Jade_Dragon

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So, in a nutshell, in a sentence or two, what are the results of the change? With damage, end, and recharge going up, is it the same damage over time only it feels like more? Or is it really more? Did the end cost actually go up? Does it feel slow?

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In general, this depends on the Secondary. If there had been no changes to Powers, then this would have resulted in everyone doing more damage, for the same amount of Endurance. Now, it's possible that the change in strategy, given that you don't have to "bide your time" plinking away at targets until you build up Domination, and then go to town on them, effected the End use. Since you can now spend all your End to defeat your foes up front, you do, and so it feels like you're spending more End.

Most of the problem, though, is that you are now channelling more damage (in terms of damage scale) through the same attacks and channelling more Endurance as well. You are hitting much harder, as well as doing more damage relative to how you were hitting before. So you pretty much have two damage boosts, one from the Domination change, and one from the increase in attack damage. Unfortunately, higher damage, higher recharge, higher End cost attacks are less efficient by design. It's the penalty for high burst capability.

(Thus, dombegone's statement about "the damage increase is not equal to the End increase". Unfortunately, that's built into the system. Although I mention another reason below that I think this might be, for Fire)

Now, Energy Assault, since it got the most sweeping changes, is the hardest hit. The damage increase is dramatic, to the point where more EA players love it, but the End cost is also dramatically higher. There's probably no way you will be able to play an Energy Dom like you did before without reslotting it.

Psi Assault also got significant changes, but it was already costing much less End than it should have. The devs intentionally left PSW that way because the rest of the set was underperforming. They have nerfed PSW, and the rest of the set has gotten the Energy treatment, so it also is using way more Endurance. It's also significantly shifted from using only PSW to deal most of its damage to doing a lot of single target damage. It's totally changed, and there's just no comparing it.

Fiery Assault seems be doing considerably more damage. I tested it myself last night, and I found it was pretty much as described, way more damage, but some End issues. Nothing I couldn't handle. But I suspect there are some problems with the adjustments to Fire, and the devs will continue to tweak some of the numbers. They are not really exactly as they should be, given how Fire compares damage, recharge and End cost in the sets used by other ATs.

Ice should be about the same, unless you use Ice Sword Circle a lot. Thorns is probably about the same level as Fire. Electrical Assault should actually do LESS damage now, and use LESS Endurance. I have an Electric Dom as well, so I tested this out, and found it was about as I expected. I did seem to have to stop and rest more often, but that was because I was going through a lot more foes much faster, and I was having to stop to deal with my HP from time to time, too. So I don't think that was a lack of End efficiency as much as I wasn't wasting as much time as I used to.

It's still possible some of these changes will be "dialed back", although I wouldn't expect much change from Ice or Thorns. (As they weren't changed that much) Fire wasn't really changed much, but as I said, I expect tweaks that will improve its performance. Or at least, that's what I'm hoping, and the changes don't carry over to Blasters and Corruptors instead.

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From what I've read about the upcoming changes, double Domination will hurt your overall damage output, so don't work toward that end.

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It won't hurt your damage output, but it won't increase it any more, either. You will still get the recharge to your Endurance bar twice as often, which can be helpful. (And I don't know but the status protections might stack...)

I can't say anything about /Psi, but I have a Mind/Fire and supposedly Mind is quite popular. The sleeps can be annoying, it's not an immobilize like most Dom Primaries and you can't use them to set Containment for a hold, like Controllers can. Since any attack breaks a sleep, there's no real advantage to them except to knock something out while you deal with something else. Personally, I've skipped them completely.

I really like Confuse, though, and definately recommend it. (and Mass Confusion when you get it) Don't listen to those who say it makes you lose XP. As long as you're dealing damage, and as a Dom you will, the XP your "pets" will steal from you is negligible. I find taking on a Boss is much easier when you turn one of his allies against him.

Telekinesis is a love/hate power, most people love it's power, but hate trying to use it. It's a learned skill, check out some of the guides on the subject for the best way to use it. I personally think it depends on concept, I picked up both Levitate and Telekinesis because it fit for my mage-like character to pick people up and fling them around as well as take over their minds. In your case, the consistency with Psi's telekinetic attacks is a point as well.

