-
Posts
1596 -
Joined
-
Quote:See the wiki for information on Confuse. If you only deal half the damage you still receive 80% of the XP. In the majority of cases, Confuse will increase your xp/time as Deacon said. There are, of course, exceptions and some advice to follow. Basically, be wary of confusing enemies long before the team is ready to engage them; if you do, follow up with Mass Hypnosis to prevent them from dealing too much damage to one another until the team awakes them.Oh, you can probably skip Mass Hypnosis, as it's a Sleep, and the Holds are a somewhat better thing to have. If you do that, then maybe Mass Confusion is the one to get in it's place, but the reason I don't generally is that it's an XP loss situation. A single Confuse can do wonders though, if you use it on a minion or LT when fightin' a boss or EB.
As for Mind all together, I consider skipping Levitate, Mesmerize, and Telekinesis. Doms generally have better options for damage and don't need to rely on the Dominate-Levitate-Dominate combo when in Domination. On a controller though it's a useful soft control and damage power. Mesmerize is very handy outside of Domination for its mag 4 sleep. If you build for perma-dom, however, that utility falls a bit to the wayside with your stronger magnitude mezzes. Telekinesis is a tricky power to get the hang of and used in the wrong manner can spread mobs out. -
Quote:That very well could have been my problem. I used Ice Sword Circle a lot and it does come with a pretty high end cost, the highest of any Assault AoE's, I believe.Icy has excellent single target damage and moderate AoE damage.
I found the following things about the combination.
Icy's attacks recharge quickly and have some of, if not the lowest, animation times of all Dom secondaries. This gives it the perception that it is an end hog when DPE is actually pretty good.
Quote:Mind's sweet spot is playing from range. With that said I skipped Ice Sword Circle because I rarely had occasion to use it, especially after I took the Fire APP. I also skipped Chilling Embrace because I spent virtually no time in melee range and simply couldn't justify it's end cost.
From Mind I found Levitate to be not especially useful. It's not a hard control and I didn't need the damage it provided with an assault secondary. Telekinesis is the same. I skipped it since I had access to both Total Domination and Dominate and an extra small AoE toggle hold that repelled the mobs was less than useful.
I shored up the AoE damage of the combination by slotting Terrify for damage and considering the afraid effect to be simply a bonus.
The biggest issue that I found was that confused mobs would frequently run and would do so at nearly the same time. Since Mind has no AoE Immob power I found that Slotting some Slow in Frost Breath helped to reduce this issue and gave me time to use single target controls on the fleeing spawn before it was out of range. Slow in frost breath also combines very well with the built in slow in Rain of Fire ensuring that the spawn is in the kill zone for the maximum amount of time possible.
Perma Dom on my Mind/Icy transformed the toon into a minor deity. Power Boost + any AoE control made playing the toon easy mode. I have about 3% defense total and rarely am defeated. The controls on this combination are just that potent.
When I purpled the toon out it got better still. I found that even with 3 slotted Stamina (2 level 50 end mod and a perf shifter proc) and Miracle + and Numina +/+ in Health, I could run low on endurance. The purples boosted recovery AND increased the speed that domination recharged. Now just about the time I have to think about slowing down a bit to conserve end, Domination pops and the blue bar is full again.
When I started down the incarnate path I went with Alpha Nerve Radial Paragon rather than Cardiac. The extra Hold and Confuse durations make what is an awesome toon even better. I can easily keep an AV confused through triangles all by myself. -
Quote:There is no -recharge in Mind Control.Well you have the -Recharge from Icy Assault and -Recharge from Mind Control for synergy.
I tried a Mind/Ice once right after the dominator revamps. I found it to be very end heavy, probably because Ice Assault is paying for its secondary effect. If the -recharge is what interests you, rather than a specific concept, I'd look to Psi Assault. It also has -recharge in its attack and a very nice endurance management tool in Drain Psyche. Though limiting yourself to mostly psi damage could be a pain at times. -
And yet they modify content to nerf these powers. Here's a recent example: the UG trial. You used to be able to cage the lichen that boosted the Lichen-Infested WW's regen. That was quickly changed.
-
Only for a moment. If you watch them closely, you'll see how you lose ownership of the vines when you cast a new set and they die moments later even if they were freshly spawned. I presume this is because the creeper patch (the actual caster of the vine pets) is replaced with your new creeper patch.
-
-
Quote:I'm not so sure that was a mistake with those zones and not more of a mistake with DFB. Praetoria was interesting, but sometimes quite difficult. When DFB offers easier levels in a fraction of a time, it's not surprising the masses have gravitated to the path of least resistance.Given the "one-and-done" nature of First Ward and Praetoria as a whole, I wonder if this is the way forward players really want? Choice is good, but something went wrong with goldside and especially First Ward, as you see very few people teaming there.
