Redlynne

Hmm ... the thought occurs ... Pets are granted a movement speed INCREASE which is conditional upon NOT being within Supremacy range. That way, when they're "too far away" and not being affected by Supremacy, instead of getting damage buffs and so on, they instead get movement buffs. That way they "switch modes" from being in Catch Up mode when too far away, to being in Combat mode when close by, and the two states are mutually exclusive with the "boundary layer" between the two modes being the Supremacy radius around the Mastermind. That sounds like something that ought to be relatively easy enough to implement to all Mastermind summons (Pets summoned by other Archetypes would not gain similar benefits since they do not have a Mastermind Supremacy PBAoE).

Now we just need @Solarverse to release a mod that makes Demons sound like a laughing/happy cute baby giggling every time they "howl" ... instead of actually howling ...

That's because there ARE NO powers or effects that will allow the increase of Teleport MAG. In my case I'd be using it more as part of a Ghetto Hold combining Stun and Immobilize effects. I would consider the damage produced by Energy Font to be more of a "bonus" factor than a prime reason to add the proc with an emphasis on trying to maximize the damage output from it. If you want to maximize the damage produced by Energy Font you'll want to either rig up Crushing Field in a way that can yield quick procs so as to have more than one Energy Font out at a time (thus multiplying damage output) and/or have powers like Assault running to boost their damage production via buff aura ... preferably both. My Gravity/Time Controller is still Level 19, because I've got 9 alts to "feed" and nowhere near enough time to play them all in ... and because I'm enjoying a leisurely leveling process of Do All The Things™ in each level bracket before advancing on to the next block of content. To date, I haven't teamed yet with the character and it's been all solo ... but then again, I haven't reached Level 26 yet and don't have Wormhole yet (on this character). That said, Wormhole is going to be yet another one of those powers that completely depends upon Player Skill™ to determine the value and usefuleness you'll get out of it. There are different basic strategies you can use with it and all are completely dependent upon situation, circumstances and team dynamics. When you're in a team, one thing which you CAN do is use Wormhole to pull the NEXT GROUP into Kill Zone that the current group is being herded into and defeated in. So you can use Wormhole as a "scoop" that picks up piles before the rest of the team gets to them so as to keep the rest of the team occupied where they already are (in a $Target rich environment, which will tend to make them happy). You can also use Wormhole proactively on the dogpile that is currently being engaged as not only a "collector" but also as an AoE Stun "attack" for herding. Follow up with either Crushing Field or Dimension Shift and you've got a Stun+Immobilize effect going on that equates to a Ghetto Hold without needing to rely on Gravity Distortion Field as your actual AoE Hold. The important thing here is that Wormhole, Crushing Field and Dimension Shift all recharge relatively quickly ... which means that you don't necessarily need to "save" your Gravity Distortion Field for "emergencies" or even "Oh %*#&!" moments, making it easier to use both options more routinely and regularly for mass lockdowns. So in that respect, it's kind of like a knife. Whether you cut yourself or something/someone else with it kind of depends on How You Use It ... and there are plenty of "right" ways, and plenty of "wrong" ways, to use the tool. Wormhole is a TOOL power. What you get out of it really does depend on what you put into it ... and when ... and where ... and how often ... and why ... and where you send them. Getting the "most" out of that capability and functionality is on YOU the Player to figure out for yourself, and that's where Player Skill enters the equation and takes over the possibilities. