Why didn't Soldier pets get updated ranged AI?

[robobl4de]

When MM Ranged pets got updates to their AI it made them so much better and less frustrating to have. This should be extended to Call Reinforcement and Summon Spiderlings as well. There is no reason for Spiderlings to rush into Melee range, it can feel so bad using that power with such high cooldown just for them to go into melee range to use their claws to die in first 15 seconds of the fight. 

[tidge]

IIRC, the Spiderlings only have 2 attacks (1 range, 1 melee).

 

There are plenty of 'pets' which don't have the Mastermind controls. I know it can seem odd, but a VEAT is fundamentally different than a Mastermind.

[robobl4de]

6 hours ago, tidge said:

IIRC, the Spiderlings only have 2 attacks (1 range, 1 melee).

 

There are plenty of 'pets' which don't have the Mastermind controls. I know it can seem odd, but a VEAT is fundamentally different than a Mastermind.

Yeah but that small change(Making them stay at range) would make both Call Reinforcements and Summon Spiderlings much more useful as they will not die as often(Which sucks so much for a later power unlocks that have long cooldowns) and making those two worth to pick especially at end game content.

As it stands now I think ill shelf my crabmind which i was excited to play.  A few ppl told me it's a struggle to play this build at end game content and as I get closer to 50 I also feel that way as well.

Maybe I misinterpret how this playstyle should be but I imagine soldier getting into melee keeping enemies busy while spiders stay at back firing at them.

Edited November 12, 2020 by robobl4de

[tidge]

7 hours ago, robobl4de said:

Yeah but that small change(Making them stay at range) would make both Call Reinforcements and Summon Spiderlings much more useful as they will not die as often(Which sucks so much for a later power unlocks that have long cooldowns) and making those two worth to pick especially at end game content.

As it stands now I think ill shelf my crabmind which i was excited to play.  A few ppl told me it's a struggle to play this build at end game content and as I get closer to 50 I also feel that way as well.

Maybe I misinterpret how this playstyle should be but I imagine soldier getting into melee keeping enemies busy while spiders stay at back firing at them.

Frankly, most Masterminds struggle with end-game content (with level-shifted enemies) as well.

 

If you are still leveling up, you probably have a couple of things working against you:

1. You may not have the slots in the pets to improve their performance (and survivability, and recharge time)
2. You may not have the global recharge (from set bonuses) to keep the pets 'perma'. Note that these pets have an odd definitions of permanent because a recast only replaces fallen ones so if you just replace 1 fallen spiderling the replacements will expire with any surviving spiderlings from the original casting.
3. You may not be providing enough 'team' boosts (especially Defense) for the pets themselves, depending on power choices and slots.

 

@Omega-202 has many posts on Crabberminds in this sub-forum; I'd consult some of his posted advice for end-game play.

 

Crabberminds are very different than Masterminds. The primary difference is (IMO) that the Soldier VEAT has got effective (damage scale) attacks, particularly AoE which can incorporate a lot of secondary effects which can improve the performance of the spider-pets, including:

1. The Dominion of Arachnos %terrorize ATO
2. Knockdown
3. -Resistance

None of the things I describe is every going to make the Spiderlings into an 'I win' power, but it is possible to get them to contribute a significant amount of DPS.

 

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by tidge

[Omega-202]

9 hours ago, robobl4de said:

Yeah but that small change(Making them stay at range) would make both Call Reinforcements and Summon Spiderlings much more useful as they will not die as often(Which sucks so much for a later power unlocks that have long cooldowns) and making those two worth to pick especially at end game content.

As it stands now I think ill shelf my crabmind which i was excited to play.  A few ppl told me it's a struggle to play this build at end game content and as I get closer to 50 I also feel that way as well.

Maybe I misinterpret how this playstyle should be but I imagine soldier getting into melee keeping enemies busy while spiders stay at back firing at them.

You are misinterpretting how Crabberminds work.  I also suspect that your build probably does not contain a sufficient amount of investment to keep your pets alive.  You can play a Crab that has pets, or you can build one that gives your pets better defensive numbers than most Blasters.  There's a world of difference between those two things.  

 

Crabs are not a struggle to build or play.  Whoever told you that has no idea what they're doing.  An AT that has 90% of a Blaster's damage, Brute level survivability, pets, an AoE attack that gives -20% res on a quick cooldown and auras that grant 21% defense to the whole team is basically the ideal endgame character. 

 

I encourage you to read through other posts on the VEAT board and to check out builds.  

[tidge]

43 minutes ago, Omega-202 said:

Crabs are not a struggle to build or play.  Whoever told you that has no idea what they're doing.  An AT that has 90% of a Blaster's damage, Brute level survivability, pets, an AoE attack that gives -20% res on a quick cooldown and auras that grant 21% defense to the whole team is basically the ideal endgame character.

I want to echo the above.

 

My Crabs have no issues with endgame, with the understanding that I have to adjust my playstyle (*1) if I'm particularly concerned with the pet survivability. On a team, the other players are your pets and you should take care of them before worrying too much about the spiderlings. I'm a pretty sloppy player, so the health bars of the spiderlings are giving me a rough idea of how spread out any given combat is. More discipline players can almost certainly get greater (and steadier) DPS from the Crabbermind pets over the course of any given run of mission.

 

(*1) To be honest: If I lose Spiderlings, I know that I'll be be resummoning them pretty quickly anyway so I don't see it as that big a deal to lose them... especially in x8 content.

[Omega-202]

1 minute ago, tidge said:

(*1) To be honest: If I lose Spiderlings, I know that I'll be be resummoning them pretty quickly anyway so I don't see it as that big a deal to lose them... especially in x8 content.

I think this is also something OP isn't appreciating when it comes to the fully fleshed out build.  At 50, when built for perma-Disruptors/Perma-Hasten, Spiderlings recharge absurdly fast for a "long cooldown" pet power.  They should be coming back at ~160 s, which is basically 3 times per average 10 min radio mission.  So even if you lose one, they'll be back 2 minutes after they died.