From a Commando/Sorc and a Sentinel: My "educated" opinion

[Faeron]

Alright, so as the title has surmised, I've levelled up both a sorcerer and a commando and my Sentinel is 50.

 

I enjoy the challenge of playing a Sentinel at times, I have a lot of fun in (balanced) pvp and I think that the skill required to play this underdog class makes it a great challenge at times that once mastered makes us a decent PvP class. I liked the storyline and altogether the Sentinel is my favorite class so far.

 

That being said, the skill threshold required to play my sentinel is so far HIGHER than my two other classes that it bothers me to no end. I solo'ed every single class quest with both of my other characters with little to no trouble and can top DPS boards (roughly 250-300k on average for me) on both my sorc/commando in WZ's by mashing one or two abilities consistently from range that would take my Sentinel the entire game of mashing twelve or thirteen buttons to get HALF of that damage, maybe a little more. EDIT: I'm a relatively skilled Sentinel and I just dinged 50, I do well in pvp situations (middle of the road), and I feel like my pve dps is decent is not good based on the situation. The elitist idiots who claim to "be super-duper good at the class" and flame people about how they've perhaps soloed the Emperor fight? Are most likely lying so I refuse to credit any of their opinions.

 

The fact of the matter is, MMOs are about balance. People of course with ePeen about how they think that the Sentinel being an unbalanced class makes it "fun" and "challenging" and that because someone complains about the difficulty ceiling that it not only makes them bad at the game, it makes them a non-heterosexual male (quoted directly from general chat).

 

I write this hoping the amount of traffic gives Sentinels a buff, because I honestly believe we need it to balance out with other class. Responses?

Edited January 28, 2012 by Faeron

[KrazeyDee]

I hear where you're coming from and I agree to a certain point. The skill level to use Sentinel properly is indeed alot higher then the other classes but in my honest opinion, this is what makes the class unique and not boring to play. The DPS board is not really a good way to compare us to other classes, when put in a 1v1 situation against us, those 2 button masters that are topping the DPS board really don't stand a chance. I agree that the Sentinel is lacking something but we surely do not need a damage buff nor would I want anything done to make our class easier to play.

[-Arcane-]

Ranged dps classes are always going to be easier to play than melee and therfore in the average players hands will produce more damage.

 

 

Note: easier does not mean better.

 

 

I wish you people would stop calling sentinel "underdogs" or "underpowered" when this simply is not true.

 

 

Yes sentinels have a harder learning curve than other classes due to melee and more buttons but once you master this class it is truly one of the most powerful out there.

 

Sentinels do NOT need a buff at all, you simply need to spend more time playing and gearing your class properly.

Edited January 28, 2012 by -Arcane-

[Viphex]

There is at least 1 point I would totally agree with in this post. Sentinels have WAY more buttons to press on a regular basis to be "good". I have played a Sorc to 50, and my sniper is 49.

 

I was talking to my brother about it, he said he felt the same way on his Jugg (he has a 50 merc bounty hunter and now is leveling a Vanguard). That his merc and vanguard are MUCH easier to play.

 

I am enjoying the challenge at the moment, I am hoping Bioware gets wise on this issue and tunes the class a bit to make it a little less stressful and a little less watching cooldowns.

 

But either way im having fun.

[-Arcane-]

There is at least 1 point I would totally agree with in this post. Sentinels have WAY more buttons to press on a regular basis to be "good". I have played a Sorc to 50, and my sniper is 49.

 

I was talking to my brother about it, he said he felt the same way on his Jugg (he has a 50 merc bounty hunter and now is leveling a Vanguard). That his merc and vanguard are MUCH easier to play.

 

I am enjoying the challenge at the moment, I am hoping Bioware gets wise on this issue and tunes the class a bit to make it a little less stressful and a little less watching cooldowns.

 

But either way im having fun.

 

 

 

Ofc, ranged are E A S Y M O D E.

 

 

There are no problems with sentinel that a bit of practice cant solve.

[McVade]

In PvE, Sentinels are tricky but fun. Lots of tools and a bit of everything. Also, if your performance is lackluster, no one's really going to be able to tell, as there's no combat logs/parses. That makes the learning curb a little less punishing.

 

PvP is another story.

Edited January 28, 2012 by McVade

[-Arcane-]

In PvE, Sentinels are tricky but fun. Lots of tools and a bit of everything. Also, if your performance is lackluster, no one's really going to be able to tell, as there's no combat logs/parses. That makes the learning curb a little less punishing.

 

PvP is another story.

 

Please elaborate.

[ReithKanaka]

He has. look at the other threads.

[McVade]

Please elaborate.

 

PvP, the learning curb is extremely punishing - not much more to add that I haven't before. I know from your posts your an average elitist, so you've either overcome it or are just trolling. Either way, grats.

