City of Data can sometimes be inaccurate. That being said though what lvl of enemies are you talking about squaring off against? Also, while we'd likely need a number cruncher in here to hash out numeric details, I would imagine that the intang might have different durations for enemy classes. Not sure though.
If it were against something I expected would resist the effect, I wouldn't be as surprised, but this is true for everything I've used this on the Luddites, the PPD, Arachnos, the Goldbrickers, the Vahzilok and probably something else besides. All of them seem to end early. What's more, minions, lieutenants and bosses come out of the Intangible period at the same time. It seems like the period is short for everyone, and by the same amount.
Also, the power says "+3 Intangible, Unknown for 30s PvE only" (in City of Data), which led me to believe it wouldn't "shift" bosses. And indeed, using the power leaves bosses without the glowing Dimension Shift effect, yet shooting at them produces the "Unaffected" message and nothing I do to them has any effect, just as nothing they do to me has any effect. They are, in practice, Intangible, only they don't have the effect. And how does a mag 3 status effect affect a boss who should have mag 4 protection to these things?
City of Data also lists "+3 Immobilize for 30s PvE only." Which would be great, if it actually worked, but I've not seen it be the case. It's usually mayhem and pandemonium when I resort to Dimension shift, and maybe what I'm seeing are immobilize-resistant enemies, such as bosses or the Vahzilok zombies, but enemies I "shift" are most decidedly still running around willy-nilly.
And then there's "ThreatLevel -1 for 8s If target is a player," which displays in-game as "-100.00% threat level for 30.00s on target." Wouldn't that imply that enemies would stop shooting at me and start shooting at someone else, despite their shots being ineffective? Because this isn't the case. Not only are shifted enemies shooting at me the entire time they're out of phase (and doing nothing), but as soon as they return to normal space, I'm facing full-spawn aggro and an a deadly alpha strike. And that's on a team with two other people who aren't standing by idle.
Can someone please explain what I'm missing? I mean, I like the power, but at this point, the numbers I'm seeing for it don't appear to have anything to do with the real world.
*edit*
Proof positive. Just to make sure I'm not guessing, I timed my intangibility duration. I hit a single even con Goldbrickers Rocket Man (level 14, if it matters) and timed it on a stopwatch. I was a little slow on the stop and probably reacted a second too late to stop it, but it still stopped at 18.51 seconds. Give or take half a second to account for my reaction time, I'd call that 18 seconds. That's 18 seconds in practice out of 30 seconds on paper. Why? A single even con minion shouldn't be resisting anything inherently, and I don't believe the Goldbrickers resist intangibility effects specifically.
For what it's worth, the Goldbricker DID appear to be immobilized, but he kept shooting at me ALL the way through. Granted, this being a -threat effect, rather than a placate effect, and me being alone for this test, it could simply be a function of having no-one else to shoot at.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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I don't think level matters - I tried Dimension Shift on some -14 critters and it still lasted 30 seconds (+/- 1 second due to server lag).
Deamus the Fallen - 50 DM/EA Brute - Lib
Dragos Bahtiam - 50 Fire/Ice Blaster - Lib
/facepalm - Apply Directly to the Forehead!
Formally Dragos_Bahtiam - Abbreviate to DSL - Warning, may contain sarcasm
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Originally Posted by Shubbie
Im very good at taking a problem and making it worse.
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Could the Dominator changes have messed with that? Did you try that before or after I15?
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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I suspect I15 has broken it.
I tried it out briefly in I15 Beta and discovered that the visual FX had disappeared. According to patch notes, the visual effects were reinstated. I didn't look at it any closer at the time, but something certainly did change with it.
In pvp only the intangible when enhanced lasted roughly 8 seconds . Since issue 15 release the period has decreased to 3 seconds and milliseconds change. In addition a player used to be able to attack a dimmed player if the attacking player used a phase power. This is no longer the case. I don't know if the change in the power is an oversite or intentional and simply not included in patch notes.
