Rikis

Should make it RWZ or Dark Astoria so that anyone can join. Would make it more open. Not for me specifically, I am red only with an Ill/Kin, but I work on the 4th. But just in general.

I don't have access to Pines' right now at work. But some general advice: Dark Control really only has two skippable powers, the immobilizers since Dominators don't need to set up containment. And even then, the AoE immob can pair nicely with Heart of Darkness. As for slotting, it really is better to start using the basic IOs at 25 rather than SOs, so you don't constantly have to replace them. There is some general slotting advice, 1 Acc (or two if it's an AoE with lower base accuracy), 2 of the mez (hold, stun, fear, etc), 1-2 of the recharge for long cooldown powers or 1-2 end reduction for powers that recharge quickly. I honestly have no idea how to slot Shadow Field as I give it procs as soon as I get it at level 26. Where others might disagree with me is with Haunt. I slot them for damage instead of fear, Dark Control offers plenty of control already. So I would do 1 Acc, 3 Dam, 2 Recharge. I don't have any experience with Dark Assault, but with the amount of AoE control that Dark Control has, it'll give you plenty of opportunities to use and abuse Smite, Engulfing Shadows, and Midnight Grasp. So take them and slot them up. Again, generally speaking, you should be slotting 1 Acc, 3 damage, 1-2 end reduction and/or 1-2 recharge. And Life Drain could use at least one Heal. Sorry, if I had Pines' I could be more specific.

Part of the reason for this post is because my MM is reaching 50 and even though I do love the 20 seconds of +30% recharge, I would prefer that the damage bonus be lowered but spread to my pets. Like you, most of my MMs don't take their pets and even if they did, the MMs personal attacks do less damage than Defenders.

There's a vendor in Ouroborus who can convert them for you. You can email Astral and Empyrean Merits between characters (and even to other players) but you have to do it one merit at a time. Components and Threads cannot be emailed. You can convert 50 Empyrean Merits into a Transcendent Merit so that you can effectively transfer 50 Emp Merits at a time.

I'm a redside only type of player, so I didn't select any option there. I always felt it was a shame that there are only three hero groups, of which two taper off after level 30. It would have been nice to keep seeing Wyvern and Legacy Chain keep showing up throughout the entirety of the Rogue Isles. Since Wyvern encompasses Natural/Tech, Legacy Chain magic, and Longbow is general/science-y (a lot of the Wardens are science experiments), maybe a more Tech based hero group that used an ample supply of robots would have added a nice variety. I really do like this idea, that each isle should (or more likely should have had) a "signature" hero or heroes defending. Perhaps the Sharkhead do gooder might have been more vigilante than hero. It wouldn't work for a place like Granville, but for the rest of the isles it would have done wonders to increase each area's "personality". Did civilians lose their invulnerability at some point late in the live game? I remember you could always target them, but the first time I shot at one and he actually fell over I was actually quite startled. Then I used an AoE to clear them out of the way inside the Bank, so yeah I got over my shock pretty quickly. To be honest, I don't know. If this was something you could do in live, I would have remembered. Maybe it's an I24/25 badge or the Homecoming Devs added it for fun? This was added post shutdown. I actually never target civilians on purpose to kill them. Sure, they die due to my AoEs or letting my pets rampage all willy nilly, but I never use powers specifically on them. That is apparently a line I'm not willing to cross for whatever reason. Even my mad or no qualms characters don't do it. It's all a player issue, not a character concept limitation.

It does not, Frenzy's +Damage and +Recharge is only for the Mastermind themselves, not its pets. Not that the pets would benefit from the recharge.

I guess after the Stalker buffs in Issue 22 and the release of AT Enhancements, Stalker's Frenzy does leave a lot to be desired.

Indeed, I'm saying that Corruptors and Masterminds should get Frenzy's +Damage removed and to add something more specific to their ATs. For Corruptors, being able to Scourge from 100%. For Masterminds, giving them a "light" Supremacy as the vast majority of their damage is in their pets, not their own personal damage. And no, not *every* AT. Only the original 5 Villain ATs. So not for VEATs either.

I didn't say it didn't do anything. I said it didn't do anything "special". Since you missed it, it also increases Recharge for them.

