The_Cheeseman

Nah, it's just that they came out with the Alpha slot way early for marketing reasons, and everybody hated the system so much they redesigned the whole thing for when the rest of the incarnate slots got implemented. It was just easier to accrete the new system on top of the old one than to replace it.

Strict builds are only for people who want to do crazy stuff like so giant monsters or entire task forces. That's the outlier, not the average. CoH is a pretty "easy" game, in that it's difficulty is mostly adjustable (heck, you can even go -1/x1 if you want) and the easiest setting is generally possible to beat only using the powers you're forced to take. In short, the devs made sure that you'd have to really try hard to make a character that's totally unplayable, and you can do fine just picking powers that sound cool.

Another vote for Plant/Storm, super fun and crazy damage. Very chaotic, and you can't be afraid to die, but it's SO much fun to play!

Oh, how I do love simple questions... Okay, so the basics of playing a dominator is to think of yourself kind of like a blaster with really strong active defenses in the form of controls. Early on, you'll probably need to take it slow and lockdown all your foes to be safe, but eventually you'll be able to get by just by tossing out holds on bosses and just nuking the rest of the trash. You can play ranged or melee style, depending on your preferences. Mind control doesn't particularly care about positioning, as it's mostly targeted AoEs (and Terrify's cone is the size of a small country), but /psi tends to favor close-combat, since it has some really strong PBAoEs. So mostly it's just "lock it down and blow it up". For stuff you can't lock down, like Elite Bosses with purple triangles, you usually have to default to the tried-and-true "4 purples, buncha reds, burn hard" tactics. Once you achieve perma-dom, you'll be able mez pretty much anything, but until then those fights kinda suck. Especially since dominator damage output isn't great until the mid to late 30's. Dominators don't have containment--our powers do roughly double the damage of a controller's, naturally.

Except new players get constantly confused by the remnants of the shard system, which just makes the entire incarnate system itself that much more intimidating and complex. Get rid of shards. Replace all shard drops with threads and all the shard-based incarnate salvage Rewards with astral/empyrean merits.

Other than occasionally causing some wonkiness with the animations system, the No-Redraw option has no functional effect on the powers. It's extremely handy when mixing a weapon set with a click-heavy secondary. I actually set it for aesthetic reasons when I made a character with a weapon made of magic that she summoned to her hand.

Heh, I'm with you there. My choice is /fiery assault, but same difference. Mind Control is simply wasted on a Controller. Honestly, I feel a bit constrained by the rules, because I am uncomfortable commenting on sets and combinations I've never tried. I do find this an interesting topic, though, and will be watching!

Most of us know what you meant, but for any newer players out there, he means LotG +7.5% recharge, which slots into defense powers. Though, I'd sell my soul for a +7.5% defense IO... 😉

The question isn’t “do I really need Hasten?” Hasten is one of the best powers in the entire game. The better question would be, “Is there any reason I shouldn’t take Hasten?” The answer to that is generally “no”. Tough is mostly worthless on an AT without significant in-class resist buffs. The amount of resistance it provides in a vacuum isn’t significant, but if it’s your only choice for slotting the defense uniques, I suppose it’s worth it. I’d prefer an ancillary shield for that, though. I don’t consider Fighting pool that good on Dom. You should be able to softcap one defense type and still get to perma-dom with only set bonuses. I’d use any extra power picks as mules for LotGs or whatever.

I have a bit of experience with this, as my main character is a literal demon. I don't sugarcoat the fact that she is a succubus that enjoys corrupting, disfiguring, torturing, and humiliating mortals for her own amusement. I love it when randos send her tells trying to start some sort of erotic roleplaying session, and I begin describing, in gory detail, the smell of their skin melting as they are being slowly roasted alive while she violates them. That usually ends such encounters fairly quickly, which is good, because ERP is not something I am into. However, and this is a major caveat, demons don't actually exist. There is a level of detachment from reality that prevents people from getting legitimately offended by what I say or do. They know I don't actually want to engage in wanton slaughter of all humans, because that is so extreme and ridiculous that it can't be taken seriously. Nazis were real. There are still living people today who were the victims of Nazi atrocities. Those wounds have not yet healed, and thus they represent a sore topic for many people. While it's true that it may be technically possible to roleplay a literal Nazi in such a way as to avoid offending people, it's still in very bad taste. People don't play MMOs to be reminded of real genocide, that's why the Fifth Column has so many freaky supernatural creatures in it, rather than just a bunch of Stormtroopers and SS officers--it's meant to evoke the tropes of Nazism while not actually being Nazis. I have been an actor for over 15 years, and I have played everything from Lee Harvey Oswald to Jesus Christ, so I know a bit about portraying potentially polarizing characters. As somebody mentioned above, it can be exhausting. Maintaining character for long periods of time is mentally taxing enough, but attempting to inhabit the mind of a person you find truly foreign or detestable is especially difficult. All acting involves drawing on aspects of your own psyche, and there are some parts that you just shouldn't be comfortable with bringing to the surface. In short, while there may be a way to play a literal Nazi character without upsetting people, it's likely not going to be fun. For anyone. Sadly, some ideas are just too taboo for polite society. I think it's sad that the swastika, once a symbol of power and virtue, has been forever corrupted by the Third Reich. But there's no going back--it's just too far gone. That symbol will always evoke hate and bigotry, and any attempt to use it, even with good intentions, will inevitably hurt somebody. Better to just leave it alone.

