New efforts!

[HEATSTROKE]

Actually, if you have a lot of experience playing blasters, then right out of the gate you can appreciate Dominators since they have a similar level of offense at low levels but someone pushed the pause button on the enemies and they aren't shooting back.  You tend to notice that right away.

Yup... Loved playing Doms... started out playing blasters... and playing Doms to me was awesome.. your mezzed.. you cant fight back.. pew pew pew.. your going down..

Then PermaDom was like. muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Your mezzed.. You cant mezz me.. Oh look my End bar is back.. muahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha KABOOM.. fights over...

Then Incarnate was like.. what are you stupid.. your going to give me MORE tools for these fools.. muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha !!!

[Vee]

Oh i loved them out of the box for the reasons you both listed. Was just saying if you couldn't get into them initially they shouldn't be given up on until you've tried a permadom one.

[Sinistar]

always nice to use a mind dom to solo RSF.  Fun times

[Fable]

All this talk about doms is really making want this game back. I played for 6 years and never once rolled a dom, and if we get the game back it will be my first toon.

[Arcana]

Oh i loved them out of the box for the reasons you both listed. Was just saying if you couldn't get into them initially they shouldn't be given up on until you've tried a permadom one.

To an extent a lot of the archetypes or at least many power combinations of many archetypes were like that.  Controllers tended to become different things after level 32 (even Mind controllers who didn't get a pet, but got the most ludicrous mez ever handed to a player of any MMO).  Scrappers tended to mature around level 40 with all of their defenses and enough slots to power them.  Although people talked about /Energy blappers a lot, if you were an /Energy blapper life was rough until you got Total Focus (especially before its mag 4 stun was nerfed).  Low level blapping was a lot of pain and air superiority.  Ill/Rad is an average performer to start without a lot of flash (heh), but in stages it goes from being meh, to hey, to omg.

The main reason why I didn't PL alts is because I wanted to see how different combinations matured as they leveled.  And most power combos didn't just get more powerful as they leveled, they played in fundamentally different ways as they leveled.  To me, that was an important part of experiencing what a set had to offer.

[CrimsonCapacitor]

To an extent a lot of the archetypes or at least many power combinations of many archetypes were like that.  Controllers tended to become different things after level 32 (even Mind controllers who didn't get a pet, but got the most ludicrous mez ever handed to a player of any MMO).  Scrappers tended to mature around level 40 with all of their defenses and enough slots to power them.  Although people talked about /Energy blappers a lot, if you were an /Energy blapper life was rough until you got Total Focus (especially before its mag 4 stun was nerfed).  Low level blapping was a lot of pain and air superiority.  Ill/Rad is an average performer to start without a lot of flash (heh), but in stages it goes from being meh, to hey, to omg.

The main reason why I didn't PL alts is because I wanted to see how different combinations matured as they leveled.  And most power combos didn't just get more powerful as they leveled, they played in fundamentally different ways as they leveled.  To me, that was an important part of experiencing what a set had to offer.

I'm curious about your thoughts on triform Warshades.  I know people that took the single form, or went for a dual build.  I pushed a triform to 50.

That started out as, "Wow!  This is fun!" then in the high teens/low 20's went to , "This is a slog."

At about 35, it changed to, "Wait... Better."

At 50, IO'ed out with sets... Oh. My. God.

I'll say this, though:  I needed binds to effectively play the WS.  The guide named something like, "The MFing Warshade!" helped a lot.  Black Dwarf Step into a mob, mire, shift to human, eclipse... Good times.

[Arcana]

I'm curious about your thoughts on triform Warshades.  I know people that took the single form, or went for a dual build.  I pushed a triform to 50.

That started out as, "Wow!  This is fun!" then in the high teens/low 20's went to , "This is a slog."

At about 35, it changed to, "Wait... Better."

At 50, IO'ed out with sets... Oh. My. God.

The problem was dilution.  A character isn't just its powers; slotting and enhancements were as much a part of the character as the actual powers, and slots were in limited supply.  When you spread out your slots among more powers, or more powers that need slots, the overall build tends to be weaker and less focused until you have enough slots to fully mature that power combination.  And then on top of the number of slots, there's what you put in them, which can change things again particularly at high levels where the most powerful slotting options become a possibility.

Its a general rule of thumb that the more slots something needs, the less powerful it tends to feel when leveling up, but the more powerful it can ultimately become when slots become plentiful and the options you can put in those slots become more potent.  This tends to be true for the high buff/debuff controllers, for example.  Warshades tend to follow this trajectory in general as well.  Personally, I think the nova form was mostly good for leveling at lower levels for the most part, but certainly dual form human plus dwarf could be a very powerful Kheldian combo, if you could slot it all up.  My warshade was tri-form sort of, which is to say it had all three forms, but once I hit 50 I kept the nova form around mostly for free flight.  Most of my slots and enhancements went into the human and dwarf forms.

[Sinistar]

I'm curious about your thoughts on triform Warshades.  I know people that took the single form, or went for a dual build.  I pushed a triform to 50.

That started out as, "Wow!  This is fun!" then in the high teens/low 20's went to , "This is a slog."

At about 35, it changed to, "Wait... Better."

At 50, IO'ed out with sets... Oh. My. God.

I'll say this, though:  I needed binds to effectively play the WS.  The guide named something like, "The MFing Warshade!" helped a lot.  Black Dwarf Step into a mob, mire, shift to human, eclipse... Good times.

If Khelds had more slots for enhancements it would have been even better.   Still as you say, once leveled and slotted a Warshade and even a PB could be very formidable.  When they gave us the ability to have multi-builds per toon, my main Warshade had a tri form, dual form (Dwarf-human) and human form only.

