ThePackage

If you want a more offensive hard hitting tank, roll Shield or Fire. Fire for sustained damage, Shield for burst damage.

The options are available to do what you wish. Sometimes the correct answer to 'I believe this should be an option' is 'Then take the option.'

Shield Charge is truth. The trick with the Shield Bomb is to wait to use it. Don't automaticly use it to enter the mob (unless you need to be in there RIGHT NOW), but leap into the middle of the fray and let your tanking aura buff your damage first. Then lay a charge to your feet (something you'll get used to doing a LOT) and BAM.

Some people will think you're a blaster at that point.

Meh. Learn to Merit Awards. The ways to get those 'must have' recipes that you don't actually need to have exist, even if the majority of vocal players ignore them for the easy route.

Find some friends. Run TFs. Profit.

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Uh, who cares? Serious question: if it's stunned who cares if it's aggroed?

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When it's a boss and you don't have the requisite magnitude to stun it, you do -in fact- care about agro.

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Especially because an endgame fire controller with much of a brain (regardless of secondary) will follow that flashfire up with a sizable helping of hot death and burning monkey violation. Which the mind controller has few ways of replicating.

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Step 1: Confuse Boss.
Step 2: Confuse Boss again.
Step 3: ?????
Step 4: Profit

Same amount of crazy, but accomplished almost 20 levels earlier.

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In fact... the mind controller has no reliable AOE containment method. If you use mass hypnosis for containment, throwing your fireball or psinado... wakes everything up and aggros them

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1) Doms don't Containment.
2) Doms don't Containment.
3) DOMS DO NOT CONTAINMENT.

4) TK into corner, Dominate Bosses, Terrify, AoEs away.

Tho, to be fair, Mind is better with single-target death dealing, in which case you still do the above but with Dominate in your ST attack chain, causing every mob to die swiftly, safely, and efficiently.

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If you use total dom for AOE containment, it's only up once in a blue moon. And mind has nothing else that will set up AOE containment.

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Mind has only Terrify to work with AOE Containment, so that's hardly a major problem with the set.

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It definitely belongs in the underperforming category. Unless your measure of performance is "not killing things effectively" - in which case Mind's great, sleep your enemies for hours, they'll be well-rested when the fire controller comes by and kicks their butts.

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A benchmark for a well performing set shouldn't have 'Once you hit level 32' as proof. The other eight powers should be the basis of performance, and Mind is -very- dominant for both Doms and Controllers in terms of ability to lock down mobs quickly and efficiently. Controllers have no problems milking and using Containment, and Dominators don't need containment to function.

If you fail at TK, however, you might find the set underperforming. If you succeed at TK, however, you know the argument 'Nothing AoE' is a pile of nonsense.

Every team I bring my tanker to always has at least one tanker.

The complaint is not that they are being fixed to fast. The complaint is that the abusers of them are necessitating those fast changes.

He's putting fault not in the quick reaction time towards cheaters, but straight into the laps of the cheaters.

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no hard controls with Mind but mind is strong damage. What I think pairs really well with mind is Rad or Trick Arrow, with TA being better then the 2. nice holds from those secondaries to overcome Minds main weakness.

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Mind has Dominate (a fairly quick recharge ST Hold), Confuse, TK (Anchored AoE Hold + repel), Mass Domination (AoE Hold), and Mass Confusion.

In contrast, Plant and Illusion have 3, and the rest have 4.

A lack of control powers is NOT Mind's weakness.

But Mind Control -has- a pet, at level 6, called Confuse. Lasts a long time, doesn't agro, and has uses other than being a pet.

Mind Control is -seriously- fine. It is probably one of the better control sets and doesn't have to wait until level 32 to get playable. Asking it to have a pet means lengthening the recharge times on their holds, or lowering their duration, or killing their accuracy, or their damage. Frankly, no serious Mind Controller wants to exchange -any- of their powers for that.

When I got back in the game, I fell into some PUGs, found one that really sung well, joined that SG, and now I run missions with a group -all the time.-

I've run multiple TFs with these guys, got my friends into it, ran TFs with them...

Oh, and I go into Atlas Park 2 when I have business there. Much less lag.

