KokopelliJoe

Version 1.1
- Updated some enhancement stuff to further comply with ED after testing/feedback
- Fixed some typos
- Added some useless anecdotes
- Extended my Animated Stone rant


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So in Issue 5, Controllers got hit pretty hard by several separate nerfs. Our pets have changed. Our AoE controls took a hit on recharge and/or duration. The number of people we can hit with one AoE changed. We did gain containment, which makes a high level controller's damage output ridiculous.

In Issue 6 we will be introduced to enhancement diversification (ED). This is a system that will "encourage" players to slot their attacks a bit differently through a process of diminishing returns for slotting one type of enhancement again and again. ED doesn't affect the Earth/Storm *too* much, as a lot of control type powers just lend themselves to diverse slotting already.

This guide is going to cover all of this. I have tested the initial ED implementation on the test server, and the slotting suggestions will reflect that. If any drastic changes are made to ED, I will update the guide accordingly, but I doubt anything they will change will affect this guide too much.

*One note: I do not slot my control powers for damage. All the slotting suggestions are coming from a level 50 character who has APP attacks for damage output. For starting out and lower level controllers, putting some damage enhancements into fossilize or stone cages might be a good idea to speed up soloing. But I don't recommend completely sacrificing control enhancements for damage, strike a balance.


So let's get into it...

Earth Control

Stone Prison The basic single target immobilize. Has a -fly, -knockback and -def attached to it. This is one of my favorite powers to bring to an AV fight. AV's are just downright hard to control. While they cannot be perma held/disoriented with one controller present, they can be perma immobilized. This is a lot more useful than it sounds. Keeping an AV right in front of the tank is extremely important. How many times have you had an AV go berserk and run around wiping out the squishies? Not going to happen with stone prison wrapped around him. Note: Some AV's can resist it... so don't rely on it alone. Not so useful in the early levels, as stone cages is better at controlling groups of enemies. Also great for bringing down pesky fliers into melee players reach.
Slotting Suggestion: I recommend minimal slotting. I haven't had anything but one acc in it for a long time, and it serves my purposes. With ED, I will probably have extra slots and might make it 2 acc, or 1acc/1 duration.


Fossilize Your single target hold. Great power that is useful from level 1 to 50. It takes two applications of this to hold a boss. It’s not complicated so not much to say here.
Slotting Suggestion: ED doesn't affect this much, as it is good to have a mix in it anyway. I feel most comfortable with 2 acc/3 duration/1 recharge. 1 acc is probably fine, but I do not like to miss with my hold. Always better IMO to have more duration than recharge, or else you will have to spam the power more often to hold a single person.


Stone Cages The AoE version of Stone Prison. One of the visually "loudest" powers in the game, and a reason a lot of people leave the Earth set. "I can't see anything..." I say just use tab Anyway, it is very beneficial to take this power early on as you will be short of any *real* way to control the mobs. Once you get this you can combine this with gale to do some “poor man’s controlling.” Use gale to blow the baddies around a corner or anywhere out of line of sight, then pop your head around the corner and hit them with cages. It’s a good tactic for keeping additional mobs immobilized *and* unable to shoot you. Cages has the -fly, -knockback, and -def that stone prison has. If you have a group of flying baddies (like the cabal) it is a beauty. It can be used like Stone Prison to perma immob an AV, but it is much more expensive, which is why I always recommend taking both powers (albeit stone prison can come in much later) By itself it doesn't do much to save your butt, but is one of the best "combo" powers in the set.
Slotting Suggestion: Again, I would go minimal and save your slots for the bigger controls. One or two acc, an endurance reducer if you are going to be using any of the tactics that require you to spam it, or an immob duration.


