How To Fix Sentinels Bioware

[DeathRideX]

Hey i love my sentinel. Really I do. Theres times like i feel like a real difference maker in pvp matches. Then theres times i just get rolled. I'm not a battlemeaster yet, im about half champion gear. I'm suire with gear ill be awesome. However i cannot deny we lack a lot of the abilities we need to be on par.

 

From a experienced mmo pvpers perspective (WOW 9 arena seasons, 6 diff characters all 2200-2500 rated, City of heroes/villains,DAOC, Aion) Heres my opinion on the easy way to fix sentinels.

 

1.Every class and his mothers brotherhass a healback, ability to heal, or does not requie to have a pocket healer to survive. We are not a tank class. Were more like paper tigers.

 

Fix-Guarded by the force no longer costs half of your health. (might be OP but 50 perc is way too much for a class that has no way to re-heal that back)

 

Fix-Each dps spec will have a talent that gives them healback from x dmg/x ability similar to watchmen,but it needs to be a little stronger, as watchmans is kinda pointless sometimes.

 

Fix-Give us another cc, i don't care if its push somethin, but we are underpowered in utility outside of transcendence.

 

2. Melee is royally screwed in this game. We are required to bind 40 keys and build up our damage, while range can spam one button nukes.

 

Fix-make our awe debuff all ranged accuracy/or damage by 100-50 perc for 6 sec after its duraction.

 

Fix-Streamline our abilities (crippling throw/dispatch) (cauterize/legslash) etc etc etc

 

Fix-Either Change range classes to work by the same mechanic (ex. 5 abilites to ramp up) or make our damage ramp up time significantly faster.

 

3.We are CC ed easily and rooted like a potted plant 24/7. look theres ways outta this, and if ur on top of ur game u can manage, but it is annoying.

 

Fix-Make transcendence break all movement impairing effects/CC

 

Fix- Or give us another CC breakk/immunity on a 1min to 1.5min cd.

 

 

4.Fix our bugs.

 

Fix- Im looking at you Ataru!

 

I think that a few of these things wouldnt significantly alter the class but make it much more enjoyable and on par with what we go up against in sorcerers, troppers, bh's, etc.

[emeraldon]

No thanks.

 

 

Learn to play the specs and you'll do just fine.

 

Depending on what your playstyle is, you have atleast two very good choices for pvp: Combat and Watchman.

 

Watchman has, as I'm sure you're aware of, dots. Very powerful dots once applied (and no, it 's not hard to apply them.) that do alot of damage. They also supply healing once they crit, and Zen gives us 100% healing. It's not *ALOT*, but it gets the job done.

 

The thing I've found Watchman to lack is a way to get out of roots, but Combat tree takes care of that with Force Camouflage. You also get an extra root ability (Crip. Throw) to help keep the enemy immobilized.

 

We DON'T need the buffs you propose other than fixes to our current abilities. (Master strike still doesn't always immobilize even with Combat-talent.) and we have more than enough defensive cooldowns to help us survive alot longer than we originally should, imo.

 

Guarded by the Force removes 50% of your hp, yes. A trick for you, though; don't use it at 100% hp. Use other cooldowns first, and what I've found to be most effective is to use GbtF at < 10% followed by a medpack.

[notatroll]

This is just proof that every noob could get high arena ratings in WoW. Nothing more.

 

THE ONLY THING SENTINELS REALLY NEED IS A DIFFERENT IMAGE AND MAYBE AN EXTRA BUFF SO WE ACTUALLY BECOME USEFUL(in other people's eyes - I think we're fine) FOR END GAME PVE.

Im sick and tired of hearing "lf 2 dps for x HM - no sentinels pls"

[emeraldon]

This is just proof that every noob could get high arena ratings in WoW. Nothing more.

 

THE ONLY THING SENTINELS REALLY NEED IS A DIFFERENT IMAGE AND MAYBE AN EXTRA BUFF SO WE ACTUALLY BECOME USEFUL(in other people's eyes - I think we're fine) FOR END GAME PVE.

Im sick and tired of hearing "lf 2 dps for x HM - no sentinels pls"

 

That's just ignorant people talking. From my own experiences in PvE, I do better sustained DPS than the other classes. A decent measure is the Council fight, where me, our trooper and dps-shadow are on the Marauders. I finish mine off first every time, with them having equal or a bit better gear than me.

