Vertigo_

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So let me see if I can distill your comments down a bit:

1. You expect a lot of people to enjoy the mission architect immensely, and pour significant amounts of their playing time into it.

2. Its an optional feature of the game that players can choose to ignore or participate in as they wish, without affecting the rest of their game play.

3. The MA will all players of any authoring skill levels to participate, and be judged on their creations by their peers.

4. You'll be able to customize the story content to the same degree as the CoX mission designers.

5. Most of the players will spend more time playing MA-created missions rather than authoring them, and for those that wish to play combat-intensive missions there will probably be authors of the same mindset that write combat-intensive missions with little or no storyline interfering with the action.

6. The quality of the MA is likely to be consistent with the rest of the game.


Thanks for the show of support! I'm sure the devs really appreciate players like yourself taking the time to express your opinions on the likely successful nature of the Mission Architect system. Its posts like yours that really brighten their day and make them appreciate the opportunity they have to continue to develop the game in directions that will continue to entertain the player community. I'll be sure to mention your fine expression of good will to the devs the next time I chat with them. Bravo sir.

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Congratulations to you, sir (you called me a sir, even though I am not male, so I am returning the compliment), for being dismissive of my criticisms, and for your snarkiness.

No need to be so defensive, though. You aren't a dev, so you shouldn't get so worked up if I or anyone criticizes the game's direction. Although, as we all know, you do a great many unpaid things for the betterment of the game, so you are, in practice, somewhat of an employee.

You can distill that last comment, I'm sure.

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Pardon my sarcastic snark. If this gets modded, ok, but I can’t help responding to this kind of negativity.

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Hey, you asked, so I answered. LOL! But let me ask YOU something: why does criticism of the game's direction result in vicious flaming?

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How can anyone say this isn’t great?


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How? I’ll tell you how.

First, it will deflate the population of potential teammates. Want to run that Sewer Trial for the badge, and for the fun of it, because you haven’t run one in forever? Want to run the 2nd respec task force to re-do your character’s slots or powers? Want help taking down Infernal? Well, guess what? Your pool of participants will be reduced by the MA in a real, and not-insignificant way - those potential teammates who could have joined you are working - whoops! I meant to say “writing” - MA arcs and aren’t playing as characters.

Second, it is a gimmick completely disconnected from the CoH game lore. Let’s face it, the MA is a stand-alone “feature” in the game that doesn’t develop any of the CoH backstory. It’s a flashy gimmick intended to sell box sets, and grab publicity and attention from the gaming world. In other words, it’s a marketing tool to get more cash into the devs' pockets.

Third, the vast majority of “storytelling” will be cringe-worthy. Have you read through the fanfic in the roleplay section of this very forum? No offense to anyone, but it ain’t my cup of tea - I cannot spend more than 90 seconds reading through any of it before I cringe, embarrassed, and click out of it. A lot of my in-game friends cannot spell. A LOT. A lot of my in-game friends have no imagination when it comes to creating an interesting costume (copy-paste the “Enforcer” outfit and change the colors and body size, literally, to a dozen characters). A LOT. A lot of my in-game friends who have actually written character bios have produced only derivative and loopy ones (you have seen that thread in our forum where the person - however mean-spirited it might have been - was copying ridiculous character bios to his website blog, haven’t you?). A LOT.

Fourth, the “writing” that will come from the MA is going to be very limited - sure, you can write NPC dialogue, or “begin the mission” dialogue, or “contact dialogue.” But that’s it. If I want to read a great story, I’ll go to Borders and buy a book, not log into City of Frickin’ Heroes! If I want to write, I will launch Microsoft Word and type, not log into City of Frickin’ Heroes! And truth be told, guess how many of my in-game friends RARELY paid any attention to what the actual text was associated with any mission, anyway? A LOT.

Fifth, a lot of people won’t bother creating missions, because it will be too much of a chore. Guess how many of my in-game friends don’t go into minute detail with the costume creator? Guess how many of my in-game friends don't use the SG base editor to either create their own base or revise a current base? Guess how many of my friends log into the game just to have fun by blasting or smashing stuff since this is, in fact, a comic-book-based action video game and they want to unwind and need a break from “work” (whether that is a job, studying, or taking care of the kids, etc)? A LOT.

Sixth, it will be filled with the usual horrific bugs and egregious exploits that will necessitate shutting down the MA entirely, and possibly even the game, for extended periods of time for emergency fixes. Merits. ‘Nuff said.

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That said, we'll also be looking at ways to further grow and enhance our merit reward system over the life of the game. So, what you'll be seeing in Issue 13 launch is not the final version of this system. Like any system in our game, we will continuously improve upon and enhance these systems in the future.

So, as soon as we have some details for you about what changes will be made we will share them with you.

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That's fine. Let me know when you have your act together, and I will re-sub.

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Im just wary of what may happen when you DC due to lag in a location thats not a great day job..like a factory over in KR. you log back on to find you have the sweat shop owner badge...then suddenly you arent so heroic

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Probably better than being DC at the Donut shop in Faultline.

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POLICE MAN!!

