Sorry to rain on your parade, but they weren't talking about Trans, they said the 15% damage boost will be OPwide. The speed boost apparently will still just affect your party.

Watchman is still very strong, for sure. But ahead of Combat is tough to say, until combat logs start rolling in and official math can be conducted on both. Watchman damage will remain untouched, other than potentially increased Master Strike damage (if the new talent tree layout allows us to put points into Focus at all), but Combat damage was boosted with the Ataru change. Only time will tell.

.5 off the GCD allows you to pump out an ungodly amount of damage in a short period of time. When/if Blade Rush stops stuttering and Combat Zen works as advertised, it will be as good or better than Watchman Zen, barring the fact that Watchman Zen does not require you to be on target (you can activate it with burns already applied, even if your target has moved out of your melee range).

Aww /blush I took away my ability to backpeddle and put Riposte in it's place, like I said I haven't seen a noticeable increase, or decrease, so I'll keep at it. I will admit a Riposte/Merc combo is beastly (I know I know, use it in conjunction with Strike, but I want burst). However, come 1.2 with Kick/Awe/Pacify not needing Focus, I won't be so worried about maintaining at least 1 Focus at all times like I do now out of habit.

All I can say is 'wut?' Sentinel's across the board get the benefit of the Pacify changes, what on earth does this have to do with anything? You make no sense. I also pulled Riposte back onto my bar and have been using it, no noticeable increase or decrease in performance, other than it occasionally drops me below an acceptable level of Focus. I'll still stomp you in a duel, so keep talking smack. See, I can do it too. I can talk nonsense on a forum without anything to back it up, hur hur.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant without the talented snare effect in Combat. Without it, so long as you begin Master Strike, they can actually move quite far away before the channel is broken prematurely. WITH Debilitation, so long as it procs correctly, yes they are rooted for the entirety of the MS. Usually. Some problems that occur though are... 1.) Begin MS at max range, while the target is moving, the MS animation begins without actually initializing MS itself, rooting YOU in place and doing no damage to the opponent. 2.) Successfully initiate MS, but the snare does not take effect (since snares do not influence and are not influenced by resolve, this should NEVER happen, but it does, infrequently) 3.) Successfully initiate MS, snare the target, but snare breaks prematurely. This could be from a CC break, it's hard to tell, but honestly who uses their CC break on a root? I'd just turn and stun the Mara/Sent rooting me. Now, say you throw Crippling and snare the target, then begin Master Strike with Debilitate, and the entire thing goes off without a hitch. THAT is some impressive damage...it just doesn't work as flawlessly as it should. I average about 55ms to the game, and I'm on a top spec PC. WZs are usually 50-60fps (which is really quite high, sadly). So it really can't be attributed to a connection issue or PC fps issue. The synergy between MS and Debilitate just sucks right now.

I haven't been Combat in over a month, and my gear has double or tripled in quality since then. Last time I was Combat I was in full orange moddable gear with level 51 epic mods from Ilum and Heroic dailies (and orange sabers as well, 417 top end, not my current 453 champion weapons). When I'd hit Precision -> Master Strike I topped out at 7k damage (when 2 of the 3 hits crit, I've never had all 3 crit. Even 1/3 crit would do 5k, minimum). But if we're speaking strictly with no crits, then yeah I imagine 4k was about right. It just like...never happened. You said off hand though, are Ataru strikes considered to be off hand attacks? I honestly wasn't aware of this, if so then I learned something new. I wasn't aware they were either main hand or off hand. Sentinel is, by general consensus, the most difficult class to play 'well', and I take a bit of pride in that. Am I elitist? Yes, although much less so than I was years ago in WoW. But I like the fact that when you see a Sentinel on top, you KNOW it's because he's a good player, not because he can stand back and spam 3 buttons for ridiculous damage. Yeah, Awe and Stasis are just as fast as Kick, but the whole 'off GCD' thing is massive. If you're mid-attack vs. a Mara when he starts his Master Strike, you have to wait for your own GCD to finish before you can react. I'm not very often just sitting still not attacking in pvp, so the chances that I'm in the middle of a GCD when they start their Ravage/MS are very likely.

I want to start by saying I'm not calling YOU out. I have NOT done this test myself. However, for a real test to occur, the tester would have to be extremely comfortable with both specs and ensure he/she knew how to get the most out of both. Sure, some people could do this. But most are much more comfortable with one, and uneasy with the other, simply due to experience/lack of experience. I honestly believe, from just my gut, that both specs are within 10% of each other. Which is ahead? I dunno. I do feel Watchman pulls away in longer fights, but there aren't many fights that last long enough to make this a real 'pro' in a pros/cons list between the two specs. It's all speculation until Combat logs hit, and even then, changes to both specs will make them essentially new specs, so nobody will ever know for sure how the original Combat and original Watchman performed against each other.

