EnjoyTheJourney

Thank you for your response! I tried the following, but with no luck ... /chan_motd “Master ITF” This Sunday at 10pm EST an all ranged relentless Aeon SF run will take place. All types of ranged characters are welcome. More than one run may take place, depending on interest. Is there something wrong with what's above? PS: Master ITF is a channel and I'm an operator / admin for that channel.

As per the subject line, I'm trying to change the MoTD for a public channel. So far it's not happened. The command used was "/chanmotd", which is listed in the homecoming wiki slash commands section as the way to change MoTD for all those entering a channel. Can somebody provide a sample public channel MoTD change? Thank you in advance for any help provided.

I main a fire / martial / mace blapper that solo'd a pylon in 138 seconds, which means a single target DPS of 406. That was with T4 musculature core alpha, T4 degenerative core interface, no use of judgment, and no use of the incarnate hybrid (hybrid is melee core, though, so it wouldn't boost damage when it's being used). No inspirations or pets were used. With the Gaussian buildup proc IO in aim and reach for the limit selected there is probably a fair amount of variance in single target DPS. And, I only made one serious effort to take down a pylon fast. So, 138 seconds may be a noticeably above average DPS total. Or not. Not really sure. As for where 406 single target DPS places, for a blaster it's in a good place. It's seems unlikely to be at the very top end for blasters, especially because assault core hybrid wasn't used. And, it wouldn't be high end single target damage for a stalker or scrapper. But, blasters tend to be most effective at AOE anyways, compared to scrappers and stalkers.

Your build plan was intriguing, and so it was tempting to put together a build. So, here's a potential permadom build. The basic idea is to cast seeds, then sleet, then feral charge into melee range to fight. Call hawk will reduce recharge times with a +recharge FF IO in it, plus there are two -res procs to boost self and team damage. A reasonable single target rotation could be spot prey (when up), vicious slash, maiming slash, and call hawk. Or, when spot prey is down a(nother) reasonable single target rotation could be maiming slash, vicious slash, maiming slash, call hawk, rinse and repeat. Liberal use of feral charge, when switching targets, will build +damage procs from the AT IO. Rending fury can be inserted when it's ready and crowds are nearby. Creepers, sleet, seeds, and rending flurry will together lead to much higher AOE damage than would be immediately apparent just by looking at the damage done by rending flurry. Melee range is where smash / lethal defense matters more, and so it's probably the safest place to be in most cases. To make melee even safer rune of protection and melee hybrid can be rotated, with resists taken to a noticeably higher level three quarters of the time that way. Blood craze can help for spot heals when meaningful damage occurs. That gives multiple layers of meaningfully built up defenses (defense, noticeable resistances, a good heal, good regen, and absorb from a proc). Look at the build with rune of protection switched on and off, and then do the same with melee hybrid (with rune of protection off) to get a better sense of the range within resists would tend to float while fighting in endgame content. Finally, rune of protection offers a reactive mez breaker when mez penetrates domination and when domination is not up. This build also has 50% resistance to recharge and run speed debuffs. Destiny incarnate choices could reasonably be rebirth, barrier, or ageless; ageless boosts damage by boosting recharge, and so that would be a reasonable default choice. For harder content a different destiny might work better, depending on team composition. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.1.2.5 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Dominator Primary Power Set: Plant Control Secondary Power Set: Savage Assault Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Fighting Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Strangler -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(3), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(3), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(5) Level 1: Call Swarm -- HO:Nucle(A) Level 2: Maiming Slash -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(13), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(17) Level 4: Vicious Slash -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Hct-Acc/Rchg(37), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Hct-Dam%(7), GldStr-%Dam(42) Level 6: Spore Burst -- FrtHyp-Sleep/Rchg(A) Level 8: Seeds of Confusion -- CrcPrs-Conf(A), CrcPrs-Conf/Rchg(9), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg(9), CrcPrs-Acc/Rchg(11), CrcPrs-Conf/EndRdx(11), CrcPrs-Conf%(13) Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(33), Rct-ResDam%(50) Level 12: Mystic Flight -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36) Level 16: Spot Prey -- GssSynFr--Build%(A), RechRdx-I(17), RechRdx-I(39) Level 18: Vines -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(19), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(19), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(21) Level 20: Rending Flurry -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Arm-Acc/Rchg(23), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(23), Arm-Dam%(25), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(25) Level 22: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 24: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(39), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(27), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(27), UnbGrd-Max HP%(29) Level 26: Carrion Creepers -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), PstBls-Dam%(40), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(40), TraoftheH-Dam%(42) Level 28: Blood Craze -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(29), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(31), Prv-Heal/Rchg(31), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(31), Prv-Absorb%(33) Level 30: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(33), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(34), ShlWal-Def(34), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(34) Level 32: Fly Trap -- ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(48), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(50) Level 35: Call Hawk -- Apc-Dmg(A), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Apc-Acc/Rchg(36), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Apc-Dam%(46), FrcFdb-Rechg%(46) Level 38: Feral Charge -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), TchofDth-Dam%(42), SprAscoft-Rchg/+Dmg%(43) Level 41: Sleet -- AchHee-ResDeb%(A) Level 44: Frozen Armor -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(45), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(45), ShlWal-Def(45), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46) Level 47: Spirit Ward -- Prv-Heal/EndRdx(A), Prv-Heal(48) Level 49: Rune of Protection -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-ResDam(50) Level 1: Domination Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(5), Mrc-Rcvry+(7) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PwrTrns-+Heal(43) Level 1: Blood Frenzy Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Melee Core Embodiment Level 50: Intuition Radial Paragon Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 50: Portal Jockey Level 50: Task Force Commander Level 50: The Atlas Medallion ------------

