Jibikao
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Quote:Actually, the reason I created Ninja and Merc threads is that Synapse specifically said he wants to look into Ninja, Merc and maybe Necro in the beta forum when people were talking about Beast.Originally Posted by Neogumbercules
I tried with the Issues and Problems thread but it never caught any traction and I haven't received a single peep from any devs about it, nor has any dev posted in it. It's clear that they are completely ignoring Masterminds save for the release of the largely underwhelming and creatively bankrupt Beast Mastery powerset. Apparently not enough people care about Masterminds for them to ever address any of these concerns that we have been bringing up for years now. At least if they came out and said "we're not looking into doing anything with Masterminds" we could all just shut up about it and go play something else.
He also doesn't think MM is overpowered (unlike some people tend to think). There's probably two sets (Robot and Thug) that out-perform most things and MM is labeled as "overpowered". The gap between the sets is pretty wide.
From his PMs and the impression I got, he doesn't think MM is overpowered and will not receive "nerfs". I need to ask him which set is the "base-line" performance. If Robot is the base-line, then there is a lot of work to be done! -
Come back here and post your reaction once your Throw Spines is well slotted. I think you'll be even more amazed!
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Quote:Originally Posted by Paladiamors
As for spec ops...one thing that would benefit them is an AI change to prevent them from trying to use a CC on an already CC'd target. The second is a reduction on acitivation time on their SCAR snipe, as well as the afore mentioned damage boost. The third is the inclusion of another attack on a short cooldown to fill in the damage spaces, or something along the lines of Venom grenade. And personally I am still a fan of giving them a critical chance.
One idea I have is to add toxic damage in Tear Gas grenade so Spec-ops has at least one aoe. Venom Grenade would be awesome for sure!
I just think that if Spec-Ops has no aoe, his ST range damage needs to be a whole lot better. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Jeremia_Bane
Well personally i think even with your changes AND procs the set would still be worse ST and AoE damagewise than any other set. I mean the only sets with a damage type as bad are ninja and thugs, and they have insane single target damage and a very decent amount of fire damage from oni and arsonist.
Every other set either has flatout higher damage in both AoE(gg Assbot) or singletarget(demons) or a combination thereof with some exotic damage as a cherry ontop(necros toxic&neg energy).
Besides the real problem is the pet AI, whats the point of the LT shooting his awesome Web Grenade if the next thing you see is the medic rushing in to throw a punch ... and getting oneshotted because he is -5 levels to the boss he just bravely tackled. Besides controls and pets only go together with VERY low CD powers, otherwise its just a gimmick thats just as likely to hurt than do good(i.e. Lich/Oni good, specops bad).
Controls are supposed to increase survivability, controls on long timers(everything over 20sec really) means you better not factor them into the balancing of the pets because survivability that goes up and down like a sinuswave isn't very fun(especially if you have no control over when the high and low peaks will happen).
Edit: I guess beast got worse AoE damage, not by much though ... But they trade that for very high res and defenses aswell as a very powerful emergency button.
I agree that "control on long cool down" is not a good way to balance Pet's Survivability VS Protector's Bubble defense because we can't really control when they are going to use it. This game doesn't allow us to click pet powers so we can save those long-recharge controls when we think we need them.
Since we can't really change the way this game handles Pet AI, we need to find other ways to make the set more viable. That's why I suggest changing Serum to a pbaoe +Maxhp power so soldiers have more "resistance-to-all" when the situation gets bad. Having 15%-20% more health is like having 15%-20% resistance to all.
When I did the test on Thug, I find that Enforcers doing way too much damage, considering almost half of it is cone aoe. That puts many other Lt pets to shame. Enforcers are like the best MM pets in the game if you ask me. They are so important in Thug set (since the Minions don't get any innate resistance or defense).
