gameboy1234

Black Pebble recently posted something to the effect that the distributor in Canada *****'d big time and didn't get the boxes shipped. So Gamestop CA may indeed show the title as "not released" because they haven't got it yet. Just guessing, but this isn't directly GS fault I think.

Well I'm not qualified to say one way or the other. The dev's certainly seemed to regard the fix they made as being the correct solution.

If you want to convince them otherwise, I'd suggest avoiding words like "lie." A more positive and pleasant attitude will almost certainly be required to convince Paragon Studios to take a second look at pet AI. Heck, your comment wasn't even aimed at me and yet I'm inclined to dismiss it as excessive nerd rage and sophomoric internet posturing.

For what it's worth, I play Bots, and I haven't noticed any significant change in behavior. There was always some weirdness with the Rikti dummies that caused pets to mob them at melee range. This is not new.

This is what I understand also. Pet AI was fixed a few patches ago, it is now working as intended. Also, if I understand correctly, there's "group" code in the AI that controls the entire spawn which causes some mobs to just randomly run into melee range, even if they don't need to. This same code randomly causes your pets to enter melee range, even if they don't need to. This is also considered WAI.

The devs just don't want us to have 100% control of out pets. It's part of the game that we have to work at positioning and commanding our pets to get them to do what we want.



I totally agree that better control of the pets would be desirable. I wonder if the devs would give this to us as an Incarnate or other special power, something we have to work at to earn. That would make us better MMs and also represent our increasing control over our henchmen in an in-game sort of way.

I think the devs will not, because the AI changes would be too hard, but it might be worth it to ask.

Except "m" is "milli". The Greek letter Mu is used for micro, although many folks use a "u" which looks similar. So "uOG" is what I'd go for.

The second M in MMO stands for "Multiple" and it doesn't really make sense to me to refer to "mirco-multiple." Once you're micro, I'm not sure the multiple part really matters. Also I can't figure out how folks keep dropping the "Game" from "MMO." I know many folks do it, but where the heck does that come from? It's Massively Multiple Online Game. Dropping the "game makes no sense, it's just an adjective then. Probably some used it to describe a "MMO game" but there you have the noun in a sentence. OK grammar Nazi rant over.

He did say "all" so I assume he means Tier 1, 2, and 3. Robots get Full Auto on the Drones only.

Protector Bots get Photon Grenades and Seeker Drones, neither of which are a cone, and the Assault Bot gets the two missile attacks, which also are not cones.

You might argue that these upgrades are better than cones, but that's a different story. They still aren't cones. I assume that ALL of the mercs get cones at 32.

But the approach is not similar. Not similar enough to be called the same, anyway. That's what folks are saying here, Brutes play differently.



Simply for brevity. Anyone following the thread has already read your post, why repeat it?

Paranoia shall destroy ya.

Except there is clearly a difference. If nothing else, read through the stats on Red Tomax. Numbers don't lie.

And some of us play /Electric Armor brutes, which isn't known for being tough, or similar sets. I run a pretty darn tough /ELA brute but support has to work really hard to keep me alive if I'm taunting 8 man spawns. I know because I've done it. It just isn't feasible most of the time without more support than most teams have. I know because I've failed at it too. My tray of Insp isn't infinite.

There's lots of things to do besides rush the Brute in first. Maybe the Corruptor wants to use Fearsome Stare. Maybe the Fortunata should be using Psychic Wail or Aura of Confusion to soften up the alpha. Maybe sleep a bunch and then apply some debufs. There's lots of strategies besides "rush the brute in" and sometimes they're even necessary.



Team play is fine but you have to use your head. "Always rush the brute in" isn't using your head, it's following a preset mindset, an ideology, and it's not always going to work and it'll slow down every one's fun as a result.

