Rudra

No, that isn't what it comes down to. Yes, those are questions that need to be answered for the suggestion, but they aren't the only ones. It also comes down to how does it change how the AT interacts with the game.

Agreed. It is rather confusing. Even if his level range is 26-29 and not 25-29, his brother, which is the contact he introduces you to after you're done with him, is level 25-29. So why the inconsistency in level ranges? Anyway, I've always just known him to be a 26-29 contact. Regardless, he does need to either be fixed or adjusted. At current time though, he is a 26-29 contact.

I don't remember which arc specifically, sorry.

You are correct in that the Warhulks are piloted. However, I haven't come across any references for them being piloted by enemies. There is one Warhulk that has the pilot talk to you, and it was a Nemesis soldier that you the player had defeated multiple times up to that point in the story arc. And the way the pilot talks, it seems the Warhulks are piloted by "dead" (near dead and unable to be sufficiently healed) Nemesis soldiers as a means of continuing to serve Nemesis. (Edit: So more of a combat life support system than a prison, though they can never leave their Warhulk once put in. And who knows how many pilots are volunteers and how many are voluntolds. So in another way, your prison reference is still apt.) There is also a story arc or a tip mission where you the player go after a Carnie mask and have it altered to keep Vanessa from taking control of you when you go to put it on. Which also means you don't get access to the powers she imbues her followers/puppets with. So yeah, while the majority seem to be willing recipients, that willingness is not necessarily based upon any awareness/knowledge of how the Carnies operate. In your provided example, those three are being manipulated through talk and party rather than being partially mind controlled. I never saw/read that issue, but it is a given from the in game lore that simply putting a mask on immediately makes you open to Vanessa's control and appetite unless steps are taken to prevent that from happening beforehand.

I so wish.... "What do you mean I lack pride? I have pride!" *summons the lions* "See? Here's my pride. Now my pride is gonna eat you."

The wiki has him listed as a 26-29 contact.

Ice Mastery's Smashing/Lethal defense + Fire/Cold damage resistance is still way better than Earth Mastery's Smashing/Lethal defense + nothing and maybe better than Energy Mastery's Smashing/Lethal damage resistance + nothing. Edit: Even Scorpion Shield, which seems to be the most popular armor in the epics from those I've listened to, is Smashing/Lethal defense + Energy defense and Toxic damage resistance. And its defense is only 9%. Edit again: Looking through all the armors available to Controllers in their APPs/PPPs, with the exception of Indomitable Will which is mez resistance and psionic defense, all the defense armors are Smashing/Lethal. If they grant more than that, then their provided defense drops based on how much more they provide. With Rock Armor providing +14.4% defense, Frozen Armor providing +13.5% defense, and Scorpion Shield at 9%. (Indomitable Will gives +22.5% psionic defense, but only for 90 seconds per click with a 360 second base recharge.)

I forgot about that. Thanks. Like I said, been a while. Thanks for the reminder. I forgot it worked that way. So yeah, not a bug, and I'm glad it went away on its own.

I make a point of not fighting Vanguard, so this may be normal operation, but checking City of Data, it shouldn't be. I was affected by a Vanguard Curse of Weariness, but cleared out the spawn. Not a problem, MM pets to the rescue. Anyway, I waited for the curse to wear off. And I waited. And I waited. 2 minutes later, I look up the power on City of Data to find out how long I was going to have to wait, and it said "until caster defeated". Well, the caster was defeated now more than 5 minutes ago as of me starting this thread and I am still affected. So is there an added duration City of Data is missing or is this a bug? Edit: Update, it went away some time while I was typing this up.

They do. The various types of Jaegars explode. And I'm pretty sure the Warhulks do too. I think the Menders can explode just like the Arachnos ACUs and BCUs. Edit: That said? No, I don't want everything exploding. I'm already not a fan of the frequency of Arachnos explosions. And depending on the faction, those explosions are murder on MM pets.

To be fair, the GMs have to make judgement calls even if someone reports that something offended them. If they didn't and instead they took action against someone simply because they were reported, then some people would be constantly reporting other individuals as a means of keeping them quiet/off the forums. So yes, GM review has to have greater influence than someone's report. However, again, I'm betting that can be arbitrated on appeal as described by GM2 earlier in the thread.

Maybe that's a failing on my part, but I never realized the Carnies were having their souls sucked out when defeated. I knew Vanessa fed on souls, devouring them like nothing and that a lot of Carnies are already bereft of their souls because Vanessa ate it. Especially the Strong Men who are explicitly described as being soulless as part of their transformation into a Strong Man. However, I always viewed the defeat animations of the Carnies of Vanessa withdrawing herself from them, which was painful but made sense since her puppet/follower was no longer of current use. As for the frequency at which the various types of Tarantulas explode? Yeah, that is rather frustrating. Especially since I know they have non-exploding defeat animations. They just don't use those animations very often.

My 2 inf' on GM2? Being a moderator is a tedious and thankless task. As was said by others earlier, you will never make everyone happy. For instance, on some threads I thought you (and the other GMs) were entirely too slow to intervene. On other threads I thought you (and the other GMs) were too fast. (And yes, there are even times when I agreed with when intervention happened.) Moderating isn't a science, it's a series of judgement calls. And everyone has their own biases about when and how to do anything. So just be as fair as possible. And so far, it seems to me like you are.

