tidge

No disagreement; I want to point out that Rewards (Inf, XP, Drops, Merits) come from defeating mobs, not surviving mobs.

Just so I understand... is the proposal that Homecoming has to have radical changes to %procs (and seemingly most everything else about game mechanics) because somebody imagines that in this wonderfully fun game (for all players and playstyle choices) some hypothetical person is maybe having (exponentially) more fun than somebody else?

I'm doubling down: Every proposed change to %procs appears to me to be either: An overhaul to address some marginal part of the game, or A solution in search of a problem Furthermore: any attempt to build a complete overhaul to %procs that has its origin in a single perceived problem with %procs (e.g. "IMO, that Tanker cleared a x8 spawn too fast!") is NOT approaching this issue in a holistic manner. The Homecoming game is at a VERY good place: pretty much every AT can solo play a HUGE amount of the game's content at roughly an equivalent pace (i.e. order of magnitude completion times) for a commensurate level of rewards. The current %procs make this possible.

Absolutely not: %proc damage is pretty much the ONLY thing that allows solo ATs with relatively poor damage scales (e.g. Controllers) to get clearing-defeat-all-mission-times within the an order of magnitude of the DPS-oriented ATs. The game's rewards... Influence, Drops (not counting Prismatics or Brainstorms), and Merits... fundamentally come from defeating as many enemies as possible in as short amount of time. My perspective is that some folks often want to tweak %proc based on some second-order consideration of a couple of ATs (or even more narrowly: a couple of different primary/secondaries in the same AT) while ignore the zeroth-order effects of just how poorly entire ATs perform without a potential boost from %damage... should the player of such an AT choose to make slotting compromises. AFAIK: Damage scales already come into play for Temporary (attack) powers... if you want to experience a difference in mission complete times run a level 5 (or 10) Blaster and a level 5 (or 10) Controller through content using only P2W temporary attacks.

To resurrect both a thread and an old Usenet meme: It must be September when the Yellow Salvage prices go above 20 Kinf.

I like the Time Secondary (on other AT, haven't played on a MM). I'll repeat my comments that while Temporal Mending is valuable (moreso for allied players than henchmen) I think for a Robotics MM I'd rely on the Maintenance Drone to heal the henchmen. I'm not saying skip Temporal mending, but maybe don't slot it. It's a real toss up who you want to be more valuable for: henchmen or PUGmates. Hitting Defenses for the -2, -1, 0 level henchmen is more important than trying to heal them IMO. Masterminds have damage scales of 0.55; their attacks have a rather large Endurance cost. IMO it isn't practical to chase all of the following to try to improve damage output of the MM's personal attacks: %proc damage set bonuses, including (global) Recharge (needed for %procs) Accuracy (needed for %procs) Endurance reduction (needed if spamming attacks) My 'one robot build' attempts to put more damage in the MM via %procs, so it isn't as if I can't imagine how to do such a thing. IMO there is no reason to try to go overboard with %damage in MM attacks, which is why I leverage set bonuses. I deeply appreciate the %-resistance from Annihilation.... keep in mind that -Resistance is a 'force multiplier' for teams, and that an MM has brought their own team with them. The only weirdo compromise to 'conventional netdeck wisdom' is that I have the Gaussian's %Build Up in Tactics... this will frequently boost the MM attacks, but ultimately I don't think it is really contributing that much to performance; see below about how 'extra' ToHit from the %BuildUp can help with Aggro attraction. The end result of my personal calculation is that if I can get Accuracy and Endurance Reduction in attacks, plus valuable set bonuses... I got three of the four things I wanted in a %damage build anyway, with the alternate being I could chase getting only one of those four things (multiple %damage). Note that my build doesn't chase (global) +Recharge because of the endurance tax. The Time Secondary has some VERY good powers in the higher tiers (Farsight! Slowed Response! Chronoshift!) that may demand more global recharge, mileage varies. Keeping Slowed Response in play at all times (with Accuracy slotting) should improve performance significantly. Aggro management - I play Bots/Traps such that the MM is using attacks (mostly AoE) to attract aggro. AoE works best, Accuracy/ToHit is important. Once I've gotten the attention of enemy mob(ile)s and drawn them to the henchmen and (pseudo)pets, I don't worry about keeping aggro. I don't care if the enemies target things like Acid Mortars. This strategy (with Bodyguard mode) really only begins to fall short when both of the following occur: (a) there is a small number of enemies AND (b) another player is keeping all of the aggro on themselves. This just means I have to pay attention and switch modes. Almost all of the damage comes from the henchmen; the best a MM can do is to buff the Henchmen and debuff enemies.

Sometimes I want this: but I must make do with this:

Have you looked at their in-game base attributes?