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No, you get the "Fatty, Fatty, 2x4!" badge.

mmm k, let's see here...

for the redside:

corruptors - get the weakest, clunkiest blaster primary (lol attack chain)

brutes - get 2 smash/lethal sets (lol s/l damage after level 40), and yet another secondary that has no self-heal, is toggle-end-hog-horrid pre-stamina, and lacks acceptable aoe protection until lvl 35

stalkers - get the weakest brute primary, and the second-weakest brute secondary (lol energy aura was already available to stalkers)

doms - get a mix of the weakest blaster primary with the weakest brute primary, and a controller primary that is location-based (lol pvp)

mms - get a secondary that specializes in causing enormous chaos on mission maps (lol teaming with mms)



and for the blueside:

blasters - get psi and more psi (and are the ONLY AT to get a new power designed especially for them - i'm shocked, really, I am!)

scrappers - don't get energy aura

tankers - dont get energy aura

defenders - get the best corruptor secondary

castle and posi - WTF????!!!!! enough is enough already!!!! can you PLEASE give the Vills some G*D D**N love???????

i can't wait to see wtf the Villain "EPIC" AT's are going to be like...

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It was RECIPES that were being farmed.


We know this was because of Cap runs. They know we know.

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Cap just became a Katie TF clone, that's all.

Just glad they didn't change Cap to "kill all" missions. I.E. this fix coulda been worse, since it is a very breezy SF.

You should add another category of issues with IO's: misleading set bonus text, set bonus text that should be revised, or something of that sort.

Healing set bonuses from Numina's Convalescence, Harmonized Healing, Doctored Wounds, Miracle, Regenerative Tissue and Triage all have this text:

"Improves the Healing of all your powers by X%"

That text is INCORRECT. "All" does not mean "All" because any heal power that grants damage resistance (reconstruction, kuji-in rin, healing flames, high pain tolerance, etc.) does not receive that bonus.

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It's not slight. Psi has powerful recharge debuffs ... Only Cold Domination has significantly better -rech than Psionic Assault.

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Hold on a second, there, partner! Let's look at the facts a second, shall we?

Psychic Scream - it has a 50% recharge debuff that lasts for ten seconds. PS can recharge in 12 - using hasten or having a recharge enhancement would allow it to be perma.

Psychic Shockwave - it also has a 50% recharge debuff, but it lasts for twenty seconds. PSW can recharge in 10 seconds, so it can stack with itself easily, or with PS.

Also, both powers are capable of hitting up to 10 targets, so they could fully debuff the recharge on many enemies.

Also, Psi Dart debuffs recharge rates by 30%, which lasts 5 seconds and recharges in 1.5. A cheap power that recycles fast and can easily triple-stack with itself, permanently, resulting in a single-target -recharge debuff of 90%.

Mind Probe and Mental Blast also have -recharge components (40% for 6 seconds and 30% for 6 seconds, respectively).

Compare all of this to Cold Domination:

The Snow Storm toggle - it has a 50% recharge debuff that can hit multiple enemies - up to 16.

The other primary -recharge debuff power is Infridigate, which has a -recharge debuff rate of 70% for 20 seconds. The Cold Domination Corruptor is likely to try to stack Infrigidate with Snow Storm to floor recharge rates (much like the Psionic Assault dominator would use PS and PSW to floor recharge rates). BUT! Infrigidate is single-target only, AND it has a recharge rate of 15 seconds. In other words, the Psionic Assault dominator could floor the recharge rates of multilple enemies much faster, much more consistently, than a Cold Domination Corruptor. Also, compared in isolation to Psi Dart, Psi Dart can debuff the recharge rate up to 90% by stacking it, surpassing the 70% recharge debuff that Infrigidate provides.

The other powers in /Cold that debuff recharge rates on multiple enemies have long recharges (Sleet and Heat Loss both debuff attack rates by 30%, but Sleet recharges in 60 seconds, and Heat Loss in 360 seconds).

In other words, a Psionic Assault dominator could do a better job than a /Cold corruptor of debuffing the recharge of many enemies at once. And isn't that very helpful in the final fight of the RSF?

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I agree about Ice Slick, but that is unique to Ice and I have never been in that situation...

I think its the exception rather than the rule



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Hi.

I play a mind/psi dominator and he has both mass hypnosis and mass confusion which can negate the alpha without the mobs aggroing to the dominator (or the dominator's team).

I also play a plant/nrg dominator and he has carrion creepers, which can negate the alpha without the mobs aggroing to the dominator (or the dominator's team).

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We've got a nice tweak to the Domination ability coming down the pipe (it will crank up your Mez resistance while it is active), and are currently data-mining PvP to see what effect our last set of tweaks to the AT have had.

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My problem with this is that you are basically making Domination more uber, but apparently doing nothing for us in the non-Domination time. We'll be in the same position as before. Depressed when Domination expires. You say it yourself that you are "disappointed at hearing the sound effect of it wearing off" and this condition WILL NOT CHANGE by making Domination better.

Status protection we can all get behind. But we need a better non-Domination experience here. Are there _any_ positive changes coming down the pike for us when not using Domination? Even getting status protection under the influence of Domination isn't making me want to play my Dominators again - if my non-Domination experience hasn't improved. Because I am just plodding through the game when I am waiting for it to come back up.

Please help.

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Wow. The way you put it, domination has the recharge of an accolade, or maybe an Elude or Overload type of power?

It recharges in 200 seconds - faster with hasten - and it is recharging while you have it in use!

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My dominators have never been "crappy." Maybe you are just crappy as a dominator?


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Want to address both posts (which may have been done already, as there are pages to go I havent read yet).

its always a little suspect to say maybe they (the player) just arent good. For one reason, they may simply be used to having more power, via having played a stronger AT, which would mean that in comparison doms need boosting. Its always hard to figure out how your favorite toon that seems to do so well is being posted as gimped and crappy by someone else, but this type reply tends to make the posts more about flames than discussion.


