tidge

+1, and +1. Robotics doesn't have a lot of places to put the henchmen/pet globals... and since Mark of Supremacy really ought to be 3x 2-slotted, That leaves 4-slots in each. T3 gets 4xCommand of the Mastermind, which leaves only 4-slots.... and the T1/T2 need some Accuracy/Damage so if I have another power that can take the recharge intensive pet pieces I can fit the %smashing Explosive Strike in the T1s.... this piece does help but it is only noticeable on long fights.

The Gaussian's %BuildUp will fire more often when surrounded by allies/henchmen/pets, but it is still only doing anything for the MM's attacks... and with so few actual attacks (with already poor scales) that %BuildUp isn't doing much for total DPS. More yes, but ultimately not much. The AT that benefits more from the slotting of the %BuildUp in something like Tactics is a VEAT, especially solo Crabberminds... those guys have solid Damage Scales, and more attacks, so %BuildUp goes a LOT further. Tactics is a one-slot wonder for MMs (+ToHit/Endurance Reduction), with maybe a second slot if you wantt to include the +Perception piece. The real use of %BuildUp is via the Soulbound Allegiance piece, I put it in the T1s. Each of the three will have it fire, very reliably, and with level shifts they need it the most.

If you want to solo GMs without using Lores, Bots/Traps is sure-fire. For everything else, Bots/Marine. Other combinations aren't bad, but these will be the top performers. I think you will want almost all of the Marine powers, but with Traps it is easy to skip 4 (or 5, see note below on Seeker Drones) of them. The Marine powers that I'd de-prioritize (for a MM) are Whitecap and Soothing Wave. Whitecap is fun, and the -Res is useful so it is hard to skip. Soothing Wave should be less necessary for Robotics (because Maintenance Drone is dope), but you may find it useful while leveling (and against some +4 solo content). The Robots themselves are a little slow to dish damage, but they are steady... and as ranged attackers, they require slightly less concentration than other henchmen IMO. I skip Web Grenade, although going solo against some enemies it can be useful... but in practice this is so rare that I'd just have a second build with powers to deal with runners if this was too much of a big deal. I skip Triage Beacon, but if you really intend to face +4 content solo with no Incarnates and Robots, I suppose it can help. I skip Trip Mine and Detonator. You won't have the slots to make either of these work, or you will be compromising other powers... I find them to be far too situational to leverage. Seeker Drones simply holds a couple of global pieces for the henchmen. The real key to Robotics/Traps IMO is to be debuffing enemies, and I make liberal use of the Annihilation set (and %-Res) in AoE %-Res is pretty much the only %proc I use in MM attacks. Some people swear by %damage in MMs but I'd much rather have set bonuses and be able to make attacks to grab/keep aggro.. My slotting for Robots allows for a %Smashing and %BuildUp in the T1 henchmen, each is an incredibly reliable %proc. Some folks prefer the %Buildup in the T3, but I like seeing all three of the T1s taking advantage of it. With FFG, Maneuvers, the Protector Bots (slot at least one Defense/Endurance Reduction) , Supremacy, and the pet Globals, Robotics/Traps can achieve excellent Defenses... certainly to the point where I think the FF secondary isn't really necessary (MMV for +4 solo without Incarnates). Time as a secondary should be fine... I haven't used it with Robots, but it is more critter-focused instead of area-focused. You definitely want to be a force-multiplier for the henchmen. I find that I don't need Hasten to keep up a sustainable attack/traps chain. The T2 and T3 henchmen require more Endurance Reduction than the T1s.

I don't disagree that Beam Rifle is a somewhat boring set... mostly because of animations. I do prefer it to the hyper-kinetic Dual Pistols. My favorite BR character is a Bubble/BR Defender... entirely because I could delay the FF powers and have a decent BR attack chain early, and the concept was to make BR attacks... so let's say it was a combination of concept and an ability to lean into BR without feeling like I was making compromises on damage or power picks. Similarly, I enjoyed by BR Sentinel, once I realized that it played best in close combat. This was also a concept build, so again having and making BR attacks was the reason for the character. I'm not a great fan of my BR Blaster... this is the character where BR is the most boring to me. I've filed BR into the category of sets that play better (for me) on non-Blasters than Blasters.

