[ QUOTE ]
1. Change the power "M40 Grenade" to a sniper power similar to "Sniper Shot" which the Mastermind himself can use. These pets are all ranged based and the Mastermind should be able to use this to his/her advantage. This is also important for the Mastermind since having Mercenaries for henchman they tend to use dots and nearly all lethal effects as damage. More single target attack powers are required to cause more balanced damage vs stronger opponents.
[/ QUOTE ]Ugh, no. All Mastermind attacks except for Knockout Blow and maybe Thunder Strike are mostly garbage anyway, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who´uses the grenade for additional knockback fun with /Storm Summoning. Besides, the devs are always extremely careful about outright removing and replacing powers, so it's unlikely they'll swap one weaksauce attack for another weaksauce attack anyway.
[ QUOTE ]
2. Change the look of the Commando when upgraded to something more modern and less scruffy like. A dark green sleeveless camo flak-jacket for armour and soldier's gloves would be cool for appearance benefits.
[/ QUOTE ]Not green, doesn't match the greyscale uniform setup of the other pets. However, less of a Rambo look would be good.
[ QUOTE ]
3. Change "SPEC Sniper" for the "SPEC-OPS" henchman so that it activates more often when at far range and change "LRM Rocket" for the Commando so it can be used at far and moderate range and also cause aoe fire damage.
[/ QUOTE ]The APP version of LRM Rocket doesn't do fire damage either, because that's not how non-incendiary explosives kill.
Here, I'll hijack your thread and offer my own thoughts.
1) Half (or make even shorter) the recharge (and maybe increase the duration) on the SpecOps control powers. Emphasize the role of control for the Mercenaries primary.
2) Make the SpecOps stealth useful. Give them Stealth Strike like the PPD SWAT mobs have. Remove the speed penalty, it's unnecessary on pets.
3) Let the Commando use his Gun Drone ability, it's in his powers list, but he doesn't gain access to it with either upgrade.
4*) At a stretch, give Commando Ignite, since burn patches make anything suddenly great. Lol.
Mercs been on the 'suggest' list more then once, basicly every run they are party of it 
There is too much to be fixed on mercs, my simple advice.. leave em be and pick a set that does work.
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
I would also add that it might be worthwhile to lower recharge and up duration on Serum. Probably both. I mean, seriously? God-mode recharge time on a 60 second Unstoppable that affects one henchman? In the situations in which it'd be necessary for their survival, then most likely either all your other henchmen are down and you're crippled in a dangerous position, or you'd activate Serum then you yourself die shortly after. Perhaps before.
Mercs however can compete with other henchmen primaries... but only by slotting all henchmen with Touch of Lady Grey: Chance for Negative. They're firing off -Defense with almost every attack, and the damage the proc inflicts is higher than the actual attacks most times and Negative rather than Lethal, to boot. I think when numbercrunched, the addition of these procs more than doubles average damage output.
However that such un-intuitive (and expensive?) a work-around is required just to get it competing means there's something definitely worth revising here.
I'm currently running a mercs/PD mm, and I immediately realised that the mercenaries are just pathetically weak. Even increased damage would be nice.
Infact, the pets are so weak that I'm 50-50 focusing on a build on Mids on Damage and Defense Debuff, to see if I can get a decent output. Even if a proc would be better, its just too damn expensive. I don't want to spend so much money on a build to make it 'decent'.
It's not like it costs a fortune to buy and craft 3 Lady Grey procs.
And no, I'm not being elitist, nor am I a farmer.
Hmm, must try to get me some of those Lady Greys then.I play my merc/traps only very casually so i am not to bothered about the lack of firepower to much but it never hurts to enhance their damage dealing a bit. It is my toon that does the damage here.
[ QUOTE ]
However that such un-intuitive (and expensive?) a work-around is required just to get it competing means there's something definitely worth revising here.