I think part of the reason Merc's raw damage is lower is that they have a lot of -defense. -Defense is supposed to translate into more damage because your chance to hit is higher. This only applies if everyone's average chance to hit is low and Merc's -defense debuff stands out. When I level my Merc/Storm several years ago, we didn't have "newbie" tohit bonus between level 1-20. Merc's defense debuff was actually very noticeable when tohit chance actually matters, but of course, tohit doesn't matter that much once you are probably slotted with SOs or sets. There are some situations where -defense comes handy but hardly justify Soldier's super narrow cone 5'.
I do think there are rooms to make Merc more unique:
1. Make Medic like Surgeon - focus more on healing/buffing
2. If Spec-Ops have no aoe attack, then they need to do a lot better ST damage. If Snipe does the true Snipe damage, their ST damage will go up quite a bit. I can't see them reducing two aoe controls down to 20s-30s because even Dominator doesn't get that. However, I do think Web Grenade should be on a much lower recharge because Web Grenade is a great soft control + debuff power. I would go even 10s recharge but its debuff duration is 15s, so I ask from 30s down to 15s.
3. I don't like Rifle Buff. I prefer Bean Bag Round. Not sure if the dev is willing to give Spec-Ops that.
4. The two AoE controls don't stack. One is aoe stun and one is aoe hold. I suggest making Tear Gas on a much shorter recharge with much shorter radius so Spec-Ops can fire them frequently to provide +hold and -damage debuff. The Flash Bang can have increased radius to 20' with mag 3 instead of mag 2.
5. Commando is tough because on paper, he looks quite good but just like what you said, cone attacks are always harder to line up for pets than a simple target aoe. They can reduce M3 Grenade's cool down? On the other hand, it is Assault Robot that looks too good with two very good aoe and nasty -500% regen. WTF?
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Quote:I know there is one guy that has a long list of AV/GM he has soloed using Robot/Trap. Bodyguard mode and Taunt is a must for that to happen because GM runs like a girl and you won't be able to finish him off if he runs like that.Originally Posted by VKhaun
Leaning hard towards Demons/Thermal because of the massive -regen, status effect protection, and availability of defense from IOsets. I also like the format of the debuff, a simple ranged AoE. It heals, it uses demons, and the two fit like a glove thematically.
Still open to min/max comments.
For regular AV soloing (some are much harder than others for sure), /trap is very good. My Beast/Time is too low level to test AV and have no good sets. I think /Time could be decent for soloing AV.
/Dark should be good too.
Not too sure about /thermal soloing AV. It sounds quite good on paper with Demon though. If you can find an AV with mostly fire damage, that will be awesome! -
Is Stalker going to get the gimped version of the set?
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Quote:I have an incarnate SJ/Ice. I'll list out why I think it's so good:Originally Posted by Northman
What is it that makes Ice so amazing? I have never played it. The numbers have always looked meh to me in mids. Does it have DDR protection?
Thinking Staff/Ice
1. Chilling Embrace is my #1 reason why I love Ice Armor. CE debuffs damage by 15% (10 radius) but what's this really good for is to slow down runners, allowing you to finish them off much easier. Stalker doesn't have taunt and it is very typical that mobs start running away when their health is low. I find CE a both defensively and offensively power. Most people just think of it as a defensive power. CE helps you herd mobs together easier and help you finish them off easier.
2. It has Maxhp (Stalker's HP cap is higher now at 2000), some exotic resistance type and a great god mode in Icy Bastion. Icy Bastion is not just a typical god-mode. During 30s, you get 200% Recovery PLUS 400% Regeneration (enhanceable!). You can easily improve the +regen part so Icy Bastion becomes a good healing power and an excellent +resistance.
3. It has two ways to fill your endurance to full easily: Energy Absorption and Icy Bastion.
4. It's defense-based which has always worked better on Stalker.
5. It does not have a clicky anti-mez power.
Ice Armor does have a huge hole in Psionic damage, which is the same for Energy Aura. I have not respec my old Spine/EA but I enjoy Ice Armor more than EA. Overload is a very good god-mode but Icy Bastion is better because it offers +resistance. A mix of +resistance, +hp and +defense is always better than just huge +defense. Overload also has +maxhp but it has no +resistance and it crashes endurance bar. -
Quote:Yes it does.Originally Posted by Gemini_2099
Re-draw has no effect on DPS.
