Fear (and other) mechanics vs big bosses

bluecenturion

I am one of those ex-CoX players. So I am lost here. In CoX most non damage mechanics did mostly nothing most of the time against most Uber bosses.

I am asking because I am trying to figure out how my character's Spirit Reverberation will serve me in final boss battles and vs Cosmic foes. I would think a boss would shake off fear, but I see that (er I think0 I am fearing most villains and Arch Villains i am fighting in the little adventure instances i roll through.

In a related note it appears the enemies scale near instantly with my character, but not 100% of the time. What is the mechanics for fighting versus a level shifted foe?

Thank you.

fudgemonsta

Fear is actually a damage debuff, rather then a form of CC. Makes it really simple to use. Fear the target, they do a bit less damage to you.

Some missions scale to your character, others scale to the mission level. It's varied, although usually doesn't make much of a difference.

The mechanics don't really change, the only difference is you fight guys with slightly more health and they do slightly more damage. Nothing major.

gamehobo

There is no crowd control that makes any sense in champions online.

You can't even proc the effects anymore (for instance use a mez to get more "Collective Will" to proc).. I'm sure other people will tell you, you are meant to suck.. they are wrong.

Telepathy Now.

gavinruneblade

As stated, fear is a stacking damage debuff from the darkness powers. It is not a control.

All controls in CO have two limits: 1 time, 2 damage.

So if you hold an enemy and wait, the effect will end. If you hit the enemy, eventually the damage will break the hold and they will be free even if that is half a second after you held them.

This is true for most of the soft controls (root, immobilize, etc) and all of the hard controls (hold, placate, etc).

Being in a support role increases the time/damage needed to break a control, so does presence (I believe). And some other buffs and gear if they specifically mention it.

bluecenturion

Thanks, those answers were helpful. I ran a few Doms in City of, but mostly Bruted my way through the game. I'm intrigued why they built mez powers the way they did here. My main question is why would someone ever use of of the few power picks they get to take something so... lame.

Really glad the Fear mechanic works versus just about anything. I do it not for crowd control, but to use my enemies as endurance batteries as they die. Although it is kind of funny when they cower and quiver as I darkly bake them where they stand.

zazelby

From what I read in other threads, Mez powers used to be powerful and effective, but then (due to one power being exploitable) they nerfed them heavily to "balance" PvP. And they didn't do what they did in CoH, make such powers work differently against players than they do against critters, so when they nerfed them in PvP, they nerfed them against everything, making them generally useless.

I didn't play a lot of Dominators at first in CoH, but by the end they were one of my favorite classes, and I hate that I can't make one here (let alone all the elemental varieties available on CoH).

I tried to recreate my Earth/Ice Dom and my Dark/Dark 'Troller here, but it was hopeless. The Earth/Ice Dom wound up being just a terrible Earth Tank (one who wasn't actually resistant to anything), the Dark/Dark 'Troller was just a Dark/Dark Blaster with a pet. Neither felt anything like their CoH counterpart, and I sadly deleted them both. Didn't even try to recreate my Gravity/Electric after that.

It was a really unique class concept (a class where survivability doesn't come from doing a lot of damage or from having a lot of defenses, but from keeping the enemies so completely mezzed, debuffed, and/or distracted that they never got a chance to attack you at all) that doesn't seem to exist in any other game. Including this one.

gaarafrednorrisp

It kinda does exist.. but the problem is that most of the powers that give this stack up a buff on enemies that increases their resistance to it.. And the ones that don't are Telepathy or Force powers.

Like Ego Sleep works well, add in a summon of Ego Sprites to DoT while they can't move and it's similar to a Dom from my personal experiences.. can also get Collective Will while they sleep to do some good DPS..

sagewithbubbles

gamehobo wrote: »

Don't listen to any of this bunk. Mez is not just a utility, it is a role. Complete with Build Role, Form and Supporting powers.

Telepathy Now

The "role" bits were shoehorned in at the insistence of a certain someone who shall remain nameless, along with the form. I need to catch GMC at a weak moment and talk him into making all the stuff I want. Should be doable with enough histrionics and a plucky sidekick.

And you'll note the form still gives a damage boost. And the supporting powers are still (unfortunately) in PTS-hell.

The game needs to be built around crowd control in order to make it be a fully-viable role, as it tends to be a bit binary in letting the other roles do their jobs.

CO doesn't do a very good job of that, which is why there hasn't been a real crowd-control pass.

And unfortunately, why Telepathy still sorta sucks even so long after launch. It's like Ice without the ability to add Avalanche or buff Ice Blast, or Claws without the ability to take out-of-set AoEs.

If I weren't so sure that you were getting off on the role of martyr, I'd feel sorry for you.

savagedeacon

Remember that in CO with the FF you can get any power in any role. You could, for example be a tank with a high constitution and presence and use manly crowd control powers with some high damage ranged powers tossed in. Not an easy nut to crack if your cc powers could keep your enemy for a long time helpless.
In CoH while the crowd control powers were much more mighty and useful than here, the controller archetypes were also the weaker class: one or two hits and the were out for the count and that balanced their uber powers.