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for the plug. Ninjas, as a primary powerset, is just REALLY HARD to proc monster. You're going to find a lot more opportunities for procs in your secondary (whatever that might be). The reason that I say this is because Ninjas are just really ... cramped ... for slots on the Pets. Smoke Flash is "useless" for the purpose of parking set IOs (and therefore procs) because it accepts NO SETS. That means that EVERYTHING has to be crammed into the 3 Pet powers, and you've only got 18 total slots (maximum) to do that. As soon as you commit to wanting to slot all 12 Mastermind ATOs into those 18 slots ... you've only got 6 slots TOTAL remaining(!). Keep in mind that you also need to have "adequate" Accuracy, Damage and Endurance slotted into your Pet summon powers (which will then affect the Pets that are summoned) on top of everything else. I, for one, really resent the inclusion of Recharge on the Mastermind ATOs, since that's largely "wasted" on Pet powers for Masterminds. As you'll see in the build I posted that @Nyghtmaire so kindly linked to above, I chose this slotting ("procs" in bold for easy obviousness); So I've got the 2 procs from the ATO sets (part of the base 12 slot investment), plus 2 more +Defense procs added on top of that (up to 14 slots so far) ... leaving me all of FOUR(!) slots to "spend" on enhancements that aren't ATOs or Defense procs. In my case I spent 1 extra slot on Jounin to get the set Edict of the Master 2 slot set bonus along with "enough" Damage enhancement for Jounin. I then spent 3 extra slots on Genin to get Overwhelming Force 2-slotted (including the KB>KD proc, which is stupidly valuable for mitigation when slotted into Genin due to how rapidly they attack!) along with the Soulbound Allegiance Build Up proc (which helps them overcome their -Level deficiency for being T1 Pets due to the +ToHit and +Damage proc that lasts 10 seconds!). Speaking just for myself, I'm finding the Overwhelming Force proc to be more valuable, in relative terms, than piling on the other +Resistance procs owing to the fact that Overwhelming Force gives me additional Accuracy, Damage and Endurance enhancement values to my Genin. If you open the build in Mids' you'll see that this particular arrangement of slotting is relatively "balanced" around providing ... enough ... base enhancement value to Accuracy, Damage and Endurance while also attending to the other priorities of increasing mitigation to aid Pet survival rates so they won't have to be getting constantly resummoned. In my case (obviously), I'm pairing those factors up with Time Manipulation so as to achieve NO GET HITSU!! levels of defense softcapping on the Pets via a combination of +Defense buffing (Procs, Maneuvers, Farsight, etc.) and -ToHit debuffing (Time's Juncture, etc.) with an eye towards overcapping so as to give some "margin" against the inevitable Defense debuffing and +Level shift penalties that my Ninjas will encounter so as to make their protection scheme just a little bit more redundant than it would otherwise be. In other words, stopping at the defense softcap is fine so long as you NEVER get debuffed away from it ... and since Ninjas have no Defense Debuff Resistance worth speaking of, it's best to be (over)prepared on that score. Anyway, as you can see, I basically "ran out of slots" to put procs into the Summon powers in the Ninjas primary. The only other place you can put procs into your primary powerset will be in your personal attacks, and even there you are REALLY LIMITED in what you can slot in! However, the best thing you can possibly slot into Snap Shot is the Decimation Build Up proc and then leverage it (as I detail at length in the post linked above) through combining that proc with Fistful of Arrows, because the Build Up proc will "magnify" the damage output of every hit that Fistful of Arrows makes. That in turn makes Snap Shot into a literal force multiplier for Fistful of Arrows, which is a curious combination that I almost never see anyone doing (other than myself in my own builds, of course). Fistful of Arrows then "returns the favor" by being slotted with a -Resistance proc for damage amplification "from the other end of the equation" (so to speak). This way, I was able to arrange the -Resistance debuffing in such a way that it still happens, but I'm not "charging" the expense of doing it to slotting of my Pet powers, only to my personal attacks (Fistful of Arrows, in this case) and my Time Manipulation secondary (Slowed Response @ Level 35 gets the Achilles' Heel proc instead of any of the Pet powers). That way I can better "balance the load" on slotting pressure/priorities of bringing those -Resistance procs to bear than if I tried to shoehorn them all into the Pet summon powers instead. And that's basically it as far as proc potential goes with Ninjas. You can put more procs into the Pet summon powers if you want, but you'll be making an "exchange" to do that which may not wind up being a positive experience for you. Like I mentioned above, most of your proc potential with Ninjas is going to lie in your Secondary powerset, not your Primary, as a Ninja Mastermind. Or to put it another way ... There is MADNESS to our Methods ... YEEEeeesssssss ...