Haven't played my demon summoner in a while, but I don't remember the ice sword being a part of the henchmen model. Rather I remember it as an attack he uses just like PCs do with their ice swords. Attacks, it remains if doesn't use other attacks until drops from combat just like with PCs. Again though, it's been a while, so apologies if I am misremembering. The missile launchers though? Yeah, those are added to the henchman just like the ninjas get their masks. (Though I should point out, when you look at an upgraded ninja through one of the Hidden Jounin? Their mask disappears. Not sure why, but was interesting to me to find out.) So it looks to me like that some upgrades have visual elements that add to the pets and others don't.

Except when that is done, people still demand you explain yourself or tell you they won't bother reading the linked thread(s).

People are already being told/asked to leave threads just for saying they disagree. This will lead to a yesman echo chamber where any dissent is simply not allowed. Edit: Hells, there are OPs that include statements that dissension is not welcome. So by those OPs, anyone posting any disagreement would be subject to being banned for participating on the forums.

I take it this part is in reference to me. Not my intent, but message received. My apologies.

This happens with white as a skin tone too. Make a white character? And you get a caucasian character covered in some flour instead.

You're going to have to enlighten me on this reference. (Edit: Never mind. Looked it up.) That works.

Also needs a mist form added. Control bats. Control rats. Transform into swarm of bats. Transform into a bat. Transform into a wolf. The wolf transformation can be done in game by replacing him with a Howler Wolf or using Shadow Hunter's ability. The using bats and rats, and the swarm and single bat transformations don't exist in game.

I'm going to guess you missed the sarcasm of my post. (Or perhaps you picked up on it and that is why I am now on ignore with you.) However, let me clarify why passive/automatic pet upgrades is a bad idea. If MM pet upgrades become automatic/passive, then there is no incentive to keep MM pets alive. All you have to do is cram as much recharge and universal recharge as you can to minimize the summon recharges and cram the rest with endurance reduction and character recovery boosts. Now you can maintain a semi-constant stream of upgraded pets with no effort. If you aren't summoning, you are attacking, and if you aren't attacking, it is because you are summoning. No need to worry about buffing the pets with say shields. No need to worry about healing the pets. They can take at least a couple hits from most enemies in the game, so you don't even need to maintain a constant stream of summons. And since you can do that in Bodyguard Mode, it further throws AT balance out the window. But hey, you're ignoring me. So I'm just wasting my time.

Given the abilities the Count has which are not properly reflected in what the game has available, maybe instead just run with the traditional werewolves and vampires feud? The TF can run on the premise that werewolves and vampires are pouring in from dimensions where they took over only to find that instead of more prey, their thought vanquished enemies are also appearing. The heroes have to run a spate of missions to contain the threat the invaders pose to the population while also searching for what enabled these invaders to get here in the first place and stop it. Can still have an AV vampire at the end, but since it would not have to be Dracula per se, it would be easier to fit in using existing vamps in the game. The final mission could be to hunt down and stop this AV plus the (empowered) werewolf AV on the same map where they are each "hunting" (they aren't actually searching the map) each other and must be stopped lest their unbridled power and wrath makes Boomtown look like paradise. ... ... Which I may just make an AE arc some time instead....

And the response I was about to give would have gotten me banned, so instead I will say that when you use Walk? Of course things take time. The pets need to heal between fights for the lack of support. How much and how long varies, but after every fight there is a pause waiting for pets to recover. You have to make sure you are only facing one group at a time, otherwise the pets need the support to survive, so checking to make sure you only have one group to fight takes time. The whole thing takes time and lots of it. I never said Walking through missions as a MM was fast or expedient. I said it could be done while keeping the MM perfectly safe. And that takes time even if you aren't restricting yourself using Walk. All of this should have been obvious from the very first comment about MM characters being safe even while using Walk. So if your whole point was "no kidding, genius. It takes time to use Walk and get through a mission"? Then you completely missed my point. (Edit: And for clarification? That point was that out of all the ATs, the MM is the only one outside of maybe Controllers or Dominators that can use Walk and be in an Only Affects Self state while soloing a mission and be safe. [Edit again: And still be clearing enemies.]) I didn't answer because it is a non-issue if the people in control of game development have decided it won't be done. If you want my answer to that though? That would be fine. Great even. My MMs would be so much more powerful if it was implemented. Never again would I have to upgrade my pets. If I'm fighting EBs or AVs, or even some bosses that seem to only have high damage AoEs? I can drown them in a sea of pets so much faster. (Which is probably why it won't be done.)

As has already been stated in this thread, the devs have already said no to this idea because taking the time to upgrade pets is part of the expected game play loop for the AT.

So from 'it's not possible' to 'of course that happens when you walk'? Okay. And no, the results were not the same. First fight was a boss fight, and the pets handled that just fine. Second fight was a regular fight and one of my pets was left near dead at the end. Results like that are typical, but that does not make walking through missions impossible unless the mobs are all grey as was previously cited. And in the video, I even upgraded my T3 while he was still untargetable. Something else that was claimed could not be done on this thread. So the net presentation of your post is "lah lah lah I can't hear you".