Terrify can be quite useful too, the extra damage it does can make up for your not having a "real pet". OTOH, Doms do plenty of damage with their Secondary, so that may not be a priority. The Fear can be a nice damage mitigation tool, though, and quite frankly, I think it's just incredibly cool to have all of my foes quaking in fear of me.

Of course Domination and Mass Domination are your bread and butter, the holds are the foundation of any Control set. So you don't want to skip them. (Although you could use Terrify or TK as a partial replacement for Mass Dom)

If anyone is going to argue against the changes, I feel it is very important to know what you are arguing against, and to argue against it, not against something else. For instance, this statement is false:

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If the dev's didn't want to nerf dom's they wouldn't of made nearly every dom build a end heavy monster.

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There is no Electric Assault build that is now an "end heavy monster", or at least none that was not one before. You cannot REDUCE the end cost of all attacks and somehow magically make that increase your End cost.

(The one exception is Zapp, but I find it hard to believe anyone would make their build so totally around Zapp that it increases their End use)

Now, you may find that you are not activating Domination as often because you do not need to, and thus you will not be recharging the End bar as often. (Although Electric Assault shouldn't be building Domination any slower so that shouldn't be the problem)

Or, you may be finding that you can defeat foes more quickly and easily, without taking as much damage, and so you don't have to sit around as often (or use Rest) to get your HP back. That could also make it seem as if you are using more Endurance.

Energy and Psi are using more Endurance than before. Fire and Thorns are using slightly more. Ice is using about the same, with the exception of Ice Sword Circle. If you use Ice Sword Circle a lot, you may see some increase in End use. For the most part, though, this depends on Power Set, and build. The devs did not increase Endurance cost across the board when they raised base damage.

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I am not a numbers Gal . I PLAY. Modifier, scale... whatever. I am pretty sure you get my point. Whatever thing thats increased dom damage is going to get lowered eventually. Thats what I was typing.

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Just as long as you're shooting at the right target. I agree, though. Energy is nice, but I think it may be going a bit too far. And Flares and Psi Dart could be pulled back closer to their original recharges without majorly effecting the rest of the sets.

More damage isn't the problem, though. It's harder hitting attacks. The base damage boost didn't cost any extra End or recharge, it was the increases in burst damage.

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Although the origin of this could probably be traced back to Catwoman.

[/ QUOTE ]Actually, catgirls are rooted in Japanese bakeneko legends.

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True, although the American interest in them is probably due to different influences.

An archetype is an archetype, though. You could go all the way back to Bast in ancient Egypt.

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But this isnt it and I bet anyone on the boards a billion influence that the damage modifiers will be lowered within 3 months of going live. If not sooner.

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Why would they lower the damage modifiers and not the damage scale of the individual attacks? Or is that what you meant?

If anything, putting the damage modifiers back to their original Domination levels would make the End costs WORSE.

In short, there have been two changes. The change to Domination has raised the damage of all Dominators across the board, even those who have lost damage elsewhere, resulting in a net gain for even those hardest hit. This change is certainly a buff, and if there had been no other changes to anything, I'm pretty sure it would be positively recieved.

The other change is that the Dominator Secondaries have been "normalized" between the sets that used Tanker versions of melee attacks, like Energy Assault, and those that used the Blaster version, like Electric. The Blaster melee attacks, since they are designed for an Archetype that needs to move into melee fast, make a massive front loaded strike, and get out, have extremely high recharges and End cost, but high damage. The Tanker versions, since they are designed for an Archetype that stays in melee, have much lower End cost and Recharge, but do less damage per strike.

The devs have evened out the difference, so Dominators neither have really long recharges on their attacks, nor do they have low damage per hit. In the case of Energy, this has made a major improvement to the set. Most of Energy's ranged attacks have been given the same treatment too, meaning they now do more damage than Blaster attacks (adjusted for the lower damage mod Dominators have, of course) but don't recharge as often. This also means Doms are able to pump more Endurance through their attacks, since they have higher DPA, thus using up more Endurance.

