DarkCurrent

Results from my Grav/Elec/Mu lvl 50 non-permadom:

<ul type="square"> RWZ
I14 I15 % comparison
time (min) 20.2 21.7 NA
foes 66 88 NA
defeats 0 0 NA
IPH (millions) 1.48 1.76 119%
WPM 208 278 134%
DPM 1745 2067 118%

Cim
I14 I15 % comparison
time (min) 27.5 22.2 NA
foes 112 93 NA
defeats 0 0 NA
IPH (millions) 1.42 1.65 116%
WPM 153 98 64%
DPM 2063 2081 101%

WB
I14 I15 % comparison
time (min) 25.9 28.5 NA
foes 91 100 NA
defeats 0 0 NA
IPH (millions) 1.54 1.71 111%
WPM 121 116 96%
DPM 1817 1913 105%[/list]
All 3 tests showed increases in IPH of 11-19%. This is the biggest overall difference I've seen thus far between a pre-I15 and post-I15 dom, although it's pretty close to what my mind/thorn produced.

I don't think the other 2 metrics DPM and WPM are very useful for judging the effect of the I15 dmg changes because:

1) DPM doesn't account for pet or confused target damage, and is altered by NPC resistances and heals. So you can't really say that you're doing more damage or not. It'dl probably be better looking at individual powers and calculating Dmg/Hit.

2) WPM is more a factor of luck than anything else. You can run a flawless mission with the exception of one mob who you miss/gets lucky and lands a heavy hit or two on you. That's enough to skew the results to make it look like you took a beating because you couldn't kill fast enough.

[ QUOTE ]
Any word on what Stone Spear looks like?

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If you've fought Earth Thorn Casters you'll know what stone spears are. Although wouldn't that mean earth assault would get 3 AoEs? Fissure, Tremor and Stone Spears.

Very, very interesting if this is true.

FYI, energy comes in many forms:

nuclear
thermal
mechanical (motion)
radiant (EM)
electrical
chemical

So really I'm not sure if 'energy' in the game should be called its own category or if you should lump a lot of those together (electric, radiation, fire, sonic, etc).

It's more convenient to break them into subcategories, I'd say. However, that still leaves energy powers homeless because if you call them the physics definition of energy, as you seem to be doing here, then you should bring in all the other kinds of energy.

A possible solution is to use the subcategories of energy and then considering 'energy' in game does a lot of kb/kd, I'd assume them to have a force behind them. Therefore, I'd suggest categorizing them as a form of EM energy (with repulsion of like charges/poles causing the kb).

Then, you'd have sonic in mechanical, electrical in electrical, fire/ice in thermal, radiation in nuclear (mostly), and energy in EM. For chemical you could put toxic/poison type powers. Although that could also be under biological, or what you're calling body and/or plant (natural).

Here are the results from my fire/psi/mu lvl 50 (not perma either). She had been my fastest soloing lvl 50 character (compared to all other doms, brutes and cors I have at the same lvl) before the I15 changes. She lives in melee and doesn't have psi scream.

I ran the same missions as my other test characters (triplicate timed missions in RWZ, Cim and WB). Data was collected using HeroStats Unstable (latest version).

<ul type="square"> RWZ
I14 I15 % comparison
time (min) 16.6, 16.2 NA
foes 78 63 NA
defeats 0 0 NA
IPH (millions) 2.31 2.09 90%
WPM 155 176 114%
DPM 2011 1826 91%

Cim
I14 I15 % comparison
time (min) 16.7 23.5 NA
foes 92 124 NA
defeats 0 0 NA
IPH (millions) 1.85 1.88 102%
WPM 306 104 34%
DPM 2267 1999 88%

WB
I14 I15 % comparison
time (min) 21.3 19.8 NA
foes 92 88 NA
defeats 0 0 NA
IPH (millions) 2.03 2.30 113%
WPM 88 183 208%
DPM 1810 2123 117%[/list]
Data show that overall, this dominator's speed (as measured by infamy earning rate) was unaffected by the I15 changes. RWZ was slower, Cim was the same and WB was faster. DPM was down in 2 of the 3 tests, but up in the WB missions. This is most likely due to the PSW nerf.

Also, I did run out of endurance 3-4 times during testing (staminaless build), which is about 2x as often as she did before I15.

I think for solo with the smaller numbers of foes, there isn't much difference now and then. Imps make up for any damage lost to PSW decrease (pre-I15 the imps were lucky to kill anything) when fighting 4-6 targets at once. However, I would be concerned about her performance versus larger numbers of foes where the imps would be occupied and she'd be left to battle several enemies herself with reduced AoE capacity.

I don't know if adding psi scream to her build would help or hurt. a) I'd have to drop something to get it and this build is tight as it is and b) cones are great at range but suck in melee, which is where she fights.

[ QUOTE ]
Can anyone prove that defenders need an across-the-board-buff?

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Wait a minute, you want proof of something?

The novelty.

You must be playing blueside.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
We'll probably get the mag 3 version.

