Helpless as a kitten

[Venator-Falco]

Tedroni I can see you are still here whinging and beating your drum, but have you read through some of the positive suggestions in this thread and tried to use them to improve your play experience.

 

Or are you just going to continue persisting with your assertion that the class is broken and can’t do anything even though there are many others who are very successful with the class.

 

The only issue I am running into playing a Sentinel of late is that I end up in groups with a Guardian, and Healer and Two Sentinels so we are always rolling off against loot. That being said with the insane DPS two Sentinels put out we do get through content extremely quickly.

 

I will also point out that your last assertion about Combat being the unwanted Step child of the Sentinel tree is probably Based on Bovine Excrement. I play combat and the DPS from it is pretty insane. Regularly the tank will shield me instead of the healer simply because I can generate that much agro with my solid DPS. (BTW If I am using Force Camo correctly then it shouldn’t be an issue, so it is entirely my fault if I take agro from the tank)

[jdela]

What is your gear like? Once I got into appropriate gear things got much easier. Gear Doc as well. You really want to get a pair of level 49 purple hilts to start off. Then I would suggest purple 49 armoring, then work on the mods, enhancement, and color crystals. But getting the hilts and armor to the highest you can is going to help a bunch. Pick up better gear for your non-moddable slots from the GTN. Also, get better implants and a better earpiece.

[Xuniun]

...Yeah, did you miss it that time, too? Level 50. No one makes it to 50 on a Sentinel if they don't know what they're doing. I'm not a n00b. I'm a frustrated customer who can't pretend that dying all the time is fun any more.

 

Do you want an award for reaching level 50? Seriously, it's not impressive. At all.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Xuniun

[Fiachsidhe]

Unfortunately I've found even with geared tank companions, the only way to keep my downtime to a minimum between pulls, at level 50 content, is to use Doc.

 

I hate it.

I was so looking forward to using Rusk, but I can't get anything done without Doc, without having to kneel down for half a minute between each fight. My comps are well geared too. Doc is one of my least geared, and he's still more helpful.

[Telgath]

Unfortunately I've found even with geared tank companions, the only way to keep my downtime to a minimum between pulls, at level 50 content, is to use Doc...

 

I have found this to be true. When I am soloing I can use Kira or the good Sergeant, but as you say, downtime is a way of life. But Doc is not easy street, he can get "distracted" real easy. If facing an Elite, and that Elite has pals, the pals must die, and fast. Otherwise, they will go after Doc, or he goes after them, neither of which is good. And shutting down Doc's CC and Attack abilities is not the best idea, just control the enemies so Doc is working for you.

 

We have some great burst abilities against strongs and less, so it is not unusual to take out a strong and a normal with a leap and 4 attacks, and if you are lucky with crits, do it with 3. Then hit the Elite with dots and attacks. Doc is then directing his full attention to you. I can do this against 2 strongs and a normal. But, for me, the margin for error is too small.

 

So with Doc, little or no down time for reasonable fights, and down time with the others. This might be the best balance that can be achieved.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Telgath

[VoidJustice]

So with Doc, little or no down time for reasonable fights, and down time with the others. This might be the best balance that can be achieved.

 

 

Doc is OP.

 

We all know it.

 

He's a crutch and he's the only way we make it to 50 without rage quitting.

 

Imagine even level content without Doc... /shutter.

[Telgath]

Doc is OP.

 

We all know it.

 

He's a crutch and he's the only way we make it to 50 without rage quitting.

 

Imagine even level content without Doc... /shutter.

 

I do not agree with this. Yes, with Doc life is much easier. But I, and you if you try, can face equal level content. Many of us do it all the time. I , and many others, do the level 50 solo dailies without Doc. Some of use use Kira, some the Sergeant, etc. The fights can be tough, and you have to meditate a lot. And we do not shudder, we just find ways to succeed without complaining.

[Kalaar]

We all know by now all these happy posts about jedi/sith melee are the devs using dummy accounts hoping we believe them and stop begging for bread crumbs for anything to make melee better. The real truth is that the devs hate melee with a passion.

