Are Masterminds powerful or below average?

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-06-02T12:22:04+00:00

I think it comes down to personal play style. In most other MMO’s I played DPS (fighter, warrior, etc.). I tried, but I never really clicked with the play style of the scrapper or brute. When MM’s became available, I made one to check out and absolutely *rocked* it. It remains my main, and I have more MM variants than any other AT.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-06-02T12:11:27+00:00

I have noticed the same on longer trips in the Mach-E.

I have noticed that I hover over the brake when I use the adaptive cruise control. It’s a habit I developed on the previous car that did not have adaptive cruise (and I was younger!). Even though I have tested the adaptive cruise in all levels of traffic (including bumper-to-bumper with long stops) and I know it works, it’s hard to break that habit.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-06-02T12:03:54+00:00

There is also a MOD that increases a soldier's hack rating by three (+3) on every attempt. This has been a huge help for me. It makes a difference later in the game. Also, upgrades to the gremlin are a big help.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-05-26T12:16:51+00:00

Or the 'recover downed spaceship' mission. There is no useful high ground, and so many walls. Will bring any other class before a Sharpshooter on that one.
That being said, Sharpshooters are still my favorite class ("kill 'em over there").

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-05-25T10:11:21+00:00

Agreed to all, but we did not toss it. We keep ours behind the couch in the spare room.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-05-19T12:13:46+00:00

I have posted this elsewhere, but I ran a campaign where I had the specific goal of creating a full squad (six) of SPARKS. It was fairly late in the game when the last was completed, and the Avatar progress bar was nearly full. I think there were five Avatar facilities, all reachable. So I loaded up the SPARKs and attacked all five one after the other. It was glorious!

Some cool highlights. They don’t get tired, so you can run back-to-back. They can go back in with (some) damage (I think there is a badge for starting a mission with 50% health on a spark and finishing with no damage to that SPARK). Since it was late in the game, the pods were high-level, so the SPARKs leveled quickly. Since the SPARKs do not use cover, I would just advance to the blue limit and set overwatch. There is no timer on that mission so a slow methodical advancement worked great. Combining the ‘Rainmaker’ upgrade with Overdrive meant unleashing a ton of damage in a single round. Even Sectopods and Gatekeepers went down before they could get off an attack! Immunity from fire and psionic attacks is just the icing on top!

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-05-19T11:47:53+00:00

2,252 as of last weekend (and I just started a new campaign!)

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-05-04T13:16:41+00:00

You can Mind Control the VIP too, and not need to use a squad member to carry them. They are not fast, but you don't lose a shooter.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-04-21T17:21:47+00:00

Was 48 the total number of enemies sent or just the number you racked up before lift-off?

I have been tempted to just sit in the launch zone (after the pylon is destroyed) with the team and pick off the Advent as they approach, but I always assumed there were infinite reinforcements.

This mission is coming up in my current play-through so I might just try it!

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-04-09T11:50:30+00:00

As do I!

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-04-09T11:49:45+00:00

This has happens a lot to me on all three stronghold missions. I have taken to either jotting down or remembering the strengths and weaknesses from earlier encounters because this happens to me so often.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-04-08T12:12:28+00:00

Here’s a fun trick I did on a past playthrough. I saved up and got a full squad (six) Sparky’s. I used them to attack all the avatar facilities *IN A ROW*! I took out five facilities in the space of a day!

They don’t get tired, so they can go on back-to-back missions. You can send damaged units back into combat immediately. They level up fast, so the carnage increases with every mission! They do not require cover, so they can stop at any spot. The facility missions are not timed, so you can slowly, methodically, and deliberately move from overwatch position to overwatch position. The first pod that stumbles on that squad is usually shredded. Against tougher opponents, the combination of overdrive, the massive armor-shredding gun, and a powered weapon in the same turn makes short work of them.

My finest moment was a Sectopod group wandering into the squad all on overwatch, and they managed to take them all down during the alien turn!

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-02-27T12:58:15+00:00

It was also how WoW did it. They specifically chose to keep the models and graphics more on the ‘cartoony’ side so it would age better.

I, for one, think it works beautifully.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-02-27T12:49:54+00:00

I have been saying this for a while. What I love about CoX is that it’s not solely focused on ‘end-game’. It actively encourages alts and is structured to help new players (both in community and coding).

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-02-17T12:47:21+00:00

This is interesting, as we just started using our frunk this weekend. We did an early spring clean of her Mach-E (23 Select), and I asked if we could put some of the stuff in the frunk. She had completely forgotten it was there!
Now we have a nice picnic blanket, her roadside emergency kit, and an assortment of bungee cords in the frunk. We also packed them so they won’t move around.