[/ QUOTE ]
Sounds pretty simple as a solution really. Raise the damage of all Mercs attacks by a good third. Not a full half of course, then we could cram in those Inventions and be gods, but the issue seems to be the kitten soft nature of their bullets.
Chairman of the Charity of Pain; accepting donations of blood and guts.
Prophet of the Creamy Truth; "If it's empty, fill it with cream."
If a 20% chance to do bonus damage makes Merc damage fine, maybe they should all just get a 20% chance to Critical with attacks, heh.
Catch the irony there? To make mercs 'closer' to the other pets, you gonna use methods that initialy were made to 'increase' your already good toon.
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
Not getting the lady Grey proc effect nerfed is the best we can hope for here. They have just finished up the Poison Trap, and I must say they did a fine job making it as boring and moderately useful as possible.
You *just* need Achilles' Heel, Lady Grey proc, and Assault to do damage with mercs. And you better have a debuff in your secondary to go with that, or else you're just taking up a valuable team slot. He he...
---
[ QUOTE ]
You *just* need Achilles' Heel, Lady Grey proc, and Assault to do damage with mercs. And you better have a debuff in your secondary to go with that, or else you're just taking up a valuable team slot.
[/ QUOTE ]Terrible, horrible, uneducated exaggeration. Please stop spreading lies before new players who don't know any better accidentally read them.
[ QUOTE ]
Not getting the lady Grey proc effect nerfed is the best we can hope for here. They have just finished up the Poison Trap, and I must say they did a fine job making it as boring and moderately useful as possible.
You *just* need Achilles' Heel, Lady Grey proc, and Assault to do damage with mercs. And you better have a debuff in your secondary to go with that, or else you're just taking up a valuable team slot. He he...
---
[/ QUOTE ]
Meh, i am /TA, so i basicly can reach the highest -resist debuff on all secondairy, still it wont get close to my zombies or bots. (i wont mention thugs.. no i just wont). I btw have all those procs and assault.
And ninja with perma smoke bomb is funny also, 1 pet doing nonstop crits
[ QUOTE ]
Terrible, horrible, uneducated exaggeration. Please stop spreading lies before new players who don't know any better accidentally read them.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, so you are suddenly very constructive?
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
[ QUOTE ]
Terrible, horrible, uneducated exaggeration. Please stop spreading lies before new players who don't know any better accidentally read them.
[/ QUOTE ]
New players drop Mercenaries without even trying to take them to their full potential, when they find out they suck compared to other (ranged) sets. These procs keeps them more in line with expectations. The Lady Grey proc effect can be measured in a program like Herostats, and we are talking about a minimum of 1/3 damage increase here. Often better.
The fact remains that for a set that supposedly brings control, the stock recharges are horrible, and the control don't make an EB or AV go down much faster, that's where you have to rely on your resisted damage. So use these procs, and they will go down faster.
Mercenaries can and will be outperformed by other ranged MM's at higher levels. The question is just how far behind you want to be.
A Lady Grey Proc, Achilles Heel, and Assault, brings you up to a close third place, instead of a distant third place (ranged). Problems with the incredibly small cones on attacks like Full Auto, combined with the longish animation time still lingers. Mercenaries focus fire moderately hard targets well, but in teams the character with more AoE's just take out stuff so much faster. So even if the damage after much work is comparable, the damage is contained by gimped cones.
With maximum luck, the Commando has finished his LRM rocket launch, which might severely hurt one minion once or twice in an entire mission, and gets his flamethrower out.
---
When you imply that not all MMs are horribly powerful (some more than others, sure) then you're either talking out of your backside or need a healthy dose of l2p.
[ QUOTE ]
When you imply that not all MMs are horribly powerful (some more than others, sure) then you're either talking out of your backside or need a healthy dose of l2p.
[/ QUOTE ]
Comparing MM primaries is perfectly normal in an MM forum, perhaps you one day will be able to actually join a discussion, instead of telling people how much they suck, based on your own optimal choices. Nice Thugs MM you got there in your signature.
