KaizenSoze

Read Luminara's post a few up. He details some of the history of defense in the game.

Final note about controller testing. Unless something changes. If you want to solo regular content I would suggest Symphony/Storm. More team orientated or hard mode content I would Symphony/TA. Of course, you can use either for solo or team. Both can solo 4x8. Trick arrow just brings more debuff that stacks nicely with Symphony for very tough mobs.

I haven't seen this in my testing, but I believe you. It's possible you got very lucky with the rolls. The proc rate on Aria is poor, but if you're hitting enough targets you could get a couple of streaks.

Not true, specifically for Banes, because of the switch between two weapons. Gun and mace. I agree single weapon redraw does not hurt DPS.

Completely agree. Night Widows are good, just Fortunatas are awesome!

I do think Fortunatas are superior to Night Widows. One non-obvious thing Night Widows have over Fortunatas, durability, it is easy to make and manage a much more durable build than Fortunatas. Night Widows have easy perma Mind Link and have slow resists. This advantage is only noticeable in extreme content. Diantane, search for, Night Tank, if you're curious. Going to quibble here. Banes are stalker/debuffer with a nice defense aura. They have two powers that inflict -resist. Huntsman are what Sentinel want to be when they grow up. 🙂 Lots of AOE, high defense, and resists. A flying Huntsman is practically un-killable. The price is your single target damage sucks. One weakness that all Bane/Huntsman/Crab share. No Defense Debuff Resistance, zero, zlitch. You will always take the full debuff hit. This is very noticeable on ITFs. Also, there is no way to turn off weapons redraw, which does eat into your DPS if you are switching between gun and mace attacks. Mostly effects Banes, because you want to use Venom and Frag grenades.

Interesting. I was just testing with my controller and I definitely could CC things. I don't have a super strength toon to test with alas.

I might be mis-understanding. Cimerora mobs are notorious CC resistant, even before the changes. The surgeons are a pain for melee characters.

I agree. We had to cheat because we were running at 2x8 with three people. Not because of the attack type or aggro changes.

I love them. They are a challenge to fight. No snark intended, sometimes you have to turn the difficultly down. See 4x8 Carnies for most of my characters.

Yes, I made an SO only, cannot remember the AT at the moment. It was fine as the difficulty I would normal would have played with only SOs.

American Angel has good advice. You can copy your character to the beta server: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/beta/ I would start with things you normally solo at your normal difficultly on live. Then try the same thing on beta.

Yes, some mobs in some groups have been changed to use different attack types. Please, post what entire groups, or even 50% of a group that have been effected by this change. Specifics are the key if you want anything to change.

I have read your post all the way through twice. Please, post specific examples of mobs that are wrecking you now. I have run defenders, corruptors, and controllers through multiple tests against 4x8 groups. I am *not* seeing a massive difference. Yes, everyone will be taking some more damage even if they are not relying on softcapped s/l. This thread is mostly people who have tested and found that the change not huge and people who have been theorizing that it will apocalyptic. If you have found a group that is wrecking you now. Please, please, please, post a description of who you were fighting, what level, and what AT you were using. Posting your build would be helpful. Adjustments have been made, because testing found that Lord Recluse got rather nasty. The toxic/psi defense buffs are a result of people testing specific groups and finding an issues with specific mobs that got a boost. Example, Toxic Tarantulas. If you want the devs to listen, test and post specifics.

Yes, we did a three person 2x8 Posi. Didn't notice any issue due to the attack type or aggro changes. We did have to pop super insp for the last fight against the duplicates. But it was a 2x8 with three players.

The test off between the double proc hold vs hold/confuse is closer than you would think, but double proc hold wins by a little bit. Obviously, single target double with double proc hold is much higher, but so is end usage, and misses. When fighting 4x8, I noticed the misses quite a bit and the reduced hold times. Misses can be mitigated by Acid Arrow, but ageless is a absolute requirement if you're going to proc the holds. Symphony/TA is end heavy already, procing attacks pushes it over the edge to required ageless. Non-proc'ed hold/confuse and live w/o ageless, but you do have to watch your end bar in long fights. tldr Two holds procs, but better damage, requires ageless. hold/confuse no procs, better control, doesn't require ageless.

Working my way through the priority testing list: Symphony Control/Hymn of Dissonance: Fixed a particle bug that was ignoring color tinting. Color tinting appears to be working Symphony Control/Enfeebling Lullaby: Will no longer apply damage on targets that are asleep. Lullaby will not break sleep on a sleeping target. I would sleep with Poison Gas Arrow, then appled Lullaby. Also, Lullaby will not break Lullaby One caveat, if Chant has a knockdown proc, it will break sleep. This is working as designed. Symphony Control/Reverberant: Significantly lowered the delay between the player activating a Symphony power and Reverberant being able to repeat it. Casting speed does seem to be quicker

Yes, I have always found the constant back and forth between melee and range and issue with almost all Dominator assult sets. Savage/Symphony with the teleport pool solves a lot of the those issue, but there is the pet problem. The pet is really important to the set and it is too fragile and aggressive. Dominator do not have the tools to keep it alive. Controllers do have the tools, hence why I think this is a best on a controller.

Don't let Voltak hear you say TA is better Elec for support. 🙂 Trick Arrow works extra well with Symphony, even better than my Earth/TA controller, because TA buffs Symphony's good damage. On top of the stacking, and of course you can play completely at range. My Earth/TA is a control monster, but really lacks damage. Symphony/TA is a very good controller with great controller damage. Traps... sigh now I have test another alt. Because I always wanted to have a traps character. There is still the issue with it being too slow for the current player meta.

Haha. It's a great debuff no argument, but I just don't have the slots. Also, I would have to give up a power, the crazy thought would be to swap out Ice Arrow for the confuse. Then I would have the slots.

The synergy is amazing. Stacking -damage Stacking immobilizes Two AOE holds Stacking sleeps Only one hold. I didn't take ice arrow, no room or slots. I am happy with the damage w/o any procing. One downside, it's an end hog end with Cardiac.

Symphony/Trick Arrow Controller is the strongest combo I had found so far. You can stack a lot of mezz, damage and tohit debuff, to keep the pet alive. And it does good damage with oil slick and Confounding Chant.

I tried out Symphony/Storm. I found it to be a bit too chaotic as mobs were sliding out of edges of the cones. Symphony/Dark is a strong combo, not a quick killing combo, but safe and kills fast enough solo.

Ok. It was a joke.

Probably so few people would play that one of the devs could run it on their laptop for free. 🙂 Just a thought experiment, since some folks were complaining the game was too easy.