Fixing The Dominator


Animal_Mutha_EU

 

Posted

I'm speaking largly based on my experience of playing an Ice/Ice Dom and an Illusion/TA Contoller at about the same levels at the same time. For my dom at level 30 a single boss and a couple of minions is a major challenge solo, whereas my controller can plow through double boss spawns up to about 8 strong without breaking into a sweat. The controller doesn't just outdamage the dom, it does so by a MASSIVE amount.


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Posted

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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.

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My Fire / Rad creams my Fire / Thorns for damage. Both in their teens. Containment makes all the difference. I'd guess this is the same with Illusion, Gravity and Mind too.


 

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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.

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My Fire / Rad creams my Fire / Thorns for damage. Both in their teens. Containment makes all the difference. I'd guess this is the same with Illusion, Gravity and Mind too.

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Just to be awkward, my Grav/Energy Dom wipes the floor with any of my lower level 'trollers for damage - although I'm happy to admit that that may be the exception to the rule.


@Synaesthetix
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Posted

I've been reading the US forums, where dom damage vs troller damage is a recurring cause of flamewars. They have actually ran quite a few tests, and the doms generally come on top in them. Controllers can do wicked damage with containment, and I'm first to admit that my low level Ill/Kin is incredible with Blind + Spectral Wounds, but AoE damage and attack shains are usually where controllers come up short. And no controllers apart from /Kin and /Rad with Fire or Ill primary really even stand a chance.

But I do think controllers' damage is too close for comfort. Doms should outdamage them by a huge margin, considering all the other stuff controllers can do better.


 

Posted

My controller doesn't nead aoes and long attack chains with 4 pets running round attacking targets within the aoe of disruption arrow and acid arrow.

And doms don't do very well for aoe attacks anyway.

Ice/Dark Corruptors on the other hand can control almost as well, easily do more damage and have significant aoe capabilities.


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Posted

Eep, I'm not sure I want to get into this argument. I've seen it way too many times and I don't represent any of the extreme opinions anyway. I think doms could use a little something in the way of buffage.


 

Posted

The real crunch will be when hero villain crossover is enabled. What team would take a Dominator when they could have a Controller? For Dominators to survive in the long term they have to be sgnificantly more damaging than controllers, or Darwin will get them.

I'm not that worried though, I'm reasonably confident Dominators will get some love in issue 7.


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Posted

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The real crunch will be when hero villain crossover is enabled. What team would take a Dominator when they could have a Controller? For Dominators to survive in the long term they have to be sgnificantly more damaging than controllers, or Darwin will get them.

I'm not that worried though, I'm reasonably confident Dominators will get some love in issue 7.

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I agree - My only hope is that the new power pools, that incidentally will be the same for all Villainous archetypes. Will contain one set, which in some way increases our level of survivability, through self heals and self buffs. This applies not only at a character level but also on a class level. Because make no mistake once the Controllers hit town, our PRIMARY will seem like an acorn to their oaks. It is our SECONARY that we will need to fall back on, and the combination of control / damage that only we can offer. This in some small way may ensure our survivability.

With regards to general replies, the consensus seems to suggest that an increase in damage output would increase or survivability, though it would appear that that a few need endurance. Some are happy with the way Domination works, some believe it needs to be tweaked. I think this suggests to me is that there is a great deal of imbalance between the Dominator’s them selves. Let alone between one archetype and another. It seems that the set is all about Plant/Plant - no problems there, move along and nothing to see for the rest of us……………..


@Boy Wonder

Quantum Flash - Ill/Kin Controller
Leader of the Legion of Heroes

 

Posted

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I'm speaking largly based on my experience of playing an Ice/Ice Dom and an Illusion/TA Contoller at about the same levels at the same time. For my dom at level 30 a single boss and a couple of minions is a major challenge solo, whereas my controller can plow through double boss spawns up to about 8 strong without breaking into a sweat. The controller doesn't just outdamage the dom, it does so by a MASSIVE amount.

