Jade_Dragon

In short, as long as your pets are on Defensive, and you give them any command but Attack, (Follow, Stay, etc. are fine) any damage you take is spread out to them. So you can take huge amounts of damage without dying, as long as your henchmen can take the damage.

Many Masterminds use this feature in a strategy called "Tankerminding", in which they draw all of the aggro for the team. Their pets remain in Defensive mode and fire only to back up the Tankermind. This results in you doing less damage, (sometimes none at all, if you're being attacked but your foes keep missing) but is a great defensive benefit for the team. (Possibly as much as having a Brute to draw aggro, maybe as much as a Stone Brute in Granite form)

I would really like this, and there are critters in dev missions, such as Council turning into Warwolves, that transform when defeated. Also, NPC Kheldians are able to transform to Nova or Dwarf form in mid-fight, while player created Kheldians have to be assigned a specific form. (You can use a Nictus to place a Dwarf or Nova in a mission, but it can't change from a human)

Dev missions can also have a Boss "die" (teleporting out) at a certain percent of hit points. If you could do this, and couple it with the transform option, then you could have a Boss which transforms after you've been fighting him a while. I guess the only reason the devs haven't allowed this is that it might be possible to keep linking additional transformations, making the Boss regenerate each time. (making him farmable)

Your idea of having a character you are escorting transform into the Boss would be cool, too. (Right now you can't have an escort to a specific target, only to the door. But you can have him turn on you. With the above I suppose you could set him to "die" at 100% HP and trigger a transform event.

I have a final battle for a mission I'm working on that really depends on transforms. I need my villain to transform (weakening) when he gets to a point, and my allies to get stronger. Not sure if that'll ever be possible, though.

In short, a Corruptor will start out with a little more damage than a Defender, making soloing a bit easier. Their attacks are also a little more End efficient. (Due to both higher base damage and Scourge) You'll find they play much more like a Defender than a Blaster, though. And a well built offensive Defender can match a Corruptor over time. It's just ALL Corruptors act that way, not just the few that have good offensive buffs.

In general, though, you will want to take your time and build up your damage and defenses. You can't just run in and blast like a Blaster, unless you know your foes are going to be easy and you want to conserve some End. You do have that option, though, and I've found at times I just get impatient with all the debuffs and single out a target when I can.

When you're taking on a large group of foes, though, you are a lot safer than a Blaster. It may take you longer to kill them, and you may have to use a lot of debuffs on them, but you won't have that sense of having to run at a moment's notice. Maybe at two moment's notices.

This also depends on your Secondary somewhat, some Secondaries aren't as good at soloing as others. Each should offer you something, even (for instance) Thermal and Sonic, but in some cases you might be better off looking for a team.

Eh, some pets do remain after the caster dies. (Gang War, for instance) Hopefully, this is a bug. It's not really a major one, though. I can't see that if you die as a Corruptor, it has other major effects on your team other than just your Blizzard vanishing.

In most cases, I have found the word "Powerleveller" used to refer to "Leveller", "Hardcore", and even "Badger" or "Content Monger". It's probably best that those are referred to as separate things.

And really, a Farmer is trying to do the same sort of things, collect XP, badges, or other symbols of accomplishment, but wants to earn them as quickly and effortlessly as possible. It's the fact that usually this just involves repeating the same content over and over that makes for the "farming". As the devs have said, though, if you want to repeat the same content because you LIKE it, that's not really farming.

Perhaps you should put all of those various "Achievers" under the same category.

Also, instead of "Humanist" how about "Concept Restricter" or "Limiter"? What these players have in common is that they sacrifice certain elements of their build for concept or challenge reasons. They create a character concept, such as "my character must have only learned skills and not powers" or "my character must be a Mastermind without any pets" and then challenge themselves by remaining within the limits they have set for themselves.

In some cases this can be more of a challenge than others, which is why sometimes it's not purely for role playing reasons, but for the challenge. I wish I could come up with a better name.

I think that Flares had been "tweaked" because of its long animation time, and now that the animation time is down to a reasonable level, the End cost and recharge were put back. Why this wasn't done in the first place I don't know, but perhaps the current devs weren't the ones who reduced its End cost and recharge in the first place.

