Oedipus_Tex

Would it go against your concept to roll a Dominator? A Mind/Earth or Mind/Energy Dominator might fit your concept very well (it uses sleep powers a lot). No demon pets, but because both secondaries have Power Boost you can do some sick things. For example, when Domination is active and you use Power Boost, Mass Confusion is a 124 second mag 6 non-aggro AoE Confuse! It also will play significantly differently from a Mind troller (which is also great, but more of a support character).

Mind/Thorns might also be an interesting one. No Power Boost but still very powerful and maybe fits your concept.

I particularly like the idea of /Earth though, because knockdown plays great with Fear.

I don't know. It's been my experience that Red and Blue teams wipe in equally preposterous situations. There are plenty of good teams on both sides too.

At the same time I also know I don't currently have ANY Dominator, Controller, Defender, or Corruptor who can leap headfirst into a x8+4 spawn and expect to survive longer than a few seconds without teammate support. In fact it's typical for me to die in about 2 hits from a boss on the hardest difficulties. I mean, maybe I could do Council for twenty seconds if they didn't mezz me. But Longbow? Carnies? Malta? Knives of Artemis? It just wouldn't happen without massive IOing, and even then probably still wouldn't happen. Soloing +4 Carnies on an Ice/Thermal Controller? Yeah... no.

Now hold on just a second, because I think Red needs to get its share too.

For every hero team that sucks there's an equally bad villain team that approaches every situation as if they are actually 8 soloists who happen to be sharing a map, even when the team has wiped repeatedly. The Stalker has run to the end of the mission, the Brute tore down the hallway to fill up her bar, and the Mastermind is AFK with the pets on auto-aggro.

Now, I don't know what level of difficulty people play on, but when I hear that people just "steam roll" everything I have to imagine it's something very easy.

Thanks that's very helpful. I don't seem to see a lot of /Ice Doms around. Is it considered sort of 'unremarkable'?

I have nothing to say really, except that Masterminds on Blue-side PUGs are really making my Controllers, Defenders, and Dominators feel useful these past few days. I know well played Masterminds are a powerful AT, but the number of wipes and near-wipes I've experienced on blue side teams due to out of control aggro over the course of this week is hilarious.

Of course Super Stunners are making no small contribution either. Drop 3 or 4 of those on a "steam roller" team in the level 30 range and it becomes a real show.

There's also the "first time a group of hero players encounters Longbow" comedy hour that plays regularly on Vigilante tip teams. This is also known as the "disappearing Tanker" trick.

While it could be annoying, I'm actually finding it all kind of fun. The difficulty level has definitely shot up for me on the team front, some of it to due to harder missions, and some due to inexperienced teammates on a mission to aggro entire instances at once. Is anyone else finding this happening to them too or am I just lucky?

(P.S. If you are a member of the Church of He Who Casts Rain of Fire In My Neighbor's Sleep Patch and Follows It Up With Nothing, I must admit I hold some prejudice against your faith. Freedom of religion is sacred to me but your method of worship leaves me perplexed. Perhaps someone can school me in the mysteries of that faith?)

There are parts of Going Rogue that work for me; Praetoria unfortunately is not really one of them. It's a great setting with exciting missions and a good backstory. It was obviously created with love.

But it's also locked away content that, if I choose to participate in it, locks me in a box in order to justify a final scene of a plot line that could have ended so many different ways, including letting me get back and forth to primal earth at level 1. The writing is quite good but the mechanics do not, IMO, justify secluding players just so it can all end with a tearful goodbye scene. If future updates to the game allow us to move to and from Praetoria at any level, my concern about this particular element will be eased. Given the history of good decisions this game team has made I'm hopeful that is what will eventually happen.

Now in terms of value I can't say I care one way or another what Going Rogue cost. As I write this I have Tropico 3 in my CD drive. I paid $30 for that, played it once for ten minutes and haven't touched it since. I loved the original game, but just didn't find the new game that engaging. I don't feel bad about saying that, just like I don't feel bad about saying there are parts of Going Rogue I don't like. The game designers are still clearly quite talented. City of Heroes is still my favorite video game. But I have to imagine the developers of this game prefer an honest and personal appraisal of their product than empty praise followed by a cancelled account with no explanation (not that that will happen since the main game is still great).