Electric, on the other hand, got the exact opposite. It is now more End efficient and has much more complete attack chains, but it does less damage. I haven't heard anyone really complain about this, although it is often brought up that Thunder Strike was reduced in damage.

Psi, well, we knew what would happen to Psi. It has pretty much been given the Energy treatment in being given more damage. The thing is, all this complaint about Energy and Psi using more Endurance is because they are doing more damage. More damage than even the Domination buff. Maybe the ranged attacks need to be tuned back down, as they're really unrelated to where Dominators sit between Blasters and Tankers (Or Brutes) but the extra Endurance was not just tacked on for nothing. Someone said you use Endurance like Stone Melee, well, that's because you do damage like Stone Melee.

Ice and Thorns did not recieve drastic changes, so most of that follows the changes due to the Domination boost. That leaves Fire, which looks like it would be a good change, but Flares and Combustion were given much higher recharge and End cost than they had before, possibly because the devs forgot to allow for the Fire DoT effect. I suspect that Fire may get some more tweaks, and when it does, it will come out to be as popular as Energy, if not better.

I have always thought the best fix for Vigilance would be to tie it to attacks, like with Gauntlet for Tankers, or even Domination. Tankers complained that they felt like Taunt-bots, having nothing to do in a team but absorb damage and throw out Taunts. So, they were given an inherent Taunt in their attacks, making them perform better, if not do more damage, when they attacked.

I think this would help the perception that Defenders should not blast, because their blasts would help them defend the team. If they got an endurance discount for staying active, then they could anticipate their allies getting into trouble, and have their discount ready to deal with it. They wouldn't have to react after the fact. And they could still get the effect for using their Primaries, for those that have a more active style and don't allow as much time for attacks.

In other words, instead of getting an Endurance discount for neglecting their jobs and letting their allies get hurt, they would get a discount for doing their jobs and using their powers.

Those Defenders without offense buffs, such as Force Field and Empathy, could use something to make them more like Dark or Trick Arrow, but I don't think an overall damage buff is the solution. Although a situational Inherent like Scourge might help, depending on the situation. (Honestly, I can't think of anything but what Scourge already does. I normally use my Defenders to pick off scragglers, and I see that as my role, even without Scourge)

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As rewarding as it is, it's still a bit rough as it blooms late because of the lack of slots in your powers.

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Yeah, I've found even with that kind of build, you still have to sacrifice a lot from your Human form. I basically slot my Nova form to do all the damage, and my Dwarf form for healing and resistance, just giving him the minimum damage to make him workable. (Which usually means slotting his attacks almost as well as the Nova :/)

For my Peacebringer, as I sort of implied, I rely on Incandescent Strike to make a massive hit while still staying mainly in Dwarf form. On my Warshades, it's more like double Miring to get the Dwarf damage up. Most of my Human form powers stay unslotted, though. They're either there as backup, a second heal in case my Dwarf's isn't enough, or they're utility powers, like my Warshade's Shadow Cloak. Sometimes I'll just pick a power to get it out of the way, and not intend to use it until past 30.

In short, it's a very popular convention in Anime to have cute girls with cat-like features, such as cat ears or a tail. Although the origin of this could probably be traced back to Catwoman. It's usually just done to draw attention to one's character, though.

If it's serious, usually the character is Claws/SR, and has the agility of a cat as a mutant power or the like.

I already have character concepts for a MA/Ninjitsu Scrapper, and a Claws/Willpower Brute. And I think Electric Melee/Armor should come over to the hero side just on general principles. I think it fits Tanker better, but I'd settle for Scrapper.

Coming from other MMOs, it might help to think of Kheldians as a shapeshifter class, like Druids from WoW. (I said the 'W' word! ) While shapeshifted, you have a limited selection of powers, but built-in abilities that put you on a par with other ATs to fill that role.

In other words, you have the ability to transform from a Blaster to a Tanker to a Scrapper/Defender/Controller at will. Most of your powers are in your Human form, but that's what gives you the flexibility, while you can't really alter what your Nova or Dwarf forms can do, it's up to you to decide how your "transition" form complements the other two.