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So? Who cares! It's a power that animates as fast as Bonesmasher, does the damage of Total Focus, has increased base accuracy and a 100% chance to hold. Even if it's only mag3 normally, that's a 100% mag6 hold with domination up attached to the highest damage attack available to doms. That would still make it the best ST attack available to doms, period.

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Which means we won't be getting it.

Don't want no OP doms. That'd make the self-loathing dom players call for a nerf.

Phase ftw!

Tanked that AV the whole time you guys pwnd the vines.

[ QUOTE ]
I've seen many posts and comments from players like the poster you two are putting down...perhaps the "cries of dom weakness pre-buff" aren't so greatly exaggerated.

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We're putting them down? Yeah....


Go PL a plant/nrg dom to the mid 30s, slot with yellow dmg SOs to mimic the lack of dmg boost, take SoC, Creepers, your pet, bonesmasher, TF, PB and fitness. Then, go run some missions. Heck, don't even pop dominatino.

When you're done, come back here and tell us how gimp it was.

Plant/anything is NOT going to be gimp. It's a great set. The control powers will overcome ANY weakness of /nrg pre-I15. ANY weakness.

So using that as a reference point for now feeling like "god" is not believable.

Sorry if you think it is.

Now, if they'd come here and said they'd played an Ice/Psi dom to 18 and couldn't stand how weak it was and now they felt godly, I could buy into that.

No, he's not perma anything. Just a normal lvl 50 mind/thorn/mace dom.

Here's some further numbers from additional tests I ran looking at some different foes (Cims in Cimemora, LB in Warburg... timed missions):

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Cim
I14 I15 % comparison
time (min) 36.9 29.25
foes 111 111
defeats 0 0
IPH (millions) 1.12 1.33 119%
WPM 94 143 152%
DPM 1690 1576 93%

WB
I14 I15 % comparison
time (min) 28.5 26.6
foes 67 84
defeats 0 0
IPH (millions) 1.43 1.52 106%
WPM 51.4 56.7 110%
DPM 1567 1835 117%
</pre><hr />

The data show that rewards as measured by infamy rate were higher with the I15 changes by 19 and 6% respectively.

Risk was higher in these two tests, however, as measured by increases in injuries sustained (WPM). This can partially be explained by fighting more foes in the Warburg tests, but the Cim tests produced the same number of targets. So I'm not sure what to make of that other than to say that I've noticed some 'harder' spawning in these I15 missions with higher levels overall... nothing I can quantify at this time, though.

Interestingly, the damage output (DPM) in the Cim missions was lower with the I15 version of this dominator. I'm attributing this to the activity of surgeons. My guess is that the surgeons (when healing) lead to a need for additional damage output. So it's possible that the I15 version of this dom was able to better control, then defeat mobs such that the surgeons had minimal impact on the DPM required. Unfortunately, I didn't record demos of these latest missions to compare with the earlier ones to see if this was true.

I think of final note that it's observations like these that highlight the importance for actual in-game testing as opposed to on paper analysis of any AT and buffs/nerfs/changes. Different mobs, maps, spawn sizes, team sizes, etc will change the conditions of any comparison. Unless you test your dominator under multiple conditions that reflect a wide, yet actual range of factors that determine whether or not you're performing well or poorly, you're just guessing.

Overall, I'd say I'm seeing a small increase in reward (10% avg) as measured by infamy earning rate in this particular dominator since the I15 changes. That's great and all. Not sure it'll satisfy the playerbase as a whole to lead to a sustained popularity boost... the metric being reached for by Castle, et al.

So what's the bottom line result of the I15 changes to dominator damage?

Does or doesn't your dominator do more damage? If so, by how much? And if so, has it affected your risk:reward ratio?

I'm looking for actual numbers NOT FEELINGS.

Here's a sample of some data I just collected from my Level 50 Mind/Thorn/Mace. I look specifically at risk (injuries [WPM] and defeats) vs. reward (infamy [IPH] and drops [not listed here]) metrics while running triplicate RWZ timed missions.

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre> I14 I15 % difference
time (min) 16.75 19 NA
foes 54 68 NA
defeats 0 0 NA
IPH (millions) 1.48 1.56 105%
WPM 151 91 60%
DPM 1864 2023 109%
</pre><hr />

I chose this character because previous tests with my lvl 50 doms (as well as cors and brutes) showed him to be the slowest. Also, his build is the same as before and his powers were not nerfed a la PSW.

According to the data, his damage output (DPM) is increased by 9%. There was also a slight increase in reward (IPH). Interestingly, there was a fairly large drop in risk (WPM) despite fighting more foes.

Possible explanations:
1) the increase in DPM led to killing mobs slightly faster such that they were defeated before mezzes wore off.

2) the variable maps could lead to 'surprise' encounters that cause more damage in one instance vs. another.

3) this is just random and there is no statistical difference between the old dom and the new dom with I15

[ QUOTE ]
Quite a difference. Just went back to a dom for the first time since the changes. He's a plant/nrg. He used to be so gimped I shelved him permanently (or so I thought) in the mid 30s. Now I picked him up and he is like a god. QUITE the change.