---
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
When you imply that not all MMs are horribly powerful (some more than others, sure) then you're either talking out of your backside or need a healthy dose of l2p.
[/ QUOTE ]
Comparing MM primaries is perfectly normal in an MM forum, perhaps you one day will be able to actually join a discussion, instead of telling people how much they suck, based on your own optimal choices. Nice Thugs MM you got there in your signature.
---
[/ QUOTE ]Right, because I don't have any toons below level 50 at all, especially not other MMs despite them being one of my favorite ATs. That'd be unthinkable.
I've played all the primaries. They all work. I find Robotics to be the "worst", personally. High survivability doesn't make up for stupid amounts of knockback and nonexistant damage until the Assbot gets his freaking missles. Despite hating Robotics, I have a level 42 Bots/Traps MM. [censored] is it boring and lame though. But guess what, other people can like Bots. Just like how other people can like like Mercs, your opinion does not equal the absolute truth. Sure, they underperform compared to other MM primaries. But they do not underperform in general. None of the primaries do, except possibly Ninjas in the hands of an unskilled player. You weren't comparing MM primaries to each other in the part I was replying to, you were saying Mercs in general are useless on a team, which just shows you're talking out of your backside or from serious inexperience.
At least Mercs do more consistent damage and don't need one very specific power from Mu Mastery to deal optimal damage (Assbot knocks stuff out of its own burn patches, lulz)
[ QUOTE ]
You *just* need Achilles' Heel, Lady Grey proc, and Assault to do damage with mercs. And you better have a debuff in your secondary to go with that, or else you're just taking up a valuable team slot.
[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You weren't comparing MM primaries to each other in the part I was replying to, you were saying Mercs in general are useless on a team, which just shows you're talking out of your backside or from serious inexperience.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not exactly what i said, since you would be hard pressed to find a Mercenary player without any of those procs, no assault, and with no debuff in the secondary. That leaves us with what. Forcefields? lol? You may also insert other MM's to take up that slot, we're assuming MM's are the only AT worth talking about here. But since you insist, a gimped Mercenary MM can easily be replaced with a Corruptor, especially at higher levels. This I also pull from my Gluteus Maximus of course. He he...
So you got a Mercenary MM doing consistent damage, eh? What level would that be, and what secondary set? Let's see some discussion about Mercenaries here. ;-)
---
[ QUOTE ]
But since you insist, a gimped Mercenary MM can easily be replaced with a Corruptor
[/ QUOTE ]As can any other MM. What's your point?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
But since you insist, a gimped Mercenary MM can easily be replaced with a Corruptor
[/ QUOTE ]As can any other MM. What's your point?
[/ QUOTE ]
The point is that without vast effort, Mercenaries do a pretty poor job compared to other similar primaries. And without help or some real effort improving them, they might as well be scratched since they don't have a purpose of their own in this game. Single target damage that don't work on an AV without a dedicated debuffer pulling your weight? Control that misfire most of the time, and when it works, it's on minions that dies within the next few seconds with or without your help?
We are talking about an next-to obsolete primary here. Only used by people that likes the concept, but it's not very fun to see Toasters or Street Thugs do a better job than professional soldiers. What about leveling the field somewhat? I guess that would be unthinkable because ALL MASTERMINDS ARE GODS, right? Thus parity within the AT is out of the question, since we can't mess with the established pantheon.
Yeah, I play Mercenaries because they are more fun. I played a Mercenary since they released the AT. Still play him today. Every day. Played him through times without Thugs, IO's or purples. Up to 40, then they raised the cap. So I could be 50. I know my Mercenaries. I am a dedicated veteran Mercenary player. Thus I visit topics about Mercenaries. Now what level are yours? lol?
---
[ QUOTE ]
What about leveling the field somewhat? I guess that would be unthinkable because ALL MASTERMINDS ARE GODS, right? Thus parity within the AT is out of the question, since we can't mess with the established pantheon.