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I disagree. This wasn't a flame at all. Players can be crappy at certain AT's. I'm crappy as a brute. Doubt that that is cause to give brutes a "boost" or "overhaul," though.

Maybe it's the adjective used here that is implying some sort of disrespect or flame. But, the OP to whom I responded used the term to begin with, and I quoted it (in making the point that I didn't think dominators were the right choice for her/him).

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I'm sorry I didn't read this thread - so I don't know if what I'm about to say has been repeated.

Dear Devs,

Please please please don't balance an entire AT based on a click inherent ability. When people complain that dominators are not strong enough, the solution should NOT be to buff domination. Simply put, it's more fun to play a good character all the time than a crappy character most of the time that turns into an UBER god sometimes.

Much love for your work,
-Shak

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It sounds like dominators aren't for you. Building up to and clicking on domination is the whole point. Corruptors, by way of example, are pretty "consistent" in what they do. I played one for awhile. I WAS BORED TO TEARS!!

Re-read Positron's post. Especially this part:

Then of course there is the Domination ability, which is the real Jekyl and Hyde of the AT. A mild-manner Dominator with a full Domination bar can, at his or her discretion, become an unstoppable machine of destruction and control. While it never lasts "long enough" (even I am disappointed at hearing the sound effect of it wearing off), I've had missions where I have gotten Domination off four times from mission-entry to having Mission Complete appear on the screen. Good times indeed.

My dominators have never been "crappy." Maybe you are just crappy as a dominator?

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Out of curiosity, does this tweak include the ability to fire off domination when mezzed?

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Not initially, but the patch following should have it. I forget to stick that in on the original change, and QA helpfully pointed it out, but not in time to reach the version going out.

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YESS!!!!!!!!!!

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Ok after I've calmed myself down a bit, I'm wondering...
Mez resistance or mez protection?

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Protection vs. Knockback, Knock Up, Repel, Stun, Sleep, Hold, Immobilize, Confuse and Fear. Pretty much the whole suite.

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YESSS!!!!

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The closest to a consensus that we all can come to is that some change would be desirable. Heck, I even listed down my top five priorities for Dominator change in one thread.

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Hm, what are my top five dominator wishes? In no particular order:

1. A little more health would be nice.
2. Another damage bump would be nice, maybe 80/70 or 75/75.
3. Rein in control powers in other ATs, especially in PVP.
4. Change AV status protection to a happier medium between fighting statues and stripping our active defenses. Heck, I wouldn't mind fighting statues; I'm used to it.
5. Ban the "dominators suck" forum trolls.

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Add in fixing at least one of the triple whammies our AoE holds suffer from - hefty accuracy penalty, short base duration, ridiculously long recharge.

That, and #5 on your list, would be wonderful.

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Dominators are not boss-killers

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My Dominator is a Boss-Killer....

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Bosses are my Dominator's specialty: I eat them for lunch.

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against the only single targets that truly NEED to be dominated (Archvillains), our control ability is reduced incredibly.

That's really the biggest legitimate PvE complaint for Dominators: Archvillain fights. It's where we should shine the MOST, yet it's where we shine the LEAST.

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I have begun to notice a pattern when I'm fighting AV's with purple triangles on my dom. When my teammates are in trouble - either the AV holds them or severely injures them - the triangles drop, and my holds kick in. Happened with Ghost Widow (I wrote a thread that got locked "Dom saves team from AV film at 11" - thanks trolls), and it's been happening more recently.

The other day I duo'd with a brute friend of mine and the scaled-down-to-elite boss (forgot his name ATM) had triangles. I spammed my holds, and ranged attacks, while he roughed him up. The triangles were up most of the fight, and right when he nuked my friend (who dropped into the red with his health), the triangles dropped and my holds kicked in. This has happened a few times to me. Almost as if the triangles drop when the AV gets an upper hand in the fight. Happened when I fought positron and lord recluse, too. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but it has happened a few times to me already...

Also, as a side note, when 2 dominators pop domination and spam their holds, they can quickly lock down an AV through the triangles and keep them locked down for most of the fight. A dom teammie and I - both boosted with domination - locked down Swan and Lilithu for virtually the entire fight.

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i keep hearing that all doms are gimp and suck and stuff. Why do people say they arent good?

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Who are you listening too, exactly? Forum trolls? If that's the case, then you are very foolish.

Both of my doms (plant/nrg and mind/psi) are very sought after on teams, and I've been very successful and had a lot of fun with them.

That said, I wouldn't mind a tweak to our AoE holds - the triple whammy of acc penalty, low base duration and ridiculous recharge time totally gut those powers and make them broken, imo.

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Ok, so in a vain attempt to calm this thread down, I would like to ask if anyone has succeeded in creating a Double Domination situation outside of the two posted here that involve the destroyed lab equipment hasten boost?

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Sure. About a week before this thread started, I was on a team with 2 rad corruptors (the FOTM to end all FOTM builds), who used AM at the same time, and a kin who gave me SB, and I used hasten. We were about to fight a nasty EB.

I was really surprised to see the domination button blink as "recharged" so fast - while I still had domination running. So out of curiosity I clicked it, and sure enough - double domination. Actually, I was able to do this 3 times: guess you could call it a three-peat. I just missed a four-peat (I was casting my single target hold and in that split second, my current domination bar faded, just before domination recharged).

