Hmm I have to disagree, I don't really die very often at all :/ (maybe stealth is helping with agro). Apart from stealth thats the only defence I have.
I agree witht he domination bit, it is really sucky when you die and it goes :P. I would love to see that changed =). I don't really mind it degrading with time but sur eI'd like it if it didn't.
In the earlier levels I did see plenty of dominators face planting (usually by takign the alpha strike). I don't really know how you play but if your dying alot I really think you should reconsider how you play a little :P. I'm not really dying anymore than I do with any other char unless I do soemthign stupid (like agroing everyhitng :P).
It depends a lot on the type of dominator, I think. Mind has some non-aggro options and a few other sets also have powers that can used as an opener without a huge risk to the dom. I've never played Fire control but I understand that it's heavier on damage, lighter on control so I can easily believe it gets aggro problems. I know my ice dom has to be careful in teams or I will faceplant in two seconds. Ice has lots and lots of soft control that doesn't stop the enemies from attacking completely, but does get them irritated enough to want to get rid of the poor fragile me. I can't open with Ice Slick unless I can place it out of line of sight, otherwise it's suicide and it ticks me off that a lot of PUGs expect me to, just because they have seen so many plant doms run in and open with Carrion Creepers and Seeds.
It's a bit like being an AoE heavy blaster. You can be devastating but you need the team to support you. If they can't or won't, you need to hold back a bit, focus more on your single target controls and stop trying to control the entire spawn.
I do wish we'll get some shields in the patron powersets. Mez protection would rock, too.
Hmm dont really have an issue with agro myself. Again I took stealth and hover tho to help lower agro and raise defence.
So I think the hp are probably ok, since doms are on par with corruptors, controllers, defenders etc.
I do think the domination power could use some looking at. At times it feels as though just toughing out the bits when there is no dominate to have that 2 mins of fun. It is after all the only AT power that is not always having some effect.
Eg fury is always there and rapidly has an effect, masterminds get supremacy again its just there and works on their pets, stalker get assassination (a little weak but lets them use their AS), blasters get defiance, dominators get a power that is useable for short bursts. Perhaps it would be more use if it went like fury. Just a random thought.
Lower end costs, give me lower end costs and I'm fixed.
I like how domination works, would be nice not losing it when you die, but conceptually dont see how that would work.
More hits? have the second highest in villains already right? No way should we completely overshadow the brutes (a little bit of overshadowing is fine)
I think end is my major concern, if I had more end I could deal with the agro I get
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
Yup, endurance is my only major gripe as well. Aggro thing is really a question of playstyle, it can be avoided and really there's no reason why the dom should take alpha. There are brutes and MM pets for that.
I don't pvp but I believe some love would be due there.
Sure the not loosing the Dom bar during a trip to the hospital concept is a little hard to swallow, but are you actually DOA, or does some flicker of your powers still run through your body ??
@Boy Wonder
Quantum Flash - Ill/Kin Controller
Leader of the Legion of Heroes
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Yup, endurance is my only major gripe as well. Aggro thing is really a question of playstyle, it can be avoided and really there's no reason why the dom should take alpha. There are brutes and MM pets for that.
I don't pvp but I believe some love would be due there.
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- I just about seem to do ok on the endurance front. With regards to the agro. Must be a fire thing I entered a mish with three Brutes, a Mastermind and a Corrupter BAM, I was eating dirt within 30 seconds.
@Boy Wonder
Quantum Flash - Ill/Kin Controller
Leader of the Legion of Heroes
I have always felt that for my dominator I am just to squshy for the amount of aggro I get, especially solo. Use any aoe power, and 2+ misses = dead dom. I think a 10% increase in base hp would address this problem.
The other issue is with bosses, again solo. My dominator is level 30 and still struggles with bosses, simply because I run out of endurance before the boss runs out of hp. My controller on the other hand has been able to mop the floor with just about anything since level 20.
