Liliaceae

Nice analysis Muon.

It actually makes Castle's proposal look about spot on to me.

Before level 10 I suspect Dominators are actually overperforming currently, because of having attacks in both the primary in secondary, along with the huge damage boost from Domination. Several times I've heard people remark "wow, just started a dom, it's awesome, does it stay this good?" In my limited experience, other ATs, are slower at those levels, excluding Blasters.

Currently I'd say Dominators start to hit the low damage blues around level 15. In your analysis, the new proposal starts to boost damage at level 16, and it's a bit conservative in favour of the current system, assuming poor damage slotting, and efficient use of Domination.

So, looking at our builds they are very similar. I made mine with the intent of doing everything PvE could offer, from the lowliest flashback mission to sleeping the Freedom Phalanx. Power order is clearly crucial in this case. I use my dual build for PvP. I have not looked at the new PvP sets, I detest doing respecs.

<ul type="square">[*]I skipped Stamina, and I don't miss it at all. Occasionally my endurance bottoms out, but it's usually only a few seconds before Domination fills it again. I've toyed with Consume, but never been that fond of it. I'm sure you could move all those slots out of Stamina at least.[*]I typically put the purples in the lower level powers, Confuse, Fire Breath, Fire Blast because they give by far the best benefits when malefed. The top tier powers are just fine with regular sets.[*]Mass Hypnosis I took very early, because when I'm doing the low level SFs it's the only AoE control I have. Call of the Sandman Heal proc in there is good for a laugh, but not actually as practical as I had once hoped. I put the Fortunata Hypnosis in here for the Freedom Phalanx, and for a good malef experience.
[*}I am addicted to Superspeed +Celerity Stealth. Full invisibility + travel with just a single power, and it's in the same pool as Hasten! yes please.[*]I'd throw a sixth slot into Blaze, is it at 96% damage? Adding recharge and range is always good.[*]Putting the Coercive Persuasion proc into Confuse is a good laugh, and quite handy when exemped down.[*]I'd drop slots from Charged Armor. I find I barely need it, and certainly could use slots elsewhere.[*]Blazing Bolt is good for building Domination quickly by activating and interrupting.[*]Why not Posi Blast or Glimpse in Terrify? I only see four 6.25% bonuses.[/list]

Let me post my build here again.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Oedipus Tex: Level 50 Natural Dominator
Primary Power Set: Mind Control
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Assault
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Mesmerize -- CSndmn-Acc/Rchg:22(A), CSndmn-EndRdx/Sleep:22(15), CSndmn-Heal%:22(15), CSndmn-Sleep/Rng:22(19), CSndmn-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:22(19)
Level 1: Flares -- Entrpc-Acc/Dmg:22(A), Entrpc-Dmg/Rchg:22(45), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:22(45), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx:22(46), Entrpc-Heal%:22(46)
Level 2: Dominate -- UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg:50(A), UbrkCons-Hold:50(3), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg:50(3), UbrkCons-Dam%:50(17), UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold:50(17), G'Wdw-Dam%:20(40)
Level 4: Fire Breath -- Ragnrk-Dmg:50(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg:50(5), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(5), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg:50(21), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx:50(21), Posi-Dam%:20(37)
Level 6: Confuse -- CoPers-Conf%:50(A), CoPers-Conf:50(7), CoPers-Conf/Rchg:50(7), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg:50(23), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx:50(23)
Level 8: Mass Hypnosis -- FtnHyp-Sleep:50(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg:50(9), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:50(9), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg:50(25), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx:50(25), CSndmn-Heal%:20(37)
Level 10: Fire Blast -- Apoc-Dam%:50(A), Apoc-Dmg:50(11), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg:50(11), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(29), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(29)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(13), RechRdx-I:50(13), RechRdx-I:50(31), RechRdx-I:50(31)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Clrty-Stlth:50(A)
Level 16: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(34), RechRdx-I:50(46)
Level 18: Recall Friend -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 20: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:25(A)
Level 22: Combustion -- Oblit-Dmg:33(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:33(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:33(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:33(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:33(37)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:25(A)
Level 26: Terrify -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:22(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:22(27), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:22(27), Posi-Dmg/Rng:22(31), Posi-Dam%:22(34)
Level 28: Tactics -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 32: Mass Confusion -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg:22(A), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf:22(33), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx:22(33), Mlais-Conf/Rng:22(33), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg:22(34)
Level 35: Total Domination -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:22(A), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold:22(42), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:22(42), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:22(42)
Level 38: Blaze -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx:50(39), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg:50(39), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(39), HO:Centri(40), RechRdx-I:50(40)
Level 41: Blazing Bolt -- Mantic-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(A), Mantic-Acc/ActRdx/Rng:40(43), Mantic-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg:40(43), Mantic-Acc/Dmg:40(43), Mantic-Dmg/EndRdx:40(45)
Level 44: Charged Armor -- ResDam-I:50(A)
Level 47: Surge of Power -- ResDam-I:40(A), ResDam-I:40(48), RechRdx-I:50(48), RechRdx-I:50(48)
Level 49: Summon Guardian -- C'Arms-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg:22(A), C'Arms-Acc/Rchg:22(50), C'Arms-Dmg/EndRdx:22(50), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:22(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Domination
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]3.44% Defense(Energy)[*]3.44% Defense(Negative)[*]3.13% Defense(Ranged)[*]4.5% Max End[*]123.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]5% Enhancement(Sleep)[*]63% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]6.5% Enhancement(Confused)[*]87.7 HP (8.63%) HitPoints[*]MezResist(Confused) 2.75%[*]MezResist(Stun) 2.2%[*]25.5% (0.43 End/sec) Recovery[*]50% (2.12 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]9.13% Resistance(Fire)[*]9.13% Resistance(Cold)[/list]