[/ QUOTE ]Please point out one example of where I've ever said this (except for the all MMs being good part). It's obvious that Thugs is one giant leap above the other primaries. This became even more obvious in i13 where Thugs is the only MM Primary that can slot the Recharge Intensive Pets unique pet aura IOs, and thus double stack the 5% defense and 10% resistance IOs.
Way back when I made him, I didn't know this, though.
Still, I've never said the other primaries shouldn't be buffed a bit to catch up. You're just blowing it all out of proportion by implying that a team wouldn't notice the difference whether or not their Mercs MM is actively fighting or AFK at the door, whereas Thugs could probably solo the LRSF (exaggeration there for illustrative purposes, but that's the general tone your posts give off).
Do a little search and you'll see several suggestions from me on how to improve Mercs. Never have I said that Thugs should remain -the- choice of MM primary. But removing Thugs from the comparison table, Mercs isn't nearly as bad as you're making it sound. In most situations, Ninjas would be worse, especially in the hands of an inexperienced player. And yet, all the MM primaries can perform the typical MM accomplishments, such as soloing AVs without too much trouble, among other things. On a team, the primaries are even more balanced, except for Robotics which has silly amounts of knockback.
Heck, leaving Thugs on the comparison table, you could say all other primaries are useless. But comparing MMs in general to other ATs, they all do their job. Thugs just do it better than the others in most if not all aspects, whereas the rest of them all have their distinct weaknesses. You think equally experienced people don't whine about Ninjas, Necromancy? Low-tier melee pets getting oneshotted by being sneezed at, compared to the pure-ranged Mercs which are naturally safer, and can actually DPS more efficiently since they don't need to run. Grave Knights pretending to be Blasters unless you have them on a GoTo leash at all times. Ninjas having no initial debuff/control volley (not counting Oni's single target Hold, lol) or an agro soaker to add survivability to their nonexistant Defense values.
I could go on. If there's any MM primary food chain, it pretty much consists of only three tiers. Thugs, Robotics (not in my opinion, but...) and the others - Mercs, Zombies, Ninjas. Other people seem mostly happy with Robotics, though I'd say they could use a lower-level offense boost. But the remaining three could certainly use a boost to bring them up to the standards set by the two favorites.
Which still doesn't make them any less capable of doing the job of an MM primary properly, unless the persn in question is playing Ninjas as their first MM ever.
I think personally mercenaries do need a bit of a change. Thugs outclassing a trained soldier is a bit wrong, im not saying make mercs do more than thugs but it should be changed in there style a bit.
Heres the changes i think it should go like:
Possibly make them so they have armor slightly less than robotics but greater than the other types because of body armor as used by military, not defence but resists.
Armed soldiers dont focus on slowly killing someone, they focus on stopping enemys as quickly as possible through suppression fire, which granted is how they work now, but unlike thugs soldiers have had intense training with there weapons so there likely to be more proficient with them, so my suggestion would be a very small chance per soldier to critical strike, like a headshot, or if this proves to be too big a change, then commando only gets a chance to crit.
Of course either of these ideas are only that and it would be a case of either/or instead of both.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What about leveling the field somewhat? I guess that would be unthinkable because ALL MASTERMINDS ARE GODS, right? Thus parity within the AT is out of the question, since we can't mess with the established pantheon.
[/ QUOTE ]Please point out one example of where I've ever said this (except for the all MMs being good part). It's obvious that Thugs is one giant leap above the other primaries. This became even more obvious in i13 where Thugs is the only MM Primary that can slot the Recharge Intensive Pets unique pet aura IOs, and thus double stack the 5% defense and 10% resistance IOs.
Way back when I made him, I didn't know this, though.
Still, I've never said the other primaries shouldn't be buffed a bit to catch up. You're just blowing it all out of proportion by implying that a team wouldn't notice the difference whether or not their Mercs MM is actively fighting or AFK at the door, whereas Thugs could probably solo the LRSF (exaggeration there for illustrative purposes, but that's the general tone your posts give off).