For a time I kept nova form in the dual and human form only builds for flight capacity but after awhile I stocked up on jet packs and also obtained the rocket-hover board and then just respecc'd the dual and human form builds out of Nova form totally.

My PB eventually became triform perma light form after they upgrade the light form power, but I kept a secret  tri-form build on it for those rare moments when a smart mouth on the team would whimper and whine about KB on the PB even though I always kept KB under control.   Then I'd inform the leader that the smart mouth needs a short sharp lesson and changed to the other build.....that was loaded with KB BOOSTERS and proceeded to juggle and blast the enemies and send them all flying to defeat.   After that I'd revert back to perma light form build and proceed onward.  It silenced many a whiner :)

When the game returns and changes can be made, PB and WS should be altered so that when you create either you can choose from their teleport or fly powers.  Warshades need to be fliers! :)

[BadWolf]

Oh i loved them out of the box for the reasons you both listed. Was just saying if you couldn't get into them initially they shouldn't be given up on until you've tried a permadom one.

Believe me, I never gave up on anything. (I mean, I'm not still playing Dominators, but that wasn't by choice. :) ) I actually didn't feel like I truly got the hang of Tankers, Defenders and Corruptors until the last six months of the game--I'd always built them for team play, which was great when I got into a team, but I felt like I was just getting the solo builds right when they announced the shutdown. I always felt like I had more to do and more to learn, which is to me a sign of a very good game indeed.

[Twisted Toon]

My warshade was tri-form sort of, which is to say it had all three forms, but once I hit 50 I kept the nova form around mostly for free flight.  Most of my slots and enhancements went into the human and dwarf forms.

My Warshade didn't get Nova form until around level 49. And then only so I could manage the run to the Chantry easier. Teleporting all that way through empty sky can be rather ... interesting.

[Pyromantic]

I really enjoyed my tri-form WS, and I maintained a true tri-form playstyle after 50, though min-maxing to the fullest probably suggests doing otherwise.  Takes quite a while to mature, and my first attempt at the character lost steam at 37.  Maybe if I'd really known what was coming at 38 I'd have stuck with it that time.

But if (when!?) the game comes back, WS is one the first characters I will be playing.

[Bold]

My lack of Kheldian characters is something I really regret. I tried it once or twice, but it never clicked for my solo loving butt. When it's back, I WILL be playing one.

[Super Firebug]

This evening, I saw a Verizon commercial that hit home for me. With the sound muted, I don't know what the announcer might have said, but it showed a dog inside a house, looking out the window, apparently waiting for his people to come home. He watched for a while, acting sort of worried or discouraged, and then went to lie down on the floor, still seeming discouraged. That's how I'm starting to feel about waiting for news. I never was one of those who thought that the negotiations might be a hoax, but now, I'm wondering if we'll EVER hear anything - if the "wake me" thread will ever have more than the one reply. I'm really starting to relate to that dog. :/

[Auroxis]

The slot shortage and the disabling of toggles on Khelds was the major turn-off for me. It made adding defense to builds a lackluster affair, and pure resistance characters were very prone to fail due to all the debuffs hitting you. It was nice for farming and adding damage to a team, but unless you had the proper defense buffs you couldn't really act as the tank against heavy debuff mobs.

So to me, Khelds were "DPS, and tank depending on the team and mobs". I'd rather have my character's secondary role more independent and/or flexible than that.

[hurple]

Believe me, I never gave up on anything. (I mean, I'm not still playing Dominators, but that wasn't by choice. :) ) I actually didn't feel like I truly got the hang of Tankers, Defenders and Corruptors until the last six months of the game--I'd always built them for team play, which was great when I got into a team, but I felt like I was just getting the solo builds right when they announced the shutdown. I always felt like I had more to do and more to learn, which is to me a sign of a very good game indeed.

I always found that a good solo build was great on a team.  But, that was my playstyle, I was always the guy leading the charge, even as a blaster.  And making a true solo-able blaster was an artform unto itself...

[hurple]

This evening, I saw a Verizon commercial that hit home for me. With the sound muted, I don't know what the announcer might have said, but it showed a dog inside a house, looking out the window, apparently waiting for his people to come home. He watched for a while, acting sort of worried or discouraged, and then went to lie down on the floor, still seeming discouraged. That's how I'm starting to feel about waiting for news. I never was one of those who thought that the negotiations might be a hoax, but now, I'm wondering if we'll EVER hear anything - if the "wake me" thread will ever have more than the one reply. I'm really starting to relate to that dog. :/

You're not alone in feeling / thinking that...

[Waffles]

I can safely say that my Tri-form warshade was easily my most powerful all-around character.

Great damage, nigh-immortality, adaptable and easy to slot for.

Stuff like Dark/shield, Crab Spiders, and Dominators were fairly powerful, but could suffer from a bad case of RNG, and get clobbered by an unlucky streak of hits at a bad time.

Perma-eclipse is a game changer.

[Auroxis]

How did you do against heavy debuff enemies like Malta and Carnies?

[Ironwolf]

You're not alone in feeling / thinking that...

It is a complex deal and Nexon made it even more difficult. Bad enough dealing with NCSoft let's throw in another random South Korean company as well.

[hurple]

Well, where I work, I was tasked with contracting an emergency roadside service agreement with three different companies (one in canada) from making initial contact to getting a (what turned out to be 80-page) legal agreement signed, the PC apps coded, tested and working (with our systems connecting to and moving data to and from all three companies servers), and it all in production and functional. 

I was given two months to do it, and it got done.

I cannot see this agreement taking a *year* to reach.  The reverse-engineering after the deal is made... sure.  but not the initial deal.