The AT Just Doesn't Have IT

[Twisted Toon]

On 6/13/2020 at 1:16 PM, Hexquisite said:

This. . . this is what moved Masterminds, for me, from the position it once shared with Controllers in the 'do not get!' category. I, personally, hate min-maxing, as planning things out always sucks the fun of discovery for me. I play characters, not builds ( not to say that you can't do both; just that character always comes first ), and like the characters to develop naturally. And it was an eye-opening moment, not long before sundown, when I realized that the only thing really holding me back from enjoying Masterminds was that I was playing them the way everyone else seemed to be. As Buff Bots With Pets. And that was never what the character themselves wanted to do.

 

I've succeeded with all but Controllers. And I'm still convinced I can make them work... I just can't play them as Controllers.

Funny you should say that. I made a character with that exact concept in mind.

I will say that it is rather difficult to leverage the Kinetics powers for the Robots.

But, I made Buffbot a Bots/Kin MM. She (it) is in the upper 30's at the moment.

I got distracted by my Controller...

On 6/13/2020 at 7:22 PM, Redlynne said:

Try Gravity Control.  The powerset plays more like a Blaster who happens to mez ...

Speaking of my Controller. She's a Grav/Time Controller.

A couple of hard hitting attacks, and enough holds to make a hippie happy.

Not to mention the other buffs and de-buffs brought to the table.

as well as the heals.

 

That can be a pretty busy build.

[Scientist]

While I had a scrapper on live, and I think she was good at what she did, I never got much into the AT, same with blasters.  I tended to favor "team multiplier" characters, who had a wide variety of responses for different situations, and scrappers and blasters really only had "hit it harder" as a solution.  Brute was even more so, I think that was one of the few ATs I never got to 50.  Tanks were fine, they are good team effectiveness multipliers.  My favorite was defenders, I think I had as many of those at 50 as all other characters. :) 

 

I liked playing my bots/traps MM when I was tired of teams that didn't cooperate properly with my toggle debuff defenders, the pets obeyed so much better. . . :)  

[Heraclea]

Also - and it just shows you how little I like the AT that I didn't even remember about them at first -

 

Dominators.

 

Made one on Homecoming.  Thought I'd give it the old college try.  Spent a shedload of merits and inf and cleared out the salvage racks five-slotting purple sets as well as ATOs on the character to get her enough recharge for permadom.  Made it, finally.

 

Still don't like it.  Permadom just gives you one more damn thing to worry about while you play.  Losing it because of a moment's lapse of attention is almost as bad as dying.  Playing the character is a nervous and unpleasant experience.  An expensive mistake. 

[Crysis]

I’m going to preface this with the clear statement that this is totally subjective and based on my personal play style preferences.

 

Unless the AT delivers measurable and noticeable (subjective) damage I just don’t/won’t play it.  I did on Live and had at least one AT of everything at 50, fully incarnated.  But on HC I’ve stuck to only what I like and thus have only one Controller (a Fire/Kin I rolled only because I knew it could run fine on SO’s for PL’ing my other alts I wanted) and everything else is a Dominator, Corruptor, Blaster, Scrapper, Stalker, Mastermind or Brute.

 

Ive thus far avoided Defenders (have a lone ‘proc monster Offender‘ perma parked at 46), Controllers and EAT/VEAT’s and have a tank or two stalled in their 20’s but mostly because I realize all of those AT’s peak in team utility in the 30’s and then just diminish in value in the 40’s and late game relative to the Buff/Debuff from other AT’s becoming “plenty enough” when coupled with serious and sustained DPS. I will only play something that continues to improve overall into the 40’s.  All those support AT’s just peak out at 40 and then everyone else gets so much better that relatively speaking the contributions of Controllers and Defenders just stall out to minimal contributions.  And EAT’s/VEAT’s just have never been my thing.

 

I clearly prefer direct damage AT’s that can buff /debuff what they put out themselves and the efforts of others.

 

[Gulbasaur]

18 hours ago, Crysis said:

I clearly prefer direct damage AT’s that can buff /debuff what they put out themselves and the efforts of others.

Honestly, give the VEATs a try. I'd rank them as the most capable solo archetypes in the game because there is so little they can't do. They're never the best at anything, but being second best at everything is pretty useful.

 

My fortunata is my "solo multiple AVs at once" character and I think one of the arachnos soldier builds ranks highest for sustained AoE damage and is in the upper percentiles for pylon tests because of the pets (and recharge breaks everything). They're both really proc-friendly, which makes things even better.

