Why isn't dimension shift an AoE confuse?

I know, I know...the cottage rule.

But...to really put gravity on par with the other troller primaries, something, as EVERYONE has pointed out, needs to be done to dimension shift and I think turning it into a "seeds of confusion" type power could fit not only the concept of a dimension shift (the curvature of space causes enemies to misjudge where their attacks land), it could also make Gravity a fun primary to play (again). It would be easy to implement as there wouldn't need to be a creation of a new game mechanic.

I'm not sure about making it an AOE Confuse, it'd be too like Plant or Elec then.


But a mad idea has just occurred to me, how about changing it to a placeable and making it an area of total chaos instead :

• 10% of Mag 3 Intangibilty for 4 seconds (does not stack)
• 10% of Mag 3 Stun for 4 seconds (does not stack)
• 10% of Mag 3 Hold for 4 seconds (does not stack)
• 10% of Mag 3 Confuse for 4 seconds (does not stack)
• 10% of Mag 3 Fear for 4 seconds (does not stack)
• 10% of Mag 3 Immob for 4 seconds (does not stack)

Forgot to add it would probably require ToHit rolls (so needs to be slotted for Accuracy). It wouldn't benefit from Domination or Overpower, to keep it inline with other placables (although I disagree with that line of logic personally).

IO Set-wise I dunno if it should be able to take Set IOs but since Gravity has been the runt of the litter for so long I'd be tempted to allow Hold, Confuse, Immob, Stun and Fear sets in there so people can slot for the effects they like the most (or PROC the bugger up, PROCs would trigger once every 10 seconds a la Arctic Air anyway).

Every few months, somebody comes up with another suggestion on how to change Gravity . . . most of them involve changing Dimension Shift or moving Wormhole to level 12. A while ago, Castle said that the Gravity animations were being "looked at," but it appeared at the time that the only thing being considered was shortening Propel's animation.

Castle has moved on, but I think it is clear that the Devs know that the players feel Gravity needs something. We don't know if they made a decision not to make any changes or simply haven't gotten to it yet. Yes, Dimension Shift stinks, but most powersets have a skippable power or two . . . this one is more skippable than most.

Intangibility powers are widely disliked. Yet, you don't hear many arguments that Black Hole in Dark Miasma needs to be changed . . . because the rest of the set is pretty darn good and one skippable power is OK in a good set. I'd like to see some improvements to the rest of the set. I could live with a worthless Dimension Shift if the rest of the set got some improvements.

I enjoy my Grav/Storm even if the set is a bit sub-par, as I mostly solo with him. On a team, Wormhole and Propel have limited benefits -- and those are two of the three really interesting powers in the set. Last weekend I ran a Sister Psyche with my Grav/Storm and found that (a) Wormhole had limited situations where it was useful, and (b) it seemed that about half of the time I used Propel, the object was hitting a guy who had already been killed by a teammate. Since I didn't have Singularity in that TF, I was limited to mostly using Freezing Rain and Crushing Field as my main AoE control.

Carnifax, if that power were real . . . imagine the jump in price for Acc/Mez and Mez/Damage Hami-Os! That is the only way you could enhance all those effects. Interesting idea, but I'm not sure I would like something that unreliable as a main control power.

This set has been sub par for too long for them NOT to do anything about it

And dont give me that cottage rule crap because initially this set had no pet. It was changed to have a pet.

Fix Gravity !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The pet was also added before the cottage rule was really on the scene. Wormhole also used to be single target... (back when I rolled my grav/storm)... now imagine THAT power set.

I like the idea of an "area of chaos" but feel that intangibility shouldn't be in there at all. I know it's probably there to exploit a "loophole" in the cottage rule, but... the only thing worse than an AOE intangibility power is a random AOE intangibility power.

I must admit, this is the first that I've seen an idea like this posted. The first of 3 characters I immediately made upon installing CoH was a Grav/Kin controller. It was my first 50.

Dimension shift always, garnered so much ire from people I've played with, wether they were RL friends, or random PUGs. There is a use for the power though, its very, very limited, especially in steam-rolling high-level teams. It's a great emergency power.

Like when facing an area where multiple groups of mobs are in close aggro range with each other. All it takes is one person stepping off to one side just a little too far, and all of a sudden the team is in danger of a wipe. DS and you only get the bosses as an add, if the team is good, you can clear up the current mob and prep before DS wears off.

Outside of this particular scenario, the power is viewed as slowing everything down too much. I've seen many suggestions made for a change to DS though.

First, change it so that it can turn intangible foes tangible. It doesn't require making any other change to the power, and provides a unique effect, though with very limited use.

Change it altogether to Anti-Gravity Field: a targetable location pet that casts Lift to targets within its area.

Change it to Gravimetric Disturbance: targetable location pet that alterantely casts Lift or Crush within its area.

This third idea was originally called Gravity Well, prior to the WS power, so now I call it Singularity Point: targetable location pet, that acts like an inverse repulsion, it grabs mobs within its area of effect and pulls them toward the center.