On topic though, I would love to see branching story lines... and if such a feature were added to AE... -
I like 2 recharge, 2 Nucleolus Exposure (acc/dam), the Impeded Swiftness proc, and the Positron proc.
-
I'll second that recommendation for Hasten. It's generally a good idea for controllers, but very important for Empathy. You'll be able to shave 20+ seconds off of AB and 30-40 seconds on your auras.
I also agree with the recommendations for Fort. Defense and recharge are the most important aspects to enhance in it. It gives the same defense as FF's or Ice Domination's shields with the often overlooked benefit of psi defense.
I would consider dropping Spirit Tree also, at least in the place of Hasten. -
Quote:In regards to range for Flash Freeze, first I'll point out that Spore Burst for whatever reason already has a 70 feet range, 10 feet better than FF, and both are still behind Mass Hypnosis at 80 feet. Even with the Sleep/Range enhancement FF is not quite reaching 70 feet, while Spore Burst can catch up to Mass Hypnosis with the same enhancement. Honestly, I'd normalize them all at 80 feet to match most of the TAoE holds and immobilizes. Slotting the Fortunata set is pretty standard practice in my book so I do consider slotting range enhancement in a sleep a bit odd.@ Muon_Neutrino
I'm not sure that I would consider adding range to be aberrant slotting. Range enhancers have existed since release, HO Centrioles have been around for a long time, and all of the sleep sets except Fortunata have a sleep/range enhancer in them. I would be willing to bet that the devs see slotting for range as a standard slotting style and not an aberrant one.
...
My last point and I'll leave you all to it after that. Flash Freeze and Ice Slick being base range 80 would solve most of the Alpha strike problems Ice faces solo. You'll have to pardon the analogy (and any snark either accidental or implied) but asking the devs to change the base range to 80 when you can just slot range enhancers is a bit like going to a restaurant to eat every meal when you have a whole pantry full of food at home. You have the means to do it for yourself but don't feel that you should have to.
Ice Slick, on the other hand, I'd simply leave alone. It shares its range with Earthquake, Volcanic Gasses, Sleet, and Static Field. At most, I think 70 feet would be a reasonable compromise.
But more importantly, let's look at the damage in Flash Freeze. That really just boggles my mind. Half the Interface powers will break the sleep thanks to it. It ruins alpha mitigation by delaying the sleep. What purpose, if any, did it ever serve? And if it has one, why is it absent from all other sleeps available to controllers and doms? -
-
Hopefully, it stays in beta for a bit. The changes to Wormhole are nice and Impact is a bonus, if a bit lackluster. However, they've managed to break Singularity's AI with the changes to its power activations and it's moving into melee much more. (A significant problem with its repel.) Dimension Shift remains just as, if not more, non-functional than the current version on live. The phase and intangible still aren't aligning as they should. Also, enemies with immobilize protection and resistance are able to move through DS with it hardly having any effect.
-
I'll echo the sentiment that Temporal Mending is a highly desirable power even just for yourself. My elec/time troller sits above 45% defense with powerboost and about 50% lethal/smashing defense and there are still times that I'll use Temporal Mending to patch up damage that has gotten through.
-
That damage definitely needs to come out of Flash Freeze. Before it simply made the power clunky. With Interface powers, it utterly breaks its intended purpose.
-
Quote:I hope I can clarify your understanding a little bit. I'm going to gloss over Phase because honestly there's a lot I don't know about it yet. It's used in a lot of different applications ingame (Dimension Shift, the Shadowed Paths, the new AP/Mercy mishes, and Praetoria contacts) and there are far more states than simply phased or unphased. Getting back to Dimension Shift, let's look at it in four parts:Wow that power has me totally confused now. I'm not sure if anyone knows exactly what it does, how it works and what the intangible enhancements do to it, if anything.
Part 1: Phase
DS hits the target with a Phase forcing them into the state Phased/NoPrime. This means they can be affected by other entities also in the Phased state and cannot affect entities in the unphased (Prime) state. This portion of the power affects almost every target from minions to GMs because there is no protection/resistance to Phased/NoPrime except in special cases where it is granted by a power.
Phase 2: Threat Reduction
Pretty simple explanation here. It reduces the threat level of the target if DS hits it. I believe this is intended to prevent/reduce pets from attacking DSed targets.
Part 3: Immobilize
DS should apply a mag 3 immobilize. However, unlike most immobilizes, the duration of this power is static; it cannot be enhanced or resisted. Because of the way the engine operates, the immobilize's magnitude must then be variable. That means slotting an Endoplasm Exposure will increase its magnitude (along with the magnitude of the Intangible). It also means level scaling will apply to the magnitude. For example, against a +3 the base magnitude is only 48% effective, resulting in a magnitude 1.44 mag immobilize, not enough to immobilize a +3 lieutenant.
