Jade_Dragon

Well, the extremes would be a Blaster that concentrates totally on AoEs and does the maximum damage to the largest amount of foes at once, which can be helpful to a team, and the Blapper that concentrates on his melee attacks as well as his single target attacks to maximize the damage that can be done to a Boss or AV. Either is going to be useful. But there's a lot of room in between to have some AoEs and some melee attacks, and concentrate mainly on your single target damage.

I'd agree with most here that it depends on the player. It seems like single target damage or even close range AoE damage is the domain of the Scrapper, but I don't see why they have to be mutually exclusive. The single target Blaster will draw less aggro simply by virtue of his more concentrated attacks, and as mentioned, he has both Aim and Build Up to spike his damage. He's capable of doing far more damage in a short period of time than the Scrapper. Possibly, he would only be outmatched by that by the Stalker, and the Stalker wouldn't have the potential for ranged AoE.

I can see overlap, but I wouldn't turn anyone down for my team over any other, unless I got to see them in action and concluded they were an idiot and a threat to the rest of the team.

In short, perma-Dom is still all that it used to be, it's just you can do pretty good without it, too. Now, double and triple Dom are different, but with a team behind you should see more benefit from damage boosts even with perma-Dom. So there's still some advantages even there.

I don't know if I'll ever go perma-Dom, but just the random way I slot the IOs I find I've got some Recharge bonuses and Recharges in some of my attacks/controls. Recharge is nothing to sneeze at.

The short answer is, Bots and Thugs are the best at the two opposite ends of the spectrum; Bots has the best defense of all the MM Primaries, Thugs has the most damage. Ninjas technically has the highest damage, but it is mostly single target, and they don't tend to be as resiliant as Thugs. Necro is pretty much balanced across the board, which means they don't stand out.

There's also the factor that melee henchmen tend to be more difficult to manage, and take a lot more damage. Since Bots and Thugs are both (mostly) ranged, they again have the advantage, with which you decide on based on to which extreme you wish to go to.

Although recent changes to animation and AI might have made Mercs better, IMHO they have a lot of drawbacks that make them unpopular. They don't do a lot of damage, not more than Bots, really, and the Commando really doesn't get ungodly damage after 32 like the Assault Bot does. And unique among the Primaries, their defense is more in the form of control powers than reliable, constant defenses. Bots have their shields, Thugs has Manuevers, Necro has self heals that are spread out among the henchmen, Mercs has only the Medic, and the stuns and debuffs cast by the Spec Ops. These are too unreliable in the hands of the AI to provide an equivalent level of protection.

Even so, my three current MMs are Thugs, Bots and Mercs, and I like all three of them. I don't feel like Mercs are gimped when I play them, it just takes a different strategy. (I am still working on a Ninjas MM, she will probably go hero side when Going Rogue comes out, but right now she's only level 10) The good Smash/Lethal resistances mean they're not bad in melee, and you can keep them at range most of the time anyway, so it's just a matter of pulling more and taking advantage of the Spec Ops' strengths.

Conceptually, my Robots MM is also a cyborg as well. He comes from a future where most people have replaced their bodies with cybernetic parts. My Thugs/Dark MM has henchmen who are dead, if not zombies, so I have no problem conceptualizing her bringing back her henchmen after "defeat", either. With Mercs, I just figure the henchmen use the same medical transporter I do when I'm defeated, so it's just a matter of them getting healed up and getting back.

Actually, my Mercs (/Poison) probably has the most fun concept, which is why I play him. He's insane, he's an ex-soldier, but thinks he's a hippie type in a beautiful world of flowers and love. So his henchmen are actually the ones with the strategy, who are protecting their "meal ticket". They go around mowing down bad guys with their machine guns, while their leader sees them giving out flowers and singing songs. I think the quirky style with which I play him (and the comments I get from teammates ) makes it more fun for me than the gameplay aspects of it.

While Force Field is strong defensively, taking the time to bubble a whole team plus your henchmen can take a while. Even more if there's another MM on the team. Many FF MMs only bubble their own pets, or only buff the team, but since you want to concentrate on the support role you would want both.

Pain will probably get you more "nice heals" than Dark. But Dark you shouldn't need to heal. As an MM folks will probably be paying more attention to your henchmen anyway, so it's down to what strategy you want to use.

The way I see it, the balance factor for Human Form shields being weaker than Dwarf protection is a) you can fire ranged attacks in Human Form, and b) you have to retoggle if you form shift. So except for the Smash/Lethal shield (or any one of them, which you can turn on as you form shift) you aren't really getting the full efficiency out of them unless you are a Human Form only Kheld. And if you're Human Form only, you don't HAVE Dwarf Form.

The only real advantage I see in it is that you can't be mezzed by attacks that miss, so there would be some mezz protection that Khelds lack in Human form. But you WILL be hit, and so you would be mezzed, and it would likely be randomly, when you can't prepare for it. So I don't think in the end it would really be an advantage.