I play a fire / martial / mace blapper that I really enjoy. There's a thread slightly further down that goes over his build in some detail and in which there is good feedback and pros and cons of the build. In the end, I did switch out assault and switched in tactics, which has turned out to be a good change. Everything else was left as the build given in the thread suggests. Even though the fire blast part of the build doesn't directly transfer over, there are still some potentially helpful ideas about which /martial powers to consider choosing and about ways of slotting them. To echo InvaderStych, Reach for the Limit is a key power and your blaster will do more damage if you can find room for it in your blaster's build. Good luck with your blaster, however you decide to move forward.

There seems to be some playstyle differences between the three of us, as well as perhaps some differences in how defenses are put together to support those different playstyles. Which is fine, as there are multiple ways to successfully play a blaster. And, I have no doubt that the two of you do better than fine in-game with the way you approach building and playing your blasters. I'll ponder whether to switch out assault and switch in tactics. Endurance management has been easier than expected so this blaster could probably run it. Plus, cimerorans can be a pain when they shout and tactics would help when fighting them. Wanting to stick with combat jumping is understandable. I leaned heavily on it for build after build for quite a while. But, if you remove it you would fairly quickly adapt and figure out that mobility is not really a problem, especially but not only if you have flight, translocation, and a kind of combat teleport available to you. Also, reaction time slows down mobs, which helps for being quicker than mobs when moving around a battlefield. You'd also find that, at least with /martial as your secondary, mez of any kind is no more than an infrequent event that goes away as soon as you engage inner will / RoP / melee core hybrid or use an inspiration. I occasionally joust. But, that's usually restricted to when I'm the only teammate in melee (ie: all others are ranged) or when I'm trying to, say, solo a tower on a +4x8 ITF. Even then I'll usually focus on defeating mobs as fast as possible as long as survival doesn't seem to be acutely threatened. Also, I prefer to hover-melee over top of Lord Recluse in an MLTF, for example, so a maximized single target attack chain can be repeated until he drops. Jousting in that and similar situations not only takes more energy, it's also a DPS loss compared to continuously hitting mobs while doing "hover melee" over top of them. Try this out on a MLTF sometime using a jet pack, if you're curious, and as long as you're positioned correctly you'll notice that Lord Recluse will drop your teammates' life bars with his heavy hitting attacks and your blaster will take no damage. With more of an emphasis on standing next to (or sometimes over) mobs and continuously hitting things until they fall over, smash / lethal defense and resists generally matter more than when operating a lot at range; there are a lot of incoming melee attacks when playing right in mobs' faces, especially when taking on bosses and above. The layered defenses in the build above provide good initial defense totals against most attacks even without team buffs or inspirations. Since RoP or melee core hybrid are engaged about about 75% of the time, most of the time smash / lethal resists are in the 50s or 60s even without team buffs. Energy / negative energy resists are usually in the mid 30s to mid 40s without team buffs, as well. The cimeroran day job helps out with this to make these totals just a bit better, when it's active. These are backed up with a strong heal and very good regen from rebirth radial (melee core hybrid also offers good regen, which noticeably helps). Reaction time provides a rapidly refilling absorb shield, as another buffer. It also helps a lot to get all the key passive and active accolades (portal jockey, TF commander, freedom phalanx reserve, atlas medallion, geas of the kind ones, elusive mind, eye of the magus). Finally, T4 radial lore pets further improve both damage and sturdiness, when summoned. Defeats are not that common even without team buffs with this build because of multiple and substantial layers of defense. On that note, this blaster build has tanked multiple max notoriety ITFs. It has also tanked most of the last mission of a relentless ASF after the team's tank needed to leave. Burst of speed was usually used to begin battles and being in melee range was the default against all of the different kinds of mobs encountered. That did lead to a couple of defeats when taking alpha. And, support was good, as were other teammates, which was obviously very helpful. But, that is still a feat many blaster builds would find difficult to pull off.

