City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Consolidated Mastermind Issues and Problems thread

Adeon Hawkwood

By Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2011-03-19 18:23 in Masterminds

 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by AzureHaze View Post
Also, how about giving us female pets? I have to see this game is VERY male-centered and there are quite a number of female (and likely male) characters that would like to have a female pet option or a new female mm primary.
The assumed reason for this is that the game would soon be overrun with wide-brimmed hat wearing pimperminds.

 

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Originally Posted by AzureHaze View Post
I'm a bit suprised nobody have asked for changes to bodyguard yet. As it is bodyguard can be acticated by pets being in defensive follow. However, especially with single-target pets like Ninja, this means they hardly stay attacking one enemy and do not consolidate their attention on 1 mob unless directed to do so, breaking bodyguard.

I would like to see Bodyguard extended to defensive stay, so that if the MM wants to grab aggro and not get their pets blasted by an aoe, they can do so. I would also like to see bodyguard extended to defensive attack, allowing us to concentrate our pets firepower on 1 target without risking death.
IMO, that is part of the balance of BG mode. You sacrifice some damage and the ability to focus fire in order to gain significant survivability.

Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.

 

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Originally Posted by MisterD View Post
The presence pool, just an idea, but....why not give MM secondarys a small, low mag taunt effect? Werent MMs going to be the redside 'tanks' anyway? If so, that would make sense. And it really makes sense that a baddie is going to focus on the person debuffing him to hell, instead of some -4 combat level zombie. This might invalidate the presence pool though..maybe someone with more experience of it can comment.
Well a taunt effect in the secondary would be ok, but a taunt effect in the primary attacks would be a lot nicer (and give more of a reason to take them). The thing is not everyone wants to draw aggro onto the MM himself. Some MM's prefer to tank by directing the damage onto their pets instead.

 

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Originally Posted by MisterD View Post
Another thing Id like to see changed a bit...the aoe pet upgrades. Now, I LOVE this on my bot mm. Because my bots basically never ever die. But on my necros, when zombies basically stub a toe and die, it really sucks spending 50+ end, just to get one or two pets back and upgraded. Give us an option to apply single upgrades. Maybe some mechanic like the end cost varies with how many pets are hit/effected by the aoe.
This is how the aoe upgraded should have been done in the first place
As far as code is concerned, I think this is technically possible. Thunderous Blast, Electrical Blast's nuke, does -40 endurance per target hit so it's not a full crash if you only hit a few enemies. It would make perfect sense to apply that type of code to MM upgrades.

 

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Originally Posted by Zamuel View Post
As far as code is concerned, I think this is technically possible. Thunderous Blast, Electrical Blast's nuke, does -40 endurance per target hit so it's not a full crash if you only hit a few enemies. It would make perfect sense to apply that type of code to MM upgrades.
The problem is that the endurance drained is based on targets hit. All active pets would be hit by the upgrade even if they didn't get upgraded. Additionally it would make the endurance cost impossible to reduce with enhancements.

 

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Originally Posted by Nalrok_AthZim View Post
It would NOT be something to give to Demon/Zombie/Ninja MMs. Unfortunately, that might make it impossible to develop for ALL MM primaries.
Why not? Just take it off your hotbar for those AT's.

 

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Originally Posted by rsclark View Post
The assumed reason for this is that the game would soon be overrun with wide-brimmed hat wearing pimperminds.
A logic that has been dismantled, repeatedly, for years. I don't think we'll ever get a female MM primary, but if they ever allow customization they should allow us to choose male/female/huge.

I really don't get why Thugs get Leadership, but Mercs don't. Thugs are... well, thugs. They aren't loyal, trained, elite soldiers. The Commando should have Leadership powers, if anything.

 

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Shame this thread is getting bogged down with suggestions, instead of focussing on bug fixes. Worried the devs might not take notice of this if it's full of flights of fantasy.

