DarkCurrent

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Ok, I don't like playing catch up by reading 50 million posts. So, for those of you who have tested the changes made to Doms which would you bring to 50? I have 4 doms in the lower to mid 30s - plant/thorn, fire/electric, ice/psi, earth/fire. Suggestions and the reasoning behind your choice?

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I'm going to go with Earth/Fire. It already has oodles of control, so slower dom building won't hurt much. The extra dmg will make this combo even scarier.

Plant/thorn won't see much difference I think. Confused mobs will speed things along as always and thorns didn't see that much change imo.

Fire/elec is strong from what i know of the sets separately, but i think earth/fire will be stronger and provide more team utility.

Ice/Psi is a tough build to work with even with the increased dmg as i'm not sold yet on the /psi changes. However, it will depend on how you play it. I can see a nice synergy at range with scream and shiver... perhaps better than the old combo of PSW and AA.

Baron von Ruwen has just arrived in Mercy Island after a brief misunderstanding with the authorities in Paragon City.

He awaits other members of the old world Circle to join him assisting a chap named Burke with some nefarious deeds.

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Would a Circle of Thorns theme team be interesting to anyone?

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Thing that sucks about CoT theme is that there are no full robes available for either gender.

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Yeah, trying to model after the current CoT look will be almost impossible. However, if you read up on their backstory there's an interesting angle we can take.

The Circle started in the late 1800s among upper class Englishmen. It wasn't until the 1930s that they retreated to their present underground condition.

With that in mind, I think we can go with an 'old school' Circle look using the new costumes from the Magic Booster Pack. Take a look. The last pic looks like a neat fit for a evil wizard 'gentleman's club' so to speak. Backstory could involve some sort of time travel or hibernation to explain the dated threads we're wearing. Or maybe we're members of the CoT that stayed in the Old World when Zoria came to the US.

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Need more info first - when? what days? what hours? etc - would love to join in

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Tue/Thu/Sun nights have been the norm for us the past couple years. Roughly 8PM to midnight eastern. Although my summer hours are open for later play.

We're currently running a fire/storm corruptor team, so starting date will be in a couple weeks once we hit 50. Although the updates will probably take about that long to hit live, so it should be all good.

Earth/Thorn to totally obliterate enemy defenses and stack slows (QS + Trops)... maybe Earth/Nrg though to stack stuns with stalagmites.

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RiverOcean: Grav/Psi
Organicide: Plant/Psi
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Fill the ?'s with your build people!

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Would a Circle of Thorns theme team be interesting to anyone?

A glance at their bosses shows possibilities for main dominator flavors:

Agony Mage = Gravity
Ruin Mage = Earth
Madness Mage = Mind
Behemoth = Fire
Hellfrost = Ice
Thorn Tree = Plant

We'd run on Pin as we have the 2 stacked VGs there already and no point starting from scratch.

I ran my first dom comparison. A summary of the results can be found here in the I15 Test thread.

However, I'd like to keep any dom community discussion here if you don't mind.

These preliminary results have some interesting points, namely the side effects of the increased dmg, rch and endurance of the assault sets. Refer to my observations on filler controls, decreased melee attacks, and equality in AoE control usage.

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Well I'm certinaly excited to test my Grav/EM dom with these new changes.

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Exact same thing for me! grav/em ftw!

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You know what's funny about this? A few months back I was upset and complaining loudly that they 'fixed' WH by reducing its range to 10 feet from a supposedly bugged 15. A lot of people here told me to be quiet and accept it.

Now it's back to where it should have been left. Go figure.

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doms are still in the lowest ranks in terms of damage, right

[/ QUOTE ]No.

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Prepare to be modsmacked, /jranger wannabe.

I'd like for you guys to look at in-game reality when considering nerfs/buffs to powers.

At this point we have Castle saying doms are getting their domination dmg buff applied 24-7.

Then, we have a few folks wondering if that means PSW will get nerfed because it's too "good".

Castle comes out with his 'Betting Man' response implying that yes indeed PSW will get nerfed, but the rest of /psi will get some buffs.

Ok I won't get into how exactly buffing what power is going to replace the lost AoE DPM from PSW, and instead I will direct your attention to this faction dmg resistance table.

Now this info is a tad dated, but you can double check most of it on Paragon Wiki if you search faction by faction.

