reading three sentences means you did not read anything, people have commented on how long my guide is. reading 3 sentences is like picking up a speck of dust from the floor and saying you swept the whole room. The more you comment the more a feel sorry for you. You failed at reading in school didn' t you? It's ok, you do not need to answer.
Right, if you feel comfertable with it use it. The only reason I said they are not worth using was because they do not give as much power as SD and WoP
A "battery" troll is the MAIN way to play a troll so that raid groups are successful, and the run be smooth and easy.
it's reading stuff like this that puts the hard work players put in to explain any and everything about the controller role in the garbage. especially when new players believe it. a mix of playstyles is possible and has proven just as successful. battery style doesn't do anything but spam the power transfer, cast PoT and weapon combo to regenerate power. thats it. anyone can do that.
Thank you for posting this. This is good to know, I will however point out that if the choice between getting your combo meter up to 12 hits or dumping power to the group which should a troller choose? If the group is in an area where alot of power is being used, the two trollers should be spaming their power dumps, not worrying about their hit counter.
With this line of thinking, why would anybody want a controller toon? Why not create a toon that is only allowed to dump power and provide PoT....sound like a blast. Maybe petition DCUO to change the the name from controller to "battery"* - that way new players won't get any crazy ideas - you know, like thinking they can apply control effects and contribute to damage etc. * apologies to Battery.
The word MAIN means that the focus is on that aspect of the role, not to completely neglect the other aspects of the role. If you would have read, you would see that I do mention debuffing, which is the other part of trollers' job. DAMAGE is NOT the troller's job, simply because we do not get an attack reduction when we are in troll role does not mean that a controller should focus on dealing damage. The damage we deal from our debuffs/cc and weapon combos is more than enough, there is no reason to put moves on the layou that focus on dealing damage. There is a role that is designed to deal damage, it is called DPS. And like I said in the post, if the choice between giving power (which will probably hit at least one of the DPS) and doing a debuff/cc/ or damage move comes up, the choice for any troller is simple. Give power. If you do a damage move, then use power dump, guess what, that damage move could have been another power dump that the DPS could have used. Any amount of power a troller uses to do damage fails in comparison to the amount of damage a DPS could have done with that same amount of damage. If, and only if the group is not hungry for power is it ok for the troller to use their power on extra curricular activities.
A majority of players aren't going to read your guide. its a wall a text. i'm not reading it until you break it up. your replies are much shorter. that's what I'm reading. The game doesn't call the role "DPS" it's calls it damage. listed in the descriptions of power it says "Control Role" and "Damage Role." DPS is what is listed under the weapons. That term was just switched up by players.
Again, someone who needs to read before commenting and not jump on band wagons. The post did not say the only thing to do is PoT and power dump. People jumped to that conclusion, most of which without even bothering to read the guide. If you would have read the guide, you would see that a controllers job, as mentioned in the guide, includes, 1st and most importantly giving power. then doing debuffs, cc, and picking people who have been Ko'd. If most people who think and have posted that this is a guide that says "battery troll is the only way to troll" would have actually bothered to read the guide instead of the post that other people have put up then maybe you would have seen that the guide emphasizes that if the choice between doing a debuff/cc/damage move and giving out power comes up in an instance where its either one or the other, the first choice for all trolls should be to give power.
