Questions on Force Development

Knowing that the dark side is only quicker not more powerful than the light, why do powerful masters in the lightside in the force experience power growth after falling to the dark side. The chief example of this being Dooku. Dooku possessed a knowledge and mastery of the light side of the force that was rivaled or surpassed only by Yoda or Windu. He had devoted 60 years of his life to studying and harnessing its power. He should have logically reached near the end of his potential through mastery of the lightside of the force. After falling to the dark side and being unable to call on the light, Dooku should be a novice in harnessing his potential through the dark side of the force. It seems unlikely that 10 years of studying the dark side of the force should allow Dooku to unlock a greater portion of his potential than 6 decades of study leading to having a mastery of the light side that rivaled Yoda himself. Yoda or GM Luke for example should experience little to no power growth were they to become sith lords since their potential has already been basically reached via the light. What do you guys think?

KingofBlades wrote:Knowing that the dark side is only quicker not more powerful than the light, why do powerful masters in the lightside in the force experience power growth after falling to the dark side.

You kinda answered your own question.

The chief example of this being Dooku. Dooku possessed a knowledge and mastery of the light side of the force that was rivaled or surpassed only by Yoda or Windu. He had devoted 60 years of his life to studying and harnessing its power. He should have logically reached near the end of his potential through mastery of the lightside of the force.

Nothing says he was near the end of his potential as far as I'm aware. It's stated that had he remained with the Order he could've become a Jedi Master on par with Yoda.

After falling to the dark side and being unable to call on the light, Dooku should be a novice in harnessing his potential through the dark side of the force.

Dooku had been interested in Sith teachings for many decades before he actually joined them, and even studied the contents of a Dark Holocron as a Jedi. You're also assuming there's no overlap between the light and the dark, which is false (basic telekinesis, augmentation, etc.), and it's not unreasonable at all that in a decade, one of the most prodigious and wise masters of the Force ever would have learned the principal tenets of the dark side such as drawing on your emotions for strength. That's something even neophytes understand almost immediately, so really, I don't see the issue here.

It seems unlikely that 10 years of studying the dark side of the force should allow Dooku to unlock a greater portion of his potential than 6 decades of study leading to having a mastery of the light side that rivaled Yoda himself.

Where do you get that he unlocked a greater portion of his potential as a Sith than as a Jedi? Even if true, you yourself have already answered this: the dark side is quicker than the light.

Yoda or GM Luke for example should experience little to  no power growth were they to become sith lords since their potential has already been basically reached via the light. What do you guys think?

Dooku himself actually noted that if Yoda fell to the dark side, he'd become powerful enough to "annihilate" even Darth Sidious. The only way he and Luke wouldn't become noticeably more powerful is if they had already achieved their full potential or most of it.

OP wrote:Dooku himself actually noted that if Yoda fell to the dark side, he'd become powerful enough to "annihilate" even Darth Sidious. The only way he and Luke wouldn't become noticeably more powerful is if they had already achieved their full potential or most of it.

It is also worth nothing that Dooku, being a guy thinking Sith ways are so much better than Jedi at the moment, was just thinking from the traditional perspective of a Darksider: that the Dark Side is so much more powerful etc.

Dooku was at best a grey Jedi before he left the order. Even as a young Jedi Knight he had a penchant for using rather than suppressing his emotions to draw on the Force in battle:

Legacy of the Jedi wrote:The light mockery that danced in Lorian's eyes inflamed Dooku. The old resentment balled up in his chest, the choking rage he felt as a boy. Now it joined the fury of a man. Dooku felt it surge, and he didn't fight it. (..) He was older now and wiser. Anger no longer had the power to make him sloppy. It made him more precise.

I wouldn't say he was ever a "master" of the light side, rather he always, like Skywalker, teetered on the edge of the dark side. That and as Az pointed out switching sides of the spectrum don't automatically reset his already acquired knowledge and mastery of the Force. As Gillard points out using the dark side is like taking Force LSD, it can be likened to someone who already spent a lifetime working out and dieting suddenly taking steroids; it doesn't reset your progress but gives you even greater gains quicker than if you did it "the right way".