Part 3: Intangibility
To my knowledge, and I could be wrong, the intangibility applies the translucent visuals and removes the collision box (making it possible to pass through the affected entity). It does not prevent the enemy from affecting you; that is handled by the Phase portion of DS. The Intangible is flagged in the same manner as the immobilize: enhanceable, resistable magnitude. Because it is only mag 3, this means, against an even level boss, the translucency and collision box removal are not applying unless you slot for Intangible enhancement. Unslotted you will see this effects working on a -1 boss.
Confusion is arising because almost all enemies are being Phased, but not all are having the Intangible (translucency, walk-through) applied. So here's some scenarios to help understand what's happening. (Forgot to mention this is without slotting Intangible enhancements.)
Code:Even level enemy (applying mag 3 intangible/immobilize) GM AV EB Boss LT. Min. Is it affected phased? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Threat reduced? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Is it affected by immobilize? No No No No Yes Yes Is it affected by Intangible*? No No No No Yes Yes +3 level enemy (Mag 3 intangible/immobilize resisted to 1.95 by level scaling) GM AV EB Boss LT. Min. Is it affected phased? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Threat reduced? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Is it affected by immobilize? No No No No No Yes Is it affected by Intangible*? No No No No No Yes +5 level enemy (Mag 3 intangible/immobilize resisted to .9 by level scaling) GM AV EB Boss LT. Min. Is it affected phased? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Threat reduced? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Is it affected by immobilize? No No No No No No Is it affected by Intangible*? No No No No No No -1 level enemy (Mag 4 intangible/immobilize due to level scaling) GM AV EB Boss LT. Min. Is it affected phased? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Threat reduced? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Is it affected by immobilize? No Yes**No Yes Yes Yes Is it affected by Intangible*? No Yes**No Yes Yes Yes *Intangible only in translucent/walk-through. **Only during periods while PTOD is down.
Quote:Combine that with immob resists and poor fx, I think we're at a point of just flushing this turd rather than wasting more time on making it work. Seriously, the amount of effort that's going in to make it functional when it's still just a situational power is wasted. That same time could be spent making something new that everyone would appreciate. At the very least, switch its position with the improved WH and let whoever wants to waste a pick on it take it at 26. -
Quote:Here's the problem: nearly everything is getting phased, but the visual effects don't always apply. I noted it in the feedback thread (tested against DE GMs in the northern part of PI and various bosses, lieutenants, and minions in PI). Codewalker noted it phasing Eochai.The scary thing to me is the mag. If only minions are phased and there's an accuracy, how useful is it?
Quote:Any higher rank mobs go through it. Anyone you miss goes through it. Anyone that has immobilize resist goes through it. It's not a lock down control power by any means.
Quote:Only difference now is you can shut it off when your teammates are chewing you a new one for even turning it on in the first place.
Quote:Thank god Wormhole is better.
At this point, the grav tweaks can be summarized as:
Impact encourages me to use my ST controls on a single target, increasing my damage but lowering my control ability. Dim Shift is still not useful as a control power outside of 'oh crap' and citing the problems above, I'm not sure even that is correct. Wormhole is greatly improved. Grav control still has anemic early level AoE control.
Overall improvement on a scale of 1-10, I'm giving it a 4. I still have to wait 26+ levels for AoE control. I'm not benefiting much from Impact. I'm not using DS. -
-
In actual testing I'm afraid to say it, but I think the new DS may actually be worse than the old one. Enemies flicker between phases fast enough that queuing up a power on an unphased mob in its field seems waste of time.
-
Quote:Haven't they milked work on the rig enough? Two non-combat pets (one only available via the Paragon lottery) and a transformation travel power.Of course - it's an extra power set with a lot of work behind it.
With how relatively short the list of MM primaries are, asking people to pay to unlock a powerset on an AT that they paid for (via a long term subscription or the license) seems like a bad idea. -
-
Quote:It doesn't seem to work with the temp power Ethereal Shift.I could get all funky with this and pick up Phase shift, and just phase out when I shift the baddies so I can hurt them.
This should work. I tested it out a few months ago. I phased out and was able to actually buff Phantom Army...it was wild.
However, I have noticed a few times that PA has been damaged by various things in iTrials. One of them, IIRC, was the explosion from Lambda crates. There may have been something in the UG that was capable of hitting them too. -
Until this point, my conclusions have been based on observation and experimentation alone. Which has, obviously, led me to some incorrect conclusions. Unfortunately, the only way to find the information I want is to peak behind the curtain. I only wish a more intrepid person had done so years ago and laid out these mechanics.
