How are we underpowered?

[Zero_Mercy]

I honestly don't see it... Sure the focus mechanic might be harder to control than spamming attacks on most rdps classes. I go into lots of Warzones getting the highest dps... Isn't that our job? To DPS?

People whine about the lack of cc's... It might be nice to have one more yes. but look at our defensive abilities...lol. We have pacify, and our two defensive shields. Those are just as good as cc's. I'm watchman so I also have the heals combined with that which is pretty nice to have for the whole team.

Im just confused at how we are underpowered. I doubt im that good and I doubt my server is filled with horrible pvp'rs.

[Zero_Mercy]

So someone enlighten me cause I don't see it.

[Sapler]

We aren't Underpowered at all, all the whining is just a bunch of people who don't know how to play the class or expect that the class because for some reason is suppose to be a overpowered mash one button class.

[andrew_b_gross]

The majority of the complaints aren't that the class is underpowered (Professor Walsh notwithstanding), but rather that it takes a lot more effort to play than the other classes. There are a minimum of 7 cooldowns that you need to constantly monitor, no other class needs to keep track of anything analagous to centering points, etc.

 

I like having to do all this, but I at least can see where people are coming from that want to play a dual wielding jedi dps'r but don't want to do all that.

[XxPetexX]

I don't think the class is underpoweered but it is a chore to play and not everyone wants to have to be an elite player to play the basic elements of a class.

 

I'm sure sentinel is a great class for those that can play it. I'm not nor do I aspire to be an elite player and honestly I wouldn't care if the class was advanced for say PvP, hard to handle but very powerful if you can. But when I struggle to do a basic thing as dps I lose interest. It shouldn't be too easy or monotonous but in this case it is too complicated

[khsolo]

I only see rebuke, riposte doesnt work so its only one defensive shield

[PinnyFox]

It's because we're a medium armor class that's expected to melee against things, and the only real CC we have is against droids. We have other abilities that could be considered CC, but they only last for 3-6 seconds at most.

 

So I think really what the big deal is, is that for a melee class, we aren't really given the tools to compete while wearing medium armor. If we were given a bunch more hard CC that can be used on humanoids and everything, sure. If we were given heavy armor, that would work as well.

 

Inb4 self-righteous people who don't even play sentinels come in to tell me they played a sentinel from 1-50 as combat spec (the most gimped spec until much higher levels) with T7 as their companion (inferior to Kira) with absolutely no problems whatsoever and they never ever went below 50% health.

 

Believe it or not, I'm not complaining, I'm just throwing what our current faults are out there.

[Exertim]

Sentinel as a class is fine. It has some issues simply because it's a melee class, since Bioware seems to have made it their mission to make any kind of melee player hate the game. Stuff like every single strong or elite mob with a gun having a spammable knockback (complete with built in snare), secondary attacks, or other random but annoying anti-melee abilities that ranged DPS simply won't ever have to deal with.

 

This is especially easy to see in endgame HM Flashpoints and Eternity Vault, where you lose so much DPS time running in and out of mechanics that only melee have to worry about whereas Ranged DPS can stand back and free cast without a care in the world the entire fight. If anything, Sentinel isn't underpowered, it's just that Bioware needs to tweak encounters to not be so anti-melee.

Edited January 6, 2012 by Exertim

[yillin]

The majority of the complaints aren't that the class is underpowered (Professor Walsh notwithstanding), but rather that it takes a lot more effort to play than the other classes. There are a minimum of 7 cooldowns that you need to constantly monitor, no other class needs to keep track of anything analagous to centering points, etc.

 

I like having to do all this, but I at least can see where people are coming from that want to play a dual wielding jedi dps'r but don't want to do all that.

 

 

I get the feeling that you only play a sentinel. Yes, the sentinel has a lot to keep track of, but we aren't the only ones who have to. While I don't agree/disagree one way or the other with whether we are underpowered or fine, we aren't the only ones who are swamped with information to keep track of.

 

My example is the scoundrel. He has to be aware of upper hand stacks as well has monitor his energy usage. Their goal is to keep it above 60% for maximum energy regen. So they have to monitor energy, upper hand stacks, and cooldowns as well.

[PinnyFox]

My example is the scoundrel. He has to be aware of upper hand stacks as well has monitor his energy usage. Their goal is to keep it above 60% for maximum energy regen. So they have to monitor energy, upper hand stacks, and cooldowns as well.

 

Oh please. The way energy and upper hand works I didn't have to bother watching my energy and upper hand as a scoundrel. It's so ridiculously easy to stay above 60 energy and have stacks of upper hand compared to sentinel having to decide which group of enemeis they should use rebuke/saber ward on, whether they should use call on the force, etc.

[StyxzieWaterz]

It's because we're a medium armor class that's expected to melee against things, and the only real CC we have is against droids. We have other abilities that could be considered CC, but they only last for 3-6 seconds at most.

