Illusion Control for Dominators

[Agorazium]

I know that it probably wouldn't be the best set for them, but can I have the option to fail?  ;D

[Super Homer]

Wasn't the issue that it would be too good, having all that personal damage on top of having an invulnerable taunting army of pets?

[MetaVileTerror]

But then how is it too good for Dominators, but not too good for Controllers?

[Sniktch]

Because Controllers have a lower base damage scale than Dominators, plus Dominators have a secondary that is damage as opposed to support.

[Super Homer]

Doms also barely have any attacks of their own. You cant be both, a Fire Controller and an Illusion Controller. Nearly no buff set has attacks on them. So by picking Illusion, you got your personal Tank army, but your damage is crippled.

 

Phantom Army does damage, but a big chunk of that damage is healed back if the target survives long enough.

Pool attacks are notoriously weak.

That leaves the controller basically just with a single Epic ST blast and a single epic AoE to deal damage.

 

I would not say Illusion is balanced for Controllers, at least not intentionally, but it's kept a bit in check by the way Controllers were designed.

[Blastit]

Because Controllers have a lower base damage scale than Dominators, plus Dominators have a secondary that is damage as opposed to support.

 

That Dominators don't have access to support sets is arguably a reason for why Illusion Control would be a weaker set in their hands. Debuffing enemies is much stronger than any Assault set. Dominators might solo faster but they can't reach the peaks of power that an ill/rad Controller can. Personal base DPS simply doesn't make up for flooring enemy resistances, accuracy and damage.

 

 

The main reason as I see it for why doms never got this set is that it has so few powers that work with Domination. Three out of nine powers are affected and only two of those are frequently ready. At the very least Group Invisibility would have to be replaced with a new power, maybe a cone stun Lightwave attack? Crib the Energy Torrent animation, recolour it to be glittery and presto! A lot of work but at least it's conceptually simple.

[Super Homer]

There were two power devs at shutdown, Synapse and... red something? I forget the other one... either way, one of them said in one of their video blogs, without hesitation, that Phantom Army was the reason Illusion was not given to Dominators. They also stated that the reason Scrappers never got the remaining melee sets was because those sets all have some too-strong attacks that would be broken in the hands of a Scrapper with crits, and that Rage would be ridiculous on a scrapper.

[Agorazium]

Wasn't the issue that it would be too good, having all that personal damage on top of having an invulnerable taunting army of pets?

 

I could see that being an issue, but I feel it would be on the weaker side for the same reason Gravity Control is - not many ways to take advantage of Domination.

[MetaVileTerror]

Yeah, the Domination issue scans a lot more truly than Illusion being "too good" for Dominators.  This sounds more like an Ice on Brutes issue to me, given the original Devs' track record.

 

Spectral Wounds - Domination Friendly

Blind - Domination Friendly

Deceive - Sort of Domination Friendly

Flash - Domination Friendly

Superior Invisibility - Nope

Group Invisibility - Nope

Phantom Army - Nope

Spectral Terror - Nope

Phantasm - Nope

 

So, at least two of those powers would need to be changed to really make Illusion synergize with Domination, and I imagine they wouldn't want to replace Spectral Terror with Terrify, since that just harps on Mind Control's territory.  Sounds like Proliferation was given a low priority in this case since the set would require more than just reshuffling the order of Powers.  Especially since toning down the damage output on powers is something we've seen the Devs do in the past during proliferation.

 

But if we were to do it for this server, I'd recommend that, yeah, Blastit's idea for a Cone Stun with Low Damage and a Moderate -To-Hit Debuff be used to replace Group Invisibility.  "Vibrant Glamour" or something to that effect.

And perhaps replace Superior Invisibility with a Power which uses the Chaining mechanic and applies a Placate effect a second or two after a Medium-Low Damage tick.  Targets affected use the "confusedly looking around" emote.  Some name like "Vanishing Act."

 

I think both of these Powers would stay true to the Illusion themes while providing unique enough menchanics that Illusion Control on Dominators will still feel as different from other Control sets as it does for Controllers.

[Agorazium]

I really like the idea of replacing one/both of the Invisibilities and giving them a stun. Except not with the Energy Torrent visuals, because Dominators can already get Energy Torrent. They could honestly just borrow Disrupt from Energy Aura, just make it a click instead of a toggle. Or Thunderclap/Hand Clap, call it "Sensory Overload" or something. Dominators are melee hybrids to an extent, so I feel a PBAoE would encourage their high risk/high reward playstyle. Give it a 60-90 second cooldown, then you have an AOE Domination ability up for every group, but one that is weaker than many other control sets due to the strength of PA.

 

No idea about a second replacement power, though. Maybe Stun, for an ST disorient? Call it "Feint"?