<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1444;717;1434;HEX;|
|78DAA594594F135114C76F17AC854229655F4B110B52C6826 85C6290D0AA245431A|
|020227562273249E934D3A9C1373F00A27E00DF5C3E804B8C BC6AD427777D32EA93|
|EF2AEE5ACF725B243E3A69FFBFB9E79EFB3FE7DEE934BE10F 508717650D8BCC3293|
|59B4D448D793DAD5A86E93AA05A39534D351ED4927A26970D 4C680B81AEB1D3B140|
|4633E7D5407FA4DB2584682D2E480C1B69CB34524A5C4F270 B83B6D5E9A16C56CDA|
|52C65AFAE99670A23DF487A4E33B5B4A5146E4AC70CF018CF 685AB28A6E27B49496|
|314C4BB57423EDA1D0A8A666F4F4296F6190D4CCEC9C9E698 865F493CA6AC5782E1|
|157B31694AB874EBBE1BBDB21E495778ABB3621FA44C53DC6 4342D57DC603C28AFD|
|AFF47380A0089F675C20F42E312E1206C1DDC6E925B6981D1 DEC51C63E42E508633|
|F21344F45BEC0C0215739FA69C6B9853140A8DECAD846D870 5B20F6C09212D95A89|
|4A33EB6618C709B5B38C1384214877C922AE23145A3FC9982 2D41F654C73113E8DA|
|F3070CB22EE3E9A290D337A09CD0A234208428532995ED643 6D7AD6A0750D3A20BD|
|9CCE2B2FCADDE4F00DD4CB0E762F67B5337A199DB0C6C709C 2C7A15A08F9A58DBF8|
|6FAFE0E3635B2919A1FE4DCF1939167FCE26DFE26F8C0A14E 9AD6B14314CEAB413A|
|345CA73A8D371837790FB7B83B7E1A7E7068920E4D79B8443 5445A64A4853D63E0D|
|9263DDB3E5028F091F189B14268FF4C1876E06F8AD21DC1E7 76B4EB7EC978C17845|
|C0AD74CA47DB798DDAD9789971857195101A00381D22C4C78 6E7D125BBE97A46A14|
|D4F184F198F08E1C78445E8A647EEA7274CA1F7F0CFA1F0C1 3B140C85C466092E21|
|B1044B2372239177D473DF6BC61BC65B42B3B3F8B6C1070F7 1F49FC898B3F88A091|
|B4582AB39FF75DDF1147CDC874AA1C838CA61944994299469 94632833206216EF12|
|78975F2EAEF66EC78676A0EC44D985B288492E7C37CA503C2 8E52815285E944A143|
|F4A2D4A23CA2594FC1F8C411B85|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre><hr />

[ QUOTE ]
Also, apologies to Lil, I'm saying 'she' but not really sure of gender. Sorry if I'm getting that wrong. Didn't feel like saying 'it' :P

[/ QUOTE ]
Gender is largely irrelevant in this environment. I advocate the use of gender neutral pronouns, preferring "e" in this case.

http://www.aetherlumina.com/gnp/

I would have quite liked "it" too, if you think of me as the little green plant in my avatar. Typing away furiously of course!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Fiery Assault and Thorny Assault provide the best AoE damage in the earlier levels...