 

The only real issue is that they are very mediocre until level 24 - when they get a forced respec with extra power pools.

[Crater Kate]

Stalkers are my favorite AT. Tankers are my second favorite AT. Scrappers I like quite a lot.

 

I HATE BRUTES.

 

Why? I'm clearly a melee junkie, so why is it the melee AT with arguably the best ratio of damage-to-toughness is something I hate?

 

THEIR CLASS FANTASY SUCKS.

 

It's in the name. Brute. Brawny meatstick. Thuggish enforcer. Grande burrito bowl.

 

Fury. I fight longer. I get angrier. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. Brute smash.

 

You wanna know something that you've always known but maybe haven't thought about? Every other archetype except Epics (who get a pass) and Mastermind have names that describe what they do. Controllers control. Dominators dominate. Scrappers scrap. Blasters faceplant. But Brutes, MMs, and Epics don't have names that describe what they do. They have names that describe what they are. What this means is that these ATs are prescriptive of something about the character. For Epics, this is fine because Epics are already specific in-universe character concepts. For Mastermind, it also works pretty well because they have such a unique focus on pets and commanding others, so the Mastermind label fits. But Brute? There are a million, billion superheroes out there that are both super strong and super tough. "Brute" is such a prescriptive, connotative label on the class that says to the world "No, this archetype isn't for the plethora of strong and tough characters out there. This archetype is *specifically* for Hulks. Solomon Grundies. The Things." You want to play a character who is defined by their toughness, but you want an experience a bit faster than a Tanker? Well I sure hope you like "ME ANGRY" because your supergenius in mecha armor is now the "ME ANGRY" archetype. Brute is the only archetype that is judgmental to you for your character concept, and for that I hate and resent it intensely. And literally all I've talked about is the name.

 

Also Fury sucks and I hate it.

 

 

[theDarkeOne]

For me it is PB, WS, Defenders, and Corruptors. . . As a matter of fact, corruptors are the only class I have NEVER taken to level 50, here or on live. . .

I just find them underwhelming in every capacity.

[Riverdusk]

On 6/14/2020 at 2:29 AM, Sovera said:

You're thinking Stalkers. Stalkers have zero stay-close agro abilities and once at 20% HP mobs will just "$%&-off to the africas and maybe decide to return, or not. Scrappers do have a few agro grabbing auras. Bioarmor and Radiation Armor, Willpower, Shield, Invulnerability, etc. Not all secondaries have one, but several do, and enemies do not wander off with those sets who do.

Luckily, in my experience, while playing a stalker, mobs are rarely in the 1% to 20% hp range.  You take off such big chunks of hp's at a time, they tend to be near full....or dead.  I didn't find runners near as bad on my stalkers as I did on some of my scrappers (speaking of the ones that didn't have a taunt aura secondary). Which is probably why I don't much care for playing scrapper secondaries without a taunt aura.  

 

As to the original topic, probably brutes to me so far, as I just don't care for the constant pressure to go, go, go or else see my damage drop to pathetic levels.  I usually like to play at my own pace.  Also, if I want melee damage I'd usually rather play a scrapper/stalker (or even a dom), if I want to tank I'll play a tank.  Brutes are the one that is in the weird in between to me (and I'm not interested in farming).  I know I'm very much in the minority when it comes to brutes though.

 

[ClawsandEffect]

Never got into Masterminds, Controllers, Dominators, or EATs (any of them). 

 

I've played pretty much everything else to 50 at least once. 

 

I'm a Scrapper at heart. Always have been and probably always will be. And I disagree with the notion that they don't take skill to play. My current best character is a Street Justice/Bio Armor scrapper. To an outsider watching me play him it looks like I'm just randomly punching things until they fall down. That is not true. I am punching things in a very specific order until they fall down. Even at full scrapperlock I am still making tons of calculations and making decisions on the best way to approach a given fight. 

 

I've also been accused of being a poor team player. Okay....you're getting hit and your health is dropping. Literally the only thing I can do about that is come punch the thing hitting you so it hits me instead. But I'm not a tank. I cannot pull aggro off 4 different people at the same time. I just can't. So I help the person who either needs it most or who is most crucial to the team's success if the risk is equal. 

 

I doubt I'll ever play a Kheldian and the jury is out on VEATs. More because I don't like having a large chunk of their backstory chosen for me than out of any inherent dislike of the AT.