[Thebhoy]

This is just proof that every noob could get high arena ratings in WoW. Nothing more.

 

THE ONLY THING SENTINELS REALLY NEED IS A DIFFERENT IMAGE AND MAYBE AN EXTRA BUFF SO WE ACTUALLY BECOME USEFUL(in other people's eyes - I think we're fine) FOR END GAME PVE.

Im sick and tired of hearing "lf 2 dps for x HM - no sentinels pls"

 

Maybe thats because so many of them are just bad or some prefer range setups, yes we need some extra pvp utility but our PvE damage is more than competitive.

[OmicronZero]

The only real issue I've noticed is that a significant number of bosses have anti-melee abilities/mechanics that can make Sents somewhat of a liability in groups. Of course I group with a healer, so I haven't noticed the need of healing, as much- the lack of an emergency heal or some sort of self-healing mechanic(% of health from defeated enemies for example) seems odd. On the PvP side the constant CC is a pain, but I don't know if that's just a Sent thing or a general gripe with PvP mechanics.

 

Now I certainly don't think the Sentinel is horribly, unplayable-y broken. I've taken my Sent all the way to 50, and I'm Combat tree- which also isn't totally broken. It's fun, I like it, but there's no way you'd get me to say it doesn't have issues. Issues that need fixing. From what I've seen all the classes need a few adjustments here and there. So everyone getting all defensive with your "OMG SENTS ARE AWESUM! L2P NUB!", stop.

 

I'd personally like it if Sents had some of the following:

-Emergency Threat Dump on a long cooldown

-Emergency heal and/or some method of [small] self healing (for Combat)

-Additional CC break? Or perhaps tack on "breaks CC" to some/all of the Sent's defensive powers

-Better way to deal with anti-melee bosses- I don't mind being less useful or having to use interesting tactics(which does seem to work), but don't put me in a place where a group would rather I sit out because my greatest contribution is either dieing or sucking up heals(what groups seem to think).

[biovenger]

I've said this before and I'll say it again: Sentinels are fine. It's the game's anti-melee philosophy that makes life for us a bit tougher. You can almost always replace a sentinel with some ranged class, that reaps all the benefits of ranged but none of the drawbacks of Melee.

 

Not to be long-winded, but this is mainly due to the ranged-favored design in Warzones and the ridiculous decision of giving everyone (and their third cousin) knockbacks - where some even have a built-in root! There's more, but these are the main ones.

[-Arcane-]

This is just proof that every noob could get high arena ratings in WoW. Nothing more.

 

THE ONLY THING SENTINELS REALLY NEED IS A DIFFERENT IMAGE AND MAYBE AN EXTRA BUFF SO WE ACTUALLY BECOME USEFUL(in other people's eyes - I think we're fine) FOR END GAME PVE.

Im sick and tired of hearing "lf 2 dps for x HM - no sentinels pls"

 

ahah lolled.

 

 

Thats like saying

 

"I dont want the best dps to join my group because I dont understand the game"

[Eszi]

[/b]

Im sick and tired of hearing "lf 2 dps for x HM - no sentinels pls"

People say it, because senti isn't easy to play, thus most senti players do bad.

[thanealpha]

Until they fix skill latency and stuttering all other discussions are moot.

 

IMHO.

[SteveGarbage]

Until they fix skill latency and stuttering all other discussions are moot.

 

IMHO.

It's been a lot better for me. I really haven't had any problems recently.

[DeathRideX]

I guess it was inevitable i'd get replies form the "l2play" elitist d bags. I'm not talking about pve. I've never had any problem playing faceroll pve content uin this game.

 

As for proof that people can get high ratings in wow, i Did it in seasons 1-3 on a shadowpriest when they were **** compared to every other class. So you really don't know me or what your talking about.

 

I said I like my sent, but they are not "fine" in pvp. Not when my roomate who re rolled a bounty hunter has 2 pieces of gear, and can pull the same dps as me in almost full champion.

 

Are they powerful when played correctly? sure they CAN be. But this class is one that you need the top gear to be even relevant.

 

And sure i can make a pvp video of me picking off stragglers and 1v1 ing people in wz's and going 50 and 2 but is that how it is most of the time? no. Not when your not with a healer.

Edited February 3, 2012 by DeathRideX

[LiveandDieinLA]

The one thing I would really like to see looked at is "riposte".