[/ QUOTE ]

What are earlie levels? From 1-19, Fiery Assault has one AoE attack, and it's a cone. At lvl 20 and level 28 it picks up two more that are both melee range. Do the other sets really have less low level AoE that that?

[/ QUOTE ]
Fiery, Icy and Thorny all get their first AoE at level 4. Psi, Energy and Electricity have to wait until 16, 20, and 28 respectively. Fire Breath and Fling Thorns are better DPS than Ice Sword Circle, and get beefed up at 16 with a damage buff power. In honesty "early levels" could be stretched up to 38.

Yes, Fire/Psi is definitely a top candidate for AV soloing, with Drain Psyche to halt their regen and Fire Imps for that extra damage output.

Thanks for the arc link, but I've done my dash for AV soloing now. I'm feeling quite content since Ghost Widow has quite the reputation, and I put plenty of limitations in place. From now on I'm going to fall back to more expedient methods, like getting teammates.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
On the other hand, I have trouble believing that people using level pacts and the MA in order to PL didn't know that they were using the systems for other than their intended purpose.

[/ QUOTE ]

People keep assuming that all level-pacted toons affected used the MA system......

[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry, my wording was a little unclear. I meant that putting a character into a level pact, and then not playing it again until it's level 50 was an unintended use. The purpose of level pacts was to better support friends who want to play together, even if they don't always play at the same time.

I'm not saying that using it like that should be punished, but it should be obvious that's not why it was implemented.

Personally I'd save the $10 though. The one power you need is Seeds of Confusion, so if you don't have that, take it at 28. From level 30, try and get yourself on a respec trial, ask in broadcast in Nerva for people to join you. If that fails, I'm sure we'll be getting a respec after Issue 15 with all of the Dominator changes.

I'm pretty sure you can buy a respec for $10

An important feature of this build is that it has permadom when malefed down as low as 19.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Oedipus Tex: Level 50 Natural Dominator
Primary Power Set: Mind Control
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Assault
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Mesmerize -- CSndmn-Acc/Rchg:22(A), CSndmn-EndRdx/Sleep:22(15), CSndmn-Heal%:22(15), CSndmn-Sleep/Rng:22(19), CSndmn-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:22(19)
Level 1: Flares -- Entrpc-Acc/Dmg:22(A), Entrpc-Dmg/Rchg:22(45), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:22(45), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx:22(46), Entrpc-Heal%:22(46)
Level 2: Dominate -- UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg:50(A), UbrkCons-Hold:50(3), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg:50(3), UbrkCons-Dam%:50(17), UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold:50(17), G'Wdw-Dam%:20(40)
Level 4: Fire Breath -- Ragnrk-Dmg:50(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg:50(5), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(5), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg:50(21), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx:50(21), Posi-Dam%:20(37)
Level 6: Confuse -- CoPers-Conf%:50(A), CoPers-Conf:50(7), CoPers-Conf/Rchg:50(7), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg:50(23), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx:50(23)
Level 8: Mass Hypnosis -- FtnHyp-Sleep:50(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg:50(9), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:50(9), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg:50(25), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx:50(25), CSndmn-Heal%:20(37)
Level 10: Fire Blast -- Apoc-Dam%:50(A), Apoc-Dmg:50(11), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg:50(11), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(29), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(29)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(13), RechRdx-I:50(13), RechRdx-I:50(31), RechRdx-I:50(31)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Clrty-Stlth:50(A)
Level 16: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(34), RechRdx-I:50(46)
Level 18: Recall Friend -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 20: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:25(A)
Level 22: Combustion -- Oblit-Dmg:33(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:33(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:33(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:33(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:33(37)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:25(A)
Level 26: Terrify -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:22(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:22(27), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:22(27), Posi-Dmg/Rng:22(31), Posi-Dam%:22(34)
Level 28: Tactics -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 32: Mass Confusion -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg:22(A), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf:22(33), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx:22(33), Mlais-Conf/Rng:22(33), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg:22(34)
Level 35: Total Domination -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:22(A), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold:22(42), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:22(42), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:22(42)
Level 38: Blaze -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx:50(39), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg:50(39), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(39), HO:Centri(40), RechRdx-I:50(40)
Level 41: Blazing Bolt -- Mantic-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(A), Mantic-Acc/ActRdx/Rng:40(43), Mantic-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg:40(43), Mantic-Acc/Dmg:40(43), Mantic-Dmg/EndRdx:40(45)
Level 44: Charged Armor -- ResDam-I:50(A)
Level 47: Surge of Power -- ResDam-I:40(A), ResDam-I:40(48), RechRdx-I:50(48), RechRdx-I:50(48)
Level 49: Summon Guardian -- C'Arms-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg:22(A), C'Arms-Acc/Rchg:22(50), C'Arms-Dmg/EndRdx:22(50), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:22(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Domination
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]19.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]3.44% Defense(Energy)[*]3.44% Defense(Negative)[*]3.13% Defense(Ranged)[*]4.5% Max End[*]123.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]5% Enhancement(Sleep)[*]63% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]6.5% Enhancement(Confused)[*]87.7 HP (8.63%) HitPoints[*]MezResist(Confused) 2.75%[*]MezResist(Stun) 2.2%[*]25.5% (0.43 End/sec) Recovery[*]50% (2.12 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]9.13% Resistance(Fire)[*]9.13% Resistance(Cold)[/list]