You essentially have three choices when building a Kheldian. There is no way you can slot all of the Powers that you will have available and be at full strength, you simply have too many Powers, and too few Enhancement slots. So more than any other AT, you have to make decisions about which Powers you will emphasise, and which you will keep around only for emergencies. As you've probably noticed, Nova form adds four Powers to your list in addition to the Nova power itself, and Dwarf form adds six powers. So if you want to slot Nova well, you have to take slots from Dwarf or Human, or vice versa.

The three strategies are to limit your options by not taking one or both of the forms. (The third strategy is actually taking both forms, but then you basically sacrifice the Human form) These are referred to as the Human Form, the Dual Form, and the Tri-Form respectively.

Human Form is essentially like any other AT. You get Powers just as other ATs do, and slot them as you normally would. A Peacebringer in Human form is kind of a cross between a Defender and a Scrapper, while a Warshade is more of a Controller. One big advantage of Human Form is that since you aren't shifting shapes all the time, you don't have to keep turning on toggles. You can take all three of your shields, and keep them up all the time. (Once you have the End for it) With Essense Boost and Reform Essense, you can get pretty tough, and Incandescent Strike is a great melee attack.

Dual Form obviously you would have two choices, either Nova/Human or Dwarf/Human. Since you have only half the extra powers you would have with both forms, you can slot up your Human form powers and use it to complement your alternate form. For instance, for Nova/Human you might grab all your shields and slot them up, so you can psuedo-tank if you need to. As mentioned, any click powers you have with a duration will last into your alternate forms, so you can use Build Up and then shift to Nova to do more damage, or shift out of Nova and use Essence Boost to heal up, and then when you shift back you will have more HP, even in Nova form. You just have to remember to shift back to Human to use the power again when it wears off.

The Tri-Form option, again, comes in two "flavors". The easiest is simply to slot both the Nova and Dwarf forms, and either play Blaster or Tanker depending on what the team needs. Your Human form would get the minimal slotting needed to support the other forms. You would never stay in Human form, dropping into it only to use the buffs as above. You might take the Human form Ally heal, so you can use it in emergencies, but for the most part your human form will be non-combat, just supporting the team and your other forms.

The second type of Tri-Form, though, is the most fun, and a lot of Kheldian players swear by it. The idea is to slot the three forms as evenly as possible, sticking with powers that will be useful to the Human (for instance, you wouldn't take any of the shields but the first, since you would never be able to keep toggles up) but switch between them constantly. The idea is that you are a Jack of All Trades, good at everything, but excellent at nothing. You can't do the damage of a Blaster, or take damage like a Tanker, but you can switch to Nova form from Dwarf form mid-fight, and take out a foe that's been hitting you hard with a blast, or switch to Dwarf form from Nova form, and take a blow from a Boss that has just closed to melee with you. By using your forms to adapt to the fight as it happens, the idea is that you make up for the lack of specialization in your build.

That's part of the fun of Kheldians, really, in any build but Human Form. You don't stay in one form for long. It takes time to get the hang of it, to wait for a knockdown from one of your Dwarf attacks, so you can shift to Human, get off a heal, (or an Incandescent Strike ) and then shift back before the foe can get up and hit you. Or to blast away with an AoE into a group with Nova, fly into the middle of them and drop in Dwarf form for a Flare. (Or for a Warshade, to drop in human form and Mire, then Mire again as Dwarf )

You're basically saying that range increase is not any kind of improvement.

I also think the devs made a miscalculation on Fiery Assault, and when and if they recognize that, it will improve dramatically. Of course, the devs could go the other way and nerf all versions of Combustion and Flares. All powers in a set don't HAVE to have a secondary effect. (Occasionally one of the two initial attacks will not, or will have a different effect, as with Jab)

As for TS, it is the ONLY attack in the game that even DOES both ST and AoE damage. All other AoE attacks do the same damage to the target they do to the others in the AoE. The only real difference is how much more damage is done to the target compared to the rest. And even in the Brute version, there is an appreciable difference.

