plainguy

No not moving the goal post. No slotted powers.. Blaster Burst against Merc pet burst I didn't pick the blaster power, you did.. My comment at this simplest is saying Tier 1 pets should be looked at and improved, but first look at what advantage the Mastermind would have if the pets were already summoned with the upgrades in place. Maybe with the pets already upgraded, that might allow for a smoother game play and an overall reduction in DPS for the mastermind. Again I am sure they have some numbers where they want each AT to be DPS wise.

Still now showing me where my math is incorrect. But if you go to city of data and pick the pets they have them at level 50. You have to move the slider to make them 48.. But again the dps changes to fractions less.

PLAYER 16.8916 points of Lethal damage (all affected targets) every 0.3s for 0.91s (100% chance) (target = critter) .9 / .3 = 3 16.89 every .3 seconds for .9 seconds = 16.89 x 3 = 50.67 PETS ( PER PET ) 5.6444 points of Lethal damage (all affected targets) every 0.3s for 0.7s (100% chance) .7 / .3 = 2 5.6 every .3 seconds for .7 seconds = 5.6 x 2 = 11.2 3 Pets 3 x 11.2 = 33.6 I am sure you will show me where my math might be wrong. Mind you if make the pets level 48 its even less damage.

I get what you are saying. They are 48 not 50 in all content other than incarnate. But even lowering to 48 the DPS drops by fractions in city of data,. So I won't squabble over fractions. But as I said there are other factors. There is a to hit factor.. ETC.. Simply mentioned you need all 3 pets alive to do this DPS.. As I further mentioned add in more game play scenarios. Against a minion I am sure 3 Tier 1 pets can take them out without any pet loss. As I already did this test and posted data in another thread using Robots vs AR. the Tier 1 pets were not doing well against Boss demons in P.I. If you are trying to imply that 3 tier 1 pets can out dps a 50 blaster I will say no. I "MIGHT" go to test and see if I can make a 50 Merc and Blaster and just record dps damage against target dummy in Rikti zone as that is the best you can do. Fighting against NPC mobs, depending on the mob they (the pets) will get destroyed.

I don't know the numbers or how to accurately get the numbers. Further the Devs don't need to prove SH!T to me. But I would like to see the the DPS numbers of the Tier 1 pets vs a level 50 mob based on the Mastermind DPS rating which includes resummoning as needed to complete the fight. Then if the numbers add up, then I wouldn't keep pushing the issue. My personal belief is that between the level difference and the resummoning that the total DPS for the Tier 1 pet is under performing compared to whatever is expected for a similar power for that level. If I am still not making sense I will try to explain it this way. For the sake of clarity. If a Mastermind can only do 80% of the max damage a Blaster can, then it will take that much longer to kill a mob. So a 1000 HP mob would take 10 hits from a Blaster level 1 attack power doing 100dps over X amount of time, whereas a Mastermind Tier 1 pet would should take 12.5 attacks doing 80dps over X amount of time. So in theory if both attacks used 3 endurance with a recharge rate of 3 seconds it would take a Blaster 30 seconds and 30 endurance to kill the mob off, whereas the Tier 1 pet would take 37.5 second and 37.5 endurance to kill the mob off. But that is assuming the Tier 1 pet were equal in level to the Blaster level 1 attack which they are not. The Tier 1 pet is 2 levels lower at level 50. So in essence it is a level 48 attacking a level 50. So there are not to hit mechanics and lower DPS values that come into play because they are level 48. The next issue is are we saying that 3 Tier 1 pets are at 80% value in DPS output to a level 1 Blaster attack? If so, then if one pet is lost the DPS output would decrease and the kill time would increase even more. I understand the quick notion that comes up is the pets are fire and forget. In this simple scenario the pets and the mob keep slugging it out until the Mastermind, Pets or Mob dies. But we do need to account for resummoning time. We need to account for defenses and resistances. Basically actual game play. Again I also know there can be a rebuttal of yea, but that is just your Tier 1 pet.. You have other pets as well attacking that mob. My response is do you? Is it a requirement to have ALL your pets attack one mob at a time? Mind you this is what do. I go top down in strength and let the AOE damage kill off the minions. But I don't know what others do or dare say what they are required to do in their own gameplay. There is a reason why you can control 3 sets of pets independently. Simply put, without doing all the number crunching and testing and statistics.. I will say Tier 1 pets suck and are lacking. As has been stated numerous times Masterminds clearly show their weaknesses during TF and are useless at higher TF settings. The Devs should look at the Tier 1 pet output. There has to be some numbers or based rating that say .1 endurance equals .50 DPS per second then modified by AT value. Followed by some kill ratio factor. Meaning players should be able to smash buttons to kill X amount of mobs per hour to feel entertained and not feel bored or have a feeling of a sluggish slow paced Archtype. If Tier 1 pets are not meeting these basic needs or values then something is wrong with them.

