tidge

Based on the very limited amount of information in the OP, I'm not sure how I feel about this instance. Even so: I really can't imagine a solo level 4 having a reason to spawn Adamastor... level 4 characters can bare get through Ouroboros to Echo: DA anyway. (I know it is 'trivial' but I feel like I spend so little time below level 8 I can't imagine how Adamastor became a priority for a solo level 4 player!) As for the missing pieces of information... normally there is some amount of in zone broadcast and/or tells after such an announcement... before summoning... even if it is just "please wait", so if none of this happened... everyone was salty. TBH: the only thing I see (in recent times) about the Admastor summons that I find annoying is the player(s) who camp their multiple alts there, and resummon it every hour just to multiibox it with 3+ Lore pets. I don't care if they "politiely announce" their intention to resummon... its the Nx16 merits they want, a courtesy announcement isn't absolving the greed.

I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, especially if they are right... yet I want to comment on one well-written, detailed post My Dominators have avoided having Hasten to guarantee permaDom, but I agree that building to achieve permaDom limits my build approaches such that I feel like that the end result (character) is narrowly: really good at certain controls and really hard to be controlled... which feels niche to me. I do like that Domination refills the blue bar... one more thing to micro-manage via build/play choices. I sometimes love living on that knife's edge... but it is otherwise not that enjoyable for me. I feel like my personal distaste for "narrow build choices to achieve permaDom" was a large contribution to why I almost universally avoid including Hasten on Homecoming builds. To me it represents a narrow approach to both play and character design.... especially when "permaHasten" becomes a goal in and of itself. I turned off autoHasten on a character I felt really needed it... and I noticed no significant experience in game play, and I haven't really looked backwards.

The only rationale I was ever able to imagine was one motivated by (some) low-level sets not having many pieces (presumably because low-level characters have fewer slots) and a limited sort of desire to encourage character progression through "gear". I'm far less bothered by (some of) the sets having different min/max level caps than I am that several types of enhancement sets lack the sort of attribute combinations that I'd find useful. (ehem: Threat, Fear and to a lesser extent Accurate ____). I certainly would have thought that Threat would have gotten at least two new sets considering the (smart) improvements made by Homecoming... there are threat powers that can benefit from Endurance reduction, and there are plenty that can use Accuracy.

Nothing is stopping players who find the game boring or tedious from trying out whatever on Brainstorm... so why do so many avoid it?

There is a wide variety of content that I've seen described as "tedious", and such an accusation always lands wrong with me. This is a game after all, and usually the thing accused of being tedious is both: Not required to play the game In the way of someone having the most awesome level 50+++/Incarnate character ever, because that is the only way they want to play the game. The tedious accusation might peeve me less if the game didn't already make it pretty simple to achieve the second bullet point, even if it isn't "on demand".

Of these three recent posts, the only part I take some issue with is (sideways, perhaps?) reference to adapting playstyle (and if necessary, an alt-build) of a MM as a "crutch". MMs cannot be played exactly the same through all content, unlike almost all other ATs... and I'm not referring to swapping out Incarnate powers. I absolutely understand players getting frustrated with MMs if they are used to something like a Blaster/Scrapper/Brute/Tanker... and I've been in circumstances when I've taken a well-tuned MM into content that it was *not* tuned for... writing only for myself, the mental load can be enormous! @Lunar Ronin comment about gross over-inflation of MM issues resonates with me. I've experienced the blue-bar issues. I've experienced some henches getting clobbered before they can get an upgrade. I've experienced bad pathing, and peculiar AI... but these aren't even close to be AT-killers, because they can all be addressed, through build choices (including power picks and slotting choices) and playstyle choices. Personally... I don't even think the T1/T2 less-than-even-level (currently on Live) is that big of a deal... because I can slot and make build choices to augment ToHit and Accuracy... and lets not pretend there aren't some proc-heavy other AT that struggle to hit enemies at +3... yet I can understand if the devs want +7 content they don't want solo MMs to feel left out.. Like @Paradox Fate wrote... are players clamoring to take their MMs solo through such content?

So... it's the T4 unlocks that are causing the tedium?

Even if a non-EAT took every power from the Primary and Secondary, I think they could still pick all five of the Epic/Patron powers by 47.... so maybe the cool kids are doing that, plus a travel power, which is delaying a pick until 49?

This suggestion has all the feels of "have some incarnates on one character; want incarnates on another character, now" thread. I can't really get behind making it easier to get Incarnates: It's really not that hard, in game now... except that there is some content that is impractical to run for Incarnate effort This sort of suggestion would IMO unbalance things such that there would be specific content that was better at accumulating Incarnates Incarnate characters are explicitly supposed to be "taking the slow path" to Incarnate power YMMV on just how necessary it is to ihave T4s (instead of T3s)... or to even have T3s... instantly or otherwise... but for me, I get there eventually... and often by the time I join Incarnate content and find I am missing level shifts, I craft up the ones I need from the Incarnate salvage tab.