<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1444;717;1434;HEX;|
|78DAA594594F135114C76F17AC854229655F4B110B52C6826 85C6290D0AA245431A|
|020227562273249E934D3A9C1373F00A27E00DF5C3E804B8C BC6AD427777D32EA93|
|EF2AEE5ACF725B243E3A69FFBFB9E79EFB3FE7DEE934BE10F 508717650D8BCC3293|
|59B4D448D793DAD5A86E93AA05A39534D351ED4927A26970D 4C680B81AEB1D3B140|
|4633E7D5407FA4DB2584682D2E480C1B69CB34524A5C4F270 B83B6D5E9A16C56CDA|
|52C65AFAE99670A23DF487A4E33B5B4A5146E4AC70CF018CF 685AB28A6E27B49496|
|314C4BB57423EDA1D0A8A666F4F4296F6190D4CCEC9C9E698 865F493CA6AC5782E1|
|157B31694AB874EBBE1BBDB21E495778ABB3621FA44C53DC6 4342D57DC603C28AFD|
|AFF47380A0089F675C20F42E312E1206C1DDC6E925B6981D1 DEC51C63E42E508633|
|F21344F45BEC0C0215739FA69C6B9853140A8DECAD846D870 5B20F6C09212D95A89|
|4A33EB6618C709B5B38C1384214877C922AE23145A3FC9982 2D41F654C73113E8DA|
|F3070CB22EE3E9A290D337A09CD0A234208428532995ED643 6D7AD6A0750D3A20BD|
|9CCE2B2FCADDE4F00DD4CB0E762F67B5337A199DB0C6C709C 2C7A15A08F9A58DBF8|
|6FAFE0E3635B2919A1FE4DCF1939167FCE26DFE26F8C0A14E 9AD6B14314CEAB413A|
|345CA73A8D371837790FB7B83B7E1A7E7068920E4D79B8443 5445A64A4853D63E0D|
|9263DDB3E5028F091F189B14268FF4C1876E06F8AD21DC1E7 76B4EB7EC978C17845|
|C0AD74CA47DB798DDAD9789971857195101A00381D22C4C78 6E7D125BBE97A46A14|
|D4F184F198F08E1C78445E8A647EEA7274CA1F7F0CFA1F0C1 3B140C85C466092E21|
|B1044B2372239177D473DF6BC61BC65B42B3B3F8B6C1070F7 1F49FC898B3F88A091|
|B4582AB39FF75DDF1147CDC874AA1C838CA61944994299469 94632833206216EF12|
|78975F2EAEF66EC78676A0EC44D985B288492E7C37CA503C2 8E52815285E944A143|
|F4A2D4A23CA2594FC1F8C411B85|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre><hr />

[ QUOTE ]
Don't you think you should have summoned your pet?