 

Yeah its awesome that it is off the GCD, but with lackluster damage and a focus cost of 3 seems to make this a skill that doesn't get used very often. I think they should make riposte a focus builder instead, and maybe extent the cooldown.

[Aaramis]

The one thing I would really like to see looked at is "riposte".

 

Yeah its awesome that it is off the GCD, but with lackluster damage and a focus cost of 3 seems to make this a skill that doesn't get used very often. I think they should make riposte a focus builder instead, and maybe extent the cooldown.

 

Good idea. Riposte definitely needs some love.

Given its lackluster damage, it should be a freebie focus-builder of some sort, or have its damage scale better.

 

The only other things Sentinel *NEEDS* is perhaps an improvement in offhand saber damage. Right now it's pretty weak.

 

Oh, and maybe 1 more ability that's a stun, cc, or knockback.

 

That's it.

Sents are pretty good when geared and played properly. They're not as lacking as a lot of people will have you believe.

 

The issues, as pointed out on page 1, are often bad players, or the melee vs. ranged bias that many gamers have.

[EnnaRei]

Top gear to be relevant? Who the **** said that? You don't need the top gear to be relevant. In most cases I out damage everyone in a wz, save one or two sents who have better gear than I do. In full champ I rock just about everyone, sounds like you need to L2P like everyone else who *****es about **** wrong with this class.

 

And sometimes I'm in the top 3 for heals, which is rather sad. But that's how it is. This class can go for a long time without dying if played properly, if not then yeah it seems like we suck. If you can start pulling 250k+ in a wz dominated by bm's, and survive with less than 5 deaths, and then you still have a problem with something, that is when you can ***** about it. No sooner for pvp whining, you haven't earned the right yet.

Edited February 4, 2012 by EnnaRei

[Archaar]

Sentinels/Marauders are more than fine, it really is a learn to play issue. If anything I think there utility needs to be toned down a bit, Marauders tank better than my Champ Survivor geared Shadow Tank!

[Calouse]

I won't go into Sents rocking or failing as that's been done to death now. However, I do want to mention that the scoreboard numbers are not necessarily a good comparison point in overall effectiveness.

 

The numbers do not take into account how long the target survives the fight. If my Vanguard--shield spec--is given enough time to hit a target, especially a healer/healed target, then his numbers skyrocket. It doesn't mean his dps has any real meaning. 40 or so seconds to kill an enemy compared to about 12 on the Sent? Getting 300k on my vanguard vs my Sent has two very different meanings. My point is simply that the number itself is an ego builder and that's about it. It's the in battle impacts that should be compared and not the numbers alone.

 

Kill power > Damage numbers especially if there is even one healer in the mix.

[EnnaRei]

That is true, I have been basing a lot of my personal scores off of overall damage. I'll take a look at my next few wz's dps and take note of that in comparison to some others. Crit wouldn't be bad, but that can also be based on whether or not the target is geared. Dps numbers from a few wz's should be a more accurate display of what we can do. Honestly tho, if you are having sent problems then it is most likely you.

[Janglor]

All the calls for massive changes to sentinel are going to go un-answered, and i dont think the constant root/CC'ing is a sentinel issue, its a game issue. To me personally if your alright at your class you can do pretty good damage as im in the top 1-3 total damage of 90% of warzones.

 

However, for sentinel to be viable in the end game PvE and PvP instances we really need to do more than "pretty good" damage because a ranged DPS class can fill our rule better than we can. So i see the need for change as follows

 

1) Take away the massive gimp on our secondhand saber, its what makes us unique, let it make us more viable.

 

2) Let the 30 stack centering movies (Transcendence) remove roots/CC when used.

 

With those two updates, i think we'd be a pretty sweet class.

[Jinelie]

I'm a solo PvE player and my Sentinel has been hard to play up til getting Doc on Balmorra, because of lack of any decent self-healing besides medpacs.

 

Getting a 1% health heal every tick from elemental damage is fine but it seems that I only have a single elemental damage attack skill. And it only lasts for 6 seconds.

 

The offhand saber is more a stat stick than a real weapon. Low accuracy and gimped damage.

 

What I would like to see if some bonus damage added to the offhand saber and a bit more accuracy.

 

Also Sabers should have a AoE of about 1-2m. A small chance of doing some damage to anything standing around your toon.