Yes, Castle knows about permadom
In MrBone's post, Is permadom an exploit?, Castle writes:
[QUOTE: Or overpowered? Or how the devs intended dominators to function?
Discuss.]
This has come up many times in the past. My answer has always been that we're aware of it, but there are no current plans to alter how it works. I most certainly do not consider it an exploit, though I do think there are aspects of it that are not working entirely as designed.
When we revisit Dominators in the not so distant future, Perma-dom is something that we will look at more indepth. In all likelyhood, it will still be possible, but be more limited in what it accomplishes. We'll be specifically looking at bringing up "non-domination" performance, when we do that update, btw, so that Perma-dom isn't the end-all-be-all for Dominators.
******
In Liliaceae's post, Looking at Dominators, Castle writes:
This is totally not set in stone; in fact, I pretty much guarantee there'll be long arguments about this topic here in the office, but here are some of the thoughts kicking around in the back of my head:
Domination:
Remove Damage Bonus completely
Standardize Duration bonus while in Domination Mode
Non-Domination:
Add Bonus damage (similar to Controllers, outside of Damage cap) of 50% for Domination set powers, and 100% for Assault powers.
Then, look at specific sets and powers for adjustments to be made.
******
[QUOTE: That still looks like one of the modes is vastly more appealing than the other.]
Hence, my comment that exact values would need to be determined. Typing up my example made it pretty clear I was being overly generous in my initial thought.
******
[QUOTE: so, in the end, do doms become more powerful with the 100% bonus damage in the secondary and 50% in the primary?]
This is, roughly, the effect:
Current:
Ice Sword (@level 50)
Unslotted, normal mode: 26.7 Lethal + 42 Cold Damage
Unslotted, Domination mode: 46.7 Lethal + 73 Cold Damage
Capped, normal or domination mode: 106.8 Lethal + 166.8 Cold Damage
Proposed
Unslotted, domination mode: 26.7 Lethal + 42 Cold Damage
Unslotted, normal mode: 53.4 Lethal + 84 Cold Damage
Capped, domination mode: 106.8 Lethal + 166.8 Cold Damage
Capped, normal mode: 213.6 Lethal + 333.7 Cold Damage
As you can see, you do far more damage in "normal" mode under the proposed system, then you do in the current Domination mode. The trade off is, if you want Control, you use domination mode, if you want lots of damage, you leave Domination inactive.
Obviously, lot's of tweaks on the exact values would need to be made...and, of course, I have to convince the other guys that this is the right way to go (I'm not entirely convinced myself, and I know there are several other options to consider.)
EDIT: Standardizing the Duration comment: Right now, in Domination, half of your Mag is one duration, and the other half is that duration +50%. I'd standardize it so the entire mag was 150% while in Domination mode.
[QUOTE: Or overpowered? Or how the devs intended dominators to function?
Discuss.]
This has come up many times in the past. My answer has always been that we're aware of it, but there are no current plans to alter how it works. I most certainly do not consider it an exploit, though I do think there are aspects of it that are not working entirely as designed.
When we revisit Dominators in the not so distant future, Perma-dom is something that we will look at more indepth. In all likelyhood, it will still be possible, but be more limited in what it accomplishes. We'll be specifically looking at bringing up "non-domination" performance, when we do that update, btw, so that Perma-dom isn't the end-all-be-all for Dominators.
******
In Liliaceae's post, Looking at Dominators, Castle writes:
This is totally not set in stone; in fact, I pretty much guarantee there'll be long arguments about this topic here in the office, but here are some of the thoughts kicking around in the back of my head:
Domination:
Remove Damage Bonus completely
Standardize Duration bonus while in Domination Mode
Non-Domination:
Add Bonus damage (similar to Controllers, outside of Damage cap) of 50% for Domination set powers, and 100% for Assault powers.
Then, look at specific sets and powers for adjustments to be made.
******
[QUOTE: That still looks like one of the modes is vastly more appealing than the other.]
Hence, my comment that exact values would need to be determined. Typing up my example made it pretty clear I was being overly generous in my initial thought.
******
[QUOTE: so, in the end, do doms become more powerful with the 100% bonus damage in the secondary and 50% in the primary?]
This is, roughly, the effect:
Current:
Ice Sword (@level 50)
Unslotted, normal mode: 26.7 Lethal + 42 Cold Damage
Unslotted, Domination mode: 46.7 Lethal + 73 Cold Damage
Capped, normal or domination mode: 106.8 Lethal + 166.8 Cold Damage
Proposed
Unslotted, domination mode: 26.7 Lethal + 42 Cold Damage
Unslotted, normal mode: 53.4 Lethal + 84 Cold Damage
Capped, domination mode: 106.8 Lethal + 166.8 Cold Damage
Capped, normal mode: 213.6 Lethal + 333.7 Cold Damage
As you can see, you do far more damage in "normal" mode under the proposed system, then you do in the current Domination mode. The trade off is, if you want Control, you use domination mode, if you want lots of damage, you leave Domination inactive.
Obviously, lot's of tweaks on the exact values would need to be made...and, of course, I have to convince the other guys that this is the right way to go (I'm not entirely convinced myself, and I know there are several other options to consider.)
EDIT: Standardizing the Duration comment: Right now, in Domination, half of your Mag is one duration, and the other half is that duration +50%. I'd standardize it so the entire mag was 150% while in Domination mode.