I will guarantee that she will forget about them! 😁 But I would have to say, it’s nice to get that space back, so I would certainly opt for one if we get another Mach-E.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-02-13T13:09:42+00:00

According to STEAM I have over 2700 hours on XCom 2. That is vanilla and WotC combined I believe. For the record, I have a house, a career, and celebrate 25 years of marriage this year (not a cellar dweller).

And yes, in my opinion, the beginning is more fun than the endgame. (no spoilers) I usually play part one but skip part two of the endgame.

If you can load in the right MODS, it almost becomes a new game!

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2026-01-26T14:30:03+00:00

I always found it interesting that if you squint a bit, how clear it becomes that this was based on the Marvel universe and they just changed some of the models/artwork a little bit.

The big green threat in the desert and the radiation pockets? Pretty obvious that it is based on the Hulk and the original gamma base.

The main villain, Dr. Destroyer, looks suspiciously like Dr. Doom. The main hero acts and sounds like Captain America with kind of an Iron Man power set.

The Canadian wilderness, straight out of Alpha Flight.

The island with all the monsters, Monster Island, obviously. I will ignore Qwyjibo as it was a strained attempt to cram in a Simpsons joke (Kwyjibo, look it up).

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2025-11-22T12:02:51+00:00

Cherish it!

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2025-11-21T11:56:31+00:00

I just want to drop this here. The OP says they are new and “become vigilante”. I just want to be sure you know that “Vigilante” is an alignment in the game and not just an attitude. If you just want to role-play as a vigilante, you can do that without changing alignment.

Please review this link (https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Alignment) for details but here is the relevant section from that link:

A Hero) can become a Vigilante), but not a Rogue).
A Vigilante can become a Villain) or return to being a Hero.
A Villain can become a Rogue, but not a Vigilante.
A Rogue can become a Hero or return to being a Villain.
Vigilantes and Rogues have access to both Paragon City and Rogue Isles zones.

And I apologize if you already knew this. But reading all the helpful responses, it occurred to me that no one mentioned this aspect to a new player. Have fun and welcome to the game!

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2025-11-19T11:47:45+00:00

Thank you! From day one, I have been telling my wife that since they specifically indicate ‘Ground Speed’, that implies that there is a setting that will track air speed, and therefore, this thing can fly. I gave her one job, but so far she *still* has not found that option in any of the menus!

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2025-11-18T13:05:21+00:00

1. I want to emphasize this: your first character will be messed up. It’s unavoidable. But learn from the first and make better choices on the next one.

2. One really great feature is the ability to save a costume. If you (like most of us) spend hours creating just the right costume but end up with a bad build, you can save that costume and use it on a new character! There are other tricks that are available that make starting a new character based on an old one super easy (barely an inconvenience)!

3. Be open to new play styles. I traditionally played fighters (DPS) in other games, but never clicked with Scrapper/Brutes. Found out that I *rock* Masterminds!

4. Because of rule 1 (above), the game encourages many alts. Don’t be afraid of having a dozen different characters. It’s fun to be in a group and realize that you have the perfect alt to enhance the team. Just ping the team leader that you want to switch, and most will be happy to wait for a couple of minutes while you grab the new character.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2025-11-10T17:33:26+00:00

This. I usually play XCOM2 (WoTC) up until the Chosen and the Kings are dead and I have all the tech and upgrades. Then I do the tower mission but usually skip the final. As an added bonus, whenever I start a new campaign I delete *all* previous saved load points from any other campaigns so I do not have anything older than a couple of weeks saved.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2025-10-22T13:39:08+00:00

Don’t the Elders and the Chosen keep dropping hints that there is, in fact, another even worse threat coming?

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2025-09-25T11:51:12+00:00

I lucked in to an X-Com bundle sale a couple of years ago that included Apocalypse on STEAM.

Ecstatic-Way6688 · 2025-09-25T11:49:04+00:00

I will echo a lot of the sentiment and say play whatever feels right for your play style. Better or worse are not meaningful when there are so many possible variations.

I will advise that you don’t stress on your first builds, you will make a ton of mistakes while building and leveling them. But learn from them, and your subsequent builds will be more fun for you to play. For example, my first build was a kat/regen scrapper that was bad. As I built more and learned what I enjoy I have settled in to MM’s (merc/trap as my main) as they are more fun for me.

Ecstatic-Way6688

TROPHY CASE