But I sure as hell wasn't about to announce this to the devs by starting a thread about it (and was shocked to see someone do so)!

Hello, McFly...

NOTE: Got some info today regarding the accuracy penalty to Mass Hypnosis - apparently there isn't any, anymore. Stupid Hero Planner! But, hey, this is a good thing!

Revised slotting for MH: 1 acc; 3 sleep, 2 recharge

And BTW - as for Telekinesis, one could easily swap out TK Thrust for Telekinesis, and move 2 of the health slots from Drain Psyche and put them into Telekinesis (and slot it with 3 end reductions). Telekinesis is an amazing power (it's just not for me).

I would make these edits to the post itself, but apparently I've exceeded my max edit amount.

Because you asked for it...

Guide to Mind/Psi Dominator

This guide is current through issue 6.


Build:

Mind Control:

Mesmerize (acc) (dmg) (dmg) (dmg)
Dominate (acc) (hold) (hold) (hold) (rech) (rech)
Levitate (acc) (dmg) (dmg) (dmg)
Confuse (acc) (conf) (conf)
Mass Hypnosis (acc) (acc) (sleep) (sleep) (sleep) (rech)
Terrify (acc) (fear) (fear) (fear) (to hit deb) (to hit deb)
Mass Confusion (acc) (acc) (conf) (conf) (conf) (rech)

Psi Assault:

Psi Dart (acc)
Mind Probe (acc) (dmg) (dmg) (dmg)
TK Thrust (acc)
Drain Psyche (endmod) (endmod) (endmod) (health) (health) (health)
Subdue (acc) (dmg) (dmg) (dmg)
Psionic Lance (acc) (dmg) (dmg) (dmg)
Psychic Shockwave (acc) (dmg) (dmg) (dmg) (rech) (rech)

Hasten (rech)
Super Speed (run)

Stealth (end red)

Swift (run)
Health (health)
Stamina – (endmod) (endmod) (endmod)

Power Explanations - Mind Control:

Mezmerize – single target sleep. It has a magnitude of 4 – meaning, one application of it can one-shot-sleep just about any enemy including bosses (short of an AV/Elite Boss) in the game. It is a great way to help stack your single target hold on a boss – dominate/mezmerize/dominate – it reduces the return fire you will get from him because he will be slept while dominate recharges (although he will probably get a hit on you between the first application of dominate and the mezmerize). Drawback – it’s a sleep, so any hit on the sleeping enemy will break the sleep. However – it has a very long base duration (34 seconds on a typical 1+ yellow minion), and it recharges faster than dominate (your single target hold). It is also highly accurate (it has an accuracy bonus). It also doesn’t cost much endurance (6 points per). It does NOT take recharge enhancements. It also does moderate damage – in the ballpark of /psi’s single target moderate damage attack mental blast. You could, literally, mezmerize an enemy to death. Keep in mind, however, that an enemy that is sleeping sometimes wakes up for a split second when you reapply mezmerize and will attack you once. I slotted it 1 acc, 3 damage. This way, it functions really well as an accurate, long duration sleep that adds to my DPS.

Dominate – single target hold. It is your single target hold, and as such is the single most-important power to any dominator. It has a magnitude of 3 – meaning, one application of it can lock down anything except for a boss (which will need 2 applications of it to hold him). It has a shorter base duration, longer recharge, but higher accuracy bonus, than Mezmerize. It also does about the same amount of damage (moderate). This power deserves 6 slots – I would go with 1 accuracy, 3 hold durations, and 2 damage – use it as an all-purpose hold-plus-attack. Slotted this way, it will do almost the same damage as Mezmerize, and add to your DPS. Once you take Subdue from the /psi secondary (available at level 28), I would change the slotting of dominate to 1 acc, 3 hold, and 2 recharge – since Subdue will significantly increase your damage output. 2 recharges will allow you to stack holds on bosses much faster, and help you to spam the hold on more enemies more often. If you do a lot more teaming up than soloing, I would forego the 2 damage slotting and put the 2 recharges in there instead and use it strictly for its hold function.

Levitate – single target knockup/knockdown attack, and a must (at least for a /psi dominator). This power is great as a ghetto hold – since it lifts the target into the air, and onto the ground (he has to pick himself up): meaning, it preoccupies the enemy for a few seconds because it has a knockdown/knockup effect. This is yet another way to help you stack dominate (your hold) on a boss – dominate/levitate/dominate – it reduces the return fire you will get from him because he will be lifted and falling and picking himself up while dominate recharges. It’s also great for pulling an enemy – because he’s lifted and then slammed, you will have plenty of time to run around a corner. This power is a must for /psi dominators because it has psi AND smashing damage – which can be a godsend when you are fighting enemies that resist psi damage (like robots). It does medium damage – above mesmerize and mental blast, but less than mind probe and subdue. This power has no accuracy bonus, so it will miss more frequently than dominate or mesmerize, so I would slot it with 1 accuracy, and maybe add a second accuracy for good measure if you really hate to miss. 1 acc 3 damage is a standard attack slotting.