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I was excited about the changes the minute Castle posted them. I used to not like the idea of removing the bonus from Domination, but after I thought it over, maybe that's just what we needed. I didn't say anything because no one else seemed to agree. >.>;

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Needless to say, removing it was a MUCH better solution than reversing it. (That is, doing less damage IN Domination)

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If you are cool with standing around doing nothing all the power too you. From my experience, most players aside for /empaths aren't (especially on an "assault" designed AT).

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It's true, people will do that for sure. It's one reason I agreed in the main feedback thread with the assessment that they might want to review the tier 1 and 2 attacks and make them faster recharging with less damage and endurance cost. I think something between what they were and are now would be a better idea, not because it will actually perform better (except for overkills), but because it will "feel" better subjectively to people playing lowbie Doms.

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The problem is, the new Dom attacks are ALREADY a compromise between low enough recharge to be prevent players from having to stand around, and high enough damage to be useful. Previous to this change, Dominator Tier 1 and 2 melee attacks were all over the board. Some melee attacks were the fast recharging, low damage ones of Tankers, while some were the slow recharging, high damage ones of Blasters. No one really complained about Electricity Assault's high recharge, but that's because people were used to it and already planning around it. The higher damage, though, was clearly making Electric the Assault Set of choice.

I would need to do another analysis to confirm this, but it looks like what is happening is the melee attacks are being adjusted to a new median between the two extremes. Electric's recharge is being adjusted down (which everyone is percieving as a nerf to damage, which it is) while all the other sets have increase recharge time. (But increased damage) Neither set has recharge as long as a Blaster, though, or as short as a Tanker. It's in between.

Blaster melee attacks were given their longer recharge very early in the game (someone can name which Issue if they'd like to research it) because they really didn't do enough damage to be worth it. A Tanker or Scrapper stays in melee and thus can afford a bunch of low damage, fast recharging attacks. He wants to create a full attack chain. A Blaster can't afford to spend that much time in melee, though, he needs to get in range, hit with a massive attack, and then get out. Thus, his recharge time was increased, so he could do more damage with that one attack he can't use as often.

Now, presumably the devs felt that Dominators didn't need that advantage, since they could hold the foe and be safe while they executed a normal attack chain. They used the Blaster in a couple of situations, though, and those proved to be more useful. Electricity Assault was added, and it used the Blaster versions, meshing quite well with those Doms that would dart into melee for a quick massive attack, then duck back to use holds and ranged attacks. This led to increased DPS overall. (Although of course greater EPS as well, for the greater DPE)

Now maybe the devs haven't hit the "sweet spot", as it were. But Dominators obviously can't spend as much time as a Tanker or Scrapper meleeing with their foes, but they don't need to spend as little time as a Blaster. So far the compromise point seems to be halfway.

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A poster said it a few pages back when he//she used the word" normalization".

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Just so you know, the word "normalization", used previously was referring to the use of powers that are shared by other ATs, and whether they will use the same damage scale values, and if so, which they will use if different ATs use different values. For instance, Tankers and Brutes with Bone Smasher have a 1.64 damage scale, 8s recharge, and 8.528 End cost. Blasters with the same power have a 2.6 damage scale, 14s recharge and 13.52 End cost. Dominators previously had the Tanker version, after this change they will have 1.96 damage scale, 10s recharge and 10.2 End cost.

In this case, it looks like Dominators are being made MORE unique, not less. Especially if they are being normalized across the board to be between Tankers and Blasters instead of one or the other. (And in fact, now that I look at it, this is EXACTLY what is happening, for melee attacks. Electricity Assault is being changed according to this exact same standard)

Now, if your definition of "fun" and "unique" and "not homogenous" is that Tankers should have one damage scale and recharge with Fire Sword, and Brutes should have another damage scale and recharge, and Scrappers should have yet another, well, I don't know what to tell you. Variety is one thing, but a lack of consistency with the exact same attack seems to be quite another.

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The added recharge in the notes is disturbingly similar to pvp 2.0. You all asked for it and now PVE is getting it too.

I am saddenned but not surprised.

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One again, the added recharge and Endurance cost is exactly proportional in the adjustments to the base scale damage. This is the way every single AT in the game operates. Every single change they have made to the damage an attack power does, from when they made Blaster attacks do more damage but recharge slower, to the adjustments they made to Axe, Mace, Claws, and so on, have followed these rules. New sets they have introduced, like Dual Blades and Sonic Assault, have also followed exactly the same rules. Damage determines recharge time, and recharge time determines damage. The ratios between them are still the same.

