Neiska

I loved the 3 stooges. 🥰Charlie Chaplin too!

....You ever see the title of a post and go... "Let the memes begin" Yea. This is one of those.

And people wonder why I prefer to solo or team with friends or people that I know. I'll do open world stuff, but it certainly isn't my first choice. And often game mechanics has nothing to do with why.

@Vinceq98 - I'm glad to hear that beasts aren't squishy! But the scuttlebutt I heard was that they suffer from gaps in their attack chains? (Meaning they oddly stand there awkwardly at times?) @tidge - I wasn't trying to suggest that people need to change their playstyles and so on. Mostly it was a "here's what worked for me if I'm soloing +4 stuff." I do agree that it would be better if certain playstyles/tricks were not needed for various difficulties. Some say MMs are underpowered, I consider them strong if you plan accordingly. Here's an example - Elite Bosses have mag resist, taking several applications of immobilize to affect them. While some people consider that a bad thing, I turned it into a strength. When soloing, my usual opener isn't to send the pets in, I hit the pack with the immobilize. (Web Envelope, Electric Fences, or Soul Tentacles work with any primary/secondary) That locks almost all of them down, except for the EB and maybe a Lt might come running from the pack. That's when I order the pets to get the EB first. It's pretty easy to keep the rest of the pack locked down pretty much indefinitely, and to keep all my pets out of range of what ranged attacks they might have. (The simplest answer is to just back up if there's room.) The swarm isn't really much of a threat at that point, it's the EB. And in 30-60 seconds with all the pets on him, he goes down, and the rest of them are easy to deal with. A lot of the time I don't even take any damage. IMO the best way to play MM isn't to brute force things or just dive into the pack. You have to play strategically. It's the thinking players AT! And you can build them so many different ways, which is why I love MMs so much. Well, that and because I love pet classes in games. But yes, I am all for more options for both builds and playstyles for MMs across all difficulties.

I quite regularly solo at +4 on some of my MMs. So "neigh unplayable" is a bit of a stretch. But I do agree with the idea that it takes a certain build/style to do, not all pets and secondaries are capable of it. But I also think that would be fair to say about any AT. So tough? Sure. Have to plan ahead. Mainly the EA, Time, and Marine secondaries, but my Robot/Dark can also perform at that difficulty solo. But unplayable? Not quite. Here are some of my builds that I do +4/8 with frequently - Robots/EA Robots/Time Robots/Marine Robots/Dark Demons/EA Demons/Marine Necromancer/Time My next MM I was going to try was a Necro/Marine, but that was before the changes were announced and I put a pause on all my MM stuff. I suspect Mercs could also do well, but I have not done any testing with them yet. But I am pretty sure that Ninjas and Beasts are too squishy. I don't have a ton of experience with those two primaries, so that's just a guess on my part. But yes, the majority of secondaries and a few primaries I don't think can solo at that difficulty. Or if they can, it would be such a slog that it wouldn't be worth the effort. Better to turn it down to +3 and be more efficient. And personally with my playstyle damage was never the main issue. The main obstacle was pets surviving. If your pets can survive without relying on inspirations/temp buffs and so on, that's the first big step. Once your pets are durable enough, its really only a matter of time before you win. More damage only makes the fights faster.

Most of my characters are Masterminds, followed by Tankers, then Brutes, and then SoA's (specifically crabbers, I have 4.) I have played a couple controllers, corruptors, and scrappers, 1-2 stalkers and widows, and one Warshade. The ATs I have never played - Sentinel Defender Peacebringer As far as what kind of classes/ATs I like in games, generally Pet classes (Necromancers, Summoners, etc) are my favorite. If a game doesn't have a pet class, then I generally go Tank. If I had to choose one for my favorite, it would likely be Crabber because they are kind of a mix of both, pet class and can be very Tanky. And they don't get complete overhauls/changes/nerfs every few pages which is a big plus for me.