Edited January 28, 2012 by McVade

[-Arcane-]

PvP, the learning curb is extremely punishing - not much more to add that I haven't before. I know from your posts your an average elitist, so you've overcome it. Grats.

 

 

I see, well I can infer from your comment that you have not, or are not capable of mastering this class, maybe going ranged would suit you better?

 

 

Instead of crying for buffs to one of the most powerful pvp classes in the game.

 

 

Edit: having seen this comment in another thread i thought it best to include it.

 

As it is now, I would absolutely love to watch the game, but I'm too busy staring at my Focus bar. Now that Satelle's telling me **** with my ears, my eyes are free to look at other stuff.

 

 

I highlighted the line in my post that applies to you

 

The sheer volume of players that think sentinel is weak is realy quite funny.

 

 

 

Sort your gear out - understand the stat values and weighting and at what point one stat becomes more valuable than others, just because you got a battlemaster item dosent mean the stats/mods are correct for min/max gameplay.

 

Learn your rotations - so that you are watching the action not your force bar, this is very important.

 

Enjoy pulling 400k~ or more in warzones and winning 1v2 (or 1v3's vs bads) with no issues whatsoever.

 

Practice makes perfect - Sentinel is not the most simple class to play, you have a lot of buttons and the skill curve is quite high. If someone beats you consider what you could have done better, would a different spec have worked better? could you have interupted better? used your defensive cd's in a different order or at different times?

 

 

It is things like this that make the difference between a sentinel that is an unstoppable killing machine, or a squishey melee dps.

 

 

All of the sentinel specs are viable for pvp, though I think the highest overall dps spec is focus given the sheer aoe dps and the nature of pvp, though combat and watchman also are easily capable of melting faces (5.6k MS in Watchman ftw).

 

 

To those of you struggling with sentinel keep going! Once you master it you should be topping the dps meters in most warzones and capable of soloing any class.

 

 

 

No changes are required, the class is totally fine as im sure all skilled sentinels will agree.

Edited January 28, 2012 by -Arcane-

[McVade]

I see, well I can infer from your comment that you have not, or are not capable of mastering this class, maybe going ranged would suit you better?

 

 

Instead of crying for buffs to one of the most powerful pvp classes in the game.

 

 

Edit: having seen this comment in another thread i thought it best to include it.

 

 

 

I highlighted the line in my post that applies to you

 

 

Yeah, because PvP has rotations.

 

You've been downgraded from an elitist to a troll. Grats.

[Faeron]

Ofc, ranged are E A S Y M O D E.

 

 

There are no problems with sentinel that a bit of practice cant solve.

 

Sentinels are as a class quite obviously broken in a series of ways so your gigantic ePeen proves nothing.

[LiveandDieinLA]

The fact is there are plenty of people who do extremely well on their sentinels. Would they be doing even better playing a faceroll class like a commando? Maybe.

 

So many people come to this forum and say "I know my class and I am a good player but sentinels are awful and need a buff."

 

No you don't know your class, and no you aren't a good player.

 

Now I am not saying that as a troll or because I am elitist, but because I was in the same boat. I dinged 50, thought i knew what I was doing and was constantly frustrated by how poorly I was doing in war zones, and by the fact that i couldn't solo the final boss fight. I used to complain all the time about how UP I was in my guilds TS.

 

So I came to the forums, not to ***** and moan and cry for a boost, but to find sentinel game theory: ideas for builds, rotations, and videos of high level sent play in PVP.

 

I realized that I didn't know what I was doing, put in the effort, and learned to play.

 

I don't make outrageous claim like "I do 400k damage in every warzone," I don't. I do however routinely break 200k on voidstar and 150k on alderan (depening on how much action I get at my node), and using Transcendence, guarded by the force, and awe I have become a decent scoring threat in huttball.

 

And yes, I went back and soloed the Emperor fight, which wasn't easy or cheap.

 

If you aren't having success, then you just need to admit to yourself that you are playing the class poorly, like I did, and then either put in the effort and l2p, or re roll a sage of a trooper.

Edited January 28, 2012 by LiveandDieinLA

[Verrell]

In terms of PvP, yeah people claim that Sentinels are good and how they top charts, not die a lot, etc, blah blah, whatever.

 

That's fine and everything, but THE main problem is that when you're "topping charts", where is your utility for games like Huttball and Voidstar? Where is your knockback, your "pull" ability. Not only this but since Sentinel aren't tanks/healers, there goes contributing to the team by guarding or offhealing.

 

All they can do is.....attack. In all honestly that will not get you far in a Warzone where utility shines. The AoE incapacitate doesn't count because someone will just AoE the area. And the statis has to be channeled. Now the only thing that I do give Sentinels credit for is their insane amount of roots. But a good knockback (see the Guardian's Force Push) easily puts that to shame.