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually there are two pets I could have summoned, the patron pet and the vet reward pet. There are a few factors at work: I'm out of the habit of summoning pets because I like to go stealthy a lot; I like the extra challenge/establish the bare minimum; the patron pets annoy me.

[ QUOTE ]
-PDQ Bach.

[/ QUOTE ]
When you've got a name as awesome as Oedipus Tex, you can be sure that someone else will have thought of it too.

[ QUOTE ]
What madness is this? Tray 1's first four slots are for the attack pattern, the four above it for controls, and nothing but heresy lies on button 5. HERESY.

[/ QUOTE ]
Combustion comes in quite handy when I'm soloing the Silver Mantis SF, mission 5.

[ QUOTE ]
Gah 80+ mins. gj I guess.

This sounds like an unintended way to play the game though

[/ QUOTE ]
What is your main account anyway? I'm expecting you to mention Ice/Dark Corruptors any minute now.

I intentionally limited myself to the bare minimum that I thought could achieve the goal. This is good forum practice to stop people belittling the achievement. In future AV fights I think I'll utilize some more expedient tactics, like getting teammates.

My build isn't optimized for soloing AVs, it's a general PvE build designed to handle everything, including low level Strike Forces and the Master RSF. Of course, it's pretty high-powered, I'll post it soon. If anyone can tell me how to choose specific levels for enhancements in Mid's that would really help in showing the nuances.

Here's a break down of my tactics. I'll talk mostly about Ghost Widow because she was much tougher to deal with. I made plenty of errors, including a few in the video.

<ul type="square">[*]Maintaining the hold
Obviously the only way I could survive the fight is to perma-hold my opponent, which means always using Dominate as soon as it is available. A few misses means they'll break free of the hold and in the case of Ghost Widow, she has two DoT powers which can 1-shot me (Gloom and Soul Storm). While fighting Ghost Widow I cast Dominate something like 1800 times, so statistically I'm going to have missing streaks, and need to insure against those. Most important is to cast Dominate as soon as possible, I found in earlier attempts that the slight delay of including both Blaze and Fireblast on each cycle was too much and the hold was too sensitive to misses. Also, streakbreaker was my friend, all my powers had a 95% chance to hit, so if I missed once, the streakbreaker forced the next power to hit. I'd use this to force Dominate to hit, skipping an attack if necessary.[*]Establishing the hold
It takes about 11 or 12 Dominates to establish the hold (not 9 or 10 because Domination only grants extended duration to one of the 3 mag effects) which means I need a way to survive the first 35 seconds or so against them uncontrolled. With Positron I just popped Demonic, but that didn't help against Ghost Widow, and anyway I wanted to go without accolades or inspirations the second time. So, I used the triangle down period to get 25 seconds of safety while I built up mag, and then had a hair-raising few seconds of her free while I built up that last mag. Mesmerize was invaluable here, it allowed me to sleep her to get in position for starting the fun (her perception is huge once she's aggroed), and alternating it with Dominate disrupted her enough to allow me to survive. Also, when an enemy wakes up and you're behind them, the first thing they do is turn around, which delays other action. That's why I had Combat Jumping on and was leaping like a mad thing over her head. I also used the streakbreaker here, tossing in a cast of Flares or Mesmerize between each Dominate in the hope that I would miss and force Dominate to hit. The same tactic applied when they managed to get free of the hold.[*]Dealing damage
Between Dominates I had (less than?) 2 seconds to deal damage which allowed me one attack and a self-buff if it was available. Blaze was the obvious preferred choice here, although it's got a longer recharge time than Dominate, so I had to use Fire Blast instead when Blaze wasn't recharged. There are three self-buffs: Domination and Hasten both need to be activated as soon as they are available; Fiery Embrace needs to be activated when the stacked Domination damage buffs drop, otherwise I'm hitting the damage cap and lowering my damage output. For some reason I was confused and thought Blaze was slower to activate than Fire Blast, so I would always try and fit the self-buffs in with Fire Blast when in fact Blaze was a better choice.[*]Luck and Patience
I assaulted Ghost Widow probably a dozen times. Some of those times I'd survive by putting her to sleep and starting again, some of them she'd one shot me. When I finally succeeded she was very gentle with me in the powers she used, and she missed the one time she tried Soul Storm (~65% chance to hit). The most discouraging thing was when she healed herself up perhaps 25%. It looked like a melee heal attack, so after that I moved a bit further away.[/list]