The main build goals were to build a blapper that survives well in melee and that dishes out major damage both in endgame content and when exemp'd to lower levels. Giving credit where credit is due, the foundation for this build came from FUBAR. And, it's a really solid foundation. The burst of speed macro came from Big Soto. A few thoughts about how to get more out of the build ... 1. To get the most out of this build it's best to fight in melee whenever chances of survival in melee are reasonable. Dragon's tail increases recharge speed for key powers and eagle's claw is a hard hitting finishing power; eagle's claw helps the single target attack chain hit noticeably harder when you can bring it into the mix. 2. Use the following macro to burst of speed to a targeted mob (can be an ally, for that matter): /macro_image "MartialManipulation_BurstofSpeed" "Tooltip" powexec_location Target "Burst of Speed" 3. To begin fights you can target a mob in the center of a spawn, hit "aim", throw fireball, then burst of speed to the chosen target using the macro given in "2" above. Then nuke or attack with dragon's tail, depending on what's available. Sometimes mobs will be knocked down by burst of speed before fireball arrives. This increases burst damage at the start of a fight. 4. When taking on mobs that can one-shot your blaster, fly over their head and do "hover melee", which when you're in the right place above them allows you to kick them in the head while not allowing them to return the favor with any of their melee attacks. Incidentally, kung fu done in mid-air looks a lot like Dragonball Z, for those who like that anime. 🙂 5. For mez protection cast rune of protection, then melee core hybrid, then rune of protection, and then rely on inner will to carry your blaster through to when melee core hybrid will be available again. 6. Barrier destiny and assault hybrid are very reasonable alternative incarnate picks to the ones offered here. 7. Inner will can be used reactively when you get stunned by a rez by Romulus in the ITF and for a variety of other situations. It also heals your blaster for a noticeable number of hit points if slotted for that. 8. Reaction time can be used to figure out which mobs are chasing your blapper while in teams and with lots of mobs around. Just look to see which mobs slowly change direction to follow your blapper when (s)he moves around; you can then decide whether you'd like to reposition out of their melee range or just wade in and mow them down. Hopefully the build and the notes on how to get more out of the build are helpful. Suggestions for improvement are welcome, as always. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.5.6 https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Martial Burns: Level 50 Magic Blaster Primary Power Set: Fire Blast Secondary Power Set: Martial Combat Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Flares -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3) Level 1: Ki Push -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(5), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), Acc-I(7) Level 2: Fire Ball -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(9), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(9), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), PstBls-Dam%(11), Ann-ResDeb%(33) Level 4: Reach for the Limit Level 6: Mystic Flight -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17) Level 10: Burst of Speed -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(23), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(13) Level 12: Aim -- GssSynFr--Build%(A), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(31) Level 14: Spirit Ward -- Prv-Absorb%(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(17) Level 16: Dragon's Tail -- Erd-Dmg(A), Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Erd-%Dam(33), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), FrcFdb-Rechg%(34) Level 18: Blaze -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(19), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(23) Level 20: Reaction Time -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(36), EffAdp-EndMod(36) Level 22: Rune of Protection -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), GldArm-End/Res(50), GldArm-ResDam(50) Level 24: Boxing -- Acc-I(A) Level 26: Blazing Bolt -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(29), Apc-Dam%(31) Level 28: Inner Will -- Prv-Heal/Rchg(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(31) Level 30: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(36), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(37), UnbGrd-Max HP%(37), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(37), StdPrt-ResKB(39) Level 32: Inferno -- Erd-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Erd-Dmg/Rchg(39), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(40), Arm-Dam%(40), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(40) Level 35: Scorpion Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(42), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(42), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42), ShlWal-Def(43), Ksm-ToHit+(43) Level 38: Eagles Claw -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(45), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(45), Hct-Dam%(46) Level 41: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(46), ShlWal-Def(46), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(48), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(48) Level 44: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(48), Rct-Def(50) Level 47: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 49: Vengeance -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 1: Defiance Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A), Clr-EndRdx(13) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(15) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A) Level 49: Quick Form Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Void Radial Final Judgement Level 50: Banished Pantheon Radial Superior Ally Level 50: Rebirth Radial Epiphany Level 50: Melee Core Embodiment ------------