This guide was a good Battery or Beginner's basic guid to controlling. I would like to thank your effort in writing it out. However a couple flaws - Dominance does not increase damage for Controllers the tooltip is wrong and I would quote the changes from GU17 where it was stated that Dominace no longer lengthens control effects for a controller but the old threads were not all moved over with the forum changeover. As long as the minimum dominance is obtained then you have a chance of landing your control effects (greatly magnified with a Boost II Orbital Strike aka level 4 - as it strips targets of control resistance). At 1300+vit controllers can still struggle to keep a Raid group powered up - when you have players hding behind pillars (avoiding line of sight- Gates of beginning of Khan with the rocks...lol gotta stay mobile) & when groups are extremely Power-inefficient. When I mean power inefficient I mean being not just wasteful with power (SPAMMING heals & Or power at the first part of Vengence when the ghosts cannot hurt you...SMH spamming a finisher and PI loadout on every single trash mob - clipping every Healing move on yoour loadout bar when health is full and or a cutscene is starting, Tanks yanking adds that the DPS/Trolls/Healers are just about to kill, Trolls spamming Power Transfer(Dump) emptying their power bar while group is moving through a hallway towards the next group. (At the very least they could dump just every 5 secs after PoT has ticked back). If more DPS were more power efficient (think 10:1 Damage to power ratio) Raids would usually tend to go smoother as there would be anbundance of power available for Bursts and emergency. As it is now sometimes players use soo much power I cannot even get a 5-hit combo in before I am hitting Defib/Recharge/Pychic Empowerment......heck I have to resort to using Word Of Power in mob fight because players don't know how to manage power at all and I don't think they realize that if I am hitting the Power Dump every 2-3seconds I do not have enough time to generate my own combo. Literally we become life-support needing to drink colas to refill our own power just to keep power coming to the group.......that is not efficient and leaves very little room for error. Ever noticed that a troll will go down not get revived group doesn't notice there will be less power coming in - procedes to drain power - wipes and then blames the wipe on low power........ Enough of Battery Rants Onto Crowd Control - this is probably my largets pet-peeve when I hear a Controller asking for a single add to be taken of of them in Prime. All controllers when meeting the minimum dom requirement have control effects that can be applied whether with powers or even better is with weapon combos. You should never hear a controller askinf for a single add to be taken off of them. as long as they are getting some heals, they should be able to effectively solo a wing-armor,Sunstone sentry, roamer, bounder with no assistance from a DPS or Tank. If they control the one add with weapon combos that allows them to regen power and controllers take no penalty in damage. I know this guide says not to worry about damage at all. BUT damage thru weapon combos is extremely effective for both stun effects. juggles, knock downs - etc...These are control effects that in adverntantly cost no power - in the exact opposite they generate power especially with Melee weapons as the longer hard-hitting combos usually have the greatest crowd-control effects. As a bonus our Power-transfer(you called it power-dump) whether Defib, Recharge, or Pyschic empowerment you get a self-boost of 77might and 62 precision (Every 10 precision is 1DPS with your weapon based/precision based attacks...meeaning to get the most you want precsion that would end it xx8 for the normal self boost to be the highest - group and cola buffs aside) this self-boost lasts for 6 seconds which is 1 second longer than a PoT tick frequency. If you work to generate the largest combo in this 5 seconds and then clip that combo with your 'Power-Dump' or even better if you have an abundance of power or need to apply a debuff you combo and then clip-that debuff with your 'Power-Dump' as that will cancel most animations while still landing the attack. (Exceptions to this are moves like Light-Blast, Terrorize, which have animations where the controls effects come at the end of the animation or the animation is the control effect.....basically these might as well be considered cast time moves since they are vulnerable to interrupt) So Power over time is active and there is not something that needs to be debuff'd then weapon combo and clip. If dealing with a pesky add - weapon combo using the move that have juggle-stun-knockdown effects - keep in mind you'll need to rotate thru the control effects as an add will become immune, so you'll need to apply a different control effect. Also, if the add is pestering and interrupting other players(Healers usually , but sometimes cast-time DPS) don't be afraid to use a debuff that has a control effect. Horrfic- Visage is a beast AoE crowd control move, but it is also a Healing debuff. Healing debuffs are not always practical in raids, but turning a Mob into ghosts that do not attack back is the equivalent of using a group shield which is makes enemies easier to kill and stops the enemies from attacking your group-mates.....less power used for healing and less chance of power being used for a breakout-interruption or power lost from an interrupt. (That is a great use of power from a troll that actually saves the group power- while it may do single target damage it's largest benefit is that is can neutralize a mob) Encasements to me another story as they seem to be more annoying and a hinderance....the shield the enemy if no Encasement breaker or PI is used. Can be good for neatralizing a Pestering add BUT I feel it is better to attempt to build a combo and stun the add or just apply a non-encasing stun/control effect move that then allows you to build a combo. (attacking an encased add - will knock them around making