It's certainly an option, and dropping Crush entirely in favor of Crushing Field would give you 5 slots to play with for Crushing Field, so not at all a bad tradeoff if it suits your preferences.

I've written a few posts over the past year that you might find useful for gleaning information from ...

Street Justice/Super Reflexes/Body Mastery. You want that satisfying SMACK/CRACK sound set in Street Justice over the animations and sounds used in Martial Arts. Plus there's that knee to the midsection move ...

Resistance shoulders can already be done with asymmetric as an option ...

Do NOT do this! The "children" will NEVER shut up or stop screaming! Have you considered pairing an Electric Affinity/Beam Rifle Defender with an Electric/Kinetics Controller? I'm thinking that combo ought to play out with a rather interesting dynamic if you're wanting to try something off the beaten (to defeat) path.

"We fire the WHOLE bullet!" "That's 66% More Bullet Per Bullet!" Cave Johnson, we're done here.

And here I was hoping your suggestion would be to change the Summon powers to give Mercenaries DOUBLE the number of Pets as all the other Mastermind primaries. 4 Soldiers. 2 Medics. 4 Spec Ops. 2 Commandos. Including the Mastermind, that's a 13 man squad+fire team. Sad that it would take doubling the quantity of Pets to bring Mercenaries up to PAR with other Mastermind primaries ... but it would also be a kind of inverse to Gang War in that you'd "permanently" have double Pets out, instead of only occasionally like Gang War (assuming you don't have Gang War recharge on perma with Thugs). Actually, now that the idea has been broached, I'm seriously thinking that a permanent 12 Pets summons for Mercenaries might be the simplest, easiest and dev time "cheapest" solution to the problems with Mercernaries underperforming. Why? Because ... Quantity has a Quality all of its own ... With Mercenaries, it's not about the INDIVIDUAL soldier ... it's about the TEAM ... and how the teamwork WORKS ...

CAN it be rebuilt? Sure. SHOULD it be rebuilt? That's a purely subjective question that depends on your priorities as a Player. Just because the builds are nearly identical (as you've mentioned) doesn't mean the same build will hit the same balance points when ported over to different Archetypes. Ideally speaking, the excess mitigation you're talking about CAN be exchanged for investment in other priorities, rebalancing the build to the specific "virtues" and strengths of each Archetype.

Dunno. Dual Pistols doesn't include a Snipe power in the set, and none of the other builds I've made has included a Snipe power (just like this one does not). So I really wouldn't be a good source for the answer to that question. Recommend you cross-post your question over HERE.

Most of the auction houses I walk into have at least 3 NPCs controlling the prices ...

I actually like the Level 24 split implementation the way it is ... because we can use alternate builds for the alternate path on the same character (Bane+Crab specs on the same character, for example).

There's a statue of Praetor Tilman in Nova Praetoria that uses the body of Aurora Borealis.

Jack Emmert was prone to fanatically believing things that were objectively untrue too ...

Single target Hold powers (melee or ranged) are the best places to put Dam/Mez HOs (although the Blistering Cold set will tend to be more expensive for melee powers). They're also good for Pets that apply more than one mez status effect (Hold, Immobilize, etc.), since the HO will boost the duration on all of those various effects, not just a single type. That's why I like using it for Singularity, which does both Hold and Immobilize attacks. So Dam/Mez HOs are my "go to" frankenslotting option for any single target Hold power that does damage. Hold powers that don't do damage often times get 4 slots of Basilisk's Gaze. The counterpart Acc/Mez HO can be useful as a One Slot Wonder™ option for mez powers that only get a single slot, or for powers that you want to proc monster which can apply different mez effects. Suppressive Fire will natively deal either a Stun effect (Standard Ammo) or a Hold effect (Cryogenic, Incendiary or Chemical Ammo) ... so the only way to enhance both Stun AND Hold durations in a single enhancement is to use either an Acc/Mez HO or a Dam/Mez HO. Also, just in case you hadn't noticed, HOs can be combined just like SOs up to +2 above their base Level (hence the notation on the above linked builds).