A Combat should never MS without Precision up, which already does 6k+. What boost to off hand damage? Where did you see this, I don't follow. And I'm actually unhappy (as a Sentinel myself) about Master Strike being unstoppable, it's op. I'm lightning fast on my Force Kicks and frequently stop other Mara's in their tracks. Now I'm going to have to eat the entire thing? **** that. Awe or Stasis will simply not be fast enough, I'll eat at least 2 of the 3 attacks. This just makes it easy mode, stupid beyond belief, now even stupid Sents can do decent damage. Sure, Centering is awesome, but like I said if they haven't fixed Blade Rush spam stutter then you can enter Zen as often as you like, and stutter through it worse than Jimmy from South Park delivering a punchline.

With Force Sweep currently costing 1 Focus (talented) it is an acceptable replacement for Slash, as it hits for 2/3 of what a Slash does, for half the cost. If it was half damage, half cost, it wouldn't matter. But that isn't the case. They haven't mentioned whether or not they've addressed the stuttering and misfire that is so noticeable in Combat either. If they haven't this spec is still going to feel very awkward. Master Strike snare has nothing to do with being interrupted or not. Nothing. It has to do with the range of your target when you begin your Master Strike. If they are at max range and still moving, the chances of the snare taking hold are minuscule. So long as you start Master Strike while the target is firmly 'in range', they can move as far as 10m away before the channel is 'broken' and they stop receiving damage. Ataru proc currently does Energy damage, which is mitigated by armor. Always has been. Hover your mouse over your armor readout and it will show you it absorbs Kinetic and Energy. The fact that it counts as a Force attack DOES increase the accuracy, but it does nothing to bypass armor. The 10% boost will be exactly that, 10%. Weapon damage/Kinetic/Energy are all equal in this way. The entire problem with Combat is the absurdly ridiculous 4.5 second window for Precision (yes, 4.5 seconds, because the buff begins to wear away before the GCD is finished from using Precision Strike). Maybe call it a flat 5 seconds. That's enough for Master Strike and one Blade Storm, or potentially 3 Blade Rushes under Zen. Then you get CC'd (root, stun, knockback, doesn't matter) right after using Precision and BAM, it's wasted. Where Overload Saber is not. I really hoped BW would address this...

roflroflrofl Combat Ataru Form damage effects (procs) now deal weapon-based damage instead of Force-based damage. The overall damage of these effects has been increased by approximately 10%. Ataru Form now correctly triggers when fighting very large targets. Fleetfooted now additionally increases the movement speed bonus granted by Transcendence by 15% per point. Temperance has been replaced by Stagger, which increases Force Leap's immobilize effect. That is not a buff. It doesn't correct ANY of the current problems with Combat. So unless they forgot to mention all the important fixes they're making to this spec, it's still going to be nearly useless in PvP.

I won't say Focus is bad for Sentinel, but Guard/Jug get a 30% boost to the base damage of Sweep that a Sentinel doesn't. The only time I've ever been scared by a Focus was a Jug, not a Mara/Sent. And there are only three things I can think of that would result in this perceived boost to damage. 1. You were doing Watchman wrong. 2. Watchman damage is more even with fewer spikes, whereas Focus damage is more spikey. 3. You were playing Watchman correctly but since there is no single 'I win' button (like a Singularity charged, guaranteed crit Force Sweep) it just felt like you were doing less. However, if you claim you are doing more damage now, then you were likely just playing Watchman wrong, sorry to say. I fully admit I have very limited experience with Focus, I've mainly been Combat while leveling, then Watchman at 50. I've only dabbled in Focus. Sweep bombs are awesome, and the one skilled Focus Jug I've faced off against was beyond scary. So I know Focus can do well. Ultimately, if you find Focus more enjoyable and you're doing better with it than Watchman, I'd say stick with it. It's a very capable spec, although it can be somewhat unwieldy in FP/OP at times seeing as an AoE is part of your rotation. But for PvP Focus can rock.

I've honestly never tracked best healing, I believe I've done 120k before, but this is the only screenshot I have on the subject. http://i.imgur.com/yu76P.jpg

Doing just fine dude, keep up the good work. I almost broke my 600k cherry last night in Voidstar, so we're always continuing to develop our skills and reaction times + counter attacks to certain situations. Until you have all the base abilities you need, I wouldn't worry too much. You'll skyrocket at 40 with Merc Slash. Then go even further when you can afford Dual Wield Mastery and Focused Leap for more Focus. I'd say you're doing it right.

I honestly wouldn't mind this solution, rng in damage dealing is ftl.

