Dispari

Just curious, but do you need to be able to see them? You can't heal them or control them, and they die gradually over time. They kinda just exist and you can't do anything about it. I guess some buffs might work on them if you think it's worth the trouble.

All MMs should work this way TBH, the purple patch is extremely harsh on pets, and every MM has at least two -1 pets and three -2 pets. Fighting +6 enemies just isn't feasible no matter what buffs you have.

Let's try actually! I'll take my ninjas into a custom AE "oops all monkeys" map and command them to "goto" and "stay" to see which one works. Telling pets to "goto" a location and then some patches spawn, they flee. Telling pets to "stay" at a location and then some patches spawn, they DO stay where they are, so you're right! So you do have to really be on the ball and make your pets move around and THEN command them to stay. So red light green light, but it does work. Ninjas recently got some extra ranged attacks so it's not AS terrible to have them standing there not using their melee powers, but it's better than the alternative. Though... I noticed that when you set them back to follow they have a panic attack and bolt as if they were in a patch (even long after the patches are gone).

Welllllllllllllllll... I took the time to do a quick high-end build mockup for my Axe/WP brute. I capped out S/L RES and S/L DEF, other DEFs at least high 30s, 2600 maxHP, about 70% global recharge. Set myself up to run +2x8 This set is a BEAST. Even with only moderate recharge I can basically cycle Cyclone, Pendulum, Cleave. Every time enemies drop you just Cyclone pull more in and continue with your AoEs. You don't have to aim to chunk several groups of enemies down. It's a whirlwind of death and destruction. It's fantastic. EDIT: Build for reference

I don't know if this makes you feel better or anything, but all the "heavy" attack sets have high end costs. That goes for axe, hammer, super strength, earth melee, and so on. In fact, all of the powers cost exactly the same amount as they used to even with changes, with the sole exception of Axe Cyclone which now costs about 3.85 endurance more, though its radius also increased from 8 to 15, so I think this is reasonable.

In case people were wondering what the "further adjustments" were, Assault Bot now gets Conserve Power by default (50% uptime). I don't see any other changes (Swarm Missiles is still KB for instance). I watched him for a bit and he'll use it when his endurance gets below about half. It's not going to solve all his endurance problems, but it should help a lot. Ideally you're going to want to slot more endurance reduction in him (which has always been the case for the high end pets anyway). Maintenance Drone changes: It is now indeed non-solid, and you can push it around, which is nice! It should no longer get in the way of anything. I will point out they still act "aggressive" and will try to stick to enemy targets rather than follow you when retreating, unless you run far enough. That's not as much of a problem when they aren't solid, but it does mean they might lag behind and not be available to heal your bots.

So... the zombies get a +maxHP buff now? Did they always?? This is going to be due to level differences. Grave knights are -1 your level and minions -2. Their values are slightly less as a result. Anyway! I'm here to report on the spectres being intangible change is very good. They no longer have hitboxes that block, and you can move right through them without worry. Unlisted in the notes here is that they're now much more translucent and ghostly than last patch, which is a really good change. I like them being visible, but not too distractingly visible with everything else that's going to be going on. Also reporting they are killed by /release_pets (which is good, they should be)

Caltrops, monkey gas, molotov fire patches, and other area patches will cause pets to panic and scatter. Unfortunately they ignore commands and prioritize fleeing for a couple seconds when this happens. This isn't a problem unique to ninja or even MMs because all pets will do this. Though as a mastermind I do wish you could command them to stand still by saying "No seriously, there's no need to run half way across the zone because you took 1 damage." It's particularly bad for ninjas because they have a high movement speed buff AND tend to close into melee. So they will scatter at high speeds, then run back for an attack, and scatter again.

I would also point out, two of your three attacks do knockback, which you'd have to reign in, which is even more work for minimal benefit in this case.

I'm gonna go the other way on this and say, it should just work on all the pets on all targets. Then it won't need an icon or anything. That's how the ninjas work. It boosts all of their crit rates regardless of target. And the math works out on that the same way. A 3% chance to do double damage is just a 3% increase in damage. You can easily keep up with how the buff is being applied (or not) by just looking at your buff icons. The way the mercs version works, it's a very small bonus to a single target. You can't keep track of if it's still up or not. You can't keep track of how many stacks you applied. You still have to actually make sure your pets are attacking that specific target (which wouldn't work if you're doing bodyguard mode). And even if it all goes well and you use all 3 powers and use them it's a 10% damage bonus against... one guy. That's Not Great. So I think it's clumsy all around. It should just be a damage increase to all mercs per attack power used. Call it rally or command or morale or orders or initiative or teamwork or synergy or something. Your soldiers fight harder because you're fighting alongside them.

