RiverOcean

Power Boost plus Power Sink is a pretty fun trick. It almost recharges much, much faster than the Soul Mastery version. Nothing like seeing end drained opponents. Mu Mastery in general works well for almost all dom builds.

However, Leviathan meshes extremely well with Ice both practically and thematically.

bah, I Tankermind on my Necro/Poison. Any MM build can do it, some just better than other. On this build I just wade intot melee with my pets ond defensive follow. And hit "provoke" over and over.

The one thing I find that's annoying is sometimes the pets just stand there and don't attack..can't figure out for life of me what causes that.

I think I've played them all. My first CoV charachter was Necro/Posion. Extremely powerful late game, but a bit of a bother early. For a first timer, I'd say go Necro/Dark, Bots/Dark, or Thugs/Dark. Extremely fun, not boring, and able to debuff the heck out everything in the game. Also getting "Dark Fluffy"later on, as a pet, is great. It's like having a second MM there to debuff, do damage, and heal.

I had to stop myself. My Grav/Psi hit lvl 7 pretty easily with minimal effort on live. But she just looked so good in her sexy outfit beating the good guys....couldn't stop. I've parked her though. Also I thought it might be fun for those of us who are also into AE writing to write some fun stories to play through, that fit into the theme of the team. Again, we can chat about that later. I did start working on one..I'd like to try with team later.

Can't wait for my additional story slots!!!!

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Maybe a lil, but I think the idea really came from Ice/Energy Blappurs using PowerBoost+Freeze Ray to hold mobs and then safely go in and smash them to death quickly and more efficiently (single target wise) with their devastating melee attacks. I'm almost sure of this.

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Dammit, now you have me wanting to make a Fire/Energy dom...arrrrrgh..... Power Boost, Flashfire, Fire Cages..beatdown..lol.

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The difference is the defense. Stalkers and Scrappers are more survivable than Dominators not because of their hit points, but because of their Secondary. I'm actually thinking that maybe a 10-15% boost in HP from Domination might actually be a quite useful change to make Doms better able to survive AoEs from AVs and Bosses. They would still need a buffer on the team to give them defense, but with greater HP those buffs would be multiplied accordingly.



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I may be in the minority here, but despite my utter dislike for the PSW change, I'm for the AT revamp over all. Mainly because of the things I, as an experienced Dominator can pull off. EB's are no longer require a tray full of inspirations, or even a Shivan to take down. And thats why I'm also against any further buffs. A HP increase or anything else will push Dom's over the edge into tank magery IMHO. My opinion of these buffs over all, in the hands of experienced Doms, they are freaking awesome. I don't think majority of the player base will notice much of a difference. As an "active defense" playstyle is a turn off for many players it seems. Brute's and MM's will still lead the pack redside.

I'm not a PvP'r at all..and I've played the game a looong time. I like this idea however. It would encourage someone like me to give PvP a try. Right now the best rewards are earned in PvE so I'm usually there. But if PvP had some kind of reward system other than "bragging rights" and a few badges, newbies may be tempted to log in and give it a try..which is what pvp needs new people. Heck, its what the game needs as a whole.

I'm not much of a pvp head. But I would strongly suggest trying this build out on test, before spending the infamy on live. The changes to damage modifiers and recharge times may (or may not in the case of ice) affect what powers to take. Also there's a pretty good PVP and the New Dominator conversation going on in the PvP boards.
LINK
You may be able to get some good advice there.

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Lol, when I started my WS the beginning of the week, I could not get a team to save my life. Then it occured to me why, so I put this in broadcast.

"Lvl 6 ws lft, had my 50 before AE came out"

I got an invite in about 5 seconds.

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Thats the funniest thing ever. But Yah I do find myself checking things like badges and vet rewards these days...lol.

Nope, they aren't currently available. I'm really hoping they are some day though. Its not terribly hard to approximate them using the critter creator though.

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The last prediction I made is that these changes won't have an overwhelming result on dominator popularity. I still stand behind that. They've been designed to be a solo AT now more than ever, but they are nowhere near the top of the solo list. Doms need to become a popular team AT to significantly increase numbers, these changes move them in the opposite direction.

