Suggestion: New Mastermind Primary - Army of Stone

[Nic Mercy]

While I know new power sets are not something quick to implement I thought it couldn't hurt to have this here for reference. This power set should be relatively simple to implement and balance since it uses existing powers and models so no new animations are necessary.

Army of Stone - Mastermind Primary

Lv01 - Stonespears: Ranged, Moderate DMG(Lethal), Foe Knockup - tier one attack
Lv01 - Animate Shards: Summon Shards - This is the tier one pet and uses the same models that the small Devouring Earth Geode Shard, Quartz Shard, and Guardian Shard mobs use.
Lv02 - Hurl Boulder: Ranged, High DMG(Smash), Foe Knockback, -Fly
Lv06 - Fortify Stone: Tier one pet upgrade
Lv08 - Fissure: Close (Targeted AOE), Moderate DMG(Smash), Foe Knockback, Disorient
Lv12 - Animate Boulders: Summon Boulders - This is the tier two pet and uses the same models as the Devouring Earth Bedrock and Boulder mobs use.
Lv18 - Earthquake: Ranged (Location AOE), Foe Knockback, -To Hit, -Def
Lv26 - Animate Granite: Summon Granite - This is the tier 3 pet and uses the same model as the Devouring Earth Sentry mob.
Lv32 - Empower Stone: Tier two pet upgrade

I thought this set might be a good candidate for implementation because it uses mostly existing powers that are already animated and balanced (obviously they'd use MM modifiers). That the Devouring Earth have a number of stone themed mobs with models we can use also saves some work in that regard. Outside of the data entry work, I imagine that much of any design efforts would go towards the pet stats/powers (and what they get from the upgrade powers) so they have comparable offense and defense to other MM primary pets.

I imagine the shards having Stone Spears as one of their attacks for a mix of range and melee with the Boulders and the Granite being primarily melee (perhaps one of them has Hurl Boulder?). I would also expect that this set's pets would sport a modest amount of s/l resistance and a notably high amount of psi resistance.

While I know some players ask for mob faction themed MM primaries, I thought something more neutral would be a better choice since it can fit with a wide variety of character concepts and RP, and the game offers a variety of models and already animated/balanced powers to put the set together. There's also no overlap in powers from other sets that MM's have access to.

If an Earth themed ancillary pool was desired for MM's, it could look something like this and avoid any overlap:

Stone Master - Mastermind Ancillary Power Pool

Lv35 - Tremor
Lv35 - Fossilize
Lv41 - Salt Crystals
Lv41 - Rock Armor
Lv44 - Seismic Smash

Edited yesterday at 02:51 AM by Nic Mercy

[Rudra]

The T7 is usually a thematic utility. MMs only get three innate attacks in their primary. For example, the current sets get the following:

 

Beast Mastery gets a PBAoE pet buff.

Demon Summoning gets a ranged pet buff that also summons additional pets.

Mercenaries gets a ranged pet buff.

Necromancy gets an additional pet for a short duration.

Ninjas gets a smoke bomb that puts a target pet into hidden status for critical attacks.

Robotics gets a support drone that repairs the other bots at the expense of its own HP.

Thugs gets a short duration group of weaker minions.

[Nic Mercy]

31 minutes ago, Rudra said:

The T7 is usually a thematic utility. MMs only get three innate attacks in their primary. For example, the current sets get the following:

 

Beast Mastery gets a PBAoE pet buff.

Demon Summoning gets a ranged pet buff that also summons additional pets.

Mercenaries gets a ranged pet buff.

Necromancy gets an additional pet for a short duration.

Ninjas gets a smoke bomb that puts a target pet into hidden status for critical attacks.

Robotics gets a support drone that repairs the other bots at the expense of its own HP.

Thugs gets a short duration group of weaker minions.

You don't think Earthquake could qualify as utility? I know it's a debuff, but it does offer something thematic for the concept. I also figured Earthquake would make it an easier sell since it is an existing power, fits the theme, and would require no animation work.
As for attacks, my suggestion has 2 single targets and one aoe just like other mastermind primaries (Stone Spears, Hurl Boulder, and Fissure).

Edited yesterday at 02:55 AM by Nic Mercy

[Rudra]

52 minutes ago, Nic Mercy said:

You don't think Earthquake could qualify as utility? I know it's a debuff, but it does offer something thematic for the concept. I also figured Earthquake would make it an easier sell since it is an existing power, fits the theme, and would require no animation work.
As for attacks, my suggestion has 2 single targets and one aoe just like other mastermind primaries (Stone Spears, Hurl Boulder, and Fissure).

Sorry, I misread it as an attack rather than crowd control. Probably should change it to something else anyway since the crowd control part would more be the MM's secondary.

 

Edit:

How about something like:

Lv18 - Harden: PBAoE (click), +Res (smash/lethal), +Def, + Res (Hold, Stun)

 

Edited yesterday at 03:47 AM by Rudra

[MTeague]

Rather than devouring earth models, I'd more think of the Pumice /  Magma guys from the Hollows.

[Nic Mercy]

8 hours ago, MTeague said:

Rather than devouring earth models, I'd more think of the Pumice /  Magma guys from the Hollows.

It'd be great if there were customization options to allow players to pick their favs

[arcane]

So that there doesn’t feel like a sudden need to have several new Mastermind sets to capture every element, IMO the oft-suggested idea of an overall Summon Elementals set makes more sense to me.

[Rudra]

2 hours ago, arcane said:

So that there doesn’t feel like a sudden need to have several new Mastermind sets to capture every element, IMO the oft-suggested idea of an overall Summon Elementals set makes more sense to me.

No need to worry about that. We've been debating all four classic elements as MM primaries across several threads already. Complete with power suggestions.

[MTeague]

3 hours ago, arcane said:

So that there doesn’t feel like a sudden need to have several new Mastermind sets to capture every element, IMO the oft-suggested idea of an overall Summon Elementals set makes more sense to me.

Although I'd really love an Elementalist set that deals with more than the classic four elements. 

I'm totally riffing from an Order of the Stick webcomic, but why not a Chlorine Elemental, or a Titanium Elemental, or a Copper Elemental?

We know ever so much more about chemistry than the ancient greeks did, isn't it time?

[Rudra]

16 minutes ago, MTeague said:

Although I'd really love an Elementalist set that deals with more than the classic four elements. 

I'm totally riffing from an Order of the Stick webcomic, but why not a Chlorine Elemental, or a Titanium Elemental, or a Copper Elemental?

We know ever so much more about chemistry than the ancient greeks did, isn't it time?

Could you imagine summoning a Cesium elemental in the rain? 😄

[Nic Mercy]

Honestly, I think Masterminds could use some love as far as primary options go. They haven't gotten anything new for the longest time.

[biostem]

I think a more thematic "special ability" power would be one that temporarily grants your minions that seismic effect around them, from the seismic blast set...

[WumpusRat]

I had a similar idea for a new MM primary, but mine was more of just "elementals" rather than one specific type. I'll go ahead and toss it into the suggestion forum as well.

 

As far as earthquake, yeah, that shouldn't be there to be honest. The 18th level powers aren't really meant to be crowd control/attacks/etc. They're meant to be pet-buffing or augmenting things, or in Thugs, Necro, Robotics and Demons' case, an extra (temp) summon. 

 

Replacing it with something like "Earth Ward" that gives all your pets an absorb shield, or "Strength of the Earth" that gives them a strong heal over time for 30s or something would be more in line with the typical MM tier-7's.