I haven't been online playing Pve to offer any data on ds since issue 15. Sorry. The above findings were all garnered in arena on test prior to the issues release to live.
This is incredibly odd. Something caught my eye about Dimension Shift a while ago - it seemed to be lasting a LOT longer - so I retested it. Same character, only now it was level 16. Against two white con minions, my stop watch measured the power's duration to 32.11 seconds. I'd call that 30 seconds plus server lag and my own reaction time.
I have no idea what changed between level 14 and level 16, but my Dimension Shift is still unenhanced for duration, and I'm positive of the results I posted earlier today. This time, however, it really FEELS like 30 seconds, and it feels like A LOT, which is what it should be.
And I can't figure out why.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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[ QUOTE ]
This is incredibly odd. Something caught my eye about Dimension Shift a while ago - it seemed to be lasting a LOT longer - so I retested it. Same character, only now it was level 16. Against two white con minions, my stop watch measured the power's duration to 32.11 seconds. I'd call that 30 seconds plus server lag and my own reaction time.
I have no idea what changed between level 14 and level 16, but my Dimension Shift is still unenhanced for duration, and I'm positive of the results I posted earlier today. This time, however, it really FEELS like 30 seconds, and it feels like A LOT, which is what it should be.
And I can't figure out why.
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This could be far off in left field, but do you have any mez duration set bonuses? Is it possible one of them is affecting the phase of DS? Yes I know they shouldn't..but it may be a bug.
My level 50 Dominators:
Madame Mindbender 50 Mind/Energy
Fly Agaric 50 Plant/Thorn
Nate Nitro 50 Fire/Psi
Mez and kb are already wonkie atm.. go read some of the posts in pvp forums. River may be onto something.
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This could be far off in left field, but do you have any mez duration set bonuses? Is it possible one of them is affecting the phase of DS? Yes I know they shouldn't..but it may be a bug.
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No, no set bonuses. Nothing but DOs. The only thing I slotted between 14 and 16 was two DO endurance reducers and an accuracy enhancement in Teleport Foe. None of that should have affected the intangibility duration of a power I didn't touch.
Had I not timed the effect, I could swear I just have poor perception of time, but I timed it on the same stop watch, and it was 18 seconds at level 14 and 30 seconds at level 16. Is there some kind of intangibility duration AT modifier that's coming into play as I near level 20? That would make sense, as AT modifiers start out as all roughly the same between all ATs and don't settle into their final values until level 20, but even then, shouldn't the duration real nubers have reflected what the modifier dictated? The value said 30 seconds, but it was NOT 30 seconds. It wasn't, and now it is...
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Uh Intangibility enhancements boost mag last I checked, not duration.
Deamus the Fallen - 50 DM/EA Brute - Lib
Dragos Bahtiam - 50 Fire/Ice Blaster - Lib
/facepalm - Apply Directly to the Forehead!
Formally Dragos_Bahtiam - Abbreviate to DSL - Warning, may contain sarcasm
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Originally Posted by Shubbie
Im very good at taking a problem and making it worse.
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Good to know! I always thought it was duration and always wondered what it was good for. On the other hand, though - if Intangibility enhancements enhance Intangibility magnitude and Dimension Shift already affects bosses (it doesn't play its effect on bosses, but it most certainly affects them), what's the point in slotting those in it?
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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[ QUOTE ]
Good to know! I always thought it was duration and always wondered what it was good for. On the other hand, though - if Intangibility enhancements enhance Intangibility magnitude and Dimension Shift already affects bosses (it doesn't play its effect on bosses, but it most certainly affects them), what's the point in slotting those in it?
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EBs. Maybe some AVs. They might be able to shrug off the effect withough slotting its magnitude up.
It's ironic, I think, that the powers that could use such enhancement the most (and be the most useful by enhancing them), are the two powers that CAN'T slot Intangibility. The single-target versions got the shaft on that...