Confuse – single target confuse. This power makes enemies attack their buddies and not you. Meaning, this power is yet another way for you to neutralize threats. Even better, you convert them into your pets – they will not only attack their buddies (or inanimate objects that need to be destroyed like bank vaults), but they will buff/heal you and your friends. Confusion is my favorite – and perhaps the safest – way for you to stack holds on a boss: stack confuse on a boss from a distance (no aggro) – let him kill whoever is near him – then when he’s alone and still confused, you can stack dominate on him without him attacking you at all. This power, along with levitate, can help you get through tough solo missions where the enemies are resistant to psi damage. This power does not, alone, produce aggro. Meaning, if you use it from far away, the target and his buddies (whom he will attack and perhaps kill) won’t come after you when it wears off (or if it misses). Also, if you confuse a boss who has a pet (or pets), those pets will ALSO be confused if he is – meaning, if the Family Boss has a singularity hovering over him, once you confuse him, his singularity will also instantly be confused and they will attack each other (NEVER use confuse on a pet – use it on the boss and confuse them both at once). A great way to use this power to open a fight is to confuse the most dangerous target, or a target that has healing/buffing/control powers, from a distance – and then engage them – that target will be your pet for the fight. But the confused enemy will not follow you and fight at your side – he will only attack whatever is near him (in aggro range). If you have TP foe you could bring him along with you wherever you go. Confuse also is a TON of fun to mess around with – you will have favorite enemies to use this power on – such as Family bosses that have a singularity pet out – which produces some hilarious, uplifting (pun!) visual effects. Or Tsoo Sorcerers – want a heal? You got it! Or Rikti guardians – want a bazillion, stacked shields on you? You get the idea. Downside – it had to have a downside, right? The longest animation time in the game. It will seem totally crazy – it’s 6 seconds. When it misses and you are trying to stack it on a boss – it has a magnitude of 3 so it won’t confuse a boss with just one application – it can get frustrating. For that reason, confusion duration enhancements are required. It has an accuracy bonus, so 1 accuracy, 2 confuse durations allows me to hit often, and lets it last long enough for me to stack 2 applications of dominate on any boss in complete safety. 1 accuracy, 3 confuse, and 1 recharge would be ideal, though, if you can spare the slots.

Mass Hypnosis –This power, while a sleep with a shorter base duration than mesmerize, affects up to 10 targets at once and has many uses. It, like confuse (and mass confusion), is completely aggro-free. Use it to prevent the alpha strike: when you approach a group, use MH, and they will all be slept. At that point, you (or your team) can pick and choose which targets to attack first, without getting hammered by all of them at once. Use it to thin a nasty group: MH the group, then snipe an enemy of choice from that group – he will wake up, come running for you – finish him off and repeat on another enemy from the group. When they wake up, they won’t have noticed that their buddies are missing. Use it to stop ambushes: which always seem to happen once your team has engaged another group ahead of you – you hear on broadcast, “Get Player X!” and know that they are coming from behind. Turn around, and when they get near, use MH on them. This will stop them dead in their tracks, and give your team time to finish off the first group. Use it to stop accidental, unwanted aggros: if you are fighting a group and a second group gets aggro’d accidentally, run up to them and use MH on them – it will keep them out of the fight for quite awhile. Use it in the heat of battle (who cares!): yeah, it’s a sleep, so anyone can break it with an attack. But anyone who hasn’t been lobotomized will realize that an attack will wake the enemy up, and they can decide for themselves when to attack those slept targets. You will be surprised how many times, in the middle of a huge fight, an enemy will be sleeping, while the brutes and stalkers are hammering on their buddies right next to them. It has a penalty to accuracy, but I’ve found 2 accuracy enhancements to make it very reliable. It also recharges fast enough to allow it to be up almost every fight – 45 seconds. Functional slotting: 2 acc, 3 sleep duration, 1 recharge.

Terrify – a (large, deep) cone fear power that has a nice base duration, fast recharge (40 seconds), deals moderate damage (on par with mezmerize and dominate), and has an accuracy debuff effect on enemies, this power is useful in teams. With a couple of recharges and fear durations, it can be perm-able. It will be very useful because terrified enemies don’t attack unless you hit them first. But it has drawbacks – for one, it does damage so it draws aggro to you – and if you are using it on a large team against a huge group it can get you faceplanted because the enemies typically blast you once before the fear effect kicks in. 8-10 enemies blasting you once adds up in a not-so-nice way. Also, I’ve found that even if a teammate hits a terrified enemy, the enemy will initially shoot at ME rather than my teammate who just hit HIM – at least until my teammate hits him a second time! Meaning, if you use this power on a large group, break line of sight on as many of the terrified enemies as soon as you can. Also, feared enemies don’t turn into statutes – they can randomly decide to pick up and run for a bit – which means you will have to chase them down. I only took this power as another “Oh noes!” panic control power – because I have so many other tricks up my sleeve that I like better (I’m usually busy using the above powers – and mass confusion), I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used it solo. But I do use it when teamed. Because my health bar seemed to always pay a big price for its use when fighting large groups, I slotted it with 1 accuracy, 3 fear, 2 to-hit debuffs – but 2 recharges instead of the to-hit debuffs can make this power perma.

Mass Confusion – this is it, the power you have been waiting for. Unlike confuse, it is a group-confuse power, but without the ridiculous animation time. Like confuse, it will turn all affected enemies into your pets. It will turn a roomful of enemies into a riot – they will devour themselves in no time flat. Like confuse, it does NOT draw aggro onto you, so enemies won’t attack you when the effect wears off or if you miss (provided, of course, you aren't in aggro range when the confusion effect wears off). It can be fired from a distance, like confuse. You can use this power to stack confusion on a boss very quickly – use confuse, then fire mass confusion, to pass his magnitude quickly (Mass Confusion has a magnitude of 3). Any enemies that defeat each other without any damage input from you or a teammate won't give you xp - so you should get at least one hit on every confused enemy if you can (psychic shockwave and/or psychic scream can help with this - see below). This power has a long recharge, however – 240 seconds – so use it wisely. I use this power as my panic control power since it will help make any nasty surprise group eat itself alive (far more effective, IMO, than terrify), or for the main boss fight at the end of a mission – with domination running, Mass Confusion is wickedly powerful. I have it slotted 2 accuracy; 3 confusion; 1 recharge. I also hit hasten right after using it to help it recharge faster.