Most recently, from the Dom boards, making it a targetable location phase, where in anyone that enters, be it player or mob, is phased. Mobs can still move through it, so I'd a slow effect. But now players could enter the field, get phased, and attack the mobs within.

IMO how Dim Shift and similar powers SHOULD work is summon a pet that works like Oil Slick Arrow. The pet would have an AoE intangibility toggle that autohits any enemies nearby, 1 second duration, pulse every 0.2 seconds, non-self stacking. Killing the pet would cancel the toggle and lo and behold, you have solved the major issue with this power and several similar ones. It even improves the power somewhat because then you could use Gravity's knockback and teleport much more intelligently to throw enemies you're not wanting to deal with into your "pulsing intangibility patch" until you are ready to cancel it and deal with them. (It would not work with Domination but no biggie since Domination currently doesn't work on Dim Shift anyway.)

EXTRA: If you want to make the power just funny and cool, you could give it a 20 foot radius intangible, and 25 foot knockback. Result: Anything that you put inside it gets intanged and is unaffected by the KB, anything that tries to walk up to it gets KBed unless some force (your own knockback or a teleport) throws it in there beyond the "wall of force."

EDIT 2: Although what I would really want even more is just a power that teleports everything in a 25ft radius to a center point. (And, unrelated, the "flip you in the air" hold animation for Gravity's holds.)

If this happened I'd finally roll up a Gravity dom past level 6.

Hmm, a thread here and on the dominator boards (linky) on how to improve Gravity, specifically how to improve Dimension Shift...

C'mon devs, throw Grav a bone finally.

Heck, I'd be willing to trade DS for the team recall power that used to be in WH spot before they included Singularity. I'd get a HECK of a lot more mileage out of that one.

Another possible trade would be to make it a stun/debuff power that reduced the affected mobs' stats by "dividing them between several dimension", like those scientist in one of the high-level blueside arcs. Think howling twilight, sans the rez aspect but with stronger debuff.

Some really cool suggestions in this thread - the random chaos one sounds like a lot of fun, and the pulsing zone could make the powerset much more tactical and masterful feeling.

Mildly worrisome that my primary Controller's primary powerset is widely seen as underwhelming but meh... I love it. Tossing enemies up into the air isn't something you get to do in many games, whereas setting them on fire or chopping them up is really, really common. Been there done that. Gravity is cool.

If dimension shift was changed to a single target power it would be more useful. With the fitness change my ill/ff picked up detention field and it has some great uses at the high lvls. Caging a tower in the STF (which takes one of Recluses buffs away) while the team takes down the other towers, in the Tin Mage tf where you get multiple AVs being able to cage one or two of them while the others are taken down also helps. My main problem with an AOE type power is you can easily take targets out of the fight that you really want to still be avail for a fight.

They can keep the intang aspect of Dim Shift by stealing a page out of Illusion. Alter Dim shift so that it summons 2 or 3 unkillable signularities similiar to Phantom Army. Back in the day of multiple pets, the 2 or 3 sigularities that you could summon went a long way to greatly improve your control.

Graphically they could look like storm elementals with a repulsion field/repel field around them. Attack wise they would have crush, propel/lift, and GD. Maybe crushing field.

Text: Your mastery of gravity allows you to manipulate dimensions, bringing multiple singularies into sync with our reality. These dimensonal shifts are intangible and are indestructible. Dimensional shifts are short lived and cannot be buffed or healed.

Granted it would make more sense to call them Rifts or Rips rather then shifts, but I think they would add a lot to gravity while still keeping the intang aspect of the power intact and such an alteration is useful to both dominators and controllers.

I don't think a knockback aura would be an issue as basically you are just summoning more sigularities. They are a purely ranged pet and very rarely does it uses its repulsion aura, most times its a passive effect of a mob trying to engage a singularity in melee that is knocked away. The siggy does charge on rare occasion though but overall they are one of the most well behaved pets in the game. It would be rather amusing to see 4 of them all charge at once though.

How 'bout making DS a power that causes the enemies hit to be "shuffled" through dimensions. Basically, the target is swapped with a random multi-verse version of himself.

1.) So for example, you hit Bone Daddy with DS.

2.) He vanishes, and Council minion appears.

Why? Because in some other dimension this guy actually joined the Council instead of the Skulls.

Or maybe he comes back as a random, non-combat NPC. A construction worker. In this dimension he decided to avoid the life of crime and get a real job. (man that would be a cruel power.)

Probably useless, and potentially more detrimental to a team than not, but it would pretty damn funny.

Another: What if Dimension Shift made a Dispersion Field type of bubble around you. Anyone inside the bubble, including you, will be phased. That includes the enemies. So as long as you're inside the bubble you can attack the enemies also inside the bubble. You and your teammates inside the bubble would be safe from anything outside the bubble. Likewise, players would be unable to affect any thing inside the bubble if they themselves aren't in it. Also, inside of this bubble you are constantly under a state of power build-up. This is your domain, and you are the master of it. It would have to be a click with a long recharge/short duration. Possible to perma, but only with heavy investment. This could allow players to pop in and out of danger at will to use controls. They could also use it to provide cover to teammates who are getting pounded by ranged attacks.