Redraw causes delay. I specifically chose Blaster Beam over Corr/Defenser Beam because I want to reduce # of redraws. My regret is I chose /Fire. I hate /fire secondary on Beam. ugh...
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Quote:That's exactly how I play my Beam Blaster. Beam has high damage but it requires "setup" time to get things going. I can live with less aoe because I am not always ready to handle all the aggro if I aoe too much.Originally Posted by Tater Todd
I play my Beam Rifle like a Stalker. Picking off hard Targets.
The only power that I think is a bit too slow is Disintegrate, nearly 2s. I treat this power like some sort of "Hex" or "Curse" like you see in other games. You put the curse on the target and then the following attacks have stronger effects. This means I constantly put new Disintegrate on different targets.
I would rather trade a bit less DoT damage from Disintegrate but a much faster activation time.
Blaster's raw damage is also a lot higher and sometimes the main target dies before any disintegration happens.
Overall, I play my Beam Blaster like a hard-hitting range Stalker. It's not everyone's cut of tea but its ST damage is truly high. -
Mmmm, I am leaning towards Body I think. I've taken Power Sink before on my dominator (elec control) and the old /EA Stalker. It's helpful when you have several foes around you but during a long boss fight, it doesn't help as much. I think I am going for Body and put two performance shift if I can afford.
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I am building my Staff/Elec now but I can't make up my mind on the last power choice. Originally I wanted to skip Placate but I've decided that I am a Stalker and I want to take it.
This leaves me a choice between Power Sink from Elec Armor or Body Epic Set (Super Condition and Physical Perfection).
I am leaning towards S. Condition and Physical Perfection because they really only need one slot (I can put performance shift proc if I need endurance that bad).
Power Sink can fill up my blue bar if there are 2-3 targets around me but I need slots for it and it causes weapon redraw. And since I am not Elec Melee, the chance of me draining and keeping enemy's endurance at zero is pretty slim.
What's your take on it? Do you have an Electricity Armor toon that skips Power Sink and why? -
Titan Weapon is in no shape or form weak. I've seen its aoe damage potential and it's crazy.
It may not be everyone's cup of tea but it is not a weak set at all.
However, I have several friends who prefer Staff over Titan Weapon. They don't necessarily like something just because something is more powerful stats-wise. They like Staff because of the animation and the overall "feel" of the set.
I won't buy Titan Weapon because Stalker doesn't have it. Fine! Saves me money. :P -
Quote:Good question. If you are not Thug, Demon or Necro, you won't have that one power that can take all the Pet sets.Originally Posted by Jeremia_Bane
Well i think mercs should be great at SOMETHING, or at least decent at everything. As it is they are horrible, and getting worse.
Just tell me, where are you going to put the FOURTH IO aura thats coming out sometime next issue or something? What are you going to do if giving frag grenades to the soldiers makes the set even worse due to the KB even with increased cones as you fear? Call for another makeover?
The set has issues, we can name the issues, we should ask for the issues to be resolved. Making mercs an awesome set might be more work than applying some bandaid, but it would almost be like introducing a new primary to MMs, which are still one of the most played ATs. And it would come to them a lot easier than doing a real new primary.
I've been asking dev to introduce Pet Recharge pets in all Primary Pet powers but do we have enough slots for them? Probably not.
The goal of the buff is to make sure Merc does very comparable damage WITHOUT proc damage and much better control potential. Right now, I think Merc is doing less damage without procs. Proc damage should never be the balancing point IMO. It's something that you add to it.
One place that I would put MM and Pet Recharge set is in all the Upgrade powers since every primary set has two Upgrade powers so nobody loses. I don't know how that is going to work since Upgrade power doesn't do damage.
