MagicalAct

I created this tread to continue a discussion that Peacemoon started in another thread that seems to have died off. Not wanting to see solid constructive criticism and suggestions go to waste I'd like this topic to be brought back up again in hopes of maybe one day the developers buffing it.To start off I have played almost every controller primary with the exceptions of Mind and Gravity to 50 and I love how unique and yet still effective each set is. However Gravity lags quite a fair bit in terms of effectiveness in almost every department. In terms of experience I played a Gravity/Storm Controller up to 44 several years ago and then procceeded to delete him, the only thing that really kept him interesting was his secondary, as he was my first high level stormy. Gravity has several major issues that hold it back from being anything more then subpar at worst and a little below average at best.

Gravity's main weakness is the lack of an actual every mob control until level 26. Meaning until then Gravity's only AoE controls are an AoE immobolize and an AoE on a long timer. For a Primary for an AT all about controlling mobs, Gravity is beaten out by Dark Defenders, Storm Defenders, Cold Defenders, Dark Corruptors, some Tanks and Stalkers and many other power combinations for damage mitigation.

This lack of crowd control is caused by the placement of Wormhole at 26 and powerchoice of Dimension Shift at 12, a time when many other sets have gotten a staple control power and in its place Gravity controllers get a power mechanic that rarely has any real value.

At 26 however Gravity's problems are not aleviated with the late arrival of wormhole, as wormhole's activation and mechanics, even when used in good hands can be somewhat of nuisance, possibly a hinder to a team. This is even more obvious in late game situations in which mobs can be eradicated in just about the time it takes for wormhole to activated.
The ability to cast it out of LoS is great, yet the activation window is long enough for foes to turn the corner and hit you before it going off, plenty of other AoE controls do not require LoS and none of them have this problem but wormhole.
So what is Gravity's Strength? It' supposed to be partially like Fire in trading control for damage and yet even in this regard its plagued by a long animation on its heaviest attack. On teams your target will often be dead by the time its cast, leaving it solo only. Gravity even loses this edge when epic pools become available shrinking the gap between damage while maintaining the rift in controls and with the induction of plant as a controller set that can be argued as forerunner for AoE damage for controller while still getting its main control 18 levels before Grav. Before 26, there is no reason to take any Grav that isn't Grav/Storm, or Grav/Rad for mitigation, and after 26 there is still very little reason to as well.

To make Grav better at what it's supposed to do I'd like to see any of these things happen:
A) Make lift an AoE, Halve the damage, double the endurance and recharge
B)Move Wormhole to level 12, out of fear of Gravity being too frontloaded(Even with plant in the picture) Move to DS to level 6 and Propel to 26.
C)Cut the animation time to Wormhole (Could also change KB to KD but I'd be fine with just this as well)
D)And the least likely out of all remove DS and add a soft-control like power to help Grav
Any thoughts, or comments?

All holds seem to be doing this..Tried with my Fire Dom Char hits with the initial cloud then disappears..No more choking animation..My Earth Controller target do the stun animation and bobble around in the stone trap..I think its a bug as no rednames have mentioned it but it was around before today's update as I started noticing the lack of char choking Sunday?

Some of my Favorite decieve targets are skyraider engineers for Forcefield Generators, Rikti Conscripts for Accelerate Metabolism, Rikti guardians for bubbles, and Banished Pantheon Avalanche Shamans for Earthquake

I have a tie between Ill/Rad the uber soloer and Ice/Storm. Ill/Rad with time becomes I can do almost anything in the game without a team and Ice/Storm always makes me smile with Iceslick+Freezing Rain+Arctic Air

In terms of the Ice side of things the Powers that are pretty much staple are Block of Ice, Chilblain if you're going to solo at all, Arctic Air(Some people skip it and take shiver only to play ranged however I believe arctic air is just too amazing in terms of mitigation not to have it and plus as a kin you'll be in melee anyway), Iceslick, and Jack Frost..Recommended Powers would be Shiver to stack with AA for more slowing and Glacier as your AoE hold..Frostbite is more of a playstyle thing..Most of the time you're not going to use it being the frequency of your iceslick and by using it you're negating that route. In terms of Kin take Siphon Power, Speedboost, Transference and Fulcrum as staples..However in terms of slotting kin powers other forumites would be more knowledgable.