Gravity is always been a hard power set for some people to get their heads around. A good Grav-Dom is an asset to any team and can solo with the best of them, but it's not easy, even for experienced Doms.

If you're dissatisfied with it, check the suggestions given. You don't want to rely on a pet, you want multiple ST holds, and decent AoE options, and the ability to do a fair bit of damage with your primary AND your secondary.

Sounds to me that you should be in Mind Control, son. Start with Levitate, then Dominate, and that's damage and control power right there at level 2. Then pick up Confuse, and that's even BETTER than a hold. Seriously, Confuse is such a problem solver, you will find a way to use it in every situation.

Take your melee attacks from your secondary, so you can beat down on mobs you've locked down, or defeat mobs quickly. Mass Hypnosis will be your openner, so you can set up the control as you see fit.

The best part is that Dominate and Confuse will end up with durations long enough that you can juggle two or even three held enemies -per hold-. Do NOT slot Dominate for damage, even tho it is part of your attack chain. Hold duration and Recharge reduction will go farther towards survivability Dominator in the long run. 'But I wants to blapper!' A good idea, and I encourage that, but a blaster doesn't Caltrops for blasting now does he?

Priority one is to lock down as many mobs as you can. -CONTROL- the battle first. Then -Dominate- by applying your assault powers to remove threats. Don't rely on your AoE stuff to make enemies sad. That's better used as your openner so you can lock them down. Only when you get powers like Terrify can you consider them as longer-term control options.

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I forgot to mention that my secondary will be empathy so I could buff my pet. I still want to do control with my primary, but I want the extra damage from the pet after its buffed.

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Radiation is probably a better set for this purpose. It also synergizes better with the control. It also combines buffs and debuffs, which is far more effective than Fortitude.

If it's more for the healing aspect, Thermal Radiation is a good comprimise as well, in that you have the equivalent buff to Fortitude, but you also have more utility in Heat Exaustion, Melt Armor, and your resistance buffs.

Don't get me wrong, done right Empathy is nice, but groups don't go 'GAWD WE NEED AN EMPATHY GUY FOR THIS' as much as they go 'GAWD WE NEED RADIATION'

My two cents:

1) People who want to gather in non-AE groups are having trouble finding each other. There's no lack of players willing to group to do non-AE content (or even AE non-farm content) but there's a lack of ability to meet and greet. Coalitions are one very useful tool; if you have a coalition that likes to group a lot then you'll have a lot less trouble. If you're not in a coalition that does -find one-.

Even then tho, that's only going to go so far. What I propose is that non-AE groupers who want to group should choose a good central location, and advertise for groups there. Steel Canyon's pretty good for that--AE-kiddies don't usually go there, it has access to a lot of zones through Midnighters, Trains, etc. This way, if you're a level 50 tanker looking to finish off those last couple TFs, you're not wandering back and forth between Bricks and FF trying to find that one other guy wandering between FF and Bricks.

2) Team search. Use it.

3) If you don't mind the AE farming, or are actually a part of it, for gossake, stop spamming Atlas Broadcast. Use the damn Architect channel. THAT IS WHAT IT IS FOR. It is cross server, and you can be assured never to miss a group, even while you're wandering out of your comfortable little area to far off vistas like the University or The Black Market.

One thing with TA/A is that you're constantly in motion. When you get agro, you're luring the mob into your glue patches. You're constantly aware of where the tank is and what he's doing. Your holds are more useful as 'Oh crap the blaster agroed again' buttons than as, well, the usual holds.

Get a feel for the AI of mobs so you can force them to follow into the traps you set. Glue+Tanker+Mobs=Good Times so get the mobs there and your team should be doing the same.

I tanked with a TA/A recently, and man did it make a difference. So I told him. "Dude, I thought TA sucked, but you've proven me wrong."

Then I made a TA/A and I'm loving it. I'm not the most obvious Defender out there, but damn if I can't debuff things like a mother and blast the hell out of them with my pointy boomsticks.

So um....


....has anyone realized that Defenders, in terms of buffing and debuffing, are not only packing the strongest versions of buffs and debuffs, but are also probably the strongest in MMOdom?

Defenders designed to have soloability will have soloability. The damn game says 'Hey, some powersets will solo and some will not' when you click on Defender. It's not hard. Take debuffs. Take blasts. Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls.