Watchmen vs Focus...

[Proppa]

Just curious how other player's find each of these specs? I'm valor 49 with nearly all cent gear and 3 pieces of champ so far. So I'm not oober geared atm. But I was watchmen for a long time, but I tried respeccing to Focus and I have to say it seem's like a much easier/more noticeable damage?

 

I've been getting 3/4k hits from Force Sweep, so between the force sweep rotation, heal debuff and such, I find that I have a far easier "rotation". Whereas with watchmen, it felt like I never really had any high DPS. My DPS across the warzone seem's better and my death's seem to drop as I'm more capable of killing people now, whereas before the dot damage alone wasn't enough to kill most players it seemed.

 

Curious how other people find it, do you find yourself with more DPS being watchmen, is it better at higher geared levels?

[Mal-Sharran]

Just curious how other player's find each of these specs? I'm valor 49 with nearly all cent gear and 3 pieces of champ so far. So I'm not oober geared atm. But I was watchmen for a long time, but I tried respeccing to Focus and I have to say it seem's like a much easier/more noticeable damage?

 

I've been getting 3/4k hits from Force Sweep, so between the force sweep rotation, heal debuff and such, I find that I have a far easier "rotation". Whereas with watchmen, it felt like I never really had any high DPS. My DPS across the warzone seem's better and my death's seem to drop as I'm more capable of killing people now, whereas before the dot damage alone wasn't enough to kill most players it seemed.

 

Curious how other people find it, do you find yourself with more DPS being watchmen, is it better at higher geared levels?

 

I won't say Focus is bad for Sentinel, but Guard/Jug get a 30% boost to the base damage of Sweep that a Sentinel doesn't. The only time I've ever been scared by a Focus was a Jug, not a Mara/Sent.

 

And there are only three things I can think of that would result in this perceived boost to damage.

 

1. You were doing Watchman wrong.

2. Watchman damage is more even with fewer spikes, whereas Focus damage is more spikey.

3. You were playing Watchman correctly but since there is no single 'I win' button (like a Singularity charged, guaranteed crit Force Sweep) it just felt like you were doing less.

 

However, if you claim you are doing more damage now, then you were likely just playing Watchman wrong, sorry to say. I fully admit I have very limited experience with Focus, I've mainly been Combat while leveling, then Watchman at 50. I've only dabbled in Focus. Sweep bombs are awesome, and the one skilled Focus Jug I've faced off against was beyond scary. So I know Focus can do well.

 

Ultimately, if you find Focus more enjoyable and you're doing better with it than Watchman, I'd say stick with it. It's a very capable spec, although it can be somewhat unwieldy in FP/OP at times seeing as an AoE is part of your rotation. But for PvP Focus can rock.

[DuoFirionas]

Watchmen spec does deal more damage even though it is single target. The only time Focus is more effective is when you have a very good healer on you to keep you going.

 

With Watchmen spec the worst I do in a WZ is 250k damage, and that is what most people usually end up with. Watchmen is capable of easily pulling off 400k+ in a good game, and my current record is 681k. Watchmen is not lacking in damage or survivability at all. If we had more mobility than we already do we would be totally unstoppable.

 

Edit: I've played all the specs quite a bit and focus is still very fun and very easy to kill people with, don't get me wrong. My point was just that once you get your rotation down with a good mix of stats, you're really a titan.

Edited March 16, 2012 by DuoFirionas

[Proppa]

I was probably playing Watchmen wrong, but I'd always do Force Leap, Overload Saber, then the one which gen's 6focus -> cauterize -> merciless slash or w/e.

 

I just found I couldn't DPS single targets down at all quick enough. Now, the same players I seem to be able to kill as the first rotation of force sweep normally drops them down by 6k+, then I build back upto it and do it again.

 

My highest crit was around 4200 on my mostly centurion sentinel. I just find that I can kill players now, whereas the DoT's where better sustained DPS but didn't often kill people. Also the second leap is helping massively, leap to a target if need be, get knock backed, used second leap then slow them etc.

 

I'll probably try watchmen again, maybe it's just where I'm getting more heals I dunno.