I agree, there is rarely a good reason to skip Leadership on a MM. I mean, half the powers in most MM primaries are useless (the personal attacks) so it's not like you're going to be starved for power picks. Leadership toggles work fine with only one slot, for the most part, so you don't even need to devote that many resources to them. In short, it's not that Leadership is necessarily all that great, it's just that MMs don't have that many useful options compared to most other ATs.

I just hit an extra zero last night and bid 90mil on a 9mil PvP IO. Really sucked, killed my motivation to even keep playing.

While the actual math for calculating absolute proc rate can get complex (especially when dealing with pseudopets and/or persistent ground-based AoEs), I think it's important to note the the entire reason they switched procs to the PPM system was to reduce how much you had to think about recharge concerning proc rates. With flat proc rates, proc IOs heavily favored low-recharge, spammable attacks (more activations = more chancer to trigger). This lead to degenerate builds that slotted like 6 procs into Flares or something and did ridiculous damage with your super-fun Flares->Flares->Flares->OMGJustKillMeNow attack chain. These were often called, "Proc Chainsaw" builds. With the normalized PPM system, it matters far less what the power's recharge actually is. As long as you are using the power regularly, you should get pretty much equivalent damage from a proc anywhere within the standard range of recharge values (between like 4-30 seconds or so). Powers with unusually high or low recharge rates can act a little wonky, but those cases generally sort themselves out (I mean, you can't exactly expect a power with a recharge greater than 1min to proc 2x/minute, can you?) Here are a few simple rules of thumb when considering whether to slot a damage proc: 1) What is your AT damage scale for that attack? ATs with high damage scales (Novas, Blasters, VEATs, Dominators) will get relatively less value from procs, because proc damage is fixed and not affected by such damage scales. This means that procs will account for a larger proportion of your overall damage when your AT damage scale is lower. Controllers benefit a lot from procs, because their attacks do about half the damage of the same power on a Dom, for example. Depending on your slotting needs, you may be better off trying to squeeze out more enhancement values from the power, rather than slotting a damage proc. 2) Are there more important procs for this power? Damage procs are nice, but they aren't generally the most efficient procs you can use. For example, if you can slot a -res proc in the power, you're going to get way more overall damage from that effect than a pure damage proc. 3) Will this power's recharge timer overcap the proc rate? If a power has a very long recharge time (generally greater than around 45 seconds), there is a significant chance that it have gone over the maximum proc rate of 90%. The higher you go over that cap, the more potential damage you are wasting from the proc. Powers that can only be used once every minute are essentially getting only half the expected values from a 2x/min damage proc, for example. This can be okay if the power is a nuke, and you are slotting the proc to get that little bit more damage you need to ensure EVERYTHING dies in one blast, but that's really more or a win-more, and isn't very efficient use of slots. 4) Will I use this power often enough for the proc to be useful? In general, PPM-type procs are great in powers you use on-cooldown, as they get lots of chances to activate. That being said, many sets with procs tend to have their most valuable set bonuses at 5 slots, so including the proc on a situational power may not be worth the slot if that proc doesn't get used often. You're likely better off using that slot to get a more valuable proc/set bonus in a different power. If your answers to the above questions are amenable, then slot the proc and you should be fine. You only really need to focus on the math when you're dealing with weird powers like Carrion Creepers, or other edge-cases. in 90% of attack powers, a damage proc is going to perform pretty well regardless of how much recharge you slot into it. This is a good thing, as generally, recharge is among the most valuable bonuses you can get, so reducing it just to marginally increase proc rates is not recommended.

Well, that does put things into perspective, I suppose. I can respect people who play the game just for fun and who don’t care enough about build optimization to use third-party build planners, you don’t really need to minmax to enjoy CoH, after all. In any event, it’s no longer my problem, as I’ve already blocked him and moved on with my life.

