tidge

January 17

Revisiting this thread for the benefit of new/returning players. We've had quite a lot of 'sloppy' GM hunting players, in solo and in teams.

Repeating:

It is nearly unforgivable to leave the Croatoa Grim Vale event not reset, as there is an actual server-wide announcement when it has been reset. Sometimes the level-less mobiles can be tucked away in corners or trees, and often the flying mobiles will chase after folks and can be somewhat far from the spawn site. The Grim Vale has one of the faster cycling timers and offers lots of XP/drop chances, so please don't leave this not reset.

Similarly, the (usually) level-less spawns that accompany the Walking Croatoan GMs are not large in number, and will stay by the GM (or return to it if they scatter) so those are easy to clean up. About one-third of the the time those spawns are not level-less, so pay attention.

The Kings Row Paladin mobiles are always level-less, so they are easy to spot, provided you actually look for them. If you know where each of the thee event spots are, and you know where you fought Paladin, it does not take long to zip between the two to find the level-less clockwork spawns. AFAIK there is more XP to be had from the full range of level-less spawns than there is from the Giant Monster... there certainly are more reward drop chances for clearing them out.

The Boomtown Babbage summons allied mobiles, they are not level-less they will be IIRC 48-50, so characters with high enough levels will have the minions con as grey. be on the lookout. Usually these are few in number (one at-a-time) and stay close to Babbage, but I have stumbled across stray level 48 clocks in Boomtown.

The Crey's Folly Jurassik will about one-third of the time, upon defeat make Jurassik Rubble, which upon defeat will make Rubble. These all need to be cleaned up. don't be so quick to zone out as it literally takes less than 30 seconds to clean these up.

Kraken, Lusca, War Walker, Adamastor don't have associated spawns that need to be cleaned up. GM hunters/teams can run away right after defeating them.

As far as I know, the red-side GMs are all self-cleaning. The ones I am not certain about is Caleb and Deathsurge: they always spawns with mobiles but as a practical matter every time I've defeated those I have had to work through all of the associated minions as well. They aren't level-less.

January 16

2 hours ago, Rudra said:

So again, I am not understanding what you are trying to tell me.

I'm not trying to tell you anything except this: There are tradeoffs for your preferred playstyle. If you specifically want the Protector Bots to be switching between defense and offense, you will probably have to be more engaged with them by changing their stances. I know that if I want to drop inspirations on my Assault Bot, I have to switch it to passive because otherwise it is cycling through attacks so fast I can never get an inspiration to stick.

My advice is: Rely on the Maintenance Drone to heal the henchmen. It is better at it than the Protector Bots ever have been. Since that is a non-starter for you, if this is a high priority

2 hours ago, Rudra said:

In my case, I prefer to keep my pets alive, usually through a mix of buffs on the pets, heals, and debuffs on the enemies, while fitting in my own attacks, so the pets can attack and decimate the targets. So again, I am not understanding what you are trying to tell me.

and you aren't taking the best henchmen heal in the Robotics Primary, at some point you have to realize that you are asking for a somewhat radical change to the primary (more Protector Bot healing) without wanting to give up offense from the Protector Bots in exchange. I propose the tradeoff on offense be done via changing stances, but it sounds more and more like you want a code change. Is there nothing else that you would accept?

Since this is the suggestions forum, allow me to make a suggestion: If the healing and buffing the Robotics henchmen is a priority, and Maintenance Drone is off the table, my next suggestion is to pick a Secondary that will do what you want, including heals. Dark is the classic choice, but it is not the only one.

January 14

I would not use Enhancement Boosters on level 25 common IOs. Just buy level 30 common IOs.

ATOs, Winter, Overwhelming Force are fine while leveling and offer set bonuses deep down into exemplar territory. PVP pieces are similar, but they don't come attuned... and generally they should be attuned below level 50 and boosted at level 50 (if you desire more of what they are enhancing). PVP set bonuses scale down, but the enhanced values top out at whatever their max level is.

