Mind Control - Mass Confusion recharge time

[Primantis]

Not sure how hard this idea would be to implement but what about swapping out a power for a pet power called Thrall. You mind control a target and permanently put it under your control until it dies or you release it. Dismissing it would break the thrall and it would go back to aggro behavior. Not sure what scale a pet lands vs a minion, Lieutenant, Boss. Also there might be challenges on how does that interact with Mission bosses that need to be killed for mission complete. Then again you could just dismiss and kill. Give the power regular pet recharge time so it isn't always quite up but often enough to have it. Also as a unique bonus you'd have your pick of what you'd want thralled so if you like a certain mob you'd have something really versatile compared to other sets. The other idea would be kinda like how we have lore pets that we can slot but then you'd need to program UI elements to allow for slotting what you'd want.

 

Telekinesis used to be much better at launch and it got nerfed hard. You could hold AVs with it as I believe it used to stack Magnitude on the hold.

 

 

I came here to suggest this. For a power set called "Mind Control", there's a startling lack of actual *mind controlling* going on.

 

To make sure the pet doesn't instantly get killed by friendly fire, it could also potentially be 'turned' so that it is considered a psuedo pet. Instead of merely a long-term confused mob or something.

 

This has the added bonus of giving MC a pet, and a unique one that fits the theme of the set.

 

 

They could potentially also use the same tech they demonstrated in some of the Sentinel armor sets. Have "Thrall" be a level 32 power alongside Mass Confusion. The player can choose either one or the other. Lore-wise the hero is either good at confusing a bunch of critters at once, or they've honed their skills to focus all their confusion prowess on a single target, turning it into a Thrall.

[HeroReborn]

If a thrall power was to be considered, (I'd actually prefer not to change any of the powers out) it could possibly be done easier via selecting from a list of predetermined mobs similar to lore pets e.g. choose your Hellion, or a Skull, or a Longbow etc. Even done only visually through the custom/powers custom stuff.

 

 

[Zumberge]

I’ve played a lot of Mind Control and have never felt like the set is underpowered. I’ve played a little bit of Elec and Plant, not really enough to get a read on the sets, but from the way players talk about their confuses it sounds more like they need to be nerfed rather than Mind’s buffed, though I wouldn’t oppose Total Dom and Mass Confuse have their acc penalties removed.

 

The original post was made with the idea that a single power should be looked into by the numbers people and dealt with accordingly, though the thread of the thread's been lost along the way, veering into concepts for an over-engineered rework.  Mind is fine, but a little bump wouldn't hurt.

 

After seeing Elec's AoE confuse in action I can confirm that it takes a little while to propagate and it isn't a sure-fire confuse-all-the-enemies-in-the-spawn power; I'd need to get my hands on it to say more.  Meanwhile, I have very high opinion of Our Lord and Savior Plant Control, which you can probably guess, but I'm gonna say something that you very rarely hear people say about their pet ATs or power sets: You're right, it could be nerfed.  You could increase the recharge and decrease the duration by a third in each direction (25-ish second confuse on an 80 second cooldown), and it would still be really, really good.

 

_{(Also, come on guys.  "Thrall?"  The proper term is "mindslave.")}

[Vanden]

I’ve played a lot of Mind Control and have never felt like the set is underpowered. I’ve played a little bit of Elec and Plant, not really enough to get a read on the sets, but from the way players talk about their confuses it sounds more like they need to be nerfed rather than Mind’s buffed, though I wouldn’t oppose Total Dom and Mass Confuse have their acc penalties removed.

 

The original post was made with the idea that a single power should be looked into by the numbers people and dealt with accordingly, though the thread of the thread's been lost along the way, veering into concepts for an over-engineered rework.  Mind is fine, but a little bump wouldn't hurt.

 

After seeing Elec's AoE confuse in action I can confirm that it takes a little while to propagate and it isn't a sure-fire confuse-all-the-enemies-in-the-spawn power; I'd need to get my hands on it to say more.  Meanwhile, I have very high opinion of Our Lord and Savior Plant Control, which you can probably guess, but I'm gonna say something that you very rarely hear people say about their pet ATs or power sets: You're right, it could be nerfed.  You could increase the recharge and decrease the duration by a third in each direction (25-ish second confuse on an 80 second cooldown), and it would still be really, really good.