There are things about Going Rogue that are good. New power sets are fun. The expanded APP/PPP stuff is kind of neat. The morality missions are a good alternative to the radio stuff. But I really can't give a thumbs up to the Praetorian zones. They're wonderfully created but, due to current game mechanics, largely irrelevant to me as a player. I don't see my hesitance as a moral failure; the moral failure would be simply saying "This sucks!" or succumbing to the temptation to simply bash people, as some folks on both sides of this debate have resorted to.

Electric Cages will ignite an Oil Slick. I confirmed this during beta test. While wiping the floor with enemy's tears.

I considered rolling an Elec/TA troller but haven't done so. However if I did, the APP I'm tempted by most is Psi. Partly this is because of Indomitable Will, but also partly it's because the -Recharge in Psi stacks the not-so-great -Recharge in TA to a reasonable level, and because Psychic Tornado is awesome mitigation combined with cage powers that don't root.

I'm unable to open your build with a posted data chunk, so I can't make comments on it. However, you can see my unfinished Elec/TA build below.

(PS don't slot Oil Slick Arrow like I have here. I'm sure you can find info somewhere else on how best to slot it. I just threw it together.)

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

electric ta: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Electric Control
Secondary Power Set: Trick Arrow
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Tesla Cage -- BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(A), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(3), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(3), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(5), HO:Nucle(33), Dmg-I(33)
Level 1: Entangling Arrow -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Chain Fences -- TotHntr-Dam%(A), Ragnrk-Knock%(5), GravAnch-Hold%(34), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(34), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(34), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(37)
Level 4: Flash Arrow -- HO:Lyso(A)
Level 6: Jolting Chain -- Dev'n-Hold%(A), Apoc-Dam%(7), ExStrk-Dam%(7), Thundr-Acc/Dmg(43), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45)
Level 8: Conductive Aura -- Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(A), Efficacy-EndMod(9), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(9), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(23), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(23), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(40)
Level 10: Ice Arrow -- UbrkCons-Dam%(A), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg(11), UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg(11), UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold(17), UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(40)
Level 12: Static Field -- FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(A), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(13), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(13), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(15), FtnHyp-Sleep(15), EndMod-I(17)
Level 14: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 18: Paralyzing Blast -- BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(19), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(19), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(25), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(25)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), EndMod-I(21), P'Shift-EndMod(21)
Level 22: Poison Gas Arrow -- CSndmn-Heal%(A)
Level 24: Acid Arrow -- HO:Lyso(A), HO:Lyso(43)
Level 26: Synaptic Overload -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(27), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(27), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(29), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(29), CoPers-Conf%(31)
Level 28: Disruption Arrow -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Gremlins -- C'Arms-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(A), C'Arms-Acc/Rchg(33), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg(46)
Level 35: Oil Slick Arrow -- Posi-Dam%(A), RechRdx-I(36), Achilles-ResDeb%(36), LdyGrey-%Dam(36), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(37), LdyGrey-DefDeb/Rchg(37)
Level 38: EMP Arrow -- BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(39), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(39)
Level 41: Mental Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(42), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Decim-Acc/Dmg(43)
Level 44: Indomitable Will -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45), LkGmblr-Rchg+(46)
Level 47: Psionic Tornado -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dam%(50), FrcFbk-Rechg%(50)
Level 49: Mind Over Body -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 2: Ninja Run
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 6.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 10% Defense(Energy)
• 10% Defense(Negative)
• 8.75% Defense(Ranged)
• 2.25% Max End
• 39% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 4% Enhancement(Confused)
• 83.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 5% FlySpeed
• 64.9 HP (6.38%) HitPoints
• 5% JumpHeight
• 5% JumpSpeed
• MezResist(Immobilize) 2.75%
• 30.5% (0.51 End/sec) Recovery
• 10% (0.42 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 6.62% Resistance(Fire)
• 6.62% Resistance(Cold)
• 5% RunSpeed

It's an ok power. I wouldn't call it a must-have.

The thing about Jolting Chains is if you manage crowds carefully, everything past the first strike is basically auto-hit. With some recharge, the knockdown ratio is actually better than Ice Slick, and it does damage.

Whether that's useful depends largely on your secondary. There is little else in Electric Control you should be spamming. It is really a question of what's going on with the rest of your overall build. Are you Kinetic? Then you probably don't have time to use Jolting Chains that much. Force Field? Well then Jolting Chains is probably better than whatever else you'd be doing.

