Maxzero

And yet when we play incarnate content all the negative level shifts disappear. So if we don't need them for incarnare content why do we need them for the rest of the content?

More like if we do everything right as a MM we get to be average. If I have to herd half a dozen cats across a battlefield when I unleash those same cats I want hell. Instead I get the same impact as the guy who only has to lead one well trained dog.

I wouldn't mind the downside if when we do the right thing we are rewarded with above average performance.

The longer animation times would be fine if they had the damage to justify it. Unfortunately they get super long animating attacks that only do average damage. In some cases its so bad that it actually lowers a pets overall damage.

Its strange how later primary MM sets (Demons, Nature) had better MMs attack to encourage a more active playstyle then proceeded to punish said playstyle with higher end costs.

Actually pets are much better in Incarnate content. They are get level shifts to counter the level drops so all your pets are equal to your level. Which as I said earlier makes you wonder for the need for negative shifts for pets at all. If they are not needed in Incarnate content why are they needed in other high level content?

Add to that many builds take the same pools. Speed for Hasten Fighting for Tough/Weave Jumping for CJ Flying for Hover Sometimes Leadership pops up. Trying to fit in multiple origin pools is a pipe dream.

I plan on getting all the travel powers and then turning them all on AT THE SAME TIME! The mobs won't know what hit them!* *The answer would be nothing hit them because I didn't have open power picks to take any attack powers.

My main issue with #2 is when the devs make blanket statements to the effect: "we won't make pet upgrade powers auto." To me pet upgrades are a key influencer in regards to many MMs issues in the current meta: The lack of mobility, pet fragility, pet setup times, pet CC prot, pet primary diversification, etc. By making them at least partially untouchable it limits options. So yeah I was a little disappointed in the devs statement.

I don't know why pets have level shifts anymore anyway. Can't be for balance since in Incarnate content they are negated entirely and MMs don't become outrageous so I don't see how having level 50 t1s and t2 in and ITF or STF is somehow different.

There are heaps of good ideas and honestly I find Equip/Upgrade so lacklustre and dull that pretty much anything would be an improvement. The issue is its a lot of work for the Devs that are already stretched thin.

Demons/Cold did well for me. The def and res synced up well enough for both res and def to be near softcaps for both. The -res stacking made it extremely strong offensively.

Well no one is forcing you to stay in this one single topic. If you want to discuss other topics you are free to do so but I don't know why you feel the need to police others discussions.

I understand it would be a huge amount of work for an AT which is probably already the most resource intensive already. I remember from reading stats somewhere on the forum that MMs are one of the most popular ATs at lower levels yet one of the least popular at 50. That tells me that for many players they start out attacted/intrested in MMs and actually start likely the class less the more they play it. That to me is a major red flag.

Honestly bake all the upgrades in. If Equip is dull at 6 how is Upgrade any more compelling at 32? Every other AT is almost always starting to get their best, most build defining abilities at 32 and MMs get Upgrade Equipment. To put into perspective how mindless these abilities are we don't even bother which using the different names. I can just say Equip and Upgrade and everyone knows exactly what powers I am talking about even if they have not played Thugs.

While perma Hasten is almost a feature of all my builds the point is that now that recharge no longer matters for pet powers in anymore pet IO slotting has become even simpler. My preferred change: Make the upgrades auto since they now have low End costs, are AoE and a low CD and then use those power slots for something that is an ACTUAL tactical decision. What if Equip/upgrade were are pet only Build Up effect? 30sec duration, 2-3m CD? They need not be only damage but also defensive (regen?) or utility (Taunt?). There would be so much design space. You could have Bots using Temp tech powers, Ninja's with fancy new martial arts, Lich casting new spells, etc.

Compared to upgrading resummoning (with its old long cooldown) was of far greater importance then whether you upgraded your pets or not. If we are going to 'tactical decision' argument then shouldn't the pet upgrades go back to single target because in mid combat you would have to prioritise which pet to upgrade based on tier, gained abilities according to the situation? What are way to really show your skill! With the reduced end cost, AoE nature and minimal cooldown the upgrades have been stripped of virtually any level of tactical thought yet suddenly this last step is a bridge too far.

I am eyeballing Group Fly. It's far from a perfect solution but the ability to move through the air and just have my pets fly with me in outdoor areas will help a lot. It will also help against ground hazards which give pet AI fits.

Long resummoning times we a far greater incentive to keep your pets alive them the upgrade buttons were. Take for example Thugs. If one of my Enforcers die not only do I lose a high damage pet but also half on the Enforcer auras so its a priority to bring them back. Base Enforcers come with the Manueveurs Leadership aura so it caps my pets defence to keep more pets dying leading to a cascade failure. The upgrade only adds some extra attacks and DPS auras. Which do you think was the more critical decision in this case: resummoning while managing long resummon times or when to upgrade pets? If it really was about rewarding pet management then upgrades should be auto but pet resummoning times extended. 6 pets with no upgrades can still fight. 6 dead pets with all the upgrades cannot.

To me clicking upgrades adds nothing tactically to MMs. Did ST upgrades, long recharge summon times, shorter range pet auras, pets not persisting through zones, group fly having limited range for pets add extra complexity to MMs? Yet those charges were/are all cheered on. What arbritary line does auto upgrade powers cross? Are people trying to say wether or not to click the upgrade equipment button is some great tactical decision? I would argue that long resummoning timers were something I did have think about and plan for especially in high damage situations. Yet here we are.

For me my MMs have two modes: Stationary: Life's great and I feel super powerful. Moving: Oh crap. Automatic upgrades combined with the new reduced summon times would make me much more mobile. I could fight in a location, unsummon, zip off to the next location, quick resummon and I am into the action again. MMs probably have the largest gap between theoretical effectiveness and practical effectivness.

Hmmm. If they fix some of the QoL issues (reupgrading when a pet dies, slow pet movement speed, more range on pet auras, etc) there is some potential there. Its not just Robots that benefit. Sets with a clear 'tank' pet with the rest ranged benefit too (Demons and Thugs for example).

At this point anything SR/. I like SR so much now since it has such a small IO footprint. It just does not take a lot of slots to get viable defensive measures. Those slots can be used for more punching power. The free recharge and early game strength help a lot too. Whenever I try to convert a SR/ to a SD/ build I always run out of slots and have to start skimping somewhere.

Honestly think the Resist ATO is a little overrated. While its great in AoE situations (in a damage aura for example) in ST situations if you calculate its proc rate and uptime it often is barely maintaining 1 stack.

To me the problem isn't the defence. SR has just as much if not more def with capped DDR yet SR, while excellent, does not crush every other Primary. What makes EA so good is that it gets SR level DEF against ALL of the most common damage types AND some decent resists against those same damage types. Looking at the Brute numbers you a see EA with a ~5% edge in def and a ~15% edge in resist against S/L/E/NE. Considering how its that last 5-10% of def/res stats that make the biggest difference in survival that is a significant edge. The +recharge and end management is just the big fat cherry on top.