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If this is the case with builds comparisons i'd rather see controller damage toned down than dom damage pushed up, controllers get enough great powers as it is


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Posted

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I agree - My only hope is that the new power pools, that incidentally will be the same for all Villainous archetypes. Will contain one set, which in some way increases our level of survivability, through self heals and self buffs.


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So...like a controller then? Not really bothered about this, the medicine pool has a self heal and it's good.

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This applies not only at a character level but also on a class level. Because make no mistake once the Controllers hit town, our PRIMARY will seem like an acorn to their oaks.


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Except we have Domination, which makes our control abilities much more powerful than any Controller when activated.

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It is our SECONARY that we will need to fall back on, and the combination of control / damage that only we can offer. This in some small way may ensure our survivability.


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It's the Dominator's control ability that is on offer, no (other) villain gives a toss about a Dominator's damage ability.

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It seems that the set is all about Plant/Plant - no problems there, move along and nothing to see for the rest of us……………..

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I think you mean Plant/Thorns. Thorn assault is pretty awkard to use, it's slow and the AoE & Cone attacks are weak. It does has a couple of late strong attacks post-34. In my limited experience it's outclassed by Energy and Fire for usability & damage. Plant is interesting, but, it's out-controlled by Ice and Mind and out-damaged by Fire.


 

Posted

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The real crunch will be when hero villain crossover is enabled. What team would take a Dominator when they could have a Controller?


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Depends on the team, Domination makes a significant difference to your offensive ability. If buff/debuff/heal isn't needed I would go with a Dominator.

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I'm not that worried though, I'm reasonably confident Dominators will get some love in issue 7.

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On what basis?


 

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On what basis?


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Pillow-talk. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.


 

Posted

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The real crunch will be when hero villain crossover is enabled. What team would take a Dominator when they could have a Controller?


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Depends on the team, Domination makes a significant difference to your offensive ability. If buff/debuff/heal isn't needed I would go with a Dominator.

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I'm not that worried though, I'm reasonably confident Dominators will get some love in issue 7.

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On what basis?

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Having teamed with a fair few controllers, and a fair few dominators controllers tend to actually add more to your offensive ability. Containment makes most (not all) builds into damage machines. I dont think many dominators can compete with that. I think when cross over comes the rarity of dominators will increase. I dont much care, I like being the minority, and I dont tend to play the most powerful powersets there are, I play for fun. I think dominators are more fun than controls, but on a usefulness to team scale, lose out on damage, lose out on control (90% of the time) and lose out on support


"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!"

 

Posted

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Having teamed with a fair few controllers, and a fair few dominators controllers tend to actually add more to your offensive ability. Containment makes most (not all) builds into damage machines. I dont think many dominators can compete with that.

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I wasn't clear - when I say "offensive" I do mean control and not (necessarily) damage. A Dominator has potentially more powerful control powers than a Controller. Controls are directly offensive, unlike buffs or even debuffs which are defensive. This is the whole point of Domination and this is what makes Dominators better at control than the 'care-bear' Controllers.


 

Posted

Trouble is the dominators power comes in 90 second bursts, where as over time the controller has a better average. The AoE holds are an example, a controller cant stack them anymore, a dominator is lucky to get a use once every other group.


"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!"

 

Posted

Yeah, with Domination and Power Boost I think my AoE hold should* last longer than controllers' before the nerfs AND it can hold bosses.

I think if you compare the ATs, Domination makes easily up for the controllers' longer hold durations. However, the assault secondary and damage buff in domination are no match to the support secondary and containment that controllers have.

Disclaimer: I never had a controller before the nerfing of AoE holds so I'm not entirely sure about this, but it does last impressively long. And holds bosses!