[ProsaicProse]

After playing a number of (advanced) classes, I did notice Sentinels did seem kinda squishy and cumbersome gameplay wise. I really wished to play a jedi knight though, so I ended up just going guardian and it's been a lot more fun; less eying buttons instead of the fight.

[Tedroni]

Tedroni I can see you are still here whinging and beating your drum, but have you read through some of the positive suggestions in this thread and tried to use them to improve your play experience.

 

Or are you just going to continue persisting with your assertion that the class is broken and can’t do anything even though there are many others who are very successful with the class.

 

The only issue I am running into playing a Sentinel of late is that I end up in groups with a Guardian, and Healer and Two Sentinels so we are always rolling off against loot. That being said with the insane DPS two Sentinels put out we do get through content extremely quickly.

 

I will also point out that your last assertion about Combat being the unwanted Step child of the Sentinel tree is probably Based on Bovine Excrement. I play combat and the DPS from it is pretty insane. Regularly the tank will shield me instead of the healer simply because I can generate that much agro with my solid DPS. (BTW If I am using Force Camo correctly then it shouldn’t be an issue, so it is entirely my fault if I take agro from the tank)

 

And I can see that you're still not reading anyone's posts but your own...

[Nytak]

9 pages and nobody has recommended that he properly gear up and use Lord Scourge????

 

I really think that any problems surrounding Jedi Sentinels have nothing to do with the Sentinel advanced class at all....

[Jinook_Phi]

I used to think as you do and there are still some bugs that can hurt us, such chaotic close in combat- the auto nearest target is still not even close to being where it needs to be. And yes, I think we are about 25% too squishy. BUT, as several of the posters have stated- even the devs have owned, played a Sentinel is a very nuanced process, with a steep learning curve. Im a level 35 Focus specced Sentinel and I do more then fine in most scenarios, with some limitations. MY DPS is very solid. I'll offer some insights to see if they help you in any way.

 

#1- Shot rotation is insanely important AND there any number of rotations that can work. The trick is to test out your rotations on Silvers- maybe 2 levels below you. Why Silvers? They put up enough of a fight to last but a few levels below you, dont have enough HP where you can't take them. I use them a lot to test out different scenarios. Meaning, when faced with "X" I notice the following things work.

 

#2- One thing I have noticed in watching fellow Sents battle is that they burn through their CC's all at once, versus spacing them out when fighting tough golds. I dropped Darth Angrall on my first pass, with next to no life left because (a) I spaced out my CC's and (b) Kira is very well geared. So what do I mean?

 

Important note: This is for a Focus spec and at Level 35.

 

If I jump in on a gold, then follow-up with a Zealous (totally ignoring adds), then follow up with a sweep, because of the way the stacks work with my spec- a guaranted high level crit , most adds drop just from that. In the case of Angral, I had the add down 80% just from that, with Kira mopping up and then joining me. Here is where the CC comes in.

 

I usually kick off with a Stasis (after all the stuff I just mentioned), then build up some focus and try to get in a slash, then do a Kick for the interrupt, then again build up some focus and do 1-2 more damage based specials, then do a Pacify, more focus/specials, another kick, so on and so forth until my stasis comes off cool down. In the case of Angral, I was almost dead and he was almost dead. I popped a camo to buy my stasis enough time to come of cool down, slapped on a stasis followed by a zealous and sweep- crit city, he died. Kira died when he was down to about 20% health.

 

If you pop stasis and then kick and then pacify with nothing in between- you will die constantly. I if you use camo too early or pop Call on The Force too early, you will die. Sents. at least my focus spec, seems to be CC, drive focus, stack crit, crit, rinse and repeat for me.

 

Rule of thumb: There should never be a CC not on cool down ONCE you lock in your well paced cycle.

 

#2- Keep your gear and whoever your side kick is, geared- as high as you can. I've recently gotten into this fetish of clicking on other sents companions if its Kira because Ive heard all these complaints about her- which has not been the case with me. I noticed that on average, 9 out of 10 "Kira's" are a good 1000 HP below my Kira, some far worse off. And if their HP are that far off, I suspect the other stats are weak too. Kira has always been a monster for me with very high damage and HP. But again, every 3rd or 4th level, I max out her gear as best I can.