I wouldn't really oppose it, but it is as it is, and I think it works fine as it is. It feels somewhat different from my experience with Force Fields, but then there is a heal, as well. The devs may be somewhat less inclined to combine Def with healing as to combing Res with healing. (Because it counters the big weakness of Defense, that you can be hit hard randomly for a lot of damage)

All right, as someone who has actually done this, let me clarify a few things:

1) Most people who say that the damage of your attacks cannot match the damage of your Tier 1 pets are referring to post-32, after you have Upgrade. After this point you can do at best 20% of your overall damage. Depending on your Primary, your Tier 1 could be doing anywhere from 25% to 30% of your overall damage. In fact, it is likely that your Tier 3 is doing the LEAST damage of all your pets, again at around 20%. (This will not be true of Bots, though...)

2) Prior to level 18, when you get your third Tier 1, you can easily do more damage with your own attacks than your Tier 1. First of all you only have two Tiers, so you're doing 33% of the damage, second the Tier 1 often does less damage than the Tier 2, even with only one Tier 2 henchman, resulting in the Tier 1 doing less damage than your own. This can even hold true after 18, for some Primaries, for instance the Arsonist adds a great deal of damage to the Tier 1 of Thugs, but the third Drone doesn't really add much. (Remember, you are getting a third henchman, but he and the rest of the Tier end up a level lower)

3) There is a frustrating low point in henchman damage from about level 18 to 24. This is a very good time to have extra attacks to add a little "punch".

4) If you do take your own attacks, the disadvantage is in the number of attacks you have to take to match the damage of the Tier 1, and the Endurance that those attacks will cost. If you wish to use a "partially petless" build, I highly recommend Stamina. This, of course, also costs additional power choices.

In short, my recommendation is that if you wish to go this route, use only your attacks and not your Tier 1 from levels 1 to 8. At 10 you will want to pick up Equip so you have it ready when you get your Tier 2 at 12. You should be able to level from 12 to 20 in increasing difficulty as your attacks reduce in damage. At 22 or so you can either pick up your Tier 1 to get over the hurdle, or just keep going to 26 and get your Tier 3. You will want to get your Tier 1 by level 30 at the latest. Once you hit 32 the strategy is no longer viable, and a better design would be simply to support your henchmen with your more powerful attacks.

I would definately recommend a dual build, with the other build starting out with Tier 1 like normal. This way if you get in a group that insists on the henchmen, you have them. Note that while overall damage is going to be the same, or even better in the early levels (I'm taking about pre-10) you still will have WAY more survivability with henchmen. Prior to getting your Tier 3 you will want to keep your Tier 2s in Bodyguard Mode all the time, so at least you have that much protection. This shouldn't be a problem since you are essentially being a Tankermind for them. (You're drawing aggro with your attacks)

Once you get to the 32 break point, you can have your original build pick up the Tier 1, but keep your attacks. The second build will have all three tiers as well, but less attacks. You might make it a defensive or team build that has Leadership skills or the like in it, while your attack centric build is for soloing.

Thugs is probably the best Primary for this because it simply has the most damaging attacks. Bots would probably be the worst choice, even though the Droids really have the worst damage. Mercs was not that good when I did a study of this some time ago, but it may have gotten better with changes in animation time and other tweaks that were made to the Assault Rifle. Amusingly, the damage capability of the MM himself seems to closely track that of his henchmen, so the ratios stay pretty constant even though some sets have higher damage.

For Secondary I would recommend either Dark or Traps. As mentioned earlier, you will want to pick up the damage boost power, Tar Patch for Dark or Acid Mortar for Traps, as soon as you can. This will help your henchmen as well, so it's good advice in general, but the additional damage will really help with the lower support you get from Bodyguard. Pain might also be a good choice as well, I haven't tried it, but you need only one ally to take advantage of the damage boosting capabilities of Share Pain, and Conduit of Pain can't be used on henchmen whether you have one or not.

As an alternative you can take Tier 1 and skip Tier 2, but I would NOT recommend this with Thugs. It might be workable with Mercs or Bots, although this would obviously lose you a lot of their defense.

Dark's always been one of my favorite Defender sets since my Dark/Dark Def back in Beta. Later on he was converted to a Corruptor, but I agree, you certainly get no attention. I don't really mind though, in fact, my Dark/Dark actually never spoke at first, (he's a robot) and eventually I would have him say, at the most, "This unit is just following its programming" or the like when thanked.

I have a story similar to Biospark's, though. I'd gotten into a PUG doing an outdoor mission, and was just following along doing my job. Which is basically holding down foes with Tentacles and debuffing them and then blasting away, since this was the Corruptor version. At one point, however, the pulls got out of control, and the tanking Brute went down. There were cries of "RUN!" and most folks started falling.

I ran straight into the middle of the group and started herding them, getting them back into my Darkest Night. I didn't have my rez yet (I think I was maybe 20 at the time, didn't have Fearsome Stare either) but could hold the aggro by firing off Twilight Grasp constantly. (Which I had never even used prior to that point since no one was taking any damage) After I locked everything down with a couple of cycles of Tentacles and Night Fall, the Brute realized he could rez himself and rejoined the fray. I hit him with a Twilight Grasp to make sure he was back up to speed and we cleaned up the spawn.

