TygerDarkstorm

So, I rolled a fresh Symph/Dark Dom on beta and didn't boost level this time. Picked up Impassioned Serenade and started messing around with it. I'd say like 80% of the time, I managed to fire it off as an opener without the rest of the spawn getting notified. And the times where it did notify, I just started to try and adjust my playstyle to play aggressive/defensive depending on map layout, insp's available, etc. Playing at +0/x2 running contact missions and I feel the same about the set so far as I do on my level 40 beta toons--I don't think the notify is the end of the world, even with the damage and notification. I like Captain Powerhouse's vision for the set and I think it's fun to have a control set that plays so differently and aggressive. I am finding it useful to confuse the Lt's in the spawn and then work on blasting down the minions with their help. Again, I'm just an average player, not a min/maxer or cutting edge or whatever, but, as of now, I don't have a reason to be up in arms that the confuse notifies, especially when you can cheese it at max range and can often get away with firing it off without it notifying the others. Edit: You get the fear cone at level 8, so you can easily use that to help break the alpha from the confuse notifying.

I am not a heavy/frequent user of Ice Control, but I wanted to play with it on beta given the changes and overall, I'm impressed. Arctic Air being able to dominate is just awesome, and jumping in a spawn and seeing all the confuses go off is a great feeling to have on a power that was almost considered skippable. I definitely agree with the others about the cone arc on Cold Snap; while it does function as an alpha breaker, the fear seems like it should be wider, especially since Ice really wants to be up in melee. Also agree that it seems odd that Ice Slick can't take slow or KB/KD enhancements. On doms, this set pairs nicely with the new Sonic Assault set.

I think you are misunderstanding me somewhere. My point is that I completely understand your concern, and it is an interesting area to be explored, and if you really want the answers to it because you feel us other testers haven't given it, then you need to log into Brainstorm and test it out at the low levels yourself and provide feedback that is based on actually playing the set and not just speculating.

Finally got around to trying out this set and am loving it so far. Paired it with Ice/ as they really seem to complement each other and it's fun just watching stuff melt. I'm also impressed with how good the damage feels considering we're also getting the bonus of -res and other fun secondary effects. One thing that could *maybe* be addressed is the sfx for Deafening Wave? I know it's ported from the Blaster secondary (and I have issue with the sound there too), and it's namely that the power has almost the same exact sound as when you run out of endurance and endurance crash. I catch myself slightly panicking that I've crashed my end bar when using Deafening Wave. 😅

Yep; I've noticed that some of the people crying the loudest about the beta changes are those who haven't actually logged onto beta to try things for themselves, which I find silly and counterproductive. Every change in beta isn't perfect, of course, but some things are hard to argue and cry about without actually getting on Brainstorm and trying them. I definitely can see the difference in animation times for mercs, they no longer feel sluggish that way, but I'm not educated enough to hazard whether the swapping of the upgrades is a buff or not. Edit: Ah, I see now the upgrades thing was just a bug fix. Here's to hoping the team plans to take a proper look at MM's and the underperforming sets in the near future.

So I recreated my mercs/traps MM on beta, bumped her to level 40 since my live one is level 38. Now, initially I slotted the beta version with IO sets and ran a radio mission before remembering that my MM isn't set up like that on live, so of course they felt like they were performing better. So I changed it to basic IO's like I usually run with when leveling and then ran another radio mission. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say they still pretty much feel the same. Playing at +0/x6 against CoT; had a moment where henchies died against a spawn, but I was able to resummon them and rebuff them mid combat without losing them again and keeping my own health up. Since I am not an in depth powers person, I am not too sure what swapping the upgrades did and how it might affect low level play, but I'm hoping it's a step the dev team is making towards taking a further look at mercs and MM's in general.

I'm pretty sure that at least some of this is still possible. Aren't the markers on the maps exclusive to VidiotMaps? So if you don't run that add-on, you'll still have to hunt for them.

I see what you're saying; I admittedly boosted all my Symph toons to level 40, so yes, I have not yet tried the set leveling up and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought of that concern too. I will have to see about trying one from scratch to see how it plays before it gets all the good tools. Because yeah, at level 40 with my ghetto slotting, I'm not having too many issues with running radios. Only thing I can suggest is to get on beta and test it out yourself. A lot of your questions can be answered by actually playing the set. Many of us who have tried it do not feel it as bad as you are making it out to be. I know we all have different playstyles, and I feel that much of what you want answered could be handled by jumping on and putting the set through your personal tests.

