Mezmera

Mass Confusion is borderline OP already I would never want them to alter it. Giving it Adaptive Recharge, an endurance reduction and reverted the accuracy feels like I'm gorging on too much cake. Can't imagine what it must feel like to be disappointed to have a similar power with objectively better stats.

Give the Plant players what they are asking for. 16 targets with 240s recharge with Adaptive Recharge seeing how they think it's cool to have Mind Control's best ability at t5. Though seeing how the power does allow you to sprinkle in some damage doing so more frequently would be preferred I'd think. 10 targets with a 90s recharge along with a smattering of damage and Adaptive Recharge sounds so much better than Mind Control's signature power. How about you meet them in the middle 8 targets at 120s and Adaptive Recharge should be the equivalent if you were looking to shave some recharge for more usage.

Yes Adaptive Recharge is a buff to aoe controls for certain. When you're down to 3-5 targets some boss level you'll want to get them under control fast. Rather than targeting each one individually you can now just hit them all in one fell swoop to catch them all then go about your business of clearing them, imagine the time that saves targeting and animations for each ST control on top of saving your bacon. Then that aoe control will be recharged easily before you get done with those stragglers. It makes aoe controls highly versatile. Yes the procs are getting nerfed in aoe holds sadly but Adaptive allows for tons better usage of the power for what it is intended to be used for. I ended up stripping my aoe hold down to the 5 purples, if the proc fires cool. I do think though this'll make you look at your ST controls sideways now because they mostly will be used as set mules since you have to take some of them. Maybe at a later time the devs can alter some of the ST controls so they don't feel as redundant as they now do.

Yeah I'd never play a Sentinel so I was kind of alluding to the Tanks, Brutes and Scrappers of the world. But sure I'd advocate that small +absorb for Sents as well.

Gave this a go on a Stalker. Neat set it feels very Bio-Lite. The similar powers you may want to proc on Bio have Adaptive Recharge on Psi so that kind of limits the power to a set mule instead. Aura of Insanity is a novel if not crazy idea. I slotted mine for confuse and it does that job well but it is annoying to see targets run off from the fear component. My biggest gripe would actually be from the Memento Mori specifically to Stalkers. I think the +HP portion is a novel idea for the other ATs but on Stalkers with their 400 hp less cap than Scrappers for example I know I have to be getting much less out of the unique aspect of it. The power feels like Parasitic Aura with a few nuanced alterations but at least with PA that extra +absorb feels like you're getting good use on all the ATs. Maybe the Stalker version can get some small +absorb as well since at 1700 hp built in I never see myself less than the 2088 cap whenever I use Memento.

That's true only being able to slot a few confuse dmg procs doesn't outweigh slotting it with the purple set.

Gave this another go. I respec'd back in the Glittering Column, it did feel like a distraction opener and mid fight refresh, decent little semi-situational power I'll give the -tohitt suggestion a try. Fighting those new Blackwing +4x8 Pyro actually felt like I was clearing the mobs a little faster than my Mind dom with the primary being different but pretty much everything else matching. That's pretty impressive considering I haven't trained the best deployment of the CC powers quite yet. Although it does feel a lot looser and a good deal less safer than my Mind dom which is a fine tradeoff, also those new Blackwing are rough too. I do still think it may use a little bit too much endurance otherwise yeah it feels good to play. I also agree about the ranged aoe hold fx it looks funny superman punching the ground when the targets are far away and seems more appropriate if the targets are surrounding you. All in all yeah this is cool I'd play it.

Yes Plant won't be a head above the rest of the controls but it's not getting such a shellacking people are making it out to be. Other controls are being brought up and I don't see any indicators that Plant won't still be with the top of the pack, just not dominating over them. Honestly the initial Seeds change was completely adequate. You were getting to confuse 10 targets with a sprinkle of damage every 90s enhanceable. Okay how about we make it 6 more targets and add in 150s more? Plus it's still adding in your own damage. They added in that nice Adaptive Recharge function and still it's not good enough at 10 targets?! Wild. For what it's worth the dev team did quite well with this (minus the admitted oversight on Creepers). I don't envy having to deal with the tsunami of criticism for tuning lingering objectively OP powers while leaving them still really great powers to use and yet still get pissed on for it.

A direct heal you receive from others you would get 25% of its value that you would normally receive. Stalkers would receive 15% of a heal from others. So things like kin and nature heals will be of lowish value along with direct heals from things like heal other from Empathy when under these effects. BUT Empathy does get a full heal out of Absorb Pain along with that one from Pain Domination. Their intention for this is pretty well written out in their Design Notes.

Okay yeah this is real good. Its subtle but pretty drastic compared to what I'm used to. Mass Confusion and Total Domination are in much easier reach of use on my bar through practice. Once I got used to the faster recharge and I had like 2-3 bosses left on me rather than dig deep into my tray for a ST hold or confuse and target each individually I was just able to hit my easier accessible aoe control and get them all and not be worried that I wasted its use for the next fight since it recharged much quicker. Then fighting Carnies I got hit with their wicked -tohitt debuff as I was using Mass Confusion and didn't hit a single target and it was so nice to have it recharge almost instantly so I could adjust for that -tohitt on me and then blast them with Mass Confusion again. Adaptive Recharge is a keeper proc rates be damned. Though I don't think it should be baked onto everything in the game as a fix-all but I do like what it does for the aoe controls and their intended use.