I just don't know how much time the dev is willing to spend on Merc. Sadly, a "Bandaid" is probably all you are going to get. Most old sets don't even get "Bandaid".
I've pointed out some priority issues:
1. Spec-Ops' need to do better ST damage (much better Snipe and possible add more damage to Rifle Butt)
2. Spec-Ops' controls need to be a lot better with reduced recharge on Tear Gas, Flash Bang and Web Grenade.
3. Soldier's Full Auto Cone needs to be much wider
4. Medic needs to be more Medic-like, not a Soldier with better aoe and healing/anti-mez.
5. Serum should be a better "panic-button" than its current form because a god-mode on a pet that can't grab aggro is pointless IMO. -
Quote:The concern is you are changing from one pet doing critical to six pets doing critical. The end result is a whole lot different. And also, I do not want all of my pets to lose aggro because those aggro are coming back to me. Remember Smoke Flash has Placate. If I am in a tough situation with several bosses, the last thing I want is to smoke flash all my pets and all the aggro comes to me. And if I use bodyguard mode right before smoke flash, my pets will suffer delay.Originally Posted by Redlynne
I'm sorry ... what was the problem again??
It's just not that simple IMO.
And I don't completely agree with that Defender VS MM's damage output comparison because MM can do other things during that 10s. Defender can only choose to do one thing at a time - either support or attack. MM has the luxury of doing two things at once. I don't think it's as simple as adding "Build Up" to Ninja for 10s and call it balanced. And besides Damage is never Ninja's big problem.
I am not against making Smoke Flash better but it will require quite a bit of balancing. So far, I can agree to reducing endurance cost a bit PLUS 12s duration and maybe PLUS some minor +defense as the Ninja is elusive. -
For soloing, Reactive is the best for Ninja because Ninja has high damage and critical damage.
For teaming, you may want to try something else since most people are running Reactive. Degenerative could be useful. I have not tried the confuse interface. -
Quote:Because Stalker doesn't get 100% critical for 10s?Originally Posted by Redlynne
Smoke Flash in */Ninjitsu for Stalkers is PBAoE. Why isn't the Ninja/* Mastermind version of Smoke Flash PBAoE also?
One pet doing critical for 10s is a whole lot different from six pets doing critical for 10s. Yes, you can change the uptime/downtime ratio but the result is completely different. I am not sure if the dev is willing to deal with 6 ninja pets doing critical damage for 10s.
However, they can change it so it isn't 100% critical if it's pbaoe version. Maybe 30% chance? I am not against changing it to pbaoe version but it has to be tuned down from 100% critical. That's all. -
Quote:Yes, Spines gets A WHOLE LOT better once your level 32 Throw Spine is well slotted. Before that, Spine is probably the most painful set to play with.Originally Posted by McCharraigin
Hello all.
I made a Spines/Ice Stalker. I have a name for her my hubby approves of, which is very rare, I love her costume, and am enjoying the set except for one thing..a thing so major I may have to delete her, and I don't want to do that at all.
She cannot fight one group without needing to pop a blue. All I have to do is touch Assassin's Impaler and I see my blue bar go down.
I am only level 10, but I have a build filled with common IOs so I am green across the board
Assassin Strike is great but it does cost a lot of endurance. If you can afford, I will highly 6-slot AS as soon as possible with a full set of Stalker Guile. That set truly shines in Assassin Strike because it has awesome +recharge and great set bonuses.
Ice Armor will get a lot better. You'll have two ways to get endurance back Energy Absorption (lvl 35) and Icy Bastion (lvl 38). Ice Armor doesn't start out weaker than other set. Chilling Embrace is a must-have IMO.
One question. Do you use Spine Burst as a ST attack or you only use it if there's more than 3 targets? Spine Burst is a good way to start the fight on a large group. I've seen many people who use aoe attack as a ST attack just because they don't want to wait for ST attacks to get recharged. Well, doing that will cost a lot of endurance. You get better result by just wait a bit for Lunge to get recharged. Your damage output will be pathetic until your Impale is well slotted. Make sure you are not running Sprint or super speed. I see that all the time. That's a huge waste of endurance.