Quote:Trial Bosses and the Crates/Containers have a high-magnitude (9001) power that forces them into a specific phase, that's why DS/Black Hole don't work on them. -
Quote:I agree everyone should be heard. However, realistically, we can't expect everyone's expectations to be met.I don't think we should just dismiss PvPers here. They are part of the game and gravity control is one of the better pvp control primaries. I have done a lot of PvP in the past with my grav/ice and grav/elec doms and used them to good effect messing with the other team by WHing their buffbot into a kill squad, or WHing the drone hugging blaster. I've even used DS to escape scrappers, etc. Personally, I don't think the DS effect was long enough, consistent enough, usable enough to warrant basing my PvP strategy on it. I also don't think that it should hold up changes to the power to make it more useful in PvE. That said, those who use the power for PvP purposes should be heard and their concerns addressed, not ignored or shouted down.
Quote:If there's a way to preserve the click for PvP purposes, then great. If not, maybe there's some debuff mechanic that could be added to compensate for losing that utility. I'd like to see anyone exiting a dimension shift to be 'messed' up somehow. Most other patch type powers have some lingering debuff effect that lasts beyond the power's duration, so why can't something be added here for DS?
Arcana's idea about the -regen would be useful. That would work for PvE (targets can't just regen while phased) and would have PvP use. I can also see something along the lines of some -acc or -dam or -rch to simulate confusion when you reappear in 'reality'. -
Quote:Let's see stalker changes incoming. And changes to a control set in the works. Well, that leaves Blasters... so you're one for three. It may not occur in a time frame that you, or even I, would like it to, but changes are occurring. Changing developers results in changing design philosophies. That's something that should be fairly evident in the past year.i hate these "needs to be seen first" comments. unlike you, i've spent 90% of my game time in the last three years pvping. i know what works and what doesn't, possibly better than most developers.
when i13 dropped, i called every single flaw and ways to solve it. people like you said "let's wait". that's beyond naive. after a month and a half, changes don't get revisited in this game. remember the stalker changes? that was almost 2 years ago. it took two years of dysfunction to get them to look at the AT again. remember the last time a control set was tweaked? last time blaster sets were looked at?
Quote:you've got a really rosy way of looking at the developers. there is not enough man-power to "see how things work", unless you want to wait a year and half or more in between to get things changed, you better get them right the first time.
Quote:re: player and npc tags:
stop showing your lack of knowledge when it comes to game mechanics.
a location based aoe power has zero use in the current state of pvp. the only reason things like glue arrow work is because you are always assured to ground a single person per activation.
the player/npc flags won't solve anything when it comes to this.
you'll need a completely new way of targeting (NOT LOCATION BASED) in order to gain any functionality in PVP.
Quote:Naive.
Your team is still going to get raged when they have to wait for the phase period to be over and you'll still have a target cap of 16 or so enemies. -
Quote:That would entail people playing grav exclusively in PVP. Otherwise, all your grav PVPers are also PVEers, a subset if you will. At any rate, that's a pretty hyperbolic statement you make.i'd dare say that in it's current state, there are more pvpers using grav that pve-ers using grav :-\
Quote:i know it's cool to ask pvp-ers to be constructive, but i've already been constructive. i've suggested a targeted aoe mechanic centered around a target player in pvp, possibly using the new assassin strike conditionals which allow a power to operate in a completely different way based on a particular flag on the player.
Quote:you can't fault me for my attitude on this. i've been here since i7. i stayed past i13. i was there trying to show the devs that i13 was a bad idea (who wants to argue i was wrong and they were right now?).
Quote:adaptation = reroll, in this game. don't you guys see... this buff is a gimmick. there's no change here. it's still going to be useless 99.9% of the time in pve. now the thing is... it will make grav worthless in pvp. i was contemplating io'ing out my grav/ff a few weeks ago. i doubt i will now. with a single cage, i might as well be running a fire/ff without -kb on the hold and still keep my secondary cage working.
Quote:All of this works together to let you control with great finesse how much of a group you phase, as well as giving Gravity Control characters a tool for "Area of Effect Denial" - perfect for stopping everything coming through a door, or for dropping where that blaster is standing so that the enemies around him can't melee him.
Quote:As a Tar Patch specialist, I can see how Dimension Shift will be a great funneling power. You do that by agroing a spawn and making them run into your 'gathering power.'
For Tar Patch, a spread out group gets bunched up on the patch, however, with Tar Patch, they have the opportunity to actually get through it, or, shoot at you.
With the new Dimension Shift, foes running into it are stopped dead at the boundary and can't fire at you. All the other foes behind them will bunch up at the same spot. Set up a few traps such as other patches or pets nearby and when you release them (or DS drops), pow!
My Grav/Storm will have a blast superspeed with Hurricane on agroing foes and then hiding forcing them all to run into DS. Ice Patch underneath and drop DS. Fun.
As an aside, I wonder if DS will be able to defuse an alpha strike now. For example, drop the patch on some unaware foes. They turn and fire their initial volley, but it does nothing due to being phased. Then simple detoggle it after the big guns are spent.