Zen In 2.0

[KnightGreg]

On the Forums I've seen a lot of posts about how BW is changing up Zen and it's screwing people over, particularly Combat Sentinels. Can someone tell me exactly what the changes are? I can't seem to find them anywhere.

[slowantics]

zen for combat grants 30% alacrity... yea

[ekimmak]

Well, that's true, ataru form gets 30% alacrity for 6 attacks (and, from what I recall and hopefully is true) that aren't focus builders. Given the change to alacrity, it now means that you have the 1 second GCD on all attacks, instead of just slash, cyclone slash, and blade rush.

 

But it also means that you lose the focus refund for those attacks, so you can't just hit zealous strike and then 6 blade rushes in a row. I was pretty enraged about it when I first found out, but now I'm just annoyed, as there's no way for me to test it, my computer can't handle two copies of the game.

 

There is an interesting buff for combat, though. I seem to recall that using the rest ability (can't remember the name) now builds up 30 centering, so that could be quite useful. And help curb my tendency to rush straight from one fight ot the next.

[contrabandinc]

Introspection now gains stacks of centering.

 

Basically, you start every fight with max centering, essentially allowing you to pop Inspiration, then pop your Valorous Call + Zen for lots of burst.

 

If you work hand in hand with another sentinel (assuming same group), you could very well, between the two of you, have 30 seconds of Zen + Inspiration.

 

Pew pew

[KnightGreg]

Ok thanks for the help, guys! I appreciate it. Man, Focus-management is gonna be a pain it sounds like... Our VC had better give us either more Focus or have a reduced CD.

[Samoth_Nomad]

Add the fact that combat trance is nerfed in 2.0. It no longer refunds any focus.

Resource management is incredibly tricky for combat sents in 2.0.

[planet_J]

Watchman looks GOOD though...4 stacks of Merciless gives MS every 6 seconds

[Ashuranrx]

From a PvP perspective, Zen for Ataru had to be nerf because of the new tier 7 skills in the Combat tree. In 2.0, we can start every fight with 30 stacks of centering. If Zen stayed the same way, this means that we can do precision strike + Blade Rush spam right from the start, which during the spamming we will proc Hand of Justice and have Precision Slash reset, then pop Valorous Call after the first PS+BR combo and do it again immediately afterwards. Back to back double PS+BR combo is OP and can drop someone in blazing speed, and that is not balanced in PvP.

 

The Opportune Strike and Combat Trance nerf (bonus excludes Blade Rush in 2.0), and Zen nerf are meant to lower DPS during PS+BR spam combo, by making focus cost higher and BR not getting 10% damage bonus from Opportune Strike.

[Akash]

I suppose this is more PvP screwing over PvE.

[Kattarine]

Just curious to ask, so now zen just gives only 30% alacrity instead of 30% alacrity with each attack consuming one energy?

[Aelaias]

I suppose this is more PvP screwing over PvE.

 

Oh don't you worry, pvp in combat is plenty screwed.

[Aelaias]

From a PvP perspective, Zen for Ataru had to be nerf because of the new tier 7 skills in the Combat tree. In 2.0, we can start every fight with 30 stacks of centering. If Zen stayed the same way, this means that we can do precision strike + Blade Rush spam right from the start, which during the spamming we will proc Hand of Justice and have Precision Slash reset, then pop Valorous Call after the first PS+BR combo and do it again immediately afterwards. Back to back double PS+BR combo is OP and can drop someone in blazing speed, and that is not balanced in PvP.

 

The Opportune Strike and Combat Trance nerf (bonus excludes Blade Rush in 2.0), and Zen nerf are meant to lower DPS during PS+BR spam combo, by making focus cost higher and BR not getting 10% damage bonus from Opportune Strike.

 

Here is the thing. That new skill does not come come close to making up for the loss of zen. It's a strange skill which the class didn't need and because of constant focus starvation brings very little to the table. Before you could spam BR if zen were up, now you can't spam it, period. Combat is presently pure concentrated crap which is so far behind focus it's just not worth the bother. The people balancing classes are completely incompetent.