Gun Drone 2.0, mixed reviews

[The Godchild]

Really, I'm not 100% sure why anyone felt the need to add the taunt factor to it. Gun drone was fine before...but now, ehhhhh....I summon it, and it basically dies 3-5 seconds later because its taunt is a mag 4 AoE around it, not something tied to the attack its using on someone. This is not a helpful change I must say...

 

The glaring issues with the drone are as follows:

• Vulnerability to 2 common damage types (+20% from Smash and Fire) and weird res to other types (50% lethal, 30% cold and 70% psi) that don't really matter too much since it doesn't give it any lasting power regardless. Toxic damage eats through it like paper, as does negative and energy...3 extremely common damage types at endgame.
• It can't be healed, buffed or supported in ANY way (except +damage) because of all the 100% resistances to buffs it has. How can you have it tank when you can't support it at all?
• Its taunt is an aura around itself, not the target its attacking. Unless you stand right next to the drone, its taunt is useless since it tends to remain in the same spot till you move a significant distance away from it. More often though it collects a bunch of dudes around it that it's not even attacking and dies soon after because it has no means of defending itself or prioritizes nearby targets.
• The drone acts like it has less range then the player that summoned it, it'll just float there doing nothing most times unless you intentionally move in closer to the range where enemies can see/react to your presence. I know this was a pet mechanic they had to add in to force MM pets to actually use their melee attacks (ninja shuriken spamming waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day for instance), but this is a ranged-only pet with an attack range that's the same as a player (80'-ish range) that won't acknowledge anything unless it moves within about half that range.

 

Possible changes that could be made to make gun drone more viable as a tank pet:

• Vastly increased regen/add a HoT/self-repair function or remove the 100% healing resistance
• Remove the PBAoE Aoe taunt, replace with a single target (or even an aoe) taunt tied to the target its attacking...possible debuffs to add to this feature like -damage or -tohit
• Increase is resistances considerably, remove damage vulnerabilities...possible immune to toxic and psi damage since its a machine, it already has immunity to all status-type effects to that end.
• Increase passive defenses to a level that would make it much harder to hit compared to the 0% defense it has atm (it also can't be +defense buffed because of its resistance to it :/)
• Add another attack that is an aoe of some kind, be it cone or targeted. The drone only has a single ST attack at present., something like a flash bang or seeker drone would be a good compliment to it for tanking. The Sniper/gunslinger from The Old Republic comes to mind since they had a concussion blast that was a pbaoe knockback to give you some safe space when people close in, something like that as a knockdown/disorient would be a great help.
• Vastly reduce the recharge to make it more of an on-demand tank pet. Presently with 100% rech bonus and about 50% rech slotting it comes up in about 80 seconds vs the 90 second 'active' time, not helpful when it gets destroyed in less then 10 seconds. You can have more then 1 drone out presently, but changing it to only allow a single drone wouldn't be hard to do, they nerfed storm's Painclouds to only have 1 out at a time afterall so its not like they couldn't make that change to gun drone as well.
• Reduce the taunt mag down to a level below what a player can generate normally so npc's favor taunting players over the drone, I've watched brutes taunt something only to have it turn on my drone instead since the mags were identical and the drone had attacked more recently. Mag 1 or 2 would be perfectly viable for an off-tank role, and wouldn't impact anything while solo.

 

Personally I'm of the opinion that gun drone should be reverted back to the pre-taunt state since its not a pet that's designed to tank anything...its a dps pet with a single ST attack and a very limited range (less then a player has normally) and nothing that makes it strong enough to take any degree of attention from more then a single source. The notion of trying to have it do something else is nice...but honestly its not designed for the role its now been given, either revert it back or make it actually tanky to compensate for its new role. Till then, imma just not summon it and focus on keeping my distance and popping heads off with Sniper Rifle.

 

Edited September 21, 2019 by The Godchild
Additional thoughts/info

[KaizenSoze]

Do you fight mostly on the ground? I am not having this issue, because the gun drone is up in the air with me.

 

The drone does get massacred in melee though.

 

Overall, I like having the taunt.

[Neogumbercules]

Personally I think the thing should have more attacks and it should be buffable.  I'd also love if it was an auto power and just resummoned itself a short time after being destroyed. 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Neogumbercules

[The Godchild]

I'm ground-bound...so yeah, the usual flight-based benefits obviously affect it, but that just adds even more layers of issues to the drone:

 

How does it taunt when you're too far away for its aura to work?