Do a little search and you'll see several suggestions from me on how to improve Mercs. Never have I said that Thugs should remain -the- choice of MM primary. But removing Thugs from the comparison table, Mercs isn't nearly as bad as you're making it sound. In most situations, Ninjas would be worse, especially in the hands of an inexperienced player. And yet, all the MM primaries can perform the typical MM accomplishments, such as soloing AVs without too much trouble, among other things. On a team, the primaries are even more balanced, except for Robotics which has silly amounts of knockback.
Heck, leaving Thugs on the comparison table, you could say all other primaries are useless. But comparing MMs in general to other ATs, they all do their job. Thugs just do it better than the others in most if not all aspects, whereas the rest of them all have their distinct weaknesses. You think equally experienced people don't whine about Ninjas, Necromancy? Low-tier melee pets getting oneshotted by being sneezed at, compared to the pure-ranged Mercs which are naturally safer, and can actually DPS more efficiently since they don't need to run. Grave Knights pretending to be Blasters unless you have them on a GoTo leash at all times. Ninjas having no initial debuff/control volley (not counting Oni's single target Hold, lol) or an agro soaker to add survivability to their nonexistant Defense values.
I could go on. If there's any MM primary food chain, it pretty much consists of only three tiers. Thugs, Robotics (not in my opinion, but...) and the others - Mercs, Zombies, Ninjas. Other people seem mostly happy with Robotics, though I'd say they could use a lower-level offense boost. But the remaining three could certainly use a boost to bring them up to the standards set by the two favorites.
Which still doesn't make them any less capable of doing the job of an MM primary properly, unless the persn in question is playing Ninjas as their first MM ever.
[/ QUOTE ]
I agree with that, but rather than nerfing thugs, i think the other way you could go around it would be better by buffing the other sets slightly.
For example, Ninjas you stated have no control except for the Oni's single target hold, this issue could be solved by giving Genin the power entangling arrow, which yes is a single target immob but it wont overpower them and the speed it fires makes it practical.
Grave knight issues can be solved by granting them slightly more hp and resists but in return to balance this change zombies lose hp and resists slightly. Think about how it works in films/games/books etc, you get a basic zombie whos tough if its near you, but goes down easily, but then you get a 'boss' style zombie who is a complete *BEEP* to kill and since you have to focus fire on him to take him down, the other lesser zombies get close enough to hit too. Left 4 dead anyone? 
Robotics is a simple case of lowering the knockback magnitude, they already deal energy damage from range which isnt resisted much anyway, but if this proved to make them underpowered, they should get more resists to smash and lethal, i mean there big armored robots, a gun isnt going to take one down easily or maybe some defence because bullets bounce off big robots in films etc.
[ QUOTE ]
Which still doesn't make them any less capable of doing the job of an MM primary properly, unless the persn in question is playing Ninjas as their first MM ever.
[/ QUOTE ]
Again, as Gravitos already said, you ever played a Merc at high lvl? My 2nd MM ever made (prob 3 months after CoV release) is a merc, so i didnt pick the 'best' secondairy (TA) i do have an insane ammount of playtime on this character.
Graveknights can actualy do quite decent, no wait, they outdamage those seals of Merc. As bonus, they have -acc on their attacks also. Also, you should have known, its not they who stop running, its intended only a limited ammount of pets will engage melee with 1 mob. Its nothing differnt then having to send in Thug 3 because he try to keep trowing a rock.
Random post of me in december 2006 (yup, thats 2 YEARS ago i already had a 39 Merc).
[ QUOTE ]
Fullauto's. They use it at the most wrong moments, cleared nearly a full group of mobs, 1 mob left. 10 health left of a mob and Commando starts his full auto.
Redraw animation. No you dont have to put your gun away when u take down 1 mob and 12 are left. Keep it and continue attack. Waste of time. AR blaster dont have to do this, even I dont have to do redraw my bow every time i do a power.
