I've grown to love playing Sentinel but

[XxPetexX]

I don't think it's very fair that this class has a higher learning-cruve and degree of difficulty but no reward for it.

 

I think this class is balanced, it's a good solid class. Not OP and not UP. BUT.

 

It is harder to play than many other classes and I don't feel like there is any reward for it.

 

It's not a better class than any other class once you master it and even if you master it it's a very unforgiving class.

 

The difficulty lies not only in the amount of abilities (it's not THAT many tbh), but rather in the amount of stuff you have to keep track of.

 

You have to watch proccs and cooldowns constantly and when you add that to MOVING PvP combat it can become quite confusing SOMETIMES. Especially as melee where you can't stand on the edge of battle with clear view and attack with spells.

 

I don't know what I'm trying to say, because BW simply can't make this class better than others, but a LITTLE more forgiving to play would be nice.

[Valastia]

What sort of reward are you talking about? I found it very rewarding to learn how to play a difficult class well. I came from LOTRO where my main was the dual-wielding DPS class and it might take an IQ of 20 to play that class relatively well. The sentinel took a lot of getting used to; especially in watchman, learning how to work with DOTs was very challenging. PvP as a fresh 50 was annoying and frustrating at times, but finally getting some gear and working on my rotation has finally paid off to the point that I can 1v1 pretty much anyone and can be a significant contributor to the objectives in WZs. It's not easy, it's not dumbed down; but I believe becoming a great sentinel is it's own reward.

[LordsSoldier]

What sort of reward are you talking about? I found it very rewarding to learn how to play a difficult class well. I came from LOTRO where my main was the dual-wielding DPS class and it might take an IQ of 20 to play that class relatively well. The sentinel took a lot of getting used to; especially in watchman, learning how to work with DOTs was very challenging. PvP as a fresh 50 was annoying and frustrating at times, but finally getting some gear and working on my rotation has finally paid off to the point that I can 1v1 pretty much anyone and can be a significant contributor to the objectives in WZs. It's not easy, it's not dumbed down; but I believe becoming a great sentinel is it's own reward.

 

^This

 

The satisfaction of mastering a difficult class is more than enough reward. I found that when tanking with my warrior in WoW I'm thinking of rolling a Sent just for the challenge of mastering it.

[hrelas]

I have a sentinel and I enjoy playing him quite a lot. I can't see how the class can be made easier to play without hurting the balance of the well-designed class. Once you have mastered it, it becomes second nature to play, and the result is a more fun, more engaging style of combat that other classes may yearn for.

[Kanludar]

I will continue screaming this every chance i get, the problem is the watchman spec. It is simply not viable in pvp unless you que with a healing/tank partner and/or have >cent gear.

 

In pve there is no trouble keeping track of everything you need to in order to play watchman well. In pvp when the movement/stuns/snares/ are thrown in it is nearly impossible to play the spec with any kind of efficiency.

 

If you feel buttoned to death and overwhelmed with resource management that yields little in the way of results.

 

SPEC FOCUS.

 

I have not been out damaged by any other mara or sentinel in three weeks, and can count the times that i have been on one hand even before i geared up. (the only knights or warriors that have out damaged me have been other focus specced single saber cousins) The damage rotation is half the number of buttons, allowing you to learn and use your other skills better. I have topped 600k in voidstar and do not yet have a single piece of BM gear.

 

The most common argument against Focus spec "too much of the damage is worthless aoe"

- hits for 5k are very rarely worthless

- The single target damage is equal to that of other specs, the aoe is a bonus

- aoe damage is more useful in this game, than say warcraft, because there are less aoe and HoT style heals to combat the damage.

 

Watchman sucks for pvp, period.

[Metallistic]

Watchman sucks for pvp, period.

Sucks when you can't master it... It is not as easy as noob aoe bombing and does not revolve around 1 button.

 

Seriously, learn to play watchman before saying it sucks, because that statement is wrong on so many aspects it is mind numbing.

[Valastia]

Watchman sucks for pvp, period.

 

I must respectfully disagree. I have tried all three specs at one point or another, and Watchman is just simply fantastic. As I alluded to earlier, it takes a lot of practice and patience, but once you get it down, it's not all that hard to keep up with and is very rewarding. I can pop Zen almost more than I know what to do with; I can put out an insane amount of damage on a single target and be an effective team member in these team-based warzones. As you say, your raw, cumulative damage will probably be higher than most if you're doing lots of AoE; that's simple math. But I think Watchman lets you get more kills (which I will take over raw damage any day) and can allow you to more adequately focus on a target (hopefully a healer) and be a better asset to the team in general.

 

More on topic, I think learning how to manage your CDs and Focus while Watchman speced is a tremendous accomplishment which is highly rewarding. Using several skills in a rotation does not make you a worse player or automatically make for a more difficult experience. It just takes a little more practice and skill.

[Vodrin]

 

Watchman sucks for pvp, period.

 

This simply is not true. Each of the 3 trees is very good in PvP. One may suit an individual players playstyle much more than the others, but none of them "suck" in PvP (although I will admit combat is a bit tougher to pull off than the other two).

 

I don't think it's very fair that this class has a higher learning-cruve and degree of difficulty but no reward for it.

 

I think this class is balanced, it's a good solid class. Not OP and not UP. BUT.

 

It is harder to play than many other classes and I don't feel like there is any reward for it.