 

#3- When fighting more then one strong, I will target the weakest of the strong for Kira, with me taking on the primary baddie. I cannot take on two golds nor do I feel like I should be able to (unless one is a droid), as a Sent- thats not what we do. However, I have taken on a gold and a silver plus a few adds and lived to talk about; I have taken on up to two strong silvers one level up from me and 5-6 adds and as many as seven regular mobs at once. Now mind you, the Focus speak goes through trash mobs like butter. The key for me is not just jumping into the fight if its going to be a real tough one. I will focus Kira on specific baddies while I focus on others. For example, if there are two silvers, one kind of solo and the other with 3-4 adds, I will send her to the solo one where I will take the adds. Why? After stacking my sweep with lots of crit juice- one jump and they are all almost dead. A slash or Blade storm finished them off. Again, while I am pacing my CC on my main baddie.

 

#4- Have the highest level med packs for your level and dont use them prematurely. If the med pack heals for 2000 and you pop it when your only down 1000 HP- you just threw away 1000 HP of fight you could have had.

 

#5- Learn to jump jump jump BEFORE you near death. I have targeting hot keyed to my space bar- the big easy to smack on button. If I am getting towards 1/4 or below and Ive burned through my med packs and other options- I will rifle through a ton of targets to find the one that is the farthest away from the baddie stomp me and hit "jump". Essentially, you are jumping away from damage. Often times I jump to a lower level mob wherein I can follow up with a sweep (which stuns) and kite just a bit. All of that dance may only buy me 2-7 seconds, but usually something then pops up= my camo, stasis, something.

 

#6- Do NOT try to use all the abilities you can buy. (a) you'll go nuts trying. (b) that many choices will open your rotations too much, so you never create a rhythm and pace to your fighting style and © not all abilities are alike, regardless of how cool they may sound. I bet you that after testing, more then 30% of my abilities are not even on my toolbar. I only use what I need, enough to be effective in mastering them all at once. We get so many options, this is a hugely important point often overlooked.

 

I still die but almost every time, not always but almost always, its because I lost control of the battle. There have been many times where I get in the zone, my rotations like a delicate dance and even with golds- I come out barely touched. Find the "dance" that works for you and I think you will find that your Sent (at least the focus spec's) will really come alive for you.

[Venator-Falco]

And I can see that you're still not reading anyone's posts but your own...

 

Not in the slightest.

I have read all of the posts here, and you are still banging on about how things are broken, and how no one gives advice though there are many posts giving good advice in this thread.

It is obvious by your reply you are more insistent on trawling than an actual answer to your issues, good luck to you with that.

[Laurelaun]

Give it a rest OP. I've been at lvl 50 for 2 weeks and have run EV reg and all the hard mode FP's as a Watchman Sentinel. It's not hard to carry your weight in pve and pvp in this game as a Sentinel, my dailies on Ilum and Belsavis go by (whenever I care to do them) without a hitch as well. We don't need much buffing or nerfing on a whole, just minor tweaking.

 

Some constructive advice:

Watchman is the strongest spec survival wise

 

use Doc or Kira and gear them appropriately if you want actual assistance from your companions for dailies etc (Doc for longer fights where you'll need some additional heals, Kira just to destroy mobs quickly)

 

make sure you are using or not using your chosen companions abilities/"stances" correctly

 

make sure your talent points are in the correct placement

 

make sure you are using the correct rotation

 

use your Cooldowns appropriately when soloing (Stasis after applying burns and hitting zen to heal yourself, defensive CD's when needed, camo off aggro, etc etc)

 

gear yourself correctly

 

if you need heals, zen zen zen zen

 

make sure your gaming platform isn't terrible

 

do some actual research on your class/spec

[Tedroni]

Not in the slightest.

