) Patron Powers.
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Pretty much my feelings too - I was hoping for (at least) one pet, and one themed upgrade power. I expected a shield, and one "other" power... meh, they could have done much better. At least this makes it easier to decide which set to go for in PvP, I guess.
@Synaesthetix
"Here, take some more bees with you. You may need them."
Union: FU//LoUD
"that Syn is that that" - Mothers Love
Well, that looks thoroughly uninspiring....
It looks like they're doing what they did with CoH, and adding powers which remove or at least severely reduce the specialities of the AT's. Thus all the non-MM's getting pets, and the MM's getting shields and control powers.
And from here, it looks like the patron whose MM defence is a toggle defence is the Mu Mastery. At least going on a strict reading of the page. I'd bet that they're all toggles though, which means more endurance outlay. Oh Joy.
Also, looking at the Mu Mastery set (which looks like being the only one I'd consider for Toybox), all the other AT's get some degree of end recovery (Power Sink for the Corruptors/Dominators, Mu Lightning for Brutes, and Mu Bolts/Zapp for Stalkers (Stalkers and Brutes not guaranteed end recovery, but something's better than nothing)) but not a sausage for MM's
And am I alone in finding the concept of a Critical Zapp from a Hidden Stalker to be more than a tad overpowered? Or a Dominator getting everything locked down and then going in to Power sink and recharge to also be a tad unbalanced?
Or am I just being paranoid?
Nope, I'm not impressed, so far... And not sure I can be arsed to grind the last 10 levels to try the powers out. Meh.
:edit: Of course, having said that Mu Mastery is the only one to appeal to me, Black Scorpion could fit quite nicely, given that spamming web grenades is what I spend most of my time doing anyway, so the AoE Web grenade and Web Cocoon would fit. 
Warning:
The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.
Oh, and so much for the hopes of having more than 4 powers per AT to make the 'No respeccing and changing Patron' Rule less painful
Guess I'll be spending more time spamming Glitterdust and annoying Fighters/Paladins in DDO then
(Yes, I'm probably Whining. I don't care, I've had a crappy day at work, and this is massively underwhelming compared to what they COULD have done. I just hope there's more to it, but my natural cynicism is stirring.)
Warning:
The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.
The fact that there's absolutely no variety between the types of powers in the sets is certainly not nice...
Oh well, one more hold is nice, gives me very good control capability, My zombies lack AoE's so Nightfall will be nice as well, and I'll be able to propably cap my negative resistance with the shield and shadow fall.
maybe if we ask sooo nicely, they will change to pets
They should throw away the AoE immobs and give us something that's actually useful...
I'd quite like the Snipe that Stalkers have.
As a robotics/FF MM - i find all of the patron powers totally un-inspiring.
I have force blast and a rifle attack and find that i very rarely use them as the lads seem to do quite ok without my help.
As for the holds, well, when the bots are fully buffed and have launched their initial round of attacks at a group - theres normally not a lot left to cast a hold on.
I'm not sure what i would have been looking for in the patron powers, but this certainly isnt it.
Well I for one am NOT severely disappointed by the patron powers. I wanted mu lightning for my MM and that's exactly what I'm getting. As for the pets, I think it makes sense. I mean come on, MMs already have six pets. At least these powers will give the mm a slightly (emphasis on slightly) larger chance of survival when his pets aren't around. The last thing we need is yet another pet to depend on.
You will of course notice that all the patrons are Archtypes themselves. Black Scorpion is a Brute, Scirocco is a Corruptor, Ghost Widow is a Dominator and Captain Mako is a Stalker. And who's the main Mastermind of COV? Why it's Arachnos himself.
So it seems every archtype has a connecting patron power, except Masterminds.
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You will of course notice that all the patrons are Archtypes themselves. Black Scorpion is a Brute, Scirocco is a Corruptor, Ghost Widow is a Dominator and Captain Mako is a Stalker. And who's the main Mastermind of COV? Why it's Arachnos himself.
So it seems every archtype has a connecting patron power, except Masterminds.
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your just like my brother, his name isnt arachnos, its Recluse, and it's Lord Recluse to you 
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You will of course notice that all the patrons are Archtypes themselves. Black Scorpion is a Brute, Scirocco is a Corruptor, Ghost Widow is a Dominator and Captain Mako is a Stalker. And who's the main Mastermind of COV? Why it's Arachnos himself.
So it seems every archtype has a connecting patron power, except Masterminds.
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your just like my brother, his name isnt arachnos, its Recluse, and it's Lord Recluse to you
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I meant he IS Arachnos. As in he is them and they are he.
