Returning Player looking for right archetype

Hello folks,
I am returning to the game after several years away, on a new account (lost the old account in the divorce, you know how it is...) and I'm looking for a class to play that will let me play solo for the most part, due to heavy work schedule, but still give me lots of fun and allow me to group well when I have the time.

I have started a Mastermind, Bot/trap, as several people advised me, but I have seen so many of those that I wonder if that's just a class-of-the-moment and not in it for the long haul, and just how well would that be received by groups?

Is there a good Mastermind build based on any of the other pets?

I do prefer pet classes in general, always played them in every other MMO I've played, but I'm open to suggestions.

Also, I'm on the Virtue server as Zed Alpha, if anyone wants to say hello. I'm usually pretty friendly, except when I'm annoyed. Then I want to kick a nun.

Thanks in advance!

I don't play MM much but i had a Thug/Dark that was REALLY nice. I solo'd to the mid 30 level and dont know if i or my pets ever died, lol. Also, if you prepurchase Going Rogue, you'll be able to get the NEW SHINY DEMON MM that comes with a NEW SHINY WHIP as your attack!!

Zombie/Storm sounds nice, too, if i ever make another i may try it.

If you go to blue, try a Shield toon. They're a load of fun. I like the scrapper version because the damage diff between them and tanks are very noticable. Mines an Elec/SD but a Fire/SD is next on my list.

Good luck, have fun and WB!!!

I had an absolute blast with my Thugs/Storm. You've got tons of mitigation and you can seriously mess up some mobs solo. If you group, just be aware of how much knockback you do and don't piss off the tanks, and you're golden.

I also enjoyed my Bots/FF, but he was MUCH slower paced, but nearly unkillable once I got some good IOs going. Very different playstyles, both fun.

If you prefer pet classes but don't want to be limited to Masterminds, Illusion controllers can summon a Phantom Army (invincible, decent-damage pets that last for 90 seconds) in addition to a stationary pseudopet that terrifies everything nearby, and a 'normal' controller pet in their Phantasm (Energy blaster) which can summon decoy phantasms (more invincible distractions). Controllers do not get as much fine control over their minions' behavior as Masterminds get, but they can still be a solid heroic alternative for pet-lovers, and you can combine it with some really impressive (de)buffing sets that Masterminds currently cannot, like Radiation Emission. Oh, and controllers obviously have a full suite of crowd control powers, unlike Masterminds, who rely on their henchmen for that sort of thing.

The Hero/Villain dilemma will shortly become moot, with the release of Going Rogue in a few months, but it's something to think about.

Re: Bots/Traps - While it's a pretty popular mastermind combo, it's not just a recent fad of some sort. The reason it's popular is because the sets complement each other so well; Masterminds are typically a more passive (commonly translated as boring) archetype (especially /Forcefielders), but a /Traps mastermind has a mixed bag of powerful tricks up their sleeves to use in a battle. They can also lay them before engaging the enemy, luring them into a quick demise, which appeals to the tactical side of masterminds. A key point of pairing Traps with Bots is that both sets provide defense buffs (in the form of an AoE Force Field Generator and single-target deflection shields from the Protector Bots), which can stack to provide a very durable army of mechanized doom. Bots/Traps is one of the strongest Mastermind builds in the game, capable of soloing just about anything up to and including Archvillain-class foes.

Welcome back!

Just tossing my 2 inf in on top of some of the other posters.

First, MM's are an incredible AT to play. I can't wait to roll my 3rd up with I17. I have a 50 thugs/PD MM and she is definitely fun to play, esp. with Gang War. I also have a 50 bots/storm MM, and let the chaos commence. I feel this MM is a bit above my other with the little extras that come with the storm powers. The MM forums below has a lot of guide information and you can get better/more specific information builds from posters there - and especially learning good binds to better control your pets.

Second, regarding groups/teams. All in all, it's been very good and teams don't mind having MM's around (this of course varies wildly from player to player). For me, I have not seen many issues, but I am teaming with a number of friends and we know our styles and such. In PUGs, however, sometimes a player may not like having uncontrolled pets getting additional aggro or all the KB on my /storm MM. I have played long enough to control my pets with the binds and direct my KB against walls and such.

My vote also goes to thugs/dark. Awesome set. Outside of mm's consider a /dark corr, made mine a fire/dark. Outside of soloing, consider joining some of the global chat channels as if there's anybody on wanting to do anything interesting, they normally mention it on those. Stalkers now solo well. For those times when you want to sneak around instead of trailing a massive bunch of pets you could try one of those.

I've tried a couple different MM builds and I'm a pet guy myself. (I prefer to think of them as NPCs but then I'm a roleplay geek). The most fun for me was Mercs. There's just something about having a squad of soldiers running around with assault rifles, smgs and heavy weapons that makes me grin. Maybe I spent too much time with G.I. Joes as a kid or read too many Nick Fury: Agent of Shield/Howling Commandos comics.

I went with Traps as a secondary but I'm not really enjoying the static nature too much. High mobility is more my speed and it helps with villain PUGs where the name of the game is "Follow that Brute!". He ain't slowing down so that I can set up a kill zone.

Still, Traps does have some mobile devices including a force field generator that protects from some nasty status effects while offering a fair defense boost. Then there are drones that will spot the badguys and keep them off balance, messing with their alpha strike, until you get your attack underway.

I'll probably respec and throw more points into my main power set and pool powers while getting rid of static Traps powers. Part of the fun of being G. I. Joe or Nick Fury is shooting your gun and launching grenades! The heck with strategy guides.

My MM on Virtue is Gruppa. My main character is Cornelius Harm.