Re-Thinking the Mastermind

So I was thinking of how few Primary Power Sets the MM has to choose from, especially considering the latest upcoming wave of Power Proliferation. Now, I know the MM Primaries take the greatest amount of work on the parts of the Devs, so I can understand why they would get new sets so infrequently.

However... I think we've got too caught up in the whole "summonable army" aspect of the Mastermind. It's time to think outside the box... something which I specialize in... heh.

Instead of summoning minions to do their bidding, what if the Mastermind summoned something else? What if they summoned magical constructs, technological doo-dahs or the like to make THEMSELVES more powerful? Here is an example of what I'm talking about.

Mastermind Primary: Battle Armor

* Repulsor Blast (lvl 1): Ranged, Moderate Energy/Smashing Damage When used out of Battle Armor this will be delivered through a Customizable Weapon. Rifles of various kinds, staves and other options will be given so the player can choose a techonological, magical, etc appearance. The attack has a chance to cause knockback.

* Gird Gauntlets (lvl 1): Summons the first three pieces of the Battle Armor (1st available at first level, 2nd at 6th level and final at 18th). Right arm Gauntlet is the first piece. Left arm is the 2nd. The final piece (gained at 18th level) is a connecting shoulder piece that includes a spine support that ends in a scorpion-style tail. Gauntlets and Tail have ranged energy attacks and smashing melee attacks. The Gauntlets are completely under the control of the MM. When both Gauntlets are gained the MM will be able to direct both of their attacks (ranged or melee) at the same target in the same attack OR divide the attacks up per hand, to better use them effectively. Doubled up attacks are accomplished by one button press but still have two to-hit rolls made and two separate damage calculations. (See Armor Upgrade for further details). The Tail operates independent of the MM, shooting enemies at range automatically or attacking enemies within melee range as a normal MM pet would do. Note that the Tail is tethered to the MM and so will not chase enemies except by ranged attack. All three are customizable weapons with tech, magic and other options.

* Aggressor Strike (lvl 2): Ranged, High smashing/energy damage Aggressor Strike is a shorter range, longer recharge version of the Repulsor Blast. It animates through the weapon or Gauntlets depending on whether the armor is equipped. It has a high chance of causing knockup.

* Armor Upgrade (lvl 6): Gauntlets gain glowing pieces dependent upon which costume piece was selected. Gauntlet double attacks that BOTH strike the same opponent on the same attack will now do additional fire damage over time. Tail gains new animations as it tracks back and forth like a serpent mezmerizing prey. Tail gains a Whip Strike attack at melee range that hits hard for moderate smashing damage with a good chance of stunning their target. The first Armament will gain an automatic healing function that will spam minor heals at roughly half the speed of an unbuffed Empathy Defender spamming Healing Aura. The heal function only affects the MM. The helmet Armament becomes better able to coordinate the functions of the Armor as a whole; count as Tactics leadership power and affecting only the Battle Armor and MM.

* Halo Assault (lvl 8): PBAoE, Moderate Energy Damage. When not wearing battle armor the Halo Assault uses the same weapon as the player chose in Repulsor Blast. With the Battle Armor the player claps Gauntleted Hands together to create a wave of expanding energy. Those hit take moderate energy damage and have a slight chance of being overwhelmed and suffering as though from Sleep until duration expires or attacked.

* Acquire Armaments (lvl 12): The first piece of Armament is a full-body armor that is fully customizable for appearance. The Armament can also be of a different height than the original character or can be huge if the original was male or female of body type. The second Armament (gained at level 24) is a full-coverage helmet and shoulder pads. First Armament has anti-personnel missiles as a ranged attack doing moderate lethal/fire damage which are automatic and need not be directed by the MM. It also has a thorny exterior that does minor lethal damage to any enemy who successfully hits it. In addition, since the first Armament is more defensive than offensive, it gives a significant defense buff to itself and the MM who wears it. The helmet Armament has an eye laser ranged attack doing high energy damage completely under the control of the MM. It also provides a minor boost to the Defensive Buff of the first Armament.

* Warrior's Glory (lvl 18): Combination of a Targeted AoE Taunt with a self-buff. Affected enemies will rush the MM who will find themselves under the effects of a moderate damage resistance buff for one minute. The buff will also give the MM and Armor pieces good resistance to all status effects (hold, sleep, knockback, etc).