As for knockback being changed to knockdown, that is standard for most Brute or Tanker attacks. I'd hardly call that a difference.

What if the ST portion of Thunder Strike had been changed to 1.67, and the AoE portion of it changed to 0.7? Would you call it a version of Blaster TS then, or Brute TS? (And honestly, I think this is what SHOULD have been done, if only for the neatness of the numbers)

I must admit that I always assumed if the attack didn't go off by the time the Build Up ended, it was lost. I'll have to try this.

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Could we please get a tanker taunt level power in our primary? Because provoke sucks.

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Yeah, this would be great as an option, but as I said, sometimes an MM doesn't want Provoke. What I wish you could do is slot your attacks for Taunt, and they will gain a taunt if you slot it, but until you do, they're just normal attacks.

Maybe a "Chance to Taunt" proc?

Keep in mind that in most cases, the Tankermind strategy is not the best thing for many Power Set combos, or even most of them. If you choose to use the Tankermind strategy, you really have to build to it, and know how to use your powers correctly, in addition to Provoke and Bodyguard.

I have found that the "meatshield" strategy, where I just run in and soak up damage, and if someone pulls aggro off of me they or the Brute deal with it, works 90% of the time. I also have my Secondary to fall back on to protect the team, especially with Dark and similar sets.

It's a perfectly viable strategy to expect the Brute to tank the Boss and the majority of the foes around him, and then just use your henchmen to keep targets on the fringes of the fight from overwhelming the Brute. With that many MMs on the team there should be plenty of "cannon fodder" to absorb damage, even if they're not good at tanking per se.

OTOH, if they're total idiots who can't even keep themselves alive in a team, you can still explain it to them. Bodyguard is useful even if you don't Tankermind. In fact, I would probably start by saying, "Do you have some of your henchmen in Bodyguard?" And if they say, "What's that?" explain to them about putting henchmen in Defensive Follow. Have them test it out for a while, see how resiliant it makes them, and then say, "See, you don't have to worry about getting dropped by an alpha strike. Why don't you just follow me in as I go grab aggro, and help me hold all these guys down?"

Then after they get used to that, you can casually mention that if they had Provoke, they could grab the aggro instead of you, and use Bodyguard to tank for the team.

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I'm not going to argue with you, the numbers are right there, you put them up lol.

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In essense, it comes down to this:

Electricity: Less AoE damage. (But then, less damage overall)

Energy: More and greater radius AoE damage.

Fire: Apparently using the wrong recharge time and End cost.

Ice: Less AoE damage, greater radius.

Psionic: Less (obviously) AoE damage

Thorny: A tiny bit better AoE damage.

It's about a wash, 50% up, 50% down. And Starsman's chart shows this a lot better than my power by power comparison. According to him, Ice is getting 2-4% better AoE damage.

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Once again though brute thunderstrike is nothing like dom thunderstrike. You may as well compare poison: poison trap to traps: poison trap. They have the same name, thats about it.

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There is a LOT more in common with Thunderstrike than there is with Poison Trap. Again, both powers have the same animation, same radius, and same secondary effects. They do the same type of damage, but differ in proportion, amount of damage, End cost and recharge. Except for the difference in proportion, the other differences are no greater than that for Charged Brawl for a Blaster and Charged Brawl for a Brute. They are about as similar as, say, Evasion for a Scrapper and Evasion for a Brute. The Brute version has a Taunt aura, the Scrapper version doesn't. But that doesn't mean the other effects aren't identical.

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Combustion is clearly worse, it is the same as the tanker version for DS, but with longer rech and end cost. It is 15ft for all AT's. where is the dart landing here?

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Well, yeah, it's already 15 feet, it doesn't have to be made 15 feet.

Again, though, the Dominator version of Combustion did MORE damage than the Blaster version. And the differences were essentially in the DoT, the front loaded damage for all three was and still is 0.5. The devs forgot to balance to that, not the total damage with the DoT.

All three versions should have the same recharge and End cost. If the devs want to normalize the damage between Tanker and Blaster that's fine, it can be 1.4. (Or they could raise the Blaster version to 1.7 and make the Dom version 1.5)

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Thunderstrike isn't the same attack for brutes as it is for doms, so the comparison doesn't work.