&lt;qr&gt;
I really wish I knew what the problem actually was. I know plenty of people in-game, and none of them have been affected. All I have to go on are murmurs on the forums.

We've all known that PLing is not condoned. Obviously banning accounts is a new response, and some warning would have been nice. On the other hand, I have trouble believing that people using level pacts and the MA in order to PL didn't know that they were using the systems for other than their intended purpose.

What I'm mostly curious about is how many people have had accounts banned.

Well, I finally went to the trouble of soloing some AVs, and made some videos for you all to enjoy. They are heavily edited, no one needs to watch me Blazing for an hour and a half.

I did Positron first, and wasn't taking care of disk space, so the end of the fight is missing, but I do have a screen shot of him down. This video gives a really good impression of the experience, with extended Blaze and Dominate sequences. I used Demonic to get the fight started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us3_iqSxbGo
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/7...sitronsolo.jpg

Next was Ghost Widow who gave me a much harder time. I didn't bother with accolades or inspirations this time. This video's easier to see, and there's more action because she got loose from my hold several times. I was lucky, and she was kind, since Gloom and Soul Storm are both one shot kills for her. The other 80 minutes are pretty much just whittling her down with Dominate and Blaze.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq3UoUGWOlY
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/8...twidowsolo.jpg

I could go on at length about powers I used, mistakes I made, my build, all the failed attempts and the streakbreaker, but I'll only do that if you ask.

Enjoy!

[ QUOTE ]
perma doms still weren't near the top of the list of desired teammates

[/ QUOTE ]
There's no way you can know that, which means your argument is based on a flawed premiss.

Thorny, Fiery, Icy or Psionic.

Basically anything with AoE.

Check my Powers Guide for my full opinion.

Awesome updates to the MA.

I think that expectations about levels of global recharge have changed since we last talked about this. How much global recharge do you have in your build?

You should play what you enjoy, but if you choose energy, be aware that you're choosing low damage. The upcoming changes will make it more playable, but it's not clear how it will rate compared to other secondaries.

Check the powers guide in my sig for my full opinion.

There's also Stone Spears, an AoE attack from Earth Thorn Casters, and Fling Gravel from the minions of Igneous. Not sure of the details of them though.

[ QUOTE ]
Then we realised that the arena didn't auto-equalise our levels

[/ QUOTE ]
This drives me mental. What's the bloody point of letting people fight at different levels?

Don't get me started on Seeds of Confusion. No other primary is nearly as effective.

Good idea, only the /Psi users are upset, let's get the rest of them.

[ QUOTE ]
There are like, ten people who play doms. Half the posts on this forum are me and the other half are Liliaceae.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'd suggest cleaning out your ignore list, but you're not missing much.

Review Thread: Talen_Lee's Arc Reviews 2: The Knockoff
Rating *****

I was planning on starting a new thread to rate and discuss the sorts of reviews that people are producing, but then I actually went and looked at what was on offer. Talen_Lee's reviews so far outstrip the competition that it's not really worth the bother.

Talen_Lee's reviews are not only well written and entertaining, they also help me as an arc-writer to learn from the mistakes, and skills, of others. They do tend towards drawn-out and overwrought at points, but these crimes are bearable, and sometimes add to the atmosphere of the review.

The major offenses that Talen_Lee avoids are the inclusion of a story synopsis which serves only to spoil the arcs for potential players and to put the reader to sleep; listing specifics of grammatical and spelling errors (he sends these in a PM to the author); the use of trite characterizations like "Wallbanger", or "Just a bunch of stuff that happens"; and the quid pro quo arrangement which obligates the reviewer to write dull reviews for bad arcs, and reveals that they are more interested in their arc than their reviews.

It's good to see Talen_Lee finally using his powers for good.