The problem is clearly susainable damage per end.
My solution: increase base damage by 12.5% (before enhancments). Reduce the damage buff from domination from +75% to +50%.
I really should do something about this signature.
My solution: increase base damage by 12.5% (before enhancments). Reduce the damage buff from domination from +75% to +50%.
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Sounds like a good soloution to ONE of the Dominators problems 
@Boy Wonder
Quantum Flash - Ill/Kin Controller
Leader of the Legion of Heroes
Have to agree here that the Dominator really seems the least powerful AT out there. Not by much and some builds are pretty good but having played one Fire / Thorns 14 and one Fire / Rad controller who's now 18 the difference in survivablity is staggering. I know Dominator != Controller but really my Dom is the weakest char I've ever had at 14.
With Domination up its a different matter but the brief shining moment of uberness doesn't really make up for feeling puny most of the time.
I'd say raising normal damage and dropping Domination damage is a good start to addressing the problems. And/Or maybe giving them a chance to do a rare "Magnitude Critical" on a hold, for PvPers.
Have to say while domination damage is uber at <lvl 20 after that it didnt make that huge a difference, after all doubling rubbish damage still gives fairly rubbish damage.
Although have to say with end I dont really have any issues, even spamming I struggle to get down the end too much.
I can get my end down low but I don't really run out(unless I use TK). Got end red in everyhitng though.
I did the second respec with a group the other day and started getting tells off some of them sayign they thought I was brilliant and my holds were awsome (expecially when I hit that Domination button). Felt pretty nice to hear :P. I certainly don't think Dom is weak (thought it undoutable varies between power sets) In fact it is probably my favourite out of all the AT's. Tough choice between this and my corruptor though.
Oh, I enjoy my dominator, and can hold great. It's really just solo performance that is the issue, and it's pretty much down to damage per end and inability to survive an alpha strike from anything more than a single minion.
I really should do something about this signature.
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My solution: increase base damage by 12.5% (before enhancments). Reduce the damage buff from domination from +75% to +50%.
[/ QUOTE ]Isn't domination supposed to be 25-50% depending on power?
Can't see any of your suggestions happening. Domination build up seems about right in PvE, PvP it's a little trickier. Self heal - Medicine pool? Self rez - Awaken? You don't need a 40-50 Epic power for those. From what I've read the new powers from 40-50 will be available across the ATs, can't imagine it won't include a shield, I'm guessing though 
Someone else mentioned Mezz protection which again is already available from the leaping pool as Acrobatics. It will protect you against a single Hold in both PvE and PvP. It also gives you Knockback resistance. I've found CJ and Acrobatics a huge help.
As far as people's experience goes in missions - it depends entirely on the difficulty you set and the size of the team so it's pretty meaningless to compare experiences without saying what you're fighting, at what level difference etc.
The big issue for me is damage in the secondary - it's just not that great compared to the other villains.
Acrobatics is nice and all but it's a pity to be shoehorned into taking a certain travel pool because of something unrelated to travel. Don't get me wrong, I love Leaping pool, but I'm getting to the point where all my toons have it - inconveniently, it fits best the concept and playstyle for the one who don't really need it for mez protection, eg my scrapper. Even my Brute has to take it for knockback protection.
And anyway, that still leaves stuns, sleeps, confuses and fears, and stuns and sleeps drop Acrobatics.
Controllers can get mez protection in epic pools so I don't see why doms shouldn't.
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Acrobatics is nice and all but it's a pity to be shoehorned into taking a certain travel pool because of something unrelated to travel. Don't get me wrong, I love Leaping pool, but I'm getting to the point where all my toons have it - inconveniently, it fits best the concept and playstyle for the one who don't really need it for mez protection, eg my scrapper. Even my Brute has to take it for knockback protection.
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I was pointing out that mezz resistance is already here, yes it's annoying that you have to get 2 pre-requites to get it.