I want to say that perma-Domination requires something like 122.5%; I always shoot for 123%. This is of course assuming that enemies aren't hitting the character with -Recharge. Mileage varies on what follows. I have built Dominators using different methods (and combinations) of hitting Perma-Dom: Purely via global +Recharge from Enhancement slotting Relying on Hasten Relying on Force Feedback %+Recharge I have enjoyed playing Dominators the most when I didn't need either (2) or (3). A side effect of Hasten (beyond the simple practical consideration of trying to juggle multiple 'perma' powers) that I dislike is its extra Endurance cost... both upon expiry and because of MOAR button-mashing... as my Dominators walk on the knife's edge of spending blue and getting blue bar refills via Domination. In almost all cases where (1) is all I need, I will still usually add Hasten to the build for (a) Emergencies and/or (b) really long recharge-time powers. Nobody likes finding their Domination expired because of a bunch of slows, only to become vulnerable to mezzes they have been shrugging off... with an empty blue bar.

Present! I won't argue against a Bonfire with Knockdown, but for me it's all about Rise of the Phoenix getting my Blapper back in the fight.

Some things to consider: I pretty much only use Group Fly to travel and while sweeping on my way to somewhere else. Robotics are ranged-attack henchmen. Flying doesn't really hurt them. I almost always turn off Group Fly during fights, but it doesn't hurt traps any more than Hover. This is a non-consideration. It's trivial to 'x' on most maps to get to 'ground level' if that is what is bothering you. This is NOT a stay at range build. The MM is always toe-to-toe with enemies. I usually don't bother toggling on Tough. I spent quite some time experimenting with different options for that last slot in Poison Trap, including Lockdown %+2 Mag(*1). I would go into large spawns of even-con mobs to see just how often the %proc would fire, and with what radius. I came to the conclusion that neither the radius (and this is a 'set bomb', and not a 'target AoE') nor the %damage was really worth it when compared to getting 100+ HP of Absorb... as I always try to keep the bots on Bodyguard. The recharge time on the Poison Trap simply doesn't make sense (for me) to try to eek an extra 70 HP of damage against (some) enemies. Keep in mind: it's really the -Regen I want against hard targets. The hold is nice but the Henchmen are faster at cleaning up than the little bit of extra damage I could try to eek out. Not to mention, the Entomb piece is also contributing to the Recharge time of the power. (*1) This %proc makes it trivial to see which enemies are actually hit by the %proc, which is easier IMO to estimate relative performance than pouring over the combat logs. I have no performance issues with this build. I typically run into other Robotics/Traps MMs while sweeping GMs, and from my PoV it is faster at solo defeating GMs (including Caleb, who it can fly after) than the other MMs.. It also appears to be faster at defeating GMs than other (primary/secondary) MM builds I regularly see, with the potential exception of Jurassik... because resistances... (and maybe the Goliath War Walker... but I have to bring out the Lores to finish that one off solo). It 'farms' just fine, I never worry about what enemies I'll be facing. IMO: The only thing that the 3-bot build is missing from a tactical PoV is Web Grenade to immobilize single targets. I hated that (for most of the game's history) I had to take it, it's a power that is nigh-useless in +95% of the content. There are times when it could be useful, but frankly all the other powers play a more important role in the build. I have toyed around with the idea of replacing Mace Beam Volley with Web Envelope, but I dislike the smaller number of targets, shorter range, and slotting options. The (AoE) attacks are one of the ways I grab aggro with the MM itself. The Knockdown as a soft control suits me just fine. Defensively, the only thing aspect of the build that annoys me is that it is susceptible to (long) mezzes. In PvE content, the capped defenses (and henchmen getting some aggro) generally mean that this is not an all-the-time problem... but every once in a while a long-duration Stun (Malta) will land, or a Fear (Jack in Irons)... and it is a little embarrassing when something like a Paladin or Babbage lands a Sleep but can't land another attack to break it.

IMO these are the key consideration for almost all short-duration non-damage-dealing %procs in attacks. Examples include %-Resistance, %BuildUp as well as %+Recharge *gasp*. It's one thing for me to add a %proc piece as part of a set that was otherwise going to be slotted, but if that franken-slot isn't contributing as a %proc in any meaningful way... I'm sure I have some other power that can use the slot.

I've been pretty liberal posting my builds. I'll admit that since I don't use MIDS (or similar) I'm mostly turned off by folks just wanting to "do comparisons". I mean: I made my build why do I need to put it in a format easy for someone else unwilling to simply copy it into their program of choice? My standard 3-bots build (page 5): A single-bot build (page 5, IIRC):

The Kismet +6% ToHit is a lifesaver for a lot of content. It is especially useful while leveling up.