Some of us have been waiting 4+ years for them to nerf the glass cannons/hyper DPS setups. At this point I expect them to add a new AT like the Primalist than so much as touch them.

That's part of it. The other part being some ATs/Powersets are overperforming, have been overperforming quite some time now, and not so much as a glance at them. Which tells me that apparently it's okay for some things to overperform, while others are swept under the carpet. (Looking at you Corruptors, Blasters, etc.) Awfully funny how some ATs that are good get fixed, multiple passes in fact, namely Tankers and MMs. But at this point I doubt they will ever nerf the actual top end performers. And I think it says a lot when the meta for hardmodes are like, 1 tanker and 7 corruptors. For years now. And not so much as a peep about that. They rather hyper focus on things that are popular (even if they aren't top performers, the popular stuff is what gets attention/nerfed).

Want to know what my biggest takeaway from not just this change, but all the other changes over the years? Don't share things. Don't share builds. Don't share strategies. Keep any super cheesy things to yourself. The moment you discover something that's Good, or you figure out a way to do something that isn't intended, and share it, they will "correct" it, but over-correct and you will find yourself weaker than you were before. Almost like you are being punished for thinking outside the box, not following a blind meta, or being innovative or creative. Some builds I have right now performed better, did better, did more, faster, when I first joined HC 5 years ago, vs now. And with each wave of changes/overhauls, it gets just a wee bit worse. Not by a lot, but it's there. The thing is, I keep my own data going all the way back then. And for me personally, it is definitely a slope in the wrong direction. They call them updates, improvements, etc. But how is it an improvement when it performs worse than before when doing the same activities? Sure, a handful of changes might be an improvement when doing certain activities, like hard modes, or raids etc. But for those of us who do our own thing, 90% of my activities are measurably worse. Some things I used to be able to solo before, now either I can't, or I can but its much more of a struggle. With absolutely no benefit or upside to it at all. Think any super cheesy/loop holes/sneaky strategies/etc that I know of will stay that way. Each time I've shared some of them with people, about 2-3 months later they are suddenly nerfed. Like magic.

Do have a random thought - Since Supremacy is so much more important now than before, how difficult would it be to get some kind of visual representation? Nothing too drastic, just something like a dull white aura or something? A way to tell at a glance if pets are in range or not?

But that's my point. Where was it written that MMs of all ATs, were doing of all things, "too much damage?" This feels like they nerfed their damage because they boosted their level, making the entire thing kind of moot? MMs are far from the top DPS, they are a support and are kind of middle of the pack for damage. But now I think they might be in the bottom 50%. As I am reading this, overall MMs traded in a bit of damage for pet durability. IMO Pet durability was fine, IF you built for it. You had to plan it that way. And it's easier to boost pet durability than pet damage. Theres lots of ways to heal or buff your pet's toughness, but only a couple to boost their damage. I can't shake the feeling that these changes were aimed at certain builds or secondaries. Just the entire changes in MMs, not just this one but all of the AT changes over the years kind of leave me confused as to what the thought process is. "Lets make them decent at some stuff, terrible at others, and reduce the number of viable build options?"

Demons - "Hey it seems like people like certain primaries more?" "We can fix that. We will just make what's popular worse. Problem solved!" Not a fan how in order to make the pets all the same level as the MM, they are overall about the same or in some cases weaker. That's like pointing forward and walking backward. The 40% set bonus? What about people who frankenslot or what about primaries that don't have a mule power? So now one of the most slot-hungry ATS has even less wiggle room? For what, 40% of 6% of a resistance value? 2.4%? Personally, I would rather have the slots back. Not lighting my pitchfork yet, but if I had to choose between this and how MMs were on live, I would pick the live. This feels like a boost but only in certain scenarios or situations, and a nerf to anything that isn't that. "We want to make them better for incarnate content, but in order to do that we have to make them worse at everything else. It's balance."