Okay I did some testing in AE. Pet does 5.6 damage with his attacks. If I pew the guy once the pets' damage boosts up to 5.79 (indeed about 3.33%) Two pews ups it all the way to 5.98 (about 6.66%) If I tell him to change targets, he's back down to 5.6 Back to first target and it's 5.98 So yes the bonus damage only applies to who the MM shot specifically.

It WOULD only be one power, so I wouldn't like, die or anything. Plus you could put one of the ATO sets in it. Ranged sets are always a bummer when I do builds though. In this case it would be a targeted AoE set I believe, so you could at least put Bombardment in it for S/L RES.

Ranged and Targeted AoE sets are definitely not as good or useful for a melee class as the melee sets are (which tend to have S/L/melee DEF or RES in them). Though I know ranged attacks in melee sets tend to take ranged sets, I wish they didn't.

I almost wonder if you should rename it because I was thinking it was only against the person you're attacking, which is more like what "focus fire" would mean. Or does it only work on the one person you're aiming at? Dang I don't even know now.

Testing Axe/WP Brute Level 12, outfitted with DOs Build: Chop, Gash, Pendulum, Taunt, HPT, MoB, Fast Healing, Indomitable Will (skipped Beheader, set has enough ST but I may regret this at low levels) Running on +0x1 with bosses on doing Skulls arc Initial Observations: Pendulum is a TAoE now which still has a description about swinging the axe in an arc in front of you, so that should probably be changed Mission 1: Uhhhhhh, hehehe. These Skulls were dead when I got here officer, I swear. Anyway, blowing through enemies fast, and the AoE on Pendulum is IMPRESSIVE. I have no problem hitting multiple people with it, even when I feel like someone was out of range for it. And it's CRUNCHY when it hits a few people. I will have to turn up the diff quite a bit for the next one. I am currently suffering from the long recharges on powers, but that's my fault for skipping Beheader. It's not even that bad with prestige powers at this level. Also getting use out of Taunt by grabbing a couple spawns to bunch up for Pendulum. Also boss didn't stand a chance. Mission 2: I bumped it to +0x3. Yup, those groups of Skulls charging over to fight me at the corner all got bonked pretty bad. Pretty funny waiting for a group to run over and then sweeping them all off their feet. Also amusing watching Pendulum hit people who are BEHIND me. I'm not complaining though. Twin bosses went down fast, though I was careful to pull enemies so I didn't get swarmed. I'm not sure how much the -DEF is helping but it did seem to offset the -ToHit I was getting at least enough to not whiff attacks. Anyway that was pretty easy and I'm ready to move on. Level 22, switching to SOs (not making THAT mistake again) Build: Adding Combat Jumping, RttC, Swoop, Quick Recovery, Axe Cyclone Running on +1x3 with bosses on, decided to start Ray Cooling's arc in Talos Mission 1: Family. The pull from Axe Cyclone is surprisingly fast, wasn't expecting that. And it has a big radius which sets people up for Pendulum. So it's a good thing Pendulum is such a good power! I think in the future I'd slot Cyclone for recharge before damage given the utility of it. The mission went well playing wisely with positioning. Cyclone actually seems especially useful against a group like Family who will prefer not to close into melee unless you force them. Mission 2: Rogue PPD. Blah. Those extreme levels of -DEF and -rech are not making this easy. Maybe not a good group to test against because of the disgusting amount of debuffs. (Did they seriously drop me from 50% DEF to -50%? Yes they did). Anyway moving on because I'd rather do anything but this. Why did I choose to do this arc again? Level 32, sticking with SOs, dropping one Shield Wall +5% RES all in CJ Build: Adding Heightened Senses, Cleave, Build Up, Kick, Tough Sticking with +1x3 to see how it goes, doing newspapers in FF Mission 1: Sky Raiders. They don't like to group up but that's not too much of a problem because I can force them to! Cleave is hitting multiple targets MUCH more consistently than I thought it would (which is a good thing). If I'm parsing the numbers correctly it still has an end cost like a single target power (like it used to, and like powers like Head Splitter). The ranged aspect also helped a couple times when I wanted to hit something (like a forcefield generator) and didn't want to move. I like the flexibility it offers. Really cool. Mission 2: Freakshow. These guys DO like to group up and I feel sorry for them for it! Not much to comment on here, other than the bosses take a while to chunk down. I don't think they have S/L RES or anything though so it's not a unique weaponset problem. Tiny mouse takes on Freakshow. The AoEs are excellent and it's great taking on groups of enemies with this set now. The fact that they're targeted AoEs now makes them much easier to aim and use, and visualize where they're going to hit. Overall I'd say for groups that already cluster it doesn't change a lot, but Cyclone will sometimes still be useful to drag someone closer. For groups that don't like to cluster (Council, Family) it's extremely useful for dragging people in to be in range of your other AoEs. For groups that refuse to cluster like Sky Raiders it's not exactly going to make them stand still or not teleport, but it's still handy. Overall really fun set and good improvement to what was there. I hope other sets like BS/katana get similar treatments. I'm still not sure this excels over similar other non-weapon sets. The pure S/L aspect of these sets and their lack of potent secondary effects always seems to hold them back. Though the targeted AoEs and vacuum power might give it a niche in broader play.

