What should be done about the Controller role?

This is possible now with elite gear affinities. So maybe it's already on the table for future abilities.

That's another recently added area of the game I haven't looked over. I need to see what these affinities are now.

I don't care if you a boss, I should be able to crowd control you if I am a Controller.

I'm unsure if your ssting it is a good idea

It's all about content design. Until they put in content where my debuffs are NEEDED, where my CC is NEEDED and where even more power is NEEDED, then everybody will run 1. The content we get is designed for DPS and Tanks, Heals and Controllers don't get anything for them. Heal the tanks who take all the damage while the group dodges 1 shots, and controllers give power back to the healer who has to keep the tanks alive. Nothing else is needed from them. Defense debuffs are used but not mandatory and CC from them means nothing.

It's not a "good" idea to take crowd controls away from DPS when they have no support. If CC's are taken away it would need to be situational. After all, there are other activities that players do that do not require or support groups (e.g. Ace chemicals solo mission).

Bottom Line: Making CC"s exclusive to Controllers may cripple the DPS role.

But a dps should rely on support on group content

Then they would need to make exclusive rules for group situations. The developers have proven they can do this since there are special rules with each role in PVP.

I like your ideas Armorsmith and I came from City of Heroes and played a number of Controllers there. Very different than what we see here as you mentioned. Trolls should 'control" its exactly what the name implies... Stuns and holds leave mobs helpless and allow team mates to devastate them while take NO DAMAGE at all (think Quantum's POT attack where mobs wind up stunned and helplessly dangling in mid air).

Boost the effectiveness of Debuffs... There where numerous power sets that a Controller could play on COH but one of the most popular with other players was radiation. When you had a RAD Controller on your team enemy defenses melted.

I definitely like Derio's idea for power back options. My Quantum DPS and Gadgets DPS can fire off attacks for ever and still have a full power bar. I switch over to Troll and start playing every ready bunny for a team and I am popping sodas, hitting supply drops, hunting for restoration barrels and using weapon combos to TRY and keep my power level up so I can keep everyone else's up.

Now recently the DEVs revised the way a Healer's Heals over time work so they can stack... How about we FINALLY do the same for Controllers with POT? As I mentioned above one of my best attacks on my Quantum is my POT which will stun and hold ... And with GOOD Dom can even leave a Boss dangling in mid air .. although only for a few seconds unlike the amount of time their minions are helpless. BUT see here is the thing... even if you manage to get a team leader that will allow 2 trolls on his team the first thing those two need to do is compare notes and decide who will be the Battery (based of course on VIT). The other troll just stops using POT attacks... which in the case of a quantum means giving up a power that leaves mobs helpless. That also means those mobs can continue to fire off their attacks and do damage to the team which means the healer needs to work harder. Let POT stack so both trolls can provide power AND provide debuffs and suddenly the need for BURN grows smaller because the 2,3 or 4 DPS on that team (instead of 5) have more power to use attacks and those attacks do more damage because twice the debuffs are affecting those mobs ability to reflect damage. If everything is dying faster and/or entire mobs are made helpless and unable to do damage.. the healer can use less power trying to keep everyone alive and more power on shields and even attacks.

We already have some Controllers that can shield and that shield provides added POT .. how about we add a buff that increases the ability of the shielded team to inflict damage? So the shield not only deflects damage and provides added power it now also buffs the ability of the team to do damage.

Here's another one that would help the Trolls even in battery mode. Change the way a Power Push works so that just like POT it affect every member of the team. There are some players out there that don't have a clue so let me explain... When a Troll fires off a Power over time attack every member on that team, including the troll, benefits and gets those ticks of power increases. But when a Troll uses a power push to instantly provide a burst of power increase because team mates are getting close to no power.. every one on the team EXCEPT the TROLL benefits. The result on many teams is the Troll burns up all his or her available power using that Push and winds up the ONLY team member with little or absolutely no power. When that happens we get to start the soda, supply drop.. where was that healing barrel again? routine to try and get power back so we can turn right around and use it all up again because the team is running low again. The change would of course the amount of power each team member gets because the power surge would be divided between 4 or 8 members instead of 3 to 7 but the TROLL would have more power available and not run out so fast.. so they could use the push more often.

The big thing is Crowd Control.. The name itself..CONTROLER implies that they should be helping the tank keep mobs off the back of the DPS and Healers. Takes some coordination of course.. let the tank gather the mobs together in one spot and then zap them with a hold or stun. Suddenly the tanks job got a little easier because he isn't taking as much damage and can do damage along with everyone else.. and still be in place to agro and manage the mobs when the stun wears off.. Control stuns and debuffs again and before you know it the mobs are gone. DPS AoEs become more effective because more mobs are in range and debuffed and with even less DPS on a team the time it takes to clear a room or a MAP drops .. which is the whole idea to begin with.

A dps is a damage a controller is a as name implies should be controlling the battlefield. DPS shouldn't

And I say $#%& the dps role it's well past time that the support roles got so support in this game . If you want to run 5 dps good for but you should have to pay the price.

I don't know how much pvp you run but I wouldn't hold up what's been done in pvp as an example of proof of anything .

The point is that they set aside rules for it so PVE changes would not float over to PVP. The idea is sound and probably one of the positives that PVP has going for it. PVP would probably be worse if all the changes to PVE migrated to PVP.

Then it seems your willing to solve one problem while creating another.

I do not believe the developers would want DPS to become "invalids". Anything they cannot take down quickly will automatically become a problem for them, a very frequent and unwanted problem.

Your idea seems to be sound if its situational and not universal.

Removing CC from dps would cripple support roles and dps in solo and duo content. Especially celestial dps and other combo based powers that rely on the stun to get the combo out.

There needs to be another solution, taking away dps CC abilities is not one of them. But raising dom requirements for CC in alerts and raids is a start.

True but I was using those as examples of what other games controllers are like. Now what i want really is for them to take elements from those and combine them with what we have and evolve the Controller role for DCUO into something that no other game that has that role have. In a way with power back it taking away from the DCUO version of a troller and making the game closer to some other games with a controller role. Which doesn't fit with DCUO as of now. I do agree made them more flexible and be more than what we have. Hell we might have people wanting to be a troller over DPS if you could make it worth it that is.

Yup I'm in full agreement, I think I said that I would lessen CC of other roles but not take it away, Like for a tank increasing their Aggro so adds would want to go to them based of X stat, while increasing their pulls. But reading some of the things like some games have Trollers be a 2nd or 3rd tank really blew my mind since this is my first MMO I really never thought of a Controller for this game being a 2nd Tank if needed. So Thinking of those lines would it be possible for a Troller to be a role that is a hybrid of itself and something else like DPS and Tank. I mean my explanation might not be the greatest but I hope you see where I'm trying to come from.

Gotta say eliminating cc from non controller roles in alerts and raids would be great.

I could see can combos to make powers more potent