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They're the same in cast time, radius, and secondary effects, the only real difference is the magnitude of the damage, and how it is split between the single target Smashing portion, and the AoE Energy portion. This has not really changed from the Dominator version, because it has always had the proportions of the Blaster version, the damage is just reduced.

Again, this is so the Dominator can use the attack more often, staying in melee instead of just darting into it for a moment like a Blaster, but it still remains a primarily single target attack. It could have truly been adjusted to be "between" a Blaster and a Tanker by giving it less Smashing damage and more Energy, but the total overall damage is still in the midrange. And the recharge time and End cost have been decreased. If it had been weighted more towards AoE, I would guess it would also have the Tanker version's recharge.

Keep in mind that Electric is the one set that is being adjusted downwards overall, not upwards. Thus, it seems to be performing much better in testing. It is the one Dom Set that is not described as having many more pauses in the attack chain as before, or using more End. It is also doing less DPS, but this seems to be compensated for by the base damage boost. Thunder Strike is the one that we expect to be doing less damage, and recharging more often.

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You don't have thornburst vs spineburst, so can't compare those attacks.

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I stopped short of Thorns since there is no Blaster version. However, I went ahead and added it anyway to my own notes. (Plus, Psi has no melee version, so there you go)

Spine Burst and Thorn Burst are identical. So in fact, Thorn Burst has gotten BETTER, as it does about 0.05 DS more damage than before. And the patch notes are wrong, as they refer to a 3 second recharge time and a 4.37 End cost, which isn't anywhere close to Thorn Burst's current values. So I can't really tell what the recharge and End cost for this boost has been. (Although I'm sure it is some amount)

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Nice work, interesting read.

A lot of the changes look like a dart was thrown at a board, while others seem to fit a consistent design principle.

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I think it's more a case of some intentional exceptions were missed (that is, Firey Assault and its extra damage) and in some cases the darts were thrown at the board, but not every target was aimed at. Energy was a problem and thus was looked at, but Ice wasn't a problem and thus in some ways there are inconsistencies with the changes made to Energy.

Also, in some cases the changes may have been applied to Dominators without going back to the original powers they came from and analyzing how they fit into the normalization.

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pbaoes certainly got the shaft (other than psw) in the process of removing most aoe prowess from doms, but it is what it is.

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Honestly speaking, I don't see it. The only PBAoEs (outside of PSW) that got a damage reduction also got an increase in radius. I would say the one explains the other. And again, we have a normalization of all PBAoE attacks at a 15 foot radius.

(Okay, also Combustion, but I already said I think that has been given the wrong recharge and End cost values. Honestly, the table seems to show that Combustion was doing more damage and Incinerate was doing way less damage than it should have, although Incinerate could have been intended to be changed into more of a basic attack instead of a final one. I've always wondered by Dominators did not get Cremate)

Whether or not that radius calls for a change to the formula that balances damage to recharge time and End cost, I can't say. But WH and ISC should have the potential to hit more targets now per activation. How often that will occur is probably an issue that should be considered, but it will occur.

I mentioned in the threads about the new Dominator attack changes that it appeared as if the new values were being "normalized" between the Tanker and Blaster damage scales. To confirm this, I put together a table. This lists the damage, recharge and End cost of Tankers, (or Brutes if Tanker didn't have the attack) Dominators (under the new changes) and Blasters, where applicable. In all cases, damage is damage scale, which is independent of AT, and thus the Dom values should lie halfway between those of Tankers and Blasters. I also include which values the original Dominator powers used, as either "Blaster" or "Tanker" if the values match, and what the percentage of the ratio between the two is with the new change. (It should be 50% if my guess is correct)

