PsychoThruster

It's painful when leveling too

One thing that might be worth considering for the AT as a whole is trying to move it away from body guard dependence. Perhaps removing level shifts, keeping resummon times on the longer side, and playing with the ai a bit more so aggressive stance actually allows henchmen to utilize their full range. I know my mercs can attack from 80ft with a direct attack target command but when in aggressive stance this is easily halved. I also don't see why the secondary powers with shields shouldn't also apply to the MM. It's certainly not unprecedented considering traps ff gen already does so. If bg mode is gone, Level shifts removed, secondary buffs affect the MM, and aggressive command allows full range to be utilized then the AT can play offense more effectively. Supremacy could even be changed into a more active power, something that works like the fury bar, but based on henchmen damage that when full allows a powerful but temporary buff or summon. If possible another helpful feature would be a couple formation options like seen in crpgs. Mitigating the need for extensive macro and binds, allowing smoother play in average mob clearing situations. For instance making a shoulder to shoulder line formation to facilitate getting cone attacks somewhat more optimally positioned.

I'm running mercs/traps and it's fine. Traps helps a lot with the poor performance of mercenaries. I'm still leveling, but have been running +2/2 since level 22(32 now) with just the common IOs. Triage beacon is skippable in my opinion, but I did take the medicine pool. If you go mercs don't be afraid to pick up your assault rifle powers, I'm using all three to help mitigate the poor damage output of mercenaries. I generally keep the pets all in body guard mode, using the attack my target command to burst down what needs killing while using poison trap, caltrops, and seeker drones to keep everything else in a semi-mezzed state. I also keep medic on passive so he doesn't draw aggro and focuses on handing out heals. Elite bosses are really challenging, it took me forever to kill a longbow ballista because it's ai favored skirmish tactics and he was resisting all my cc, but it is doable. Thematically I love the pairing as it's just a group of soldiers with some gadgets punching above their weight. It makes the game an actual challenge at times. You will have fun if you like things being a bit harder than you're accustomed to, but it's a power set that doesn't feel "super" in any way. The only times I ever really hated playing this combo was during missions that spawn enemy waves that always know your location and seemingly ignore stealth. It keeps you from being able to set up your kill zone and really undermines the two advantages of the combo: range and preparation. It also means when you die in these missions, a rez inspiration is useless because the mobs just immediately rush you. That's why I'm taking a break to level my sentinel right now lol.

I'm torn on this, I can see the logic in it but also some problems. Several sets offer nukes associated with the rez, which if able to be employed on henchmen would allow the AT access to damage usually associated with a blaster, relatively risk/cost free. At least by requiring a defeated a player as a target the support is utilizing the rez to turn around what is likely a tough situation or bad play. A MM on the other hand could simply send in a tier 1 henchie and pull off a massive nuke, any other MMs or Defs/Corrs could also chain their rez nukes on the pet as well. Granted you can do this now with a player, but it's somewhat balanced by the fact that most people don't have fun being a sacrificial lamb, henchmen have no such objections. Additionally it makes detonator from traps even worse as it is a higher damage attack without actually having to sacrifice the pet. Granted most people skip that power but someday I'd like to see it tweaked enough that it becomes useful(I don't want any powers in any set to be easily skippable) and that could never happen if it's competing with rez nukes. Arguably it doesn't make sense thematically in the case of say bots, and perhaps zombies. But eh that's not such a big deal. There's also the recent changes designed to make pet replacement much faster and less endurance intensive, so the only real use for the resurrections would be as nukes. I think the reason behind requiring players as targets is the same as why Defs and Corrs can't self buff with shields, they start to deviate too heavily from the intended role of the AT. Then again this game already is pretty easy, and preED and IOs both allowed for the creation of ridiculous builds that trivialize the content so maybe none of the above concerns much matter in the grand scheme of things. All I want are changes that make the MM more interesting to play, and this would certainly do that.

Yeah even as someone very open to out of the box and experimental changes, the other servers AT changes and additions are pretty irritating imo. A paladin? I mean c'mon. Or vampires as an AT? I can already make those concepts with existing power sets and ATs.