If you aren't into planning a build and accumulating the set pieces you want along the way, level 30 common IOs will be fine.

If the market isn't your thing: just sell the recipes at a vendor.

January 14

Kudos to those that take and slot Flurry. I very rarely take the Speed pool at all, but when I do take it as a travel pool (and sometimes for Hasten) I treat Flurry as pretty much all the other T1 pool attacks... ignore it (if I can). I don't think it is supposed to be so good that I could ignore it.

There is a difference between the original/revamped Travel Power Pool (including Concelament) and the "Origin" Travel pools: The original pools have all their powers unlocked by level 14. It's not much of a consolation, but if a "Pool Boy" character wanted to have all the attacks from a specific pool, they can do that much earlier.

As an aside: Making an argument about using %procs in a sub-5-second-recharge T1 power is pretty silly IMO.

January 14

I ran into a circumstance where I wanted a low level contact I could not get, and couldn't get the arc through Ouroborous , despite getting the portal unlocked by myself (no help needed). I waited until I was level 15.

January 13

I wouldn't focus on %-Res slotting early in a build. Accuracy and Damage are better for the henchmen, and Accuracy Endurance for the MM.

As a complete sidebar: Some enhancements become able to be slotted at -3 levels below their set level, but only if they are not attuned and also at their lowest level. I'm not referring to Hami-Os, Very Rare pieces or Superior versions. I'm also not talking about them providing set bonuses down to -3 below their lowest level when exemplared.

I happened to notice this on a character I had planned on using a combination of attuned PVP pieces and some level 10 crafted PVP pieces. From memory: I could slot the level 10 pieces at level 7, but I couldn't slot the attuned pieces until level 10. I also want to say that this wasn't true of every PVP set. It's not like I really needed them for levels 7-9, so I didn't pay it much heed.

January 12

My level 50 build. Different choices were made during leveling (I had completely different power pools for example)

Spoiler

Primary Power Set: Robotics

Secondary Power Set: Traps

Power Pool: Flight

Power Pool: Leadership

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Concealment

Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

------------

Level 1: Battle Drones

(A) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Damage: Level 50

(*) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50

(*) Soulbound Allegiance - Chance for Build Up: Level 50

(*) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets

(*) Sovereign Right – Accuracy/Damage

(*) Sovereign Right - Resistance Bonus

Level 1: Caltrops

(A) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime

(*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime

(*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Damage/Recharge

(*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

(*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance for Damage(Cold)

(*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage(Lethal)

Level 2: Pulse Rifle Burst

(A) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown

(*) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback/Accuracy/Damage

(*) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback/Accuracy

(*) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback/Damage/Endurance

(*) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback/Damage/Recharge

(*) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback/Recharge

Level 4: Fly

(A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)

Level 6: Equip Robot

(A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance

(*) Unbreakable Guard - +7.5% MaxHP

Level 8: Photon Grenade

(A) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage

(*) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime

(*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

(*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime

(*) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff

(*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime

Level 10: Hover

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 12: Protector Bots

(A) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Damage/Endurance: Level 50

(*) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50

(*) Defense Buff IO: Level 50+5

(*) Edict of the Master: Defense Bonus

(*) Call to Arms: Defense Aura for Pets

(*) Call to Arms: Accuracy/Damage

Level 14: Acid Mortar

(A) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff

(*) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff/Recharge

(*) Undermined Defenses - Recharge/Endurance

(*) Undermined Defenses - Recharge

(*) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff

(*) Accuracy: Level 50+5

Level 16: Force Field Generator

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

(*) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

(*) Defense Buff IO: Level 50+5

Level 18: Maintenance Drone

(A) Preventive Medicine - Heal

(*) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance

(*) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime

(*) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime

(*) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance

(*) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb

Level 20: Poison Trap

(A) Gladiator's Net - Accuracy/Hold: Level 50+5

(*) Gladiator's Net - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50

(*) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage(Lethal)