 

So I think really what the big deal is, is that for a melee class, we aren't really given the tools to compete while wearing medium armor. If we were given a bunch more hard CC that can be used on humanoids and everything, sure. If we were given heavy armor, that would work as well.

 

Inb4 self-righteous people who don't even play sentinels come in to tell me they played a sentinel from 1-50 as combat spec (the most gimped spec until much higher levels) with T7 as their companion (inferior to Kira) with absolutely no problems whatsoever and they never ever went below 50% health.

 

Believe it or not, I'm not complaining, I'm just throwing what our current faults are out there.

 

Too obvious.

 

You're leveling a dps class (melee dps at that) with another melee dps companion? Word? Then asking for "a bunch" more cc on top of all he tools we already have to stay alive?

 

I mean I guess you get a 4/10. I did reply and all...

[Venator-Falco]

I only see rebuke, riposte doesnt work so its only one defensive shield

 

Rebuke, Sabre Ward, Pacify, & Guarded by the Force all decrease the damage you take. Repost is not a increase to your mitigation, it is a context specific Damage dealer.

Maybe read the descriptions of what your skills do, it will help you understand how to make the most of them.

[TheOfficialGOAT]

Too obvious.

 

You're leveling a dps class (melee dps at that) with another melee dps companion? Word? Then asking for "a bunch" more cc on top of all he tools we already have to stay alive?

 

I mean I guess you get a 4/10. I did reply and all...

 

First off this guy is an idiot, sorry to be so blunt but I have seen multiple posts and he is ignorant and naive.

 

The Sentinel class isn't so underpowered the problem is the game is broken. You can't deny this at least not at the current time. The sync and lag of the system in PVP is horrid.

 

When you are 1m away and can't use abilities, because the system says one thing but means another. Like the person is actually 10m away rather than 1m. (I have a nice PC and good connection so its not on my end)

 

When abilities and animations go off and set off the GCD yet no damage and no skill CD. This is huge! That wastes so much time, up to 6secs in total at times. I have video of this and if you haven't experienced it then you are lucky, that's all that can be said cause this messes up the entire rotation we are suppose to follow.

 

We are suppose to use a strict DPS rotation that follows a chain of skills that can't really be chained together due to the prior issue. You might hit a chain of six skills and realize one or two didn't go off. Which could be bad, considering some skills set off buffs and other things. Heck that's bad all around.

 

Something that is always gamebreaking at least to me is skills not doing what they are suppose to do. For example Combat Spec, Master Strike is suppose to immobilize the target, it doesn't! Also have videos of this. Force Stasis not stunning the target and them running around while the skill is being casted. Also more videos. These things are what is wrong with the class, not that the class is garbage. If these things can be fixed I would be a happy Sentinel just DPSing everything and everyone in sight, but until then it really exposes the bad job the developers did to create the game.

 

One thing that is debatable about this class is why we don't have a constant run speed buff compared to other classes. We should be the fastest class in the game. We are melee DPS that is squishy, our job is to DPS but if we can't catch someone then its ease-mode for ranged. Yeah we have Leap/Camo but we shouldn't have to rely on skills. Most of you will probably disagree and that's understandable but still its something to think about.

 

The system needs lots of work and is understandable considering its the first month after release. Once the system is fixed maybe the class can work.

[asilos]

I'm pretty sure when you stasis/force push etc. someone and it doesn't work? It means they resisted it bro... It's not broken...

[CrowingOne]

The biggest issue with the Sentinel isn't that it's underpowered or somehow unbalanced, but as others have said playing the class is simply more complex and difficult than others.

 

We have 25+ abilities, many on long-ish cooldowns that need to be managed, multiple essential abilities that rely on tracking stacks on both one's character and the enemy target. Even further, each of those many abilities will need to be used, if infrequently, for the class to "work right", and the number of action bars and bindings (not to mention the lack of macros to help manage these many conditional and infrequently used abilities) we have is simply too much to manage for many people, especially when we can't use macros to create a more dynamic and less cluttered binding scheme.

 

On top of all that, when a Sentinel makes a mistake in solo play it can often be fatal. We tend to hit the floor often because even the best player is going to mis-click an ability from time to time, often causing death. We're Med Armor Single-Target DPS, and our ability to function relies on a bunch of not-too-shabby PvE mitigation effects which if we don't pop at the right time we die.

 

It's a tough class, no argument, but it isn't really broken. Honestly, it isn't for everyone and that's subjective. Everyone has a playstyle they prefer over others, and Sentinel is pretty heavily involved in micro-management and flawless conditional timing.

[flowqz]

regarding "we need movespeed":

if im not mistaken the defensive forms talent provides a permanent movespeed increase if u r in ataru form

 

I'm pretty sure when you stasis/force push etc. someone and it doesn't work? It means they resisted it bro... It's not broken...

 

so the enemys i play against resist over 50% of my spells

 

the thing is if u root the enemy before casting this spells the root of master strike / the stun of force statis works correctly.

 

stop writing things u dont know anything about,

 

thank you!