Jolting Chains is also an oddity from an IO standpoint. Even though it's essentially an AoE, it takes single-target damage IOs, including the Chance for Hold proc. It also allows you to slot a purple damage proc into an AoE, which with any other AoE would be prohibited. It's a 33% chance to do 107 damage. With 15 targets the proc will hit approximately 5 per cast. Total damage: 500 points, from that one proc alone without considering the base damage Jolting Chain itself does.

Now in terms of understanding how the power works you may want to take a look at the discussion here: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=235533 . The explanation basically comes together over the course of the discussion, with me beating my head against a wall trying to understand what was going on with the power and finally Arcanaville swooping in like some math goddess to save me. If you don't feel like reading the full set of posts, I'll give you a summation of what's happening below:

Jolting Chain starts out like a regular single target attack. If you hit you hit, if you fail you fail. However unlike most attacks, on a successful hit, Jolting Chain temporarily tags the target. After a short pause that target emits two separate, invisible AoE blasts, each with a 15ft radius (about the size of Fireball). Each of these blasts has a target cap of 1. This means only enemy can be hit by it, but also means the AoE rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls against every available enemy in the area of effect until it either hits one of them, the StreakBreaker forces a hit, or it misses every single available, untagged target (EXTREMELY unlikely when there are a few enemies in range with average defense). Targets that are hit are then tagged, and after a brief pause they too emit an AoE. And then it happens again. In the end, up to 15 enemies can be hit. The basic chain formation looks like this:



I hope that makes sense. I plan on trying to write something more formal about it later.

I recently rerolled my lvl 50 Mind/Cold/Primal Controller as a Mind/Icy Assault Dominator. I've been having a blast, but am not sure which attack powers are considered vital. I was planning on skipping Mesmerize, but taking Levitate and Dominate. All of the attacks in Icy look good (good damage and very fast animations). Which ones are the must haves and are any of them particularly skippable?

I was planning on skipping Chilling Embrace and possibly Telekinesis unless talked out of it.

This is kind of a contentious topic, so be prepared to get the firehose out if it turns into a brawl. Long winded reply alert.

In general, I mentally define a generic battle into four parts: the Stage, the Shock, the Assault, and the Clean Up.

The Stage phase is how you set up the battle before enemies become aware of you. Fire/Kin doesn't have a lot to do here unless this is the first battle of the mission, when you might be Speed Boosting people (this action will later be rolled into the "Clean Up" phase). Staging is a major component of playing Mind, possibly Illusion, and now in some cases Electric. They use this stage to Confuse and possibly sleep enemies who are likely to cause trouble. (This is slightly off topic, but to do this smoothly, I have my Mind and Illusion trollers depart the team during the Clean Up phase so I can scout out the next set of targets. That way the team can cleanly roll directly into a Shock without having to wait).

The Shock phase is the opener that alerts enemies to the team. If there is a Tank, this is usually where he or she usually leaps in and grabs aggro. It is typically one of the highest danger phases of the battle. The Controller's role, as I see it, is to "shock" enemies in such a way that most of them are unable to retaliate (the word "shock" in this sense refers to the war strategy "shock and awe" where you figuratively attempt to paralyze the population of an opponent nation by quickly eliminating its resources). This is in order to minimize the amount of return fire directed at the team. For Fire/Kin, this for me means an immediate Flashfire is in order, if it is available. If it isn't Cinders may be an alternative. On non-Fire/Kin Controllers you may also begin using other powers in an attempt to "shock out" as many enemies as possible while the team proceeds to "knock out." The shock out/knock out relationship forms the bulk of the battle synergy between Controllers and their teammates. Depending on the team the shock can last as little as a few seconds to quite a while.

The Assault is the battle that ensues after the Shock phase. Mentally, I often think of it as the point when the Blaster AoEs are launched (because when I play my Blasters this is when that happens for me). More than likely a few enemies are still running around unchecked. On a Fire/Kin you may not have time to deal with that just yet. Your main concern is raining a barrage of damage down on enemies heads, and the best way to do that in this case is Fulcrum Shift. From there, it becomes a question of what you need to win the battle. Healing, endurance, damage etc, are all at your disposal. There is only thing that IMO you really have to remember: when you are Fire/Kin on a team, you are no longer the superstar. You will still do a lot of damage, and should still attack, but Blasters, Brutes, Scrappers and the like are the team's cannons. (E.g. I have a Scrapper who, hit with Fuclrum Shift, hits for over 1000 points of damage on a critical hit). I only say this because a lot of Fire/Kins decide that since they are such good farmers solo they must be god's gift to damage. The truth is that they hit hard, but surrounded by a team of damage classes, hit MUCH harder.

