The Flying Magnet Magnetson

30th May 2008 – 8.55 am

One question on gaining the power of flight on my City of Villains Mastermind was what would happen to my robots? I know they have the innate power of super-jumping, which is quite handy when they chase a villain who is keen on a cinematic railing death but misjudges how far he needs to fall, allowing them to jump back up to my position, but how would they cope when I am flying high above them, ignoring the road layout and rising over buildings?

In World of Warcraft pets can be quite fickle. They can wander off bored when you are unreasonable enough to jump over a simple fence, and they then need to be recalled during a spare moment, which can get tedious. However, my gnome rogue Knifey has a pet prairie chicken, and it is the best pet in the game in my experience. It has a tenacious spirit that makes it refuse to accept it has got lost and will persevere to find Knifey wherever he goes, even if it means perching on his head. This was highlighted most clearly when I was in a group in the tunnels of Maraudon but outside the instance.

Hunting for rock elemental shards we spied a potential donor below us and jumped down two or three levels to get him. Any other pet would have thrown up its wings or paws in disgust and headed to the nearest sunbeam to lie in, but not the chicken. As we stood around pondering out next move a couple of girlish squeals came over voice-comms as my chicken came hurtling down a ramp after spending a good couple of minutes hunting me down. Yes, one of the girlish squeals came from me, I get a strange sense of satisfaction from the pets.

So how would Magnet Magnetson's robots fare against the mighty chicken of Knifey the rogue?

Because the Mastermind's henchmen take a crafty break whenever their boss changes zone, and I was keeping myself busy with heists and kidnappings in instanced missions, I hadn't found myslf at large in the city with my robots at my side. But with half-a-bub of experience needed to gain a level and a boss and two minions lurking on a rooftop I landed can called forth my robots to get me that last little bit of experience needed to ding.

After the mobs were defeated I felt more powerful and headed off to seek a trainer, and this was where my robots' following prowess would be challenged. As it was just a test I decided to make it as harsh as possible. I set the 'bots to passive, so they wouldn't get waylaid with any reckless fighting, and took to the skies. I headed in a straight line to the trainer, not too far away but far enough to show any potential problems, trying not to look back.

I landed and turned around, wondering where Fluffy, Snowflake and Buttercup were, but there was no sign of them. I waited a little bit, and still nothing. Just as I was beginning to think they would get lost if I wasn't careful with my flying they jumped out of the water in the harbour and over the wall in front of me, one-by-one. Aww, it was the sweetest sight, my lovely robots! I bet the same loyalty isn't offered by ninja henchmen.

Sorry, comments for this entry are closed.