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>

Attack Name: Tanker/Brute Dominator Blaster Dominator (old) New Ratio
Dam Rch End Dam Rch End Dam Rch End Dam Rch End
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Electricity:
Charged Brawl 0.84 3 4.368 1.32 6 6.86 1.96 10 10.192 Blaster 42.86%
Havoc Punch 1.32 6 6.846 1.96 10 10.19 2.6 14 13.52 Blaster 50%
Thunder Strike 1.96 18 10.192 2.35 16 15.2 2.98 20 18.512 Blaster 39%
Thunder Strike (ST) 1 2.04 2.56
Thunder Strike (AoE) 0.96 0.31 0.42
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Energy:
Bone Smasher 1.64 8 8.528 1.96 10 10.2 2.6 14 13.52 Tanker 33%
Whirling Hands 1 14 13 1.1 20 18.51 Tanker (radius increased)
Total Focus 3.56 20 18.512 3.88 22 18.51 3.56 20 18.512 (Both versions identical)
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Fire:
Flares 1 4 5.2 1.01 2.2 3.692 Blaster
Incinerate 2.5 10 6.864 2.12 10 10.2 1.81 8 8.528
Combustion 1.3 15 13 1.3 17 16 1.5 15 13 1.7 15 13 0% (Tanker version)
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Ice:
Ice Sword 1.32 6 6.864 1.64 8 8.582 1.96 10 10.192 1.64 8 8.582 50%
Ice Sword Circle 1.55 20 18.512 1.19 22 20.2 1.55 20 18.512 Blaster (Using non-DoT Fire Sword Circle) (radius increased)
Ice Slash 1.96 10 10.192 1.96 10 10.192 Tanker 0% (Tanker version)
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Psionic:
Mind Probe 1.96 10 10.192 1.64 8 8.528 Blaster
Telekinetic Thrust 1.64 8 8.53 0.8 6 6.864 Blaster
Psychic Scream 1.3 16 15.18 1.04 12 11.856 Blaster
Subdue 1.64 8 8.528 1.32 6 6.864 1.64 8 8.528 (Defender version - Blaster is 1/4s/8.528e)
Psychic Shock 1.21 20 18.51 1.1 20 10.192 1.96 10 10.192 (radius decreased - same as Blaster)
</pre><hr />

A few interesting things I see looking at this table: First of all, Ice Sword in Icy Assault is already right on the midpoint. It did not need to be changed. Bone Smasher was only increased in damage by 33%, it still has a relatively low recharge time compared to a Blaster. Most powers can't really be compared, as they are either not available for Blasters, or they are not available for Tankers. In the case of Psi, many of the damage boosts are well above the standard for Blasters, instead of being lower than them. This is obviously due to the nerf to PSW, though.

Fiery Assault seems to be all over the map. Although Incinerate has been brought close to the damage for Tankers, Tankers clearly have a huge Endurance discount on the power. Its End cost should be 10.2, just as the new Dom version, but it is only that of a 6 second recharge attack. This can't be entirely due to the DoT portion of the attack, because that would reduce the recharge as well.

Likewise, while Combustion, although it seems to have the purpose of moving the damage closer to the Tanker version, has gone too far (it equals the Tanker version) and has more recharge and End cost. In fact, the Tanker and Blaster versions are identical except for the damage, which leads me to believe that the DoT is the only thing varied between them. The base damage without that DoT is the same, 0.5, for all versions.

When you add in Flares, it seems like the devs have forgotten that a portion of the Fire attacks' damage is intended to be their secondary effect, and thus not cost additional recharge or End. Flares is balanced like a typical 1 damage scale attack, not a 0.71 scale damage attack. And Combustion originally did MORE damage as a Dominator attack than as a Blaster attack. They've brought it back down into the range between the two, but apparently tried to rebalance to the full 1.3 damage scale.

In some cases I am still concerned about the inconsistencies. Total Focus has been raised in damage, for instance, even though the Tanker and Blaster versions are identical, but Ice Slash remains unchanged, at the Tanker version. Thunder Strike's ratio seems a little low, but then the Brute version actually does more AoE damage than the Blaster version, and the devs may not want a "true" midpoint between them, but just the Blaster version with faster recharge. And the recharge is in fact faster than the Brute version.

I am still analyzing range attacks, but I believe those were adjusted in a similar way.

