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However, the ability to intermittenly sleep an AV gives roughly the same mitigation as a fear. Also in multi-AV scenarios a mind controller can often take a single AV out of the fight while the team focuses on another.


This varies from build to build. Generally, I find the single target attack from APPs mostly lackluster and, until recently, found that the other 4 powers in most APPs were more worthwhile for utility or AoE damage. Since the change to open APPs at 35 there are some builds that I would recommend it on.

However, typed defenses are fairly common, especially smashing and lethal which are present in Earth, Grav, and Plant. More importantly, Mind can circumvent many enemies god-mode powers, Marauder being a prominent example.

As you've noted we can't consider a control set in a vacuum. Drawing conclusions from empathy alone would be unfair. That said, empathy is possibly the least useful of secondaries to pair with Mind. Even other relatively low damage control sets like Earth and Ice benefit from being able to buff their pets or, as is the case with Ice, offset heavy endurance costs. However, Mind can leverage other secondaries to greater affect than other sets as well. For instance, I find my Mind/kin a stronger performer than my long retired ice/kin; Mind's aggro free controls simply made it easier to leverage Fulcrum shift.


As another player of mind with over 200 levels logged (a mind/rad, a mind/kin, a mind/emp, and a mind/nrg dom), I'd say the suggestion that Mind deals poor AoE is a stretch. It certainly isn't top tier, but it is middling and it requires more attention to when you have established containment. Mass Hypnosis is a staple for establishing containment and any secondary that will offer additional controls will be a boon in this as well. As for it's single target options, I have found Confuse not only viable but highly useful all the way to 50 and in the Incarnate trials to turn away the very hard hitting enemies quickly.

In speaking of mind's unique advantages, I would highlight the aggroless control. Mass Hypnosis, Mass Confusion, and Confuse allow a Mind controller to more safely use their other controls by neutralizing most of the mob before the fight begins. Even Mass Hypnosis followed by Terrify reduces a significant portion of the alpha strike.

Agreed. In the Lambda trial, my mind controllers often play clean up by sleeping the pursuing mobs in the hallways. Most people won't realize what the contribution you're making, but some squishies may wonder why they're having an easier time navigating those hallways.

This is a good point. Though I'd say even common tropes aren't bad. They're common, after all, because they work. The thing is that it has to make sense within the story. If these characters were more fully formed and shown to have a stronger connection and if there were reason that Miss Liberty's death was necessary to the villain's plan (wouldn't the fact that she was in danger spur them to action anyway?), then the trope could have worked. It doesn't fail merely because it's a common trope, but because it was executed with set pieces rather than fleshed out characters.

Just (potentially) a case of misandry then?

At least these convenience items will last your character's life time, not like crappy temps or inspirations.

I can't say I've ever been impressed by scrapper antics. Sure, they may be able to run off and solo some mobs or take out an AV, but when the rest of the team is falling over it'd be more impressive if they could keep everyone alive.

Personally, I've enjoyed my earth/fire/ice dom. It's a fun theme with impressive lock down, damage, and debuffs; great alone or on a team.

If the enemy deals 20% of the damage to themselves, the team will gain better than 90% of the experience. Even if they deal 50%, the team will gain 80% of the experience. In a team setting, those losses are nearly unnoticeable. When solo confuse generally reduces the time and endurance you expend on experienced gain so you'll gain more experience over time. Unfortunately, it's a difficult concept to quickly explain to a team. Here's the wiki entry if you want to learn more.

I like the vigilante alignment power for this as well, Fear Incarnate. It's only mag 2 and has a small to hit debuff, but at least you don't have to spend a power pick on it. The rogue alignment power is similar but with a confuse. The added benefit is how fitting it is for a roguish character to cross sides as they see fit.

Enough people have touched on how little debt actually does so I'll just recommend some tactics. Start with Mass Hypnosis or confusing minions/lieutenants and focus on the boss using the attack chain of Dominate> Lift/Mesmerize >Dominate. A regular boss will have virtually no opportunity to retaliate from this. It may even benefit you to confuse the boss and quickly take out the surrounding mobs. Of course, this all relies on you hitting so slot for some accuracy.

Like others have said slot some accuracy. I'll also point out on of the strengths of Mind Control here. There are many kinds of defense in this game, but there are basically two varieties: typed (fire, psi, lethal, etc.) and positional (AoE, ranged, and melee). Most attacks have at least two vectors for defense a type and a position. For example, Fire Sword would be fire/melee. Whenever you attack the higher defense number for the mob is used to defend against the attack. Mind Control's attacks have only one type, psi, so they will bypass positional defenses and psi itself is rarely defended against (though occasionally highly resisted). These means Mind Control often has a very good chance to hit, provided you have slotted some accuracy.