Impurple, I guess.

The above may be ignoring that there is a helluva lot of content where different ATs don't have access to the same (or similar) tier powers because of when powers can be chosen... so it wasn't as if the game was designed to have primaries and secondaries (or Epics) be interchangeable.(*1)... i.e. level 50-only play. By my estimate, 99% of all "but balance!" arguments are predicated on level 50 builds (and what can be slotted at level 50, and what Incarnate powers can do for a level 50 build, etc.) I haven't forgotten that it was (on Live) the subscriber/prestige attacks that made early levels bearable, especially for ATs that might not even be able to string together enough attacks to face a classic 2-minions-and-1-LT spawn. (*1) I can understand why a lot of the sets "ported" from one AT to another look indistinguishable, the same goes for certain Epic/Patron pools. The HC (power) devs appear to have settled on an approach that does most of what they want... but we have seen that the core mechanics of the ATs will cause slight but measurable differences in *solo* performance at some extreme settings. I appreciate when the HC devs tweak power sets to bring balance to over-performing sets and powers (so Dark/Soul changes, Seeds of Confusion, etc.) Why the devs (and players... but at least players share their thoughts) care about the miniscule differences in solo play between three melee ATs at level 50 is a legit mystery to me... It seems clear to me that the devs have some clever ideas to implement for other ATs with powers that demonstrably under-perform... for example the adaptive recharge for (previously) long recharge AoE holds... abilities that should have always been on par with Blaster nukes but never came close. There are bigger fish/crabs/lobsters to fry with Kheldians (for example) and I still think there are a handful of Inherents that merit deeper consideration (specifically VEATs).

+1 for pointing this out. I often have to remember to put Unstoppable back in my tray for certain content! The last several times I was the Tank for Lord Recluse, the rest of the PUG was... shall I say... slightly under-performing in dealing with (any of) the pylons. The longer the fight goes on, the more likely that Recluse is going to get his hits in!

Hey, maybe the server should be paying *us* to play, because you know... 20 year-old-game with no sense of balance or fun? /s

6-slotting the Gaussian's set in Tactics is IMO a huge waste. %BuildUp on a MM is "good money after bad". Tactiucs can by 1-slotted with an HO (or a 50+5) for Endurance/ToHit and similarly Maneuvers could take the same HO (or a 50+5 End/Def) plus a LotG. Upgrade Robot should not have those pieces IMO, and Maintenance Drone really deserves 6-slots. I'd slot the henchmen to have Accuracy and Damage, not the Sudden Acceleration set.

Yes, and... I partially suspect that the "obsolete salvage" became obtainable again to make it possible to pull Inf out of the AH, in case anyone was 'storing' Inf via bids on things that don't drop.

I want to springboard off of @Skyhawke and @BasiliskXVIII poinst above, mostly to say that the game really can't provide much in the way of in-game rewards for anything except doing damage and defeating enemies... and the devs (starting with Live, but somewhat continuing with HC,) have always been really hesitant about player-used-control in "hard content", for obvious reasons... which is pretty much all the explanation necessary for why things are the way they are. Try to recall what happened when PVP was introduced, and suddenly the Stun component of Energy Melee became a thing... also we didn't get "Control" incarnate powers for a reason. Tankers don't get XP for resisting damage (or dodging attacks), controllers don't get XP for Holds. It's just the way the game is. IMO, the one thing the devs should explore more of when it comes to enemy critters (and they've been doing this, so kudos) is giving the enemies the ability to pull "stupid player tricks", like slotting patches for Knockdown (hullo nuEochai) trigger Rune of Protection to break free, etc. The game has had enemies that do debuffs, I like seeing more offensive tricks.

I share the pain... my suggestion would be to just add a variety of tinted buttons to use as macro images. I realize that the text of a macro name wouldn't appear. In practice, I get around this by mostly relying on the same images for commonly used macros.

But, but... the suggestions forum is only populated by negative-minded gate-keepers who only derive purpose in life by tarnishing the brilliant ideas of right-minded folks!

You forget "give everyone every enhancement/badge/accolade freely on demand".