No idea how Dark is underperforming but Ice as well the only way it could be underperforming is A)You didn't take arctic air or skipped and didn't take shiver either B) You constantly use frostbite while ice slick is in effect..
In terms of controls by the levels its superior to Gravity as by level 12 you have acess to shiver, Arctic Air and Iceslick for control and mitigation..With Gravity you have crushing field and the highly situational dimension shift

The other thing that I guess could make you see it as underperforming is that it relies on the terror, slow and -recharge for mitigation which can be given an exact number as to how much damage you're mitigating but I love it

I'd Rather just get Electric Control..It would take very little to actually to be put together..

For Example just quick a set with few powers needed to be actually created:

Electric Fence (ST Immob) from Blaster secondary or Defender Anc. set
Electric Shackles from Mu mastery for the ST Hold or Tesla Cage
Electric Fences from Mu again for AoE immob
Thunderclap with mag buffed to 3
AoE Tesla Cage or Shackles
And the Cap Gremlins for a pet
To give it a Unique Flavor possibly give it Power Sink and all that would be left would be the set defining power/soft control to it and Voila new power set Once the mix and matched AT power values have been properly adjusted for controllers.

Ok let me explain as I'm not quite sure if you knew what I meant by soft control..A soft control is a control power that does not grant containment and allows enemies to attack and move still..Soft controls however last quite a bit longer then Hard controls like AoE holds or disorients and are usually centered around locations for example Ice slick, Earthquake and quicksand but as well as arctic air, and terrify. Although they don't grant containment which is usually associated with lockdown they are quite useful in control sets for mitigating damage..At the moment Grav has no soft control..What I'm supporting is the change to lift for it to become AoE or a cone with an upped recharge and endurance cost in order to become a soft control to bring it up to par with the other sets.

Has anyone actually PMed Castle or any of the other Devs about this? I believe they see that Gravity is quite underperforming compared to the other control sets and the ideas that have been suggested in this thread can lead to bringing it up to par while still abiding by the cottage rule..Personally I'd take a power reorder of having AoE lift at 8, Wormhole at 12, Dimension Shift at 18, and Gravity distortion field at 26..That way Grav is on par with Ice and Earth as having a soft control and its every mob control at 12.

Title of the thread pretty much sums it up..I love CoH dearly but after the first two years of playing it I've had to take breaks in between playing being the fact that I've actually ran out of many combinations to try with controllers.Controllers and doms are the only ATs I enjoy playing as such in terms of
Primaries we have the fewest and have never actually recieved a new primary unlike Scrappers, Tankers, Blasters, Brutes, Stalkers, and everyother AT besides the Khelds/Veats..We've only recieved plant ported over quite a few issues after it first came out when many had tried it already by that point..Can we please have a new set?..or maybe just promise us we'll get one someday? :P

Unfortunately there are so many secondaries that mesh well with earth that its hard to pick the best It really depends on what you want to be able to do..Earth/TA gives you debuffs and more control, you can stack holds at with ice arrow and fossilize, stack slows with Quicksand and Glue arrow and all at only level 10 O_o

Earth/Rad gives you negative -defense in every earth power while rad gives you the holy trinity debuffs along with AM and EM pulse..You get Both holds that are used in the discussion of the best hold in the game.

And finally Earth/Storm gives you more control and debuffs with freezing rain, stacking stuns with thunderclap and damage with tornado and lightning storm..
Anyway you go you're bound to be happy with earth

I'd love a new primary for controllers..Other then proliferation of plant, Controllers have never got a brand new Primary..Leaving me out of Combinations at the moment >_>

Favorite:Every group in Croatoa other than the Red Caps..I love taking them on with Magic Origin Characters because it makes everything seem like a battle of mystic proportions. Tied with them though is The Warriors..always loved fighting them and being able to say "Warriors Come out and play!".
Least Favorite: Sappers all the way

Thanks all for the suggestions..Currently working on getting the third damage proc but for the moment I've got malaise's proc, the proc from cacophony, Malaise's end/confuse, perplex's end/confuse, cacophany's as well and until I get third damage proc a Confuse/Range proc from malaise (out of cheapness) and its already working like a dream..Once again thanks all for the suggestions.

