The knockback has never been a big problem. Sure, there is some, but it mostly just means that a minion will fly through the air to land in a crumpled heap instead of dying where it stands.
1) The KB is no big deal. The missiles occasionally knock a few things around and some of the single target shots do a bit of KB, but it's no worse than a Blaster who occasionally uses M30 Grenade or Explosive Arrow really.
2) Robots do good solid damage, and (when the stupid AI is working) they do it from range. Necro is a bit lower damage and has to get closer, which can potentially cause problems on teams if you have too many teammates who also want to be in melee. Not a big deal, but a slight concern. Neither solo particularly fast (for MMs) pre-32, but Bots really pick up after the second upgrade.
3) Neither does that much to protect a team. Necro does have some to-hit debuffs and controls, but you can't really choose when the Lich uses those controls. Your secondary is going to provide far more protection to a team than the pets do. Necro will probably do the most to protect a team of any pet set, but I'm not sure it's enough protection to really matter. If you want to keep the team (or your pets) from getting hit, go /Dark and slot Fearsome Stare and Darkest Night for to-hit debuff... it won't really matter what pets you use at that point. 
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
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I'd say something along the lines of:
Zombies if you don't want your team to hate you.
Bots if you want to not care if your team is doing anything to kill the groups.
To answer your questions:
1) The Knockback isn't so bad because A) Everything takes a bunch of AoE damage and B) It's usually best to try and get an AoE immobilise that has -KB on it (I think the one from Mu Mastery is the only one) for use when soloing and whatnot.
2) As a MM any set and combo will be able to solo at a similar or better standard than other AT's but the main difference is that Bots has more AoE damage wheras Zombies have more single target damage and control.
3) Bots would be the best to protect a team (As the Protector Bots will bubble them) unless there is a FF already capping defences, then the Lich would be better with the hold. Bots also lends itself to Tankerminding so it is possible for you to take all the aggro of a large group or even an AV/GM and still walk away with shiny new xp (Given a nice secondary and some IO's aswell as pet management)
If you get zombies, you can also shop at Sears.
Wait... I thought protector bots only bubbled you and the other robots. If they bubble the team, then yea for sure that is my choice. But I thought it didn't...
Quote:
They USED to bubble teammates and their pets. Now, they just bubble fellow minions and their mastermind, not other teammates or other mastermind's pets.
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Originally Posted by Veslin
Wait... I thought protector bots only bubbled you and the other robots. If they bubble the team, then yea for sure that is my choice. But I thought it didn't...
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Triumphant Defenders Forever
Psylenz FF/Psi, ArticQuark Storm/Rad, Symon BarSisyphus Bots/psn, Max VanSydow Thugs/Dk, Cyclone Symon Bots/stm, Blue Loki Ice/Cd, Widow 46526
HelinCarnate:OMG it is so terrible. I have the option to take 3 more powers but no additional slots. Boo F'ing hoo.
The Lich is probably the single best MM pet for supporting a team, especially when enhanced for -tohit debuffs. He can stack alot of -tohit, two of which are AoEs, both have control effects, fear and KD respectively.
The rest of the set suffers from being a melee set, so they do good damage to one target, and not much else. Bots suffer from moderate damage until they get the Assault Bot but its still all ST until 32, which is when all the robots get their main AoE powers.
Necro is better for earlier solo leveling and Bot is better for later when you get all your pets and the 32 upgrade.
Bots are better for tankerminding and fighting AVs due to the personal defense and -regen from the Assault Bot, also has the advantage of being at range on teams to avoid heavy melee and PBAoE damage. Necros damage doesn't scale well on large teams, due to the pets doing almost only ST damage, and fall back into a support and meat shield role with the Lich supporting from the back.
Edit: Robot would be best if this is your first MM, compared with a melee pet set that requires more micromanagement in general. (This is ignoring the annoying behavior of range pets running into melee more often then usual, which hopefully will get fixed at some point.)
"An army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of BS." -General George Patton
-Lord Azazel
Hmm. okay. I tried out Necromancy and Robotics both a bit and am considering what you guys have been saying.
I actually find that Necromancy seems to really benefit from the new pet AI changes. They nuke twice, and then enter melee. I don't have to watch them very much.
Robots seem to do more KB than I thought they would, but from what you guys are saying, it seems like everything changes at 32, when they start dealing AOE damage.
I'm actually looking to pair one of those with /Pain since after trying that set, I really like it. It's like having Thermal without the shields, and frankly I'd play Thermal if it weren't for the fact people will be expecting me to take the shields.
You guys have mentioned, and I can see how it's true, that Bots handle themselves well because they shield themselves AND me, and they deal ranged AOE damage, so I don't have to retarget them every few seconds. I think in the end, it comes down to the knockback from Bots as it seems pretty bad, at least in the early levels. From what you guys are saying, it seems like Lich is awesome, but the other Necromancy pets die off fast and are melee, requiring me to manage them more. I don't know if I should take a powerset because one of it's pets is great for what I'm trying to do, when the other pets are not.
Necro/Pain is a good combo. With all the to-hit and defense debuffs from the Zombies, and all the + regen and healing from the secondary, you'll be really hard to kill. AAnguishing Cry, stacks very well with the Zombies debuffs too.
I also like the control the Lich, lays down. Another rare, but fun teaming build in Necro/Force Fields. The -to hit and the +defense are very beneficial for a team.
My vote is Necro for a heavily team oriented build and Bots if you're going to solo a lot.
