Mezmera

An aoe confuse of 16 targets you can have recharge in 15s is a ridiculously broken power. Moreso than the current state of nukes. Between how fast Seeds recharged and procing Creepers soaking aggro, if there was any, Plant players would hardly ever see any fire come their way. It's bad habit forming to rely on two ridiculously broken powers. Its not unlike how Mind Control was with Mass Confusion having a much faster recharge and the old TK before the IO system and even those powers weren't as broken as what Plant gets to put out in two powers. Plant players can adapt just like Mind players had to, the good thing is that it took forever for the other MC powers to get massaged into form, Plant gets theirs from the jump. This still looks like a S tier set to me. And hey who knows maybe now that they have confuses more in line with what they want we can see some reverting of the ridiculous amount of mag it takes to confuse things on those pesky 4stars. (Maybe they can even throw in some 'targets dont take damage unless controlled' on top)

They literally nerfed confuses on 4* content because the devs saw how well a Plant dommie performed in one. Heck to get people their dummies I used to lead lots of runs on my Mind dom with the more sensibly OP Mass Confusion. They punished any control with a confuse all because of one outlier power. Between how fast Seeds of Confusion recharged and how Creepers were with proccing a Plant dom could run interference and there was so little the NPCs could do to counteract. The best aoe hard control you can get that just so happens to have a 15s recharge is a little bit OP. Seeds needs to be fixed so they don't have the excuse to keep making content hard on control.

Simple fix just delete the power. You can blame Bob though let the Plant players keep their staplers, we don't want them migrating over to Fire control.

Blasters have higher base and capped HP, they have been given good survival abilities in their secondaries including some of their own mez protection, Blaster nukes are currently the best CC in the game. Maybe in the olden days of live I'd have agreed with some skill they were the lesser risky unarmored class but not the current state.

This page does a lot for control ATs. Pretty much everything is gravy for controls. Adaptive Recharge is a great idea for aoe controls. The Controller inherent being altered to allow pets to be managed better. Then Deep Sleep seems to be a well done soft control. There's a few things left I'd like to see for future alterations to finish off specifically control ATs: With Adaptive Recharge any procs in that power are a waste but some procs are necessary for certain bonuses like the Contagious Confusion proc or the Unbreakable proc in aoe holds. I'd like to see it where in a power with Adaptive Recharge if you have 4+ of a set in that power the proc fire rates scale up higher so there can be some slight adjustment so procs don't feel outright useless in these powers like they now do. For example the Contagious proc was a nice extra layering for more confuse in Mass Confusion but now it'll only hit like 2 targets, if you have the full set in there it's a shame you don't get some extra accounting for that. Another thing with Adaptive Recharge is that now some ST controls are becoming less than redundant when all you need to do is hit your aoe hold to stop the 3-5 targets on you rather than targeting them individually and holding each one. I'd like to see the control AT have their ST hold get some kind of universal debuff like say a -10% resistance on target since these are powers you're typically stuck taking anyways. This'll give some more want to use the ST holds over the aoe holds that now have similar recharge with Adaptive. One more thing a little lower on the list I'd like to see is that since Controllers got their nice alteration to their inherent to allow for direct control of pets maybe Dominators instead of any direct control over pets which now a lot are asking for we can maybe see them get some kind of damage modifier increase, at least melee. They are blaster-lite with a good deal more risk to play and so rather than altering hp caps and the like I think a damage modifier increase would appease most wanting to play this unarmored class. Anyways good stuff with this page so far. It feels like control ATs are almost where they should be.

Slotting the power for mez increases the mag rather than duration which is a quite good use for that. I slotted the 6 purple confuse set to get that 5% ranged defense to add on to the armor. Proc's wont fire well in this so if you have the slots I'd do the confuse set.

So Plant is doing quite well then is your summation eh? Even my Mind dom has trouble with Cims.

I find it peculiar to test control sets against critters with a vicious amount of control resistance like those you find in an ITF when those Cimerrorans use Shout. The only good controls on a regular ITF run were slows and knockup. If you're looking to test your survivability for when controls fail then sure ITF is a way to go. Otherwise how about testing Plant control on some of the new arcs there's a diverse group of targets to test on in them. Edit: This is done in jest I know Apollo, I'm using this to encourage better test structure

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.