Mind Control - Minor reworks please

[Savage Nightmare]

One of the standout powers in this set is Mass Confusion, a tier 9 ability with immense potential. However, there is a discrepancy in its effectiveness compared to other Area of Effect (AoE) Confuse powers due to its lengthy 4-minute cooldown before enhancements.

 

In a world where instant gratification and swift actions reign supreme, the extended cooldown of Mass Confusion seems out of place. When compared to similar AoE Confuse powers with much shorter cooldowns, it becomes apparent that this power may not be living up to its full potential.

As a tier 9 power, Mass Confusion should exude strength and impact, rivaling other competitive abilities in its tier. Players expect tier 9 powers to pack a punch and make a significant difference in combat, but the current state of Mass Confusion leaves something to be desired. By reducing its cooldown or enhancing its effects, Mass Confusion could become a force to be reckoned with, aligning it more closely with the power level expected of a tier 9 ability.

 

In the ever-evolving world of City of Heroes, balance and fine-tuning of powers are crucial to ensure an engaging and rewarding gameplay experience. By addressing the disparity in cooldown and potency of Mass Confusion, players can fully unleash the potential of the Mind Control Primary power set and feel the true strength of their mind-bending abilities.

 

Telekinesis needs some love too, but I’m sure anything is better than what it is.

 

Any additional opinions are most welcome from the community. I mainly play Dominators, and would love some feedback from fellow Doms out there./

[arcane]

I would be okay with them addressing the disparity you mention by increasing the cooldown of Seeds of Confusion.

[MoonSheep]

mass confusion has an advantage in that it doesn’t aggro enemies. it’s very powerful especially on doms where it can confuse everything in a mob for a notable duration and cause chaos

 

edit: telekinesis received an update in the recent patch. it now pulls enemies to the target and immobs them. AoE grouping effect could be increased to make it a bit more powerful, but is still a useful power

Edited March 12 by MoonSheep

[Savage Nightmare]

1 hour ago, MoonSheep said:

mass confusion has an advantage in that it doesn’t aggro enemies. it’s very powerful especially on doms where it can confuse everything in a mob for a notable duration and cause chaos

 

telekinesis received an unfortunate nerf in the recent update, it’s just an inconvenient nerf now - the AoE grouping effect is far too small

Understandable. However, I don’t see it as an advantage only because how often are you wanting to not agro a group when confusing them? Most of the time you’re in combat anyways. Especially how fast groups pulls when running content. I guess if you’re wanting to solo content. Then I can see that being worth it.

 

1 hour ago, arcane said:

I would be okay with them addressing the disparity you mention by increasing the cooldown of Seeds of Confusion.

My point was that the entire power set is underplayed, and for good reason. Increasing the cooldown of Seeds of Confusion doesn’t fix the rest of the power set being lackluster. I was just saying that change could bring a little more excitement to the build. Being able to “mind control” a little more frequent. I do see what you mean though. Increasing the cooldown would dim the spotlight a bit on seeds being a better choice for a mass confuse.

[MoonSheep]

38 minutes ago, Savage Nightmare said:

Understandable. However, I don’t see it as an advantage only because how often are you wanting to not agro a group when confusing them? Most of the time you’re in combat anyways. Especially how fast groups pulls when running content. I guess if you’re wanting to solo content. Then I can see that being worth it.

 

quite often - i just finished a manticore TF where i was ghosting to the end of missions and confusing mobs to clear themselves whilst defeating another mob

 

mind control is perhaps underplayed as it's quite a complex power set. most players are unable to keep speed boost applied to the whole team, yet alone think strategically about how to use sets like mind

 

we'd all like to see a slight reduction in the recharge time, but i don't find it a particularly negative feature on my mind/fire permadom

[Savage Nightmare]

53 minutes ago, MoonSheep said:

 

quite often - i just finished a manticore TF where i was ghosting to the end of missions and confusing mobs to clear themselves whilst defeating another mob

 

mind control is perhaps underplayed as it's quite a complex power set. most players are unable to keep speed boost applied to the whole team, yet alone think strategically about how to use sets like mind

 

we'd all like to see a slight reduction in the recharge time, but i don't find it a particularly negative feature on my mind/fire permadom

Fair enough. That's a very valid point. ghosting to the end. Thanks for the insight!

[schrodingercat]

I've thought about how mind control needs to be more of a puppet master/telekinesis type power set. One way to make this happen would be for your final power to clone any boss or lower tier npc and make it your pet. It would make mind controllers versatile beyond measure. If that isn't an option, an area effect gravity well type power, like what singularity does, but without the repel, would be nice.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Replacing telekinesis with a power that pulls mobs toward the center of a targeted location for a number of seconds could help the set quite a bit.

A re-worked targeted AOE negative repel version of telekinesis could be a good "long cooldown" T9, with mass confusion moving into the T6 slot vacated by telekinesis. Mass confusion could get a shorter recharge and a noticeably shorter duration (shorter than seeds, for example. The shorter duration could, for balance reasons, be reasonable given that mass confusion doesn't notify mobs (and therefore doesn't generate aggro the way seeds does) and because mass confusion is easier to use as a targeted AOE than seeds is as a cone. 

Edited March 12 by EnjoyTheJourney

[MoonSheep]

6 hours ago, EnjoyTheJourney said:

Replacing telekinesis with a power that pulls mobs toward the center of a targeted location for a number of seconds could help the set quite a bit.

 

the revised version released in the recent patch is exactly this - i feel its radius needs to be larger to be more effective though

 

on balance, i ran a TF using it last night and found it a lot better than my first use of it a few weeks ago - i’ll amend my post to reflect it’s still worth having. definitely some user experience needed to get the best use out of it

 

for example, it appears to continue working on defeated targets, meaning you have a ‘gravity well’ effect which is quite fun if hiding round a corner

[biostem]

11 hours ago, Savage Nightmare said:

some feedback

I've tried mind control a few times and it just doesn't seem to bring enough to the table.  One thing I'd love to see changed is to really dive into the, well, mental aspect of it.  Putting an enemy to sleep or confusing them should be small matters for such a being.  For its capstone power, I want to be able to completely brainwash an enemy and make them mine!  The availability of AoE confusion powers in other sets, and earlier to boot, doesn't help things either.

[Marshal_General]

What Mind Control needs is a power that actually controls minds. It does not have a pet like the other sets, so what I would like to see is the ability to Mind Control a mob in a mission that is Lt or lower and keep it until it dies, you release it, or you leave the mission.