And you don't always have a perfectly built brute an every level to work with. I'm not talking about level 50, perma-doms and purpled-out brutes. Most of the game happens in CoH before level 50. Sometimes you don't even have IOs yet. Some times you have players who are new and don't know the ropes yet. I've found that there's a large number of (very!) young kids playing this game. They aren't always the best players. You have to adjust your own play style and expectations to what the team has to offer.


I've seen plenty of ATs, corruptors included, skip vital powers from their sets. It happens. You roll with it. Or you rage quit a lot of teams I guess.

This. Which is what I was trying to say when I called Brutes "meatshields." Brutes aren't tankers and shouldn't be expected to tank an entire 8 man spawn (though I think a few builds can).

Brutes should be expected to hold their own in the middle of a big fight, and hold aggro on at least some part of the spawn, for their own fury and so the rest of the team has less enemies to deal with. Saving squishies is OK, but you can't save a squishy from the whole spawn, squishies have to manage their own aggro too.

This.

This is always the way pet AI has worked, unfortunately. When any pet has a melee attack ready and no ranged attack ready, it'll rush.

What I do is just go with it. Charge into combat yourself with pets in tow. Stop just a bit beyond the first target, so that your pets are just touching it. Now they won't have to move to melee a target and so they'll be a lot more likely to stay within your Dispersion Bubble. If you do this with Bodyguard mode (Defensive Follow, usually), you are practically immune to damage, so you're very safe while your Bots beat on the enemies.

Use Force Bolt to knock down runners and prevent chasing, or to ghetto hold a Boss.

And that's like 31 levels of gameplay for Bots/FF.

This.

Even on my Corruptor, Share Pain was my first pick over Soothe. The self-damage is not that much, and on a MM the damage is shared between all pets on bodyguard mode. Share Pain has a fast recharge, heals a lot, costs almost no End and gives you a self damage buff.

I really think the OP has, at minimum, not really consider this power properly when he says not to take it. It's a great power and one I've always used successfully on my Dark/Pain corr.

Only one 50? You got 11 other slots on just that one server, time to get cracking.

The recharge does not stack for ANYONE. I've had other players open their Combat Attributes window while I stack up Enforced Morale. Most you can get is the base 5%. That is global recharge though so I still think EM is totally worth it.

You CAN stack the status protection. On a single target you can get like 50+ protection easily for the categories that EM protects. Two applications of EM will give 20+ protection which is enough for almost any situation.

As much as you want. On teams that are just steam rolling everything, set about half of your pets on aggressive and ignore them. On small teams, teams that are struggling or solo, it's much better to order pets to attack a single target and kill it quickly.

You can also order your pets to attack a target so as to pull aggro off a teammate. This is very much a poor mans taunt but if the mob isn't damaged much yet it works well. In this case you might order your pet to attack a new target before the first target is dead, since your goal is to save a teammate in trouble rather than kill mobs as efficiently as possible.


It's helpful imo to hotkey "/petcomall def follow" so you can call them back if needed. This is normally the only "emergency" type of command I have to issue.

This should work.



One thing I did on my Dar/Pain corruptor was skip Soothe and take Share Pain instead. Share Pain is a bigger heal and its End cost is nill. It has some side effects, but these are manageable. Eventually I took both Soothe and Share Pain. It's rare that I need both on a single target but it has happened.

On teams, esp. if they're steamrolling and have good aggro management already, you might want a second build that skips provoke and maybe adds both Soothe and Share Pain.


I have a level 44 Dark/Pain corr and the basic plan for teaming is to take absolutely everything in Pain Dom. I also have a solo build that skips Enforced Morale, one of the single target heals and a couple of other things and adds a bunch of attacks. ('Cause four attacks wasn't cutting it solo.) I'd at least consider something similar with MM: one team build and one solo/small team build.

This is what I'd advocate. The Rifle attacks are good damage filler while you still have less than your full complement of henchmen. However, I'd wait until 24-26 before getting rid of the rifle attacks. A second protector bot and SOs make a big difference in your pets' damage output. I don't however know how /Traps plays without Stamina, you'll have to use your own judgment there.