Bionic_Flea

Had some time to play Sonic Melee. I made a Sonic/Energy Brute and leveled him to 20 solo with mostly SOs (I can't help but slot Panacea proc and a few others ASAP). I completed both Posi TFs. My doppelganger was pretty easy and I defeated Dr V without any temp pets. It got hairy a few times when ambushes came, but I was able to keep attuned on him while I took care of the add ons and earned a few clutch inspirations. Occasionally hitting him with T1 or T2 meant he wasn't regenerating much, if at all. After that, I auto-leveled to 30 and slotted some IO sets. So far, I only ran the first mission from Gordon Bower at *4. He handled the Tuatha really well. Same as Dr V.: target the boss with attune, slap him once, then take care of his friends. I was also able to herd a couple of groups together so I will turn up the difficulty. While I think it performs fine, it does feel clunky to reapply attune and use the first two attacks so much. The icons, animations, and sounds are mainly from blasts and so I find myself with cognitive dissonance -- it feels like I should be blasting and not punching. Sometimes I wonder why my attack isn't going off and it's because the target is 10 feet away. Too far! I agree with some that the animations should either be all punches/arm movement or at least have an option to choose the animations. Then you could be a hand waver, a screamer, or some combination. I also think that it would be neat and different if Sonic melee had the longest distance melee attacks of at least 10 feet. That makes sense as sound travels a lot more than just seven feet. Perhaps even giving it spill-over AoE damage. So for example, 7 feet range for main target who takes full damage, but those within 10-15 feet take a smaller amount of spill-over damage. OH! And I forgot to add, I hate the "pspspsps" whispers sound effect when I use Sandman's Whisper. It's distracting and creepy. I'll add more as I play a few more levels.

I have at least 1 level 50 of every AT. I was surprised to see that the thing I have most of is controllers. But I do like them, Defenders, and Corrupters the most. I also have a bunch of Brutes and Tankers. The things I have the least of are Sentinels, HEATs, VEATs, Stalkers, and Dominators. PS - Are folks hand counting for their posted lists? Or is there some kind of tool that can do that?

I just noticed that Sandman's Whisper on a brute adds -res but only with Fiery Embrace. Is that accurate? Seems odd to me.

That is a great name. I think we may see a lot of Karens in the near future.

Uun, would you be a mensch and do that again exemped down to a lower level . . . or levels if feeling extra generous! But I also Uunderstand if you don't want the extra work.

Here's an idea and I don't know if it is possible, but . . . could you convert the +recharge set bonuses into +speed for the pets? At least those set bonuses will contribute something.

Or you can Speed run a few no-star Aeons for a chance to win the D-sync lottery, then slot it or sell it to pay for your entire build.

Quite interesting, my dear man. Quite interesting indeed!

Is it pronounced "MergerRoger" but a bit more mumbled?

OMG! This is so true. I started my recent MM testing on a live fire Pylon and had exactly that happen a few times. That's when I gave up and went to the "passive" ones instead. Making the pets have a few seconds to finish the summon animation and get buffed would be great. But I don't think you could buff them if they were "untouchable" as I know I frequently get frustrated when I try to protect a teammate with a shield or mez protection and see the word "unaffected" float by.

I posted some new times for Test pylon and three different dummies (50, 52, 54). A BIG improvement at +4, about the same on the others. Here for the dummies a little further back for the pylon -

Check the focused feedback threads on masterminds. Essentially, new MMs are slightly worse off against even and +1 foes, about even at +2 and +3, and better at +4 and over.

Have you read the patch notes yet, Sai?

I miss them from the chat box icon. Muscle memory is hard to break, but I realize you need more real estate to get to +7.

So, I did the +4 Vanguard Dummy on test. I should also say that I am +1 and slotted with all the I-powers, but I'm not using any except for Alpha (Intuition Radial Paragon) and Interface (Degenerative Partial Radial). I also have Hybrid support but that only grants passive endurance. I'm not toggling it on for the extra damage. I'll try it again on Live in a few minutes. Test 50+4: Live 50+4: So +4 faster on test by a decent amount. Going for +2 next. 50+2 Live: 50+2 Test: Essentially tied at +2. Level 50 next (remember I am +1) Level 50 on Live: Level 50 on Test: Also essentially identical. So at least for me on this build, the changes are not helping me at 50 or 50+2 but a decent boost for me on 50+4., at least against a pylon or dummy that aren't fighting back. I'll try to run an identical AE mission at the same levels . . . but I might not be able until the weekend. After patch on test (Brainstorm): 50 Even - Identical 50+2 - 4 seconds slower, but I missed that Accelerated Metabolism had recharged. 50+4 - A SUBSTANTIAL improvement to both Live and pre-patch Brainstorm.