 

 

In short, the problem behind Sentinels are their utility. Give them more of it, and bam. Problem solved.

[McVade]

I don't make outrageous claim like "I do 400k damage in every warzone," I don't. I do however routinely break 200k on voidstar and 150k on alderan (depening on how much action I get at my node), and using Transcendence, guarded by the force, and awe I have become a decent scoring threat in huttball.

 

Dude, even I do that. 150k damage in anything but a roflstomp warfront. 200k in a full length voidstar. That doesn't mean the class is good, or that the time you've taken to L2P has paid off. I've done nothing but whine and I'm as good as you ffs.

 

Bounty Hunters get that and more by, literally, pushing Tracer Missile and nothing else.

 

That is broken. No other words to describe it.

 

EDIT: It's important to know, I'm not *exactly* asking for buffs. I'm asking for quality of life adjustments. Let's not make it faceroll either, but let's scale back just a little.

 

My top three suggestions are:

 

1. Any ability with a Proc needs to make that ability highlighted BRILLIANTLY, or at least flash. So I know when my Mind Sear (most stupid mechanic I've ever seen) procs.

 

2. When you are out of Focus, let's hear a sexy female voice tell me so when I try to use an ability that requires Focus. I *don't* wanna stare at the bottom of my screen.

 

3. (Watchman Only) Make the Merciless Strike "cooldown reducer" have a more generous window. 15 seconds to 20. Given all the knockbacks in PvP, it's too hard to keep this up + the requisite Focus.

 

The only actual Mechanical suggestion I have:

 

4. Make Rebuke Passive. Right now, it's not a Defensive Cooldown as much as a GCD tax that is not an interesting ability. You push it the split second you get attacked or you're doing it wrong and die. Stupid, uninteresting ability.

 

5. Make Riposte worth putting on my bar. 30% more damage, 1 focus. Or something. Just make it not completely worthless.

 

That's all.

Edited January 28, 2012 by McVade

[SteveGarbage]

 

1. Any ability with a Proc needs to make that ability highlighted BRILLIANTLY, or at least flash. So I know when my Mind Sear (most stupid mechanic I've ever seen) procs.

 

2. When you are out of Focus, let's hear a sexy female voice tell me so when I try to use an ability that requires Focus. I *don't* wanna stare at the bottom of my screen.

 

3. (Watchman Only) Make the Merciless Strike "cooldown reducer" have a more generous window. 15 seconds to 20. Given all the knockbacks in PvP, it's too hard to keep this up + the requisite Focus.

 

The only actual Mechanical suggestion I have:

 

4. Make Rebuke Passive. Right now, it's not a Defensive Cooldown as much as a GCD tax that is not an interesting ability. You push it the split second you get attacked or you're doing it wrong and die. Stupid, uninteresting ability.

 

5. Make Riposte worth putting on my bar. 30% more damage, 1 focus. Or something. Just make it not completely worthless.

 

That's all.

 

I could go either way on most of these points, but I've got to side with you on No. 3. Even when I'm fighting Elites or Champs in PvE stuff I feel like the stupid Merciless CDR ticks off too fast. Once you get the stacks up, trying to continue to build focus while throwing out your other abilities makes it tough to keep up with.

 

It always seems like I'm about to use it, then have to drop a Force Kick, then build focus and then by the time I do that I've lost my stacks. Frustrating.

[ProfessorWalsh]

Ranged dps classes are always going to be easier to play than melee and therfore in the average players hands will produce more damage.

 

 

Note: easier does not mean better.

 

 

I wish you people would stop calling sentinel "underdogs" or "underpowered" when this simply is not true.

 

 

Yes sentinels have a harder learning curve than other classes due to melee and more buttons but once you master this class it is truly one of the most powerful out there.

 

Sentinels do NOT need a buff at all, you simply need to spend more time playing and gearing your class properly.

 

Arcane, play a Combat Sentinel and then tell me that.

 

Combat needs a buff.

[-Arcane-]

Arcane, play a Combat Sentinel and then tell me that.

 

Combat needs a buff.

 

I have played combat a fair amount and it is not my favourite spec but I see players doing well with it.

 

Maybe combat could be use a little update but its not worth crying over when we have:

 

1) Watchman, awsome burst with 6sec dots that can tick for 1600 and MS critting 5600+ with adrenal+relic etc.

 

2) Focus, insane aoe burst 6k+ FS - great for larger scale pvp.

[-Arcane-]

Yeah, because PvP has rotations.

 

You've been downgraded from an elitist to a troll. Grats.