I read the quote: I'm not loving the "do 25% less damage against level, because if you play against +3 you now do 30% more (than you would have, but only against +3s)." I get it... there is a perception that MMs were lagging in damage (of all things) against +3s... but my lvl 50 Masterminds were happiest at even levels solo(*1). When my MMs joined +3 content, I never felt like they needed to be providing MOAR DAMAGE... And I'm one of the crazies that has run Penny Yin and Synapse TFs at +3, I ran a test at -1x8 (because I forgot to account for/remove alpha shift) of the Vigilante Mission "Shattered Jar of Flesh", same maps, same strategies, same attack cadence. This was a full-kit MM running Tactics. The only difference between test and live was the placement of objectives and final spawns. Did a defeat all on each. 13 minutes on test, 11 minutes on live. I has slightly more runners to deal with on live, but that is hard to judge. Somewhat inconclusive, as I had intended to do an even level test.

Not a lot of T7+ damaging attacks have base Accuracy < 1.0 (let alone ToHit). Control AoE will have base Accuracy below 1.0 (again, not ToHit), and it isn't as if those three Brawling Fire Imps have base ToHit values decreased.

I was expecting a better springboard from @Ghost suggestion, maybe something like "I don't use those slots in prestige sprints (or Fitness *gasp*), how about I get the chance to move them to other powers I do use?"... sort of "I'm only optimizing slots I already have, I'm not asking for more slots'

I see things VERY differently than this: The travel/path behavior becomes an issue mostly limited to speed-running towards whatever. After that, there are some common 'stuck on geometry' things that happen with Group Flight, but from my experience if it isn't the MM outpacing the henchmen, it's poor control of the henchmen. MM HP values are fine, with the (Live, and now reverted) Bodyguard. Bodyguard is a tradeoff for more aggressive henchmen stances. The endurance tax is a PITA, but it is not insurmountable. Players that can't figure out how to slot their powers to deal with the extra Endurance cost need to figure out to not run every toggle and/or continually spam Endurance-heavy powers. Welcome to the game! Your henchmen don't already have 80% AoE Defense? /s

So why lead with "I'm irritated my lvl 49 power can never have 6 slots"? Are there any other parts of the argument we aren't supposed to believe, like maybe "avoiding power creep"?

I'm slightly curious why 100% isn't on the table... Folks who chase +Recharge, no effect (for stated reasons) Folks who chase +Accuracy, easy to do with purples... and AFAIK these are the "largest" enhancement set boosts and would immediately address concerns about Henchmen hitting whatever... Folks who chase MaxEnd, EndDiscount, MaxHP, Regen, Recovery.... these boosts are small, and would actually make sense for Henchmen performance (see problems with blue bar burn in hecnhmen) Resistance and Defense global boosts are often pretty small... and it's not that hard to cap Defense anyway, and while I've personally never worried much about henchmen resistances, the recent back-and-forth about "surviving" seemed to be focused more on getting hit (defense) not on taking damage anyway Damage boosts.... here i can see an area for slight concern, but for many of the sets that offer bigger damage boosts: Getting multiple damage boosts from the same set means surrendering other useful boosts (like Recharge) Damage boosts aren't that common, and many of those are gated at 4+ slots... so "reasonable trade-off"

The way primary/secondary powers are getting ported to just-about-every-AT, I find it easy to pass on characters that have mechanics I no longer feel like dealing with. So... Dominators: I feel like I've more-or-less solved the "permaDom" equation, and because permaDom so radically improves their performance while simultaneously limiting my slotting creativity, I find it more fun to roll with a different AT. Brutes: I find Fury to be a PITA, and frankly it reminds me to much of Domination (when not permaDom) so other ATs fit my concepts just as well. Kheldians: They don't offer enough variety that makes me want to have more than one of each... because multiple builds are a thing, and other ATs get similar attacks. All I really need is a Benovo Labs costume for the non-human forms, and I could mimic Squids and Lobsters easily. I generally don't roll with Corruptors, but that is because of when I want to pick certain powers, and a personal feel about buffs/debuffs/damage scales After that everything is fair game... although I probably won't ever roll another Widow, and the Soldiers basically (now, for me) require a concept with a gun. I really enjoy both, but each falls into the "problem solved, limited concepts" category. Of course... I just thought of a potential Widow... need to investigate! BRB

You don't even have to wait until level 50! The power simply has to be be picked prior to deciding how to assign slots.

