oedipus_tex

Can someone verify that when Link Minds is slotted with sets IOs the Recharge of the power reduces? In Mids it does, but if I recall you can't slot regular Recharge IOs into this power. Does slotting sets into it work around this limitation?

I've got a Defender at 50 with Sonic Attack and it's bit complicated. On teams, yes, he does debuff a lot. But, the base damage on Sonic Attack itself is not great, and the set doesn't have a lot of proc options. Defenders don't have great base attack numbers and also generally don't have strong secondary attacks to pick up from the secondary. They are also not guaranteed a Sustain power anywhere near the strength Blasters get. So soloing with that character, even as a Sonic/Cold with even more resist debuff, is slow compared to a Blaster. I feel like Sonic Attack on a Blaster is in a pretty good place, based on all that. I feel like it would clear solo content faster than a Defender but contribute less total debuff to teams. The only kind of annoying thing about Sonic on a Blaster is there no obvious -Defense power to put a -Resist proc. Since that proc doesn't vary in strength across ATs, not being able to slot it, like Beam Rifle can, makes me think Beam Rifle may be the better choice if you are a min maxer. (Incidentally, this ability to proc out Beam Rifle contributes to it nudging out Sonic Attack on Defenders as well. in my eyes.)

Dimension Shift works the same way Holds do. You are either Shifted or you are Not, kind of like you are Held or you are Not. Layering Dimension Shift doesn't change this. The game doesn't care where the source of the Dimension Shift came from (like, each player doesn't have his or her own "pocket space.") Also, two Dimension Shifts don't counter each other, they just stack the effect.

I went back and added some videos for some of the powers. I'll do more as there is time. A few of the powers are pretty hard to demonstrate because they tweak other mechanics other than the power itself, but hopefully I can demo the basic effect of Power Up and some of others using the in-game stat tracking systems.

I'm not sure how it would work. I have this build as one of my main characters. He's strong, and can run missions very effectively but I'm unsure if he's ideal for farming. For farming I'd probably trade away the Mu pool for the Fire pool. At least, probably. Mu is great for difficult content, but on a farm I think you'd probably want Fire resistance (assuming a Fire farm). Psi Assault itself is great for adding Regen and Recovery, but the set doesn't have amazing damage. I feel like I'd prefer a Blaster over a Dominator, unless I already had the Dominator rolled up. Of course if you already have this character made and ready to go you could always use him or her. I'm just not sure I would roll this specifically to farm.

That old post of mine from 8 years ago used to have a chart, but its long gone now. Here are the main AoEs I know of for Controllers: PRIMARIES Ice Control Arctic Air: -62.5 while inside the aura Shiver: -81.25 for 18 seconds. (This can be stacked on itself) Glacier: -62.5 for 10 seconds (Unfeasible to stack due to 240 second recharge) SECONDARIES Cold Domination or Storm Summoning Snow Storm: -62.5% for duration of toggle Freezing Rain / Sleet: -40% for 30 seconds Heat Loss (Cold only): -240% for 30 seconds (has a 360 second Recharge tho, so this is impossible to get anywhere close to perma) Time Distortion Field: -62.5% for 45 seconds Trick Arrow Glue Arrow: -20% for 1 minute (the debuff values suck but the duration is extremely impressive) TERTS PSI MASTERY Psionic Tornado: -37.5% ICE MASTERY Ice Storm: -10% Oddly enough, after Ice Controllers, Blasters are among the best at bottoming out -Recharge because they have access to Shiver, with a value of -65% for 18 seconds (stackable). Unlike a Controller this is actually maybe worth casting since you have nothing better for mitigation. In terms of which powerset combo could floor virtually any enemy and keep it there, that honor probably belongs to Ice Control/Cold Domination.