I have read all of the posts here, and you are still banging on about how things are broken, and how no one gives advice though there are many posts giving good advice in this thread.

It is obvious by your reply you are more insistent on trawling than an actual answer to your issues, good luck to you with that.

 

1. You didn't respond to anyone else's posts, including those who agree with me. It seems you're the one interested in kicking up an argument as you keep visiting and posting in this thread.

2. I didn't say no one has given advice since they actually started giving it. I *have* said that no one has offered advice that I haven't already tried (mostly 'cause it's very basic advice that no one will get past lvl 25 without already knowing), except the "give up," "shut up," or "re-roll" advice. ((See below for examples.))

3. Clearly you have not read all the posts in this thread like you claim since three posts ago, I said that my problem on Ilum had cleared up by increasing my Overload Saber useage from "frequent" to "always." (a piece of advice, I might add, that was *not* posted on this thread until I put it up, myself)

 

==================================================================================

 

Give it a rest OP.

 

Nope. I have no inclination to change my mind simply because you disagree with me.

 

I've been at lvl 50 for 2 weeks and have run EV reg and all the hard mode FP's as a Watchman Sentinel. It's not hard to carry your weight in pve and pvp in this game as a Sentinel, my dailies on Ilum and Belsavis go by (whenever I care to do them) without a hitch as well. We don't need much buffing or nerfing on a whole, just minor tweaking.

 

I'm happy for you. Really. I'm glad you haven't hit the same persistent frustrations that I and so many others have. But I think you're missing the forrest for the trees: JK is the iconic class for the Star Wars universe. People who play this game want to be a Jedi for a while. They want to feel like Obiwan, Anikan, or Luke. If the class that's supposed to let them do that is overly-complicated and overly-difficult, they're not going to keep paying for the game... And the top 5-10% who can MacGyver a way to make the class work are not going to be able to pay enough to keep the game viable.

 

Some constructive advice:

Watchman is the strongest spec survival wise

 

Known that since my Sent was 20.

 

use Doc or Kira and gear them appropriately if you want actual assistance from your companions for dailies etc (Doc for longer fights where you'll need some additional heals, Kira just to destroy mobs quickly)

 

Since my Sent was 15 or so... Honestly, who uses T7 after they get Kira??

 

make sure you are using or not using your chosen companions abilities/"stances" correctly

 

Since I got T7 on Tython. In Beta.

 

make sure your talent points are in the correct placement

 

Always important, yes. And I've been working that since I re-did my skill tree to Watchman-only (until I got the capstone skill at least, I have a few points invested in the Combat and Focus trees).

 

make sure you are using the correct rotation

 

Again, always important, and something that must continually evolve and be re-visited (which I've been doing in every MMO I've ever played, which admittedly isn't many, but it's a lesson I learned years ago).

 

use your Cooldowns appropriately when soloing (Stasis after applying burns and hitting zen to heal yourself, defensive CD's when needed, camo off aggro, etc etc)

 

And figuring this out is a matter of your previous line about ensuring that you're using the correct rotation.

 

gear yourself correctly

 

Yup. Also been practicing that since beta. And in other MMOs.

 

if you need heals, zen zen zen zen

 

Zen requires 30 Centering. Centering needs outgoing damage to build up. I get a little bit of Centering from incoming damage, but that's clearly not something that can be relied upon to build a full stack of 30 Centering (certainly not more than once). And *if* we can't survive long enough to build up Centering, how do we get heals? Med packs can keep you on your feet for another few seconds, but not very long without some kind of CC, and we have no CC against Strong+ mobs.

 

make sure your gaming platform isn't terrible

 

It isn't. It's actually rather nice.

 

do some actual research on your class/spec

 

I would've never made it to 50 if I didn't already know this. That's how I knew to spec Watchman and use burns for heals. God knows BioWare didn't go out of their way to tell us "by the way, *this* skill and *this* skill put DOTs on your target."

Edited February 7, 2012 by Tedroni

[Venator-Falco]

I did miss you posting about overload, but that was an oversight not anything else and I do apologise.