Said this before, I will say it again. The pets should come automatically summoned with upgrades once you pick the power. So at level 50 when summoning pets you pay the 6, 19 and 13 endurance then 23 endurance for the 2 pet upgrades. You pay no more for pet upgrades as long as you have a pet out. So only on a full wipe do you pay full boat again. This would allow for more of a fluid game play for masterminds. I would like to also say that pet summoning should come with an immunity timer. Meaning the pets cannot be harmed for X amount of seconds after summoning. Personally I notice that Mobs can attack pets and pets cannot fight back or will not fight as they are being summoned. So basically mobs are getting in free hits on the pets whom are defenseless. But again I am mentioning it but should be a different topic. Just address the pet upgrade gripe.

Assuming the Mastermind can keep the pets alive.. What should be determined is the DPS of the pets vs similar attacks for that tier based on other AT against the DPS factor. I am sure there is a DPS value each AT is expected to put out or not put out. I am guessing each tier power has a max and min dps rating so they ( the devs ) know where a powers stands. That being said.. Mastermind Tier 1 powers I am sure will be lacking in the sense they cap out a max of lvl 48 and the Tier 2 pet will be capped out at level 49. Where at everyone's attacks including the masterminds personal attacks do not cap out. So that being said. Mastermind Tier 1 Minions should be hitting and putting out the same DPS as every other AT of course minus the AT DPS Factor. To be clear again, I am sure that they ( the devs) have some thing in place that says this attack from this archtype should be doing this much damage and not more than this much damage to balance it out against other archtypes. It would be ridiculous that a Mastermind specific ranged attack for example based on solely the attack would be out DPS'ing a Blaster or Corruptor for example. So my question is, have the Devs looked into this? Then add in some real life variance into this like resummoning. Let them equate what a is expected or would be expected in game play. Maybe look at live in game data from masterminds and the actual amount of resummoning per pet type. Maybe they look back and see a Robot mastermind on average is resummoning 5 times an hour, whereas a Ninja might be resummoning 8 times an hour. Which would mean Ninja on average have a less dps per hour rating then robots.. Because re-summoning and upgrading is down time.

I like what biostem mentioned. Or something along these lines Mercenaries Burst, Slug, and M30 Grenade Each of these attacks applies a Focused Fire tag on the target for 30s. Each power's tag will increase Mercenary ranged damage by 3.33%, up to a maximum of 10%.

Ahh.. The man who taught me about Defense Cap all those years ago.. Love to see you posting.. Nothing but respect and love here..

So we need animators that are looking to volunteer and do free work. Would students looking to do an internship under the one Lead Animator help? Could Homecoming team accept a service/donation from someone at no cost to them? Meaning someone hires an animator to create a few sets. Again at no cost to Homecoming? Again under the supervision of the Lead Animator What would this cost? Ball Park number?

Option.. No one said requirement.. Similar to how you use converters now to some degree. Would require some new user interfaces. As further example in my fantasy of this. You put 3 yellow defense IOs to make an orange Defense IO. No converter gives you a random orange defense IO. 1 converter gives you the choice of getting an orange from the current yellow sets you are using to convert. 2 converters gives you the choice of which orange IO you want. Again this 2 converter just an example.. It could be 10.. Whatever sort of balance is required I leave to the Devs and overall beta testers to decide. I am looking at this from a player that does NOT play the market.. For the players that play the market resources is not an issue. I have limited resources. I save my stuff over time.. I do TF to get merits.. If you put a gun to my head I would zero clue what the trick is to get anything from the market.. I am that buy it now creeper guy.. I don't place bids and wait a week to see what happens..

Personally I believe we have some decent amount of powers sets per Archtype. What I would like to see is OPTIONS for current Power sets. It doesn't have to be a million options, one or two at a time for testing would be nice. As an example Dual Pistols have the options for Dual laser pistols with sounds to with them. Maybe some different animations for Dual Pistols. Again just using Dual pistols as an example. Everyone talks about different Mastermind pets.. Maybe try different Robot options for Robot Mastermind set. I understand the fear of creating specific human customization for pets.. So just do Robots for now.. See how it sits.. Add in a Staff animation for Fire Blast or Energy Blast.. Again make it all or nothing for now.. So either it is all Staff or all Classic. Later on you can work out the mechanics for mixing Staff and classic animations. I just believe that new animations would give some life to some power sets. Again it's just a new fresh look on a power set. As another example I believe certain power sets such as Plant Control would look great as different animations all together. For example from Plant Control, I could see more of an Earth type affect with them. Carrion Creeper would be thin stalks of earth. Spore burst would be stone spikes shooting out. So instead of the blocky earth holds we have now it would be more thin and vine type. Then it would be nice to have the options that earth has. Like Crystal, or Lava.. ETC.. Nature Affinity Entangling Aura have an option for something that is less flowery Again making this clear I am not saying do 100.. I am saying pick one.. Pick an easy win.. Test it out. See what players think.. Dual uzi for full auto attack in AR https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxV4thWO_Ifkefy5QJjxY47_MjLYpw4hON I think as you do enough of these, that this will be the catalyst for newer power sets down the line. Where you will be pulling one animation from here with a power set and then another and call it elementalist for example where you will have earth, water, air and fire combined into one set. Right now what we have is just many cookie cutter builds animation wise.. Meaning 3 Robot Masterminds in the same room have EXACTLY the same Robots.. How could that be? 3 Blasters having Fire Blast or even 3 Blasters and 3 Corruptors having Fire Blast all have the same attacks appearance wise? Super Heroes/Villain's usually manifest the same powers but in different ways in the movies.. We both have laser beam eyes but yours is more of a laser where someone else might be more of a fire type of attack. But we are doing the same damage game mechanic wise.. Maybe down the line Plant Control becomes something called Element Control where you have so many options that simulate what plant control does but in a different format or appearance and Plant is just one of those animation options within this power set choice. Assault Rifle might become Assault Weapon one day due to the many different animation options available. Dual Pistol becomes Dual ranged weapons. At the end this probably more for the person who is into roleplaying or big into costume and thematic builds. Between costumes and build changes there is only so many Fire Fire Blasters you can build.