I do think Super Speed being an exception makes sense, because it always has been. It's always been the only "stealth" power that could be run alongside other stealth powers. Primarily because it's a travel power and the stealth is just a perk. Though I would also note Infiltration should work the same way, because it does the same thing and serves the same function (a travel power). Otherwise, stealth stacking is cool, opens up some new build options, and I have no actual complaints.

Right. Yin is already really short even if you aren't doing a "speedrun." Even if you added nukes to this TF, it's still only a 30 minute TF, it's not going to speed up that much.

That's interesting, I wouldn't've thought to check the Phantom Army powers. This is good though, the little bit of stun and knockdown edges it forward a bit to make up for the lack of taunt. I do think it is another reason to warrant renaming the power.

Latest patch made some power tweaks so I may as well do a comparison for beta vs live. Battle Drones: Laser Burst sped up, RES moved to Equip Equip: Heavy Laser Burst sped up and KB is KD Upgrade: Full Auto Laser significantly sped up, now gets Overcharged Burst attack (KD) Protector Bots: Laser Burst sped up, RES moved to Equip Equip: Heavy Laser Burst sped up and KB is KD, now gets Plasma Cross attack, no longer gets Repair at this upgrade Upgrade: Photon Grenade sped up, Seeker Drones sped up, now gets Overcharged Burst attack (KD), gets Repair (significantly sped up) Assault Bot: Plasma Blast sped up and KB is KD, -regen moved to MM attacks, RES moved to Equip Equip: Dual Plasma Blast significantly sped up and KB is KD, Flamethrower significantly sped up, now gets Heavy Plasma Blast attack (KD) Upgrade: Swarm Missiles* significantly sped up, Incendiary Swarm Missiles significantly sped up, now gets Overcharged Burst attack (KD) * Swarm Missiles is the only power that's still a KB. I don't know if this is intended or not, just noting it TL;DR version: Most power cast times reduced, more attacks here and there, nearly all KB is now KD Current observation is that the Assault Bot and Protector bots now struggle a lot with endurance. They burn out fast, even with 1x End slotted in them.

Logging in to check the powers and compare it to City of Data.

I believe the current version works this way. Every sentinel can drop a -5% but there's one -20% that can be active at any given time. Allowing this new version to stack, even in a limited capacity, would make sense Also this isn't really related to anything, but the old version allowed you to change the color of the reticle based on the power customization on the power you were using. Now that it's its own power, would it be reasonable to allow power customization on it so you can color it to your liking?

As far as power changes for the zombies go, there's very little. The RES was moved to the first upgrade like other sets. Lich gets Petrifying Gaze at the first upgrade instead of second. The knights do have Death Shroud now though, so both of them contribute a bit of extra damage by virtue of having damage toggles going at all times. You can see the power icon and the FX here. As of this latest patch the spectres look like this. They still have hitboxes BTW which I'd rather they didn't since you can get 3 and can't control them. They even get in the way and jostle you a bit when they appear. I also noticed while playing ninjas that you get power icons on your buff bar to indicate the crit chance buff being active, one for each power that's contributing. Zombies instead gives you a single stacking icon instead of distinguishing which power summoned a spectre. I'd much rather it work the way ninjas does.

Ninjas powers and numbers changes that I can see by comparing to City of Data: Genin: DEF moved to Train Train: Grants a second (stronger) shuriken power, +11.25% DEF to melee/range, 15% to AoE Kuji-In Zen: Now gets Exploding Shuriken, now gets Kuji-In Sha (self heal); enhanceable in this power (Crane Kick still does KB if you were wondering) Jounin: DEF moved to Train Train: Grants Soaring Dragon at this level, their Placate is AoE (like players), gets Hide at this level, +15% DEF to melee/range, 30% to AoE (10% AoE seems to suppress if not Hidden) Kuji-In Zen: Now gets Golden Dragonfly (instead of Head Splitter I guess), now gets Kuji-In Sha (self heal); enhanceable in this power Oni: DEF moved to Train (still has RES to smash/lethal/fire) Train: +18.75% DEF to melee/range, 25% to AoE Kuji-In Zen: Now gets Kuji-In Sha (self heal); enhanceable in this power Also worth noting but after the first upgrade they chill in Ninja Run mode. Is that new? Wow I haven't played ninjas since like CoV launched.

