Cenozoic

Much answer. Very like! WoC sure is pretty though. I put in on AE Psi farm NPCs because it is easy to find the stragglers.

Yes. Get them both.

OP, Fire/Dev here. I use: Hover/Fly/Evasive —Fly prot, Immob, -KB% CJ/SJ/Acrobatics —Immob, Hold, KB Maneuvers/Tactics/Veng —Confuse, Perception, veng is awesome Clarion!!! The 120sec version Defense & Smoke Grenade (can’t mez you if they can’t hit you) Defiant Barrage in your best AoE (mine is Fireball) My biggest weakness is Stun, so yeah definitely slot mez resistance Hover negates close AoE & Melee mezzes so positional defense

The ASF is a great addition to the lineup! The whole thing is over-the-top in a very entertaining way. Ran into one frustrating caveat: Zoe can fly away while Held. So I'm soloing the ASF, and I am fighting Princess Zoe. She is held (mag80 steady state using Power Analyzer) and then she gets up and runs away. That is ... not realistic toward the game mechanic of being held. Otherwise she would have gotten up much earlier. Respectfully requesting her "run away, spawn baddies" mechanism is suppressed while Held so that mez is recognized correctly. Otherwise the whole "use support to win" mechanism ignores the Mind Controllers like me whose only contribution is mez. Thanks for reading, and this SF is a blast!

Mike, I really like your idea. Let me know what you think about this expansion: Zone Levels remain as set Ex. Talos Island is 20-27 Level Scalar system for zones (this may or may not affect missions, TF/SF/Trials, or unique encounters like Hami, MSR, zone events) 1-10 --> adds -4 to player level shift (ex. a Level 4 toon in Peregrine Island will encounter +4 enemies) 11-20 --> adds -3 to player level shift (ex. Level 14 toon in PI encounters +3 enemies) 21-30 --> adds -2 31-40 --> adds -1 41-50 --> adds 0 50+1 --> adds +1 (ex. Level 50+1 toon in Peregrine Island encounters -1 enemies) 50+2 --> adds +2 50+3 --> adds +3 Enemy levels adjust per player; the color/con system can remain mostly intact Ex. a player is in Talos Island Level 1-10 player in Talos --> enemies are +2 to the player Level 11-19 player in Talos --> enemies are +1 to the player Level 20-30 player in Talos --> enemies are +0 to the player (default level range 20-27) Level 31-40 player in Talos --> enemies are -1 to the player Level 41-50 player in Talos --> enemies are -2 to the player Level 50+1 to 50+3 player in Talos --> enemies are -2 to the player Keep in mind that unslotting incarnate powers can influence this shift (like driving a manual transmission - pick the gear you want, and therefore the XP that drops) Incarnate Notes Incarnates will not cause the enemies spawned to be below -4, i.e. smashing Skulls in Kings Row, a 50+3 will still see -4 enemies (not -7) Any zone tagged as "50" should include the Incarnate system - ex. Rikti War Zone, Shadow Shard, Grandville, etc. What good is Incarnate power if it has a limited application? At least make the 50+ missions instances con to the Incarnate Level But why did you do that, Cen? EVERYTHING SHOULD DROP XP - Maybe I want to go shoot Wailers in St. Martial. Maybe I wanna pick a fight with Sky Raiders in Terra Volta. It should all have measurable value to my development as a hero, villain, or comedian. Let's keep the powers we worked hard to achieve!!!! Just scale the XP accordingly and have fun. Badging - I am not convinced that massacring level 8 Hellions with my 51 Fire Blaster is the best use of badge time. I'd like some (even low) XP for my troubles. Keeps the pulse alive when they can shoot back effectively. Nomadic Murder - I like cruising through zones just killing stuff, so again, why not be compensated for roaming free? Yeah, but what are the ... Cons? It is kind of nice to be ridiculously OP in Perez Park and smashing everything The first time I zoned into Independence Port from Steel Canyon, I was a level 11 Mind/Rad Controller. The year was 2004. I ran straight into a mob of level 23 enemies and got smeshed. I learned a lot during that ambulance ride. The first time I saw Devouring Earth, I was near (helmeted) Positron in Steel Canyon. It was a purple con Bladegrass, and it ran right by me, no doubt an ambush for some other player. I shot at it, missed, and it kept running toward its target. It was that moment that I was hooked on CoH (and later CoX). A plant monster ran downtown through I think those moments can still be captured using the level system proposed. Do the Pros outweigh the Cons? I think so. Not many of us are new players. This is kind of a niche world where most of the CoX universe is quantified and explored. I am not sure that the old gray/purple system needs to stay as broad as it once did, so I would like to marry the idea of everything dropping XP while keeping the zones uniquely engaging. Heck, even some zones like Night Ward are going to be fun because they are dangerous even to +3/+4 toons. Fun! Anyway, thanks for reading. I am sure there are lots of these types of ideas floating around, and your feedback is much appreciated.

Hey OP. If you switch Glacier to the non-Superior version of that ATO, you will get the 8.75% recharge bonus.

