New to Doms; what should I expect?

As the title indicated, I am wanting to try out this AT with my only experience being from when COV first came out and I tried a Dom -cant remember the sets- and was underwhelmed by the experience.

I PvE only and try to team 99% of the time. When time permits, I enjoy doing TFs. I small kind craft (franken-slot or cheap sets).

I have played the following sets on controllers: lvl 50 fire/, lvl 46 ice/, lvl 45 Ill/, lvl 36 Earth/, lvl 39 mind/ (didn't like the powers so delted), and a lv 12 elect/.

Have a concept for a Earth/Fire and I like the controls earth has.

Are Doms welcomed on TFs or given the pity spot usually reserved for trick arrow defenders (btw the first 50 was a trick defender )?

How does this class rank damage wise (blaster/scrapper damage or closer to trick arrow defender damage)?

What are some things I should expect from the AT or little known things that generally people don't know about?

Thanks in advance for you help/suggestions/stories.

I just solo'd the Ramiel arc with my BS/Regen scrapper and my Plant/Ice Dom. My Scrapper is loaded with everything but purples and has a 3+billion build with two full obliterations, 3 gambler uniques, miracle, numina's etc. 152 hp/sec base regen with DP and IH up, 28% S/L defense before parry. My plant/ice is packing pure crap. I'm not only not a permadom, I have only 1 slot in haste and it is a level 35 common IO, not even a level 50. My only protection is underslotted Maneuvers and Scorpion Shield, and the Gaussian's set I have no other protective defense bonuses. It was way easier with the dom. As in finished in half the time "way easier".

What you should expect is to compare your dom more to a blaster than a controller. Yes Doms have controls, but we aren't locked into Containment to deal damage, we have bada** attacks and lots of them. Doms play way more aggressive than most controllers, hence my comparison to a blaster. No need to setup then kill like a controller does, we can move right in and kill things, using controls just for defense or for fun. I will admit to enjoying holding things and watching the carrion creeper tear them up slowly.

I made my plant/ice two years ago when I wanted one of each AT. I now have 5 doms and I'm still thinking of one more I might make. Expect to get addicted.

To answer some of your questions, Doms are generally welcome on teams, I have had great success with most of mine.

Some tips:
Don't open with your AoE immobilize. You should already know that one from your controller experience though =).

Your best friend is recharge. Don't build like I do, go for permadom it doesn't require pruples and hardly even requires expensive sets. This gives you mezz protection, a full endurance bar every 90 seconds, and immense magnitude on all your primary powers. The tip part is that it isn't hard and you can do it well before level 50 if you want.

All the primaries have multiple long-recharge powers that are solid. For example, on my plant I can open with creepers, confuse, or the AoE hold. Between the three of them I always have 1 or 2 up. My fire/ has smoke, AoE hold, AoE stun. Mind/ well mind has too many options to list. Even when you're levelling, look at all your options. Ice/ is the one that has the hardest time with alphas. Still we have a ton of tricks, don't fall into a single routine.

Dominators are single target specialists, while you can't put out the kind of damage a Corruptor can for a team, you are well able to stand toe to toe with single foes and beat the stuffing out of them. The Dominator's combat style is similar to what the Blasters call the "Blapper". If you do not use your Dom's melee attacks (unless you are /Fire, which has some other options) you will not be able to deal your intended amount of damage.

Within their element, Dominators are firmly between Corruptors and Blasters in their damage output. (And they'll easily beat out most Defenders) You won't do as much damage as a Blaster, but you'll come awfully close. It's also important to note that Dominator Sniper attacks have a higher damage base, so they do as much damage as a Blaster Sniper even with the Dom's lower damage. (Although they take longer to recharge)

The rebalance of Dominators recently removed the damage bonus from Domination and gave it to Doms all the time. This really improved their damage capability dramatically. You are not huffing and puffing along as a gimped AT trying to "earn" Domination, and on a team your higher damage base means you do even MORE damage when buffed.

