I had assumed (but not tested) that critical would be more important for Watchman since it seems that critical chance relates to cauterize.

By tossing some quest rewards with slightly better stats and more upgrade mods during leveling? I don't think that's going to imbalance the game. But with most quest-related boss fights coming down to a few ticks difference, small bumps in stats can help make sure people get through without blowing huge amounts on repairs and stims doing trial and error to get through some of the tougher bosses that other classes would just breeze through. One thing I really didn't appreciate starting out was just how gear-dependent the class is. I didn't get any other character out past level 25 in beta, but I didn't find anything I tried so gear dependent up to this point.

So, I've hit level 33 which is the furthest I've been through Sentinel. I've got more DPS now, more ability to control the flow of a fight. I bought Kera a new light sabre which made a huge difference as she now out DPSes me. The advantage here is it makes MOBS swtich off us depending on what spells I throw. The march through level 20 was not pretty or fun. The predictions that things would get better in 30 and particularly mid-30s are coming to pass. It's "ok" right now. I know a man of lesser integrity would suggest he's gotten better at the rotations, but that just isn't the case. The class is just coming into its own. I was trying to slide through a heroic area, however, and I watched a Sage solo a same-level Champion and she managed to kill it in a timely fashion and without taking any damage (obviously a healing spec using the companion for primary DPS). There is no way I could have soloed the same guy. That isn't about skill, that isn't about knowing the class, that isn't about getting a rotation down. That's about DPS output vs input. My current beef with the sentinel comes down to risk-reward / effort-reward. Harder class to play but there doesn't seem to be the pay-out for the effort (which breaks one of the fundamental design principles for a game like this - you reward players who take on a harder challenge). In the end, what Sentinel brings to high-end play and PvP will mean people will hold their noses and run through the leveling grind. But as a first-out-the-gate toon, this is just not the way to go. I expect that the class will get "buffed" but if someone were to come to me and ask how that should happen, at the moment I would just say that more equipment improvement rewards and some very minor improvements in the equality of the equipment given in rewards would be helpful. And the ability to make your own stims seems pretty important at this point.

I haven't quite made up my mind on Sentinel yet. I only do PVE. PVP in a game like this doesn't interest me. I'm thrilled to PvP in FPS games, but spreadsheet/template games are pretty lame for PvP. During the various beta weekends I got a sentinel, commando, and consular up to at least level 20. The commando was, by far, the easiest. With Consular I kept wondering when I was going to get my wizard hat and wand reward. I'm at lvl 31 now and it strikes me that the problem with Sentinel is there's a bit too much damage taken when dealing with groups of MOBS. More crowd control capability (and that kind of skill might have to be only for PVE and not useful in PVP) or a decent early-mid level companion with a little bit more tanky and less ganky would be useful. Even if T7 could just toss a heal every once and a while, that would be nice. I'm going to keep going for a bit, but I'm really starting to wonder if I've just been throwing my time down a hole in playing this class.

Yeah, so I managed to get through this little slice of awesome. Kira and I just did not have the right chemistry for this one. Maybe you'll deck her out better or find some secret sauce that makes it work, but I couldn't. I tried changing when I attacked, when she went in, what attacks she had set (turning off her CHARGE went a long way (her force leap). But to no avail. I did it first go with T7. I shut off his INTERCEPT skill - the one that makes him "leap" into the fight. So he remained a true ranged killing machine. I also turned on his attribute that focuses on damage instead of hostility/threat production (I think it's called "TARGET SCAN"). I don't know if having his threat generation go higher would be beneficial or not but I figured I wanted him on me while my crappy fit droid rained down hell fir/spat tiny pellets of Corellian Light Blaster. So, basically I set my self up as tank (endurance stim and the defensive form, blue one, can't remember what its called) and I set him to stay at range and blast away. It worked well. Vilas did a lot less damage. Most of his attacks are close-in area of effect, so having his attention switch back and forth between us worked well. I got him down without tossing my damage mitigation skills and with one heal (tossed too early even). This was my first experience with a different companion made a huge difference in a fight. Up to now it had just been an aesthetic choice/the one that annoyed me the least.

Good old T7-01. Despite only accepting mission awards for Kera for All of Nas, T7 still has it in him. What a special little droid. <readies can of oil for a treat>

Yeah, useless. I'm totally destroyed every time. I've spent a tonne of credits now on stims and repairs trying to do this and I keep getting destroyed. If someone could post a video or some kind of thorough guide that would be great. I simply can't imagine that I'm the first guy to hit on this so far from the beta teams. I've been absolutely cruising the game so far, but this guy is just kicking my ***. I don't even know if this can be done with a group, but I like leveling solo. The idea that I might actually have to go make a friend and ask for help is terrible.

I just wrote a thoughtful and long post giving you more information, but the dog ate it (database error). Anyways - highlights: My alter ego - Sahcno - uninstalled the game in the wee hours of the morning while hopped up on rage and cold medication. I reject the notion that my spec matters at this stage - but Guardian with a two boxes of Combat. If spec matters this much at this stage than that would be incredibly bad game design. I die really, really fast. Kera if she goes in first is immolated within about 3 attacks by Vilas. The most success I had was when I went in first and managed to interrupt a couple of attacks with kick and leap, but once those get on a cool-down I'm toast. I threw my damage mitigation actions, but I could swear I heard Vilas chuckle. It seems like within about three-four attacks from Vilas, both Kera and I are a sexy blood splatter. When I'm done undoing Sahcno's villainy, I may have to figure-out how to FRAPS this. It's kind of funny how fast and how bad it goes.

EDIT: I worked this one out. I'll put a post below explaining just how I did it [hint: I used T7 instead of Kira] I'm on to "The Defector" and Vilas is kicking my ***. I breezed through Nas Nassaffaaa (or whatever it's called) pretty easily. I'm at level 24 (the quest name in my log is white, so "at level") and I think I'm fairly well kitted out. My sabres are rated at 58 and 54 and my armour has been constantly updated and the mods added to my pants and robes have been updated. I'm not an MMO expert but I've played them pretty casually since SWG. So, when I get my *** kicked this hard and this often but a MOB at release, I'm inclined to think that it can't possibly be me and *must* be the game. Anyways, basically my companion is Kera. The fight starts at range. I've tried leaping in first, I've sent her in first. Doesn't matter. First thing is on of us gets choked half to death while the other is sent flying. Then by the time we're back in position we're both thrown across the room and at half life. I've tried this a number of times with various combinations. The furthest I've gotten him down is about 33% health but usually I barely get him under 50%. Can anyone whose beaten him tell me how?

July23rd pre-order (with that silly nov 2nd "early access patch" thing too) - launcher just went Gold Play button, no email yet. Good luck to everyone waiting!