Mids may or may not have the perfect numbers. But, if you click on the "quickform" button, so Mids will show the "in battle" snipe damage and cast time, and also set the options to "use arcanatime" for cast times, then you can calculate the DPA from there. The "quickform" of moonbeam does indeed offer the highest DPA of all dark assault powers. But, it's available noticeably less often than gloom and smite, which are the real bread and butter single target powers of the dark assault set. Midnight grasp and moonbeam each play distinctive roles, with snipe adding some burst damage when it's up and midnight grasp cc'ing mobs and buffing itself and all the other attack powers in a noticeable way (when it has the +damage ATO slotted into it).

The ATO +dmg proc can be fairly reliably double-stacked when using a single target chain for dark assault, if it's in midnight grasp (MG). Sometimes it's one stack, sometimes it's three stacks. At an average of two stacks the ATO +dmg proc adds 40% damage to all attacks. That's a mini-build up level of bonus damage switched on all the time whenever MG is often being used. That's a good buff. If you math it out you'll realize not taking midnight grasp is a loss to overall DPS, even when just thinking about the +damage ATO. Given that other procs can also be put into MG then its value becomes even more clear. The ATO +damage proc can't be put into a lot of dom attack powers (unfortunately), so it makes sense that its value can fly under the radar. But, it certainly shows its potential in the assault set powers in which it can be placed and in which it can trigger often (midnight grasp for dark assault and seismic smash for earth assault, as two examples).

Circling back, I've played Ice / savage and it functions very well. The damage is quite good when melee attacks are taken. The teleport attack is very handy for bypassing ranged attacks to get close to mobs and get arctic air affecting them. The heal is very helpful for improving durability. It's one of the better picks for a melee range dom. The only peccadillos I ran across with savage are that I didn't love the animations and managing stacks to maximize the range of the PbAOE was a bit of a hassle. Those may not be issues for you, though, and so if you're interested in this combo then by all means give it a try.

As a postscript, after build tweaks and after getting a T4 intuition radial alpha and T3 for other incarnates, this character has 282-ish single target DPS. It's not the most damaging dom I've played. But, damage is reasonable even as is and it scales up *very* well with team buffs. Plus, the build is quite durable and it controls and debuffs mobs very well. It's a keeper. My thanks to those who made suggestions, as they made the build more effective and more enjoyable.

This is a very reasonable alternative build path and worth considering. If survival chances remain high with that build, then it's likely to be the better default build than a more defensive approach.

FWIW, the dark assault T9 plays a key role by providing a good home for the ATO +damage proc. That proc is often double stacked, which is quite helpful for DPS; sometimes it's triple stacked with a kin on the team. Having an immobilize that fits seamlessly into the ST attack chain is helpful as well, cutting down on runners; on reflection, I suppose this is part of why I don't miss the ST immobilize in the primary. It's clear that you don't think highly of ice control, which is fine and reasonable as the set's limitations are significant. Whether you think ice control is a good set or not probably boils down to how well you think of arctic air. I think very well of it, especially when paired with ice slick. Others may prefer another way of limiting incoming damage and that's a reasonable point of view. Regarding arctic air, it rapidly layers mezzes in melee in a way that no other set can match; confusion, fear, -move speed, and -recharge just for setting foot into melee range and swinging away at things. It has zero downtime, unless toggles are dropped, which is true for few other control powers. Drop an ice slick underfoot and incoming damage usually drops by a lot; mobs can't gang up on teammates when they're mostly confused, afraid, falling down, waiting for key powers to recharge, or crawling around at a snail's pace.

I've had a soft spot for ice control on doms for quite a while. I've had trouble making it work for the DPS-hungry meta that currently exists. But, for a meta in which control matters, it's got a stronger case for occupying a team slot. Regarding immobilizes, an ice dom in melee with decent recharge can keep arctic air, world of confusion, and ice slick perma. Although the fear in arctic air creates some scatter, my experience is that it's usually not all that bad. And, especially if a teammate uses taunt then not having an immobilize doesn't seem highly problematic. In fact, unless used sparingly and with care AOE immobilizes often seem to hamstring efforts to herd mobs, which ends up slowing teams down. An example is part 4 Romulus in the ITF; by default he's a world class marathon runner of an AV. But, even without taunt on the team ice slick, arctic air, whatever slows teammates bring along, and moving into Rom's path cut down his mobility by a lot. He tries to run, but doesn't usually get very far.