Why does it even need a taunt when you're flying?

 

It makes me head hurt thinking about it >.<

[nihilii]

Agreed, it's an odd design choice. Gun Drone found its niche for me as a "one hit shield". If you like soloing AVs this can be the difference between life and death sometimes. But frankly, sticking taunt onto a pet that dies in a single hit from anything beyond a lieutenant isn't so helpful in a general sense.

[Redlynne]

Given the ... structure ... game mechanically speaking ... of how the Gun Drone operates, sticking a Taunt on it is just a "Kill Me Now!" declaration.  It's not a Pet that is designed to take aggro.  Forcing the Gun Drone to STEAL aggro via Taunt is just counterproductive and ultimately self-defeating (to the Gun Drone).

 

If the Gun Drone had 90% Resistance vs All it would make more sense ... but with damage vulnerabilities? ... makes remarkably little sense.

[Shoulung]

What’s more annoying is that the npc gun turrets take more damage to destroy than the minions that summon them; would be nice if ours were the same way 

[The Godchild]

...oh dear god, don't even get me started on the malta gun drones >.< Those things are insane damage sponges...and one of the most aggressive pets, they 'will' chase you across a map without a care.

[Neogumbercules]

Gun drone needs a rocket attack. 

[Rathulfr]

Just now, Neogumbercules said:

Gun drone needs a rocket attack. 

Sounds like a personal problem to me. 😉

[KaizenSoze]

I find gun drone a useful pest. Helps finish off and distracts mobs.

 

Also, it can take, the Recharge Intensive Pets set, which nets you 3.15% range def and a pet resist aura which toughen ups the drone.

 

Recharge Intensive Pets:

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Enhancement_Sets#Recharge_Intensive_Pets

 

 

[TheAdjustor]

It seems like it would be really useful for eating an alpha on your behalf.

[The Godchild]

4 hours ago, TheAdjustor said:

It seems like it would be really useful for eating an alpha on your behalf.

I'd be a bit more behind that idea if they made 3 changes:

• Drop the recharge down so you can summon it more often for that sole purpose, and reduce the 'active' time down accordingly...maybe like 30 seconds down from 90 seconds.
• Be able to summon it via a targeted location like most other pets, since it presently appears directly beside you with no other option.
• Give it an alpha attack that it'll reliable use the moment after it's summoned (seeker drone/flashbang/etc effect).

That'd actually make it useful for a solo blaster, something you can drop into a mob, have it mez or otherwise distract while you rip off an aoe or 3 into the group from a safe distance rather then having to get within groping distance of mobs.

 

11 hours ago, KaizenSoze said:

Also, it can take, the Recharge Intensive Pets set, which nets you 3.15% range def and a pet resist aura which toughen ups the drone.

That 10% res aura isn't enough of a bandaid to deal with the 2 vulnerabilities...smashing damage is literally the most common damage type in the game next to lethal, and fire is nottoo far behind either. Lets not even get into energy damage and its 0% res to that.

Edited September 23, 2019 by The Godchild

[SlimPickens]

Everything i worried about when i heard the taunt was being put in is exactly what has come to pass... a flimsy pet that already had trouble staying alive to deal any damage is now dead within seconds of casting because it aoe taunts (while still having only pitiful single target dot damage itself, poor resists, and no def/hps or real mitigation of any type)

 

I am built to withstand hits through my softcapped def and resist shields, but unfortunately my drone now thinks its the tank and pulls my aggro before doing much of any damage itself, which is the only purpose of the drone, additional damage. its no longer worth the time it takes to cast it.

 

To sum up, the gun drone changes are terrible. I would like to see it either reverted to its old bad but not terrible self, or actually improved with more attacks and higher damage and remove the taunt aura, or buff the mitigation of it and leave the pitiful damage as is, and make it a mini tankbot. But currently its neither a dps or tank pet, its just bad at everything.

[Redlynne]

Now, if the Gun Drone swapped the Taunt effect for a Placate effect ...

[The Godchild]

1 hour ago, Redlynne said:

Now, if the Gun Drone swapped the Taunt effect for a Placate effect ...

Gun Drone: "Hey boss, I found some angry guys that wanna talk to ya!"

Me: "...god damn it"

 

...think that sums it up pretty well.