Quicksand I don't want to get into a lot of detail for PvP builds, but if you are a PvPer, you have to have this. -fly, -jump, -def, -speed. With a few recharges, you can hover/fly in the air and keep a tank/scrapper... or anyone without TP basically perma-slowed. If they try to run out of the area, just put another patch down in the direction they are headed. Meanwhile you can be spamming holds and hitting him with APP attacks, or just use it to keep a pesky scrapper from helping his team. Ok enough of that... if you want to make a PvP Earth/Storm just PM me and we can chat . Quicksand is equally useful in the real game. Again, in the early levels when you have no way to mez more than one target, a location based slow can be a life saver. You can cast it around a corner (use it with the gale+cages combo also), and be safe from aggro while your team can pop their heads around the corner and blast at their leisure. Almost all the earth powers have a -def to them, but quicksand's is a little bit heftier. I try and always have this down to increase how often my team hits. I said stone cages was the best combo power... I lied... it's quicksand.
Slotting Suggestion: In my current build for Issue 6, I have 3 slows in it. That's the only thing you need to slot this with. It is perma on it's own, and is dirt cheap (ahh I crack myself up). 3 slows in quicksand hits the slow cap… anymore than that and the enhancement isn’t doing anything.


Salt Crystals The least liked power in the Earth set. Why? It is a PBAoE sleep. So you have to run into the middle of a mob, and then cast a sleep and hope someone doesn't use an AoE right after you do. And who doesn't use AoE's that has them? Personally, I love the power. It is hard to get used to, and can be frustrating. When Joe was in his 30's I teamed with a lower level Earth/Storm, and she used salt crystals every mob... and just about everytime, I would be the one to break them... and immediately slap myself on the forehead. It is just a hard power to use unless you are teaming with people that understand it. And even then, like in my case, if you don’t let them know you are using it, they may already have an AoE attack queued up. Most people see the controller doing something, and then just let loose on the mob. If you take this power and like it, here is my suggestion to you. Use it as your "break glass in case of" power. When an extra mob gets aggro’d, jump over to them and cast salt crystals. Make a bind with it if you prefer, saying "Finish the first mob before starting on these guys" or something similar. Just use it to hold off an incoming attack from a mob that your team isn't ready for. It is extremely useful this way, since your team won’t have to deal with 2 mobs at once, and you will still have all your “main” control tools to deal with the mob that you are fighting.
Slotting Suggestion: 2 Accuracy/ 2 Duration


Stalagmites Your AoE disorient, and the first very good control power you get. Take it as soon as you can. Even after it took a huge hit in recharge/duration in Issue 5, it is still the best "opener" in the set. It may not be ready to open on every mob, but every other mob ain't so bad. The mob tends to wander as they will with disorients, but with stone cages, quicksand or quake that can be controlled. As with all controls, it takes two disorients to affect a boss (see thunderclap for a boss disorienting combo).
Slotting Suggestion: 2 Acc/2 Duration/2 Recharge. Again, I hate missing with the *real* controls, so 2 acc is going to be the norm for me. With the Issue 5 nerf, the duration and recharge took a big hit, so feel free to play with those to fit your playstyle. I will get into strategy a little here; Stalagmites is the best opener in the set because it is instant. The people you hit won't have time to hit back until it wears off, which means no alpha strike. I have had great success using this solely as an opener, without regard to duration. I will use it to initially disorient the mob, which will give me time to apply holds, earthquake, volcanic gases etc... things that would normally get me shot if they weren't disoriented. By the time the disorient wears off, I will have had them otherwise controlled. So I can definitely see a benefit in slotting it 2acc/1duration/3 recharge, or 3 acc/3 recharge if you want to use it just as a short duration alpha control.

Earthquake Location based knockdown. My personal favorite power. I remember the days when with a few recharges and hasten I could have 3 of these puppies out. No more... Use it around corners with quicksand to keep them on top of it. Again, simple power, good power, 'nuff said. Take it when you get the option. Another huge bonus to this power, is that it doesn’t need an accuracy check to work. I was in the Ernesto Hess TF, and was exemped to the lowest person on the team. Everything was a +4 or +5 to me… and I was still an extremely useful member of the team. Quake will keep anything on their backs (as long as they aren’t knockback resistant… like jaegers… *shivers*). This plus quicksand was really all I could use, which made it boring… but without the quake I know there would have been many team wipes.
Slotting Suggestion: Recharge is all I would put in it, but it does take tohit and def debuffs, which are both very nice to have. As many recharges as you need to keep you happy, and with ED since we can’t go all recharge, 3 rech/3 tohit debuffs would be a good way to go. (You will get enough def debuff since almost all earth powers have def debuff’s, and you also have freezing rain.)