I can solo (most) GMs on my Mind/Fire, as well. Though it can often be a struggle to overcome their regen. Using Degenerative or Diamagnetic Interface helps, but I am locked into Demons Lore pets for thematic reasons, and they aren't exactly the best choice. Could probably do it with a supply of poisoned daggers instead of relying on incarnates if you don't mind using temps, though. It's not particularly challenging to perma-mez most GMs on Mind (except the rare ones like Jack-in-Irons who also has purple triangles, but his ranged damage is pretty poor). The trick is stacking enough -regen/max HP to actually make progress on their health bars. Totally doable while levelling, but I'd argue not really worth the time or effort. Like I mentioned above, there are temp powers that can make just about anything possible, but I tend to enjoy playing around my character's weaknesses with what options are available, rather than relying on build-agnostic temp powers. Soloing GMs is just a personal challenge/pride thing, so I feel like enlisting outside help defeats the purpose of doing it.

Where did I mention mind/fire at all? This thread isn't about powerset combos, all we've talked about is comparing powers within the mind control primary. You're the one who brought up Fireball (which is an ancillary pool power, anyway). As for FotM and "cookie-cutter builds", I personally designed my own build over a decade ago on Live, from the ground up. My dom started as a concept character based on the idea of playing a succubus. It has since gone through several iterations as I have tweaked it to optimize the playstyle. If you have seen the build I use posted on forums before, it's because I was the one who posted it. My suggestions are not theorycrafting, they are the result of playing a mind control dom for many years, having completed all the content in this game at the highest level of challenge. If you can think of more "practical situations" than that, please enlighten me. I am happy to discuss power choices and slotting, but I am frankly done with whatever personal grudge you seem to have against me. Your hijacking this thread with your delusional vendetta helps nobody, so if you have any legitimate interest in providing useful feedback for prospective mind doms, I suggest stepping back a moment and realizing that this thread isn't about whatever rivalry you imagine we have. I apologize to anyone else having to read this. This will be my final post on the matter.

I have no interest in competing with you, it would accomplish nothing. As I have said, I don’t particularly care how you choose to play or slot your character, I am only interested in discussing Dom build optimization for the benefit of whomever comes along to read this thread. May I assume from your last response that you’re not interested in further supporting your arguments? If so, I don’t feel the need to continue this conversation.

Nothing I have said is contradictory. I have repeatedly emphasized that Terrify is an AoE attack/soft control hybrid power, not a pure AoE hard control power. Terrify and Total Domination are not exactly comparable powers, they serve different functions. I would be happy to see whatever math you can use to demonstrate Total Domination out-damaging Terrify. I just plugged it into Pines, and with the everything else being the same on my build, Terrify (5x Posi w/proc, OF KD proc) deals an average of 140 damage and recharges in 17 seconds, while your slotting on Total Domination deals an average of 161 damage with a recharge of 81 seconds. That's ignoring Terrify's ridiculous AoE range, as well. For reference, Fireball (6x Ragnarok+5) comes out to 150 damage with an 11 second recharge. Unless I am missing something vital, Total Domination doesn't appear to be in the same league as either of those attack powers.

Direct recharge enhancement in a power, such as through enhancement slotting and Alpha abilities, does reduce absolute proc chance under the PPM mechanics. Global recharge does not.

Good call. I guess I just take it for granted that, should all else fail, call in the Shivans and Warburg nukes. I generally try to avoid that, though, as it feels like I am not overcoming challenges by playing my character, but merely by being a vessel for OP temp powers. But the option is always there.

Makes sense, yeah. I never really considered having to set Containment, since I have never played Mind Control on a Controller. This is just another example of how Mind Control is far superior on a Dominator.