(*) Unbreakable Constraint Chance for Damage (Smashing): Level 50

(*) Superior Entomb: Chance for +Absorb: Level 50

Level 22: Assault Bot

(A) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50

(*) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Damage/Endurance: Level 50

(*) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

(*) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Recharge/Pet +AoE Defense Aura: Level 50

(*) Superior Mark of Supremacy: Accuracy/Damage: Level 50

(*) Superior Mark of Supremacy: Endurance, +Resist (All) +Regen(Pets): Level 50

Level 24: Group Fly

(A) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%)

Level 26: Upgrade Robot

(A) Healing IO: Level 50+5

Level 28: Maneuvers

(A) HamiO:Cytoskeleton (Endurance / ToHit / Defense Buff): Level 53

(*) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 30: Tactics

(A) HamiO:Cytoskeleton (Endurance / ToHit / Defense Buff): Level 53

(*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up

Level 32: Evasive Manuevers

(A) Shield Wall: Teleportation Protection, +Res (All)

Level 35: Scorpion Shield

(A) Reactive Defenses - Defense

(*) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance

(*) Reactive Defenses - Endurance/RechargeTime

(*) Reactive Defenses - Defense/RechargeTime

(*) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance/RechargeTime

(*) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage

Level 38: Kick

(A) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge

Level 41: Mace Beam Volley

(A) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown

(*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage

(*) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime

(*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

(*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime

(*) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff

Level 44: Tough

(A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%

(*) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance

(*) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP

(*) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance

(*) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)

Level 47: Weave

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 49: Grant Invisibility

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

------------

Level 1: Brawl

(A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

(A) Unbounded Leap - +Stealth

Level 1: Supremacy

Level 2: Rest

(A) Interrupt Reduction IO: Level 50+5

Level 4: Athletic Run

Level 2: Swift

(A) Fly Speed IO: Level 50+5

Level 2: Health

(A) Miracle - +Recovery

(*) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance

(*) Panacea - Heal: Level 50+5

Level 2: Hurdle

(A) Jumping IO: Level 50+5

Level 2: Stamina

(A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End

(*) Performance Shifter - EndMod

(*) EnduranceMod IO: Level 50+5

------------

January 12

I can post a build later. As far as enhancement 'sets' go, there are some only a few pieces that were not yet included in my final build:

Catalyzed pieces (ATO, Winter)
Very Rare pieces
Hami-O
Boosted lvl 50 pieces (mostly PVP and IOs)

IIRC most of my enhancement pieces are attuned and can be slotted by level 31.

Obviously there are many more slots to get between 31 and 50.

Once an MM has all henchmen, I generally turn up the spawn size.

January 12

The Henchmen AI is a janky thing. Any individual henchman has to have a decision algorithm, one of the inputs is the stance, another is what powers are available, another is which powers are recharged, another is which targets are legitimate. It should be no surprise that the Protector Bots Healing is a low priority item, especially when there is a pet dedicated to healing the only class of mobile that a Protector Bot can heal. My PoV: altering the Protector Bots algorithm so that they try to cast heals as the number one priority would hurt the offense of the Robotics primary.

Have you tried keeping you Protector Bots is "green" mode, where they are not actively looking for enemy targets? That sounds like what you want. Me, I want MOAR OFFENSE.

I've said it many times: Trying to keep henchmen "alive" with heals is a much lower priority for a MM (unless you want healing badges, I suppose) than buffing them with Defense/Resistance... and the point at which it makes sense to pursue henchman buffing also quickly reaches a point of diminishing returns. The game's reward system is for enemy defeats, not just sticking around. If an MM player wants to prioritize "sticking around" with a full suite of henchmen, there are plenty of ways to do that without gimping the offense from a primary power set. All the non-henchmen offense available to a MM takes an incredible toll in terms of Endurance and suffers from a damage scalar in ways that Defense/Resist Buffs, Controls, and Healing do not.