Stop petting the Blarf or you'll go blind end up with Legacy salvage.

Plenty of absurd requests in the name of "balance", I'll respond to these: The current %damage does more to reduce the difference in completion times for typical missions among different ATs than it does to "make the rich richer". These nerfs appear to come from a mental place where someone once read a post or two about how some players use inspirations.... inspirations of course also help to shrink the difference in relative performance between ATs, so I'm starting to think that there isn't a problem with the game's balance, but perhaps the OP's perception of the game. This would do next-to-nothing for "balance".. if in doubt, try chugging red inspirations as a test.

As for Power Pools: I don't take Hasten on MMs: The Endurance tax plus the final sepnd on Hasten is problematic. MMs typically have enough to do without trying to reduce cast times of longish powers. Tough and Weave are good as mule powers. I usually don't toggle them on. They will often be end-build picks Leadership is pretty important. I typically take a Patron pool for a toggle (that may or may not be used) and an AoE.

So they are rolling back Water Blast? /s

Leveraging %damage from procs *isn't* an issue, except for: Players who have some personal attitude on "AT roles, which are often only considered for a small fraction of game content Specific powers, some of which are exceptionally good for using %damage (but may require deep investment, such as in power pool choices), or specific powers that "trick" players into not realizing that the power is a poor place for %damage (e.g. pseudopets) For my second point... I have almost no sympathy: players who want high levels of performance should be testing their build choices in game. It strikes me as some sort of weird sense of entitlement to both "know about %procs, and where they can be slotted" and believe that they are automatically the best choice for powers... while complaining that they are "too complicated". I recognize this feel as a "me issue", as I get the same feels from common build suggestions that "Tough/Build/Hasten" is the key to 99% of bestest builds. Ya gotta test what you are playing! As for my first point... Defenders and Controllers are NOT solo steam-rolling content with %procs, certainly not like other ATs. The ATs without a significant number of attacks (in primary/secondary/epic) end up with fewer choices of sets (for set bonuses) on top of not having good damage-enemies-to-defeat-them options, so it really is a set of choices (choices are good!) and compromises for certain ATs compared to other ATs.

Robotics does have a heal: Maintenance Drone. Also: I cannot recommend taking Provoke on a MM, as it has a target cap of 5, and requires a ToHit check. Just take an AoE attack!

As noted... it is pretty much the extra toggles, plus whatever else a player is running: Sprint, Athletic Run, Tough, Weave, Combat Jumping, etc.... and if Hasten is added to the mix, Endurance will become a real nightmare. As for guessing at original reasoning... I suspect that one of the original ideas about Dark Armor was that the enemy-affecting toggles were felt to require an extra 'cost'. The Live Devs had some peculiar hang-ups (and micro-focus) and seemed to never revisit certain early choices.

Hard NO. So... the suggestion stems from a player-based hack to flood a zone with giant monsters, which is already a merit-fest with rewards that far outpace the effort (aside from the league teams actually completing the TF I suppose). This is an ask for a very specific problem for a subset of players during a very peculiar effort. The code for the extra summons is already a little dicey, with respect to them being level-less (or not)... in particular, the wandering Croatoan additionals don't always spawn without levels but still need to be cleared to reset the spawn chance.

I will occasionally take the Medicine pool on MMs, but only while leveling up (T1 & T2 only) and if I am challenging myself (higher level enemies, larger spawns, such as in Hazard Zones). Otherwise, it isn't worth healing henchmen. (EDIT: It isn't IMO worth making extra effort to heal henchmen... just keep them alive and defeat enemies pdq)

I've never thought of the MM henchmen as being 'too frail'... there is some variety among primaries, and the different choices of MM secondaries should be driving the MM's strategy for approaching content. The biggest issues IMO: While leveling up, MMs need to learn how to leverage their henchmen (and their own secondary) With all three Tiers available, there is a level shift for the henchmen that has to be addressed. The global pieces for henchmen buffs (e.g. Pet Damage and MM sets) help with these... but they aren't necessary for MM success IMO.

For me it's probably Carnie Illusionists. I tend to get frustrated more by critters that run away (Warwolves, et al.) or become otherwise unhittable.