aelgus

Kind of funny having to try to take Group Fly just to unstuck your pets...I'll definitely try out the /release_pets command next time I'm bored waiting for them on a different floor!

Remaking the mini-onions is definitely something I do frequently when they lag behind way too much...but sadly it bugs out on you if you try to do that and they're on a different map level. Always have to be careful if you try to dismiss them and they're on a different floor. They disappear from your control bar, but not from the game so you still have control but can no longer see them in the control bar and have to manually target and dismiss them to fix the bug when they finally catch up.

I strongly disagree. They do make less mistakes by having less time/opportunities to make them as they cover more "positive" ground towards the correct beacon with the faster movement speed. I've noticed that they do path substantially better with speed boost, and that they are much better able to keep up with teams when it is active. Do they still struggle to keep up at times and get lost/stuck? Yes, but faster run speed still significantly improves their ability to keep up. I have a number of 50 MMs. From my experience, demons are the absolute worst pathers with what I suspect is due to their larger frames causing them to get stuck more frequently. My demon/kinetics greatly offsets this to such an extent that I can no longer play any of my other demon builds as I find them to be intolerable by comparison. Also, I rarely have an issue with my Ninja MMs due to their Ninja run ability making their gameplay fun with nearly any secondary powerset. As for speed boost on Ninjas -- I definitely think the gains plateau and may not be as noticeable on fast petite Ninjas as opposed to the other extreme, collision prone slow and bulky demons. Now I am not disagreeing with the pathing issues you've highlighted; I think you did an amazing job identifying and outlining the primary issues. I just disagree with your statement that faster movement speed would not help to "alleviate" the issue. I do not believe the juice is worth the squeeze in resolving the primary issues, but it may be worth it to help alleviate some of the effects.

I'm confused at what you're stating Rudra. Yes, the AI pathing is terrible, which is the cause of most of their lagging behind issues. Fixing AI is crazy hard, adding more movement speed to compensate for dumb AI, crazy easy. While it doesn't fix the underlying issues you outlined, I think it would compensate for it sufficiently without adding any "game breaking" elements. Also, I noticed they seem to path better in general when they move faster. Almost like they second guess themselves less once they calculate they are making progress...don't seem to turn around / get stuck / etc. as often. Also, for reference a 50+1 MM pets running speed: zombies = 28.92 mph grave knights = 28.96 mph lich = 28.99 mph genin = 50.39 mph jounin = 50.44 mph oni = 50.47 mph (ninja's get slightly faster run speeds from their train ninja and kuji-in zen abilities) punk = 28.92 mph enforcer = 28.96 mph bruiser = 28.99 mph battle drone = 28.92 mph protector bot = 28.96 mph assault bot = 28.99 mph demonling = 28.92 mph demon = 28.96 mph prince = 28.99 mph I don't have a 50 beast MM, but my lvl 41 beast has: wolves = 39.26 mph lioness = 39.30 mph dire wolf = 39.35 mph I don't like the merc power set, so I do not have one. A 50+1 Kinetics MM speed boost adds 25.06 mph unslotted. A 50+1 Mastermind base run speed is 14.32 mph swift (1 slot) adds 7.04 mph sprint (1 slot) adds 17.22 mph Taking us to 38.58 mph Athletic or ninja run adds an additional 20.05 mph, moving us to 58.63 mph Since Ninja's have Ninja run, I think that's a neat unique feature and one that should stay special to Ninja's only. This would allow them to maintain their inherently faster speed. Allowing swift and sprint to effect pets would only add 24.26 mph, or basically a speed boost, but at the cost of having it toggled on.

I agree and disagree at the same time. I think it is good for balancing purposes, but the balancing was all done before IOs and incarnate stuff. I have no issues with the 49 and 50 pets, I think they work just fine. The weak 48s though...they are just trash. I usually use them to only slot defensives. Even with a +1 level shift, that only takes them to 49 meaning they're still up against +5s when running at the usual +4x8. The +5 zone really makes them useless. I see my lvl 48+1 minions smacking lvl 54s for 9 damage when they're at +110% dmg enhancement.

I'm a huge fan of masterminds, really the only AT I like to play. One thing I consistently notice about them is that their minions are always lost, stuck, or in general just lagging behind the team. Ninja minions seem to manage to keep up a bit thanks to their ninja run ability. It would be nice to see something equivalent to that for the other powersets. Maybe the owner's "Sprint" and "Swift" powers now also impact their minions? This would give masterminds an ability to slot these powers up in order to help their minions keep up with the team. If a reason against it is due to PvP balance, then maybe make it that they are only under this effect while they are within the 40' radius, or while under the Supremacy radius...or just have it be a unique ability that gets disabled during PvP. As stated, I really love the AT. I think this quality of life adjustment will let mastermind minions better keep up with teams, resolve a lot of the poor AI and pathing issues, and really enable us to contribute a bit more. Also, yes I know going kinetics will enable them to run faster, but having every mastermind I make be kinetics just so my minions run faster to keep up with the team is not very appealing to me.

1) Make inspirations used by an MM effect all of his minions. Currently, inspirations are nearly useless to MMs. Giving them individually to a minion generally isn't enough to make a difference in a fight, not to mention very slow in application as you must drag and drop (hopefully) on the minion you wanted it to go to, and not another. 2) Minion hitbox / size greatly reduced, and add combat teleport when within range. I've found ranged minions to really be the only viable ones, as the melee minions always run back and forth, getting stuck all the time typically far away from the fray. Giving them less collision and granting them an ability to get into the fight is grossly needed. 3) Allow changes to the MMs run speed / jump speed to effect minions, and at a higher rate. They always fall behind, not only due to bad pathing, but also because of how slow they are. Having them be impacted by this at a higher rate increases their ability to "catchup" on their own to the MM while also being able to respond to the MMs commands more effectively. I would recommend disabling the "higher rate" aspect only during PvP. When pairing kinetics with melee minions, I notice they actually make it to the fight before its over in a team. 4) Automatic pet resurrection They explode in 1 hit a lot on 50+4 missions, requiring you to spend a bit of time to just get back to 100%. If they resurrect fully (all buffs/upgrades/etc.) after every time you "exit combat" would be a huge quality of life boon to MMs. Thank you for considering them, and I love what you're doing with the game!