I deeply agree with this feel, although my own frustration (with MM gameplay) isn't rooted in the henchmen movement/pathing. Attaboys to HC: The fast respawns, the global buffs, the useful slotting options for upgrades have all been GREAT! Even though I play a MM almost every day, and have played a LOT of content with it (including non-BAF Incarnate Trials, FWIW) there is enough subtlety and variety of HOW I have to play MMs through different content that I'm unconvinced that there is a "one size fits most solution" to any of the different circumstances MMs "have trouble with"... because from my PoV most of the "trouble" is figuring out what the optimal approach is to the situation. Let's face it: players who gravitate to "same strategy, every time" or face-rolling keyboards don't want to invest extra effort into ALSO learning (more than one way) to play their MM. I can believe that some fraction of players get frustrated with MMs and give up before level 22... but I doubt it was something like "henchmen missing attacks" that cracked the top ten list of hypothetical complaints. Henchmen need slots, and (especially at low levels) henchmen need support... and with power picks and slots at a premium below level 26, yeah... players gotta think about how to balance their choices (e.g. the player might just have to wait before getting Hasten/Kick/Tough/Weave) I don't think players that PL to 50 are criminal, but the effect of skipped lessons (about slotting, about power picks) from lower level play are amplified for MMs in ways that don't really apply to most other ATs... so that it is easy to see criminally poorly played MM at 50+. The reduction in base ToHit seems weirdly misplaced, as I'm not aware of any other AT that is getting hit with base reductions in ToHit (Accuracy changes in individual powers above level 22 would probably be more accurate) and if they were mentioned I didn't see any base decrease in the ToHit or Accuracy of Control/Dom/VEAT/Kheldian/Lore pets.

In the words of the immortal Aretha Franklin: "R-E-S-P-E-C"

Thanks to all that reported it. I spent some time looking at the henchmen attributes and noticed this. Is the "Recharge time bonus" at 0% intentional? I'm glad to see that the HP limits for T1/T2 have been reverted. I'm still non-plussed about the reduction in base ToHit for those henchmen (for most of the games content)... "Even Level Shift" means practically nothing to me if the effective ToHit chance nullifies it (sorry, I'm not buying the "but better at +3!" rationale" ... I understand there are concerns, but I think those concerns are so narrow that more typical content and playstyles are being ignored). If the set bonus inheritances were better, and FWIW this is not something I ever wanted/asked for, I might be tempted to add more base accuracy to the MMs via set bonuses. Accuracy is one of the easiest (and largest) set bonuses to build for. I didn't really expect to be reconsidering having to change my preferred enhancement sets because of a new issue/page/panel.

This "kicks in" at levels 12/22-> Incarnate, so forgive me if I think the argument "but better at levels 1-21"! is the among the most disingenuous arguments I've heard about game balance. For crying out loud, "beginner's luck" is in play for those levels, so it's not like there wasn't already something in play at low levels.

Doing a little more testing... and now that I see the blunt reduction in base ToHit rates for teh T1 and T2... I guess I'm keeping Tactics.

I freely admit my idea lives in never-never land... but the idea behind it (PBAoE debuffs from Fury) was to make Brutes a different kind of Tanker, rather than have Brutes be a different kind of Scrapper. Scrappers and Stalkers seem to coexist in a pleasant way as being similar ATs, and no one has really cared about Scrappers v. Tankers since... forever, but it seems like (super generalization follows) Brutes are either picking fights or getting picked on by both Scrappers and Tankers.... so I like to imagine a different mechanic altogether for Brutes that still makes sense to have the historical primaries/secondaries/HP/Resistance caps. Realistically, I don't think debuffs would be powerful enough to make up for "lost damage" compared to what (existing) Brutes can do. I simply like imagining a different sort of AT where people aren't clamoring that another AT does more damage than a Brute (under whatever circumstances), and I almost snicker thinking about arguments about which AT should be the better debuffer!

I feel like I can see the difference in GM fights but hard numbers for this will be really hard to come by. There is probably a farm that is well suited for this, or perhaps Nemesis radio missions at level 50?

Re: "solo v. Giant Monsters". It definitely feels like HC has been moving (over the long years) to make such a thing harder (for everybody). It used to be much easier for (my) non-MMs to solo Giant Monsters (often relying on Lores) but for quite some time it's been pretty much only MMs that can still reliably solo GMs (without Lores). I've seen Illusion trying to solo GMs, but I never had enough patience to see if they could actually take down a modern zone Giant Monster solo. I'm certain many can still take out old-school holiday zone GMs with no help. In other words: I see the GM hunting as less of a niche for MMs but instead more of MMs being the last ones in that niche. I'm not thrilled with most of the "make GMs harder" changes (e.g. "let's raise resistances!"), mostly because they driven more players to multibox against GMs (almost always with at least one MM) more frequently.... so it isn't like the task is harder for individual players (who want to multi-box, and given the rewards... why would they not?). For those of us who enjoy the challenge of solo v. GMs it definitely looks more like the bar keeps getting raised. The Health changes to T1/T2 might make it harder for a multibox of multiple MMs, but I'm more frequently seeing multiboxers where only one of the characters being used is a MM. By now (and not because of this round of Beta changes) I'm basically living the shrug emoji when I read about many of the changes and what the possible rationales for the changes. Are we focused on x8? (sometimes yes, sometimes no). Are we focused on Level 1-49? (sometimes yes, sometimes no), Are we focused on ITF with incarnates? Farms? etc. etc. This round of MM changes appears entirely focused on new +++++ content, with some back-rationale about what to do about MMs for all the other (non-Incarnate) content. *shrug*