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You will of course notice that all the patrons are Archtypes themselves. Black Scorpion is a Brute, Scirocco is a Corruptor, Ghost Widow is a Dominator and Captain Mako is a Stalker. And who's the main Mastermind of COV? Why it's Arachnos himself.
So it seems every archtype has a connecting patron power, except Masterminds.
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your just like my brother, his name isnt arachnos, its Recluse, and it's Lord Recluse to you
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I meant he IS Arachnos. As in he is them and they are he.
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which makes no sense...
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You will of course notice that all the patrons are Archtypes themselves. Black Scorpion is a Brute, Scirocco is a Corruptor, Ghost Widow is a Dominator and Captain Mako is a Stalker. And who's the main Mastermind of COV? Why it's Arachnos himself.
So it seems every archtype has a connecting patron power, except Masterminds.
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your just like my brother, his name isnt arachnos, its Recluse, and it's Lord Recluse to you
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I meant he IS Arachnos. As in he is them and they are he.
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which makes no sense...
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sigh. Ok it's like saying Richard Branson is Virgin Atlantic. He started it, he founded it he owns it. So when I say Arachnos himself, I mean Lord Recluse.
If I said Mr Virgin Atlantic, or Mr Microsoft you'd know who I meant right? Same principle.
Area effect immobilse + robot incendiary swarm missiles = super ultra mega quick death!
I am happy, but shame about the apparent lack of variety
IN MEMORIUM OF GAYBABY
CRUELY TAKEN FROM THIS WORLD WHILE SO YOUNG
Im a little dissapointed I don't get my own arachnos pet, especilaly since every one else now gets one, but am happy I get some more defense and the holds and immobs will only improve the irritation I can cause in PVP, I will be interested to see what sort of damage the single target holds will do and what 'Mag' they are having a target pop a single break free to negate my top level power will be desheartening to say the least. And seeing as they seem to work like regular pool powers in you won't really want both starting powers means I should be able to work the otehr dark hold into my build aswell, which I originally thought would be rubbish but since fluffy has been using it to great effect I have chnaged my mind.
Been after a respec for a while too since I only got two having not clicked the character respec reward after the first time I did the respec
The powers are not in any way uber but I still look forward to earning them.
Any idea what level you have to be to chooose a patron?
It will almost certainly be level 40, however you will have to complete a series of missions before you can get your powers, hence the free respec.
I really should do something about this signature.
Question: If I don't want to be a lackey for one of this underpowered Arachnos idiots can I just take normal power choices after level40? Because if not I can't really see myself playing CoV anymore. None of the above fit into my character concept from being a lackey to a higher power to gaining powers from my boss. I might carry on if and when going rogue appears but if this is the level of creativity that is used while designing 'better' content I will remain underenthused. At least the ancillary pools in CoH mainly work.
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Question: If I don't want to be a lackey for one of this underpowered Arachnos idiots can I just take normal power choices after level40? Because if not I can't really see myself playing CoV anymore. None of the above fit into my character concept from being a lackey to a higher power to gaining powers from my boss. I might carry on if and when going rogue appears but if this is the level of creativity that is used while designing 'better' content I will remain underenthused. At least the ancillary pools in CoH mainly work.
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I expect you can just not opt to get a Patron (because you have to actively choose one) and play on as before.
Probably miss out on some mission content though.
Ghost Widow
Night Fall: Cone Damage, -Acc
Dark Embrace: Self +Res Lethal, Smashing, Negative Energy, Toxic
Soul Tentacles: Cone Immobilise, DoT
Soul Storm: Single target Hold
Black Scorpion
Web Envelope: Ranged AoE Immob, -Recharge, -Fly, -Jump
Scorpion Shield: Self +Def Lethal, Smashing and Energy, +Res Toxic
Mace Beam Volley: Cone Damage, Knockdown
Web Cocoon: Single-target Hold, -Fly, -Spd, -Recharge, -Jump
Captain Mako
School of Sharks: Cone Immob, Negative DoT
Chum Spray: Cone Toxic DoT
Shark Skin: Self +Res Lethal, Smashing, Cold
Spirit Shark Jaws: Single-target Hold, Lethal DoT, -Fly
Scirocco
Static Discharge: Cone/AoE Damage, -End
Charged Armor: Self +Res Smashing, Lethal, Energy
Electrifying Fences: AoE Immob, Energy DoT, -End
Electric Shackles: Single-target Hold, -End, Self +End (chance)
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The Mastermind - master of pet control doesn't get any new pets? No new upgrades? Personally, I feel we feel better if we had a copy of Dominators' (who with most builds will now have two pets) Patron Powers.
The above Patron Powers grant nothing that actually inspires me. If they remain in this form I'll only end up taking the armour as opposed to any of the others for utility.
What are your thoughts?