Hello all, so after taking yet another several month hiatus I came back to check out CoH and as always roll up another controller..My current project is my Ice/Storm controller who I have fallen in love with but as I'm getting higher with him and moving towards IO sets several powers confuse me on what to slot them with..The two biggest powers I have trouble thinking of how to slot with IO's is Arctic Air and Freezing Rain..In terms of AA I'm not sure if I should be slotting it with a slow set or a confuse set, which set from the two, or which IO's to use for them..For example all the confuse sets have Acc IOs should I be putting those into AA just for the bonuses? At the moment no where near being able to afford purples with him but will be running several taskforces in the coming days so I can afford almost any other set..Any help is much obliged.

Just one question can you have 2 foundations such as a Boost to yourself but a damage cone effect for example at the end? If so I would love this for my Grav/Storm The Spell Caster-"Strength of The Elders" The Spell Caster has been around ever since the passing of Merlin. Before his death he created the book of the elements. A book whose ancient writings was passed on through the Francis bloodline in order for there to be a mystic protector in the absence of merlin from the world.
Self Heal, Self Regeneration Boost, Cone Medium Damage, Disorient. "Under duress Cody contacts his forefather's for help drawing upon their ancient powers and wisdom, He absorbs their essence boosting his strength and with a flash of brilliance and a shock of lightning disorients the targets in front of him."

/signed, love this idea and since everyone else is doing it

For My Signature Powers
Magical Act-"Phantom Menace" AoE, Moderate Damage Ilusionary/Psi Damage, Fear-Summons a Phantom Army minion for every enemy in the area. All at once they release an attack on the enemy each one was counted summoned for. Basically in a mob of 9 enemies 9 PA minions would be summoned and at once. Each attacks and then disappears. Startled by what happened and how fast it did the enemies are terrified,the damage does not heal back due to their panic and believe the damage is real instead of in their heads. Magical Act is just a normal man with powers from an ancient magician.

*sigh* Was in a pick up group the other day with a blaster who when ever he volunteered to pull used fireball...-_-..One was in a tight room and all 3 mobs came at once..team wipe.

Join another PuG a day or two later and get to a point in the mish where a stair case leads to a room with a wall and windows to the right with a mob inside and a mob next to the windows on the outside..Tell group to pull since we'd aggro the window group in the middle of the battle..scrapper runs in aggros both groups boxed in and die..the team does this 3 times before they listen to me..and wouldnt you know it the next time we actually lived Would still be nice if I hadn't gotten the debt from the 3 suicide runs before that..

-When you take on 13 praetorian AV mishes and no one dies.
-When you as a lvl 38 controller teamed with a couple of 37s, a 41, an exemped 50 tank to 41, and a 39 tank can tank down clear an invincible crey mish with only the occasional 1 shot kill from the Paragon Protector's. Again though good team good people. The double tactics, Assault and Vengeance help too
-When a sewer team down to 4 people get's all the way to the skyway sector and instead of exiting because they died chose to leave.
-When 4 people can come up with a strategy to take out the clockwork king

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Martial Arts
Secondary Powers - Support : Invulnerability