Nearly all powers they have are massive DoT based. This means if 1 mob is left and about 25hp left, 1 merc starts his 5x5 DoT. At the 2nd DoT hit, the other 6 decide to do fullauto, a long animation DoT. Result... 10 seconds wasted for 25 stupid hp.
Seals snipe. Again, they hardly use this power. It seems u have to keep them 100ft away and then let attack them a mob, only way i managed to get them to use snipe.
[/ QUOTE ]
These issues never got fixed, never changed, still give problems. I wont even mention the medic who remains, since day 1, being stuck with the most retarted AI i've ever seen on any pet. LRM missile, stealth, medic heal/mezprot, redraw, missing power (Commando was always said to have turret).
Being 100% ranged doesnt always means its 'good'. They fall out of bubbles (/trap), often miss healing from the team (since they mostly closer to the brute, who is in center).
Also the upgrade animations remains still the LONGEST of all other primairy (dark being fastest, ninja/thug followed, then bots, way below is merc).
So what does Merc need? Several fixes, that is for sure.
few randoms:
-Remove at least 1 DoT and replace by instant dmg.
-Ditch the stealth or make it usefull like Ninja (crit)
-force LRM and snipe shot being done at any range (not 100ft+ only).
-make heal non-interuptable (like zombi/bots).
-STOP the freaking redraw after every freaking mob. (they never got normalisation like AR blaster got).
-give them some non-SL damage. Not only flametrower commando, but tier1 or 2. (see other sets).
-Reduce flash/teargas recharge, reduce duration (to balance lack of mezz tier 3 - or damage on that mather).
-reduce upgrade time.
Perhaps Gravitos would agree on these things, most are ongoing issues over 2 years now that never got any attention.
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
[ QUOTE ]
Again, as Gravitos already said, you ever played a Merc at high lvl?
[/ QUOTE ]Yep.
[ QUOTE ]
its intended only a limited ammount of pets will engage melee with 1 mob.
[/ QUOTE ]Source of this info, please.
[ QUOTE ]
Fullauto's. They use it at the most wrong moments, cleared nearly a full group of mobs, 1 mob left. 10 health left of a mob and Commando starts his full auto.
[/ QUOTE ]Knockout Blow, Rain of Fire. Same issue.
[ QUOTE ]
Redraw animation. No you dont have to put your gun away when u take down 1 mob and 12 are left. Keep it and continue attack. Waste of time. AR blaster dont have to do this, even I dont have to do redraw my bow every time i do a power.
[/ QUOTE ]Enforcers and Punks do the same thing.
[ QUOTE ]
Nearly all powers they have are massive DoT based. This means if 1 mob is left and about 25hp left, 1 merc starts his 5x5 DoT. At the 2nd DoT hit, the other 6 decide to do fullauto, a long animation DoT. Result... 10 seconds wasted for 25 stupid hp.
[/ QUOTE ]Another exaggeraton. 10 seconds? It was never -that- bad, even -before- Merc attack animation times were buffed. Besides, only 3 pets have the 6-second Full Auto type power, not all 6.
[ QUOTE ]
Seals snipe. Again, they hardly use this power. It seems u have to keep them 100ft away and then let attack them a mob, only way i managed to get them to use snipe.
[/ QUOTE ]This one I admit I might be wrong on (will check), but didn't the recent pet AI change fix this? You know, the one where all pets use long range powers even at shorter ranges or melee.
[ QUOTE ]
retarted
[/ QUOTE ]lol.
And many people would likely argue that the Arsonist/Bruiser/Entire Ninjas primary has even more retarded AI.
[ QUOTE ]
Being 100% ranged doesnt always means its 'good'.
[/ QUOTE ]It's better than melee in most situations.
[ QUOTE ]
They fall out of bubbles (/trap)
[/ QUOTE ]They do not. Both the FFG and the pets follow you around. Why would they?