Mastermind Convolution value increased by 100%, up from 50%.

Given your forum history, I am 100% convinced you are reaction farming.

People have listed lots of other things, but here's what I would add - Costume Contests Mentorship/Assisting others Making your own story with friends Just hanging out and chatting A big part of this game is it's social aspect. It is an MMO after all.

I can't recall seeing many posts that were deleted entirely. I've seen quite a few threads locked due to getting off topic or too heated and stuff. But deleted entirely makes me think there was stuff there the admins don't want publicly seen, and likely for good reason.

My Crabby. Always tricky to make them look good IMO, but sometimes you can make them "pop". 😁

Yea, I have looked at it a few times. Mostly when I was toying with a necromancer/sonic Banshee kind of theme. On paper it looked kind of "Meh." Not terrible and had a few tricks but decided wasn't worth the effort. Just wasn't feeling it with that one.

...That one is a keeper. SNEK TANK!

1. Tanks can be built many ways. Like everything else. I would argue that's part of what makes CoH special is that you can make an AT any way you like, any team you like, and make it work. Some tanks can be quite aggressive and focus on other things like support or debuffs more than absorb or defensive layers. And not all tanks even defend their team in the same way either. Heck I've seen a Shield Scrapper go toe to toe with Recluse. Are they "Scrapping" wrong? Methinks not. 2. If the zoomer/gotta go fast folks leap in before the tank, consistently, I would argue that its not necessarily the tanks fault they aren't there to take the alpha. Especially if they are already at aggro target cap and there's nothing they can really do about it anyway. Doubly so if the team Scooby-do's and pulls the "lets split up gang!" that is common on pugs/random missions. One part of the team goes one way, the other part goes another, its hardly the tanks fault that you are on the other side of the map poking things with a stick. 3. OPs opinions are just that. Opinions. And any claims of playing since computers had vacuum tubes is irrelevant. "I played since blah blah" has about as much weight to the conversation as me going "I have a pet snake that got out of her tank once." 4. PS - if you NEED Taunt to hold aggro at levels 1-10 on a Tank... I would argue that you are likely a bad Tank. More of a Jeep. Maybe even a Moped. That or you are just lazy. Or, most likely, have such narrow scope of vision that you don't really know what the heck you are doing. The only thing I can ever recall peeling aggro from any of my tankers in those levels are the space squids with their flying pewpew form at level 6. Other than that, nothing immediately comes to mind. Never really had much an issue holding threat at those levels.

Really agree with the points Maelwys made. MMs (and their pets) can be made to be EXTREMELY tanky, but you have to build/plan for them that way. You can't just mix and match any pairing and expect to steamroll. They have the same caps as Tankers - 45% DEF and 90% RES. Now its very difficult to get these values to those levels by yourself with a single character. Some can get close though, if you mix both DEF and RES primary and secondaries. And I have found its easier to boost DEF than RES on pets in most circumstances as well, which is how something like Demons/EA can get fantastically tough, because the T2 pets have resist buffs, that stacks with your Farcage effect, on top of your -dam debuffs to enemies, means that your foes are doing way less damage than they normally do, thats assuming they hit you in the first place. Marine is borderline OP right now, goes with any primary. Time is also fantastic, especially if you do the trick of taking Power Boost from Mace Mastery. Using Boost and Farsight is a nice chunky 24% DEF before anything else like your Pet uniques and so on. Electrical is also fantastically durable. Demons/EA is still one of the most durable MMs (or characters) to date. Cold is solid. FF is as well, but FF is very passive. Traps is good, but takes a bit of recharge to get there, and it does take skill to really play well. Its "plant the flag" kind of play, meaning you make a kill-zone where everything is at a big disadvantage when fighting you. Outside of that area, things are tougher to take out. Poison is pretty much bottom barrel pick, especially for MMs. Never played Sonic, so I have to abstain from that one. Some other tricks are taking things like Group Fly with Robots or Mercs and range things down with an all flying team. But for maps with low ceilings like Cave maps, the many options for immobilize works just as well. You just anchor everything down, and they just simply don't really get to engage. Another thing to consider is that MM pets can "over-aggro." Basically each pet has their own threat table, and can aggro between 8-10 mobs each. With 6 pets, plus the 12 mobs for the MM themselves, you can aggro a LOT of mobs at a time, far more than anyone else. Which is both a good thing, and a bad thing. Its fantastic for MM farming, but for normal play and situations its very easy to "bite off more than you can chew" and get overwhelmed. You can aggro things you don't mean to, even on accident such as runners and patrols. This is why MM control is very important. Very few MMs can be played like a Brute, just going spawn to spawn to spawn without stopping, at least not without a lot of planning and the right setup. But yea, if you are looking for durable/tough pets, you picked some BAD pairings for that. Pretty much the worst ones honestly.