* Armor Empowerment (lvl 26): Gauntlets used in a double attack against the ground at the MM's feet cause moderate PBAoE damage and cause a high chance of knockup, some weaker enemies may be stunned. Tail can do a broad slashing attack doing moderate PBAoE damage in a cone to the REAR of the MM; can cause knock up and is not under the control of the MM. The body Armament's thorn damage to those hitting the MM will now poison the attacker as well, doing minor toxic DoT. The helmet Armament gains an independent psionic ability to target opponents at range. The Psi Blasts do moderate psionic damage with a chance of causing sleep. The Psi Blasts are not under the control of the MM and happen against targets within range.

* Cataclysm Blade (lvl 32): Yes, you already know where I'm going with this one... this is Voltron's Sword... Although the player can select from a wide variety of possible giant-sized melee weapons. The weapon does Extreme lethal/energy damage and has an almost guaranteed knock up. The weapon remains for 2 minutes and while it is held the Gauntlets can not do anything but wield it, all their normal attacks will be greyed out. The recharge for the weapon swing works out to give the MM five attacks before the weapon is sent back to the place from whence it came.

The five armor pieces would be targetable separately the same way a normal MM's pets would. Any buff applies to the pieces and the MM as would for a normal petted MM. Area of effect heals heal both the armor pieces and the MM. Finally, the Supremacy will work the same way as it would for a MM.

In the case of my Battle Armor example it could be argued that the lower number of pets to divide the damage is balanced by the strong defense buff the first Armament grants. If that didn't seem enough then the set could be tweeked by giving the individual pieces more hit points to balance the lower number of them. Needless to say I haven't done any math on any of this so the set as a whole would likely need some major tweeking in order to balance its overall power and effectiveness.

All that aside, however, the set makes my point about how Masterminds can be re-tooled to summon items (or armor in this case) to make them more powerful as individuals. While I put some of the powers under the control of the MM as click-powers, some of the pieces still maintained independent control and so could launch their own attacks which is the advantage of the MM AT.

I think the MM should be thought of as Summoners... as they always have been... but the AT itself can be greatly expanded by reconsidering just WHAT they can summon.

Not quite the same thing, but my Robotics Mastermind has always wanted the option to use her robots as her travel power. Just climb on the back of one of them and rocket away. I mean, they already have the flying animations.

Half sounds related to a long-lost suggestion that survived several forum purges, but was finally lost, over the side to be swallowed in the dark, churning seas, its cries lost in the furious noise of the mod-storm.... the "Mecha EAT." (Might be a bit more doable, though. Not sure about the idividually targetable parts, tech-wise.)

Though Halo Assault sounds like you launch a bunch of mini-Master Chiefs at the enemy.

See my Guides and Tutorials

What if you had a Mastermind Primary that ran on Toggles instead of Clicks for Summons? You could have something that would just automatically summon one new Pet every 10/20/30 seconds running as a Toggle, which would have an upper limit on the number of Pets that can be concurrently summoned (3/2/1 as usual). The upgrade powers would also be Toggles, that automatically apply themselves (in Do Not Stack fashion) to every Pet with a 1 minute duration (so if the Pet runs off after something, they don't "un-upgrade immediately" when leaving PBAoE radius of you).

That would give you 5 Toggles which are continuously draining endurance in your Primary ... but which are "Set and Forget" as they keep summoning new henchmen for you whenever one (or more) of your henchmen gets defeated. The penalty, relative to the Click Summons/Upgrades, is that you can't summon "on demand" and that you'll pay out more Endurance over time than the Click system would cost you ... in exchange for a measure of convenience which allows you, the Player, to focus on more than just micromanagement of (re)summoning.



Wacky ... but possible to do ...

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

May be a cool idea, but the first issue that jumps to mind, for me, is that it steps on the toes of brute/tank/scrapper/stalker/"anything with self buffs" while also having a lot of issues with costume parts if it visually creates new armor or something.

I would really like to see something like this in-game, but I'm not sure it would work as a Mastermind primary, as that would throw new players off. Masterminds ARE about their small army, hence the name "Mastermind".

When I picture a 'Battle Suit' being summoned I'll always hear the words;

"Blathering Blatherskite!"