January 12

The Protector Bots' healing has always been meh, and with nothing in the primary to invest the Henchmen/Pet globals in... it isn't as if there were a lot of slots in a MM build such that of many of the 18 possible henchmen slots could be dedicated to the T2 "protecting". Maintenance Drone has been a real godsend to the Robotics Primary.

I have Maintenance Drone six slotted, and it does a FAR better job keeping henchmen healed than the Protector Bots ever did. If I never summoned teh Maintenance Drone, I'm sure I'd see the Protector Bots healing just as inefficiently as before the upgrade. I do witness them healing other henchmen, usually after a Giant Monster has hit us all with an AoE.

January 11

It does appear that the Protector Bots do less healing (when the Maintenance Drone is out), but my same eyes tell me that the Protector Bots are doing more damage. Prior to Maintenance Drone, my Protector Bots would often be the only henchmen standing around with full Endurance bars (because they were not attacking so much). after the change to the primary their Endurance usage tracks much more in line with the T1 and T3.

As an aside, I could easily discriminate between the T2 actions and the T1/T3 actions because prior to the Robotics revamp I had the T1/T3 slotted for KB->KD but NOT on the T2... so pretty much all of the T2 uses of Endurance were easily visible.

TL;DR: What the OP thinks is a bug is IMO an improvement in previous T2 henchmen behavior.

January 10

4 hours ago, Mindrivet said:

Oh one more question, will Nature allow me to be a healer support for group content? I feel pretty healer main material with this power.

I can't really comment on how /Nature will perform for the henchmen, except that positioning will require a little extra effort. Robots should make that slightly easier than some other primaries.

As for team efforts, you may find that you have to make some build decisions to improve the Secondary's performance enough so that you can help fast-moving teams. Those build decisions may work against what you need to do as a MM. You do of course have more than one build to use. Specifically:

For team-healing, you probably want higher recharge than you would other wise need as a leader of henchmen
The slotting choices will be radically different for the heals, Maintenance Drone is all the Robots need, but it doesn't help teammates.
You will probably need to lean even-heavier into Endurance management. Nature has ways to help, but you will have to slot these to maximize them.

January 9

As far as Overwhelming Force: IMO what we need first is a Superior Overwhelming Force set.

Right now, I pretty much only use the Overwhelming Force for:

Characters who are leveling up, and I don't have anything else specific to use for some power
The KB->KD piece (99%) and/or the Endurance/Recharge piece (1%)

Once I get to a final (level 50) build, I feel that there are almost always better choices (in terms of Enhancement values AND set bonuses) to be had by using Superior Winter ATOs, Hami-O or D-Syncs, PVP level 50s, or (especially when frankenslotting) simply boosting non-attuned level 50 pieces. If I could get attuned and catalyzed values from a hypothetical Superior Overwhelming Force, I'd be using more of those pieces in many builds.

I don't want to completely yuck on the Overwhelming Force set, as it is a nice option for 'merit/inf poor' players to get some useful attuned set bonuses for running fun content... but as far as the set bonuses go, most of the actual set bonuses can be had by one-slotting certain uniques (as mules).

January 9

1 hour ago, FupDup said:

I just wanna point out here that the HP caps on Sents are in fact lower than Scrappers: 2000ish vs 2400ish.

FWIW from memory, this Sentinel is the only character in my stable that hit its ATs HP cap (with accolades, and not counting what I might be doing with some of my Tankers). It is also the only character for which I ever 6-slotted the Ragnarok set!