The strange thing is, the sets that were homogenous (and performing badly) were made more like the unique set that was performing well. However, that unique set, because it was performing so well, has been made more like those sets were originally, thus maintaining its uniqueness.

Electricity will now be the fast recharging, low damage set that Energy and Psi were previously. Or so it appears from the changes so far.

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You and me both. :/ Loathe as I am to say it, I'd rather see them normalize both versions between the two numbers, at least for a little more parity.

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Yeah, that looks like the one thing that's turning out to be too difficult to manage. Most of the changes to melee attacks seem to be with the goal of making them more like the Blaster versions of attacks, however Electricity Assault is changing them in the other direction. And there is Total Focus, when for the most part it was the weaker attacks that got the Blaster treatment, not the stronger.

So a consistent normalization to the other ATs may be impossible.

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With the higher End and Recharge for your powers, you won't be able to attack as quickly to build Dom as quickly though. [...] Not being able to do anything because either you're out of End or your powers haven't recharged yet is already a problem in the pre-Stamina levels.

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The increased recharge may be a problem. But the increased Endurance is proportional to the increased Damage. So your DPE has not increased. You will still spend exactly the same amount of Endurance to do the same amount of damage. Thus, it will still cost the same amount of Endurance to defeat the same foe, it will just take less attacks. (But possibly still the same amount of time)

In fact, since the damage outside of Domination has increased, you will do MORE damage for each point of Endurance, and thus will have MORE Endurance left over. You will be more Endurance efficient, not less.

As for the increased recharge, the ability of Energy Assault to build Domination faster than other sets because it had shorter recharge times was never touted as an advantage. In fact, Electricity Assault, which was said to be the most damaging Secondary, is getting its Recharge times reduced.

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Nice post! What's the latest word on these changes? Are they going live with I15 or have they been pushed back?

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See the "Dom Revamp on Test" post.

Pretty dramatic changes. Although it looks like most of Electricity Assault was changing the Blaster version of attacks to the Melee version of attacks. Also, all Sniper attacks are getting more damage and longer recharge.

The change to Lift intrigues me, though. Will Controllers get the same change?

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most people will never be permadom at any level so a 25% damage boost in Domination and a lower base damage would still be worse than a higher base and Domination only providing mez protection and extra control.

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Very true. The only advantages to keeping some of the damage effect in Domination is that there will be less change to the expected effect, and that if non-Domination turns out to be too powerful, it would be a better solution than nerfing damage overall, resulting in a lower damage than current perma-Dom.

I'm not anticipating that the new Domination will be too powerful, but let's not ignore the possibility. Also, while 25% Domination would not be better than no damage boost Domination for non-Perma Doms, it WOULD still be better than current Domination. It would be a boost, just not as much of one.

It's really up to Castle to determine which solution bets fits the result he wants.

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I thought these were all taken out of the game... was I wrong? Can I still find craftable weapons? Or did you just crawl out from under a rock? tee hee

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I suppose it could have been taken out of the game, but the last time I played my Ninja MM, I went to the store and bought her a new Revolver. This was at least within the last couple of months. I have two characters that I keep normally equipped with a Revolver. (Concept reasons...)

They're actually quite cheap, I place orders for the recipes at 5000 apiece, and I can usually get 2 or 3 to keep on hand until I need them.

From 1-10, of course, it can be a good half of your damage. At 12, when you pick up your first Tier 2, it becomes more like 1/4, depending on the Set. (Enforcers start doing way more damage, but Protector Bots don't) Although you'd think at 18, when you get a third Tier 1, their damage would go up, in fact it doesn't. When you get more at a given tier, they each are lower level, so their total damage doesn't really change. Thus, your big changes are at 6, when you get Equip, 12, when you get Tier 2, 26, when you get Tier 3, and 32, when you get Upgrade.