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I don't believe Dominators could become a popular team AT in the way in which you wish unless their Secondary is changed into something else. Defenders have the same issue. Their role in a team is to deal supplemental damage. Many players, however, either do not want them to deal that damage, or want their role to be something else.

These Power changes don't really address the problem of a Dominator's role on a team, although it does make it more consistent. It is really more of a use in making all the Power Sets equally soloable.

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I've been trying to say the exact same thing. But I was never able to put it as succinctly as you two have. I think Dominators ST damage will be amazing once this on live. Dom's wont' fear a Boss (or even an EB) when soloing as much. Will this increase the popularity? Or will even change public perception of Dom's as "hard to play". My vote is probably not. However, those folks looking for a "CoV Blaster" might be drawn to doms. Since the AT now effectively has two primaries, Control and Damage.

I predict we will see more "veteran" players (who'd already mastered doms) coming back to play the AT. I also predict with these buffs they are going to pull off some amazing stunts, which will probably end in a call for nerfs.

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Baron von Ruwen has just arrived in Mercy Island after a brief misunderstanding with the authorities in Paragon City.

He awaits other members of the old world Circle to join him assisting a chap named Burke with some nefarious deeds.

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The Lady Cromwell has recently broken out of the Zig and has been causing quite a stir in the Rouge Isles. Formerly a English Noblewoman, she made a deal with a CoT Succubus in exchange for eternal beauty.

I will have to abstain from playing her as she's leveling quite quickly on live. Despite being supposedly very "gimp" as a low lvl grav/psi. .

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.... my dominators never were in any danger. If anything they WERE and still are sitting pretty . However, I am not a casual dominator player.. I think if he keeps moving in the direction of yesterdayspatch notes the concerns with the perma being more a necessity will be resolved.

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Oddly enough this thread has turned into an interesting conversation. But just piggy-backing on Southern's post, IMHO the AT revamp, puts veteran dom players in a pretty sweet spot. Good Dom players haven't and won't have trouble with the blapper play style. These changes don't remove that.

If anything we'll have more "timid" doms standing at range and blasting, too afraid to jump in with their melee heavy hitters. There are still Psi/ doms on live (and I've witnessed this) who refuse to jump into melee to use PSW. I still say the problem with dom popularity is fear of "squishy melee" these changes help. So the "meh" dom players will be ok at range. But really good dom players are going to be the ones pumping out the nasty DPS on teams. And I don't think that will be the majority...it will be interesting to see if dom's sustain an increase in popularity after this.l

Hard to compare, my guess is Earth/Fire is more consistent against hard targets as it's not reliant on Domination to pump out superior holds. Plus Earth is a debuffing monster.

Either one would be a fine choice. But if you're planning on soloing lots of bosses and such, I'd go with Earth.

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... I was aiming for a summoned entity theme with my Plant/Psi but I could now see rolling it as an aged english crone.

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You know the Thorn Tree is technically a Plant Dom as it uses Carrion Creepers and Thorn Burst attacks..so Plant could work.

I'm going with a Succubus look myself. "Lady Cromwell" is a 19th English Noblewoman possessed by a CoT Succubus. She has Grav/Psi sets, as she has studied the "path of the pain mage".

A Fire/Psi permadom is still the best AoE damage combo for Dom's. Imps , Fire Cages, Flash Fire, PSW, and Psychic Scream FTW!!!

Thorns might be a good a PvP choice now, but just doesn't cut if for PvE aoe, IMHO. But in general Dom's AoE capabilities were limited across the board, not just in Psi. I have a feeling that was done to make building dom quickly, while not in battle much harder.

Fire/Fire is (and was) a good second choice. Plant/Ice (or psi) and Earth/anything, may offer some interesting possibilities as well.

If you look at some of the SoA powers, you can extrapolate a similar setup for Doms. A hybrid Control/Debuffing set, with a mixed Ranged (Assault Rifle) Melee (Martial Arts?) set.

I think there was a proposal submitted by a player awhile ago about this very subject. Would be very nice to see it in game.