The above is true and likely to be quite helpful on relentless difficulty, at least until players are used to building for and playing it. Also, indomitable will can be pre-cast to avoid the stun when Rom rezzes on an ITF. And, it's a one-slot-only power for placing a LoTG +7.5% global recharge IO; doms love recharge that has a low slot cost, which indomitable will provides. The build I'm running doesn't bother with -fly because it's assumed that teammates can look after that instead. If that proves hopelessly optimistic, then a single target attack from the secondary can be swapped for the single target immobilize from the primary. The DPA ceiling would go down, though, so that's not a first choice. Quite possibly the ASF (and relentless difficulty in general) will make sleeps considerably more attractive, especially for handling over-aggro and for mobs that can have extreme defense stacking (relentless difficulty Cims just phoned up to say "Hey there!" for this last point). But, arctic air mezzes don't break when mobs get injured; that makes it quite useful for any dom that can stick close to melee teammates and survive. Regarding endurance issues, ageless core would do away with them and it's a reasonable path to take for incarnates which would free up the alpha slot for musculature. But, taking ageless core would preclude taking barrier or rebirth, both of which are solid destiny choices for higher difficulty level combat. On a connected point, as an under-the-radar benefit for this powerset combo, for higher difficulty TFs often a kin will be on the team. Building to fight and survive in melee often leads to more fulcrum shift stacks, which helps to boost DPA from "adequate" to "very good."

I'm trying out an ice / dark / psi dom to see how well it might do in melee range for ASF content. She's still early into endgame play, but doing well so far. Arctic air requires no "to hit" roll, which bypasses the effects of huge defense buffs on relentless difficulty, frees up more time to DPS, leads to enemies sometimes healing or buffing the team, makes mobs move and attack more slowly, and reduces the number of incoming hits. When paired with world of confusion bosses are often confused when in melee with this dom, which is helpful. Regarding tradeoffs, cardiac core seems absolutely essential, especially with leadership toggles running alongside arctic air and world of confusion. And, a key weakness with ice control has long been handling alpha. Dark assault helps with that, though, by providing a way to heal back damage taken as part of alpha, as long as your dom survives it. As another potentially key weakness, there are no -fly powers, at least in the build I'm currently trying out. Knocking mobs out of the sky would need to be handled by teammates.

You've responded to concerns by essentially waiving them away, while also not addressing the proposed solution. Why not give players a more granular level of control over difficulty levels? That is, in fact, the current situation. As an example, the group with whom I game the most often runs level 44 ITFs at max notoriety, no insps or temps, with limited lives and a time limit. Often teams are lopsided by design, such as all scrapper / stalker, or all blaster, or all controller / dominator, etc. Often enemies have been buffed for such runs, especially when it's all tanks. But, enemies aren't always buffed because for some team makeups that's just a death march which usually ends in mission 2. The key is that players currently get to choose which array of challenges makes sense for their particular team. The new approach seems to be for the devs to take a significantly higher degree of control over the process by packaging together some things that used to be handled in a more granular way. For example, you can in a granular way pick one power limit (but not more than one, for some reason). You can choose between different limited life totals and different time limits. But, as soon as you pick relentless you get a big package of things that are collectively likely to make many team leaders significantly more picky about who gets onto their teams and who doesn't. On that note, right now when a team leader tries to interview potential teammates in most cases, with rare exceptions for really difficult challenges, that seems to be a sign that they're not a very good player or that they may be a control freak. If relentless difficulty goes live as it currently stands there's a good chance that needing to PM a prospective team leader with an explanation of how you fit well into the team becomes a significantly more frequent occurrence. There is a potential downside to forcing team play based on roles, in case that's presently being set aside as a concern.