1.) Everybody puts a minimum of 2 points into DWM, I personally have 3. You can't skip this talent unless you're exceptionally bad. 2.) If our off hand attack had as much accuracy as our main hand, we would be op. 3.) You realize that every attack we make utilizes our offhand weapon correct? Go read the tooltips. Virtually every single one. Strike. Zealous Strike. Slash. Merciless Slash. Leg Slash. Master Strike. Cyclone Slash. The only ones that do not mention in the tooltip specifically that they utilize both are: Cauterize (although the animation clearly uses both) and Precision Strike (which I don't currently have so I can't comment on it). Everything else in our arsenal is not weapon based. That means that when we DO land a strike with both weapons, you're hitting full power with your main hand and 66% of 453 with your off hand. That's a total of 453 MH + 299 OH = 752. Is this math perfect? Who knows I suck at math. But still, as a Sentinel we use our off hand allllllll the time. 4.) And the shield generator is just a stat stick, it doesn't get utilized for damage, it just gives base stats. If we got a stat stick in our off hand and others didn't, we would have an unfair advantage.

Although I'm Watchman now, I leveled 10-50 as Combat. My Sentinel is my first toon, and I did virtually every quest and bonus quest on every planet for the sake of being thorough. The first time I said '***, this just got hard' was the bonus content on Nar Shaddaa. The strongs and elites suddenly became like 1.5x harder than I had experienced up to that point. Although Biochem has been nerfed and will likely be nerfed again, it's still extremely useful both while leveling and at end-game, especially for a class like us who has no ability to heal in combat (for any real amount, dot heals don't count). So long as your gear is within 3-4 levels of your current level (so at 32, it shouldn't be less than level 28 gear) you should be fine. Your biggest concern is keeping your weapons sharp. Always upgrade them first, armor second. Your damage output is directly linked to how up to date you keep them, much more so than your armor. At 32, you don't have Doc yet. You're on...Alderaan? Your best bet is still to keep T7 out and updated the best you can. Kira is fun but not very practical. Keeping T7 in tip top shape is a pain, droid parts are just stupid. A lot of people use their tank companion in this fashion. Say there are four mobs. You tell T7 to attack one, he leaps in and subsequently does an AoE on all of them. Then you attack the exact one T7 is attacking, because he has the most agro and you don't want to pull off of him. However if you're having trouble (which can only mean T7 is dying too soon) then you should leap to a target that is only lightly held by T7, either by his AoE taunt or AoE damage. You SHOULD be able to peal this off of T7 and tank it yourself, making T7 last longer, basically making each fight 1v1. Watchman is uber beast at 50, but I really can't comment about leveling with it. If you continue to have trouble, try Combat, I had zero issues with it and felt rather OP the whole time I was leveling.

I think I quoted the wrong person, tbh, sorry.

I'm more than half sure that isn't the case, but I've now had Force Fade so long I can't guarantee it. It would require a respec and a duel to find out, so anybody with 1/2 or 0/2, if you'd kindly answer this I'm curious. If you are not brought out of Camo prematurely by damage even without talents, then it lessens the usefulness of the talent, but only slightly.

Your first interpretation was correct. So long as Rebuke is active, you take 20% less damage from all sources, period, up to 30 seconds. You can only reflect damage once ever 1.5 seconds. The two are separate.

Sunsoar beta tested this game for close to a year, and then played it for three months. He's given uncounted feedback that was vastly ignored. He purchased the CE (as did I) which fell far short of being worth $150. You may pin that on us as our mistake, but you can't KNOW until you've actually purchased it whether or not it's worth it. His sub is up in under a week. Mine is up in just over a week. So far this game was rushed, sloppy, choppy, unoptimized, with more bugs than a pile of horse crap. IF, and that's a big IF, 1.2 fixes most of our complaints, then that is the way the game SHOULD HAVE LAUNCHED. EA rushed this game for the holidays, you simply cannot deny it. It's GLARINGLY OBVIOUS. So I should continue to throw money at EA in the hopes that this game will one day become what it should have been already? If they want to win me back, they can entice me. Just because you are content with mediocre content, crap graphics and an engine that couldn't render itself out of a wet paper bag, doesn't mean those of us with enough spine to speak up and say 'no, this is not acceptable' are wrong.

More power to you then, I really do hope to return to Combat at some point. It always comes down to personal skill too, obviously, but the ONLY scary Sent/Mara I run into are Watchman/Focus. Maybe I've just never run across a good Combat, it's possible. Cheers and happy hunting.

It's me man, /wave Some of the arguments for Riposte almost make sense, but we do so well without it...

Don't forget Exhaustion.

I love it when people are condescending to me, so funny. I currently have 1 point in JC. As does virtually anybody who PvPs. Thanks for assuming I'm slow. I'm fully aware of the harsh accuracy penalty placed on your OH weapon. Anybody who has ever played a dual wield class in an MMO knows about it. Thanks again for your assumption. Now find me two extra points for Recompense and maybe I'll actually pull Riposte back onto my bar. And you can't take them from Focused Leap, Focused Pursuit, Force Fade or Quick Recovery (because as this may be news to YOU, Sweep is in fact a viable alternative to Slash when talented to be cheap as dirt).