It's tough but a high level Spine is good.
I can't think of any other reason why Spine would cost more endurance usage at low level because Lunge and Barb aren't exactly costly and you won't have enough recharge to use Spine Burst often? -
Quote:Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
Some good ideas here I think. Personally I'd prefer they change the controls/AI before rebalancing the sets but bird in the hand and all that.
My biggest thing about MMs is I don't like the Minion-Lt-Boss paradigm over and over again. I like that the Lich is more support while the Assbot is pure attack. Keeps them all from being reskinned versions of each other. With this in mind I'd like to see Mercs try using the Spec-Ops as their Tank.
I can see the Spec Ops as having ALL the controls and debuffs for the set. Working together, the two of them could entangle, gas and generally run enemies crazy. For example:
Having two pets with a bad snipe is never a good idea unless their AI can handle the attack chain which Spec Ops can't. Take it out entirely. Replace it with a short-range wide cone with moderate recharge and -Recharge on the enemy (their silenced guns strike unseen, confusing targets and reducing their effectiveness).
Give the Web Grenade a small change to Hold and allow it to be slotted as such. Against a tough single target their spammed grenades would be more effective.
Give them higher Defense (from their stealth) so that when they DO attract all this extra attention they can survive it.
I like the idea of controlling the different tiers of pets separately. I can see sending in the Spec Ops ahead of the rest of the horde where they use Smoke on the enemy before lobbing in tear gas and THEN firing away. The mob shoots at them, misses hopefully due to the -To Hit and added Defense, then the rest of the Horde opens up with everything. You could even add a higher Taunt factor to the Spec Op's shots to draw more attention.
I like the idea of moving the grenades to the two Minions as well.
Yeah, it looks like by design, Merc is better if you play them by some sort of Formation. Commando stands up front with medic behind him and two Soldiers on the back. Spec-Ops with stealth are supposed to find a sneaky spot to use control effects. It sounds good on paper but this game's pace is way too fast for that kind of micro-management and the pets may not even survive that long when you do so.
I've tried to goto Spec-Ops to start the fight. I thought it would be neat if they start the fight with Rifle Butt but they get seen easily when they walk in... T_T
Pet AI change is one thing that will take a long time to find a good balance. I never like the idea of giving two long-recharge control powers (that don't even stack!) to a pet because a pet never knows when to use it. Speaking about which, I am going to suggest one more thing under Spec-Ops. -
Quote:I don't think Merc will ever be the next Robot with great aoe damage and survival. I really don't think the dev has the time to re-design a lot of powers but we can work on some numbers and change Serum and call it "balanced".Originally Posted by Jeremia_Bane
Even with your suggestions, which i like, the set would still underperform.
1. Its AoE would still be based on rather narrow cones.
2. The damage would still be anemic without procs.
3. You still wouldn't know where to put aura IO's considering you need any spare slot in the pets for procs already.
The dev can widen the Cone attacks even more and reduce the recharge a bit so it's used more often than 16s. Frag Grenade is a good aoe attack but it also spreads out the mob. I thought about giving Frag Grenade to the two Soldiers. I don't know if it would scatter too much though. I just don't want Medic to have it!
Your 3.) concern is a very valid one. Merc is starving from slots because they absolutely need both AH and Negative procs to do "ok" damage. Without it, Merc's damage output is low especially it's mostly Lethal damage type.
The goal of the changes I suggest is to give Merc even higher ST damage and make Serum an awesome power that can contribute regularly. -
Commando
I think Commando is fine the way he is. He shines the most when he is at about 30-40' radius so his Buckshot and Flamethrower are more effective. Comparing to Assault Robot, Commando's aoe potential is lower because cones are much harder to line up than Target AoE. It would be nice if his LRM Rocket has reduced recharge from 240s to 120s.