Heya Dez! Stone is pretty tough to kill. I run a Stone/Spines AFK Psionic Farm, which is fun. Not the most efficient thing in the world, but it's fun to do. For your question, here is a tank similar to mine. Everyone, feel free to posit stuff, just throwing this out as an idea response. POWERSETS Stone Armor Stone Skin, Granite Armor, Rooted, Earth's Embrace Dark Melee -ToHit and a Heal Soul Epic Darkest Night and Dark Obliteration INCARNATES Alpha - Agility Core Paragon (EndMod, Def, Rech) Judgment - Void Radial Final Judgement (50% -DMG effect) Interface - Paralytic Radial Flawless Interface (5% -DMG effect - stackable) Lore - Storm Elemental Radial Superior Ally Destiny - Ageless Radial Epiphany (for Debuff Resistances) Hybrid - Melee Radial Embodiment (for Defense & Regen bonuses) RESISTANCE + "-DMG" STACKING Get to Resistance cap 90% Add -DMG attacks (Darkest Night, Paralytic stacking) to further floor damage output before resistance kicks in DEFENSE + "-TOHIT" STACKING Get defense pretty high, ~45-50% (non-Psi) Dark Melee and Soul Epic add lots of -ToHit HEAL & REGEN Rooted, Earth's Embrace, Life Drain Melee Radial for tanking nasty mobs MEZ & DEBUFFS Granite + Rooted = very protected Pool Powers like Tactics help as well IO Set Bonuses and Uniques help also Ageless Radial can be used as a "get out debuff free" card Anyway, fun question. Hope I contributed.

Amazing updates! Respectfully request that this is changed the following: The following stats were moved to Stone Skin from Granite: Added Resistance against Fire, Cold, Energy, Negative and Toxic damage. +10%/7.5% for Tankers and Brutes respectively. Added Defense to all but Psionic and Toxic. +5%/3.75% for Tankers and Brutes respectively. This power should now accept Defense enhancements and sets.

Good points! I generally use Burn > Ripper > Dark Obliteration/Ball Lightning > Throw Spines or click buffs Throw Spines is good for procs and mid-ranged enemies (Augurs and Drones) and is range enhanceable like Frost. If Spine Burst’s cast was closer to 2.5 sec that would be ideal for dpa balance, but it’s a fun set, so yay.

Hah! Thanks bro!

Spines might not be #1, though the pairing of Burn and Ripper eats through bosses. Much fun!

Fire/Spines

My pleasure, Dez! In the end, it's about fun, so I hope we brought you to the Dominator team with that spirit. Mind Control is one of the harder sets to master, and it's important to embrace the adventure of discovering enemy weaknesses and new build tweaks based on playstyle. Like @Voltak said, the fun of a Dom is that one level 50 Dom can have 2-3 totally unique builds for different occasions, and you picked an outstanding Primary/Secondary combo to build upon. Happy hunting! Let me know if you need mind control tips or want to modify a build.

@MoonSheep Thank you for following up, and happy to see that we both have experienced perspectives. What fun is a game if we don't play with it and share our differences and similarities in a respectful manner? I am also a lifetime Mind Controller/Dominator (2004 launch and CoV beta), and am versed in attack mechanics and enemy group nuances. My main is a Mind/Psionic Dominator. To clarify my initial post's intentions, I created a custom build for a player's first Dominator. We shared ideas on the goals and best approach for a first Dominator, followed by a detailed AV training session in which I delivered some key ideas around how to attack and plan using Domination, and listened to their needs and playstyle goals and expectations. There were several points of their request which contradict your recommendations, which makes sense from both perspectives: The player wants a non-solo, team-oriented dominator which can perma-confuse Mind or Dark primary; Mind was chosen and the above build supports this function The player wanted an exclusively ranged character (no PBAoE or melee) Fire secondary was chosen The player wanted strong survivability where possible With ranged hover, the two concerns are Range and AoE Ranged defense >45% to mitigate the majority of distance attacks S/L/E defense >45% to mitigate the majority of AoE attacks (Rad, Elec, Arch, Energy, AR, Beam, etc) Energy Defense is the reason for Scorpion Shield. I agree that Cold Mastery is quite acceptable for similar application, and either Sleet or Poisonous Ray are effective. To your points in the post above, hopefully these replies help: Mesmerize is a great tool, and can definitely be slotted over other powers for damage. I noted this specifically with the player (as stated, there is a lot of room to test and adjust). This is the first build. Experiment to find the fit. There are definitely some instances where Psionic damage output can outperform Fire (MoG is a good example), however, many of those powers can be mitigated by mez, time, or def/res debuffs, such as Poisonous Ray or Sleet. Perma-Confuse - yes, I did clearly state that this toon was capable of perma-confuse. Also, I showed the player how to use Power Analyzer to identify Purple Triangle uptime, cycling, and special conditions for some AVs. The player was a terrific student and I think we had a blast examining the Hold, Sleep, and Confuse mechanics. TP/Assault for Veng - These are viable options, and I chose to recommend different powers. Vengeance has a 60ft power range with a 100ft bonus radius, so hovering near the body and casting is realistic. Assault's 10.5% damage boost is nice, though it didn't factor into the current build. Tough/Weave - This does seem to be a polarizing topic. I agree that there are great slotting alternatives, however, I disagree that slotting for defense bonuses is not valuable. Enclosed areas, large AoE radii, enemy spawns outside of aggro control numbers, PUGs, exemplaring, and ambushes can certainly lend credit to the viability of defense. Part of the adventure in this game is building a character that is fun and effective. I believe that I accomplished this intent for the player with the given build, and I support your opposition to my assertion. Thanks for reading!

Right on! Looking forward to it!