For MM secondaries with some sort of healing that can be applied to the bots (or allies!) Recharge on Maintenance Drone is probably not that important. I can attest that for my Robotics/Traps... I think it is somewhat important (in a final build), for a few reasons: The Maintenance Drone sticks with the MM, even if the henchmen are positioned elsewhere. The Maintenance Drone seems to be taking damage at a higher rate than the MM... I suppose due to AoE, but it does appear to sometimes get aggro. The Maintenance Drone is a fire-and-forget power for the MM. As soon as a henchmen takes enough damage, the drone does its thing... without being directed to do so. Generally, my Robotics/Traps relies on Incarnate-level Defense soft-caps with a modicum of Resistance, plus Bodyguard mode. I often run into enemies that debuff defenses and/or mezz the MM... so the henchmen start taking more damage than I'd prefer. TL;DR: There are often times when I stray into combat where I end up having to respawn the Maintenance Drone more often than I'd like.

I take travel powers on approximately 19-out-of-20(*) characters. 1) It feels more like a comic-book world with an actual travel power. YMMV 2) I can slot them both as mules and for Enhancements (boosted or attuned, depending on the character). 3) The travel powers generally are pre-reqs for another power I want. 4) I like to get to the mission door ASAP. I always supplement my non-fliers with a temporary Flight power. I also get the Jump Pack for extra flight boosts. Some examples of characters where I did NOT take a "travel" power: The page 5 power pick placements made it very uncomfortable for me to fit in a travel power pick, so I simply passed. (not sure this counts) I have used the revamped Concealment pool to use Infiltration as a travel power as I was going to use several other powers in Concealment to mule LotG +Recharge anyway. I also used Infiltration to mule the Kismet +ToHit as early as possible in that build.

Definitely get a dedicated video card. This is pretty much the one piece of hardware that will keep a "gaming" machine viable fr long periods of time (*1). Don't bother over-clocking. "Solid State" storage will improve performance/load times. I like to have multiple drives, one for the OS and one for "everything else." When I am really motivated, I put an OS partition on each SSD so that should their be a catastrophic failure of one system drive I can do a quick swap and have the machine up and running ASAP. If building a machine, don't get a power supply that is close to the (upper) edge of what you need. It is good to have some headroom in the power supply, typically because when you replace devices (e.g. video cards) they will usually want MOAR, and if you add devices they will also add to the power budget. Typically this advice is only good for desktops, with laptops the options are much more limited. (*1)This is not an effort to (re)ignite a video card war, but I have sworn off of AMD video cards. I can believe that there exist people that bought and used a single AMD video card without any trouble, I ended up burning through two different AMDs in a relatively short period of time. In addition to the rather short lifetime I found that I had very little control over what the cards were doing (in terms of power consumption, fan speeds, voltage levels) and it seemed as if the drivers and ancillary software were both contributing to my issues and getting in the way of me doing anything about those issues. I'm sticking with Nvidia, no matter the price point.

I definitely agree: my Dark Blaster plays differently than my other Blasters. Despite having taken the melee powers, I find myself rarely engaging in close quarters. This is the character that I miss the original (for Homecoming, Fast) Snipe ranges the most... the longer-range (fast) Moonbeam paired nicely with Umbral Torrent for drawing the attention/hitting enemies at distance (including runners). I usually don't recommend %damage in Blasters, but I felt like fooling around. Originally I did not have Tenebrous Tentacles in the build... then started playing with them at higher levels, and with page 5 forcing some other changes I decided to go with them. I went with Dark/Temporal. I'm not sure it is the most creative, The one thing I like about this build is that Chronos is on fast timer, with a very high %Build Up chance, even without Hasten. 5-Slotting Arcane Bolt is a choice based on the concept as well as the set bonus. I could probably consider reworking this as a Corruptor...

10 minutes is my average, across AT, for just 'blowing through' it. The slowest ATs are probably Masterminds. My point is: It's a viable farm that also has incarnate rewards. It also offers defeats for badges, if that is part of the jam.

At level 50+, I rather like running through the Heather Townshend Dark Astoria arc at x8 (at 'even' enemy levels). Clear times vary per character... but these four missions don't require clearing... typically I find that it is usually between 30-40 minutes to clear all of the maps. This is slower than AE farming, but you can get a couple of Empyrian merits out of the effort. I try to keep the levels 'even' because of drop rates. Two runs is usually 'about right' to get a level 50 PVP or Purple recipe drop.

In the context of 'solonly', I disagree (with caveats). If nothing else, the other AoE mez powers are typically much better at helping clear maps, because of %damage. As I implied in the linked post... Mass Hypnosis is pretty much a contingency power (in solo, on teams) for use when things go pear-shaped. A well-slotted Terrify (also from Mind Control) is IMO a far better power to use whenever it is available.