It's not. It's just my experience. Yes you have more than one type of crowd control. But if crowd control was really so good that Defense is meaningless for Dominators, then Tankers, who have more hit points, should feel comfortable leaping into the fray bare butts hanging in the wind. The fact that doesn't happen demonstrates that no matter how amazing your controls get, the desirability of Defense doesn't go away. The only question is what you're willing to sacrifice to get it.

I apologize but I am confused. These are the defense values for the second build that was posted: The point of getting Defense on a Dominator isn't to turn you into a Tank, its to ward off return fire that breaks through your controls. In addition to damage, the reason to get Defense is to ward off nasty secondary effects. You certainly can play a Dominator with very low defense, but in my experience most Dominator builds that do that will be limited to easier content than a Dominator that can handle some whiffed mezzes. No matter how many layers of control you can lay down, you eventually get thrown into situations where the fire is coming from too many directions and the Dominator who survives is the one who can take a few shots without faceplanting, particularly in +4 content where three ranged shots can easily result in your death. I agree that Defense is less important than getting perma-dom, partly for the stronger mezzes and partly for the mezz protection.

I had a Sonic Resonance teammate on the Positron Task Force using Sonic Repulsion, a power I've literally never seen in game. It makes the world's worst sound effect when it triggers. Somehow his endurance wasn't tanking though, and I'm not sure how. Gravity Control's Singularity has a version of Repel that doesn't include an endurance hit. Wormholing stuff on top of it is the most endurance efficient method I've seen to deploy this type of power so far, but there may be secrets to making it work on the player-centered versions. Whirlwind on an Electric Tanker for example holds a lot of promise.

I finally got a chance to take a look at the actual builds. First overall comment, I see a distinct lack of AoE damage, which could be plugged up by picking powers from the app pools. Most of the app pools add at least 1 if not 2 AoE powers. Just watch out for the Energy pool, the cost of Explosive Blast is 28 endurance per cast, which is more than Sleet and honestly feels like a bug (the real value should be in the range of 18 -22 based on other powers). One thing I'm still unsure about is how to decide which single target blasts are worth it for a Gravity Dom. On a Controller. Gravity offers damage that is otherwise hard to come by, but Lift and Propel compete directly with the Dominator secondary so I don't know which way to go, especially given the complex Impact mechanic Gravity has.

I rank priority like this in the current meta: 1) Enough recharge to become perma-dom 2) ~32 defense (either Ranged or S/L) 3) Procs 4) Soft capping (if possible) Perma-dom is useful but it does not replace defense. If it did, a single-perma Dom would make it possible for Tankers to turn off their shields and run around naked. Controls only affect certain radius and are only up so often. Certain very hard targets are difficult or impossible to mezz.

The melee-centric nature of Kinetics is intrinsic to the design of the set. I would not want to see this changed because it would play too much like Dark Miasma. Difference strategies for different sets. I personally think the melee-healing nature of Kinetics is one of the coolest things I've seen in a MMO. It's an example of excellent game design in my opinion that we have some many different types of support and different strategies that need to be deployed.

Revisiting this thread with a new thought: what if Detention Field not only locked the enemy in an Intangible state, but was also a teleport that did not notify enemies? See how Wormhole works in its current incarnation.

I agree, but this is looking at the situation as it is now. I don't think a change like this would happen on these servers. If I was designing a City of Heroes v1.5 for a new server it's what I would consider. In terms of character concepts, mostly yes. There isn't a melee-ish support class in CoX, although this character type is very common in the source comic book material, and its a common configuration in RPGs. Also, the Blast sets are used on 4 ATs but the Assault sets only once.

The only ATs that really bother me are Corrupter and Defender. They are too close in function. If I could have designed them from the beginning I'd have done something like this: DEFENDER: Primary: Buff, Secondary: Blast, but with the equivalent Controller pet instead of a Snipe CORRUPTER: Primary: Assault (like Dominators) but with a Nuke Secondary: Buff This would allow Corrupter to fill the missing Bard/Paladin/Ranger role. Assault sets can be designed to be mostly melee or mostly ranged in a way that Blast sets don't work.