[Vember]

The biggest issue with the Sentinel isn't that it's underpowered or somehow unbalanced, but as others have said playing the class is simply more complex and difficult than others.

 

We have 25+ abilities, many on long-ish cooldowns that need to be managed, multiple essential abilities that rely on tracking stacks on both one's character and the enemy target. Even further, each of those many abilities will need to be used, if infrequently, for the class to "work right", and the number of action bars and bindings (not to mention the lack of macros to help manage these many conditional and infrequently used abilities) we have is simply too much to manage for many people, especially when we can't use macros to create a more dynamic and less cluttered binding scheme.

 

On top of all that, when a Sentinel makes a mistake in solo play it can often be fatal. We tend to hit the floor often because even the best player is going to mis-click an ability from time to time, often causing death. We're Med Armor Single-Target DPS, and our ability to function relies on a bunch of not-too-shabby PvE mitigation effects which if we don't pop at the right time we die.

 

It's a tough class, no argument, but it isn't really broken. Honestly, it isn't for everyone and that's subjective. Everyone has a playstyle they prefer over others, and Sentinel is pretty heavily involved in micro-management and flawless conditional timing.

 

None of this is really any different from a Shadow, except they're a light armor single target dps. They also have to keep an eye on stacks and procs to use the right abilities, and have less defensive cooldowns than sentinels do. They have zero self healing in their pure dps tree and less self healing than watchman in their balance tree. The exception being kinetic shadow, but you wouldn't compare that to sentinel, as its a tank.

Edited January 6, 2012 by Vember

[flowqz]

None of this is really any different from a Shadow, except they're a light armor single target dps. They also have to keep an eye on stacks and procs to use the right abilities, and have less defensive cooldowns than sentinels do. The exception being kinetic shadow, but you wouldn't compare that to sentinel, as its a tank.

 

u cant compare those classes, seriously. a shadow can also go into his defensive stance, having way more armor than us but giving up some dmg for it. a shadow has a nice burst, but doesnt do anything after his 2 backstaps (so its not that bad if he cant stick to a target the whole time like it is on a sentinel).a shadow has a stun, a shadow has a knockback... totally different design.

Edited January 6, 2012 by flowqz

[Vember]

u cant compare those classes, seriously. a shadow can also go into his defensive stance, having way more armor than us but giving up some dmg for it. a shadow has a nice burst, but doesnt do anything after his 2 backstaps (so its not that bad if he cant stick to a target the whole time like it is on a sentinel).a shadow has a stun, a shadow has a knockback... totally different design.

 

Going into defensive stance costs him a DoT, hurts his self healing, and he loses proc damage (if balance). its ok to do so in pve, its not going to help you much in pvp. Shadow burst pales compared to sentinel unless you're infiltration spec, which is just about the squishest person in the entire game, they should have huge burst.

 

To be completely honest, I'd rather pvp on my sentinel. The damage is much higher and the survivability is better. The only downside is you get slightly less uptime on target compared to balance shadow because of lack of ranged attacks.

Edited January 6, 2012 by Vember

[TheOfficialGOAT]

I'm pretty sure when you stasis/force push etc. someone and it doesn't work? It means they resisted it bro... It's not broken...

 

Good point, but being an experienced PVPer I try and bait out their CC break. Therefore I leave them open for other skills that stun/CC them. Didn't realize other classes had more than one?

 

Also when I say bait the skill I make sure they use it rather than just chain our CC skills so they can't break all at once.

[arthasess]

1) Takes a ridiculous amount to skill to play well.

2) Ever other class can do everything we can much better.

 

Try out any other class and you will see that, compared to other classes, we are crap.

[TheOfficialGOAT]

regarding "we need movespeed":

if im not mistaken the defensive forms talent provides a permanent movespeed increase if u r in ataru form

 

 

Good point. But this only helps with one tree and not all.

[Vember]

1) Takes a ridiculous amount to skill to play well.

2) Ever other class can do everything we can much better.

 

Try out any other class and you will see that, compared to other classes, we are crap.

 

I did, I leveled up a shadow first (47). Sentinel is much better, imo. A lot of this is some people just not willing to admit that they aren't as good as they think they are.

 

I originally rolled my sent to be nothing more than a biochem alt for my shadow, but after leveling it a little bit I kinda forgot all about my shadow and started playing my sentinel full time. Its just that awesome

Edited January 6, 2012 by Vember

[thegooser]

We are underpowered because if we go into warzones we will never top dmg with equal skilled troopers and scoundrals in the zone. And we spend more time force camoing out of the fight then actually fighting. This class is a GLASS CANNON. If left alone we do great but we are far tooo squishy.

[runback]

I'm pretty sure when you stasis/force push etc. someone and it doesn't work? It means they resisted it bro... It's not broken...

 

I think he may be talking about the ability not activating at all, yet the GCD shows it as being used. This has happened to me many times and it really throws me off.

 

I understand resists, you actually see your avatar perform the motion. Many times, especially with force kick, your avatar never performs the kick it just gets used on your GCD.