it difficult to contiune a weapon combo and if the add is objective based it can make it very difficult to retrieve desired objective aka crystal/pod) (Hint: at tthe crabs in FOS1 it is better to use a pull to keep the crabs grouped up in the center around the broodmother (pulling them back when they try to walk into sunstone tranfromation platforms) allowinf the DPS and tank to just keep everything in one nice 'Oven' (High levels of Burn)) On damage from a troll - in general I don't expect to see other trolls doing the same amount of damge I do, but it is always welcomed. If I am HL I tend to choose brawling for the low weapon tier power regen and only use contstruct combos never actually using my brawling combo unless I need that quick double-fisted back-hand to put add in check. If I am gadgets I go the route of PoT, defib, SC (Speed Drain, Power Robot, WoP) Intimidation, Turret, Guass Grenade. (When a healing debuff is preferred I use it in place of Intimidation) With Mental, Terror Tendrails, Pyschic Empowerment, SC (Shield, Speed Drain, WoP), Menace, Horrific Visage, Phatom Flames. With Gadgets and Mental I use Intimidation and Menace because they increase controls effects while using both weapon combos and debuffs or power-over-time moves making almost eveything you are doing to the enemy more effective. I pefer melee weapons and choose MA as I believe a controller should have an AoE block breaker and MA and Pistols come to mind and decent AoE Block breaking combo builders. (Hint: for Pistols Sweep Shot is a much better stun (not pushback like Full-Auto) and mid-range combo builder than Full-Auto....Just Jumpshot/Slip-shot - into Sweep-shot and clip the animation of sweep shot with power-move usually 'Power-Dump') (With Staff Downward smash clipped or for a quick-combo builderthe hold square moves can be clipped creating a precsion damage over-time like effect) (MA/Brawling - clip Smoke Bomb or Clip Uppercut-Haymaker) (Handblasters Power discharge (melee ranged blockbreaker) can be clipped to also provide a precision-like damage over time combo.)(One handed take more delicate timing but you can clip the fast slash attak for a similar quick-combo hit) Hit me up on USPS3 - Hero side mental toon: Massah (I troll a lot (or Prec-Mental DPS with an effeicent 10-12:1 damage to power-ratio) *Edit- as mentioned and I would like to add very important - if you are a controller please make sure adequate power is being provided first and then Crowd-Control, Run objectives, etc....lol
People who have been playing DCUO do not need to read every paragraph, as this has some very basic facts about trolling. There are titles for each paragraph that are bold and underlined, the titles summarize what the up coming paragraph will be covering. Ex. if one is not sure about how to do PoT, go to the paragraph that has the title with PoT in it. Same for specd and gear, power dump, and super charge. I understand that a wall of text may be intimidating, but that is no excuse to, as some have done, read the first three sentences of one paragraph and assume to know what the entire article is about, then proceed to comment on the article as a whole and successfully prove that one has not bothered reading the article. Essentially making all the points that they themselves brought up null and void and wasting other readers' time, who can actually read a guide on trolling and not feel it is some sort of personal attack on their own play style, Sylar.
That's kind of a no-brainer. The key thing to strive for is a 'rotation' of POT (if primary), transfers, weapon combos, and anything you can fit if in desired. One goal is to build one or more rotations that are sustainable. If you get that going, you will find less occasions where power is becoming an issue where you have to make a tough call like that. Choose which tier you plan on reaching before you start the combo. When in doubt, get that combo. A T1 combo is just a single hit. Reaching a T2 combo can be accomplished in very few seconds. Only a T3 combo should take real time. Trust the sustainability of your rotation. There are opportunities to make tactical choices. The thing about it is to get to a point where you're not making those choices reactively, e.g. "Oh my gosh, we're out of power...I need to stop what I'm doing" and instead make them more pro-actively, e.g. "Okay, I see I'm getting a little low on power, I will choose to take a little extra time and go for a T3 combo instead of my normal T2 combo." In that sense, you're staying one step ahead of what the situation dictates. That's why it's a bit of a no-brainer.
Everything you wrote is a welcomed addition. You went into some detail with many of the things I had to cut out in an effort to shorten the length of the post. And yes, it does not matter how good the controllers are, if the rest of the group is horribly efficient with power then the group will fail to the eventual thirst for power. But I would like to repeat something you mentioned that I also mentioned in the guide and as comments to other posts, " if you are a controller please make sure adequate power is being provided FIRST and then Crowd-Control, Run objectives, etc".
It SHOULD be a no brainer, but that is not what we see, if you run pug raids all day, and let us say you are main troll, for each raid. You will more then likely run into a few trolls who do a terrible job at keeping power up, nevermind doing debuffs and cc.
Terrible advice. I stopped reading once I saw that a controller's main task is being a battery. Absolutely wrong. CONTROLLING is our main task. Battery is a perk that most people take advantage of. We throw POT and then hit the debuffs and CCs. Throw in a power dump every 6-8 seconds. If you're running ANY content and that isn't enough, you're playing with people who suck. Perhaps you could enlighten them on the subtle art of weapon combos. Any controller that plays this style will be in a world of hurt come T5. Battery and TheDark have posted WONDERFUL guides. Although, Dark's is for gadgets, it's still an enlightening read on the powerset.