From the data you will see that psi damage is resisted by multiple factions (carnies, cot, lb, arachnos, crey, council, nemesis, rikti, malta, de and others) and specific mob types (robots) across the lvl 40-50 range. Compare that to prevalance of resistance to the other damage types. You'll quickly see that psi damage is more resisted by more foes than fire and cold, is about the same as energy and is pretty close to S/L resistances. The only mobs that psi dmg excels at is CoT ghosts (pre-38) and Clockwork (pre-38, although LGTF has some post-38).

If you factor in those resistances, plus /psi lack of damage boost (FE, BU, Aim), you'll see that /psi is fighting an uphill battle and needs PSW's station as the best dominator attack to level the playing field.

If anything should be done to /psi, it should the base dmg of all its other powers boosted and PSW left alone.

I'd also say the dmg output of thorns (lethal) and energy (smash + nrg) needs to be looked at as well, but that's another discussion.

You can click the links below to some common 40+ factions and check out the individual mobs their psi resistances and defenses:

Arachnos
Carnival of Shadows
Nemesis

Malta

Seriously, does anyone play on Protector red side anymore or is LFT a waste of time?

Once upon a time Pro was a small, yet energetic server. Now it seems to be a ghost town (last couple years). I pop over here every now and then to see what's happening and it's pretty much 'nothing'.

Just wondering if there are any regular teams or events that happen red side that I could get involved with (eastern time).

Depending on the official changes, I have 3 high level /psi I'm going to test. Two are 50 (fire/psi and ice/psi) and the 3rd is 46 (mind/psi). I'd like to get that last one to 50 as well to standardize (anyone on Protector want to PL meh??? )

My plan for these tests are simple. I'll run identical missions for all 3 on Live and then on Test. I'll record the stats using Herostats Unstable, then post the raw numbers here. I won't alter the builds for either server, nor upgrade the characters during the tests (another reason to have all at 50).

Solo tests will be easy to control, but I'll see if I can get at least a duo set up as well.

I'm hoping others of you with /psi builds can step up as well. Would be cool to have an earth/ , plant/ and grav/ psi for comparison to see all combos. I'd also like to see some numbers for lower level /psi doms (teens, 20s and 30s). Any volunteers?

Thanks,

DC

So dom changes will be on test soon. What kind of tests should be done to show whether or not the changes have improved the AT?

Farms?
PvP?
MA?
PToD?
Solo?
Team?
SF?

Just curious what will provide the best data that people on this forum will want to see before I commit myself (pun?) to doing any.

Oh, and all the 'my doms can't solo 2 mins and 1 lieutenant' people better be there, too. Just make sure you run some Live tests first to establish a baseline performance.

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I assume that everyone I play with is male until I hear them on Ventrilo. I don't *want* you to come on my vent, I'm fine with assuming you're a dude,

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Is it just me or is there just something very very wrong with these 2 sentences?

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there are hints that some powers might be re-balanced damage wise to suit their blastery new values.

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Why?

Castle is saying this dmg buff is the equivalent of having domination dmg all the time.

Why was it okay that PSW + dom to be WAI for years, but now PSW + dmg buff (that equals dom) is suddenly too much and needs nerfing?

It's still a lvl 38 final power and it still requires full slotting to shine (lvl 40).

If you want it to fit a rule, then move it to lvl 4 availability like Ice Sword Circle because it's not a tier 9 anymore.

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If a nerf to PSW means a buff to the rest of /psi I'm all for it.

However, it depends of course on how much of a buff the rest of /psi gets.

Couldn't care less about the rest of the other sets. They'll probably get buffs/nerfs as needed.

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How exactly is buffing the rest of /psi going to remotely come close to making up for a PSW nerf?

Even if you doubled the dmg of dart, mental blast, tk thrust, mind probe, subdue, psi scream and psi lance, PSW would still be better then them combined. It hits more targets, recharges faster and has a superior DPA than those attacks. It also complements the melee control sets of fire and ice like no other power.

You seriously need to think about what you're saying.