 

Watchman. Leveled with it, got comfortable with it... have tried the other two specced, switched back in 30 minutes. This class is hard enough without having to get *reused* to a whole different playstyle.

 

 

You didnt even bother to learn to play the other specs available to you before switching back to the spec you leveled with?

 

This combined with your previous statement lead me to believe you should be playing trooper.

 

 

Here is a link to their forum.

Edited January 28, 2012 by -Arcane-

[ProfessorWalsh]

I have played combat a fair amount and it is not my favourite spec but I see players doing well with it.

 

Maybe combat could be use a little update but its not worth crying over when we have:

 

1) Watchman, awsome burst with 6sec dots that can tick for 1600 and MS critting 5600+ with adrenal+relic etc.

 

2) Focus, insane aoe burst 6k+ FS - great for larger scale pvp.

 

Master Strike doesn't crit for 5600 with Adrenal + Relic. Please don't try to lie to try to back up your point.

 

1) I care less about Watchman than I do about the slime on a Hutt's backside. I am not Watchman spec. Watchman is probably the best spec in the set right now.

 

2. I have more concern for the price of bantha dung on Tatooine than I do regarding Focus. I am not Focus spec. Focus does better than Combat does.

 

3. I care about one spec. Combat.

 

Combat needs something to make it competitive. Simple as that.

[-Arcane-]

Master Strike doesn't crit for 5600 with Adrenal + Relic. Please don't try to lie to try to back up your point.

 

1) I care less about Watchman than I do about the slime on a Hutt's backside. I am not Watchman spec. Watchman is probably the best spec in the set right now.

 

2. I have more concern for the price of bantha dung on Tatooine than I do regarding Focus. I am not Focus spec. Focus does better than Combat does.

 

3. I care about one spec. Combat.

 

Combat needs something to make it competitive. Simple as that.

 

Merciless Slash not Master Strike.

 

Regularly getting 5k damage done medal in warzones with MS, can crit over 5k with only Relic.

 

Focus does do better than Combat, but Combat is simpler...

 

Maybe it needs a little love but not much.

[ProfessorWalsh]

Merciless Slash not Master Strike.

 

Regularly getting 5k damage done medal in warzones with MS, can crit over 5k with only Relic.

 

Focus does do better than Combat, but Combat is simpler...

 

Maybe it needs a little love but not much.

 

Combat is simpler?!?

 

I mean no disrespect but, what planet are you playing TOR on exactly?

 

Combat is the hardest, most difficult, and complicated spec tree to use in Sentinel. Not only does it completely rely on procs, but it also completely relies on sustained burst. It doesn't have the gap closers of Focus and it doesn't have the AoE of focus.

 

The closest thing we have to a "rotation" involves using intermittent focus builders and jugging multiple sets due to cool down timers.

 

Focus is probably the 2nd easiest spec right after Watchman.

 

Combat is in a league of its own when it comes to sheer difficulty.

 

I mean you call having to remain on target in PVP while moving (because unlike Watchman we don't have burns for crap) and using Yoda knows how many keybinds to do it...

 

My "basic" rotation is a freaking 13 step process with at least 3 variable situations that are completely momentarily dependent.

 

In the best possible situation a rotation looks like this:

 

Force Leap

Zealous Strike

Leg Slash

Blade Rush

Precision Strike

Blade Storm

Master Strike

Strike

Cauterize

Force Stasis

Zealous Strike

Blade Rush

Precision Strike

Blade Storm

 

All the while I am following them and trying to remain in range through slows, roots, mezzes, stuns, and knock backs.

Edited January 28, 2012 by ProfessorWalsh

[Sleeptastic]

I find it's pretty easy to close gaps as Combat since it has a ranged root, can drop root/snare, and has 15% increased in combat run speed. I've found that the master strike root also works though I've seen others claim it doesn't. You can get really good burst from BR->PS->MS->BS which is available quite often.

 

Edit: You should not be using cauterize in Combat

Edited January 28, 2012 by Sleeptastic

[ProfessorWalsh]

I find it's pretty easy to close gaps as Combat since it has a ranged root, can drop root/snare, and has 15% increased in combat run speed. I've found that the master strike root also works though I've seen others claim it doesn't. You can get really good burst from BR->PS->MS->BS which is available quite often.

 

Edit: You should not be using cauterize in Combat

 

You actually should always use Cauterize in Combat right before applying a Force Stasis as the burn effect adds damage to the Force Stasis.

 

If you are trying to maximize damage it is the smartest thing you can do.

[crimsiden]

Really would like to meet all you pro sentinels.... I know on my gunslinger or operative I dominate this class with lil to no effort . Sentinel is not broken , but sure as hell is not up to standard with any other classes I tried . Even some reallly well geared sentinels, get taken down by my gunslinger >.>