I haven't tested this yet but I'd have to say these changes seem real nice, Adaptive Recharge theoretically comes off more user friendly for what that power is actually intended to be used primarily for. Too bad about getting lower proc values out of the aoe holds, which I had been trained to save for big mobs so a couple surefire procs in there was getting some decent damage on the side. I'd usually have the purple proc and a psi proc in there at least so I guess I'll take off the extra slot. I'm not sure adding a damage component would be needed, sure it'll add more consistency to the power instead of relying on procs but I think Adaptive Recharge on both Total Domination and Mass Confusion goes a long way already plus the small accuracy buff on a few of the powers is bonus dessert. Also that endurance cost reduction is bonkers too. Quality stuff gonna see how my dommie handles right now.

Pretty strong set you have here. I found myself skipping Sparkling Cage and Glittering Column, although I did give the taunt pillar a try it's pretty handy in spurts but is just on the edge of usefulness and I needed the power elsewhere though I didn't like to lose it. This is a top damage control set though the hard control felt a little lacking so that's the tradeoff. It does feel like a bit of an endurance hog even for a dom which are notorious for sucking endurance, usually I can live well on the edge but I found it hard to do on this set even with using some of my go-to endurance management. This may be also because I was leading a lot with 2 of the aoe control powers either Explosive+Missiles or Chain+Hypnotizing. Plus I was also doing the new Kalisti villain arc and there's a lot of -endurance enemies and those new Blackwing are rough with their trip mines. My synopsis: Good showy set. Top tier damage, above average control. I'd look to maybe massage the endurance consumption a bit.

Yeah I can see it having positive feedback its a neat idea for those longer recharging aoe controls. I was wondering too about how procs would be impacted. Since holds can slot a lot of damage procs and there is a long recharge on an aoe hold this made for some good extra damage on the sly. Were people finding at the full 16 targets hit procs were firing as before, less, more? Were procs over or under-firing on less targets?

They did nerf confuses to the floor on 4stars based solely on watching how good of a confuse Seeds of Confusion allowed Plant doms to behave in those. That in turn had a large affect on all the other control sets that didn't have such an abusive confuse power. Maybe fixing Seeds of Confusion earlier wouldn't have led to a nerf to other control sets in 4stars to where they are less than ideal. How OP Seeds of Confusion is was a crutch to control players creating bad habits and setting terrible precedents. Sure there also being such a nerf to Creepers as well comes off a little heavy handed maybe but ohly well learn to leverage the other powers in the set that just got better. Having a 1-2 buzzsaw seems a little cheap as it was. As far as 'meta' goes it could flip like a switch. If the devs had the control balancing to their liking all they'd have to do is introduce content where enemies take paltry damage unless they are mezzed thus making having some control characters in the team 'meta'.

Bombardment has a pure 50 DMG IO the same value as a generic 50 IO. Since you have the proc already slotted why not substitute the generic IO for the set one it'll still be the same value and you net the range bonus. All gain, no loss.

Okay for Energy you're going to want to take Bone Smasher, Total Focus, Snipe, Power Burst and Power Up. Everything else is meh in comparison. If you want aoe don't take Whirling Hands, the epic pools have some nasty aoe powers in them. Total Focus puts you into a 100% guaranteed Energy Release which you always will want to follow up with Burst. TF, Burst and Snipe are an amazing 3-piece combo, you won't want to use anything else. Plus they are also highly proccable. I have 3 Heca's w/proc, 2 more melee procs and the Dommie +Dmg ATO in Total Focus. Snipe is half setted with Manticore then 3 more procs, you can also put the decimation proc in here it'll fire decently. Then I have Burst with 3 *Apocs* w/proc 2 more procs and then you can do a dmg/acc HO or just an acc IO or FF proc. As for Bone Smasher you'll rarely use it but it's still decent melee damage you can either proc out or if you need a purple set you can slot the stun set here. You can manipulate the enhanced recharge some on Total Focus and maybe the Snipe but you'll want to leave Burst with no added recharge, as a dom you're aiming to build for high recharge to achieve permadom which that global recharge will feed into your best attacks so not much need to go ruining ideal proc rates on your powers. For all of my aoe needs on my Energy dommies I typically go with Soul Mastery for Soul Drain, Dark Obliteration, Dark Consumption and Dark Embrace. You're getting a nasty highly proccable power in Dark Obliteration. Soul Drain is your very own Fulcrum Shift but it also nets you lots of +tohitt and does good damage to the enemies, too bad they lowered the radius but still decent. Dark Consumption is a nice utility power I like to have to fix any endurance issues when I'm far off from Domination and drained most of my endurance, 2-3 targets will fill you right back up so this'll let you go ham as you please, plus it does some damage and is highly proccable so yet another place to draw more aoe dmg from, rather small radius though so keep that in mind. Then the armor is very nice to have.

