Watchman's become even more "dotty", top tier skill even less meaningful

[Ardarell_Solo]

I'm in early stages of investigating this, but as far as I can see, the 2.8. changes have changed the priorities of Watchman skills:

 

Overload Saber always did more damage per activation than Merciless Slash, alright. That gap has increased now, but what's even worse: Now even Cauterize does more damage per activation than Merciless Slash. That's because of the somewhat simplistic approach of making up for the lost double proc relic DPS solely by increasing dot damage in the talent "Plasma Blades". Might also have to do with the fact that Merciless critical hits are on average a lot less frequent than they used to be before 2.8., though Devs hat reasoned they weren't, when this was brought up on PTS forum.

 

So the main purpose of our top tier talent now is to reset Cauterize, even though its damage was initially increased to make it more meaningful for the spec in the first iteration on PTS.

 

I doubt this is the direction the specc was meant to be going. It certainly doesn't help with all the target switching content around...

[Murderrus]

I'm in early stages of investigating this, but as far as I can see, the 2.8. changes have changed the priorities of Watchman skills:

 

Overload Saber always did more damage per activation than Merciless Slash, alright. That gap has increased now, but what's even worse: Now even Cauterize does more damage per activation than Merciless Slash. That's because of the somewhat simplistic approach of making up for the lost double proc relic DPS solely by increasing dot damage in the talent "Plasma Blades". Might also have to do with the fact that Merciless critical hits are on average a lot less frequent than they used to be before 2.8., though Devs hat reasoned they weren't, when this was brought up on PTS forum.

 

So the main purpose of our top tier talent now is to reset Cauterize, even though its damage was initially increased to make it more meaningful for the spec in the first iteration on PTS.

 

I doubt this is the direction the specc was meant to be going. It certainly doesn't help with all the target switching content around...

 

Im confused.... you're complaining that a dot based spec, which watchmen has been from day 1, has better dot damage now? Kinda grabbing at straws there. Also, even if what you say is true about Merciless Slash.... it still changes nothing. Not the rotations, not the purpose of the spec...literally nothing.

[Ardarell_Solo]

Im confused.... you're complaining that a dot based spec, which watchmen has been from day 1, has better dot damage now? Kinda grabbing at straws there. Also, even if what you say is true about Merciless Slash.... it still changes nothing. Not the rotations, not the purpose of the spec...literally nothing.

 

I'm not complaining, my friend :-) Just pointing out that Devs failed to achieve their goal to make top tier abilities in the game more important. They had done that with the first two iterations on PTS changes by increasing damage and reducing cost for Merciless, but cancelled that by increasing only Dot damage to make up for lost double procc relic DPS in the very last iteration.

 

Analyzing 40 parses, Overload Saber (mid tree ability) does almost twice the damage per activation than Merciless. Cauterize does about 10% more than Merciless (it used to do about 10% less than Meciless before 2.8.).

 

That does change the rotation, at least if you want to optimize it: Single target you will now generally prioritize Cauterize over Merciless and make it the head of your 4 GCD rotation, of course still saving focus to reset via Merciless on Cooldown. But it's now less harmful to delay Merciless, than it is to delay Cauterize. Even more so you prioritize Cauterize over Merciless Sub 30%. You did that even before 2.8. - but not on the first two iterations of PTS. So now on 2.8. live you'll return to doing that. Only difference to pre 2.8. is, you now prioritize Merciless over Dispatch Sub 30%, which you didn't do, when Merciless was more expensive.

 

I just meant to point out that when you look at Damage per Activation it's now:

 

Overload Saber

Cauterize

Master Strike

Merciless Slash

Dispatch

 

And I don't really like the "signature move" of the specc in fourth place.

 

Yes, it's good for 4200 DPS single target wise with a mix of 180 and 186 and I'm obviously happy with that, but the nature of the specc has changed in the opposite direction Devs were claiming they would change it to. No biggie, just ponting it out for Devs and fellow Sents to be aware of the new priorities.