01 : Resist Physical Damage damres(01) damres(13) damres(25) damres(25)
01 : Thunder Kick acc(01) recred(3) dam(34) acc(34)
02 : Temp Invulnerability endred(02) damres(3) damres(7) damres(43)
04 : Dull Pain recred(04) hel(5) recred(5)
06 : Boxing dam(06) acc(7) endred(33) dam(34)
08 : Assault endred(08) endred(9) endred(9)
10 : Maneuvers defbuf(10) endred(11) endred(11) defbuf(37) defbuf(46) endred(46)
12 : Jump Kick acc(12) dam(13)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14) endred(15) jmp(15)
16 : Tactics thtbuf(16) endred(17) endred(17) thtbuf(23) thtbuf(46)
18 : Kick (Fight) dam(18) acc(19) recred(19) acc(43)
20 : Vengeance defbuf(20) thtbuf(21) defbuf(21) defbuf(23) thtbuf(37) defbuf(37)
22 : Swift runspd(22)
24 : Health hel(24)
26 : Stamina endrec(26) endrec(27) endrec(27)
28 : Tough damres(28) endred(29) damres(29)
30 : Acrobatics endred(30) endred(31) endred(31) endred(31)
32 : Weave defbuf(32) endred(33) defbuf(33) defbuf(43)
35 : Tough Hide defbuf(35) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(40)
38 : Unstoppable damres(38) recred(39) recred(39) damres(39) damres(40) recred(40)
41 : Dragons Tail dam(41) acc(42) recred(42) kbkdis(42)
44 : Conserve Power recred(44) recred(45) recred(45) recred(45)
47 : Focused Accuracy recred(47) recred(48) thtbuf(48) thtbuf(48)
49 : Warriors Challenge tntdur(49) recred(50) rng(50) recred(50)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl enhancement(01)
01 : Sprint enhancement(01)
02 : Rest enhancement(02)

Slotting maybe a little off but I think this is the bare bones of it. He's can't take quite as much damage as Thor who I'd classify as a tank but he's still up there..He's invulnerable due to his strength he can take a few bullets. He's got all leadership powers due to his combat experience, leader of the Avengers, and his ability to inspire soldiers. He's not like martial arts style with karate kicks he's just straight punches, kicks and haymakers, the most Martial arts he gets is the jump kick thats about it. The fitness pool due to stamina and the fact his main power his basically his subtle super human athletics. He doesnt like create earthquakes with a clap of the hand or anything. He's just faster, stronger, jumps higher and smarter than most people. Strongest hit I've seen him throwwas he took us a Sentinel Mark II's head off in the 90's X-men cartoons.

I may just build a toon like this...hmm...Freedom or protector watch out The Compatriot/Countryman/Patriot Act?*Back to the lab again"

Captain America would probably be a scrapper and would probably be like MA/Invuln but from MA he'd only have Thunder kick and in the invuln. he'd have the resist powers. He'd then have All leadership powers, all leap powers, all fitness powers and all fighting powers. Statesman is probably a tank.

Part 3 The show is over

After going through the door invisible I started heading through the wharehouse and came to an ope room filled with Cabal and their leader more importantly the little girl. There was at least 20 of them not good. I didn't care though. The first thing I did was kick a couple of a cabal closest to me in the back of the leg and led them around the corner. I made my self visible halfway down so they would see me turn the corner but weren't ready when I blindsided them. All 5 were down 15 to go and it is 5:19. The clock is ticking...I create a loud racket by pushing a bunch of things over in a storage closet. I leave the door open and stand outside. About 5 of them went in. I slammed the door and locked it with a key Iswiped off the counter of the wharehouse. 5 more off my list. Still another 12. 5:21 and i was running out of ideas. I created a couple of phantoms and had them lure a group of 7 or so into the corner. As they surrounded my phantoms they realized they were fake. Too late I dropped a couple of crates off the top of the shelves landing on the girls below. Last 3and it was 5:26 Now or never I showed myself and drew the attention of the last 2 and their boss. I created an image of their worst nightmare causing the two minions to faint. Down to me and the boss I thought. She said"Ah...Magical Act how nice of you to join us....Ready to die?!?!? "Uh...No thanks.Maybe later ok?" I said. I saw her irrupting with anger. Maybe that wasn't so smart. "Tell ya what I'll let you take the first swing." I said smiling. She grew outraged and charged. I took the light around her eyes she was taking in and turned it black causing her to be blinded. She couldn't stop herself. She got to me still in motion. Out of a classic cartoon I stuck my foot out and tripped her causing to crash into the wall knocking her unconsius. Lucky me I thought. All down and it's 5:29 not bad I said with a smile. I called the police ad they came down along with Statesman and his ilk to arrest them all. Again the media was there but this wasn't for the Phalanx it was for me. Finally feeling this sudden importance brought a smile to my face. They wanted and interview but i turned them down. I picked up my hat and was walking put the door when the little girl tugged on the back of my suit. I turned around and all she said was thank you. All she needed to say was thank you. I realized right then looking around the room at all the other heroes, It's not publicity that makes you a hero, it's not the costume, nor the amazing powers. It's your choices and how you act. Again I walk out but this time with my head up and a smile on. Ready for tomorrow.