What are you on about?! Mind isn't purely range. It has whatever necessary range you want to play it as. If you like to melee its quite adept in melee range with only slight positioning adjustments when you use Terrify or the new TK. Mind IS king of aoe control though, just so many options. There's a mission on I believe the end of the Heldenjeager arc where there's an ambush all at once of like 70 War Hulks. The leader wanted to surprise us and I was on my Mind dommie who has Burnout. After stopping near all 70 dead in their tracks I was like sheesh is that all? They swore it was so much more dangerous, I didn't let them in on the lil ol' dommie burning out all of their controls in a span of 6s. As far as what I'd pair with it if you want melee I'd say Energy has the perfect balance of great powers to form a real good chain. Total Focus and Bone Smasher are beastly melee powers and Power Burst and Snipe can be played as ranged melee finishers. Stone's not bad but what I don't like about it is there's too many 'good' powers but not enough consolidated 'great' ones. Its like going to an all you can eat buffet vs having a nice fat juicy filet mignon. My main is Mind/Nrg, love it, it plays however you like it to play.

Actually. There was a test of Dominator assaults a little while ago. While it was easy to ascertain the more pets the better damage output on a single target i.e. Illusion and Patron pets, there was a wide range of testing of the various assaults. It seems the assaults are all pretty well balanced, capable of various things depending on what you want it to do albeit there is more ST focused sets and other more AoE oriented. My Energy assault dommie was not outdone once by a dom with Fire assault. That was left to the Martial assault dommie.... Envenomed Blades allowing pets to get in on the proc'd extra damage ticks is pretty nifty, who knew?! Fire assault is quite fine, especially if you like to play at range. If you don't mind getting your hands dirty the dpa on Total Focus, Power Burst and Snipe are hard to match, even factoring in Total Focus' longer animation. What let other sets keep up to Energy mostly is being able to get the pvp -res proc into a nice consistent firing chain which Energy doesn't have a good pbaoe power it would fire well in. Plus Energy can't get its pets to cheat. Also, If you go Fire assault you're almost shoehorned into taking Fire Mastery. Where Energy and most other assaults can pick an epic pool at their leisure. Plant/Fire is a solid dommie. Top overall control set and Energy's little brother assault.

When they upped the rewards for Aeon I was able to put together pug Aeons a lot more frequently, calling barriers through chat with a few people I trusted on Incan and getting them done in 50ish minutes, this was before anyone had much experience. Lots of these pugs ended up joining in to form these "toxic" discords. Discord allows for better coordination of events and in game play and to be able to hold someone slacking off to account better than someone you just pick up from LFG. If there wasn't the juicy carrot added these communities wouldn't have sprung up as they had.

I can run a 4star Aeon or Lady Grey in the time it takes to build a league and enough level shifts to be ready to take on the Minotaur. Are you telling me the rewards from Labyrinth are anywhere as good as 30 Aethers, tons of Merits, Incarnate Salvage, AND a chance at a unique 400 mil enhancement? Or how quickly you can run a Tinpex or log in to mooch a Hamidon?

Honestly I think it's the non unique rewards holding it back after the initial shine has worn off. You would hardly see anyone run a 4star Aeon until they added all those PAPs and adjusted the rewards. Which if I wanted those kinds of rewards atm I'd rather run one of those or a Apex/Tin Mage. Not everyone cares much for badges or costume overlays. I still think there should have been a new event enhancement set some kind of universal damage or a universal armor set that you could only get through redeeming labyrinth merits for kills to a vendor there. It was neat the one time I went, there's better things to do with my time in game.

Having just run the remaining villain SF's I needed for this badge on a few characters I must say I like the intent of this. The two SF's I like the least combined are no worse than running a Synapse. I think this'll be a good way to get more participation in villain stuff and would prefer the hero accolade equivalent to be more tedious to do. Both sides have their easier paths for certain accolades, this one should be easier for villains imo. Plus these SF's are plain more fun to do.

One other thing about Sheer Willpower. Its usefulness seems overly skewed towards squishies less so Doms. I know Megalomaniac is skewed more towards control but most any AT has access to a hold. Unless there's some kind of gimmick baked in like tp protection against teleswaps or something I can't see half my roster of characters wanting to bother with this one.

This seems much more layered and complex than anything thrown at us, even Hamidon is old hat by now. Most of the other raid stuff rewards the multipurpose enhancements but there's already a glut of those kinds of rewards already. I'd like to see a new event enhancement set along the lines of SBB but a set that is really good. That would seem like a good reward for something that sounds awful tough. I'm all for fun but it'd be even more fun if there's neat stuff dropping from this. Hopefully those are the things not detailed yet.

Yeah I don't think I disagree here. If you're looking at the other click accolades they are all quite powerful in what they bring. A 60s duration large breakfree I could see maybe being too good. Maybe it could be the instant breakfree with 30s duration then the accolade has a 15min recharge. Seems cool but then looking at Demonic, Megalo and Gaes its kind of meh in comparison.