Domination still recharges your End bar, doubles the magnitude of your control powers, and protects you from mezzes yourself. You should really use Domination to take on a Boss, to keep his holds from effecting you, but you can use it any time you want during a mission as long as you make sure you'll have it when you really need it. I'm pretty sure you CAN use Domination to break a mez, so that's an option if it is up.

I'll add, on the topic of Dominator strategy, that while previous posters have mentioned that you don't have Containment, and thus trying to use immobilizes and such AoE mezzes do not help and in fact can hurt you, that in fact the strategy is the exact OPPOSITE of a Controller. A Controller wants to hit the target that he has held, in order to get the Containment bonus. For a Dominator, the target that is held is NOT hurting him, and so he does NOT want to hit him, he wants to hit the foes that are not held and are hitting him. For that reason, a Dom will often mez the strongest foe in the group, and then pick off the minions one by one until the Lt or Boss is left. He can then wipe the floor with that foe at his leisure.

Of course, on a team the Dominator can rely on this teammates to pick off minions and draw aggro, but then he would be singling out foes that are a hassle, like mezzers or healer/debuffers. The Dom is really the best at picking his targets and switching targets as the situation calls for it, holding some foes and attacking others. This takes an active hand on the Tab key, and can be a lot of fun.

A dominator? The archetype is extremely varied, and generally fits into the 'jack of all trades, master of burst lockdown' category.

The control/damage combo means that when things are going bad, you can watch your team's backs and prevent catastrophes. You still damage, you just have to be aware. When the team's great, you're better as the 'problem target control' with more time spent smacking/blasting/blowing things up. Many dom secondaries lack damage boosts, so those tend to be 'high but steady' damage, while some do have the burst potential. I love how the secondaries are such different meshings of AoE/Melee/range. A /earth dom plays like a squishy, manipulative scrapper. Others play like blappers, hitting stuff in the face then blasting only on occasion, while others are basically blasters that traded their big booms for holds.

The mez/damage combo also means this: don't waste mez on what you can kill. While your controls are great, your attacks take targets to watch off your list permanently. Kill fast, control what you can't.

On teams? A dominator who's on the top of their game is rare, so once you get a hold of things you'll be a valued commodity. That said, some power gamers that only invite controllers for their secondaries will dislike you for not being able to buff/debuff, and will think of you only as a 'pity spot filler.' This is due to a lack of understanding that control actually increases efficiency by debilitating all problem mob abilities for a time. Thankfully, most folks know just how useful the instant lockdown dominators bring is a good thing, and will be happy to have you.
But again, you are best flexible. don't let squishies die because you have target fixation with your attacks, and don't get stuck playing team babysitter with controls when you can eliminate with your attacks. Dominators target hop a LOT, and need to adjust to circumstances. Oh, and if it's safe, release your AoE's as often and on as many targets as possible. You have well near blaster damage. Thinning the crowd makes everyone's lives easy.

I hope that doesn't seem too harsh or daunting, it boils down to this: if something's being a threat, you have a lot of tools to give them a time out. You also have a big stick to kill them with. Doms use both abilities, and the combination of making everything helpless while smacking it into the dirt is a very satisfying and impressive thing.

for the record, as a first time dom, I wouldn't go with Gravity Control, its not a bad primary, but a late blooming one, that may cause some frustration until it matures (which is when you get Wormhole and Sing).

The best description I'd give to dom's, its sort of like playing a blapper with controls, which actually works pretty well, esp. at this point.

You don't have containment, so the immobilizes are a much lower priority than they would if your a controller. They do have some uses, but much more situational( keeping confused/disoriented foes from wondering, or keeping an EB/AV immobilized).

The main issue you might see, is the mez protection issue with EB/AV's, which blasters would face anyway. but note here, dom's with domination are much better able to stack magnitude than controllers can, and i want to say an grav/earth perma-dom, is perhaps the best build for stacking ST holds in the game( granted it would be a tough road until the build matures).