Part 2 Alone in the dark
I had to clear my mind. I needed to think things through. I boarded a train to Croatoa that afternoon and found myself on Paragon University's campus. I planted my self under a tree and started dozing off. Across the street there were two boys and a girl playing. An hour or so later I awoke to hear the voice of Fran Ousbourne leader of the cabal kidnapping the little girl. I wanted to do something but it would of been 30-1.Not good odds. Especially since my magic creates illusions where as their's creates storms and lightning.Definetly not good. I turned invisible in all the chaos and followed the cabal back to there base. On the way there I over heard there plans. The leader wanted eternal life to do so she would have to have her spirit transfer into the body of another host. This required a ritual set when the sun and the moon pass to end day and start night. Usually this would mean around 7:30 in the summer but it's winter now so 5:30. And it was 5:00 now....great...I tried to get some real heroes on the case by calling Freedom Corps and the Phalanx too...but no answer and then I remembered that all Freedom corps members were guarding the Zig to make sure there was no attempt to free Tommy one eye and all the phalanx were off fighting Arachnos in Bloody Bay...Great..We finally reach the wharehouse for their ritual at 5:10 now. The cabal went inside but I hesitated. Im no real hero why even try something like this? And then I heard it. It was the only sound I heard. It was the girl crying and scared. I didn't care if I was a real hero or not anymore. I didn't care if I had any great elemental powers. I didn't care if I could walk thorugh a hail of bullets and walk out without a single scratch. I have powers to help but I remembered something that no other hero has my mind. No one can tell what I can plan or how will I act so there's no way the cabal can either. I turn the door knob and enter the wharehouse invisible and ready for what ever is waiting for me.
Part 3 for later.

Part 2 Alone in the dark
I had to clear my mind. I needed to think things through. I boarded a train to Croatoa that afternoon and found myself on Paragon University's campus. I planted my self under a tree and started dozing off. Across the street there were two boys and a girl playing. An hour or so later I awoke to hear the voice of Fran Ousbourne leader of the cabal kidnapping the little girl. I wanted to do something but it would of been 30-1.Not good odds. Especially since my magic creates illusions where as their's creates storms and lightning.Definetly not good. I turned invisible in all the chaos and followed the cabal back to there base. On the way there I over heard there plans. The leader wanted eternal life to do so she would have to have her spirit transfer into the body of another host. This required a ritual set when the sun and the moon pass to end day and start night. Usually this would mean around 7:30 in the summer but it's winter now so 5:30. And it was 5:00 now....great...I tried to get some real heroes on the case by calling Freedom Corps and the Phalanx too...but no answer and then I remembered that all Freedom corps members were guarding the Zig to make sure there was no attempt to free Tommy one eye and all the phalanx were off fighting Arachnos in Bloody Bay...Great..We finally reach the wharehouse for their ritual at 5:10 now. The cabal went inside but I hesitated. Im no real hero why even try something like this? And then I heard it. It was the only sound I heard. It was the girl crying and scared. I didn't care if I was a real hero or not anymore. I didn't care if I had any great elemental powers. I didn't care if I could walk thorugh a hail of bullets and walk out without a single scratch. I have powers to help but I remembered something that no other hero has my mind. No one can tell what I can plan or how will I act so there's no way the cabal can either. I turn the door knob and enter the wharehouse invisible and ready for what ever is waiting for me.
Part 3 for later.

No he's not really selfish at all, it's just he feels like an outsider. Heroes wear tights and heroic costumes. He's dressed in a black suit,black hat,purple tie and mask. Lots of heroes belong to Freedom corps. or Freedom Phalanx. He belongs to neither. Lots of heroes are asked questions and things by reporters. He hasn't ever done that. Those 3 things to him make people look like heroes. Thats 3 strikes on the hero meter. He really isn't evil. "All the world is a stage and every person has a different role to playand exits at a certain time" He doesn't knowhis role in the world and so he questions himself.