[ QUOTE ]
often miss healing from the team (since they mostly closer to the brute, who is in center).
[/ QUOTE ]They also don't need the healing nearly as much due to being ranged, and away from most of the chaos and flying AoEs, which are, coincidentally, closer to the Brute. On top of that, ranged pets are much easier to heal for the MM him/herself with AoE heals from Dark Miasma and Pain Domination.
[ QUOTE ]
Also the upgrade animations remains still the LONGEST of all other primairy (dark being fastest, ninja/thug followed, then bots, way below is merc).
[/ QUOTE ]Doesn't matter anymore as of i13's changes to the pet upgrade system.
[ QUOTE ]
-Remove at least 1 DoT and replace by instant dmg.
[/ QUOTE ]Hardly a critical change, but giving them Slug couldn't do any harm.
[ QUOTE ]
-Ditch the stealth or make it usefull like Ninja (crit)
[/ QUOTE ]A suggestion I've made a few times. Agreed.
[ QUOTE ]
-force LRM and snipe shot being done at any range (not 100ft+ only).
[/ QUOTE ]I still need to check whether that AI update fixed this or not. It really should have, since for example the Bruiser uses Hurl in melee now.
[ QUOTE ]
-make heal non-interuptable (like zombi/bots).
[/ QUOTE ]Agreed.
[ QUOTE ]
-STOP the freaking redraw after every freaking mob. (they never got normalisation like AR blaster got).
[/ QUOTE ]Same for Enforcers/Punks and you have a deal.
[ QUOTE ]
-give them some non-SL damage. Not only flametrower commando, but tier1 or 2.
[/ QUOTE ]Robotics is the extreme here. Ninjas and Thugs still have their only sources of non-S/L damage condensed into one pet. Giving the Commando Ignite would probably be more in line. Heck, everyone loves burn patches (Arsonist, Assbot).
[ QUOTE ]
-Reduce flash/teargas recharge, reduce duration
[/ QUOTE ]Why reduce duration? Just cut the recharge in half. Heck, I'd almost be as bold as to say to boost the duration on top of that.
[ QUOTE ]
-reduce upgrade time.
[/ QUOTE ]Unnecessary as of i13.
And yes, give the Commando his Gun Drone, too.
Overall I agree on your general views of what in Mercs could use tweaking, though. I still think you're putting too much emphasis on the whole "DoTs suck" thing though.
This topic is regarding the Mercenaries Mastermind...
It has been said by MOST players who have experienced the Mercenaries henchman in combat to a high lvl that tho the pets are fun they do lack that exra punch which is offered by all of the henchman choice types. It seems that Mercs do all lethal damage with the exception of some fire damage but theirs to many dot mechanics and damage is never done quick enouth where as the other pets alaways pull this off (robots and thugs in particular). Thugs being untrained and only street wise do near twice as much damage as the trained killers that is Ex-Soldiers? So I offer these changes...
1. Change the power "M40 Grenade" to a sniper power similar to "Sniper Shot" which the Mastermind himself can use. These pets are all ranged based and the Mastermind should be able to use this to his/her advantage. This is also important for the Mastermind since having Mercenaries for henchman they tend to use dots and nearly all lethal effects as damage. More single target attack powers are required to cause more balanced damage vs stronger opponents.
2. Change the look of the Commando when upgraded to something more modern and less scruffy like. A dark green sleeveless camo flak-jacket for armour and soldier's gloves would be cool for appearance benefits.
3. Change "SPEC Sniper" for the "SPEC-OPS" henchman so that it activates more often when at far range and change "LRM Rocket" for the Commando so it can be used at far and moderate range and also cause aoe fire damage.
4. Change the "Medic" for the "Soldiers" power so that when he does heal others or free them from mez effects he will always consider the HP and stats of the Mastermind and use the power if needed on him/her before he considers any other active henchman pet.
Thats all the ideas folks...
NUFF SAID