Spoiler

Primary Power Set: Beam Rifle

Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura

Power Pool: Flight

Power Pool: Leadership

Ancillary Pool: Leaping

------------

Level 1: Kinetic Shield

(A) Kismet - Accuracy +6%: Level 30

(*) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)

(*) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance: Level 50+5

(*) Shield Wall - Defense: Level 50+5

Level 1: Single Shot

(A) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Accuracy/Damage

(*) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Damage/Recharge

(*) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

(*) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

(*) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

(*) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Recharge/Chance of Absorb

Level 2: Cutting Beam

(A) Ragnarok - Damage: Level 50+5

(*) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50+5

(*) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5

(*) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance: Level 50+5

(*) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge Level 50+5

(*) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown: Level 50

Level 4: Flight

(A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)

(*) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance

(*) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range

Level 6: Disintegrate

(A) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Damage/Recharge

(*) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

(*) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

(*) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage

(*) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

(*) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Recharge/Chance of Opportunity

Level 8: Aim

(A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff

(*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge

(*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance

(*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance

(*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance

(*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance of Build Up

Level 10: Energize

(A) Preventive Medicine - Heal

(*) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance

(*) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/Recharge

(*) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Recharge

(*) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Recharge/Endurance

(*) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb

Level 12: Power Shield

(A) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance: Level 50+5

(*) Shield Wall - Defense: Level 50+5

Level 14: Lancer Shot

(A) Apocalypse - Damage: Level 50+5

(*) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(*) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50

(*) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance: Level 50+5

(*) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(*) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage (Negative): Level 50

Level 16: Entropy Shield

(A) IO Endurance: Level 50+5

Level 18: Refractor Beam

(A) Hami-O Centriole (Damage/Range): Level 53

(*) D-Sync Guidance (Accuracy/Range): Level 53

(*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

(*) Bombardment - Chance of Damage (Fire)

(*) Shield Breaker - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

(*) Touch of Lady Grey - Chance of Damage (Negative)

Level 20: Power Armor

(A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance

(*) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance

(*) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Recharge

(*) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP

(*) IO Health: Level 50+5

Level 22: Piercing Beam

(A) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage

(*) Annihilation - Damage/Recharge

(*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

(*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

(*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

(*) Annihilation - Chance of Res Debuff

Level 24: Repelling Force

(A) IO Defense: Level 50+5

(*) IO Defense: Level 50+5

Level 26: Overcharge

(A) Superior Frozen Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

(*) Javelin Volley - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50+5

(*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

(*) Bombardment - Chance of Damage (Fire)

(*) Shield Breaker - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

(*) Touch of Lady Grey - Chance of Damage (Negative)

Level 28: Kinetic Damping

(A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)

(*) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance: Level 50+5

(*) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50+5

(*) Aegis - 5% Psi Resist / 20% Mezz Resist

Level 30: Maneuvers

(A) Reactive Defenses - Defense

(*) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance

(*) Reactive Defenses - Endurance/Recharge

(*) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Recharge

(*) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance/Recharge

(*) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage

Level 32: Power Drain

(A) IO EndMod: Level 50+5

Level 35: Combat Jumping

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 38: Assault

(A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50+5

Level 41: Overload

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 44: Hover

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 47: Evasive Manuevers

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 49: Vengeance

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 1: Brawl

(A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

(A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50+5

Level 1: Vulnerability

Level 2: Rest

(A) Interrupt Reduction IO: Level 50

Level 2: Athletic Run

Level 2: Swift

(A) Run Speed IO: Level 50+5

Level 2: Hurdle

(A) Jumping IO: Level 50+5

Level 2: Health

(A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance

(*) Miracle - +Recovery

Level 2: Stamina

(A) Performance Shifter - Chance of +End

(*) Performance Shifter - EndMod

(*) Power Transfer - Chance of Heal

3 hours ago, Sovera said:

To be completely fair the only complaints about Sentinels I see come from the forums. I have a decent time spent in game playing the game and never once in all that time did I see someone refused because they were a Sentinel, kicked out because they were a Sentinel, or snarked because they were playing a Sentinel.

I don't often play Sentinels, but I love seeing the targeting reticle appear on an enemy. In addition to the effects it brings, it demonstrates to me that the player is paying attention to the fight.

January 8

1 hour ago, Ensaga said:

Maybe it's just because i'm in the early game, but pulling agro to me sounds like a death sentence - so far at least I don't feel like I should be tanking. Or does this mean literally pulling them into melee range / piling up the enemies?