If Radiation Control existed I picture it as featuring a couple of control based toggles. Maybe a power that is a Sleep similar to Static Field but that is a cycling toggle with an AOE radius, like Telekinesis. Or you could do one that creates a control aura affecting everyone except the toggle anchor, so it runs around, infecting everyone who gets near. Maybe a placeable radiation psuedo pet that provides +Recharge to the group, on a scale similar to Tree of Life? I like the idea of a Confuse the mutates the enemy and provides it with +damage as posted above. There is so much room for new Control set designs, IMO probably more so than any other set type. There are a ton of interesting ways to design toggles, patches, cones, and other unique effects.

I'd like to see an effect in Force Bolt and Sonic Siphon that strips enemies of the Intangible effect, Then you could the powers to cancel your own Intangibles, as well as ones cast by other players, or powers used by enemies.

In addition to the blasts, Sonic features a cone with 100% chance for knockback (convertible to knockdown with the right IOs), a very fast recharging Mag 3 AoE Sleep (that lasts over 35 seconds without any slotting at all), and a nuke that is also a Mag 3 Stun, so IMO there is a lot to offer a Blaster.

Illusion/Trick Arrow pair relatively well, with TA making up for a lot of the holes in Illusion. That said, Traps is so much better than Trick Arrow at most of the same stuff that, even as a person who doesn't min-max, I'd find it frustrating. I am hopeful Trick Arrow gets a review at some point in the future. It has a lot of potential to be a cool set, but in its as-is form it plays closer to a Blaster Manipulation secondary than a Buff/Debufff set while lacking the appropriate damage modifiers.

I don't believe it was ever made live. If I remember right it was a feature added for the final issue that never got past the test servers.

I have a couple of videos of Drain Psyche in action. Here's one from a recent Lady Grey Task Force with an Elec/Psi almost-but-not-quite-perma-dom. Note, you'll also notice some of the hilarious issues with Electric Control, where I whiff Synaptic Overload twice in a row. That's just the downside of an otherwise great power. I have a few more videos I need to upload. I have an Ice/Psi Dom at 50 too, but he doesn't have IOs. Drain Psyche is noticeably less powerful on non-IO builds. It's only when you really start pushing your recharge that the build takes off. I also like to show these videos to show that Electric Control paired with Mu Mastery absolutely can drop the endurance of Elite Bosses in less than a second. 🙂 This TF happened to have been run at +0, but it can be done up to +4.

-Recharge is a so-so effect on a Controller, mainly because powers recharge even while enemies are mezzed. It is true Ice Control relies on it more than other sets and can make some use of it via Arctic Air, forcing confused enemies to expend their powers on each other. I still think for a master of slows though I'd be looking at Ice/Time Corr or Defender. For that build you really need to use the slow to stay alive. For Ice Control its an effect that's there but that plays only modestly into the build, in part because you're encouraged to get up in the enemies face anyway. Ice Blast on the other hand can handily crash enemy run speed while running away or forcing enemies to chase through rains.

I'd avoid a Controller mainly because they rely on Containment from damage, mostly often achieved with AoE immobilize powers, which largely negates the purpose of slows. A Defender, Corruptor, or Blaster (mostly) don't have access to AoE immobilizes and require better management of slows. Time, Ice Manipulation, Trick Arrow, Tactical Arrow, Ice Blast (the rains), Cold Domination, Dark Miasma, and Storm are some examples of sets that make use of Slows.

I think the best way to experience this would be to avoid Controllers or Dominators as an AT, because slow will generally be out performed by Immobilize. I would instead try something like a Time/Ice Defender, where you will really make use of the Slow effect.

Are you sure we're talking about the same power? You can Feral Charge just by clicking the power with an enemy selected. There are a few teleport powers similar to Feral Charge that do require targeting the ground though.