Nemesis Staff from the P2W vendor. At Levels 1-5, Quantums are just PAINFUL to deal with ... because you don't have Nova form yet at Level 6. Once you do have Nova form at Level 6+ you open with the Nemesis Staff (for the Knockback to prevent the Quantum attacking you in retaliation). You then shift to Nova form, charge in to use the Cone and Target AoE attacks and spike blast damage into the Quantum so they can only get off 0-2 potshots at you before folding. At Level 8, Warshades can pick Starless Step, which I use to pull Quantums out of groups and deal with 1 on 1 using the above strategy, except teleporting them into a corner away from their group. At Level 12, Peacebringers can pick Inner Light (their build up power), which I use prior to doing the whole Nemesis Staff and switch to Nova for the Cone and Target AoE attacks that tend to MELT entire spawn groups in pretty short order. But before Level 7 ... the solution is Nemesis Staff before switching to Nova form. Before Level 6 ... he who fights and runs away lives to faceplant some other day! The classic phrase is "don't be a hero!" but the point is, there is no shame in making hit and run attacks where you retreat to Take A Knee (a lot) after fighting $Targets in the 1-5 Level range. Play in a Careful Coward fashion, rather than like an invulnerable steamroller (because that comes later than 1-5), and you'll do alright.

My favorite thing to do is to pick Auras that are visible FX while the Shadow Cloak is toggled on (using M06 as the color of choice since that's a bright saturated purple). Celestial Aura that includes Eyes will cause your Eyes to glow more brightly with Shadow Cloak on (it's pretty cool ... in a slightly creepy kind of way). Sparkles Body Heavy will produced a cloud of glittering sparkles in the "empty volume" of the Shadow Cloak that is just downright inspiring to see. I use both of the above auras on different costume slots and set them up as Combat auras, so they aren't always on (but I can activate them at any time if I feel like doing a little light RP) so that they can be more of an "on demand" kind of aura effect. I'm sure there are other auras that can interact with Shadow Cloak in creative ways ... and I only just recently found out that the Radiant part of Ascension Gloves doesn't get suppressed by Shadow Cloak on female models, so there's definitely some edge case weirdness interactions going on with what Shadow Cloak does to your avatar's appearance.

❄️

I'm just saying it's safer and presumably easier to edit parameters that don't mess with animations. Yes, Homecoming has demonstrated that they CAN alter animation times ... but I don't take that as evidence that the effort to do so is negligible, cheap and/or as easy as lowering recharge values on powers in the database. If anything, I start with a baseline expectation that animation time changes are "expensive/intensive" to do (until informed otherwise), which I feel like is a pretty safe assumption (and if I'm wrong, boo hoo!).

Tweaking the animation times for Mercenary Pet attacks is a potentially labor intensive change. Tweaking the recharge times for Mercenary Pet attacks is DIRT SIMPLE and can be done in less than 10 minutes. I would honestly think that it would be easier/cheaper/more reliable to TRY tweaking the recharge times FIRST as a low hanging fruit (practically resting on the ground, really) that would consume next to no Dev Time to implement. Would it be a permanent solution for EVERYTHING that ails the Mercenaries powerset? Of course not! Lowering excessively long recharge times on Pet attacks is not an all encompassing solution for all of their problems. But ... it would be an EASY FIRST STEP in the right direction(!) ... and given that up until now there have been NO STEPS taken in the right direction on this, I for one wouldn't turn my nose up at an even PARTIAL solution to what's wrong with Mercenaries. SOME progress is better than NO progress at all in this case. Especially when that SOME progress can be implemented quickly with a minimum of fuss and hassle. Don't let the Perfect be the enemy of A Good Enough Start on the problem(s) that Mercenaries have as a powerset. I mean, good grief ... if I can come up with what I posted in less than half an hour, how HARD would it be to edit the game's database to do what I've specified? So I repeat. Tweaking the animation times for Mercenary Pet attacks is a potentially labor intensive change. Tweaking the recharge times for Mercenary Pet attacks is DIRT SIMPLE and can be done in less than 10 minutes.