Volcanic Gases Location based AoE hold. Awesome power. Unlike some other set's holds, if you run up to a mob and use this on them by itself, you will catch some aggro, as it is a pulse hold and takes some time to go into effect. Some other baddies may also have time to run off of it. You now have 3 location based powers that you do not need line of sight to use. Stand around a corner and start with quicksand, quake, and then this. They won't be able to get out and run over to you, and the slow/falling will keep them there long enough for the hold to kick in. Also extremely useful for AV's. Use the perma immob and keep volcanic gases under him as much as you can. This way you don't have to watch for triangles. Throw a fossilize out every now and then, and when his mag protection drops down, he will be held until it goes back up. Also great for just bosses. Lay this down at the feet of a boss, then queue up fossilize while the animation is still going and you will have a held boss within seconds.
Slotting Suggestion: I will have mine 3 duration/3 recharge in Issue 6. This can be modified quite a bit with good results, some like some accuracy in there, but I haven't noticed a big difference between with and without. Throw an end reducer in it if you need it.


Animated Stone Well what can I say. The current incarnation depresses me. When there was 3 of them running around, they could do some good damage, hold quite a bit of aggro, and were just fun to watch. Now with only one, his DPS isn't anything worthwhile (at least to anyone with an APP attack), his aggro control is non-existent, and he looks lonely. He has three attacks, Hurl Boulder, which is a ridiculously long recharging and animating power. This is his preferred attack unless you force him into melee range (or he is feeling spontaneous). His melee attacks aren't much better. His default melee attack is stone fist, which recharges quick enough, but doesn't do any kind of solid damage. He also has stone mallet... but if he uses it, you better get a screenshot and put it on your wall with Sasquatch. I might sound cynical, and for those upcoming controllers I am sure he will be amazing when they get him, as it is a big achievement. But if you line up all the controller pets, he is unarguably the worst one. My suggestion is not more pets, but making him more dynamic. I had suggested to the devs that they get rid of Hurl Boulder and replace it with mudpots so he would fill his role a little better (no dev response and thread deleted). But for now, what you need to know... he is the tank pet. He can take a beating. What I use him for these days is casting him in the middle of a mob to soak up the alpha strike. The current build I have for Issue 6… does not include Animated Stone (gasp!). I have tested it quite a bit, and really the game isn’t much different at all without him... which really says something. His damage is pretty much useless to a controller with any APP attack in Issue 5… and with ED on the way, it will only get worse. Without a change to this pet, I will say goodbye to “Spock” at the end of Issue 5 (and I don’t expect him to ever be changed)
Slotting Suggestion: 2 Acc/3Damage or 2 Acc/3 Damage/1 (knockback/disorient, whichever you want)


I will say this for the storm set too, but I wish I had room in my build to take every Earth power. There isn't a bad apple in the bunch (well… “Spock” sucks now… but the emotional attachment would be worth it if I didn’t have so many other useful powers to take.) Use your combos wisely, and often... With the Issue 5 changes, you may have to alternate the powers you use on each mob since they recharge slower. But the good news is, Earth has so many control options, you can still reliably control every mob you face.

Storm Powers


Gale No choice here, gotta take it. Might as well learn how to use it! Great in the early stages when all you have is a slow, an AoE immob and a hold. *Use corners* Use gale to blow a mob back in a hallway, quicksand the area between them and you, and stone cage them. Then you and your team can sit around the corner and attack them when you want. Also good for knocking extra mobs, or stragglers onto your location based controls. And Knockback distance scales with level difference. (you will knock a level 10 farther back than a level 20.) Once you get up some levels, go to a low level zone and use it to knock baddies off a roof. I can’t wait for the ragdoll physics to go live. The storm powers are so fun to watch while the mobs flail around. Anyway…
Slotting Suggestion: 1 Accuracy... 2 if you *really* love the power.