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* Energy Assault / Power Bolt: Reduced this power’s damage scale from 1.32 to 1.0, reduced its recharge from 6 seconds to 4 seconds and reduced its endurance cost from 6.86 to 5.2.
* Fiery Assault / Flares: Reduced this power’s damage scale from 1.0 to .878, reduced its recharge from 4 to 3 seconds and reduced its endurance cost from 5.2 to 4.37.
* Psionic Assault / Psionic Dart: Reduced this power’s damage scale from 1.32 to .84, reduced its recharge from 6 seconds to 3 seconds and reduced its endurance cost from 6.86 to 4.37.
* Psionic Assault / Psychic Shockwave: Increased Max targets hit from 10 to 16.
* Thorny Assault / Impale: Increased this power’s damage scale from 1.32 to 1.64, increased its recharge from 6 seconds to 8 seconds and increased its endurance cost from 6.86 to 8.53.
* Thorny Assault / Thorny Darts: Reduced this power’s damage scale from 1.16 to .84, reduced its recharge from 5 seconds to 3 seconds and reduced its endurance cost from 6.03 to 4.37.

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^^ Today's patch to test

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I was kind of starting to get used to having a really strong T1, but then again, not having a filler attack to finish off sliver-health mobs with was a big pain in the [censored]. I like the change.

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I like the shift myself. It at least shows me Castle is trying to listen to what people have to say. That's good enough for me. I still think that once people get a handle of how to apply these changes, cries of "Nerf Doms mohr" won't be far behind.

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Yeah, trying to model after the current CoT look will be almost impossible. However, if you read up on their backstory there's an interesting angle we can take.

The Circle started in the late 1800s among upper class Englishmen. It wasn't until the 1930s that they retreated to their present underground condition.

With that in mind, I think we can go with an 'old school' Circle look using the new costumes from the Magic Booster Pack. Take a look. The last pic looks like a neat fit for a evil wizard 'gentleman's club' so to speak. Backstory could involve some sort of time travel or hibernation to explain the dated threads we're wearing. Or maybe we're members of the CoT that stayed in the Old World when Zoria came to the US.

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I like this train of thought. I think it might be interesting to go with an "old world" aristocratic look. Kind of like the "Hellfire Club" from the X-men universe. It definitely works with the theme of the CoT. Like it alot, maybe we could all be Barons and Count's. (or Baronesses and Countesses).

Also "Possessed Scientist" "Succubus" and "Behemoth" looks are easy to create in the costume creator.

Hmm...A CoT theme could be nice. I tried starting a CoT themed VG awhile ago..but couldn't garner enough interest. Gavity/Psi would make a great Agony mage..

I will say this, there is also more damage coming from the control primary too...and I'm finding it helpful. Surprisingly so even, since I'm not used to it. (The control powers now do roughly the same damage as controller's with containment. )

After testing a variety of builds on test. I think the recharge times need looking at, and end cost is too high. However, as much as I hate to admit it if Castle and team can find the right balance, this revamp may indeed work out to our favor. And I was HIGHLY skeptical and resentful of the changes at first.

Grav/Ice is the master of Slows. The pressence of Power Boost in Ice Assault makes the slows in Grav even better. Plus the ability to slot procs ind Crushing Field and Chilling Embrace may also be something you'd want to consider.

Grav/Ice should be a very good build after the coming I15 buffs.

Psi isn't bad now. I was extremely reticent if not downright hostile to the updates to Psi. However, I've been converted. Also don't forget, since Doms are basically an AT with Two Primaries (control/damage) the control sets contribute quite a bit to AoE damage output. My Fire/Psi can still mow down mobs at an acceptable rate.
A few have expressed concern about the difficulty of positioning Psychic Scream's cone, but I hardly bother. I just fire off at it seems to be hitting most of the mobs decently.

Mind/Energy is the sexy. Or at least will be after I15. You may also consider Fire/Energy

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o/

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Hey Vidzie, better dust off that old Mind/Energy guide. I have a feeling people are gonna be reading it again...lolz