I finally got it

I was finally able to articulate what it is with Necromancy that I have an issue with. I was on a TF and someone said they don't like the playstyle, goofing around I made joke about how I was currently playing one, but in a serious moment I said:

"But I wish they weren't so Binary" actually I think I spelled binary wrong, but whatever.

My issue with Necro, is that it's method of survivibility either works or it doesn't, and the situations where it works are far fewer than the big 3 (Bots/thugs/demons) without having so much of an offensive advantage to compensate.

Add to that the issue that has been presented before about how Zombies (the henchmen) don't recieve an adequate T2 upgrade, I think I've come up with a nice buff for Necromancy to bring it more in line with upper tier summon sets.

Add a power to the T2 upgrade that would be given to the Zombies (the henchmen) This power would be an auto power called "Death Rattle". Death Rattle would be a 15' autohit AoE that debuffs tohit by 5% (enhanceable), damage by 10%, and has a 3% chance to apply mag2 fear for 10s (unenhanceable) that pulses every 1s.

Against an even con enemy with no resist and standard Zombie slotting, the three Zombies should debuf tohit by 12% damage by 24% and have a minor chance to fear the enemy for 8s.

Add to that the Lich. Necromancy would have the potential to Floor the Tohit of a group on their own, with the weakness of power recharge and Critter power aiming, as well as providing a damage debuff to complement it's resistances. A debuff that would be weaker against enemies that have resistance themselves.

This would be a resource-lite change, Needing only the PbAoE Fear power Icon (used by Cloak of Fear) and numbers. An aura would not be needed as it isn't any more neccessary to show the boundry of this power as it is for the Dark servant's PbAoe or any other aoe debuff.

Should it become an issue with players trying to stealth, the power might need to be tagged as not alerting enemies.

A comical rendition of an incredibly frustrating example of what I mean by the method of survivibility working or not working is would be when I was running tip missions. I got the one where you have to fight a bunch of Miss Thystles. After curb-stomping the first ambush, I was fighting the PPD guys and there were two more ambushes. Miss Thystle was all "Rawr" and I was all "Fearsome stare!" and she was "Rawr!" and I was all "Hey Lich y u no Fearsome stare?" and he was all "I already used it! It's recharging" and I was all "Hey Lich y u no Tentaprobe?" And he was all "I already used it! It's recharging!" And I was all "Hey Lich y u n...*dead*" And of course, the powers were fresh once I returned and summoned, allowing me to beat the Thystles senseless.

I know Masterminds are not considered underperformers, but with the resource lite nature of this suggestion it might be possible for it to get snuck in. Either way I'd like to know what people think of it.

I like it, but I think it would need some tweaks. I'm a huge zombie fanatic (not in game, just in general, but that obsession is a story for another day) and I keep wanting to make a zombie MM, but they always seem to die too fast when I make them. This idea could work.

the -tohit alone would be enough to get by. I like that suggestion.

We have plenty of abilities that apply -tohit already, but until you get a few applications on, the spare enemies in a crowd kill off your zombies. Applying a -tohit via AOE would equalize that problem nicely.

The fear would be a nice plus, but since tankermind pets smack everything anyway, it would be unreliable at best.

I don't think we need a -damage in there, on top of the other two. Might be too much.

It's definitely a good thought either way. Which means it'll never be considered.

Zombies should die fairly easily. But they should have a chance to get back up again and again. And the "rezzers" shouldn't prevent you from re-summoning the regular 1st gen zombies. Each rezzed zombie should have a chance to change sides and attack you or spread the vazhilok plague to friends and foes alike.

Make zombies fearsome.

Don't even get me started on all the cool things that could be done with the other primaries. Robots assembling themselves into Malta Titans, Mercs gaining buffs with each kill until they go all 5th column Super Soldier. Dying ninjas should grant other nearby Ninja group invis, speed boost, and foresight buffs, so that the last Ninja is the toughest to kill. The bruiser should be able to summon his own gang war, and Demons should be able to possess enemies with their attacks (confuse with a different graphic - red glowing eyes). Possessed enemies should be able to spread the effect potentially turning entire hordes into demon slaves.

MMs have so much potential and none of what I described requires mucking about with their AI. Pets need to become far more dangerous to both their enemies and masters alike.

Sure there would; MMs are VIP access. And besides, sometimes I just want to be a Corr/cont/scrap/stalk/veat.