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General Suggestions and Feedback / Re: Masterminds ... Leadership and Presence Pools
« on: November 13, 2022, 09:40:26 pm »
When I was given the heads-up that Redlynne wanted to discuss some thoughts on Masterminds, I braced myself for a two thousand word essay full of data points. This is not quite what I was expecting Keep in mind, nothing that follows is a definite as balance changes are ran through the ringer at the staff level for consensus. I'm genuinely interested in seeing how this conversation develops!
To your point, I do not disagree that Masterminds should have naturally higher values for leadership conceptually. The only issue that I have with this is a concern over homogenizing builds by increasing the modifiers too much. Right now, I'm not sure where the balance point lies. I think that 1.25 is too high as that encroaches on Defender values, but the current 0.75 is way too low. Napkin math suggests 1.125...better than Corruptors/Controllers, but less than Defenders. NOTE: at this time, I'm inclined to think that any potential buffs would only apply to Maneuvers, Assault, and Tactics. I am firmly against henchmen becoming valid targets for Vengeance unless buffs provided were tailored to the rank of the pet (similar to Soul Extraction's varying pet generation).
The Presence pool is an interesting one. Conceptually? Yes, Masterminds should probably have higher modifiers for some powers in that pool. As MMs are actually well-suited for aggro control when built correctly (and when henchmen are kept on a tight leash), I could see increasing the Taunt duration in Provoke (or the MM Taunt mods globally instead). Similarly, I could also see Pacify possibly seeing a duration increase; however, Placate duration is a constant that is AT agnostic so I'm a little on the fence about that one. I'm a little unsure about Invoke Panic and Intimidate . The AT mods for the Fear durations are already fairly average, only surpassed by Controllers. I'm interested to hear your reasoning for why the Presence powers should see a buff for MMs and where you think we should go.
To your point, I do not disagree that Masterminds should have naturally higher values for leadership conceptually. The only issue that I have with this is a concern over homogenizing builds by increasing the modifiers too much. Right now, I'm not sure where the balance point lies. I think that 1.25 is too high as that encroaches on Defender values, but the current 0.75 is way too low. Napkin math suggests 1.125...better than Corruptors/Controllers, but less than Defenders. NOTE: at this time, I'm inclined to think that any potential buffs would only apply to Maneuvers, Assault, and Tactics. I am firmly against henchmen becoming valid targets for Vengeance unless buffs provided were tailored to the rank of the pet (similar to Soul Extraction's varying pet generation).
The Presence pool is an interesting one. Conceptually? Yes, Masterminds should probably have higher modifiers for some powers in that pool. As MMs are actually well-suited for aggro control when built correctly (and when henchmen are kept on a tight leash), I could see increasing the Taunt duration in Provoke (or the MM Taunt mods globally instead). Similarly, I could also see Pacify possibly seeing a duration increase; however, Placate duration is a constant that is AT agnostic so I'm a little on the fence about that one. I'm a little unsure about Invoke Panic and Intimidate . The AT mods for the Fear durations are already fairly average, only surpassed by Controllers. I'm interested to hear your reasoning for why the Presence powers should see a buff for MMs and where you think we should go.