There's no doubt that these changes promote more and better teamwork. And that could be a very good outcome. But, the main concern is that there could be a fairly narrow selection of powersets within particular ATs that end up being fairly heavily favored for relentless difficulty teams. As just one of a multitude of possible examples, grant cover could lead to shield being significantly favored over super reflexes, perhaps, if 75% defense totals end up being the softcap for "relentless" difficulty content. Also, one of the features of CoH to date has been the flexibility of how to build and play different characters. Relentless difficulty, as currently conceived, could lead to more of a "Know your role and stay in your lane" approach to putting together teams and playing them. The currently-on-beta large buffs to mobs' global defense and their to hit seem like keys to driving relentless difficulty in that direction. On a connected point, I'd rather that players had more granular control over difficulty level choices. I'd be happy to play +4x8, no insps, no temps, etc. But, hopefully we'll still be able to decide whether we'd really like to have +30% global defense bonuses to enemies for our characters with soul drain, follow up, dark regeneration, drain psyche, twilight grasp, etc. I'd also like to be able to play higher difficulties with a SR character that didn't need to push positional defenses into the mid 70s as a starting point. One of the risks of a big global defense buff for mobs on relentless difficulty is that progression through TFs may noticeably slow down, without changing the final result.

As an initial reaction, the 30% global defense buff for relentless and the 30% to hit buff will probably require extensive adaptation to builds. It would seem that with 45% defense being the current softcap for most content, on relentless 75% defense is needed to reach the softcap. Perhaps a smaller to hit buff could be selected, but with a buff to accuracy added in as well. A global 30% defense buff for relentless means substantially more effort will need to be expended on raising to hit values. Builds that rely on first hitting mobs to raise to hit values and to heal / buff could be at a relative disadvantage if whiffing becomes a lot more common. Power sets such as earth control, storm, cold domination, and other sets that have one or more powers which automatically debuff defense in a wide area will surge ahead of their peers for how well they help teams tackle relentless difficulty content. A key question that ends up arising is whether these particular global buffs for relentless will promote the importance of different roles, while also raising the value of particular powersets well above their peers in the same AT, at least on relentless. Not sure how this will play out.

It seems that sometimes players choose acrobatics at least in part for its ability to mitigate holds. But, it's not clear what the value of mag 2 hold protection would be, in most cases, given that most holds have a mag of 3. Am I missing something about how acrobatics protects players against holds?

For an earth / dark dominator build I was able to slot the dominator +dmg proc into the secondary (midnight grasp) in mids and in-game. But, I can't do that for Bitter Ice Blast for ice assault. Edit: I checked by trying to insert the dominator +dmg proc IO into bitter ice blast and found it doesn't work in-game, and Mids suggests it can't be put into bitter ice blast as well. As a working hypothesis, perhaps a power must have an effect labeled as "control" before a dominator ATO IO can be slotted. Is that correct?

If dark assault can reach 350 - 400 DPS without any help from the primary then I'm content with that. At that point the extra survivability afforded by dark starts to carry quite a bit more value to me than the marginal extra damage one can get in exchange for giving away improvements in survivability. FWIW, recognizing that this thread morphed at some point into a disagreement about what constitutes "mediocre" vs "excellent, even if not the absolute highest DPS". Also in the vein of "FWIW", I tend to favor resistance shields in the epic / patron. Part of the price for that preference is that bypassing cold mastery pretty much assures doms I play won't deliver high end results for pylon tests. I'm OK with that. On a connected point, I'm currently trying to figure out how to get strong single target damage, AOE damage, *AND* survivability out of an earth / earth / ?? dom; earth control seems likely to work well for the new challenge content coming out and earth assault is my favorite dom secondary. And, this thread has provided concrete ideas to improve single target attack chains, which has been very helpful and is much appreciated. I'll also be able to re-visit a few shelved dominators, in fact, and potentially be able to make them enjoyable to play again. Many thanks to those who've contributed to helping this thread dive as deeply into the question of how to maximize single target DPS as it has.

Cimerorans have very high defensive buffs and quicksand substantially improves chances to hit them. Also, given that the clear majority of Cimerorans' damage and debuffs are delivered in melee it's very helpful to drop a quicksand under their feet, given that it debuffs mob movement speed by a base value of 90%. The scatter brought about by caltrops is sometimes helpful and sometimes the opposite of helpful. In contrast, quicksand can be used to create a kill zone for team AOEs by slowing mobs down and grouping them up in a predictable location as they stream into a fight.

Thank you for your feedback. I've kept the soul mastery patron, for better or worse. Putting the +dmg ATO proc in midnight grasp was done and seems to be working well. I also re-slotted life drain and gloom, shifting more damage to gloom. I'll be getting assault radial hybrid and intuition radial alpha. Once those are T3, then damage should get noticeably better. Then I'll test again.

I'm definitely testing on "Zone pylons"; I didn't even know that "LFG Event Pylons" existed. Thank you for the "heads up", nonetheless.