Powers I skipped:

Total Domination. Like all dominator AoE holds, it has a hefty accuracy penalty, very very very short hold duration, and preposterously long recharge time (relative to its duration). It needs 6 slots (2 accuracy, 2 hold, 2 recharge) to improve its status from HORRID-OMG-I-NEED-TO-RESPEC-OUT-OF-THIS-NOW, to Crappy. Terrify and Mass Confusion are more useful as panic control powers than TD.

Telekinesis. I am definitely going against the grain here, because Telekinesis is arguably the “signature” power of any mind/ dominator (or controller). But it is just way too tricky for me to use it effectively – I always screwed it up – so I didn’t take it. It is unlike any power in the game – it lifts a target into the air and propels him slowly backward, and any enemies he gets near are also lifted up and propelled backwards. Problem for me is – they KEEP floating backward, and unless you can position yourself to propel the target into a wall, you will lose them and possibly aggro other mobs. Used properly, it is an amazing power. I didn’t have patience to explore its potential (I hate cone powers – or powers where you need to position yourself “just right” – bah!). It also has an intense endurance drain – so stamina is a MUST if you plan on taking this power, and 3 endurance reductions on it is also recommended.

Power Explanations - Psi Assault:

Psi Dart – minimal damage, but really fast recharge and low endurance cost and fast animation time. Drop 1 accuracy enhancement in it (or 1 endurance reduction if you don’t have stamina OR drain psyche) and spam it to build domination.

Mind Probe – one of the highest damaging attacks in the /psi assault set, it is a must. It is described as having “moderate” damage, but it’s more like “high” damage – it does more than levitate. It is a melee attack, but has quick animation and delivers nice damage. Since you have to get into melee range, only use it once your enemy is held or confused. Slotting is standard 1 acc, 3 damage.

TK Thrust – a guilty pleasure and definitely skippable, it is a melee-knockback attack. It does minor smashing and psi damage. It’s great if you have an enemy right in your face because it’s highly accurate and will send them flying. But levitate makes this knockback power redundant (and is safer because you can achieve knockup/knockdown at range), and does way more damage. In other words, as a mind/ dominator you have so many control tricks up your sleeve that you don’t need a “ghetto hold” or soft control that this knockback power provides. But I like it because it has a really cool sound effect and animation – and when an enemy has a sliver of health left I use it to finish him with a dramatic flourish . It can be useful if a held or confused target is not where you want him – TK Thrust him where you want him to go (if he’s confused, you can thrust him into a group of enemies so he can attack them). And it also has a -fly effect, so it can knock annoying flying targets out of the sky (but since it's a melee attack, heh, it depends how high up they are). 1 accuracy is sufficient.

Subdue – it’s mind probe-level damage (described in the game as doing “moderate” damage, but would be more accurately described as doing “high” damage), but ranged. And oh, yeah – it has an immobilization secondary effect. Once you get this power, at level 28, which you must do, you can kill enemies entirely at range if you so choose. 1 accuracy 3 damage should be your slotting.

Drain Psyche – the wildcard power in the /psi deck because it doesn’t take accuracy enhancements. It reduces an enemy’s endurance and health recovery and boosts your own for 30 seconds. It has a very short PBAOE range – just a bit longer than melee range. If you are planning on taking stamina, you won’t need this power. Now, the big question everyone wonders when looking at /psi: do you need stamina if you take drain psyche? Mind/psi is fairly light on endurance, so it is possible, in theory, to get by on Drain Psyche and skip the fitness power pool altogether. I’ve tried it without stamina – and if it hits just one enemy, the endurance recovery is noticeable (it works, after connecting on just one enemy, as a kind of conserve power if you are fighting). If it connects on more than one enemy, the recovery is tremendous (approaching recovery aura from the defender set). Plus, when you hit domination, your endurance bar completely fills, anyway. But – without accepting accuracy enhancements, this power will miss, so it is nowhere near as reliable as stamina. Also, it lasts 30 seconds, which, again, means it is not as consistent as stamina. If and when this power does accept accuracy enhancements (which might happen with issue 7), then skipping stamina would be more viable. There are powers later on in the mind/ set that can be endurance drains (mass confusion and terrify). Also, if you take telekinesis, and have drain psyche instead of stamina, DP has to connect or else you will be eating endurance inspirations like crazy whenever you use telekinesis. I don’t like messing around with my endurance, so I took stamina and don’t rely on DP. But I picked it up thinking, if it hits, great, if not, who care because I have stamina, and thought it would be fun just to mess around with. Because I don’t depend on it for my endurance recovery, I really have enjoyed using it – it’s great as a downtime-reducer. Always use it when there are at least 2 enemies near you – preferably more if possible: if there are at least 2 enemies, it will more often than not connect on at least one of them. It is great against an Elite Boss (to hold down on his health recovery). It is amazing in a large group where there are a ton of enemies grouped tightly together because it will hit several enemies. And, it does NOT break any sleep – so you could use Mass Hypnosis on a group, run in and use DP on them, then engage them. The health recovery is also pretty nice. With this power and stamina and domination, it is overkill: I never, ever have to slot for endurance reductions on any power. I have it slotted 3 end mod; 3 health. Note: I 6-slotted this power because slotted this way and activating both it AND domination is the equivalent of playing in near-God mode, which I get a kick out of, and allows me to thumb my nose at the ED nerfs . A more practical slotting would be: 1 or 2 end modifcation and 1 or 2 recharge.