+0% Recharge enhancement for 5s and 0s animation times: 83.33% chance to proc = 2 * ((20 / ( 1 + 0.00 / 100 )) + 5) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 0 * (11 * 0 + 540) / 30,000))) 66.67% chance to proc = 2 * ((20 / ( 1 + 0.00 / 100 )) + 0) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 0 * (11 * 0 + 540) / 30,000))) So an 83.33% proc chance with a 5s animation and a 66.67% proc chance with a 0s animation. That's a difference of rolling 1-5 on 1d6 and rolling 1-4 on 1d6 ... which I personally would consider a somewhat significant hit to proc reliability. Does it reduce the proc chance to something as low as 50%? No ... but then you'd need to reduce the base recharge (or slot recharge into the power) in order to do that. 20s Base Recharge with +33.33% Recharge enhancement: 50.00% chance to proc = 2 * ((20 / ( 1 + 33.33 / 100 )) + 0) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 0 * (11 * 0 + 540) / 30,000))) 15s Base Recharge with +0% Recharge enhancement: 50% chance to proc = 2 * ((15 / ( 1 + 0.00 / 100 )) + 0) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 0 * (11 * 0 + 540) / 30,000))) So the obvious answer to the point you've raised is to either prevent Knockback slotting in Traps Trip Mines ... or ... to take the proposal I made and reduce the base recharge time on Traps Trip Mines to be 15s instead of the 30s that Devices Trip Mines are currently set for (as @Tater Todd so kindly provided above). If the objective is to keep Traps Trip Mines from being Too Reliable a way to proc a Force Feedback proc, then working to lower the maximum proc chance to 50% or below ought to be adequate to the task. I'm willing to go along with a 15s base recharge time for Traps Trip Mines (which would then wind up being exactly half the base recharge of Devices Trip Mines, further differentiating the two powersets, which I would consider a positive rather than a negative). How about you? Now let's cross-check what happened to the Devices version of Trip Mine. 90% (Pre-clamp: 109.23%) chance to proc = 2 * ((30 / ( 1 + 0.00 / 100 )) + 2.77) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 0 * (11 * 0 + 540) / 30,000))) So what you're objecting to has already been made "objectively possible" for Devices Trip Mines. What we're talking about here is Traps Trip Mines. CAN it be done? Sure. It's a Clever Use Of Game Mechanics™. Will it cost you NOTHING to do that? Oh hell no! 13 endurance cost every 5s can start getting prohibitive in a hurry. Even at 13 endurance every 6s you're looking at an endurance cost of -2.17/s. If you manage to fit +95% endurance reduction into the power, that would still be 6.67 endurance every 6s ... meaning that you're looking at an endurance cost of -1.11/s ... which is in the ballpark of all three Leadership toggles (-0.39/s each) COMBINED. I have sincere doubts that there are all that many builds which would be able to put Traps Trip Mines on autofire and NOT have the drain on endurance impact their performance in other very important ways. In other words ... No Free Lunch. And if the base recharge for Traps Trip Mines were lowered from 20s to 15s, the endurance drain of putting Trip Mines on autofire to go fishing for Force Feedback procs would become even more ruinous ... since you could use the power more often (increasing the endurance cost over time) while the endurance cost per use of the power would remain the same at 13 ... and the chance to proc Force Feedback would fall from 66.67% down to 50% per cast. As far as I'm concerned, that would be more than adequate incentive to NOT put Traps Trip Mines on autofire for the reasons you're worried about ... but as always, your mileage may vary.