Why not just get rid of salvage all together and incorporate those cost into the price of the IO or crafting the IO. It would be less data to store all around.. Then rework the system around IO set crafting and combinations. Example off the top of my head. 3 yellow con IOs from a specific IO Type can be crafted into an Orange Con IO of that same IO Type. So you would need 3 yellow IOs from Defense to make an Orange Defense IO. Then add Merits or other IOs to get a specific IO you might want or take a chance at a random Orange IO from that Type. The average player will not give a Sh*t enough to play the market game.. I don't and wouldn't.. No one is making money on salvage. Different conned IOs would be of more value and I am sure those working the market would figure out the market angle on that..

Just the option for less robots that are equivalent to 6.

I thought some players figured out or there might have been some changes that allowed you to stay gold and level to 50. I recall seeing a post a while back regarding this. Did some searching but couldn't find the work around thread, I thought I seen..

I would take anything that would make building out a level 50 character much easier..

Not going to arm chair the coding. The game works.. I personally never had any crazy issue I can account for playing the game. It worked back then with thousands of players. It works now.. They created new power sets. They modified power within Masterminds which I keep hearing is difficult to work with because the powers and pets are baked in. But suffice to say they made changes. They added salvage to the game. They added NPC to collect this salvage. They created new story arches. Yes I recall seeing the post on how they were testing and things they learned along the way. The crazy shaped legs on NPC and such.. I just think it is reaching when people speaking on behalf of other people, which includes the devs. Pretty much strawman.

I disagree in the following sense. I would suggest that current powers would originate from a staff or a wand or both based on character customization. So your Fireball might come from a Staff but your Flares attack comes from a wand. Personally I think this is the direction that Homecoming should go. Work on different animations for the current power sets. EG dual pistols could be dual laser pistols, Assault Rifle attacks originating from different animations, Full auto is off a shoulder mounted weapon predator style, Or 2 Uzi being fired.

I wouldn't mind the cone to be a bit wider.. I don't know about anyone else, I notice sometimes I only hit the front mob and no one else. It is like I am not hitting everything within the cone. Also notice when you hover and shoot down this happens or is noticeable a bit more.

I like some of the ideas. But as mentioned there should always be an choice to make a change. Again the first draft isn't always the final draft. So I think the savage attack options would be nice. I think all one pet type would be nice. I think different types of animals would be nice.

I have to disagree in the sense that the AH exist and it much more massive in keeping record of all the transactions across all the servers. Each IO, salvage is a unique identifier. Your just adding up the total IDs on an account. Just like they can see how many characters are created around Primary and Secondary builds I am sure they have tools to review other items like Influence, Infamy and Merits.

No Not Access to AH.. Access to other characters inventory within your own account or those allowing access within the supergroup.

What if they created a super computer in the SG base. Just like you can spend 10 million for a IO invention table. This is similar. Placing this Super Computer gives you access to all the inventory on your characters on YOUR account.. Maybe the Super Computer could have access to the SG base Storage as well with a tic box in the SG settings.. This way if you have a solo SG base you can access everything between the SG and account.

Maybe its a Hover thing.. Or they changed it.. But the Jetpack is a great simple find

I don't think you need Tactics for the extra To Hit. I think it is over kill. I would stick with Assault. Here is the deal. First off Full Auto while Hovering is a bit wonky.. I don't understand how it works completely, but when hovering it's like it missing mobs. Overall I think something weird is going on with Full Auto honestly. The other thing is you will have to turn off hover and fly to place trip mines. End result if you are flying around, you will see that you will not be placing Trip Mines down that much. Further, when you turn off Hover your defenses on both range and S/L will drop so you will much lower in defenses. Not the end of the world if you have a purple inspiration or can make one. My first build with the spiders is what I was running BEFORE the changes to Trip Mine because it was useless and difficult to place as I would just get interrupted and loose endurance for nothing. So I went with a hover blaster that would just fly out of melee range when needed to force mobs to range attacks. But once the changes were made I intended on making changes to my build. The build I posted above is now my 2nd build. I kept the first one. I just don't think you will get the use out of Trip Mines as much and you will have to make sure you eat a purple inspiration otherwise hits will go through..