 

Posted

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I wasn't clear - when I say "offensive" I do mean control and not (necessarily) damage. A Dominator has potentially more powerful control powers than a Controller. Controls are directly offensive, unlike buffs or even debuffs which are defensive. This is the whole point of Domination and this is what makes Dominators better at control than the 'care-bear' Controllers.

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Domination is only up a small amount of the time. The rest of the time a Dominators "more powerful controls" aren't. They're much weaker than a Controllers (60% of a controllers duration afaik). Most of the time Controllers are much better at control.

However I am of the opinion than Doms should be better in certain area, hence the "Mag criticals" I suggested. Basically the single target holds should be given a chance to occasionally do double mag holds when not in Domination mode, about as often as a Scrapper can Crit.

Also I'd say Controls cannot be classified as simply offensive or defensive. It depends on application. If you use it to focus and lock down a boss its offensive. However using an AOE to lock down the group behind the main melee who are shredding you with ranged attacks could be classified defensive play. Its a tough one to call (and probably a pointless one to argue really, I shouldn't have brought it up )


 

Posted

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Except we have Domination, which makes our control abilities much more powerful than any Controller when activated.


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Much? I don't think so, slightly perhaps, and only occasionaly available.


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If buff/debuff/heal isn't needed I would go with a Dominator.

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Yes Heal is sometimes not needed, but when is a debuff (such as -res) ever not helpful?

Why have someone who can do a little damge instead of someone who can make the whole team do a whole lot more damage?


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Posted

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Yeah, with Domination and Power Boost I think my AoE hold should* last longer than controllers' before the nerfs AND it can hold bosses.


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On this. Another sign the Doms secondaries need looking at is how attractive Ice & NRG are compared to the others.

I reckon if I'd picked either of those two instead of thorns I might be less inclined to think Doms are weak.

Hmmm. A Grav / Energy dominator might make me change my tune on Doms.


 

Posted

It's not that bad, the durations are 80% of the controllers'


 

Posted

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Trouble is the dominators power comes in 90 second bursts, where as over time the controller has a better average. The AoE holds are an example, a controller cant stack them anymore, a dominator is lucky to get a use once every other group.

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True, and this is what makes the Dominator the more powerful at control - a Controller does better 'on average' but the Dominator can be always at the point of exploding into something which doubles their control power and being much more effective at a crucial moment. It seems to me this works very well.

The problem with the Dominator for me is that there's just something wrong with the secondary and I'm not even sure it's a question of upping the damage on what's already there. It could be I don't have enough experience with more of the sets other than Thorn which is pretty awkard to use and has lacklustre AoE/Cone attacks.

Some Corruptors seem to have far worse Endurance problems than Dominators so I'm not sure Endurance is the issue.


 

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Yeah, with Domination and Power Boost I think my AoE hold should* last longer than controllers' before the nerfs AND it can hold bosses.


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On this. Another sign the Doms secondaries need looking at is how attractive Ice & NRG are compared to the others.

I reckon if I'd picked either of those two instead of thorns I might be less inclined to think Doms are weak.

Hmmm. A Grav / Energy dominator might make me change my tune on Doms.

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I don't really agree with this. I think Ice secondary is relatively weak on damage and strong on control, with Energy you might have a case and the entire Psi seems weak with the exception of the best final power out of them all. But with Aim you should be able to drop accuracies from your AoE hold, giving you two more slots you can use for recharge and duration. And a damage boost as well.


 

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Except we have Domination, which makes our control abilities much more powerful than any Controller when activated.


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Much? I don't think so, slightly perhaps, and only occasionaly available.

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Twice as powerful, which means a Mag18 Hold in a few seconds using standard single target/AoE Hold.


 

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If buff/debuff/heal isn't needed I would go with a Dominator.

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Yes Heal is sometimes not needed, but when is a debuff (such as -res) ever not helpful?

Why have someone who can do a little damge instead of someone who can make the whole team do a whole lot more damage?

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Yes... I think you're talking about Corruptors

edit: grr spelling.