issue 27 Focused Feedback: Symphony Control

[PorkTips]

On 7/12/2022 at 5:22 PM, jojogladco said:

Playing through with a Symph/Storm Controller the set felt fluid and fun from low levels and after boosting to 50 and fulling kitting out felt like a monster.

 

Might be the 1st confuse power I just can't be bothered to use, but because everything else in the kit just melts face and makes that extra bit of mitigation feel not needed. 

 

Symphony/Storm is my first Symphony Control character I plan to play also, because I'm a stormie. I cant wait for all of this.

[Vanden]

5 hours ago, Mezmera said:

Then the Fire Dominator takes advantage of yet another broken ability that has been allowed to linger far too long in Bonfire with that KB>KD proc.  Take that away like they would have quickly fixed if this was the live crew and you'd find a dom with average control and good damage output.  

 

The live crew are the ones that added that trick.

[Widower]

This is not a thread about Plant Control, or Fire Control, or any form of control other than Symphony. If you want to post about powersets that aren't Symphony Control, do that somewhere else.

[Arcadio]

Impassioned Serenade's reverberant version is using a recharge of the base 8 seconds instead of half that like all the other controls.

[AlwaysAPrice]

Just want to echo two things I've seen and weigh in on a third.

1) A rename to Symphonic Control would indeed be nice just to both echo "sonic" and feel less conceptually locked-in as it provides for the term to be a more metaphorical catchall for however players plan to interpret the nature of the abilities for their character.

2) For the same reason, a note-less visual theme would be very boss. Not something I think the set needs to have at its launch, we've always made do with conceptually versatile sets' default graphics until more flexible options were introduced just fine, but should definitely be considered for the pipeline.

3) I think the set's Confuse doing damage is good. Even as in favor of allowing for conceptual versatility as my previous two notes show I am, I still like sets to mechanically realize their basic concept, and it makes complete sense that a sound/music-themed powerset's Confuse would not go undetected by hearing enemies. It's not intended to be a subtle psychic manipulation like most other ST confuses are framed.

[oedipus_tex]

I think this set has given us a lot to talk about that's beyond the scope of the feedback thread. I started a thread in the Dominator forum here where we can flesh out our perceptions, strategies and ideas so that we don't fill the beta forum with our back and forth:

 

Look forward to chatting with folks about this latest gift. Again thank you to the developers for blessing us with new digital toys to obsess over. 🙂

[Numair]

I guess because the set as a whole is loud… other confuse powers are „silent“ (mind) „mischievous“ (dark) or due to changes in air pressure (cold). 
 

So at least from a thematic approach I can understand why they do damage and might alert others.

Edited July 17, 2022 by Numair

[Aeolus]

21 hours ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

I have trouble envisioning Symph/Fire thematically, but that does seem like the route to go. I'm not used to playing an all ranged dominator, lol. All the other ones I've tried either get into melee or joust in and out, so this will be interesting to try.

Symphony looks excellent with an orange/yellow color scheme and it pairs nicely, visually, with /fire on Dominators.  First thing that came to my mind was a Succubus-type character.

[Voltak]

58 minutes ago, Numair said:

I guess because the set as a whole is loud… other confuse powers are „silent“ (mind) „mischievous“ (dark) or due to changes in air pressure (cold). 
 

So at least from a thematic approach I can understand why they do damage and might alert others.

There are sound waves that are unheard or not capable to be heard by some living beings. 
Thematically there is no need to justify the aggro, that's not an obligation. 

There are sounds that place enemies to sleep too and do not require any aggro to be caused either. 

So, thematically we can get rid of the aggro. 

[rexfur]

I see a lot of Minor DMG, but no Major?

[357trall]

After making a controller on the test server and playing with it for a short bit, Symphony Control seems like a very pretty blast set.

 

1) 7/9 powers do damage

2) 4 cones that take ranged AoE sets, powers take alot of sets

3) seems like the set is designed for proc monstering

4) Reverberant is too powerful. Pet doesn't have a duration, is very capable of attacking things and is tougher then it should be(40%-60% damage resistance with it being 90% to psi)

5) Very pretty, but looks like your character is spitting things.

6) Doesn't have any subpar or niche powers

 

I do like the set, looks nice and plays smooth, but it doesn't seem like a control set.

[Marbing]

1 hour ago, rexfur said:

I see a lot of Minor DMG, but no Major?

Major Damage is on vacation.

[sbloyd]

20 hours ago, gameboy1234 said:

I went to the Icon store in AP today and someone's Symphony Control pet was stuck outside of the doors, unable to enter.  Possible AI bug.  Also when I clicked on the pet it said "Earth Control" in the target window even though it was obviously a Symphony pet.

 

 

 

 

Common bug for Singularity, so...

[Zepp]

1 hour ago, Marbing said:

Major Damage is on vacation.

I thought Major Damage was promoted to General Damage...