There is a stretch from around 18 to 24 where a Mastermind's damage is at the lowest it will ever be. (Compared to your targets) Although the damage an MM can do with any single attack is only about 16% of what your henchmen can do in this range, I still encourage players to take them because you need every drop of damage you can squeeze out if you intend to solo. You can always respec out of the attacks later, and you don't have to take all three of them to make an appreciable difference. (Vet Reward powers like the Nemesis Staff and Sands of Mu can also make a huge difference, and if you don't have those yet, you can always go to the Market and buy a recipe for a Revolver)

If you do take all 3 attacks, you will probably need Stamina to pay the End cost. It is probably better to take only two of them, and slot them really well, with Endurance as well as damage. Remember, you can always respec later to get the slots back.

Once you get your Tier 3 at 26, your share of the damage drops considerably. You probably can't do more than 25% of what your henchmen are doing, even with all three attacks fully slotted. After 32, there is no comparison, all your henchmen start doing much more damage, and your contribution is no longer needed. Still, it can be helpful to keep one of the attacks around to finish off foes that are in the red, or to knock them down.

It can also help to use attacks following a Provoke to draw even more aggro, if you are using the Tankermind strategy. I've often said I wish MM attacks could be slotted for Taunt like Tanker and Brute attacks, only they would have no Taunt effect if not slotted for it at all. That way you could choose if you wanted to use them as part of a Tankermind strategy, but wouldn't be putting yourself at risk by using your attacks if you use your henchmen more aggressively.

Another potential reason: You don't want to outlevel a Mayhem or Safeguard Mission before you get the rewards associated with it. The main one I'm thinking of here is the jetpack and jump pack, but I have a friend who's asked me to help him collect the badges. I have a character in the range, but it's possible I could outlevel the Safeguard doing the Police Band missions to get it. So I can just turn off XP right before I level to keep that from happening.

I actually had this happen with one of my characters and had to switch to another. I'd forgotten about the Earn XP option, and only realized after the fact that I could have used it. As for the jump pack and jetpack, I've leveled to the teens so fast that I really had to be careful not to miss them. I can see turning off XP so you can finish one more Police Band mission without levelling.

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I'm really curious about this. Since I first started using Set IO's, I've been kind of baffled at how hard it is to get certain set bonuses, and how others are common but give practically no benefit.

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You kind of explained the reasoning here. Or to add in Fulmens' two cents' worth, in some cases the devs chose one or the other to give "no benefit" because they didn't want the combination of the two of them to imbalance the game.

Interestingly, the proliferation of Defense compared to Resistance is common in the Power Pool as well. There are plenty of powers that give Defense, but only one that gives Resistance, and it is only Smashing and Lethal. Which I find interesting, since the devs themselves have claimed that Defense is a better effect than Resistance, and they are concerned about builds that have too much of it. (Mainly because it allows you to avoid status effects as well as damage)

I will say about the Damage bonuses that while the devs did originally limit them to the 4th slot in most cases, they introduced most of those that have the damage bonus in the 2nd slot in the next Issue. (When they added Knockback IOs) SO they may have realized that Damage boosts didn't effect the balance as much as they were afraid it would.

Personally, I have found that Damage is kind of the opposite of Defense and Resistance in that with Defense as you get closer to the cap you get more effect from the Defense, while with Damage the first bonuses you slot have the greater effect. Like Recharge it is diminishing returns. However, with Damage the lower damage you have to start with, the better it is.

On my FF Defender, just a few of the +Damage Sets started to make a difference, and once I got my bonus up to about 15%, it made for a major change in the playability. If your damage is really low, you have to deal with your foes regenerating while you're fighting them, so at that level, any additional damage means less time, which means the foe regenerates less. So in effect you're getting more damage out of it than just the bonus.

In short, a Scrapper or Rad Defender isn't going to have much use for it, but an FF Controller or Defender is. The same isn't true for Defense, a Blaster who needs Defense more than anyone isn't going to get much use out of those tiny bonuses.

This is one reason why I've suggested that the base modifier boost could be decreased to about 0.75/0.95 (totally an estimate, there) and Domination's boost made around 25%. While that would not be as huge a boost as current, prior to level 10, it would soften the blow somewhat.

I've really found that prior to 10 there is not a huge performance problem with Dominators, but when you do get that Domination boost, it's pretty much overkill. You still have the feeling of having to "earn" it by using your attacks at their lower level, so you feel it when you are having to use weaker and weaker attacks just to get to Domination again. It's also true that weaker attacks are less Endurance efficient, and thus you will not be having to activate Domination quite as often just for the End recharge.