Psionic Lance – a sniper attack, it is the highest-damaging attack in the /psi set. It has the issues of any sniper attack – it is interruptible, and has a long activation time (about 4 seconds). Sure, it takes awhile to activate, but the payoff, the damage is worth it. In teams I use it to help finish off the boss or last standing enemy that everyone’s beating up on (I’ve seen it do the same amount of damage as a brute’s fury-boosted attack), and solo, my targets are controlled, so I rarely get interrupted. It halves a typical +1 yellow minion’s health. I rarely use it to pull – I use it in my attack chain, firing off all my faster-recharging attacks first, and using this as a finishing move, or to do great damage while those attacks recharge (on a boss, for example – my other attacks will have recharged once the snipe has fired). And being a snipe, it has a great accuracy bonus so it RARELY misses. Slotting: 1 accuracy, 3 damage

Psychic Shockwave – this is it – the attack power you’ve waited for, and one of the best in the game. It is PBAoE, and its radius is surprisingly large – much larger than melee range. It’s like a mini-nuke, but it only costs 10 endurance to fire and has a 10 second recharge. It does high damage – up there with mind probe and subdue. Plus it has a chance to disorient (on par with bone smasher from the /nrg set). Absolutely worth the wait. With domination running, its damage is even better. On a mass-confused mob, you will rip them to pieces in no time. It has a cool sound effect, as well. 6 slot this power – 1 acc, 3 dmg, 2 rech (disorient duration enhancements aren’t needed because the disorient side effect isn’t reliable, and you have a ton of more effective control options, so the disorient should just be a nice bonus effect).

Powers I Skipped:


Mental Blast – long animation time – about 3-4 seconds from the time you activate the power until it finally travels to its intended target and inflicts damage. Its activation time is on par with psionic lance, but it does 3 times LESS damage than lance, so if you're thinking of taking either/or, take lance. Mental Blast is okay at lower levels if you are desperate for another attack, but definitely respec out of it once you get subdue (which does more damage and has a shorter activation time). Rumors are that the devs will be improving the animation of mental blast – if so, it might make the power more attractive.


Psychic Scream – again, this is just personal taste, but I don’t like cone powers, and this is a narrow cone attack power that does moderate (on par with mental blast or mesmerize) damage. But it costs more endurance because it’s a cone, and has a longer recharge time. It can be really effective though, especially if needing to get a hit on a group of mass confused enemies that are tearing each other apart really quickly. But that’s what Psy Shockwave does for me, and it does way more damage (and has a nice disorient side effect). One could easily swap this power with Psionic Lance. Psy Shockwave outdamages and outclasses psychic scream, IMO, and I just didn’t need both of them for my playstyle.

Power Pools:

Hasten – this power can really help a /psi dominator increase his DPS on that end-of-mission boss who needs to be taken down while domination is running (in other words, while you are still safe). It’s also a great panic button – when things get nasty, it’s like throwing 2 recharge SO’s into all of your controls and attacks, which can really help turn things around. And I use it right after I use Mass Confusion, to help improve its recharge time. Very situational, but really handy.

Super Speed – I love using it to zip through missions quickly, as a scouting tool.

Stealth – Since you are squishy, this is a great way to cut down on surprise, accidental aggro, and to help keep yourself safe when getting around in the main zones.

Swift – great to help you get in and out of melee range quickly (or lining up cones – bleh) when using mind probe and drain psyche. Stacks with super speed to help you travel faster.

Health – helps cut downtime – but is just a stepping stone for stamina.

Stamina – if and when drain psyche accepts accuracy enhancements (possibly in issue 7), and provided nothing else about drain psyche changes (to balance it for the accuracy enhancements), I will be dropping stamina. Until then, it’s a safe and practical pick.

Guide to Plant/Nrg Dominator

If u r frustrated with your dominator experience, maybe try this...

Primary Powers - Plant Control
Strangler: acc/acc/hold/hold/hold/rechg
Spore Burst: acc
Seeds of Confusion: acc/acc/acc/conf/conf/rechg
Spirit Tree: heal/heal/heal
Carrion Creepers: acc/acc/rechg/rechg/rechg
Fly Trap: acc/dmg/dmg/dmg

Secondary Powers - Energy Assault
Power Bolt: rechg
Bone Smasher: acc/acc/dmg/dmg/damg/rechg
Power Push: acc
Power Blast: acc/acc/dmg/dmg/dmg/
Power Boost: rechg/rechg/rechg
Total Focus: acc/acc/dmg/dmg/dmg/rechg
Sniper Blast: acc/dmg/dmg/dmg/interrupt rdx/int redx/
Power Burst: acc/acc/dmg/dmg/dmg/rechg

Power Pools
Swift: run speed
Health: heal
Stamina: end/end/end
Hasten: rechg/rechg/rechg
Super Speed: end redx
Stealth: end redx



Explanation for powers I chose, and slots:


Strangler - single target hold - a must have. Will allow you to lock down practically anything. I put 2 accuracy because I wanted to make sure it hit often, and a recharge to make sure it was up again soon.