Well, at the moment, the Halloween event has trapped us in perpetual night. ALL HAIL THE NEW LUNAR REPUBLIC!

Tanks aren't always necessary in this game. Controllers are one of the reasons for that. There's no need to redirect damage when you can simply prevent it. Buffs and debuffs also can transform even a fragile blaster into an alpha soaker.

However, if you're generally dissatisfied with large groups I suggest running in smaller groups 3-5 people with your difficulty at +2/x8. You'll start to feel individual contributions and mistakes more at that setting.


Ahhh, confuse and lost XP. This is an old issue, one that has been put to rest time and time again. Essentially, confuse speeds up the gain of XP over time though you may lose some from individual enemies. The key here is that even with the enemy dealing 50% of the damage you receive 80% of the experience. That's a fair trade-off, in my opinion, for the safety and endurance savings that confuse brings.

See my previous assessment. It seems the biggest issue here is your lack of accuracy.

Mind is actually a very good soloer at early levels. Later on it takes a backseat when mez resistant AV's arise. In a grander scope, support classes are very powerful in this game and some of the top AV and Giant Monster soloers are controllers.

What is your secondary? Some are more solo friendly than others and generally buff/debuffs outweigh heals. For a solo mind controller, I would focus on a secondary that favors debuffs since you will have neither pets nor allies to buff.

Disruption Field, from Sonic Resonance, is an ally based toggle that debuffs but does not alert enemies. There is also World of Confusion, a PBAoE toggle, that damages enemies and does not alert them. Perhaps, it's the combination of mez and debuff somewhere in the code. Though with that as the case, it amazes me that mez/damage can still work.

Well, those are just some basic classes. That's not even all of them. You can also dual and triple (sometimes even quadruple) class. For example, you could be a rogue/cleric. And then their are prestige classes. Video games tend to be a little rigid with what you can do, but actual pen and paper gaming gives you tons of freedom (depending on the GM).

Ah, see... and this is how it goes. I didn't clearly state that the nice league leader was not this person. It was not, however, it left you open to assume that is what I meant. I play on Virtue and we had an ambitious and kind person leading a league two nights ago, but he didn't grasp why the enemies were spawning in a variety of ranges. It took the better part of 15 minutes after explaining for him to get 3 teams sorted so we were the same level or +/- 1. And, no, this leader doesn't seem overly nice.

Text communication is slow and clunky compared to speech. It's even worse when you're trying to balance it with playing your character and organizing a league. Miscommunications are going to happen. I'd much rather assume that than believe everyone is a jerk.

Having seen a very nice person attempt to lead a ToT league and struggle with sorting teams, I'm willing to give the league leader the benefit of the doubt in that they either did not realize that Doc was not 50 or did not understand the conning system. However, yes, the leader too was a bit dismissive. Even now there are people ignorant to how forming and organizing leagues functions. Even Doc himself did not know that you could promote within the team if it was unlocked.

How's the old saying go, "Never attribute to maliciousness what can be explained by ignorance", or something to that effect?

See, right here? This is where it went off track. Your dismissive "lol" should have been the simple explanation that with you as leader your team was conning far below the enemy, as a result they were unable to hit or damage the mobs. It's a very simple explanation.

Might I ask why you "lol"ed? Did you expect that the lead knew your level and/or the mechanics of the conning system?

I agree. Both the sewer trial and the Halloween trial are so straight forward that there's no need to form a team before rolling in. Just about any group will be able to complete them. iTrials I can understand some concern for balance, having buffs/debuffs, and level shifts.

I completely agree with this sentiment. The colors available on some of these pieces is extremely limited and it's stifling to how we can use the piece.

True, however, there are more pieces available from shoulders that are locked out if you choose to use the spiked collar or neck chain. Additionally, several of the items in Detail 2 clip or completely cover the area those pieces occupy. The best option, of course, would be to leave them there as Legacy options and add a copy in the more fitting spot.

Agreed. The ascot is more of a neck piece and should be under Head > Detail 2. While they're at it, Spiked Collar and Neck Chains should probably be moved there as well. They're currently under shoulders.

Perhaps if the darned thing worked people would use it. Have the ever fixed it to allow you to join (not just rejoin) an event in progress? Or to set our own minimum threshold for launching the trial as many people don't want to deal with the higher risk of failure?

Nice work. I don't recognize that chest detail. What is it?