Changes to Combat?

[Dawginole]

Love this spec and have played it since launch but I'm growing frustrating with the Opportune Strike with recent changes to other classes. It seems things are getting harder and harder for melee classes in this game due to a combination of stuns, pushes and almost full instant heals. Now that isn't meant to be a qq, just an observation in relation to Opportune Strike. It seems to me that I'm eating my full bar of Focus the majority of the time trying to get OS to proc. And with the continued reduced time one is able to stand next to the target due to the previously mentioned abilities it feels like either there is not enough time to get the proc to occur or when you can lay into an opponent the thing won't proc before you're out of Focus.

 

Generally one has to use Focus to slow the targets movement speed or root them further reducing the Focus left to get OS to proc. So I'm wondering if devs may consider either looking at allowing our movement speed reduction ability or our root to be free and limited to a timer leaving more Focus to get OS to proc, or leaving things the same and kicking up the chance for proc from 30% to 40-50%?

 

Curious what other Combat spec Sents think about this.

[Sappharan]

Love this spec and have played it since launch but I'm growing frustrating with the Opportune Strike with recent changes to other classes. It seems things are getting harder and harder for melee classes in this game due to a combination of stuns, pushes and almost full instant heals. Now that isn't meant to be a qq, just an observation in relation to Opportune Strike. It seems to me that I'm eating my full bar of Focus the majority of the time trying to get OS to proc. And with the continued reduced time one is able to stand next to the target due to the previously mentioned abilities it feels like either there is not enough time to get the proc to occur or when you can lay into an opponent the thing won't proc before you're out of Focus.

 

I tend to agree. Sometimes it takes a full bar to get the proc, and others it procs too often when either Precision or BladeStorm is down (from previous proc).

 

Generally one has to use Focus to slow the targets movement speed or root them further reducing the Focus left to get OS to proc. So I'm wondering if devs may consider either looking at allowing our movement speed reduction ability or our root to be free and limited to a timer leaving more Focus to get OS to proc, or leaving things the same and kicking up the chance for proc from 30% to 40-50%?

 

Curious what other Combat spec Sents think about this.

 

Personally, I am tired of cc in TOR. It is preferable to have an increased proc rate for OS. I don't think 60% would be too high given the buffs other classes are getting.

[Uber_the_Goober]

My lvl 34 Sentinel also hates this proc...

 

When discussing it with team-mates, my reply is "Ain't nobody got time for that". I hit blade storm when it's the reasonable skill to hit. Sometimes, at my level, nothing else is available Proc or no proc, the enemy must be hit!

 

I can't wait to see the class at 55. It's such a new playstyle for me, and I'm interested to learn it thoroughly and to do well.

[zhaiyan]

major complaints are zen and the hand of justice proc.

 

Zen is too weak for combat sent. 6 stacks of alacrity counts for any action, even zealous strike and force leap, which is used for focus build up. I dont usually see strong reason I should use it as it will further prevent the centering stack, that will be super annoying. So I almost always use transcendence instead of zen in combat stance. Maybe they could change it by making it "30% alacrity in 10 second" because that is almost a length of 2 properly aligned PS window.

 

Hand of justice makes the burst window uncontrollable. You have to use PS within 5 second after it comes off cool down, or you may risk losing a PS window in the next 20 second, which could mean so much to PVP: you could miss the chance to shutdown a vital target. But it has its own advantage too: when PS is reset, it always has a free dispatch to use, which could be handy. Not sure how this part should be reworked...

 

As to OS I am fine with current state. Most cases 2 blade rush could make it proc, 3-4 happens but it will be quite unlucky case. But maybe they could repaint the color or something: OS, transcendence, PS, and rebuke all have a blue background, especially rebuke. During an intensive fight, it is easy to mistake one for another, and that basically means 5-6k difference when I shot a BS, almost mean live or death to my target

Edited May 16, 2014 by zhaiyan

[JouerTue]

from my experience, hand of justice dispatch tends to proc OS..i use dispatch out of PS window if i struggle to have the proc and go for MS+BS and rest BRush without zen during PS, the difference without the proc and without zen is not huge but still noticeable..i go aswell with trascendence until i don't have the perfect proc/focus situation to jump to a healer..who usually goes down really fast if our planets are alligned..

[ZeroOutcome]

I was a Combat player since day 1, and I switched to Watchman a few months ago because I finally had enough of the new play style. I would love to go back to Combat, but I would need a better chance for opportune attached (or a straight up activation) and Zen to be redesigned. Combat is suppose to be the burst damage spec and with the way it is now, it is practically uncontrollable when to activate burst. How good can a burst be when you can use it when you need to!

[Myriandore]

Mash BR a full focus bar, then watch OS proc just as mobs die - Classic ^^

Shame I love the energetic play style. Safe to say I'm back to watchman.

 

And contrary to the gospel, playing watchman vs combat in ops (and even vs tardsmash) has never been a downer - even on stuff like Draxus nim! Imho the latter 2 specs don't outperform as the myth would have it. And once i'm x4 merci buffed, though they don't eat my dust, they have to sweat bucket loads to keep up.

 

Long story short, I've never been asked to respec to combat (or dotsmash) from watchman on nim contents.

 

Granted, occasionally rng will hurt one's ego when overtaken in bis gear by lower levels with better burst

Edited May 27, 2014 by Myriandore

[Ramtar]

I was a Combat player since day 1, and I switched to Watchman a few months ago because I finally had enough of the new play style. I would love to go back to Combat, but I would need a better chance for opportune attached (or a straight up activation) and Zen to be redesigned. Combat is suppose to be the burst damage spec and with the way it is now, it is practically uncontrollable when to activate burst. How good can a burst be when you can use it when you need to!