-This Space Intentionally Left Blank.-
Wait, so the single-target intangible cages can't be slotted for magnitude? That doesn't make sense. Those are pretty much the only things that would be worth slotting for magnitude as you'd want to cage single, big things with them.
Why is there even a magnitude enhancement in the first place, when these powers catch everything short of an EB anyway? Why not duration, like every other status effect? Or, the flip the question around, why is Intangibility the only effect with an enhancement-boostable magnitude?
Still, even with all of the above, Dimension Shift has proven useful to me plenty of times. It has saved my life, it has divided spawns for me and it has served to let me withdraw from a fight safely. Which is really cool 
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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AFAIK, Intangibility ad KB are the only two effects that can get their MAG boosted. Luckily Grav/ has both!
To answer you questions to the best of my abilty though I'll say this.
If you take the concept of Magnitude and how it scales down against a greater foe... and combine it with Dimension Shift's "Oh Snap!!" nature of use, you start to get the picture that this power is desgned to do it's job really, really well. The toughest encounters in the game don't only involve AVs/Heroes/EBs... but such foes at +2, +3, and +4 levels. A Mag 3 Intange won't save anything in some of these circumstances. On the other hand., keeping the mag lower intentionally will prove as convinient mitigation when all focus should be on the AV/Hero/EB. I think having the choice is pretty sweet.
Simply put. The chances of needing to use this power increase as the relative magnitude of this power decreases. Slot accordingly when the time calls for it.
"Situational power? Sure. Although in a sense... all powers are situational. It's just that some situations occur more than others." Understand the situation needed in order for the power to be most effective... and make that situation happen.
I've mentioned this before, but I'll put it up here, too.
While I could see alternatives that I think would be more useful than the current form of DS, it really isn't bad as it is. It just needs a better visual effect, to make the shifted enemies stand out better.
Because personally? As someone who has teamed with a Grav/ controller often... I hate wasting my attacks on a shifted foe far more than waiting 30 seconds for him to be a viable target again. And I still can not see a noticable effect from the shift, at all.
-This Space Intentionally Left Blank.-
A better effect is a good call, indeed. Dimension Shift makes foes slightly transparent and has a stronger, thicker visual effect than other powers. However, it's also from the same theme as other Gravity powers, so it blends in at times, and picking out the enemies you can fight, while possible, takes time and effort. I suspect changing the colour of the effect in some way, just so it's not "Like Gravity Distortion, only brighter."
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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[ QUOTE ]
Wait, so the single-target intangible cages can't be slotted for magnitude? That doesn't make sense. Those are pretty much the only things that would be worth slotting for magnitude as you'd want to cage single, big things with them.
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Mids says I can enhance it with an Acc/Mez S/HO in the cage. No idea if this actually works though.
Deamus the Fallen - 50 DM/EA Brute - Lib
Dragos Bahtiam - 50 Fire/Ice Blaster - Lib
/facepalm - Apply Directly to the Forehead!
Formally Dragos_Bahtiam - Abbreviate to DSL - Warning, may contain sarcasm
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Originally Posted by Shubbie
Im very good at taking a problem and making it worse.
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Here's a quick question about Dimension Shift from Gravity Control. I've looked at its real numbers and I've looked at Red Tomax's City of Data, and everywhere it says that the power makes targets intangible for 30 seconds. Every time I've used it, however (unslotted, all it has is an accuracy enhancement in it), I could swear it doesn't last more than 10 seconds, if that. About enough to launch Power Bolt, Power Push and Propel.
So... What gives? Is something causing my duration to be shorter? Does everyone resist intangible effects? Is my perception of time REALLY screwed-up?
I like the power. It's saved my bacon plenty of times, and I've saved my teams with it. But 30 seconds ought to be enough to do a LOT more fire off a few attacks and then suffer from overwhelming aggro.