I keep looking at the Mastermind ATOs ... and I can't for the life of me figure out why Paragon Studios coded them the way they did.
I'm not talking about the choices of the enhancements themselves or the "pet procs" they put into those sets.
I'm talking about what those ATOs can be slotted into.
Why oh why in Positron's and War Witch's green monitor code base did they limit Mastermind ATOs such that they could only be slotted into 3-4 Powers per Mastermind in their primary powerset?
Masterminds all have 3 Pet Summon powers in their primary powerset.
A lucky few get a 4th Summon power at Level 18 (looking at you Gang War, and friends) ... which by virtue of giving those specific primary powersets an additional (up to) 6 slots to play with for Pets gives them a tremendous advantage relative to their peer Masterminds in terms of slot efficiency and capacity.
What do the enhancements of the Mastermind ATOs modify?
- Accuracy
- Damage
- Endurance
- Recharge
- Pet Buff(s)
Now let's take the blinkers off and ask ourselves ... what OTHER POWERS exist in every Mastermind Primary that can take and use ... Accuracy, Damage, Endurance and Recharge enhancements?
I'll give you an unfair hint ...
See all those Personal Attack powers that Masterminds rarely take (or use) for reasons of ossified "Conventional Wisdom" ...?
Yeah, THOSE Primary Powers.
Why can't Mastermind ATOs be slotted into Mastermind Primary Personal Attacks?
WHY?
If Mastermind ATOs were "proliferated" (as is!) such that they could be slotted into the three personal attacks that every Mastermind gets in their Primary powerset ... Players would have
an incentive to not only TAKE those Personal Attack Powers, but also to slot them up with Mastermind ATOs and USE THEM (because what's the point of 6-slotting a Power you never use or never intend to use?).
Trust me on this one.
Something as simple as "proliferating" Mastermind ATOs into being eligible for slotting into Mastermind personal attacks could very nearly
revolutionize Mastermind playstyles all by itself ... since more builds would be taking and slotting up personal attack powers AND USING THEM, rather than kicking them to the curb like wasteful garbage that aren't worthy of power picks OR slots.
All that needs to happen is a database update.
Three powers per Mastermind Primary are edited to allow the slotting Mastermind ATOs into them, unlike previously.
S imple.
E asy.
E ffective.
... hasn't been done or tried yet ...
Can anyone think of a good/valid argument for why this either couldn't or (better yet) SHOULDN'T be done?
I'm hard pressed to think of an argument that doesn't rely on BAD FAITH and/or the straightjacket of "tradition" simply because Paragon Studios didn't make the change themselves first.
Of course, if this suggestion gets approved and implemented here on Rebirth, there would need to be an update to the Mids Reborn branch we use, but that's a secondary consideration of lesser importance.
Being able to use
more than a third HALF of your primary powerset as a location to slot Mastermind ATOs ...
PRICELESS.
Your move, Rebirth Team.