Command of the Mastermind: +AoE Defense Aura Mark of Supremacy: +Resist and Pet Regen Aura Expedient Reinforcement: +Resist Aura Call to Arms: +Defense Aura Sovereign Right: +Resist Aura Edict of the Master: +Defense Aura

Frenzy is an amazing power, specially for the original villain ATs. For Dominators, it automagically fills the Domination bar, for Stalkers it hides them right then and there, and for Brutes it fills the Fury bar. But it provides no "special" benefit for Corruptors or Masterminds. Maybe we can improve it for them as well. For Corruptors, it should let them start scourging on their target from 100% HP rather than 50%. For Masterminds, it should provide a buff aura for minions: +15% Damage, +5% ToHit.

I was more annoyed than I should have been. If someone personally wants to stay at ranged? So be it. There are even two sets which are great for ranged only, Fiery Assault and Energy Assault. But to mention it as the best thing for a Dominator to do? No. For comparison, with melee damage scales: -Scrapper is at 1.125 -Dominator is at 1.05 -Stalker is at 1.0 For ranged damage scales: -Blaster is at 1.125 -Dominator is at 0.95 -Sentinels is at 0.90* *I could be off, they're not in the wiki so I just did some quick math.

A Dominator has a higher melee damage scale than a Stalker. Do you seriously expect their melee damage scale to be higher than Scrappers too? No, most of the Dominator's damage is in melee (for most sets). A Dominator should be in melee most of the time, after they've locked down the mob. Moving out of melee in order to get the best possible use of their cones. I weep whenever I see a Dominator stay at ranged. Such a waste. If a build doesn't have enough slots for their melee attacks, they've wasted too many on their ranged attacks.

It is interesting how quickly players will go redside when a free AE farm is offered in the Rogue Isles. Makes me think that maybe increasing rewards isn't as bad an idea as people are making it out to be. Perhaps not exp, as that does disrupt the flow of players who want to play at their own speed, but maybe infamy or merits might do. It'd have less of an effect on players trying villains/rogues than say, more exp, for sure, but it'd be more subtle and not as disruptive.

On my Necromancer/Time, I skipped Time Stop. I could have skipped Temporal Selection as well, but I have nothing better to replace it with so I kept it. I can't imagine skipping either Time's Juncture or Distortion Field. I do notice right away when Time's Juncture not up, that my poor undead start taking a significant amount of damage (since it gets turned off when I'm stunned/slept/held).

Honestly, the only non-choice I see for Masterminds is in Hybrid. Sadly there it's Support or waste an incarnate slot. Yes, Hybrid Assault affects pets, but only when you summon them with the toggle on. That's too wonky and unreliable with how often resummoning happens. For Alpha, for example, Agility Core Paragon is vital to my Necromancer/Time in order to achieve two things: perma Chrono Shift and S/L soft cap. I wouldn't take either Musculature or Intuition on her. For Destiny, there are two big winners: Barrier and Clarion. Clarion to keep yourself from being crowd controlled and barrier to help keep your pets alive. There can be arguments for Ageless (to help make a long cooldown power perma) or even Rebirth, for an "oh shit!" moment where all your pets get brought down low. For Judgement, that's really personal choice. Their debuffs are great, but their uptime is awful. Lore again, is up to personal choice. Well, if you're going for the support pet, you should pick one that gives an AoE buff rather than a single target buff. For Interface, I would say that the two of them without a DoT are underpowered, but I think, not sure, that DoTs are not working properly right now. Reactive or Degenerative are the best options, but that's an issue with that incarnate slot and not an MM only problem.

Having played an Illusion/Kinetics up to 32, entirely on redside, I have to say, we definitely need to port Illusion Control to Dominators. Let's do something like what was done FOR Controllers to get them Darkness Affinity, where they changed two powers. Let's change two powers in Illusion Control to fit Dominators. Something like this: T1) Spectral Shackles: Targeted AoE Immobilize (base 22.35 duration, recharge of 8s), centered on target, radius of 15. Returns some of the damage (psychic/crushing, base 15.51) as health after same time period as Spectral Wounds. T2) Blind T3) Deceive T4) Flash T5) Superior Invis T6) Dizzying Images: Cone AoE Disorient/Stun (base 11.92 duration, recharge of 90s), Range of 50, arc of 60 degrees. Psychic damage (base of 13.21) T7) Phantom Army T8) Spectral Terror T9) Phantasm That modified Illusion Control set for Dominators would feature 5 powers that are affected by Domination, equal to Earth Control, Electric Control, Gravity Control, and Ice Control. Trust me when I say that it hurts me for me to suggest taking out an LotG mule from a set. But if it meant I could play as an Illusion Control Dominator, so be it.