Some people might have gotten confused, mostly because they jumped to conclusions on what the post is about without reading it simply because they get intimidated by the length of the post. "Reason for this post: I always thought that if people were serious about playing this game that they would do some research and find out a couple of details about their powers/roles in the game to make sure that they are playing as best they can. But apparently even though they say they know what they are doing I find myself having to "coach" other controllers on what they should be doing. My hopes is that some people will read this and learn then spread the knowledge and then I will end up having to "coach" a lot less. This does not mean I am the only experienced troller on DCUO, there are many players who can play the role just as well if not better then myself, unfortunately there are a lot more people who control poorly. Hopefully this will make good controllers more common. I will focus on PVE raid controllers. I will assume that if you are reading this you already have some basic knowledge of the game and roles." That quote is in the guide, at the very end. It is my firm belief and all the people I have played with on DCUO, and I have played since BETA. That to be a good controller you need to at the very least be a battery. If you are a controller and have a hard time keeping power up in a raid that is not too horriblly power efficient and the other troller is doing the core tasks of his role, then you have no business concerning yourself with debuffs and cc. And no troll should ever be concerned with their position on the score card at the end of an instance, the only people who can be "judged" (used loosely) by where they are on the score card are the DPS. I never said you should not try to damage, heck for trolls it is impossible not to do damage, but seeing as how we have alot more pressing things to do during an instance then try to be fourth on the scorecard, putting out damage should not be worrying any troll.
If you run higher tier content, and would have bothered to read the guide, then you would have not posted what you just posted. I would love to see you start a shout conversation with the DCUO population and say that a controllers secondary job is to give power. If you focus on debuffing every enemy, and using your CCs on all mobs, instead of giving power, you will fail your role. A controller should should debuff and use CCs, but only after the group has sufficient power. If the groups power bars start to go down, guess who they are going to look at to fill them back up, the group is not going to care that an ad has a debuff on them or is under a CC effect if they have no power. This means that the primary responsibility of the controller class is to keep power bars full. Any troller who prioritzes debuffs and CCs over keeping the group powered up is mis-playing the role. A DPS can not take advantage of an ad that has the defence debuff if he does not have sufficient power to kill the ad. A healer and tank are not going to care that a trash mob is under CCs effects if the healers do not have power to heal the damage that mob is going to dish out once they break out and attack the party because the tank has no power to pull the aggro. For groups to run efficiently the first and foremost concern of all trolls is to make sure that everyone has the power needed to play their roles.
I apologize. I did come off kind of harsh. Not what I intended. Unfortunately, not everyone understands MMOs. When I started, I didn't know an MMO from a hole in the ground. I was a fire character that stayed in damage role (because I didn't know about switching roles) that was rocking a mix of tank and damage gear. It wasn't until a wonderful player inspected me and decided to give me some constructive criticism. Eventually I switched my main into an what was an alt that I made on day one of my playing. I spent a belligerent amount of time becoming the controller I am today. As it is right now, crowd control is RARELY needed for raid survival. That much is true, But we can't let impressionable new people come in here and build a character like this. That build would never get them through the leveling period. We should want new players to take on their role early so that when raids are happening, they're not just learning.
I read your post as far as the quote below: Aside from supercharges (i.e. WoP), as far as I know PoT and power dumping are the only way to distribute power. Perhaps you go into other aspects of controlling, but this paragraph sets the tone. I have no problem with the length of your post (although the the lack of paragraphs breaks makes it difficult to read). I'm honestly starting to think that the other classes (especially DPS) should start carrying WoP and use weapons combos to regenerate power - the community lately seems to be expecting controllers so simply play as batteries....why limit a player to a few specific moves and minimal damage, when you could have an almost self-sufficient DPS?[/quote]
If you would have bothered to read the guide you would have realized what the guide is trying to accomplish. You see this guide requires its readers to do a little bit of thinking on their own, and actually play the game, it does not lay everything out, Battery already did that in his guide that is very well done. This tells people who do not know about the control role what their main job is and reminds the advanced trolls to not forget the basics, debuffs and CCs are no substitute for power. A master with a stick is more lethal then a novice with a sword, if you have mastered the basics of trolling, which for the most part consists of being a battery and putting out a few debuffs, then great, go to Battery's guide to learn the finer points on trolling, but if you are a troll and are doing all the CCs and debuffs and your group is constantly low on power. Then guess what, your a novice with a sword and need to get back to what the core of your role is all about.
