tjknight

The post above sums it up perfectly. I've found my weaker Masterminds are much more enjoyable to play. I'm re-summoning my pets less often and can keep up with teammates in TF's and regular missions. I realize I'm in the minority here, but that's been my experience. My Masterminds are doing well and seem to be handling missions more smoothly. And I'll add that +0 is a cakewalk for Masterminds now, an absolute breeze. *ducks and hides*

I ran a TF with some friends (the new KW one) and honestly, it's a nice change. Trust me, you will not be steamrolling most content, and it's nice to be able to keep up with teammates on task and strike forces without having to stop and resummon pets constantly because they keep dying. Even then, I still got hammered in the final mission of the Task Force, because AoE's are still the bane of Masterminds (as they should be!). I'll try some solo content on one of my lower level MM's but so far, the change doesn't feel overpowered, the devs did a good job balancing this one imho.

Okay, now I'm intrigued, this sounds really interesting! I too have found the changes a nice boost to pet survivability. IMO ... My Thugs/Empathy MM has much better pet survivability on Beta than on live. Your post has me wanting to check in and see what bonuses from the sets, plus the Empathy buffs, are what I'm noticing.

A little more subjective feedback: I intentionally started play-testing my Masterminds that have less-than-ideal power set combinations and struggle on live. Tonight, I ran a small test with an unusual but strong combo (Necromancy/FF). I noticed a negative performance difference at +4, which I believe is due to the buffed +5 mobs appearing in +4 missions, as another player has also suggested. My necro/ff handled the +4 council fine, but was devastated by the +5 council. Also, the +4 council mobs seemed to take longer to defeat than they do on live. This is all subjective feedback. My impressions are: 1. These changes will make those MM builds that struggle on live right now somewhat better due to the level shift and pet buffs. 2. High-performing builds will feel slightly weaker due to the changes and the increased difficulty of the mobs.

I've been running +2 and +3 so h ave not been encountering +5 enemies. That may be the diffrence. Also Gang War is spawning at 50 (+1) on beta. While on live they are spawning at 48 (+1) ... and I have Gangwar near perma on the Empathy build. That's probably a contributing factor.

Yes it was terrible. So, some subjective feedback from my experience on the test server so far: I've been playing my Thugs/Empathy (full level 50 with Incarnates and set bonuses) and my Thugs/Dark MM (level 34 with basic IOs, no set bonuses or incarnates) on content that is challenging for them on live. I've noticed a significant improvement in their survivability and ability to complete content. My Thugs/Empathy character struggled on live with the Khalisti Wharf repeatables, with the pets dying frequently. On the beta test, he can complete those repeatables with much less difficulty. He was also able to defeat Silver Mantis in the Black Scorpion arc, a mission that completely wiped this character on live. As this toon has no access to reliable debuffs outside of the pets. It feels like the level shift, plus set bonuses now affecting the pets, were contributing factors. I've had to heal the pets much less frequently the beta server than I do on live. My level 34 Thugs/Dark MM is effectively running the Doc Buzzsaw arc on the beta server, which is an arc I quit in frustration on live because the pets simply couldn't survive the buffed Vahzilok enemies. I know there are tweaks that need to be made and concerns raised by others. But overall, these changes feel good and I think will make MM's more viable in late game content.

Gemini's rendering of my mutant technopath Mastermind.

This definitely has inspired me to dig my Gravity/FF out of mothballs and rework him! I also like the build's very economic use of IOs that isn't too expensive. Fantastic write-up, this should be stickied.

While discussing Masterminds and the sometimes frustrating team setup process, I had an idea: what if pet upgrade powers were passive abilities, always active? This would eliminate the need for Masterminds to upgrade their pets upon summoning. I believe this concept has been discussed before. Also, how can one formally submit a suggestion like this to the development team?

I have a Dark/Nin Sentinel as well, and it's a good all-around soloing, jack-of-all-trades build. It debuffs a little, provides some crowd control, is survivable, and has modest DPS. My Dual Pistol/Super Reflexes is also a great all-arounder. Which is what I think Sentinels really are... a good all-around archetype that doesn't really excel in any one area, but does lots of things well enough to fill in missing roles if needed or to solo painlessly without a costly build.

I don't believe that proc will have any effect on the pet or you if slotted in the upgrade. Only specific procs are beneficial, as Maelwys mentioned. Here's a helpful thread discussing this in more detail.

This is actually a pretty solid team make up... Nice really like the concept and design. Good homage, without being a copy past copy of the original team.

Sentinels are actually closer in design to the Epic AT's. They are designed to be Jack of all trades hybrids. They should not and never will do the same level of damage as blasters. However, they are competitive enough to team well and are great for beginners to learn the game. There are certain power combinations that stick out on Sentinels such as Electric/Electric, Dark/SR, and Fire/Bio. All pretty durable.. Dual Pistols or Beam Rifle are also quite nice on Sentinels.

Robotics + Force Fields is the epitome of lazy, effective play. When properly built, you become a walking tank. There's also build room to include Taunt, which you can spam while your pets attack, bubble, and self-heal.

No major feedback. I just wanted to say thank you for the hard work put into this. It's very much appreciated by those of us where getting bored in P.I.