In short, you're a jack of all trades that exists to fill in gaps in a team. If the team needs a tank, you can go into Dwarf form and tank. If the team has plenty of tanks and needs damage, you can go into Nova form and lay down AoEs. If the team is fairly balanced, or has a lack of Defenders and Controllers, you can use the utility powers from your Human form. And most exciting of all, you can shift roles from moment to moment, taking over tanking when needed, returning to blast form when not, and in general adapting to the fight as it happens in real time.

Honestly, I've found some of the most fun things about Kheldians are their unique features. Being totally free to fly all the time in Nova form, with no concern for End cost or being knocked out of the sky, is a lot more fun and a lot easier than I thought it'd be, even in cave maps. And although you can get -Fly effects on you, you are somewhat resistant, and you just basically "bump" to the ground for a few moments, you still look like you're flying.

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Call me crazy but it doesn't seem random at all.

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I mean that the changes seem to be random. The changes seem to be random, though, because what they were acting on was random.

Assault Sets were, for the most part, a mix of Defender ranged attacks and Tanker melee attacks, as you said. Except that in a few cases there were Blaster melee attacks instead of Tankers, and when Electrical Assault was added it was ALL Blaster melee attacks. The Dom players at the time loved this change.

I'm guessing that the devs datamined the results, and found that Electric was doing a little too well, and the old Tanker based sets were doing a little too badly. So they said, "well, why don't we just compromise between Blaster melee attacks and Tanker melee attacks".

The result was, some powers went up in damage and recharge, while others went down in damage and recharge. It looks like two different things are happening, until you realize what's really happening.

Keep in mind that fast recharge means low damage, which means low DPS for the given attack animation time. Weak attacks like Flares and Neutrino Bolt are usually not popular.

Blasters also got their fast recharging attacks changed when they got the new Defiance. Psi Dart is a damage scale 1 attack for them, with 4s recharge and 5.2 End. Flares does ~1 scale damage as well, but its recharge and End cost are shorter since the damage is mostly its secondary effect. Blasters were essentially given exactly the same Tier 1 and 2 attacks so their ability to use them when mezzed would not vary across Power Sets.

Since Dominators don't need to have Flares' damage be 1.01 due to Defiance, they could have it boosted. However, it looks like the devs accidently dropped the secondary damage. And Psi Dart just does more damage overall, probably to help balance the loss of damage from PSW.

As for Defenders and Corruptors, they never got their Tier 1 and 2s changed because the devs said they didn't want to change any existing powers outside of Blasters. Defenders and Corruptors don't even get Psi Dart. (Corruptors don't get Psi Blast period)

It seems totally random, until you realize that all Sets that were changed had the Tanker or Brute versions of the melee attacks, and Electricity Assault had the Blaster versions.

In other words, everyone has now been averaged so they are in the middle. It was not that Electricity was an outlier, it has just been made consistent with everyone else. Now, the ranged attacks don't seem to have this kind of consistency, unless there is some other factor that I have not yet noticed.

I suppose another alternative would have been to give every Set the same recharge times as Blasters, but that would give them longer recharge than current.

Also, I haven't looked at Thunderstrike, but I'm guessing it has also been placed at a midpoint in some way. I want to try and do a comparison across the board to confirm this.

The basic idea is that while you are in Domination, your Domination bar is full. Thus, if it were possible to click Domination while Domination is running, you could activate it again, or "perma" it. Since Domination itself cannot be slotted for Recharge (as an Inherent it takes no Enhancements and does not appear in the Enhancement screen) it would seem this should be impossible, as Domination takes longer to recharge than its duration. However, with global Recharge boosts like Set IOs, buffs from other players, and Hasten, it is actually possible.

I will leave it to others to explain what exactly you need. However, since Domination has a 200s recharge, and lasts for 90s, you should need 122% recharge to make it perma. Hasten is 70% of this, so 52% should be from IOs, if you want to have this solo. In general, this should not be possible until you are after level 25. (Many of the IOs needed will start at that level, or thereabouts) Some purple sets you may have to wait for 50 to get.

Note that if you have perma-Dom, you only have to fill the Domination bar once. From then on, it should never empty, so it no longer depends on attacking enemies to recharge it.