As an aside, I've got a character that has a powersuit that materializes around him in game. Best I could do was to have one costume be street clothes and another be the armor, the dimension shift costume change emote works best so far.

What you describe is not a Mastermind in the slightest. It is a brute. That's like saying Sword/Shield Scrappers are Masteminds because they can summon a sword and a shield.

Mind you, I don't disagree with the general idea, as it's something I've suggested, myself, but this is NOT something that's right for Masterminds. Masterminds ARE a summonable army. That's what they were made to represent. The Mastermind is the leader at the head of an army of "somethings." It's the lich king summoning an army of the undead, it's the General Patton leading an army of soldiers, it's the mad scientist taking over the world with an army of robots and so on and so forth. A Mastermind's thing is that he leads others into battle and carries fairly limited personal power, acting instead through his henchmen. Take away the henchmen and you're no longer talking about a Mastermind at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I've got to agree with Samuel; that's not a Mastermind. I am guessing the problem is the mindset of many MMO's of having a Summoner, but it's still not the same. "Summons Henchmen To Do His/Her Direct Bidding" is the definition of a Mastermind.

Now, if the battle armor you summon does your bidding at it's own discretion maybe I could agree, but not at your direct direction at all as with MM Henchies now, you can tell the suit to attack, but it chooses the attack. Would sorta stink if the armor decided that your Tier 1 attack was the Damage Du Jour for the battle or mission. Sorry, you told it to attack and it picked a pea-shooter. Or conversely, all it will fire is Tier 9 attacks and... you are drained to Nil and faceplanting laughter ensues. Maybe just Melee attacks attempted... from Range? Or a Snipe attack (rooting and all) from Point Blank Range. Even Blasters would get a laugh.

Okay, if it works like that THEN you have a Mastermind. And I would run screaming from that set or perhaps drag out the popcorn to watch the hijinks.

Oh, an addendum; the MM sets do 'Summon' other accoutrements like the Equip/Enhancements for the Henchies, Pulse Rifle, Dark Magic, Guns, Whips for the other sets, and such. A MM without Henchies is no MM at all.

As others have noted, that's some other AT with a really fancy costume-change emote (or five).

I think part of the issue with new Mastermind primaries is partially due to the amount of work involved, as the OP suggested, but is also a matter of return on investment.

If they create a new ranged set (like Beam Rifles), that set can be used as primaries for several ATs, as well as Secondaries for others. If they create new melee set (like Street Justice), the same thing applies.

For Mastermind primaries though, that is not the case. The only current AT who will ever be able to use that set is the Mastermind AT. This means, not only are they doing more work to design the set, but they are going to get less use out of it.

Still, since their inception, Masterminds have not really been neglected. They may not have quite the diversity of some other ATs, but they have indeed seen new primaries come their way, despite the low RoI.

I think it is feasible that perhaps, at some point, some of the pets or pet types introduced as Lore Pets may see weaker versions created as Mastermind Primary sets, which would, indeed, be a cool idea. It would reduce the amount of work involved, and would provide good symmetry when the Mastermind became Incarnate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".

Actually...this gives me an idea. Completely silly mind you, but an idea none the less...what if you summoned each of the minor parts, and then the level 18 ability combined them into the giant robot for a brief period of time? Then the 24 pet adds a second weapon, and the boss minion added some kind of assault backpack or what have you? *Ponders* Then you'd have the usual six minion special, AND the giant robot combination!

I think I shall design this 'superhero squad!' for gits and shiggles.

Mastermind or not, I want this. Now! I'm more excited for this than any power sets that have been officially announced.

Id like to see masterminds expanded past the 3/2/1 model. Why not a mastermind that summons one pet, and makes it more and more powerful? Or a mastermind that summons alot of little weak pets. I think a Rikti Mastermind EAT would work well there... You summon lots of rikti monkeys. Or one kinda like a SoA where you choose differnt paths, again woudl work well with a rikti mastermind, you could choose to summon lots of monkeys, or the standard 3/2/1 model with regular rikti troops, or summon one warwork that you have to upgrade

I still think it's a built in handicap to prevent MM's from being gamebreakers. If we did have that level of control over our pets just imagine the possibilities...

Quite simply, they know it's broken, we know they can fix it, they've never acknowledged it as 'A Bug' and it's been this way for so long that it only leaves me with the conclusion it's.

WAI - as far as the Dev's are concerned.