I know I don't play at the cutting edge like you do, Voltak, but so far on beta I have not had any issues soloing on my Sympony/Fire/Leviathan dom at level 40 in regular content, and I'm a noob when it comes to learning how to slot a character. @oedipus_tex has also provided some good tips for playing with this set. I took the confuse on my dom, but I use it exactly the way @Captain Powerhouse describes: as an extra tool in my arsenal of controls as opposed to using it as an opening move. This is a set that feels like it wants to play pretty aggressively; I personally find it to be a lot of fun after taking Tex's tips for using it on a dom.

It's a fun combo for sure, but it can quickly end up with too many options to play with, especially when trying to utilize Impact and the new energy mechanic. Edit: Also, thank you @EnjoyTheJourney for the new alt idea. I've been stuck on how I wanted to pair /earth and grav/earth sounds like it could be a pretty fun combo.

Ya know, this is one of the few changes I haven't messed with on beta yet. I'm not a pro at these sort of things compared to others, so I'm not sure how to go about comparing the beta changes to live (my only mercs MM on live is only level 38), but I'll fire one up and see how it goes. Also, calling those of us providing criticism names and insulting the devs and such is a piss poor way to hope your point will be heard, let alone listened to. If you really hate what the devs are doing, you're free to leave or phrase your feedback in a more constructive manner. We don't pay to play here. I'm aware that Mercs need help, but I can also think critically and acknowledge that perhaps just "boosting the raw numbers" is not the answer. MM's as a whole are in a pretty decent place right now given the changes to summoning and buffing our henchmen. While not ideal, Mercs are not unplayable, and I do watch in the patch notes where it looks like the dev team has been making small passes at Mercs to bring them more in-line. I'm okay with this; sometimes big sweeping changes are not the answer, and I'm okay with them taking the cautious route to making changes to an AT that can easily become OP since all our damage is dealt via henchmen.

Exactly. I absolutely love and adore MM's; they're probably my most played AT. And while I would adore seeing changes for them, I like and appreciate the HC staff's approach to handling the game and I can only presume how much more difficult MM's might be to balance as an AT compared to the others. The buffs they've made so far have helped out quite a bit, and mercs are still playable despite being the lowest damage primary. We're not paying to play here; the staff are a team of volunteers. If they don't want to make a pass on MM's yet, they don't have to. For those like OP that unhappy about it, you're welcome to head off to one of the other server groups, or phrase your suggestions in a more polite manner.

@TrixieKixx For Yin, I'll bring Absintha - Rad/Energy Tanker

Fair enough, will miss hanging with you on the weekends, but we all need breaks from the game from time to time.

An energy control set would be kinda awesome though, ngl. And radiation control.

*whispers* this is the dominator forums. 😛

You necroed a one year old thread for that? I've long since gone and done this project, and of course I put these on social media, lol

Lol, I agree, this seems more like fun than a bug. 😛

Others have reported good success with /storm, and some of us have been using /sonic. Personally, I find my Symphony/Sonic controller quite enjoyable on beta. /Sonic gives you some -res, the bubble of protection, and makes the already tanky reverberant even tankier. Granted, I'm just an average player, but running mishes at +0/x4 with the new aggro rules, there has been more than one occasion where Verby and I are controlling/tanking two groups. Procc'd out liquefy is pretty fun too, though I need to figure out how to properly analyze if that's actually a viable strategy, but it feels like it helps when I'm able to toss it down in a group. Verb likes to move into melee too, so he makes a good candidate for the hula hoops. And since much of /sonic is hands off, it leaves you free to do more "blasting" with symphony.

Man, and here I thought I had a good eye for details like that; I didn't notice it not matching up when I used it, but I believe that it must have been happening. I do hope it'll get worked out and we'll see it in the future though; I quite loved that one. 😄

Not that this is bad, but I loved Diamond Cut. What was wrong with it that it got scrapped?

Fair enough. 🙂

Not sure why you got downvoted for asking this, I would have too. The person you replied too meant skirts but said shirts; I would have been confused at first as well. Also, thank you for the work you did on the new patterns! I utterly adore them, especially the diamond cut pattern. Rebirth has put out some really nice quality costume designs like this too, so I'm happy to see HC getting some love as well. 🙂

Yes... I haven't really been able to tell when toggles are being suppressed and when they're not. Granted, I've picked up a fair amount of mez resistance on my beta characters via their sets, but as something of a "dumbass," I've no idea how to tell if they're suppressed when I do get mezzed and when they come back to working. I'm not someone who keeps a constant eye on their combat log (and shit flies through there so fast I can't keep up with it all) or keeps power analyzers around. Some sort of more visual cue or something that makes it really obvious we're still under suppression would be amazing.

Wanted to play with the new sheathed weapons feature, stumbled across this skin in TW and immediately had a concept come together. This is Impetuous (emphasis on the "imp") Sinner - TW/Rad Scrapper. Edit: I'll have to post some better ones later when I'm not half asleep.