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Wait a min, so you had a plant dom in the mid 30s and you thought it was gimp? With SoC? With Creepers? With pet? With Bonesmasher? With PB? With TF? And you thought it was gimp? Gimp?

Lol. I'll call you busted unless you were you one of those that saved domination for the end boss types. Or you didn't use confuse because it cost you xp.

Who's in for the 1st respec trial on Tue? Need to be 24 minimum. I'm thinking this would probably be easier if we went in with two smaller teams to minimize the number of vines. Two teams of 4-5 maybe.

Team 1
1 Baron von Ruwen - Earth/Thorns (32)
2
3
4
(5)

Team 2
1
2
3
4
(5)

Tesseract could be worth some laughs. That's the one with the civilians that kill Hack's character every time.

It's pretty simple, but only worth 4 merits though. The respec trial is worth 15 more if we do that as well.

Well the buttons are working again.

I had to shut off my computer a couple hours ago due to storm in the area. Came back, rebooted, logged onto the game and voila' problem solved.

Chalk it up to another weird computer glitch.

That was a good SF run last night. The Eye was pretty easy to take out. Took only two dominators.

Plant and Earth forever!

The reactivation of the Rikti Invasion has deactivated my mouse buttons 4 and 5. Four is keyed to Target Next Enemy and five is keyed to Target Last Enemy.

I checked my Keybind List and they're still pointing to the correct buttons. I checked my mouse outside of CoH and it still works (mouse button 4 and 5 are keyed to back page and forward page in my web browser). My mouse and all its keys were working just fine last night when I was on my dominator til midnight.

I've restarted the game a couple times and switched characters and servers. Still not working. I tried resetting my keybinds using the menu system, but the game isn't recognizing either button 4 or 5, so I can't reassign them.

Anyone else having this problem? Any solution to this problem aside from resetting the Target to the Tab button (I have that button bound to targeting allies for buffs and such).

Oh, I'm using a Logitech LX8 Cordless mouse in case anyone is wondering.

Give me 10 seconds and make it hurt!

Earth/Thorn is the -DEF king. That's the principle behind my current CoT theme dom.

Another power to throw out there that has huge -DEF is the PB AoE Thornburst. In game numbers have it at -30% base.

I highly recommend you put as many dmg procs as possible in your powers, and trust me they can take a ton of them. The Lockdown chance to hold is marvelous in VG.

Oh, and with 2 MMs and all their pets, you'll build domination as if you were teamed with 14 teammates (MM pets count for dom building).

Therefore, USE DOM ALL THE TIME WHENEVER IT'S UP. Because you can rebuild it in just a few attacks. The only thing stopping you will be recharge. So at the least, take Hasten. And just slotting a few IO sets should easily get you another 20% rchg with hardly trying. Then, you can hit your base and craft a recharge empowerment buff for another 20%.

Dang, too bad earth assault didn't appear with I15.

Imagine Baron von Ruwen getting his Seismic Smash on!

What if they just disappeared. Forever. No xp. Just gone.

Have it only effect minions.

Yeah redraw is a bit annoying. Which is why I'd actually take this a whole step further and come up with a pistol (weapon) control set as well. The malta gunslingers have those ice rounds in their gun for example to hold.

At least you could then pair the two together with minimal redraw and have a new, plus natural set to use with doms.

Some of the new dual pistols stuff will roll our way?

Pistol Assault for doms.

Seriously. Dominators need new power sets (heck even a retreaded one will do) today.

Operative Renault SF
Lvl 25+
Sharkhead Isle
Starting at 9 PM eastern

Temple of the Waters

First mission is a stealthable must that you work backwards unless you enjoy pain. First, your INVIS (stealth isn't enough on this map) guy finds Barracuda and marks her position on the map. Then, he/she finds the altar. Next, he/she team recalls everyone to the altar. The team works backward from altar to Cuda, clearing a path. Outrun the ambushes back to the altar to complete the mission.

This way, she'll follow you straight to the without stopping to aggro everything she sees, and then conveniently waits for all the ambushes to arrive as well.

I'm liking some of the advice so far:

Hover yes... MMs tend to engage at range and the return fire can be brutal... for the guy standing next to them. Hover will help you with staying away from the kb for instance.

Earth yes... for the reasons mentioned, plus your /dark friend will have Tar Patch. TP + QS = total slow with -DEF and -RES. That right there will keep most foes from ever getting close to you and let you melt them in seconds.

Also, Earth's -DEF will help him hit with Twilight Grasp, Petrifying Gaze, Fearsome Stare.

Also, his rez has an AoE stun, which will stack nicely with Stalagmites for some awesome crowd control at an early level.

And make sure your /pain friend buffs YOU, not his stupid pets. With that in mind, you should take a damaging secondary like /fire or /thorn that also has a good amount of AoE capability. Both have early cones and PB AoEs. Forget /nrg. By the time you run up and Bonesmash + TF someone, they'll all be dead. If you really want Powerboost, I'd go with /ice assault. It gives you the dual AoE attacks of ISC and FB, as well as PB. And you'll have your other 2 swords to do some dmg to hard targets in melee.