Retool the primaries to remove personal attacks. Keep equip, but change it to a swap ammo style power that contains three equipment selections. Make them have a fast-moderate recharge and apply only to single target. Each power couched within equip confers a unique "kit" depending on the pet tier. For example mercenaries when selecting the equip power receive: assault kit, cqc kit, and support kit. Applying assault to a soldier gives them an assault rifle and associated powers, cqc gives shotgun, support gives medkit. They are mutually exclusive, but can replace a pet's kit. The upgrade power is a passive buff to equip that expands the powers of a given kit, adding grenades, better heals, etc. What were once the personal attacks of the primary become "order" powers that allow more direct application of abilities. When using an order it grants the appropriate pets a temporary power and commands them to utilize it instantly. For example the first order a mercenary may have could be "throw grenades!" It is applicable to soldiers and gives all soldiers a temporary frag grenade power that they immediately use. This gives MMs a more direct way to apply damage or status effects when it is useful in a team setting. It also means order powers benefit from recharge enhancements due to how they function. Give one order power for each pet tier. Specifically I want one to give my commando a minigun damnit! Make the level 18 powers a very long recharge power that dramatically improves damage, survivability, or utility. For instance the necro level 18 could set down an aoe that lasts for 30 seconds or so that allows any pets slain within it to reanimate. Ninjas could have a significant chance to crit for a short time, bots could all gain lightning field for a time, etc. Finally retool the secondaries to include personal attacks and support powers of appropriate theme, including some melee options paired with a bit of defensive powers at the expense of though not at the exclusion of support. Assault rifle should get a bit of traps/devices and pain dom as a possibility. This gives the mm player the ability to actually choose their weapon types. Keep the personal attack options to three to favor support. The changes combined give the MM greater control over pet powers, allowing them to select kits as the situation demands and to meet the needs of the team, it allows them reliable powers in the form of orders that can be counted on to do their function, making MMs less cumbersome in a team setting, and it provides them with a panic button power in the form of their level 18 long recharge ability. With the flexibility of the retooled secondary power pool they have much greater build diversity, and can become a meaningful addition to any team as sort of Jack of all trades master of none.

Yeah I get that, my main is a mercs mm haha.

I'm probably in the minority, but I kind of like longer animations, and find it a shame that high level content essentially becomes about speed runs. I see it as a poor way to structure a game build on tab targeting combat. Seeing a giant robot roasting mobs for seven seconds should be great fun instead of an impediment. Totally unrealistic and unrelated to the topic tangent here, but I hope we get an experimental server someday that slows things down quite a bit. Maybe gets rid of IOs as we know them and implements enhancements that allow more controlled tweaking of powers. Like adding aoe at the expense of damage, range at the expense of recharge, etc. Maybe instead of defined archetypes you pick power set themes and build a list of powers that can include range and melee, with base stat modifiers changing based upon the number of melee/ranged/support/defensive powers you pick up. Unlikely I know, but a boy can dream.

That's a good point

Actually you could work around all of this by redesigning the AT primaries significantly. You have your summon powers, and then every other power is an "order" that gives the pet a temporary power and triggers it's use. The recharge of those attacks becomes the recharge of the "order" that grants it. Each order has a distinct effect depending on the pet tier it targeted. Mechanically this already exists, it's how the ninjas lvl 18 power works. The issue is mostly I think how far the developers are willing to go and how much the community is willing to tolerate when it comes to changing the power sets. Personally I would embrace an extreme departure from the norm that completely changes how the AT functions currently.

Maybe getting rid of level shifts, and replacing supremacy with something else would be an approach worth considering. Perhaps a bar filling mechanic like fury, slower to build, but once full allows a special coordinated attack from all henchmen. Like all mercs throwing frag grenades at a target location. Or make it a better but temporary equip power. Let me give my commando a badass minigun for instance.

It is my hope that future improvements to the AT involve differentiating the formula a bit. Robotics for instance could be a very interesting single pet class with various offensive and defensive systems to select from that utilize a resource like "CPU" and instead of getting more pets as you level, you get chip upgrades that increase "CPU". Or mercenaries getting a 3/3/3 pet scheme where each group is an LT with leadership and two t1 henchmen. Combined perhaps with my earlier proposed equip alterations. That's just me personally though. As someone who never experienced live I don't have a lot of attachment to the existing paradigm and am probably more welcoming to experimental changes.

That's exactly why I'd like to see equip and upgrade altered to ST powers that contain three kits for each pet. It makes an integral part of the AT(upgrading pets) a dynamic and active process for the player instead of just a "tax" as some people put it. I think that's the real issue that needs addressing. Then maybe looking over the level 18 power choices *coughserumcough*. I think an additional pet, especially one designed around softening the level disparity(something I think could probably be done away with outright) is just another passive power that offers little engagement from the perspective of the player.

I'm going to reiterate making the upgrade powers similar to swap ammo in that it gives the player three powers that represent a unique kit when applied to each pet tier is a way to make upgrading way more interesting. Is upgrading still mandatory? Yes, but if I can swap my soldiers kit from aoe dot assault rifles to knock back shotguns during a fight, I have some tactical considerations to make during the entire battle. Make the upgrades single target, with reasonable recharge and I have the option to respond to the battle and be more engaged in managing pets. Am I taking too much damage? I turn another soldier into a medic. Each upgrade power essentially does 9 different things this way. Three powers with a unique effect depending on which pet tier is targeted. Simply make it so the powers pets get start on cool down to prevent abuse. You retain the need for the masterminds to manage and upgrade the pets, but they become more than just buff and forget powers by actually offering enough flexibility to consider active use. It doesn't require inventing new game mechanics or invalidating old ones, arguably it's closer thematically to how the AT was intended to be played, and is something the community could come together to help design.

I don't see those as good comparisons because those powers offer greater situational utility and change how other powers in the set function. Upgrades on masterminds don't offer situational uses, they just have to be there. Now if upgrades were actually more like ammo swap and you got to choose how to equip the pets, I'd love it. Like using the first equip on a mercenary soldier offered a shotgun/assault rifle/ pistol and medkit option that you could selectively apply. I would even prefer having to equip each individual pet instead of the current aoe if we got something like that.