You may say that all this advice is simple, but if you are still complaining about the class then I wonder if you are actually following it. You say that you were the poster of the details about overload sabre, that is interesting, I play a Combat Sentinel, so watchmen content washes over me a little, and I have seen many posts in these forums outlining exactly how to make the most of overload Sabre (Have you read the primer in the sentinel subforum?)

Once you become familiar with this class it is very efficient, and extremely flexible. It is “one of”, if not “the” highest DPS class in the game, yes it is:

A) Squishy,

B) Melee

So playing a Sentinel is playing on the edge, But helpless, NO! it is harder to play because as a Sentinel you have to take the initiative on everything, you can not afford to be reacting, you have to make sure you handle mobs on your terms.

Seriously if you are having these troubles on Illum how did you handle all the trash mobs in the last class quest on Correlia (I think it was the last one) I had to totally reconsider how I was playing at that point after being a 50/50 prospect on every pull for my first look at them. I then thought about the options, changed my tactics and Steam Rolled Everything (This question is not meant as any type of affront, it is of real interest)

[Hambunctious]

It's pretty sad that this is still an issue since closed beta, and even since real early on in beta. I leveled a marauder to 44 in testing, and it was a pain. We even had better gear then, lol.

 

That's why I decided to stick with a guardian, or make a juggernaut. Not that they're any tougher before the upper 30s if you're doing on level content.

[Venator-Falco]

It's pretty sad that this is still an issue since closed beta, and even since real early on in beta. I leveled a marauder to 44 in testing, and it was a pain. We even had better gear then, lol.

 

That's why I decided to stick with a guardian, or make a juggernaut. Not that they're any tougher before the upper 30s if you're doing on level content.

 

What is the issue?

Being the best DPS in the game???

I don’t see an issue

And let me get this straight you levelled a Marauder in beta and found that a pain even though you get your healing companion at L20 or thereabouts…

You really do like playing in easy mode don’t you.

[Davajita]

Here's what I'll say, as I've been perusing these JK threads for a while now since I started to notice the disparities between dual wield saber users and everyone else.

 

I leveled my Sentinel to 50. First as Combat, then I switched to Watchman to mix things up. As I got more and more and more abilities, I did my best to fit them in where applicable and use them as needed against the content the game threw at me. I am proud to say I finished every single solo quest in the Sentinel story without any help.

 

I've been playing MMOs since UO. UO, EQ, DAoC, EQ2, LotR, CoH, FFXI, WoW, Rift, and now SWTOR. Played a lot of different classes over a long period of time. Been casual, been bleeding edge. I'm no stranger to this. Here's both sides of the equation:

 

Sentinels are powerful in the hands of the uber skilled user. Like, incredibly powerful. They have 3 interrupts, multiple gap closers, 3-4 high damage short combos, and an incredible potential for short term defense.

 

This is the perfect bag of tricks for a PVP god. Problem is, the combination of the uber skilled and PVP maniac together is a pitifully small population in any MMO, and SWTOR is no exception. Still, with the right key binds and reflexes, I have nothing to say to people struggling with Knights and Warriors in PVP. The class is built for PVP... you don't need to learn the class better, you need to practice PVPing.

 

PVE is the other side of the equation. Sentinels and Marauders absolutely need love in PVE. Building and maintaining a solid sustainable dps rotation is simply painful. Aside from a slightly annoying resource, you have buggy and delayed animations, a serious number of rely-upon damage abilities that don't work on mobs where they might matter, and personal buffs so short term that if you sneeze or have higher than 200ms you'll miss your opportunity to use them. You have no real CC, your AoE may as well not even exist, and Medium armor on a melee character with no avoidance and no baseline damage reduction is a bigger blunder than New Coke.

 

I've leveled a Sorcerer and a Powertech and I was utterly astounded at how much of a cakewalk breeze it was with those two classes compared to my Sentinel. I fit every regularly used ability on my hotbars comfortably with room to spare. On my Sentinel it got to the point where I was having to decide what to sacrifice on my main hotbars to make room for the latest greatest move I just trained.

