Beginner or Casual Masterminds Macros

[The_Warpact]

I just posted this in a thread with a new player and thought why not help others out that are just plain confused by all the keybinds or just hate them..

I prefer macros, I started out on them on live and they have remained with me ever since.

My first serious toon for the long road to 50 on live was a Bots/FF and I did everything with him. Full backstop, pve, pvp, base raids, badging, you get the picture.

 

I have no patience for the key bind experience for some its a fantastic way to play out their mm fantasy.

This in itself might be a huge deterrent for some thinking that all that effort has to go into just setting up an MM. So the remedy in my mind at least is the macro.

If anyone else has some useful ones feel free to add.

 

These are the most common macros for MM pet control. 
I use ATK and BG as my primary commands. 

 

/macro ATK "petcom_all aggressive$$petcom_all goto"

/macro DEF "petcom_all defensive$$petcom_all goto"

/macro BG "petcom_all defensive$$petcom_all follow"

 

ATK is a goto option that locks the pets in a specific area and gives them the kill all command.
DEF is the same as above but pets will only attack when fired upon the same as the rules of engagement that US troops do now.
BG the infamous bodyguard mode, puts pets on a defend the mm command.

 

I use BG during travel, between areas/rooms and as I'm running drop ATK in the middle of the mob. If you want to be in a close supremacy range for your pets and then what better way than for me their master than to be in the middle of combat. Hence, why I always shoot for high s/l res/def on my mm.

This is turn always you to soak up the alpha if no melee types are around. This will insure that no pets are lost in the initial strike, because, a mm with no pets is a sad, sad creature.

There are other commands, macros, etc that I have but you have to really dedicate yourself to the AT like I do, there are ones for the thug bruiser to act as the de facto tank of the group and can command him as such, ones to only attack as ranged, etc.

These will get you started at least to make you a better casual mastermind.

 

Some other playful or useful macros.

 

/macro BYE petcomall dismiss

 

This one is a larger one

/Macro WHT "team WHAT DO WE WANT?$$petsay_all <em protest>

/macro DMG "petsay_all MORE DAMAGE!$$emote drat"

/macro TNK "petsay_all BETTER TANKS!$$emote frustrated"

/macro SUP "petsay_all COMPETENT SUPPORT!$$emote grief"

This is to call out teams, team wipes, or just fun.

 

These are fun for crowds, hanging out in the Atlas/Pocket D.

Magic trick

/macro ALK "emote alakazamreact$$petsay_all <em alakazamreact>

Or

Dance off, bro!

/macro getfunky "petsay all <em dance>"

 

Hope these help and provide entertainment to your game time.

[Maelwys]

Veteran MM player on both Live and HC here.

I've experimented with a large number of control systems over the years. I agree that power tray macros certainly have their place; especially if you're used to activating your powers by clicking on icons in your power tray rather than using keybinds (or in my case, by using buttons on a joypad that activate whatever is inside each of your power tray slots!!) 😁

On my MMs, I fully admit that I like to use keybinds for "fine control" of my henchmen...
 

Spoiler

(I've a tweaked version of one of the old numpad systems that I use for all my MMs: Numpad keys 1-6 select the henchmen and 7/8/9 are "attack", "follow" and "goto". The period or decimal key is "Stay". My heals, upgrades and buffs are bound to the surrounding keys Divide/Multiply/Plus/Minus and NumPad0. Finally, NumpadEnter switches between this and my regular setup where NumPad keys 1-6 select teammates instead of henchmen)

...however 99% of the time these days I find myself using only three keys and two power tray macros:

Power Tray Macros (these instruct my pets to actually do something, and get tapped very regularly - multiple times during each fight)

#1: "ATTACK THIS THING". (Either "ALL -> ATTACK MY TARGET" or just "BOSS -> ATTACK MY TARGET" - these get swapped around depending on the mission/situation; since sometimes against tougher foes I'll want to leave the bulk of my pets in Bodyguard mode constantly whilst my Boss grabs aggro)

#2: "GO HERE". (ALL -> GOTO")
 

Keys (these select the "Mode" of my pets, and generally only get tapped occasionally - a few times during each mission)

"B" is Bodyguard mode. (ALL -> Defensive Follow)
"G" is aGgressive mode. (ALL -> Aggressive, but doesn't specify Follow or Goto, so it allows me to move pets somewhere and then flag them as aggressive)
"H" is Heel. (ALL -> Passive Follow)

Finally, I've got a variant that I tend to bind to the "V" key for some of my tankier MMs. This is essentially "cruise control" -  it swaps my Minion and LT henchmen to Defensive mode, but leaves the Boss on Aggressive. Which means that whenever I wade into a huge mob of enemies my Boss henchman will take the bulk of the initial aggro and weathers the alpha strike, and then everything else joins in. It makes soloing maps a lot easier to deal with whenever I'm only paying minimal attention.

So during actual gameplay whenever I'm paying attention... I'll summon my pets and stick them into whatever mode I want by pressing a key; then I'll repeatedly use my power tray macros to actually instruct my pets either to "GO HERE" to kill all the nearby mobs and/or switch them back to bodyguard mode... and sometimes to "ATTACK THIS THING" to focus-fire tougher enemies.
After clearing out a large area of the map, I can tap my keys again to switch my pets back to a different mode, or to tell them to FOLLOW me rather than to GOTO somewhere. Combinations of keys work too (e.g. B then G = Aggressive Follow mode).

"Passive Follow" is rarely used once my MM gets over a certain level... but it's still something that I don't think I could live without a keybind for. Whilst they don't chase runners halfway across the map or block doorways as frequently any longer; Pets can still be annoyingly dumb even with the Homecoming AI changes... because spamming Defensive Follow simply doesn't clear their aggro list. So sometimes for positioning purposes, I'll still want to use H --> "STOP WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING AND COME HERE NOW".

A lot of newer players don't realise that "bodyguard mode" (e.g. the Pets absorbing a portion of whatever damage gets recieved by the MM) applies on both Defensive Follow and Defensive Goto. However the "Goto" command is much better at controlling your henchmens' behaviour during missions, at least for the Ranged MM primaries! 😉

Edited September 28, 2021 by Maelwys