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Serum
The idea behind Serum is neat but it just doesn't seem to translate well in Mercenaries because Commando isn't a Bruiser. If Thug (or even Demon) has Serum, I would totally take it and slot it because Bruiser can grab aggro and he runs in. Commando isn't exactly a tanker-type. Yes, you can goto him closer but he isn't going to grab aggro for the team. A god-mode on a pet that can't grab aggro (no taunt) just doesn't make much sense to me. And also, Serum is available at lvl 18. I can't think of a situation where a god-mode like that is worth it on a Spec-Ops (who is even worse at grabbing aggro with no aoe). MM is the only AT that can pass inspirations to the pets. I can create a semi-god mode myself by just saving purple/orange for important fights.
If the dev has time, I really hope they can change the design of Serum.
I have several ideas to offer and will add more to this section as I read more posts:
1. Make Serum a Single Target +MaxHP Buff power like Frostwork
- 120s Recharge with 90s duration
- Instead of 40% Maxhp, I would lower it down to 20% Maxhp (enhanceable)
- Can only be put on Merc pets
- Minor +damage 7.50% and +tohit 7.50%
Merc pets can have the least amount of innate +resistance value but Serum will allow the master to give one or two pets 20% Resistance-to-all. This can potentially help Medic too if he is under fire that much and of course Commando will be a good candidate. Robot can excel in having more +defense while Merc can excel in having more +hp.
2. If the design goal is to keep Serum a more "panic button" type, then I would suggest the following.
- +Maxhp 15% (un-enhencable) for all Merc pets within 15' radius for 30s-45s
- +15% damage buff, 7.5% tohit
- For the first 15s, pets get mag 5 Sleep, Hold, Stun and Immb protection
- Recharge 600s
- Instead of pets suffering from endurance crash, I rather pay for a lot of endurance as a master. Endurance crash on a pet just makes me want to dismiss and resummon. If that's the case, i rather just pay endurance cost first.
Since none of Merc pets are exactly "tankers", I believe an AoE Serum will greatly benefit the set. The idea is to inject Serum into the human soldiers so they fight more like "Rambo". The 15% Maxhp is like giving them 15% more resistance-to-all and 15% more damage will help them kill quicker.
3. I understand that dev may not have time to change how Serum function but please consider this:
- Add some Psionic resistance (this will be useful on a team where the main tank lacks Psionic protection. I can send my Commando in first to take alpha)
- Much higher damage buff at 40-50%
- Instead of endurance crash on the pet, I rather pay more endurance up front
Like what I've explained before, Commando isn't exactly a tanker. If the idea is to turn him into a Rambo, I need Commando to do a lot more damage. #3 idea is probably my least favorite of the 3 but I'll take the power if it has a lot higher +damage with no endurance crash on him.
Summary
If dev has very limited time on improving Merc, then I would rank the following from most important to least important.
1. Spec-Ops' Damage and Controls need to be A LOT better. Snipe should have much higher damage and the two aoe controls should have greatly reduced recharge. I wouldn't even mind if one of the controls is changed to a small radius 4' but with only 16s recharge so at least one of them is used more often. I would also decrease Web Grenade's recharge from 30s to 10s. Web Grenade is a great soft control + debuffs.
2. Medic needs to be more medic-like and not a Soldier with better aoe. The two Soldiers need to have a much wider Cone. 5' arc is just way too small on a 16s recharge.
3. Serum needs to be better. Please read my Serum idea. Serum can be a power that can separate Merc from other primaries. -
Spec-Ops
I would rank Spec-Ops as the MAIN reason why Merc is under-performing and it is not easy to balance them. Spec-Ops as a group does PATHETIC damage with ZERO aoe damage. Comparing to Protector Robot, Spec-Ops doesn't offer the similar protection and Protector Robots have one aoe with stun chance!