 

What I'm saying is that I know I'm a good player. I can play my Sentinel successfully. Kill multiple elites, big trash packs, succeed in PVP, etc. I can do it, it's just a headache and it's not much fun because I have to concentrate so hard. With my Sorc and my Tech it's just fun. I can fly through and destroy AND I don't have to be 2+ levels ahead of the content to win AND execute perfectly without exception simply to survive hard fights (forget killing fast).

 

It's obvious the Sentinel design was simply unfocused. All sorts of different abilities that barely tie together combined with too many things to manage at once. Throw in some fundamental bugginess and you've got a serious problem that Bioware doesn't seem to want to acknowledge. In PVP, it doesn't matter because skirmishes are short and to the point most of the time. In PVE, well... try to do good damage while paying attention to all that crap AND be aware of your surroundings in a raid environment. I'm not saying it's unfathomable, it's just a lot harder than it should be, especially compared to every other class in the game.

 

Sure, there's always going to be a class or two in an MMO that's a bit tougher to master than others, but this is over the top. The class pretty much needs a total rework from the ground up to balance it in both PVP and PVE. Right now it's good for one, terrible for the other.

[Venator-Falco]

Davajita

So let me get this straight…

You have played the original EQ which means you know what hard mode is in a game

You Say the Sentinel is overpowered (Let’s face it taking on Multiple elites is overpowered).

You recognise that Buggy Animations is a key problem not the class working by design

You personally don’t enjoy the complexity of the Sentinel

And so you say the Whole Class needs a re-work?

Let us look at some of your other statements which seem to contradict your bragging about taking down multiple elites

I am in Australia, so have 300+ms pings and I use all my combinations and interrupts quite successfully.

You can’t keep a PVE rotation that works consistently but PvP is no issue… That seems quite at odds to the experiences most people post here. I personally don’t have any issue keeping a rotation going maybe you should rethink your rotation, or your spec to ensure it balances out well.

AoE is useless… Hmmm… Our AOE Isn’t spectacular I will grant we only have two AoE options, but on a single target we are NASTY not everyone needs to be good at everything.

What about those of us who enjoy the complexity of the class? Do we get forced to play one of the less complex classes because the only one this detailed gets taken away from us?

Those who like the simple classes have a multitude to select from.

As for having too many keys, seriously you have got to be joking.

Yes you need to have a dozen keys bound, there are one or two additional keys you might use for raiding… But you have 24 Bound keys to choose from, it’s not that complicated.

I am trying to decide are you here whinging just because you want to whinge or are you here bragging by saying oh the class is broken but I can make it work.

Either way… I’d say it is time to get back under your bridge mister troll.

[Helig]

Sentinels are powerful in the hands of the uber skilled user. Like, incredibly powerful. They have 3 interrupts, multiple gap closers, 3-4 high damage short combos, and an incredible potential for short term defense.

 

This is the perfect bag of tricks for a PVP god. Problem is, the combination of the uber skilled and PVP maniac together is a pitifully small population in any MMO, and SWTOR is no exception. Still, with the right key binds and reflexes, I have nothing to say to people struggling with Knights and Warriors in PVP. The class is built for PVP... you don't need to learn the class better, you need to practice PVPing.

 

My Marauder fully agrees. The_class_is_amazing. If you play it well and play it right (ergo, no pretending that you're some Fury Warrior, leaping into thick combat and expecting to survive without your cooldowns and\or a healer).

 

Sure, there's always going to be a class or two in an MMO that's a bit tougher to master than others, but this is over the top. The class pretty much needs a total rework from the ground up to balance it in both PVP and PVE. Right now it's good for one, terrible for the other.

Disagree. Could use some tweaks, and talent trees need to be updated (they look like they're 3 builds old), but overall, the class is solid and very enjoyable to play. Outside Ilum. At Ilum. Lag+Lag-sensitive melee=not fun.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Helig

[Hambunctious]

What is the issue?

Being the best DPS in the game???

I don’t see an issue

And let me get this straight you levelled a Marauder in beta and found that a pain even though you get your healing companion at L20 or thereabouts…

You really do like playing in easy mode don’t you.