As @Jen-Ru9 wrote: If the henchmen are close by, and in Bodyguard mode, they act as a pool of Health AND will attack that which is aggro-ed by the MM. Generally, I don't want enemies to focus-fire on the henchmen. Even better is to have pseudo-pets deployed that will also draw aggro... which is one of the aspects of Traps that makes it a powerful secondary. Robots are ranged attackers so they are generally better about staying where you want them to stay, and in Bodyguard mode, if they aren't being knocked around they will often stay somewhat clustered.

For much of the Live era; Dark was probably the most useful Secondary choice. It is still a good choice, but it isn't IMO as dominant a choice. From my memory of Live, it was the PBAoE heal (available at low levels) plus Shadow Fall which made it a 'peak early and never look back' set. and who doesn't like Dark Servant? These days, it really is not that important to worry about healing henchmen, and sufficient defenses/resistances can be achieved by any combo of powers. The best two powers in /Dark Miasma for MMs are IMO Tar Patch and Howling Twilight, for the -Res and -Regeneration.... but again, in an era with Enhancement sets and Envenomed Daggers, it is possible for (m)any other MMs to get there too.

Keep in mind that the game directly rewards defeating enemies, not keeping henchmen alive.

January 8

For Masterminds: If I am going to not charge through levels 1-16, I typically make different power choices in those levels than would make sense in a finished build, because finished builds have more enhancement slots, and more opportunities for late-build "mule" powers.

One power set I often take specifically when leveling up is the Medicine Pool, specifically to keep the small number of henchmen alive in tougher fights... like street sweeping Perez Park, at level. After I get more slots, I eventually respec out of Medicine.

January 8

On 12/2/2023 at 10:37 AM, Clave Dark 5 said:

Maybe I happened to stumble across the absolute best Sent build ever (I think I grabbed it from the forums), but I've only ever made one, and he can easily tank; damage isn't too bad either. He's a Beam Rifle... something... maybe Energy Armor? I can't recall.

I just wanted to pop in to write that my Beam Rifle / Energy Aura Sentinel is shockingly good at jumping directly into the fray... And STANDING THERE.

I don't consider this to be true tanking, as there is no aggro management per se, yet spreading Disintegration and mixing up targets can get a lot of attention. It took me a while to glom onto this play style for BR; it is what I think works best for me.

January 8

I have /Thermal on a Thugs Build, and do not like it.

I have a Robotics/ Build and I can't imagine using a dedicated Healing / Henchman Buffing secondary with it. The inherent recharge times on Heat Exhaustion and Melt Armor are simply too long to improve henchmen performance IMO.

There is another thing I don't like about /Thermal: until level 28, the secondary offers nothing to pull aggro to the MM... and some advice for a new player, don't rely on Provoke, as it requires a ToHit check and has a target cap of 5 targets.

January 5

Sa-da-tay.

January 4

Of the Homecoming characters I brought to level 50 in 2023, I don't think I bothered to get any of them to have a T3 in each incarnate power. I almost always slot Alpha (for level shift, plus it is essentially a gate to some popular content) but my general attitude is still colored by Live... I don't mind that Homecoming makes Incarnate content straightforward (and easy, if that's your thing) but since so much of the game doesn't need Incarnates I often just don't seek it out.

A casual observation during the Winter event: I'd frequently witness teams popping Lore pets to take on Winter Lords in Atlas Park. The Lore pets certainly speed up the defeats, yet in every circumstance it was completely unnecessary. I'd understand summoning them for trying the same thing when solo, but the scaled GMs in AP are pretty straightforward to handle by even small teams that can muster attack chains.

January 4

I have been considering folding up my Ninjas/Pain MM and rerolling it as Ninja/Trick Arrow.

The one thing I think I would be sure to do is to slot %-Res from Annihilation, backed up with at least one other piece from that set (for the MaxEnd bonus) in each power to try to keep the extra Resistance Debuff in play as long as possible, to improve henchmen damage.