I only got one reaction, which was "Wow."

Actually, the power of the Defender is in equal use of both Primary and Secondary. If you do not use the Secondary, you only have half the power.

You mention Corruptors, but would you recommend not taking the blasts from the Primary? Or, for that matter, taking the Primary but not the buffs from the Secondary?

I would also be cautious about talking about the use of -- eh -- "bugs" to easily defeat foes and rapidly gain XP. While I don't see any harm about talking about such bugs in other MMOs, discussing such techniques in this game on this board can get you banned from the board, and even from the game. Whether you would call it this or not, you certainly run the risk of having your -- um -- "technique" labeled an exploit.

I don't think any of my characters are ever "done". But I do like to say most of my characters are "complete" at 32. That's when, most of the time, I have gained most of the signature powers I wanted to define that character, and from then on playing the character becomes just playing for the sake of playing, and not building the concept.

It varies a lot, of course. I like to say that you have a good idea of what a character will finally be at 20. You may not have all the capabilities yet, but you essentially know the basic style you will be using to play it. For most ATs, the first defining power comes at 12. This is when I feel the creation stage is over, and it becomes more about filling in the blanks. And as I said, 32 is when you get your Primary Tier 9 power. A couple of levels after that, once that power's slotted out, is usually when I feel the character is "complete", depending on the Tier 9. (Sometimes I'll got with the Secondary at 28 or 35)

Jade Dragon, my FF Defender, he was pretty much complete from the 20s. Repulsion Bomb was changed when he was around 35 and I respec'ed into it, and it made a big difference. Adding the Epic Powers past 41 made a big difference too. But mainly I felt he was complete at 30 when I finally got his aura and could surround him in a cloud of "mist", which was my concept for his power. Considering it took me essentially the whole history of the game since release to level him to 50, he was really effected a lot more by cosmetic changes and tweaks to the game than his own Power Sets.

Blue Diamond, my Inv/SS Tanker, I won't feel is complete until he gets Energy Torrent. Although I felt he was pretty much where I wanted him once he got Unstoppable, his concept is that he stores and uses energy to give himself his strength and invulnerability, and he has always been intended to have the ability to fire energy beams as a secondary attack. So he'll be "complete" when he finally gets that.

Bloodwolf, my MA/SR Scrapper is complete right now at 38. Elude certainly finishes off his concept, but it's not really a defining power. He's more about Stealth, which I got early on, and just the basic feel of his powers. In fact, while I could go into the Epic Pools and get Web Grenade and Caltrops, if Ninjitsu came out for Scrappers tomorrow, I would delete him and recreate him right away. (And not for those powers, more for the concept. I'd recreate him AGAIN if the devs later came out with Staff)

Sandy, my Electric/Fire Blaster will probably be finished at 47 when I get her Force of Nature. Although it's not totally necessary to her concept, she's supposed to be really fast and agile and that's the closest I can get to giving her such defensive agility even if for a short time.

Joe Everyman will be finished at 38, when he gets Fulcrum Shift. Then I will have to get the versions of him on all other servers to 38 as well. (Only half joking, there...)

Just to mention a villain, my Bots/Dark MM was done when she got Dark Servant at 38. Or 39, to slot him well. The Dark Servant was definately intended to be an important role in her cast of henchmen, so she needed him. Amusingly, the last power she got, at 49, was Teleport. I went from 1 to 49 on the jump and jet packs and held onto them until the very end. The Teleport is actually her Dark Servant's power, though, not hers, so I had planned all along to only get her travel power after she got Dark Servant.

I think the Punisher said something along the lines of "I often face metahumans, who can survive even direct gunfire. I would be a fool not to use whatever weapon it takes to even the odds."

I have a character that won't kill, but he doesn't feel it's much of a lesson if a criminal just gets slapped around a bit, and then teleported off to a nice ward where he will be taken care of and waited on hand and foot, before being taken to a nice comfortable taxpayer funded cell. He figures that if he wants to keep that criminal from wanting to go right back on the street when he gets out, he has to make their defeat memorable. Which is why when HE defeats a foe, he makes sure it hurts, a LOT. Not enough to activate the transporter, but enough to cause plenty of pain. Then once he makes his point, he lets them go.

In fact, I've often said that so-called Hit Points are not physical damage at all, but actually a combination of pain level, exhaustion, and the will to keep fighting. So instead of actually punching their foes, Controllers might just hold them long enough to be able to put some permanent restraints on them, and activate a Teleport Beacon. And Scrappers don't do more damage than Tankers because they're physically stronger, but because they're willing to cause more pain, and are more intimidating to be in a fight with. Tankers may actually be encouraging foes to keep fighting with them, because they're taunting them to keep their attention.

Anyway, the point is, it's up to you how powerful your attacks are. You could be an infinitely powerful being with enough strength to move the whole Earth in your little finger, at which time you would be pulling your punches. Or, you might be a gritty vigilante going up against foes that are much more powerful than you, using intimidation and dirty tricks to even the odds.