 

 

Compared to other classes, yes it is an issue. The DPS is good, but not all that much better than a trooper/BH, and it's nowhere near as easy to level as a sorc/sage. So, yeah...

Edited February 8, 2012 by Hambunctious

[BaalsMistress]

Of course, L2P comments are pretty cannon in Star Wars, going right the way back to Yoda "Awwww, cannot get your ship out"

[Helig]

Of course, L2P comments are pretty cannon in Star Wars, going right the way back to Yoda "Awwww, cannot get your ship out"

 

"Do or do not - there is no try"

 

"This is why you fail"

 

 

 

Yeah, it *is* canon :3

[Tsaritsin]

Here's what I'll say, as I've been perusing these JK threads for a while now since I started to notice the disparities between dual wield saber users and everyone else.

 

I leveled my Sentinel to 50. First as Combat, then I switched to Watchman to mix things up. As I got more and more and more abilities, I did my best to fit them in where applicable and use them as needed against the content the game threw at me. I am proud to say I finished every single solo quest in the Sentinel story without any help.

 

I've been playing MMOs since UO. UO, EQ, DAoC, EQ2, LotR, CoH, FFXI, WoW, Rift, and now SWTOR. Played a lot of different classes over a long period of time. Been casual, been bleeding edge. I'm no stranger to this. Here's both sides of the equation:

 

Sentinels are powerful in the hands of the uber skilled user. Like, incredibly powerful. They have 3 interrupts, multiple gap closers, 3-4 high damage short combos, and an incredible potential for short term defense.

 

This is the perfect bag of tricks for a PVP god. Problem is, the combination of the uber skilled and PVP maniac together is a pitifully small population in any MMO, and SWTOR is no exception. Still, with the right key binds and reflexes, I have nothing to say to people struggling with Knights and Warriors in PVP. The class is built for PVP... you don't need to learn the class better, you need to practice PVPing.

 

PVE is the other side of the equation. Sentinels and Marauders absolutely need love in PVE. Building and maintaining a solid sustainable dps rotation is simply painful. Aside from a slightly annoying resource, you have buggy and delayed animations, a serious number of rely-upon damage abilities that don't work on mobs where they might matter, and personal buffs so short term that if you sneeze or have higher than 200ms you'll miss your opportunity to use them. You have no real CC, your AoE may as well not even exist, and Medium armor on a melee character with no avoidance and no baseline damage reduction is a bigger blunder than New Coke.

 

I've leveled a Sorcerer and a Powertech and I was utterly astounded at how much of a cakewalk breeze it was with those two classes compared to my Sentinel. I fit every regularly used ability on my hotbars comfortably with room to spare. On my Sentinel it got to the point where I was having to decide what to sacrifice on my main hotbars to make room for the latest greatest move I just trained.

 

What I'm saying is that I know I'm a good player. I can play my Sentinel successfully. Kill multiple elites, big trash packs, succeed in PVP, etc. I can do it, it's just a headache and it's not much fun because I have to concentrate so hard. With my Sorc and my Tech it's just fun. I can fly through and destroy AND I don't have to be 2+ levels ahead of the content to win AND execute perfectly without exception simply to survive hard fights (forget killing fast).

 

It's obvious the Sentinel design was simply unfocused. All sorts of different abilities that barely tie together combined with too many things to manage at once. Throw in some fundamental bugginess and you've got a serious problem that Bioware doesn't seem to want to acknowledge. In PVP, it doesn't matter because skirmishes are short and to the point most of the time. In PVE, well... try to do good damage while paying attention to all that crap AND be aware of your surroundings in a raid environment. I'm not saying it's unfathomable, it's just a lot harder than it should be, especially compared to every other class in the game.

 

Sure, there's always going to be a class or two in an MMO that's a bit tougher to master than others, but this is over the top. The class pretty much needs a total rework from the ground up to balance it in both PVP and PVE. Right now it's good for one, terrible for the other.

 

Agree.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Tsaritsin