The Clean Up phase comes at the end of the Assault phase, usually when there are 2 or 3 enemies left over who the team is piling on top of. This is the point when the battle is pretty much won. This is also the time when I advise most buff-Controllers to stop attacking and reapply their buffs. Let the damage classes (who don't have much else to do anyway) clean up the remaining enemies. On a Fire/Kin you can let your pets and damage aura do it too while you apply buffs. Do it even if the buffs are not close to dropping. Ideally you want to minimize the number of times you're forced to reapply during the middle of an Assault phase. Someone earlier said they only give Speed Boost to people struggling for endurance; IMO that is the worst way to use Speed Boosts, for reasons that would take another long post to explain, but again basically because "you are no longer the super star." However, it's not for me to dictate how people use their powers.

Anyway that's my basic strategy. I hope it's helpful.

While it's not a bad suggestion, I doubt if a change is likely. Most of the control sets have at least one somewhat questionable power (Smoke, Flash Freeze, Salt Crystals, Group Invis/Superior Invis collectively, and, at least on a Controller, Telekinesis).

I also kind of think that, in the scheme of things, a buff to Plant Control is not really likely given its performance relative to other control sets, and to other sets in general.

Not sure I'll actually use this, but this was the preliminary build for my Elec/Force Field (and crazy expensive, I doubt I'd actually go this full route). It's capped to Smash, Lethal, Energy, Psi, AoE and Ranged, has +17% Damage and +46% Accuracy, and +67.5% Recharge.


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

electric ff: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Electric Control
Secondary Power Set: Force Field
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Tesla Cage -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(3), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dev'n-Hold%(17)
Level 1: Personal Force Field -- Ksmt-ToHit+(A)
Level 2: Deflection Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(7)
Level 4: Chain Fences -- Ragnrk-Knock%(A), GravAnch-Hold%(7), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(9), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(11), Posi-Dam%(45)
Level 6: Jolting Chain -- Apoc-Dmg(A), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(9), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(15), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Apoc-Dam%(46)
Level 8: Conductive Aura -- Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(A), Efficacy-EndMod(29), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(29)
Level 10: Insulation Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(11)
Level 12: Static Field -- FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(13), FtnHyp-Sleep(13), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(34), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(37)
Level 14: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 18: Paralyzing Blast -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(19), Lock-Rchg/Hold(19), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(21), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(21), Lock-%Hold(23)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23)
Level 22: Dispersion Bubble -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(39), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(39), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(40), HO:Cyto(40)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(25), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(25), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 26: Synaptic Overload -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(27), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(27), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(31), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(31), CoPers-Conf%(34)
Level 28: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(43), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 32: Gremlins -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc(34), BldM'dt-Dmg(37)
Level 35: Repulsion Bomb -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg(A), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg(36), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng(37)
Level 38: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GA-3defTpProc(39), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(43), Aegis-ResDam(45), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 41: Poisonous Ray -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(42), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Dev'n-Hold%(46)
Level 44: Scorpion Shield -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 47: Disruptor Blast -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg(A), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg(48), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng(48), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(50), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 4: Ninja Run
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 17% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 17% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 17% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 17% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 17% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 17% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 17% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 17% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 6% Defense(Smashing)
• 6% Defense(Lethal)
• 16% Defense(Fire)
• 16% Defense(Cold)
• 12.3% Defense(Energy)
• 12.3% Defense(Negative)
• 18.5% Defense(Psionic)
• 6% Defense(Melee)
• 18.5% Defense(Ranged)
• 18.5% Defense(AoE)
• 4% Enhancement(Confused)
• 2.5% Enhancement(Held)
• 42% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 67.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 122.1 HP (12%) HitPoints
• MezResist(Held) 8.8%
• MezResist(Sleep) 3.3%
• MezResist(Stun) 1.65%
• 9.5% (0.16 End/sec) Recovery
• 90% (3.82 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 2.52% Resistance(Fire)
• 2.52% Resistance(Cold)
• 3.75% Resistance(Energy)
• 5% RunSpeed
• 2% XPDebtProtection

I'm not sure if it's the same mission you all are posting about but when I was around level 13 I was on a team of 8 that got ambushed by this:








Actually there are some more enemies behind me that you can't see.

And yes, I'm fairly sure everything on the screen is part of the ambush. It's possible my memory is foggy but I remember the whole group of 100+ enemies teleporting in on top of my team.