 

_{(Also, come on guys.  "Thrall?"  The proper term is "mindslave.")}

 

The main reason I don't think Mass Confuse's recharge should be reduced is that I don't think it should be possible to lock down an entire spawn permanently with one power. (That's why I'd be fine with buffing the accuracy.) Seeds of Confusion can do that, so when the topic of MC vs. SoC comes up, I always lean towards nerfing SoC rather than buffing MC. I don't know what kind of nerf would be most appropriate; I don't want SoC to suck, but it's clearly overperforming. Maybe reducing the max number of targets from 16 to 10 or 5?

 

Can't permanently lock down an entire spawn if it can't affect an entire spawn

[Zumberge]

The main reason I don't think Mass Confuse's recharge should be reduced is that I don't think it should be possible to lock down an entire spawn permanently with one power. (That's why I'd be fine with buffing the accuracy.) Seeds of Confusion can do that, so when the topic of MC vs. SoC comes up, I always lean towards nerfing SoC rather than buffing MC. I don't know what kind of nerf would be most appropriate; I don't want SoC to suck, but it's clearly overperforming. Maybe reducing the max number of targets from 16 to 10 or 5?

 

Can't permanently lock down an entire spawn if it can't affect an entire spawn

 

Ohhh, you made me do the Big Thonk with this one.

 

So if I'm reading this correctly - and proposing a plausible scenario as an example - a lone Controller or Dominator should not be able to go up to an eight-player spawn and render them harmless permanently; that is to say, make them either unable to attack period, or unable to attack the Controller/Dominator or other players, from that point on into the indeterminate future.  For example, a Plant Controller should not be able to throw down Seeds, then whittle groups down with Roots and Carrion Creepers as they re-apply Seeds as necessary, because in essence it's zero risk with all reward, something that not only other archetypes aren't capable of, but other power sets in the same AT can't do.

 

I hadn't thought about it that way, but upon reflection this was the reason AoE holds had their recharge increased in the early days.  Viewed from this perspective, Mind Control doesn't have a bad AoE confuse, it has two AoE hard lockdowns.

[Bossk_Hogg]

I’ve played a lot of Mind Control and have never felt like the set is underpowered. I’ve played a little bit of Elec and Plant, not really enough to get a read on the sets, but from the way players talk about their confuses it sounds more like they need to be nerfed rather than Mind’s buffed, though I wouldn’t oppose Total Dom and Mass Confuse have their acc penalties removed.

 

The original post was made with the idea that a single power should be looked into by the numbers people and dealt with accordingly, though the thread of the thread's been lost along the way, veering into concepts for an over-engineered rework.  Mind is fine, but a little bump wouldn't hurt.

 

After seeing Elec's AoE confuse in action I can confirm that it takes a little while to propagate and it isn't a sure-fire confuse-all-the-enemies-in-the-spawn power; I'd need to get my hands on it to say more.  Meanwhile, I have very high opinion of Our Lord and Savior Plant Control, which you can probably guess, but I'm gonna say something that you very rarely hear people say about their pet ATs or power sets: You're right, it could be nerfed.  You could increase the recharge and decrease the duration by a third in each direction (25-ish second confuse on an 80 second cooldown), and it would still be really, really good.

 

_{(Also, come on guys.  "Thrall?"  The proper term is "mindslave.")}

 

The main reason I don't think Mass Confuse's recharge should be reduced is that I don't think it should be possible to lock down an entire spawn permanently with one power. (That's why I'd be fine with buffing the accuracy.) Seeds of Confusion can do that, so when the topic of MC vs. SoC comes up, I always lean towards nerfing SoC rather than buffing MC. I don't know what kind of nerf would be most appropriate; I don't want SoC to suck, but it's clearly overperforming. Maybe reducing the max number of targets from 16 to 10 or 5?

 

Can't permanently lock down an entire spawn if it can't affect an entire spawn

 

Mind still has no AE disorient, instead getting a useless sleep. It's weak on control, and has no pet. I played a mind controller to 50 on live. I know they're at the bottom of the pack. 

 

Having sleep reapply similar to fear would at least bring it up some.  Rather than nerfing all controllers, maybe bring mind up to Fire, Plant, Illusion, and Darkness?