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And anyway, that still leaves stuns, sleeps, confuses and fears, and stuns and sleeps drop Acrobatics.
Controllers can get mez protection in epic pools so I don't see why doms shouldn't.
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Controllers get one power in one Ancillary pool that covers some of that ground - and they don't get resistance to Confuse or Fear (or Knockback) with it. It's also a click power - good for not being vunerable to toggle drop, bad since it has some down time.
Not that I wouldn't like greater mezz resist for Doms, (Acrobatics is pretty pathetic) but it's easy to think of the Hero Ancillaries as giving huge advantages.
Something I thought of last night was an enhance that increased the amount of "domination points" a power adds to the Dom bar.
Give some diveresty to slotting too.
You can understand why Dom damage is pegged where it is. I'm sure that someone compared them to Controllers and drew the conclusion that a weakened primary but more offensive secondary would be a good balance.
However, Controllers then got Containment and became uber killing machines which meant they could out - control and out - damage a Dom something I am sure that was never intended to be the case.
I agree with Filths point that a general upping of damage would be a good move as would increasing the duration and the buffs of "Domination". It would also be nice to see the "Domination" bar go up while you are actually "Dominant" reducing the down time between buffs.
Controllers also get things like Syphon Power and Disruption Arrow which can buff damage output far more than domination does (at least over time).
I still think that increasing base damage by reducing domination damage (making if more for control and end recovery) would be the best way forward (combined with blaster level hp).
I don't really need the domination bar to charge faster. It's usually the recharge time on Domination itself that is the problem.
I really should do something about this signature.
Your bob on Praf. Is there another AT that can do as much damage as a Ill/Kin Controller at level 4 with a combination of Siphon Power, Containment & Spectral Wounds?
I like the idea of enabling the Domination bar to recharge whilst you are "Dominating" as least you would be getting the buff on a more frequent basis.
I dont see any need to increase the damage, doms arent damage dealers. The domination bar might need work though.
My MA IDs:
Fiend Space: 211464
Yeah but Controllers arn't supposed to be damage dealers either...
Compare dominators and controllers:
Controllers hold better (apart from at best 5% of the time)
Controllers do more damage
Controllers can buff the team
Hit points are the same.
I really should do something about this signature.
I don't think controllers will consistently outdamage dominators in PvE when it comes to sustained DPS, with a possible exception of specific builds. However, this shouldn't even be a question. Dominators have an entire secondary that does very little else than damage.
I think defenders have the same problem in that the secondaries seem very insignificant and lacklustre. At least most defenders get some support from their primary in this respect. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'd like to remove the damage buff in Domination entirely and increase the base damage instead. That would solve the endurance issue too because IMO the entire problem lies in damage per endurance.
I also have some problem with the fact that our entire secondaries consist of powers that other powersets get much much earlier. It seems an awfully long time to wait until level 35 and 38 to get something like Greater Ice Sword or Bitter Ice Blast. And if I had one of the sets that gets a snipe I'd be very annoyed.
First off let me just say that I have a 40th lvl fire/fire Dom. Who in all honesty I would have given up, HAD I not liked the character concept that much. The journey was quite painful. I have the debt and damage badges to prove it. Even now fully slotted with SOs after two respecs I face plant whilst soloing. In teams of 4 or more you can guarantee at least a short trip to the hospital a couple of times during a session.
IMO In order to make the class more viable I would:
1/ Increase the HPs Most of the time I figure your up to you neck in Sh*t.
2/ Amend the Dom bar so that it doesnt decrease with inactivity or death This would help in both PvE and PvP. Hell there is nothing worse than heading to the hospital just before the magic button lights up.
3/ In the power pools (40 50) I would include a self heal, self rez, self shield. The shield and the heal are must haves.
As I have said these are my opinions, but for what it is worth make the road more worth while rather that a very painful slog.
@Boy Wonder
Quantum Flash - Ill/Kin Controller
Leader of the Legion of Heroes