 

 

The payoff is being an absolute beast on the battlefield. I can run around Ilum and attack any imp I see traveling alone and be confident I can kill them (and most of the time I will be right). It's a great feeling and a pretty good reward for getting good with the class. A merc/commando, or a sorc/sage may be far easier to get good with, but I destroy them 1v1 now.

[OldxLady]

Ohh mand, this class is actualy the most rewarding class out there... Beeing able to win 2v1 or even 3v1 if you are realy good is the best feeling ever.

 

So yeah it is rewarding, as you will start to be feared by people, even more as they see that they are unable to kill you even when they focus you.

[rakuenCallisto]

I will continue screaming this every chance i get, the problem is the watchman spec. It is simply not viable in pvp unless you que with a healing/tank partner and/or have >cent gear.

 

In pve there is no trouble keeping track of everything you need to in order to play watchman well. In pvp when the movement/stuns/snares/ are thrown in it is nearly impossible to play the spec with any kind of efficiency.

 

If you feel buttoned to death and overwhelmed with resource management that yields little in the way of results.

 

SPEC FOCUS.

 

I have not been out damaged by any other mara or sentinel in three weeks, and can count the times that i have been on one hand even before i geared up. (the only knights or warriors that have out damaged me have been other focus specced single saber cousins) The damage rotation is half the number of buttons, allowing you to learn and use your other skills better. I have topped 600k in voidstar and do not yet have a single piece of BM gear.

 

The most common argument against Focus spec "too much of the damage is worthless aoe"

- hits for 5k are very rarely worthless

- The single target damage is equal to that of other specs, the aoe is a bonus

- aoe damage is more useful in this game, than say warcraft, because there are less aoe and HoT style heals to combat the damage.

 

Watchman sucks for pvp, period.

 

So much fail in one post.

 

This literally might be the worst post I've ever read on these forums.

 

It's just so ridiculous how he has no idea what he's talking about.

[Eclipzing]

So much fail in one post.

 

This literally might be the worst post I've ever read on these forums.

 

It's just so ridiculous how he has no idea what he's talking about.

 

I've never seen a sentinel take on a 2v1 or especially a 3v1 well....if the others are smart they can usually just stun lock you to some point and do the majority of needed damage to you, a marauder is fantastic when it can get its abilities off but if it gets chain stunned at all it falls like a lead brick.

Edited March 2, 2012 by Eclipzing

[Tamanous]

I've never seen a sentinel take on a 2v1 or especially a 3v1 well....if the others are smart they can usually just stun lock you to some point and do the majority of needed damage to you, a marauder is fantastic when it can get its abilities off but if it gets chain stunned at all it falls like a lead brick.

 

 

 

Do you even try to look?

 

[Asphen]

 

It is harder to play than many other classes and I don't feel like there is any reward for it.

 

It's not a better class than any other class once you master it and even if you master it it's a very unforgiving class.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a brickhouse of truth.

 

 

Just this part should be stickied somewhere.

[Hizoka]

I will continue screaming this every chance i get, the problem is the watchman spec. It is simply not viable in pvp unless you que with a healing/tank partner and/or have >cent gear.

 

In pve there is no trouble keeping track of everything you need to in order to play watchman well. In pvp when the movement/stuns/snares/ are thrown in it is nearly impossible to play the spec with any kind of efficiency.

 

If you feel buttoned to death and overwhelmed with resource management that yields little in the way of results.

 

SPEC FOCUS.

 

I have not been out damaged by any other mara or sentinel in three weeks, and can count the times that i have been on one hand even before i geared up. (the only knights or warriors that have out damaged me have been other focus specced single saber cousins) The damage rotation is half the number of buttons, allowing you to learn and use your other skills better. I have topped 600k in voidstar and do not yet have a single piece of BM gear.

 

The most common argument against Focus spec "too much of the damage is worthless aoe"

- hits for 5k are very rarely worthless

- The single target damage is equal to that of other specs, the aoe is a bonus

- aoe damage is more useful in this game, than say warcraft, because there are less aoe and HoT style heals to combat the damage.

 

Watchman sucks for pvp, period.

 

this is so completely wrong its not funny. This is why so many people think Sentinels are bad, its because of posts like this.

 

Focus is not close to Combat in terms of single target, and combat cannot touch watchmen in terms of single target.

[Xerain]

Watchman sucks for pvp, period.

 

What?

 

I've played all three specs now and Focus/Rage has to be the worst spec of the three to play in pvp.

 

In beta I was a hardcore combat/carnage fan and thought the spec rocked and I had fully planned on playing it come live because it's what I enjoyed. I didn't bother trying out annihilation/watchmen at all despite arguments on the beta forums about what the better spec was with me defending carnage/combat 100% of the time.

 

The game got into live and I wanted to try something new so I specced annihilation/watchmen... Yeah, hands down it trumps combat in every way. Dots that hit for 700 normal damage and crit for 1400 on top of stupid hard hits with gruy fury/centering generation. There is no reason to play any other spec.

 

I specced rage for like a week, GG killing a healer as effectively as watchmen or combat. GG at staying alive as well as watchmen. GG at having the mobility of watchmen or combat. GG at getting shut down because of movement. GG at the whole spec. Only good thing was smashing a group of people for 5k and lol'ing that you just did 25k+ damage in a global.