Why assume that? Why not assume there are a number of factors guiding their choices such as wanting to play where everyone else is playing, for example. Another interesting point I see being used here is "red side has always been lower pop" which is true, but that never stopped me from PUGing until near close when it seemed most everyone was only playing their 50s; PUGing now is nigh impossible, at least at the hours I tend to play (Late because of shift work)*. The pop was low, but not like this. The other side of that is "OK, so it's always been low, why not work to fix that?" Why leave it "broken" that way? *Coincidentally, when that pop shift happened near closing, I finally had to give up and create some heroes to play, just so I had the chance to PUG or team. I agree wholeheartedly, I played red only on Live (except for a short stint to power level a hero to 50 just to unlock Warshades, but that stint was about 2 hours long and I never left Atlas, it was right when AE was released). Here, I play red only and there is a difference, at least between here and Virtue. I could easily get a PuG going during my usual play times, which admittedly were mostly prime time. Here, while I'm off work for a bit, finding a team redside in the morning has been painful. The issue aren't players who are blue only, the issue are the ones who are willing to do both, but have no reason to come red side (because reading the amazing content found here is of no interest to them, as they won't read the content in Paragon City either).

If only it were "Mettlesome Mondays" where you play heroes on Mondays only, and the rest of the week you play villains.

So I had posted a previous build but I wasn't too happy with it. So now I'm actually playing through the game as a Necro/Time, with a build that will end up looking like this: Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 2.22 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Mastermind Primary Power Set: Necromancy Secondary Power Set: Time Manipulation Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Presence Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Zombie Horde (A) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Accuracy/Damage (3) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Damage/Endurance (3) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (5) Sovereign Right - Resistance Bonus (5) Edict of the Master - Defense Bonus (7) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Recharge/Pet +AoE Defense Aura Level 1: Time Crawl (A) Impeded Swiftness - Accuracy/Slow (43) Impeded Swiftness - Chance of Damage(Smashing) Level 2: Temporal Mending (A) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb (7) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance (11) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime (23) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime (37) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance (37) Preventive Medicine - Heal Level 4: Time's Juncture (A) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Endurance (9) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance (9) Dark Watcher's Despair - Recharge/Endurance (11) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff Level 6: Enchant Undead (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 8: Hover (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 10: Temporal Selection (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge (46) Doctored Wounds - Recharge Level 12: Grave Knight (A) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (13) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Damage (13) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Damage (15) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Endurance/Pet +Resist +Regen (15) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff (17) Soulbound Allegiance - Chance for Build Up Level 14: Fly (A) Empty Level 16: Distortion Field (A) Lockdown - Chance for +2 Mag Hold (17) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage(Lethal) (25) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage (25) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Chance of Damage(Psionic) (43) Neuronic Shutdown - Chance of Damage(Psionic) Level 18: Soul Extraction (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge (19) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage (19) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance (21) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (21) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge (23) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets Level 20: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (40) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (43) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 22: Assault (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 24: Vengeance (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 26: Lich (A) HamiO:Nucleolus Exposure (27) HamiO:Endoplasm Exposure (27) HamiO:Peroxisome Exposure (29) HamiO:Peroxisome Exposure (29) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage (31) Call to Arms - Defense Bonus Aura for Pets Level 28: Farsight (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (31) HamiO:Membrane Exposure (31) HamiO:Membrane Exposure (33) HamiO:Membrane Exposure Level 30: Provoke (A) Mocking Beratement - Recharge (33) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Range (33) Mocking Beratement - Accuracy/Recharge (34) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Recharge/Range (34) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Recharge (34) Mocking Beratement - Taunt Level 32: Dark Empowerment (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 35: Slowed Response (A) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff (36) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (36) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Recharge (36) Analyze Weakness - Defense Debuff/Endurance/Recharge (37) Touch of Lady Grey - Chance for Negative Damage Level 38: Chrono Shift (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Endurance (39) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy (39) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod (39) Efficacy Adaptor - Accuracy/Recharge (40) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge (40) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge Level 41: Dark Embrace (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (42) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) (42) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance (42) Aegis - Resistance Level 44: Soul Tentacles (A) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance (45) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown (45) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge (45) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (46) Ragnarok - Damage (46) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff Level 47: Soul Storm (A) Superior Entomb - Recharge/Chance for +Absorb (48) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold/Endurance/Recharge (48) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold/Endurance (48) Superior Entomb - Endurance/Recharge (50) Superior Entomb - Hold/Recharge (50) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold Level 49: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (50) Recharge Reduction IO Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 1: Supremacy Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 2: Health (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance Level 2: Hurdle (A) Empty Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End Level 2: Swift (A) Empty Level 50: Agility Core Paragon Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany Level 50: Support Core Embodiment Level 4: Ninja Run ------------ So far, she is at level 30 and her build looks like this: (Provoke has a single level 30 IO Acc) Wow, Provoke has made this so much easier to run. At level 12, I switched from +0/x1 to +0/x3. At level 26, I switched to +0/x5. With Provoke, I rarely get to use Soul Extraction, which is a shame. But I think I can increase my missions by one level. Between Assault and Temporal Selection, my Grave Knights have a sexy (but easily skippable/exchanged) +29.5% Damage and they get healed for more. I do feel somewhat unstoppable running around. I order my Grave Knights (to target the dangerous enemies) and Lich (to reposition) around, so I only keep my Zombies in Bodyguard mode to help me absorb some of the damage. I'm in the thick of things with my marauding undead horde due to Time's Juncture which provides ample support. Since I don't foresee other powers significantly changing my play style, they will only improve it (more damage through Slowed Response, more recharge through Chronos and Hasten), I decided to post about it now. Now, I mentioned "somewhat" unstoppable because well... there are weaknesses. Due to being in the melee, AoEs do tend to hurt a lot (damage to me + split to Zombies and damage to Zombies themselves). And though I consider myself as durable as a Tanker or Brute, I lack their control protection. If I'm stunned or held without a Break Free handy, pure chaos. I can't order my GKs or Lich and my Time's Juncture is turned off, which is very noticeable unfortunately. So far, I am loving this reiteration of this character (originally a Necro/Trick Arrow to 50 and then some incarnate stuff, then a Necro/Nature, 50+).