[Captain Powerhouse]

Thank you everyone for all the feedback. Due to a RL emergency will likely not be able to post a follow-up anytime soon but wanted to quickly address a recurring theme that seems to have stalled the thread:

 

As far as the single target confuse goes, 3 powers don’t make a rule. If 100 powers existed that followed the rule, then, at that point, it could be considered mandatory that a single target confuse needs to be no-notify. Once upon a time, every AoE confuse didn’t alert, until one was created that did. 

 

While creating the set, I wanted to make something different, something that played uniquely. The confuse in this set, from my perspective, is meant to be seen more as you would a hold or a stun, one that happens to bring the target’s abilities to aid you. 

 

Symphony is meant to be a loud set, and stealth or discretion are definitively far removed from its design direction. This might not mean future ST confuses, if any, will start notifying, but it also does not mean there wont ever again be a ST confuse that notifies. If it fits the direction and theme of a set, a similar thing might be seen again.

 

The issues with interface DoT and damaging sleep powers is a known one, until recently there was no obvious way around it but during the development of this set we figured a way around it and are testing it right now with Confounding Chant (its damage ticks don’t apply to sleeping targets.) If this technique works as expected, it will eventually be applied to interface DoTs.

 

All this said, please, don’t spend pages arguing with each other. State your opinions and don’t try to convince each other. Friendly discussions about potential tactics are fine, but when you start repeating things at each other, you are just making keeping up with the feedback much harder.

[Zepp]

I am enjoying the leveling experience so far (Symph/Sonic Dom). Although I am still low level, the early progression is fairly good and it feels like it has a good balance between control and damage.

 

I am mainly soloing, but will comment if I have any issues solo or team.

 

I will definitely test the Confounding DoT with sleep once I have it in my build.

[xColdxFusionx]

I love the concept behind Symphony Control! As someone who has been around music for a long time, I love the idea of using The Power Of Music to fight my foes!

 

That being said, we really need the sounds replaced with less dissonant effects. Enfeebling Lullaby and Confounding Chant in particular quite literally give me a headache. I don't want to think about myself or someone else with more sensitive hearing partying up with a Symphonic Control user for an hour-long Task Force and having to suffer through these effects.

Edited July 19, 2022 by xColdxFusionx
Taking back my suggestion to make different sounds optional; other people can hear them too!

[Herotu]

So who's planning to mod this powerset to have your own favourite musical genre instead of the default sounds?

[Dawnbr3ak3r925]

23 minutes ago, Herotu said:

So who's planning to mod this powerset to have your own favourite musical genre instead of the default sounds?

I joked when Page 4 was announced that I would replace the noises with the "keg smack" from Slipknot's "Duality".

[Nurvus]

Hymn of Dissonance and Enfeebling Lullaby have a spell effect that sort of looks like a ton of spit. It isn't affected by tinting either. I just can't not see a literal spray of saliva, but maybe it's just me. I guess if you can't unsee it now it may be worth a touch up.

 

[LastHumanSoldier]

After extensive playtime on both a Controller Sym/Dark and Dom Sym/Dark I have come to the the conclusion:
SFX for this set needs to be changed.

 

Its Symphony Control.
Why all the dissonant sounds???

Can you imagine a full team of symphony controllers and pets spamming these SFX and not going absolutely bonkers?

Its really bad solo, its going to be unbearable in teams.

If there is any set in the game needing a sound replacement mod, this is the one.

[Sovera]

10 hours ago, LastHumanSoldier said:

After extensive playtime on both a Controller Sym/Dark and Dom Sym/Dark I have come to the the conclusion:
SFX for this set needs to be changed.

 

Its Symphony Control.
Why all the dissonant sounds???

Can you imagine a full team of symphony controllers and pets spamming these SFX and not going absolutely bonkers?

Its really bad solo, its going to be unbearable in teams.

If there is any set in the game needing a sound replacement mod, this is the one.

 

I propose (not fully serious) to replace all sounds with excerpts of:

 

 

On a more serious note this is a theme. In Lost Ark the most common complaint about the Bard was that all 'spells' were dissonant. Like a quick scratch along the chords of an harp.

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Sovera

[Marshal_General]

9 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

I propose (not fully serious) to replace all sounds with excerpts of:

 

 

On a more serious note this is a theme. In Lost Ark the most common complaint about the Bard was that all 'spells' were dissonant. Like a quick scratch along the chords of an harp.

 

I used to drag that mission out just to listen to that music. Another good one is the song from I Walk Into Empty.

 

If I find the sounds annoying, I just might replace them with some good old Aretha Franklin scat which would be hilarious.

[Nemu]

10 hours ago, LastHumanSoldier said:

Why all the dissonant sounds???

Maybe Capt Powerhouse is a Pierrot Lunaire fan.

[Sovera]

Perhaps rename it as Cacophony Control. I am serious this time, but if there is little melodic about the set then it would fit.