Offense Improvement Ideas
1. Spec-Ops' Snipe needs to be A LOT more stronger. Its current base damage is 49.05 at lvl 50 with 16s recharge and 3.83s activation time. For a 16s attack, it should at least do 2x more damage than SCAR Heavy Burst's damage 34.56. I know many people want to add Stealth Strike to it but I rather have an overall increase in damage because Spec-Ops uses this attack during their attack chain.
2. Rifle Butt needs to be better. I have two ideas:
A. Rifle Butt has its use but after the new Pet AI change, I've noticed that Spec-Ops doesn't use it as soon as the target gets closer. I really want them to have Bean Bag Round but if that idea is not possible (due to too much change), then I really want to suggest increase Rifle Butt's damage. If the target dares to get close to Spec-Ops, he should suffers a big blow. I would give Rifle Butt the same damage scale as Snipe. This would give Spec-Ops two good burst damage in Snipe and Rifle Butt. I don't think it's going to do too much damage because Rifle Butt has 20s recharge.
B. If Spec-Ops' design goal is to offer the best control, then Rifle Butt needs to have much shorter recharge than 20s. I would suggest 12s.
3. If we want to give Spec-Ops an aoe attack, adding Toxic damage in Tear Gas would be a good one. Maybe we can create a version similar to Protector's Photon Grenade with 16s recharge, 10'-15' radius, toxic dot damage with a mix of hold chance and -damage debuff? I would even vote for Venom Grenade to have -resistance. Merc will need all the damage potential they can get!
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Defense Improvement Ideas
1. Spec-Ops actually survives pretty well and I think that's because they don't do aoe damage and they have stealth. I would probably increase Stealth's Defense value from 2.8% to 4.2 (50% base increase). Spec-Ops doesn't need to have aoe damage but they need to survive even better than Protector Robots.
2. The most headache is probably Flash Bang and Tear Gas. It is nice to have two good AoE controls but pet doesn't know when to use them and when to save them for the next fight. It is very common to see Spec-Ops shoots Tear Gas on a running minions. What should we do? Tell Spec-Ops not to attack? Beast has a bit similar problem in a way that they cast their buffs before the fight starts but buffs at least last for a while. If Spec-Ops shoot Tear Gas or Flash Bang on a minion, the effects don't last until next fight. Suggestions:
A. Reduce Tear Gas recharge from 180s down to 90s.
B. Reduce Flash Bang recharge from 120s down to 60s.
I wish there is a way to force Spec-Ops not to cycle them one after another. Is this possible?
3. I don't know how we can force Spec-Ops when to use two long-recharge AoE Controls intelligently but what if we change it so one of the aoe controls become a ST target (or a 4' radius aoe) but with much less recharge so at least one of the controls is used often?
Tear Gas is a good candidate to be on a much shorter recharge (like 16s) because it offers -damage. It can be a ST target or a 4' radius (which matches that green cloud).
4. Web Grenade needs to be better. Web Grenade is an awesome immb because it has slow/recharge and -fly. I would reduce Web Grenade's recharge from 30s down to 15s so Spec-Ops can offer more ST soft control to make up their lack of damage, defense and resistance-type.
5. Spec-Ops should also have some minor Fire/Cold/Toxic resistance just like Commando. -
Medic
This Medic minion has probably the weirdest design of all. I will explain why.
A. Medic has less range than all the other Mercenaries. Medic's two ST attacks only have 70' range while others have typical 80' range. This makes him more likely to get closer. I can't think of any reason why a Medic needs to get closer than other soldiers.
B. Medic has a Frag Grenade. It is a decent aoe damage with good soft controls but is he a Medic or a combat Soldier? Frag grenade has good radius and knock back will attract more aggro to himself than the Soldier's narrow cone attack. Why does Medic have better aoe than the two combat Soldiers and attract more aggro than those two?
Suggestions To Improve Medic
If Mercenaries are designed to have less survival than other primaries due to having a Medic, then this Medic needs to be A LOT more reliable.