The Endurance tax on Masterminds is pretty brutal, so I am inclined to 6-slot Annihilation in at least three powers. I like a LOT of the powers in Trick Arrow, but a constantly attacking MM can quickly drain the Endurance bar... so with the rest of the attacks (that I almost certainly would take) I would prioritize Accuracy, Duration and then Endurance costs for the secondary. Recharge can be a killer for active MMs so I would make that a lower priority (at least in my current theory crafting).

January 4

1 hour ago, Ringo said:

So I was just wondering about Proc builds today. In my mind the big trade-off to using procs is that you end up missing out on set bonuses, or the 3-5 slot set bonuses you do grab end up slotting recharge and lowering your proc rate.

Well... sort of. Slotted recharge does lower a %proc rate, but there are three general cases I can think of where the reduced rate would be essentially unnoticeable in anything like normal play:

The inherent recharge time of the power is already so short that the %proc rate is already abysmal.
The inherent recharge time of the power is already so long that the recharge from a full set doesn't actually hurt %proc chances
The set includes a %proc with an improved PPM that somewhat mitigates any loss that would be due to slotting Recharge pieces from the same set.

There are plenty of sets that can be slotted into "attacks" for which 3 set pieces can be slotted and not enhance recharge time.

A bigger tradeoff to choosing "lotsa procs" is that by trying for many rolls of the RNG to improve damage, a character can end up being somewhat less effective, especially solo. Some ways:

Missing out on Accuracy (and/or ToHit) makes the %procs far less likely to 'stick'
Missing out on Endurance reduction can lead to fewer attacks (and if the class has an Endurance tax, like Masterminds, this will be very noticeable)
Missing out on reliable Damage enhancements for high-damage scalar ATs (for high recharge attacks) may pay fewer dividends

I consider the above to be 'first order' considerations, but there are higher-order effects too. Consider an attack chain that requires 2 attacks to defeat a particular enemy mobile, whether slotted with %damage or not (in either or both attacks). If the recharge time of the powers are longer and each power takes more endurance for the %proc attack chain, it seems to me that by also giving up some set bonuses (to have %damage) that the character with the %proc build ultimately has a lower quality-of-life than the one leveraging set bonuses.

I won't lie: I like to leverage %damage, especially for inherently low DPS characters. It is more that I look at the potential tradeoffs differently.

January 3

One of the things I like about the Homecoming experience is that I find it to be pretty symmetrical across ATs. Not all ATs can approach all content the same way, but generally all ATs can experience and conquer all the same content.

January 2

I don't have many characters, so: I almost never delete characters, but I do abandon them. Characters tend to get abandoned when:

I think of a different character, with a better name that I think fits the AT/Powersets "better".
I'm not completely sold on my initial concept.

January 1

I too am often annoyed by the 'run away' mode... especially when the mission requires the defeat of a specific spawn, and members of that spawn run far enough away that they get lost/stuck and take forever to wander back, or occasionally go get mixed up with other spawns I don't want to engage with. This has been so long part of the game that I just accept it. at least Combat Teleport exists. If there is any element of this AI behavior that I don't like, it is that the enemies with a Teleport-away power (e.g. Tsoo Sorcerers, Rikti Headmen) will pretty much come right back to the spot they left... so it isn't as if the enemies that ran across the map have to casually stroll back to their spawn location... I just watched them sprint away!

One (paired) part of the 'run away' game that I continually, casually, curse the original developers for is:

The original devs seemed to take a queer delight in giving the 'monstrous' form to mobiles with inherently high speed, as some sort of juvenile "gotcha"
Those same mobiles are often super-resistant to slows and immobilizes, which are EXACTLY the types of powers that players should want to take to specifically deal with that annoying AI behavior for specific enemies.

I blame the second bullet point as the reason why I find it so hard to choose single-target immobilize powers, and I suspect it may be the reason some players avoid taking some of the less glitzy slow powers.

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Posts posted by tidge