 

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Originally Posted by InfamousBrad View Post
Robotics, balance issue: Protector Bots potentially stack up to mag 14 AoE stun: 2x photon grenade, 8x photon seekers. That's on top of having two single-target heals and granting extremely high +def(all) to every pet and to the mastermind. I can't believe they've been this overpowered all this time without being nerfed, they're the single most overpowered power choice in the whole game.

Mercenaries, balance issue: Because it seldom lasts long enough to kill an Elite Boss or an Archvillain, Serum actually reduces the effectiveness of the target you cast it on - once the duration runs out, it zeroes out the minion's endurance, dropping that one minion's DPS to zero for the rest of the fight. At a bare minimum, it needs its duration increased by at least 50%, preferably doubled, or else it needs the endurance crash removed.

Poison, bug: Noxious Gas doesn't display the Real Numbers values for the pseudo-pet it creates, making the Real Numbers info display for the power completely useless.

Poison, balance issue: Poison relies very heavily on single-target debuffs, Envenom and Weaken, despite the fact that the only times in the entire game that you ever fight a single target for very long, that target has 85% debuff resistance. Some percentage of the Envenom and Weaken debuffs needs to bypass debuff resistance.

(And yes, I agree that Poison Trap is the single most useless attack in the entire game. The bare minimum suggestion I'd make for it would be to halve the casting and interrupt time, make it auto-hit, eliminate the sleep component, and give it endurance drain values consistent with other long-recharge AoE endurance drain attacks, say around -40% endurance and -100% recovery unenhanced.)
What kind of MM would call for a Nerf of another MM at? You make me sick.

 

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He must loathe Thugs, then. Their buffs make Robotics buffs look like crap.

 

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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
Since you haven't tried Ninja and Merc, I can tell you they run out of endurance too especially Oni and Commando. It's not just Demon. Lich, surprisingly, doesn't use a lot of endurance at all. Zombies don't have enough attacks to cycle to drain them and Grave Knight may run out. I know bouth Jounin and Genin can run out of endurance if you don't put any -end.
Yeah, the Ninjas really need slotted for endurance, which isn't too big of a problem, given the nature of the pet sets. Once slotted, though, it's no longer a real issue, and on the whole, I wouldn't consider it an issue anymore than I'd consider any endurance slotting for any AT an issue.

If, anything, I'd suggest that many of the endurance costs, overall, are counterproductive to making the AT less dependent on having 6 pets always active. Many of the secondary sets are very, very expensive to use, as are the pet upgrades.

 

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Originally Posted by Reppu View Post
He must loathe Thugs, then. Their buffs make Robotics buffs look like crap.
Not really, because other than the same AoE damage that all tier 2 minions get, those buffs are all that Enforcers get. Protector Bots get at least that much +def, plus enough AoE disorient to stun some elite bosses, plus AoE to-hit debuff, plus two single-target heals.

Seriously, there's a reason why bots/traps is the FotM.

 

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Originally Posted by Master Zaprobo View Post
Shame this thread is getting bogged down with suggestions, instead of focussing on bug fixes. Worried the devs might not take notice of this if it's full of flights of fantasy.
That's why it's on the bottom.

 

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One issue I've noticed, and just now had the urge to post...

I'm unsure if this is Necromancy-specific, but the first and second pets (Zombies, Grave Knights) are primarily Melee, and there are several enemies in the game which seem to glitch their behavior.

Pop-up turrets, vault doors, the computer in the ITF.. just off the top of my head.

They can't figure out how to get close enough to it to melee, so they just stand there when ordered to attack it and use what attacks they can.

Edit: It's worth it to note that if you fiddle around with commands and positioning, they *will* melee. They just won't actively attempt to get within melee range, and will actually push themselves out of melee range (Somehow?) and proceed to stand there waiting for their limited ranged attacks to recharge.

-Proud leader of Captain Planet's Magical Friends

 

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This sounds an awful lot like the "Follow doesn't ever close to Melee Range because it'll stop just short of Melee Range" when Flying/Hovering. Hmmm...