Here's my old PvP build. Not as effective these days due to the changes that negated a lot of the -spd I could stack. I could also get perma with a empowerment station buff, but not in pvp anymore due to DR.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Galactic Core: Level 50 Natural Dominator
Primary Power Set: Gravity Control
Secondary Power Set: Icy Assault
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Crush -- TmpRdns-Acc/Slow(A), TmpRdns-Dmg/Slow(3), TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx(42), TmpRdns-Acc/Dmg/Slow(42), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(43)
Level 1: Ice Bolt -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(11), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 2: Gravity Distortion -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(5), Decim-Build%(11), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 4: Ice Sword -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(7), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 6: Aid Other -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(13), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(17), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Dct'dW-Heal(34)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(9), RechRdx-I(9)
Level 10: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 12: Ice Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(25), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 14: Combat Jumping -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Aid Self -- Dct'dW-Heal(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Dct'dW-Rchg(31), IntRdx(46)
Level 24: Super Jump -- SprngFt-EndRdx/Jump(A)
Level 26: Wormhole -- Stpfy-Stun/Rng(A), Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(27), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(27), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(29), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(29), Range-I(31)
Level 28: Chilling Embrace -- EndRdx-I(A), ImpSwft-Dam%(33)
Level 30: Acrobatics -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 32: Crushing Field -- TotHntr-Dam%(A), TotHntr-Immob/Acc(33), Posi-Dam%(33), ImpSwft-Dam%(40), TotHntr-Acc/EndRdx(40), TotHntr-EndRdx/Immob(50)
Level 35: Ice Slash -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(36), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(36), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 38: Bitter Ice Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(39), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 41: Charged Armor -- ImpSkn-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpSkn-EndRdx/Rchg(42), ImpSkn-ResDam/Rchg(43), ImpSkn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43), ImpSkn-Status(46), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(48)
Level 44: Ball Lightning -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(45), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dmg/Rng(46)
Level 47: Propel -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(48), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(50), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Dimension Shift -- Acc-I(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Domination
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[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]7.5% Defense(Energy)[*]7.5% Defense(Negative)[*]3.75% Defense(Ranged)[*]5.4% Max End[*]53% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]53.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]8% Enhancement(Heal)[*]3% Enhancement(Stun)[*]5% Enhancement(Immobilize)[*]1.5% Enhancement(JumpHeight)[*]1.5% Enhancement(FlySpeed)[*]1.5% Enhancement(RunSpeed)[*]1.5% Enhancement(JumpSpeed)[*]12% FlySpeed[*]99.2 HP (9.75%) HitPoints[*]12% JumpHeight[*]12% JumpSpeed[*]MezResist(Confused) 7.5%[*]MezResist(Held) 7.5%[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 17.4%[*]MezResist(Sleep) 9.7%[*]MezResist(Stun) 7.5%[*]MezResist(Terrorized) 11.9%[*]12.5% (0.21 End/sec) Recovery[*]4.1% Resistance(Fire)[*]4.1% Resistance(Cold)[*]12% RunSpeed[*]2% XPDebtProtection[/list]

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I disagree with most of this entire thread. I have a grav/energy &amp; love him.

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It's not that the set is unplayable; it's that every other set outperforms it and significantly enough such that Energy Assault stands out as a low performer in comparison.

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Ever tried thorns?

Long animations.

Impale.

Redraw.

Impale.

Highly resisted lethal.

Impale.

Tier 9 blast kbs targets across the room out of melee follow up range.

Oh, and there's Impale. Reminds me of a Major League wind up.

Psst... people live in the AE now.

What about level limiting MA missions so that you aren't auto-skd? You'd need an actual mentor to sk/lk you.

That'd put MA in line with the rest of the game and you wouldn't have to reduce xp rewards. You could still 'farm' if you want to, but you'd have to have a team with enough higher levels to sk/lk the rest.

The last couple demos I recorded this month have been all screwed up, too.

Namely the lag between movement and attack animations. But also weapon animations never drawing, so it looks like those pc characters are just standing there doing nothing.

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Hell, I got here two years ago and I still don't even remember shrike except from his old posts.

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Shrike founded HTTT, the all-dom VG on Pinnacle.

Shrike was part of the first all-dom team on test that took down the Freedom Phalanx in the old LRSF.

Shrike discovered that domination was stackable.

Shrike is god.

ALL HAIL SHRIKE!

ALL HAIL SHRIKE!

Founder of HTTT and Godfather of Dominators.

We're still carrying the torch for you, wherever you are!

Here's a demo from our final mission on the Air Pirate SF. It's starts from the water after stealthing through the boat, then follows our relentless march up the sky raider sea base.

Link

Here's a demo from last Sunday's action. This one shows Project F.I.S.T. members unleashing mayhem in Steel Canyon.

Enjoy!