 

Focus suppose to be burst not Combat:

 

Hey folks!

 

Here are your top 3 issues and the answers provided by the combat team. I want to thank all of you, especially KBN for the work you put in to get these issues gathered. Hopefully helps in addressing some of your concerns.

 

I will try to keep an eye on the thread and pass along to the combat guys anything that requires followup. All skills are referenced as Sentinel/Marauder skill names for easier readability for everyone!

 

-eric

 

PvP

 

 

 

The stacking Annihilator/Merciless buff and the stacking buff from Juyo Form are both too short at their current 15 second durations. We will increase the duration of these buffs to give Marauders/Sentinels more time to get back into action before needing to start back up on their long entry ramp. As for a faster way to ramp up, we plan to give you something to help in this regard, but it will not be coming anytime soon. We may also experiment with decrementing the stacks on expiration, rather than removing all of them at once, but we cannot make any promises at this time that you will ever see it decrement stacks in the Live game.

 

PvE

 

 

 

If Rage/Focus had the best burst damage, the best AoE damage, and the best sustained damage; then there would be very little to no incentive for a Marauder/Sentinel to ever spec anything else. Rage/Focus is the top burst spec for a Marauder/Sentinel, and that is by design. Right now, it is also the top AoE damage spec for Marauders/Sentinels (by design) – but that is something we would like to get away from in the future. Ideally, any damage spec should be able to deal formidable AoE damage when necessary (and should prefer to leave most AoE attacks out of their rotation in a single-target fight). It will take some time to right this ship, as it has already sailed and must come back to port for repairs (so don’t expect Annihilation/Watchman and Carnage/Combat to be pumping out massive AoE DPS or for Rage/Focus to get a huge AoE DPS nerf next patch).

 

Annihilation/Watchman is intended to be the top sustained damage spec for Marauders/Sentinels, while Carnage/Combat is meant to be better sustained damage than Rage/Focus (but worse than Annihilation/Watchman) and better burst damage than Annihilation/Watchman (but worse than Rage/Focus). As a result, the top damage over an extended period should go to Annihilation/Watchman. The top damage in a short fight should go to Rage/Focus. Carnage/Combat should hold its own in both situations, while not being the best at either – think of its strength as versatility.

 

Right now, the goal for Rage/Focus in PvE is to be good burst damage and good AoE damage, and it already does very well in these respects. In the future, when the other specs have improved ways to do AoE damage, then you can expect the sustained damage gap between Rage/Focus and Carnage/Combat to shrink a little bit. In summary, yes we know that Rage/Focus is the worst Marauder spec for single-target sustained damage because that is exactly how we designed it. Unfortunately, because target dummies never drop in health you cannot use them as a 1:1 replacement for Operation boss encounters. Only certain specs (Rage/Focus is not one of them, but Carnage/Combat is) can use execute abilities on a target dummy. It is also unlikely that you are testing on a target dummy with your own personal armor-debuffer (which you should definitely have against a real raid boss). So that 9% gap you may be seeing on target dummies is closer to approximately 4% in reality.

 

All

 

 

IMO: Zen, Transcendence and Inspiration should be activable without being tied to Centering and on 60 seconds CDs which would help all skill trees.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Ramtar

[Mythic_MK_II]

IMO: Zen, Transcendence and Inspiration should be activable without being tied to Centering and on 60 seconds CDs which would help all skill trees.

 

Putting Zen on a 60 sec cooldown will hurt ALL classes. centering stacking is faster than 60 sec cooldown. yes, it will make it less random but so far centering isn't all that random. (random meaning how much time has past which is inconsistant atm)

 

I woul just like to have OS to have a higher chance of proccing. better to proc too often than to never proc at all. and for an inbetweener of both burst and sustained, it is more burst than sustained. it fluctuates like a burst spec. and it feels more like a burst spec due to using a lot of strike to get your focus back once the burst as ended (the perfect, procced, burst within a PS window) this spec just ravages your focus in a short amount of time and having some extra/ faster way to regen focus will actually make it get in between the 2 other specs.

Edited June 17, 2014 by Mythic_MK_II

[Vodrin]

Putting Zen on a 60 sec cooldown will hurt ALL classes. centering stacking is faster than 60 sec cooldown. yes, it will make it less random but so far centering isn't all that random. (random meaning how much time has past which is inconsistant atm)

 

I woul just like to have OS to have a higher chance of proccing. better to proc too often than to never proc at all. and for an inbetweener of both burst and sustained, it is more burst than sustained. it fluctuates like a burst spec. and it feels more like a burst spec due to using a lot of strike to get your focus back once the burst as ended (the perfect, procced, burst within a PS window) this spec just ravages your focus in a short amount of time and having some extra/ faster way to regen focus will actually make it get in between the 2 other specs.

 

This is so true. Currently I can either have transcendence up almost continuously, or I can have trans and zen up every 3 minutes (which is so unfair for whatever opposing squishy I have decided needs to die).

[Ramtar]

Is Precision 6 seconds or 4.5 seconds? Because Precision is 6 seconds as see under Combat. Edited June 26, 2014 by Ramtar

[Zunayson]

It was 6 seconds at launch, but also respected the global cooldown, which was 1.5 seconds, ultimately leaving 4.5 seconds of armor pen.

 

It was 1.2 if I remember correctly that changed it so that it does not respect the global cooldown, but still gave the same 'effective' duration (was the word BW used in their explanation).

 

I can say with 100% certainty that it is 4.5 seconds right now.