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Virusman View Post
One issue I've noticed, and just now had the urge to post...

I'm unsure if this is Necromancy-specific, but the first and second pets (Zombies, Grave Knights) are primarily Melee, and there are several enemies in the game which seem to glitch their behavior.

Pop-up turrets, vault doors, the computer in the ITF.. just off the top of my head.

They can't figure out how to get close enough to it to melee, so they just stand there when ordered to attack it and use what attacks they can.

Edit: It's worth it to note that if you fiddle around with commands and positioning, they *will* melee. They just won't actively attempt to get within melee range, and will actually push themselves out of melee range (Somehow?) and proceed to stand there waiting for their limited ranged attacks to recharge.
I've seen this with both Necro and Ninjas, for what its worth. You can see similar behavior with ranged pets if you put them just around the corner from the door and tell them to attack; they'll just stand there until you move them to where they have line of sight (done this with demons and mercs, that I can remember).

 

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Updated with Virusman's issue. Thanks for keeping the thread alive.

 

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Does anybody know if there are any solid ideas on what, if any, the problem is with MMs and the incarnate trial rewards?

 

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I can give you an opinion ... but it's more of a "feel of things" rather than something backed up by numbers and proofs.

TL;DR version: Melee Pet masterminds are, for all intents and purposes, practically PETLESS due to excessive AoE and Mez being tossed around everywhere. Ranged Pet masterminds are "better off" since their pets at least "stand back" (sorta) and don't feel compelled to kamikaze suicide at EVERY opportunity that presents itself.

Dead pets don't do a whole of DPS over time. Live ones do.

Melee Pets don't even rate cannon fodder status in the Trials. They're too damn flimsy and they're too stupid to live. Pretty much the only chance Melee Pets have to live is to either NOT ENGAGE (in which case, what are they for?) or to Not Get Aggro ... and even then, they're horribly, horribly vulnerable to hostile cones and AoEs.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

 

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We can't possibly be out of issues!

 

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I would REALLY love to hear what the devs have in store for MM's in future updates. Many of these issues have been long-standing, are our voices going unheard?

Lvl 50's: Twilight Projections-Dark/Psychic Defender- Justice,
Mad-Scientist -Bot/Poison MM- Freedom,
Ogun Ajala -Fire/Shield Scrapper - Virtue,
Make You Smile -Thugs/Dark - Virtue
Kyuji Warrior - Fire/Trick Arrow Corruptor - Virtue

 

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There's a difference between UNHEARD and the much more likely in this case ... UNREMARKED UPON.

If you really want to make sure the Devs have heard about this thread, PM Beastyle to let him know that it exists and he should be able to tell you if it has been passed on up the foodchain to Black Scorpion or not.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

 

Posted

Sounds like a good idea... are you sure he wouldn't be annoyed?

Lvl 50's: Twilight Projections-Dark/Psychic Defender- Justice,
Mad-Scientist -Bot/Poison MM- Freedom,
Ogun Ajala -Fire/Shield Scrapper - Virtue,
Make You Smile -Thugs/Dark - Virtue
Kyuji Warrior - Fire/Trick Arrow Corruptor - Virtue

 

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Beastyle is one of the Community Reps. It's his job to pass along feedback like this.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

 

Posted

Got a new issue - if you take damage equal or greater than your current health, and you're not at full health, the damage doesn't have the chance to be split between your minions before you die.

Here's an example:

Hit #1: Thorn shakes the very Earth with his Foot Stomp, dealing 339.81 points of smashing Damage to you.
Your henchmen protect you from 339.82 damage.

Hit #2: Thorn shakes the very Earth with his Foot Stomp, dealing 679.62 points of smashing Damage to you.

The pets were not injured or separated from me, and "Hit #1" was a number I saw repeatedly up until the point which I died.

-Proud leader of Captain Planet's Magical Friends