02 Boost A heal, and a disorient/sleep protection. Great if you are going to do some duoing, but once you get into larger teams of people you don't know... they may start asking you to "heal, heal!" I dropped the power because in my playstyle, my concern is not the the players, but the enemy, and I used the space to get another control power. It is a constant distraction to have to monitor who needs a heal and who has the protection. If you spend more time controlling you shouldn’t need a heal.
Slotting Suggestion: 3 heal/2 recharge works well


Snow Storm A target based toggle AoE slow and -recharge. In the early levels it is nice, but the end drain can be a pain. Very nice power, but has all the issues related to anchors. Very useful against AV's and long fights. The -recharge is the selling point, but in normal length mob to mob fights, they are mezzed for the majority (if not all) of the fight, so -recharge might as well be -hair growth in those fights.
Slotting Suggestion: One or two end reducers, and 3 slows.

Steamy Mist Love this power for one thing... Team stealth. The resistance bonus is nice, the defense is almost not there.
Slotting Suggestion: 1 end reducer, unless you want to slot for resistance. Don't slot for defense, since the base is around 3%.


Freezing Rain In my opinion, the most important power in the set. Great defense debuff, resistance debuff and a slow. Also has a knockdown (much less effective than quake… so get both) Location based. Get this when it is available. Your team will hit more often and for more damage, which is an unbeatable benefit. Make sure they are otherwise controlled or the rain will cause them to scatter. Has a nifty new graphical effect on the ground in Issue 6.
Slotting Suggestion: 3 def debuff/3 recharge is how I am going. Can take an end reducer or two if you need it. Can't go wrong *unless you slot it for damage*


Hurricane Extremely useful power. I don't use it much, because it doesn't suit my playstyle well. It has a great tohit debuff that is killer when slotted up. It has knockback and repel, and has a pretty high end cost. You can use it a variety of ways. Stand directly in front of the backline folks, and it will protect them from melee attacks. Herd people into a corner and keep them repelled with lowered accuracy. This power can make things a bit messy, so do practice with it before you take it into a team setting. Even when folks are in stone cages and have knockback resistance, you can still move them around with the repel, so be cautious when you use it or you may end up scooting the mob *off* your location powers.
Slotting Suggestion: The tohit debuff is the most beneficial thing to slot, I would go 3 of them, and 2 end reducers, or 3/3.


Thunderclap PBAoE disorient that only affects minions. You may say "what? that sucks!" I used to also. First, the graphic and sound is awesome. Second, If for some reason you had a mob of 5 bosses... you could disorient all of them in two clicks.... stalagmites + thunderclap. Unbeatable benefit. Even without this, the majority of almost every mob is minions, and if all you do is take them out, you are still saving yourself and teammates from a lot of damage. Don’t use this as an alpha, as the Lt’s and bosses don’t like you being up in there faces. Use stalagmites from range, then rush in (or TP in, very effective) and thunderclap them. You will probably take a hit from them since the animation is long, so make sure you aren’t doing this against +4’s
Slotting Suggestion: 2 acc/2 duration/2 recharge or something similiar.


Tornado A tornado that chases around baddies and throws them in the air. Fun to watch, but dangerous. There are two circumstances I use this in. I slot it for damage, and spam stone cages for the -knockback. The tornado will rip through them like paper (especially with freezing rain). The second is if it is about to be a team wipe, I will just throw it out there to create a little bit of chaos among the enemy ranks so we can make a getaway. The tornado+stone cages is best for soloing, but works great.
Slotting Suggestion: 1 end/3 damage if you want it to be a damage device (recharges if you want). Otherwise just 1 end.


Lightning Storm Great power. Pretty simple too… it floats in one spot and deals damage and knockback. Great for use in hallways, doorways or to position around the backline to keep people off them and support them with damage. Also has a new graphical effect. Sparks fly off the body when it hits. Ragdoll also applies to this power, which is just great stuff. Fun to watch a guy get hit by lightning and his limbs flail around as he falls.
Slotting Suggestion: Damage to taste. An end reducer or two if you find you need it. It takes knockback distance, end drain and range. I wouldn’t mess with these.



