Playing my Dominator Today, I Actually Felt Villainous

A lot of the time, when playing City of Villains, I don't feel exactly villainous. I don't know what it is but running my Electric Melee/Willpower Brute up to 50, I never really felt nefarious. It could have been that all these mobs were actively in my face, trying to beat me up so I just responded in kind, but for whatever reason I felt more like a Trickster or something than a true comic book villain.

Today, while playing my Mind Control/Energy Assault Dom during a Mayhem mission actually had me feeling pretty villainous. I was only level 8, to boot.

I zoned in to rob Atlas Bank and started making my way towards the bank, hovering above the heads of the cops, snickering as they were too dumb to notice me. Of course, upon entering the bank, Longbow is hot on my heels. I put up a valiant fight but, unfortunately, I didn't have Domination built so my Sleeps just weren't holding long enough for such a large group. I get locked in the slammer but quickly bust out and tear my way through the police station, ripping apart minds and melting bodies with burning blasts of plasma. My path of carnage takes me straight back to the bank where I mercilessly crush the vault door and grab the loot. As I make to leave, the hero shows up with a Longbow escort. While she starts to try to take me down with gouts of fire, three security guards appear down the hall and open fire with their semi automatic weapons.

This is the part that makes me feel completely villainous. I hit Domination and in a flash, I'm more powerful than they anticipated. I stare down the security officers and with a wave of my arm, they fall unconscious, helpless as I turn to the Longbow agent. He aims his assault rifle at me only to drop it, his hands reaching up for his head suddenly lost in searing mental pain. The hero visibly gulps and unleashes a torrent of fire that scorches the wall behind me. I turn to her and thrust my hands forward, my gauntlets unleashing a deluge of energy that sends her flying, injured, into the wall. Assaulting both her mind and her body, her emergency hospital teleporter activates and she's gone with a flash. Mopping up the fuzz is a quick job and just like that, I make my escape, burlap sack filled with sequential bills slung over my shoulder.

Something about just rendering foes helpless as they watch me kick the snot out of their friends taps into the raw, villainous side of me.


...And I loves it.

I recall one of the times I felt most villainous with a Dom was on a Mayhem team; a whole crowd of Longbow was coming down the corridor to the Vault. I hit Domination and Telekinesis, and pinned a bunch helplessly in midair just as the Corruptors on the team opened up with the AoEs. No escape! Fried in midair, they can see it coming and no way to fight back! Mwahahaha!

Oh, your story made me chuckle. I completely relate to this and it why I have made dom after dom after dom. They have a completely different feel than the others. I've made a brute, a MM and yes, I really do like the sonic/sonic corr I made, but man I completely LOVE playing Dominators. I can't believe I wasted almost a year before I discovered how awesome they are! Anyways, thanks for sharing and hope you have more fun with your Dom.

Dominator's, and Masterminds have been my favorite AT villain side. Both of them really capture the flavor of bad guy, but Brutes do have their charm as well. I do still enjoy occasionally playing the mindless romp that is "SMASH" I find the other two AT's more satisfying.

My primary MM is a Necro/Dark. There is just something fun about sending a horde of undead to devour heroes, and Paragon PD agents while hurling dark magics about. It's pretty active maintaining control over my minions at times, and /Dark always has something for me to do.

Though my current favorite villain thus far is my Mind/Nrg Dom. It's probably the combination of name, Dr. Doom-meets-Lex Luther costume, and the combination of powers that make him feel like a typical comic book arch-villain. Mind controlling devices, and power suits firing concussive energy blasts are pretty standard. There is also a certain evil feel to using Confuse on "heroes". You take those that stand for good, and force them against their will to turn on their peers. Pretty sinister stuff! It's good wholesome fun for the entire family!

I have a Devil themed character waiting in the wings. He'll either be a Fire/ Dom of some sort, but I want to know how Demon Summoning will play out first. I also have a Plant/Earth concept ready to go, and I've used mid's to plan out the powers. I'm ready for that one! Should be a really fun pairing despite /Earth being a little lackluster. So many alts, so little time!

I actually liked the old Domination for the feel that I was playing with my foes, just torturing them while I built up the power to let loose on them. Now, with the greater damage I don't play with them quite as long any more, but there's still that sense of, "Now I shall show you my TRUE power!!!" as I kick in Domination and that explosion goes off. Plus with a costume change I can even look tougher. (And now my attacks can even be brighter and more intense )

Gameplay wise it's very nice not to be forced to be weakened, since very often I actually need that edge, but I can switch to my weaker attacks or even Brawl if I want to just toy with a foe for a while, just to be cruel. And I may not actually do more damage in Domination any more, but psychologically it still feels like it. Maybe, as you said, it's the feeling that you're so overpowering your foes that they cannot even fight back against you any more.

You haven't just defeated them, you've demoralized them.