Finally, for those sets with a damage boost, I'd like to add that the damage boost will itself be higher with a higher base modifier to boost. This only applies to Fire, Thorns and Electric, but all three can get their build up at level 16, just when by this analysis the difference is really starting to kick in.

Devices and Traps are nice, gadget-oriented Power Sets, but for the most part they are buff/debuff, and bombs. (Which are essentially pets that self destruct ) There's a lot of leeway for other gadget based sets.

Ninjitsu actually fits the bill for a gadget based Defense set. While there are only three actual gadgets in the set (and one is duplicated in Scrapper Weapon Mastery) Kuji-In Sha could be interpreted as a healing device, or a stimulant, and Danger Sense could be a heads up display or scanner. And the other defenses are really just training. The devs have also mentioned a Tech Defense, which could be something like this, or gadgets combined with body armor.

I would really like to see a gadget based Control set, possibly using some of the AoE Web powers available villain side, as well as such things as glue guns and non-lethal weaponry. (Like a Taser)

That leaves Melee, which could be covered by Street Fighting is you stretch the concept to include improvised weapons such as a baseball bat, and grenades or dropped mines. (i.e., you drop a grenade, and leap out of the AoE)

Ranged is kind of covered with Assault Rifle and Archery (and Pistols in Going Rogue, it looks like) but I suppose there could be a makeshift Ranged Set with grenades and weapons cobbled together from what's lying around. (a la MacGyver)

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Uhm, from my playing... At least till you gain your free respec at 22 or 24 (can't remember which) your kryptonite is melee and aoe. 20ish defense to ranged, but only 10ish defense to melee and aoe? No defense debuff resistance? OUCH!

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Actually, that was how I felt Blasters should be designed. Defense against ranged attacks, but none at all against melee or AoE.

I was talking more about a specific weakness than a general one, though. Longbow don't target a melee/AoE weakness any more than any other enemy group does. And you can't really say that Kheldians are without weaknesses, they merely don't have any areas (in Human form) where they excel. (Human form Kheldians don't really do as much damage as SoA, they're a bit more defensive)

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I'd love it even more though if the Shields were united in one power, and the two free power-slots would be used to let Kheldians grab some APP's for example.

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Or they could just, you know, add an APP. There are no new powers for Kheldians to unlock anyway, after 40.

Well, since the duration of the Dwarf's Mire has been reduced, the ability to use it to boost Nova damage has been reduced. It's really meant more to boost Dwarf damage. And with that boost, Dwarf still does a lot of damage, making it more than just for tanking. It kind of fills part of Nova's role.

OTOH, once you get Eclipse, you have huge defense you can use in the Nova form. So while I don't think a pure Nova form would work (I don't think it would work on a PB, either) I can see how Nova/Human might be competitive.

I have a Human Form WS, and I find that for the most part, it seems to take a long time to come into its own, but once it does, it really becomes quite powerful. A Nova/Human form would be the same, it's just that by that time you would likely have Dwarf too. Why not put it to use?

Personally, I've been thinking of trying a dual build, with Human/Nova for the one build, and Human/Dwarf for the other. Then I basically get the best of both slotting choices, but have access to all three forms.

It is not that Kheldians have to have a Kryptonite because they are all-powerful, it's they have to have a Kryptonite because they have no other weaknesses. It is possible to build a Kheldian that can be a Blaster, a Tanker, a Scrapper, a Defender and a Controller. (Well, a little more Scrapper and Defender for PB, a little more Controller for WS) They're the original Jack of All Trades.

Quantums were a little tough early on, but that's why their damage is no longer unresistable, and Kheldians have had buffs like having their damage raised, and having the team bonuses effect forms. Quantums aren't as much a threat as something you watch out for and hit first, like Psi users to Invulnerability, or Abominations or those Rikti swords to ranged fighters.

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I have also played with the VEATs and they need one more than Khelds do lol.

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I must admit I found that a little surprising when the VEATs were released. They are at least as much a Jack of All Trades as a Kheldian (or a Defender or Corruptor) although they don't have the form shifting.

You'd think Longbow would be their natural enemy, but they don't seem to be in any way vulnerable to them.