6.18% range and 3.71% AoE DEF, for all pets (actually it's ever so slightly more for the commando?? Literally only 0.04% more. EDIT: This is probably a result of level scaling and should probably be a static value regardless of level). The Spec Ops also get DEF from their stealth. It takes full slotting so +55% should be about 9.5% range and 5.7% AoE. Also off topic but the summon and buff animations for mercs are extremely long, can we do something about that?

Testing Bots/Dark Level 12, outfitted with DOs (mostly acc/end, some prestige enhancements for damage and procs) Build: All 3 attacks, bots, equip. Twilight and Tar Patch Running on +0x1 with bosses on doing Skulls arc Pets Observation: They all have RES to lethal/cold/psi (18.75% drones, 25% protectors), with 13% DEF from the protector bot buff Mission 1: Killing is going really fast, the bots do good damage and the plasma attack breaks up the sea of red. Damage wise, if in tar patch a volley from the whole crew can kill a lieutenant. Bots doing KD now is nice, though I noticed my laser attack still does KB (which isn't that big a deal). Bots stay where they are and I haven't noticed them moving around in combat at all. Boss fight was a little rough but no bot deaths. Might need to raise diff. Mission 2: Set diff to +0x2 cause I know this mission has some ambushes and a double boss. Ambush went well, all 3 waves. Bots behaved and clustered up so they could be healed. Noticing the ages old issue of pets having trouble keeping up over long distance runs though. They lag behind a lot. Double boss fight was tense but managed without any deaths. At any rate, that's probably enough level 12 for now. Level 22 bump, still on DOs because I'm stupid I guess (still some prestige enhancements) Build: Adding Combat Jumping, Shadow Fall, Maintenance Drone, Fearsome Stare, Assault Bot Running on +1x3 with bosses on, doing newspapers in Talos Pet Observation: At this level you get 1 protector bot (other one comes at 24) so 5 pets. The DEF is up to 16% with 2x slots. Assault bot has 31.25% RES lethal/cold/psi. Maint drone actually has RES too (23.2% to same types). With Shadow Fall pets have around 20% DEF (all) and RES to most damage types (not smash, fire, or toxic). Bug: Maintenance drone's information tab is a broken P-string. Bug: Also not a bug but the right click description for the power is a bit repetitive. Bug: Shadow Fall is currently blinking stacking between 1 and 2 stacks rapidly for some reason. Mission 1: Tsoo. Sorcerers are annoying but that's not new. Killing is a bit slower now, probably because of the DOs, but it does feel disproportionately low. The Maint drone is throwing me off with it being in the pet window. I keep trying to heal it. My suggestion is maybe drop it out of the pet window? It's not like you can do anything about its HP. Might make it easy to lose track of not having but realistically I'm just going to recast it when the recharge comes up like I do for Dark Servant. Also the Maint drone lingers as dead for a pretty long time in the pet window. And WOW these sorcerers are a pain in the ass. Mission 2: Sky Raiders, let's try something easier. Ran across a +2 spawn with a boss and it was like a 3 minute slog, boss kept two-shotting my bots. This might be a purple patch thing though. Trying to contribute with my own attacks burns me out of endurance fast due to those mastermind endurance cost penalties. Also wondering about the Maint drone. It explodes when it's done but you can't slot accuracy, damage, or pet sets in it. It does seem to have +20% accuracy but don't feel like that's enough. I wonder if it would make sense (and help the damage situation a bit) if it had a single attack it used? Even if it managed to draw aggro it's still doing its job of keeping bots alive. Also have to reiterate that it being in the pet window on low HP is really distracting. Anyway, at this point I'm ready to try out the final upgrade. Level 32 bump, bumping to SOs. But adding Edict of the Master for 5% DEF and Sovereign Right for 10% RES. Build: Adding Petrifying Gaze, Upgrade Robot, Darkest Night, Dark Servant, Hasten Running on +1x3 but we'll see if I need to bump it, doing newspapers in Bricks Pet Observation: All pets. DEF (all) is about 28%. Resists range from 10% (from IO) to 41% for assault bot, or 56% on psi (Shadow Fall). Servant gets bubble too Mission 1: Freakshow. Damage is a looooooot better now, burning through minions in about a second and Super Stunner going down pretty quick. Will probably raise the difficulty after this. Protector bots are really struggling for end with 1x End slotted. Assault Bot is only doing okay on that front. Mission 2: Circle. Turned diff up to +1x5. Even on x5 these guys don't stand a chance. The knockdown spam from the bots is pretty satisfying. Though I'm noticing now the maintenance drone tries to engage in combat even though it's not a combat unit. When I order my pets to fall back it doesn't, and unhelpfully floats near some badguys. And-- oop, server shut down. End of feedback I guess!