1. Increase Medic's range from 70' to 80'.
2. Remove Frag Grenade completely and give it to two Soldiers if possible. To make up the loss of this minion's damage, the two Soldiers should do a bit more. But honestly, Merc needs more support from Medic than his low damage Frag Grenade that gives him more aggro.
3. Improve Medic Kit by reducing recharge from 20s to 12s and increase base healing a bit. It is very unlikely that people would slot +healing in Soldier since they need proc damage more than any other primary. I would also add some +regeneration in Medic Kit.
4. Improve Stimulant by reducing recharge from 15s to 10s. Yes, this will make him spam it more during battle and that's exactly what I want from a Medic and not his damage. :P -
My very first MM is Merc/Poison lvl 50 and then I made an Incarnate Merc/Storm and tried several combos like Merc/Trick and Merc/Trap.
I like Merc but I think this Primary needs more help than Ninja. Ninja, on paper, is at least doing very good damage. Merc is one primary that really doesn't excel in any area. Merc probably has the worst ST damage, AoE damage potential is low due to narrow cones, lack of variety of resistance type (only S/L and Commando has some very minor Fire/Cold/Toxic) and even their Control department is on the low side because two aoe controls are on very long recharge and they are used usually one after another. Two Spec-ops have ST web on 30s recharge and Oni can immb with Ring of Fire in 5s! Genin and Jounins have knock back/up as well.
Merc needs more help than just some number changes. It is my belief that if they cannot take both Achilles's Heel and Lady Grey procs, their damage is SEVERALLY below average. I'll break down by tier.
Soldier
Offense
Soldier is a pretty typical tier 1. The biggest problem with them is that their Full Auto cone attack only has 5' arc. It is very very narrow! Comparing to Robot's Tier 1, their Full Auto Laser has 15' arc. Both cone attacks are on the same recharge 16s. I do not understand why Soldier's Full Auto needs to be penalized. Some ideas I offer:
1. A simple solution is to increase Full Auto Fire from 5' arc to 15' arc.
or
2. To make Soldier more different from Battle Drone, I would suggest making Full Auto Fire 10' arc but with reduced recharge to 12s.
Survival
Soldier has about 26% to Smashing and Lethal. These are probably the most common damage type but Battle Drone has 26% Lethal, Cold and Psionic. I think Psionic resistance is just as important as S/L (if not more!).
Soldier wears body armor and I think they should follow what Commando has with a bit of Fire/Cold/Toxic resistance at 6.53%. This is still very minor but I have another idea that I will present later (Serum!). -
Quote:I don't know man.. I think having one pet doing constant critical damage is a whole lot different than having 6 pets doing critical damage together at the same time. Even if the uptime/downtime ratio is similar, the result of the damage output is quite different. The potential damage of 6 pets doing critical for 10s is really hard to balance, don't you think?Originally Posted by Redlynne
Personally, I'd like to see Smoke Flash turn into a 60 ft PBAoE (ie. Supremacy range) that lasts for 6 seconds and has a recharge time of 90 seconds. It would affect all Ninja Pets AND SELF for the duration.
(10 / 6) * (90 / 30) = 5
So you get 1/5th the uptime, but can affect all 6 pets simultaneously (if they're in Supremacy range) AND YOURSELF with the existing effects. Only requires coding the 3 personal attacks in your Primary to deal critical damage while Smoke Flash is in effect (just like your Pets already do).
I thought about aoe smoke flash. I think the current smoke flash isn't bad if Oni is better.
Synapse said smoke flash is one of the powers that he will need time to look into. He needs to work on all the dps comparison to see if smoke flash needs changes. -
I do think Slowed Response is very important. It can really increase your overall damage output if your goal is to spam your attacks.
What to drop?
Hard to say. You may not like it but I think you can drop Dark Blast and just focus on using Gloom and Life Drain. Yes, Dark Blast has better dpa than Life Drain but Life Drain heals you and debuffs tohit longer and you can put one more negative proc from Accurate Healing.