Change controller Containment to scale based on magnitude of control

[DougGraves]

Controllers do little damage.  This is especially a problem on teams with multiple controller or when facing one foe.  If you cannot control an AV you get little out of your control half.  But even facing a boss you can have them held and just plink away at them.

 

So I suggest having Containment provide a damage bonus based on the highest magnitude control on the target that causes containment.  If you are fighting a boss and keep stacking hold on them, you do more damage.  Or if multiple controllers are stacking the same control on a foe you get a damage bonus.

 

The damage bonus does not need to be linear (and probably should not be).  And it does not have to be by point of magnitude (although the computer could calculate that easily).

 

My recommendation is:

 

Have non-Hold control provide a 100% damage bonus at Mag 3, and an increase that scales down 50% for each additional Mag 3.  So Mag 3 is 100%, Mag 6 is 150%, Mag 9 is 175%, etc.  Maxing at ~200% due to math.  

 

Have Hold control provide a 100% damage bonus at Mag 3, and an increase that scales down 25% for each additional Mag 3.  So Mag 3 is 100%, mag 6 is 175%, Mag 9 is 231%, mag 12 is 273%, Mag 15 is 304%, etc.  Maxing at ~400% due to math.

 

Non-hold is treated differently because it is so easy to stack immobilization.  And all control sets have different powers, so giving the hold bonus for confuse but not fear would make some sets better than others.  Whereas all of the sets have about the same amount of hold.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2019 by DougGraves

[Dragon Crush]

I'd say numbers might need tweaking, but I support the basic idea. I'll see if I can offer a more substantive opinion later.

[Leogunner]

Controllers aren't meant to deal loads of damage.

 

Why not ask for containment damage on your pets or something?

[DougGraves]

3 minutes ago, Leogunner said:

Controllers aren't meant to deal loads of damage.

Why not ask for containment damage on your pets or something?

They were not meant to deal loads of damage.  That makes them hard to solo and not useful on high level teams where their control is not useful.

 

And containment damage on pets would only help on levels 32+ which leaves out a huge chunk of play.

[Leogunner]

1 minute ago, DougGraves said:

They were not meant to deal loads of damage.  That makes them hard to solo and not useful on high level teams where their control is not useful.

 

And containment damage on pets would only help on levels 32+ which leaves out a huge chunk of play.

You're not making a convincing argument.

 

They don't just have control to be useful to a team.  They have support.  And while it may be a slog to get to lvl 32, it's not unsurmountable plus you WILL be useful to a team pre-32.

 

If none of that works for you, slot damage proc IOs in some of your powers.

[DougGraves]

They have support, but defenders are better at support.  So if control is pointless, a controller is just worse than a defender.

 

And relying upon IOs to fix game balance is a bad idea.  That is a possible solution for a small percentage of players rather than fixing the problem for all of the players.  The game should not be balanced based on IOs.

[Leogunner]

5 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

They have support, but defenders are better at support.  So if control is pointless, a controller is just worse than a defender.

 

And relying upon IOs to fix game balance is a bad idea.  That is a possible solution for a small percentage of players rather than fixing the problem for all of the players.  The game should not be balanced based on IOs.

But control isn't pointless, especially not pre-32.  And while support isn't the best, it doesn't need to be since support stacks.  No one is going to turn down a Controller's Fortitude or Tar Patch just because a Defender is on the team.

 

And relying on IOs isn't a fix, it's an adaptation.  You don't like soloing slowly?  You either need to sacrifice power choices to pick up actual damage powers (you've got the Fighting Pool, you've got blasts in Sorcery or Force of Will) or you need to pony up some investment into enhancements that will get the job done.  I'd recommend looking up the proc-monster build philosophy and take advantage of them because DPS ATs actually don't get as much out of them as non-DPS ATs.

 

The game isn't balanced around IOs but it's also not balanced around soloing +2x4 spawns either.  Go play at +0x1 and tell me how slow it is.  I bet you it ain't that bad.