Ok so again, wish I could take them all. You now have 4 location based AoE powers to combo. Quicksand, Earthquake, Volcanic Gases and Freezing Rain. From complete safety you can cast these on a mob and then let your team know when they are ready. Might be overkill, but it's fun and safe! Your combos will depend on your playstyle, so just try out the powers and what works together for you.

I am not going to go into great detail about pool powers that work well for controllers, as there are a ton of guides for pool powers. I will tell you this, you will probably want stamina with this build, and with ED, 3 slots are all you are going to want. Lots of end heavy powers in both sets. This is a no-hasten build. I did without it for 36 levels. Even with the longer recharges, an Earth/Storm controller without hasten is still one of the best available in my opinion. Of course, if you want hasten, take hasten, it is still very useful non-perma... just not my thing.

One note about ED… 3 slotting any one enhancement is the rule of thumb, but that doesn’t mean you can’t slot more than that. If you have some extra slots left over… and want a little more damage out of an APP, or a little quicker recharge of a power, more power to ya. But just keep in mind the returns are *extremely* limited past 3 slots.

I am also not going to give you an example build as I practically have with the slotting suggestions. I also think that Earth/Storm has some of the most diverse options in builds while still making an effective controller. I cannot emphasize enough how nice it is to have the test server (even though this is my only emphasization of it… and emphasization isn’t even a word.) Since there are so many love/hate powers in the sets, when you level up, copy to the test server so you can feel out your choices and save yourself a respec or two because you found out on test you hate a power you were going to take. Now I don’t like forming builds for people and saying “do this,” but if you want me to look at your build or help you come up with one, don’t hesitate to PM me.

Joe

Here is my preliminary Issue 6 Earth/Storm Controller guide...
Earth/Storm Issue 6

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Just to clarify: I didn't say this. No plans.

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Rolls eyes...
That's ok, keep up the good work on the *huge* amount of nerfs that must be coming (since almost everyone I know solos on invincible) while at the same time ignoring the outcry for level 50 content that has been going on since Issue 1.

Why are they concentrating so heavily on balance and their little idea of "fun" when it is obvious (to anyone that really does read the forums) that so many people feel there is a huge void when you get to level 50?

I don't know anyone that *isn't* having fun. If this game wasn't fun for them, they would leave. So please stop jerking us around and telling us nerfs are so we can have fun. Fun... "is working as intended." People are paying to play this game... they are having fun. So adjusting what they enjoy instead of adding to it is a big mistake IMO. Nerfing everyone that can solo invincible easily while continually ignoring their requests for more content is not going to convince a lot of people to stick around. And really... why should they? I have a ton of "fun" soloing my invincible missions, especially after 32 levels of begging for teams. Makes me proud of the hard work I put into the character. But go ahead and nerf us all so we can work up to the higher levels, only to have to always ask people for help or play on heroic and level slow as mud.

Look closely at the screenshot with the Giant. See that little flaming pumpkin head in between his legs? Anyone else recognize that?! Woot!

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My thoughts on Blood of the Black Stream, which were largely shouted down by others before, but still remain my thoughts are that they are Pirate Based

Something we were told with I5 is that to think Errol Flynn

well that does mean Archery per Robin Hood with him and Olivia DeHaviland.

However, Errol Flynn also did multiple movies based on Piracy and being at sea, such as well "The Sea Hawk" and "Captain Blood"

and the name is to me reminiscent of many "comic" style organizations and brotherhoods (rarely sisterhoods) of pirates.


Just a thought or two.

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The comment about Errol Flynn was about a new *power set* (most likely scrapper it would be logical to assume)

The Blood of the Black Stream is a new *Archetype*

Perhaps that is why your idea was met with resistance previously?

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It's a "yes" with a "when we have time" attached.

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That usually means no around here, lol. After all, when will they ever have time

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Not right away. A lot of the art has to be redone to take advantage of the new features, and we only have so many monkeys here. I mean artists!