I fail to follow your logic that my advice to not do something that limits a power's tactical deployment options is somehow "boxing us in". In fact, I'd argue that you are the one failing to think outside the box, here. Suffice it to say, your argument makes it seem like you have no practical experience using Mass Confusion in situations like TF soloing or similar challenges where this feature is most valuable. The stealth aspect is valuable because it allows you to clear trash around AVs or other major bosses before you have to engage said boss. Remaining in stealth also helps when spawns are tightly packed, and engaging one is likely to end up chain-aggroing more MOBs than you want to deal with. Your justifications appear to assume that every fight takes place with a well-built team that has trivialized the content. In such cases, it really doesn't matter how you slot your powers, I guess. But that strikes me a pretty poor test case for a build. You can get away with sub-optimal slotting if you never challenge yourself, but I don't think it's a good idea to suggest such slotting to players who are trying to maximize their builds. "Purple sets have the best bonuses" is not what I would consider a nuanced view on build optimization. It's true that purples have the greatest enhancement values, but as previously mentioned, Total Domination isn't exactly a great power, nor one that I would suggest relying upon heavily, and even with ED-capped values, it's not going to get much better. As such, the the main draw of slotting it is for set bonuses--most importantly, global recharge. Holds have access to Basilisk's Gaze, which is one of the most efficient global recharge options for slot efficiency. Wasting that niche to use a mediocre purple set just for 2.5% extra global recharge is ill-advised. There are plenty of better options for getting your 5x Ultimate Recharge Bonuses, should that be your priority. Directly comparing Fireball and Total Domination seems rather silly to me, as the powers are used totally differently, but if that is what you really want to do, I don't think most people would choose Total Domination. Fireball is one of the most effective AoE attack powers in the game--good damage, fast activation, decent recharge (even for an ancillary pool power). Calling Fireball inferior because it doesn't leverage damage procs as effectively is missing the fact that Fireball does FAR more DPS/DPA with its own values. Honestly, I think you're over-valuing damage procs, in general. Proc damage can be a major boost to ATs with low damage scales, but Dominators are not one of those. Our 0.95 ranged damage scale is actually pretty high, only losing to Novas, Blasters, and VEATs, so we get comparatively less benefit from damage procs compared to, say Controllers with their 0.55. In short, you have to seriously consider whether adding damage procs to a power will be worth the trade-off of possibly getting another valuable set bonus or enhancing the base values of that, or another, power.

Unbreakable Constraint isn’t that great a set, honestly. If your reason for slotting Total Domination is to chase global recharge bonuses, why spend 5 slots for 10% when you can get 7.5% from only 4 slots of Basilisk’s Gaze? The main point I am trying to convey is that the opportunity cost of slots is very high. Obviously, slotting damage procs will increase the damage of a power, but those slots will very likely contribute more damage in a different power, to say nothing of the myriad ways they could be exploited to boost other areas of performance. Finally, being tanky doesn’t really justify undermining one of the key features of mind control’s capstone power with a negligible damage proc. The value of Mass Confusion’s lack of aggro isn’t just avoiding taking hits in combat, it’s the ability to wipe out entire spawns without ever having to drop out of stealth. Certainly you can imagine the tactical advantages of being able to make a spawn self-destruct without even having to put yourself in danger. Everyone is entitled to build their characters as they see fit, but they should do so knowing what sacrifices their choices necessitate. I’m not telling anyone how to play their Dom, but in a thread with the purpose of advising players on mechanical optimization, I think it’s important to point out the most objectively effective and efficient choices and to explain the consequences of less optimal ones.

Hmm... The main reason I continue playing my main is because I find her genuinely fun to play. I just enjoy getting out there and burning down hordes of MOBs. I often offer my services to any team who wants them, even going through DfB or some lame AE farm, just for the chance to blow stuff up. I don't much care what it is, as long as I can murder it.

Nobody mentioned skipping Mass Confusion, but yes, that would be a mistake, as well. Total Domination and Terrify aren't exactly comparable powers. Total Domination is an AoE hard control on a very long cooldown, making it--alongside other control sets' AoE holds--pretty underwhelming. Many people choose to skip AoE holds in favor of more impactful powers, though I like having it around because it's mind control's only form of immobilize (to keep stuff in my damage patches). Terrify is a moderate cooldown attack/soft control hybrid power. What makes Terrify so good is that it is up often enough to be used every spawn, possibly multiple times per spawn, it does decent damage, has sufficient control for most spawns in steamroll teams, and its area of effect is comically huge, allowing it to be used with little need for repositioning or targeting. In short, it's an awesome, reliable power you can use at-will. Slotting a damage proc into Total Domination is a waste of a slot. Total Domination isn't a good enough power to be worth using on cooldown (I rarely use it at all, to be honest), and thus its damage is negligible. We're dominators, not controllers. We have an entire secondary devoted to damage powers, we don't need to waste slots adding procs to our hard control powers. The same can be said of damage procs in Mass Confusion, but even worse, because adding a damage proc ruins the non-aggro feature of the power--one of its most attractive attributes. Plus, to be frank, 95% of any spawn hit by Mass Confusion is going to be dead before it wears off, even if you go AFK to make a sammich. A damage proc is pointless when the MOBs are all murdering each other, anyway. TL;DR: slotting damage procs in AoE controls with 4min base recharges is a pointless waste of slots--the DPS increase will be negligible. What makes Terrify so good is that you can use it constantly and it hits just about every MOB in the same zip code, making it reliable damage and generally as much control as you really need.