Spore Burst - situational sleep power, handy when Strangler and Seeds are recharging, and there is an add, or the mobs in the corner somehow accidentally just got aggroed. No sleep duration necessary - it will last long enough for me to pick them off with strangler, or, it will get broken (since it’s a sleep) by my pet or teammates.

Seeds - the most useful power in this set to me. 3 accuracy, because I want it to hit everybody it possibly can when I unload it. The duration is pretty long with 2 confuse enhancements, and with 1 recharge, plus hasten, it is up practically every fight.

Spirit tree - again, very situational. But handy. I never use this solo - if I get into a bad situation, I bail, rest up, and let agro wind down, and come back with a new game plan. But I do use it in team situations - I plant it (pun!) near the heavy action in big fights, and it is fairly effective with the 3 heals. No recharges - if the mission is THAT bad where I would need it up asap, heh, well then we need more than spirit tree to save us.

Carrion - 3 recharge allows this to be up every other fight or so. I slotted 2 acc because I wanted the creepers to do their job of whacking mobs and holding agro.

Fly Trap - with just 1 accuracy, he hits very often, and with 3 damage, he does great - absolutely love it when he takes a big mouthy chomp outta the mobs.

Power bolt - this attack has a low damage cap (it’s minor), so I didn’t bother slotting it since my later attacks are more worth the investment. I put one recharge - since the damage is so low, I don’t care if it hits, but with a fast base recharge time, it helps get domination filled up. I often put it on auto.

Power Push - 1 accuracy allows it to almost always hit. Very very accurate power, and knocks down virtually everything I’ve used it on (except if the mob is immobilized - more on this later). Great in tandem with Strangler - see that tank swiper boss? Strangler only applied once and still recharging? Power Push him back, while he’s getting up, Strangler has recharged, and it’s all gone, bye bye, sleepy time for Mr. Swiper.

Power Boost - 3 recharge lets this power come up almost every fight. Wonderful at extending the duration time of all of my controls, and the secondary effect of energy melee attacks (stun). Great in tandem with seeds - hit power boost, then seeds, and the mobs are as good as gone.

Sniper Blast - very accurate and high damage slotted this way, and 2 interrupt reductions make this power more usable in fights because it brings down the activation time quite a bit, turning this sniper attack into a more viable use-it-during-a-fight, rather than a pull-from-safety power.

Power Burst - great damage, and also up very often and accurate slotted this way, although it is very short range.

Bone Smasher and Total Focus - very high damage - with Total Focus the jewel of the set. Both of these powers have a good chance to stun, with Total Focus stunning the mob almost every time. Nothing says “pwned!” than to see a mob, held in strangler, smashed with Total Focus, get the swirly-head animation indicating he’s been stunned.

Overall - I really liked the synergy between plant and energy - plant has some great crowd control powers, and energy has power boost to greatly enhance those crowd control powers. Plus, energy has some fairly high damaging attacks. It also has handy secondary effects - the blasts produce knock back - which thanks to the new rag-doll animations actually incapacitates mobs for a few seconds - and the melee attacks produce a nice stun, and a stunned mob is crowd controlled.




Explanation for powers I skipped:


Entangle & Roots - immobilizes aren’t my cup of tea - they don’t stop the mobs from hurting me, don’t do that much damage, and they negate the knock back effects of my energy blasts and the knockdown effects of carrion creepers. Plus, Fly Trap has an entangle-immobilize power, which he uses a lot.

Vines - ridiculously long recharge time, substantial accuracy penalty, and a duration about as long as half of a tic tac. I will never take any of the Domination AoE holds - until the above 3 change for the better (or at least one of them anyway). Yes, Vines can quickly surpass the magnitude (hold-resistance) of a boss when you follow up with strangler - but I can surpass a boss’ magnitude with one application of strangler when Domination is up and running. Pass.

Whirling Hands - I didn’t have the slots to properly invest in all of my attacks, so this one got the boot, mostly because it had a hefty endurance cost and did not produce all that much damage.




Solo Play:
I solo’d on the lowest difficulty settings until I got SO’s and some of my higher-damage attacks. Once I got more attacks and fleshed them out with slots, I could solo on whatever setting I wanted to. I never pull when I solo - I hit power boost, and open with either Seeds or Carrion, and use Strangler to mop up any surprises, and go to town up close and personal with my melee attacks, and my blasts. I use domination whenever I want - the recharge time on my attacks is fast enough that I can get domination back for that “big fight at the end.“ Can’t remember the last time I died when solo, except for when that damn Spine-Scrapper Tsoo Boss somehow dogged my Seeds attack. [censored]! I paid him back though… heh.



Team Play:
Depends on the size of the team. If I have 2 teammates, or am duoing, I tend to play the same way I solo. If I team with 3 or more players, I get into crowd control mode - there are just to many mobs to be attacking as aggressively as I do when I solo, and my teammates out damage me anyway, so I hang in the background like a good squishy should and lock down as many as I can, trading off my crowd control powers. In a team I always, always look for the highest mob in the spawn - if it’s a Lt., I make sure he’s out of the picture for good with strangler. If there is a boss, same thing. The rest are fodder for my teammates, and between seeds, carrion, and strangler, I mitigate a lot of incoming damage for them.