My level 50 Dominators:
Madame Mindbender 50 Mind/Energy
Fly Agaric 50 Plant/Thorn
Nate Nitro 50 Fire/Psi
Necro is quite a nice set for teaming, and solo once you get the lich. You will be in melee more, but the damage is nice. Also with all the -def and -to hit, everyone else has been saying it is very nice.
People won't hate you for picking bots. Infact, most teams would prefer you to have bots. Zombies want to melee, thus they get in the way sometimes. Bots sit back and pew pew things. Anyone who says Robot's Knockback is annoying needs to go back to WoW, put on auto-attack then go make a sandwich. Robot's knockback is laughable, so don't sweat it.
I'd say Robots. They don't get in the way, they can hold their own against +2-3 level enemies easier due to +defense and staying at Range, and they buff you.
Zombies are fun too, but Robots come out slightly ahead.
Whining about everything since 2006.
Ammo switching for Dual Pistols was my idea:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=135484
I have a level 50 of each. Bots/FF and Zombies/Dark. They're both great choices for teaming, but they work best for different kinds of teams.
Bots give a small defensive bubble that can provide a good starting point for Tankerminding, but there are enough Brutes and Tanks wandering around that doing so isn't usually necessary. I tend to play my Bots MM like a Defender. I let the melee guys go in and grab initial aggro while my Bots stay in Bodyguard mode, then I pick a decent-looking clump and send them into aggressive mode while I concentrate on using my buffs, leadership toggles and medicine pool to help out teammates. Bots benefits substantially from teammates with control Powers, especially those that have -kb Immobilizes or Holds.
Of course, my MM is a Bots/FF with capped S/L defense, a resist shield and bodyguard mode, so she's probably better at absorbing an alpha strike than most Tanks or Brutes in the first place. She does not, however, hold aggro worth a crap.
I play Zombies on teams as a sort of junior melee-range character. My zombies stay in bodyguard mode almost full time and I rely on Air Superiority on auto-attack (no, really) to get a mob's attention. I find this easier than micromanaging GoTo, and it actually works pretty well for getting the Knights and Zombies close enough to do their best work. The Lich and Lost Soul, once they're out and upgraded, are going to provide decent-ish if random levels of control (/Dark adds even more to the mix, obviously) and -ToHit, and overall this combination is quite safe.
Zombies are slower and in my opinion quite a bit easier to keep out of melee pet stupidity compared to Ninjas, something else that should be seen as a positive when grouping.
My Necro MM works great on teams that are below endgame levels, dealing with normal mission content in moderate spawn sizes. Zombies mature relatively quickly, or at least I don't feel like I'm crippled when I'm operating without my second pet upgrade, so it's a good choice for helping lowbies. Paired with /Dark, Necro an excellent general-purpose teammate, with modest control and damage and pretty serious debuffing abilities. Given how uncommon Doms have always been red-side, my Necro has always seemed more like a Dark controller with Zombie pets than anything else.
Things I hate: Anime. PvP. Lying MMO Developers. Outleveling content. Manga. ED. Comic Store Employees. Anime.
In terms of just not being in the way all the time Zombies >> Bots.
Bots are a nightmare in any tight map, and noisy to boot. Personally I'm always much happier to have a Necro MM on a team with me rather than the bulky, noisy doorblockers which are bots.
Mind you Demons are the worst of all. Wretched things.
In terms of overall damage bots >> zombies, but they are much more annoying to me if I'm teamed with them. Zombies are much lower key.
Well, I got both a Necro/ and a Bots/ to level 20ish this weekend, and I have to say, I totally see both sides, even without the level 32 upgrades for either of them.
In the end, I really don't like the KB of bots, even just ST. I come from Defender/Controller stock and like things to be "tidy" for lack of a better word. it makes me crazy when they KB something, even just the single target. At the level 32 upgrade, that will just get worse, as you guys have mentioned.
What's interesting, is that I think it comes down to my personal playstyle. I rarely ran out of end on the Bots character, and I assume that is because I had to heal and replace the bots less. They were also easier to use, or at least it seemed that way to me. I got my teams into a lot less trouble with the Bots, and the fact that they were ranged meant they annoyed me less, as they stayed behind me and never got in my view.
That being said, I like the "Dark Controller with Zombie pets" as Punk said. It is exactly the kind of thing I like to play, and the KD/immobilize that Necromancy provides is already fun to me. If what you guys are saying is correct, then at 32 I will be adding even more control and some good -to-hit to that as well, and that's more my style.
So I am currently trying to decide between Robotics and Necromancy, the other sets don't really appeal to me as much. I like teaming more than soloing. and so Necromancy looks good because of the To-hit debuffs on most of the powers, but I hear they die quickly. I hear that Robots do more damage and are tougher, and themetically, I like them better. Also, from what I understand they manage themselves better than other pets as they heal and buff themselves, but I hear some negatives as well, especially for teaming Masterminds.
I really had a few main questions:
1) How bad is the knockback on robotics? I'm more of a team player, and if they are knocking things back all the time, It'll be annoying for my team and I want to avoid that.
2) Damage wise, how much better is Robotics than Necromancy? On the rare occasion I have to solo, I'm looking for a set that can get me through those missions (Cape, costume, patron power pools, etc.)
3) Is Necromancy actually better for protecting a team than Robotics? Looking over the list, it seems like only the Lich has any real -To-hit, and I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes. Plus with the -Regen on Robotics, it might be the Robots that help more since they can help take down AVs/Heros etc.
Thanks for any insight you can provide.