LOL! Wow, looking back in time can be funny...

I just skimmed through the first couple of pages of the Dominator Archetype Revamp-Feedback thread and man...i gotta say it's actually kinda funny reading that stuff. It's hilarious (to me anyway) to see that when they made the changes back then (removed +damage from domination, increased base dom damage, and the various changes to attacks...most hated being the change to PSW), there were a good number of people crying gloom and doom and even a couple of posts saying that dommy's were dead after this. Hell...a couple of people were gonna hang up their Dominator hats and go elsewhere, some without even TESTING changes.


Now...nearly 2 years later, we commonly read posts in the Dominator forum about how Dominators are Beasts, the amounts of carnage they leave in their wake, the safety in which they leave said carnage, and even soloing endgame TF/SF's. Dominator fever has never been higher than what it is now after those changes were implemented.

ALL HAIL DOMINATORS! LONG MAY THEY REIGN!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe ::looks at RaikenX's signature:: Something funny.

Gloom and doom posts always make me laugh. I will admit I only had 1 dom back then and she was only level 24.

Post the changes, I became totally enamored with them and now have more than any other AT.

My one post in that thread is basically, "/Energy is perfect now! Power Push is awesome! Sniper Blast still takes too long to animate though!"

Of course, I ended up taking Sniper Blast for SotM set bonuses, and it actually does come in handy once in a while, so even my one little nitpick didn't hold up.

Yeah, I was /Energy when the Dom revamp came, you heard no complaints out of my mouth. The only event more exciting to me than the great revamp was Doms getting an /Energy APP with Energy Transfer, Energy Torrent, and Explosive Blast. That one was like Christmas.

Well.....I was on hiatus during the Dom Revamp. My only dom was mind/psi (first one on Protector to 50, do I get a cookie?) and I'm glad I wasn't around for it.

I remember the long hard road of "eh" damage from Psi until PSW. It was the difference maker that made the set great. Yeah I knew it was too good to be true but it took a BEATING. I do miss it, still.

You know what sucks about being awesome?

No more buffs to look forward to.

We could pretend we are underperforming and see what we get?

Quote:

Originally Posted by VoodooGirl [*]Watching out for the Spinning Disco Portal of D00M!*

Yeah my elec/psi/ice sucks! I wish I never made it!

My first villain on this account was a dominator, (at issue 6 launch) after playing on CoV beta on a shared account where the archetype was fun enough to convince me to get my own account. She was my first 50, and remains my 'main' character. The journey has indeed been interesting.

I find a lot of the hyperbole of revamps came from one very focused fact; stacked domination on a perma-dom, especially on a top-heavy /psy, was capable of extreme craziness. Players with it did not want to let go. Yet when I exemplared down to do a pre-PSW, or even pre-subdue level it was not a fun time. I'd be on teams with dominators, more than half always being /psy, complaining as their team members said "Just hang in there until 38!"

It was plain that the balance was a bit off-kilter.
Looking at things now, it's pretty clear, it wasn't just the damage boost that made dominators fun- the fact that the secondaries are now based around a normalized point rather than the dom up/down means they all seem more balanced. I love exemplaring with my dominator now. She's fun at any level. Sure, the lack of certain cool powers is there, but she's always capable.

...And you know what? I don't see just huge number of /psy doms. /Earth. /Thorns. /Energy. /Electric. /Ice. Yes, /Psy. All have their own advantages, and good reasons to play. People can find a good reason to choose any of them, and they won't have to be cringing until level 38.

Yes, I also have to admit the ancillary/patron pools have done wonders. At first they had the generic patron pool setup. Then a more diverse, nuanced setup as extra powers appropriate to them were added. Now the ancillary pools are in. You want AoE? You've got it. Debuffs? Sure. Armors? go for it. With a more balanced archetype, you can choose well between a good variety of new strength specializations.

Cheers, devs. You made a fun archetype, then you made every flavor of it fun, at just about any time.

Good points Seldon. I agree with you especially with exemplaring down.

Perhaps I should have also mentioned that I have started another Mind/Psy Dom (diff server) and am currently at lvl 33. It's been a noticeable change from those early days of suffering at early levels.

I like the new changes to doms and am not rushing to get to lvl 38. PSW will still be a nice addition.

I actually would have liked these changes to have been made back in the early days of PvP too.

I am looking forward to a new Ice/Ice and Grav/ dom.

I can still miss the old PSW tho.

You know what I remember most from that thread was all the armchair doms that showed up talking about how they were going to flock to dominators and finish their mothballed lvl 12 once the changes went through.

Crickets are still chirping.

The Dom changes were good and brought under-performing sets like /energy up to par. However, I still can't bring myself to play a /Psi Dom again. After the changes first came about, I played around with my Fire/Psi and it wasn't terrible by any means. It's just the fun factor for me went way down and the change of play style made me not want to play it anymore.

Psh, when I first read about the proposed changes to Doms, I thought it was going to be awesome. I was right.

And my only high level Dom at the time didn't have /Psy and didn't have Domination at perma yet, so I don't have the problem of feeling like I lost anything. So there.

(I did get mine with my Energy/Energy Stalker though. Still, I got over it, and still have loads of fun.)

But seriously, I'd say the Dominator change was quite possibly the most positive difference that any archetype has undergone in a single patch. I liked them before, and I <3 them now. Yay for doms!