If You Could Make ONE Change...

I'm going to coat-tail on the "If You Could Only Have One' thread for a minute and I hope the OP there won't mind.

All MM players know that the AT is loads of fun and, like other parts of the game, can always stand improvement. Now I ask the MM players out there: If you could change ONE thing on the AT as it is now, what would it be?

Note: We already have threads for new power sets and the like so I'm not looking for those. I'm looking for changes (or fixes) to the AT as it stands right now.


Mine is the Stay command...which doesn't do anything as far as I can tell. If I could change ONE thing to make MMs more fun and more playable it would be that.

Give me a Goto/Stay Aggressive and Goto/Stay Defensive and I'm a happy dog. No more watching ranged pets suicide themselves into melee. No more watching melee pets run back 5 feet to shoot (looking at YOU Ninjas!). No more worrying about pets scattering from Burn patches or Caltrops.

Second to this I would settle for a 'Stay at Ranged' or 'Stay in Melee' switch. This would alleviate a lot of the same problems and might be easier to code.


So...what would YOU change?

Their base AI. They have ranged, but they run right up to the guy to use the ranged.....

You pretty much nailed my ONE thing in the OP: Goto/Stay Aggressive and/or Defensive.
If I tell you to stay there... stay there! (I could see some AI elements countering that, but they should be infrequent if at all)


Although...
I'm debating whether I would choose that or some degree of Pet customization...
Even just colors... Of course, a number of NPC models with colorization options would also be nice.


Tough call for me between those two...

I can work around stupid AI. Give me some customization.

I'm with you guys on the "Stay command that WORKS"-thing... But then, I have ninja. We all know how those pajama-wearing weirdos are. <_<

I'd remove the melee attacks from primarily ranged minions and give them a low cooldown low damage ranged attack instead.

The one change I would make would be to the AI for Pets.

I'd make them Anti-Suicidal ... rather than Pro-Suicidal.
(also known as Anti-Stupid, rather than Pro-Stupid)

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

I'd go for pet customization.

Most pet classes I see in other MMOs have a ranged and melee "stance" for their minions so those damned Protector Bots don't decide to hug Siege and get decimated.

"Stay at Range" and "Stay in Melee" commands are all I want. I don't mind the relative lack of customization. I make it work for me.

The ability to make the pets pocket size! lol seriously its my only peeve about MMs most of the time. We take up so much space >_> (Demons Im looking at youu!)

I'd say a change of the AI.

During the Pummit they talked about the fact that even minor pet customization would put a sizeable strain on their server resources (As the pets are apparently roughly equivalent to PCs in terms of data).

Fix. The. *******. AI.

That is all.

I've been asking for pet customization since the class came out. So yeah, that. Bad AI can be worked with even if it occasionally gets you killed at the start of the game. Also, if you do any RP at all ... standard pets just look wrong and really limit your theme choices. I wish they would just add it in already... especially now its a paid class.

Chalk my vote up for AI fixes. At an absolute minimum, pets should leash back to you at the edge of Supremacy range.

Trying, and failing, to think of another AT that invalidates its own inherent that way.

Pet Customization.

While I'd love a Stay command that actually worked, or a 'use only melee/range' switch, I also understand why they will never give us that ability... so I'd have to go with;

Alternate Skins for pets.
While not full on customization, the options to pick from various organizations/gangs in the game would seriously open up the AT concept wise. This should also get around the increased server resources that is a stumbling block.

Tsoo Ninja MM's
BP Necro MM's
Malta Merc MM's

Hmmm, i think this connects to the peeves about the Stay Command, but i would like a change in how the aggresive and defensive stance work, and especially in how far your minions follow a target.

I would like that when set to defensive my minions would only follow a target till the minion is out of bodyguard/supremacy range. In aggressive mode i would have them follow the runners till the current range.

Another thing i would like to see changed is having +rech affect your minions too. The top tier power for /Time (chronoshift) is near useless on a MM, it only gives your minions a heal over time.

Some changes, other that fixing the AI

- Make "Defensive" mode work like "Assist" mode. Do not wait untill I (or my minions) are attacked: if I attack an enemy (and my pets are NOT already engaged in combat), just assit me (keeping bodyguard, ofc :P ). That irked me on my /Dark MM, sometimes I opened with Fearsome Store, feared the full spawn, and because there was no returning fire, my pets just stood there.

- Having the possibility of "merging" all 6 pets in one, quite stronger pet. Not as stronger as all 6 pets, ofc. Maybe an "Elite Boss" pet (which could trigger a 50/50 bodyguard, for example). This could help a lot in trials, tfs, clustered maps... Of course, this would need a lot of balancing and testing, so not gonna happen

One change? Make all IO Enhancement Set Bonuses affect your henches as well. Make bonuses like +Dam and +Acc as useful for MM's as everyone else.