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So is that a yes or a no. lol

Gar all this cloak and dagger crap.

18/21

That was fun!

Im not gonna say the hamidon raiders didn't earn the enhancements, they did. But now instead of the arena being a test of a person's or a team's skills, it will come down to who spent the most time farming hamidon? Or the most time nuking buds after a raid? I WAS excited about the arena...

The key to things like the lean back is boredom. Start combining emotes in macros... you will get all sorts of weird looking movements Try making a macro with the two first flex emotes... and click it once a second or so.... great stuff!

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I saw someone today doing a sit emote but their legs were out straight and flat and they were leaning back on their hands. It's what The Lost do when they are sitting around listening to speeches.

Does anyone know how to do this?


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hehehe. What server was this on?

I am glad we got a little something out of States, as small as that was. However, I really hope he doesn't think that little "hello, how are ya" is a good enough public response to the controller thread so he can go off and make changes. Before ANYTHING gets changed, States needs to take a list of proposed changes, post it, and THEN read our responses. Sure there is a good back and forth between the devs and the players, but sometimes when they know they are about to piss us off, they avoid the confrontation nerfs will bring.

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It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario"...

Some people would like to know what we're working on, even without dates.

Thus, I try to give general guestimates (though never exact dates). I like to communicate as much as I can with the forums about the status of different issues. Sometimes I do well, sometimes I don't - but I do try.

I NEVER give specific dates on anything because game development is a fickle thing. I do try to give at least an Issue #, because that provides a ballpark estimate for you guys.

Naturally, there are some who will criticize when we don't adhere to even that rough guess.



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In a perfect world.... People would FIND something to complain about :P

This is excellent! Being killed in two hits really had no redeeming qualities. I did fine solo on tenacious with my main (see sig), and frankly enjoyed the challenge some of the time. It was when I was caught of guard or hit while traveling that was not so great. I agree to maybe keep them around at the highest setting on the difficulty slider (not bigger mobs, just tougher bosses) Thanks States! My wife and our friends can safely enter their missions again! Thanks from me and them

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I do also wonder about all those poor controllers stuck in the hell between unchanged bosses and the golden land of milk, honey and pets...


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If I was still pre-pet, the solo thing would be a non-issue (for earth control anyway) since I always had to rely on a team anyway. All the low controllers are probably doing about the same, relying on their teams and dying every once in a while. We are probably the least effected by this, without pets we don't solo, and with pets we are never really solo, even if we aren't on a team. (was that confusing?? lol )

I just want to say something....

I am a level 34 earth/storm controller. I hit 32 just before I3. I had never been able to solo, before I got my pet and got him slotted. I was very concerned that my one chance at soloing was going to be negated by the I3 boss changes. It wasn't. I have gone solo on every one of my missions since I3 and not had a single problem, and I am usually in no danger at all. I upped the difficulty slider, and I am loving finally being able to solo, especially with the greater boss xp.

That being said, I really don't like these changes. I had two street missions for crey that I completed in Brickstown. I found a +1 Paragon Power Tank. It took me longer than it was worth, but I defeated him, and he never touched me, or my pets. A blaster and a defender duo stopped to watch, and after I was done said to me... "I wish we could do that still..."
They said even with the two of them it is hard to fight anything but even bosses, because the emp simply couldnt keep up with the amount of damage the bosses give out now. I just got my solo capability, and I love it, getting my own xp on my own time is great, so I don't want that taken away...
But someone tell me how it fair or right or makes sense, that the one AT that is supposed to be the worst at soloing, is now able to do it as, or more effectively than the AT's that used to be the best at it? My wife is an energy/energy blaster, and she has been able to solo fairly well so far, but not as easily, or in the safety that I can. I really just do not understand the thinking behind the changes. The attack on bosses needs to be rolled back, period. Have the defense and hp stay the same, so they will be in fights longer like States wants, but don't give them the ability to kill even level heroes in one or two shots, that is not fun, and it is not what the majority of the paying players want.