There is the obvious Ageless Destiny Incarnate, along with a few Alphas like Cardiac. But I dislike power pairings that are too rough on the END as I view such tools as an unreliable crutch, and they are not always available. Another option is the P2W recovery serum, you can buy 50 charges (i think?) for a bit of moneys and it's like a little mini ageless boost that functions on every AT and is useable at all levels. Other than that - blue inspirations. But I also consider that a band-aid because you can run out. In this case I think "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" comes into play. If you are going to pair something that is very END intensive like a Titan Weapon/Dark Armor, then you have to also plan accordingly. Personally, I can't stand setups that struggle with a blue bar and try to avoid it.

No, to me the joke would be them putting a holiday event behind what is clearly an unbalanced and unfair pvp system. I have no problem with PVP as a concept. I don't mind 1 on 1 duel-style pvp. Or even team pvp. What irks me is the gankfest that most pvp has become in games. Its not a test of skill. There is nothing that will convince me that a lvl 50 with full epics stomping a lvl 10 repeatedly is in any way fair. In wow as well as a few other games, it was the people who would "camp" low levels, or people who would repeatedly kill a quest npc that made people leave. In Everquest it got REALLY bad when a guild took over a single NPC for a cleric epic, effectively preventing cleric on the server from getting their raid weapon, unless you paid them real money. That's when the DMs had to step in. Now I do want to say that isn't necessarily pvp behavior in the game sense, but pvp in the one person being a jerk to another sense. And I don't much care for it. And I kind of disagree with the idea that pvp is the reason why some games survive. I'm sure it helped, but its entirely likely that it harmed as well. (IE - people may have left because of it.) We can't know either one to be sure. But taking ESO as an example, where they have to more or less "bribe" people to pvp via cosmetics or even hide PVE skill trees behind PVP exp, tells me that they have to coherence or push people into it. And I got nothing against pvp. Only the gankers. If people want to gank people, they can go play Call of Duty, Marvels, or whatever pvp game is big right now. If you like pvp, then fine. More power to you, and I hope you enjoy it.

Here is my flying super-tanky crabber. No pets in this build, focus is self-damage and durability. +4/8 with EB soloable, downside is the build is expensive. But its single target is Arcane Bolt + arcane power proc, with Spirit Shark and hunger stacks, Longfang, with Aim. Still has a very strong AoE and standard crabber toggle buffs. And yes, it's quite expensive due to the HAMIs, but hamis were necessary since this build is so proc-heavy in its attacks. But so far this is the best non-pet crabber I have managed to make.

I for one, take no small amount of solace and satisfaction in knowing that it is difficult for PVP folks to grief in this game. After all the PVP griefing BS in other games over the years, I find it rather comforting. The only way people will engage in PVP here, is if people opt into it. I do feel a little down for the respectable pvp folks not really getting any content, but for the d2/eso/wow/etc gank-style pvpers? Feel free to presume my laughter. Want to harass people and stomp on their playtime? Have to do it somewhere else. Sorry not sorry.