[City_of_Jedi]

So... is the consensus, then, to skip Gun Drone until it is improved from its current state? 

[The Godchild]

Its good for a set bonus if you have some build room, but otherwise...take at your own discretion till something new happens.

[Herotu]

On 9/20/2019 at 2:00 PM, Redlynne said:

Given the ... structure ... game mechanically speaking ... of how the Gun Drone operates, sticking a Taunt on it is just a "Kill Me Now!" declaration.

... or... "Hey! That drone is the most dangerous thing on the battlefield, take it out first!". It seems a neat way to add a little AI to a game in dire need of it.

[SlimPickens]

On 9/24/2019 at 8:11 PM, City_of_Jedi said:

So... is the consensus, then, to skip Gun Drone until it is improved from its current state? 

Honestly, Id say yes with the caveat that the 4 pc expedient reinforcement set has very nice set bonuses and if you have no other powers that would provide significant upsides than taking gun drone, then I still take it and just dont really bother to cast it much.

 

The other thing to keep in mind is you can put out 2x gun drones at once in high recharge builds, so that way it may be bad, but at least its bad...twice as much. so can absorb a couple more hits for you or do one more string of 200 dot damage before dying. Thats all hinged on the thin presumption that the first drone lives long enough to meet the second though.

 

So yeah, if theres something even remotely more attractive to your build or you cant spare enough slots to use expedient then I would by all means skip it, but if you have nothing better to take, then by all means, use it as a mule you may or may not cast or consider useful in practice.

Edited September 26, 2019 by SlimPickens

[City_of_Jedi]

On 9/26/2019 at 2:43 PM, SlimPickens said:

 

The 4 pc expedient reinforcement set has very nice set bonuses and if you have no other powers that would provide significant upsides than taking gun drone, then I still take it

Quote

Also, it can take, the Recharge Intensive Pets set, which nets you 3.15% range def

 

On 9/25/2019 at 2:48 AM, The Godchild said:

Its good for a set bonus if you have some build room, but otherwise...take at your own discretion till something new happens.

 

 

Thank you all.  Sagely advice, as it turns out.  Taking Gun Drone and slotting with Expedient Reinforcement allowed me to hit the softcap for Ranged, Energy, and Negative.  😁

 

I'm still getting used to the "post-invention-origin-enhancements" mindset where you take and slot powers that you maybe had no intention of using merely for the sake of set bonuses. 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by City_of_Jedi
giving everyone credit

[plainguy]

Just wanted to echo the same sentiments. I had enough recharge to have 2 gun drones out for 30 seconds. Now one doesn't even last to have 2 out. Unless I am not fighting. 

 

I noticed the aggro issue right away. 

 

Oddly enough it used to be a pet that was on the ground and planted so you had to wait for the recharge to get another, then they changed it to flying which was great.

 

Now it just getting clobbered way too fast.

 

[Intrinsic]

The taunt is a passive aura with a 10' radius.  If I'm soloing an AV, for example, I can summon a drone before the fight out of range, and that drone will engage the AV outside of the 10' radius and last the entire duration.  If I summon a drone during the fight while the AV is in melee range, the drone's taunt aura will pull aggro from the AV who will immediately two-shot the drone.

 

Unfortunately Gun Drone has become least useful in situations where I would want it the most.  Even with endurance reduction the power still costs a quarter of my endurance bar, so I can't afford to chain-summon these things only to have them blow up in a couple of seconds.  And really, I don't want it to taunt.  I just want it to do some halfway-decent single-target damage.  Drop the taunt aura, or at least give us an option to disable it, and I think Gun Drone would be fine.

[Frostweaver]

Maybe this is their way of nerfing sets until they all balance with electric blast. Gum Drone is now even less useful than voltaic sentinel.

[atletikus]

Seems to me a surprisingly poor change given the other changes to Devices are very well thought out (albeit I would like to be able slot Smoke Grenade with Accuracy ToHit Debuff sets like other nearly identical powers). The Gun Drone is now mostly useful as an enhancement set mule. It isn't thematically meant to be a poor-mans  alpha-soaker either, so replace it with a Blaster version of Seeker Drones if that is it's intended new purpose...or alter the taunt to single-target only (with a very short duration so it can't hold it) while considering a buff to make it more robust as well as increasing health regeneration considerably.

Edited September 29, 2019 by atletikus