I know I see a lot of MM's on hero side, even demons, which imho is a bit odd for a hero. I'm probably one of the rare ones that's running a hero AT (scrapper) red side. My main on Homecoming is actually a Scrapper, entirely on red side. Likewise, I'm now running a Controller through, although that is being much more problematic.

I am surprised at the idea that all villain zones are "samey". The moment I'm in any of the isles, I know exactly which one I'm at because of how different they are from each other. I cannot say the same about Paragon City, that to me, is the "samey" zones over and over again. I cannot fathom how the red ATs lack "depth" while the hero ones don't, when it is the red ones that have the subtle nuances that make them great. Well, I'll stop now, I'm effectively reiterating what Leogunner has said in a less elegant way. In the end there will be people who are blue only no matter what, and like me, who are red only no matter what (there are DOZENS of us!). We aren't trying to attract those people, we are trying to attract the ones that aren't attached and need a carrot to step over the pond, as it were. Even if it is transitory.

The idea of an increased bonus for red side is not my favorite, for the reasons already stated (just get to 50 then switch) and personally, because I love redside content and outleveling arcs is a bummer. I already don't play with double exp because I don't want to keep turning on and off experience. Increasing merits for redside content though, is another matter. This would allow people who are even vigilantes to partake. It could even include doing a Villain or Rogue morality mission, for example give 60 merits for doing either Villain or Rogue, keep it at 40 for heroes and vigilantes. Merits are nice yes, but with the efficiency of fire farms for inf, increasing merits for one side wouldn't be such a hindrance to the other. I think an overall 50% increase in merits for all red side content would be good. They could also create Strike Forces for the missing level ranges, without having to create equivalent blue side content. For example, levels 10-15 is missing a Strike Force, while blues already have Positron. Likewise for range 30-35, while they already have Manticore. And though there isn't a specific 40-45 TF for blues, they do have the entirety of the Shadow Shard, so creating a single 40-45 Strike Force would be sufficient.

Absolutely not, if someone wants Frenzy, they should be a villain. If there was a way to get about 25% of the blueside population to the Rogue Isles, heroes would still outnumber villains by a significant margin. But even a 15-20% shift in population would do wonders for the isles (that really probably wouldn't do well with a population like Paragon City). I do like the ideas of an increased exp rate for Villains/Rogues (a temp solution but a formidable one) or increasing Merit Rewards for Rogue Isles content (a more permanent solution but weaker one).

I guess my biggest disappointments were that instead of a melee attack, it got Caltrops and since I personally don't care for snipes, it also as a snipe instead of another melee attack. I would have loved to have had Eagles Claw in Martial Assault.