 

Edit: It also does change target switching a bit. You really have to plan ahead, if the mob you're attacking will live more than 6 seconds or not, because you're now wasting more potential DPS output if you waste Cauterize on a target, that's dead after 4 seconds. On the other hand it's now even more beneficial to use Cauterize resets for Multidotting, e.g.

 

Cauterize Target 1

Merciless Target 1 -> procc

Cauterize Target 2

 

Especially effective, if Overload Saber stacks are applied to different targets as well.

 

Yes, you could do that before 2.8., but it wasn't as effective. It moves Watchman to a playstyle associated with Dirty Fighting (or Hybrid) Gunslingers/Scoundrels or Balance Sages...

Edited June 16, 2014 by Ardarell_Solo

[Uber_the_Goober]

Can a watchman sentinel contribute to an ops group running hm or nim content?

 

That is the only question that the devs will ask themselves when considering balance changes.

[Aaramis]

Merc slash may be less meaningful, but that doesn't mean it has no meaning whatsoever. On the contrary, actually.

 

According to that dps chart above of damage per "cast", Dispatch and Merc Slash are at the bottom of the list. Does this mean you'd never use them? Of course not. They're your "burst dps" abilities for when you want to deal 7k damage NOW, and not wait 5+ seconds.

 

In a long-term dps fight, however, I would agree that I'd probably prioritize OS or Cauterize over Merc Slash if I was short on force. If I had plenty to spare, then there's obviously no reason why I couldn't keep them all going, right?

 

That said, I'd still like to see Merc Slash do just a bit *more* damage, still. I'd happily double the recast timer on it to do an additional 30% damage for a nice BIG single-target burst ability, but that's just me.

[Ardarell_Solo]

Of course you're supposed to keep them all going, otherwise you're losing DPS in every situation - and you NEVER EVER delay Overload Saber as it does about the double damage of every other ability. You will even do it, if the target's dead before all ticks have run through, if you're lucky, you can apply it to the next target.

 

I just don't like the fact that you're losing a lot of potential DPS if you don't open with Cauterize even when frequent target switching is going on. Meaning although Overload Saber, Cauterize, Merciless, Dispatch and Master Strike are all used on Cooldown, I'm not so happy with the sequence you'll use them now for Max DPS.

 

Which is no biggie really, I just hoped this would move into the direction Devs had said. It's a perfectly viable specc for NIM content with the recent DPS gain for sure, don't worry :-)

[Atlanis]

Yep it got more dotty and is viable for Endgame Operations and somewhat in PUG Battlegrounds. I would still rather run a stealther, Sniper or Sage in PvP if I had one on 55;-)

[Emperor-Norton]

I'm not complaining, my friend :-) Just pointing out that Devs failed to achieve their goal to make top tier abilities in the game more important. They had done that with the first two iterations on PTS changes by increasing damage and reducing cost for Merciless, but cancelled that by increasing only Dot damage to make up for lost double procc relic DPS in the very last iteration.

 

Analyzing 40 parses, Overload Saber (mid tree ability) does almost twice the damage per activation than Merciless. Cauterize does about 10% more than Merciless (it used to do about 10% less than Meciless before 2.8.).

 

That does change the rotation, at least if you want to optimize it: Single target you will now generally prioritize Cauterize over Merciless and make it the head of your 4 GCD rotation, of course still saving focus to reset via Merciless on Cooldown. But it's now less harmful to delay Merciless, than it is to delay Cauterize. Even more so you prioritize Cauterize over Merciless Sub 30%. You did that even before 2.8. - but not on the first two iterations of PTS. So now on 2.8. live you'll return to doing that. Only difference to pre 2.8. is, you now prioritize Merciless over Dispatch Sub 30%, which you didn't do, when Merciless was more expensive.

 

I just meant to point out that when you look at Damage per Activation it's now:

 

Overload Saber

Cauterize

Master Strike

Merciless Slash

Dispatch

 

And I don't really like the "signature move" of the specc in fourth place.

 

Yes, it's good for 4200 DPS single target wise with a mix of 180 and 186 and I'm obviously happy with that, but the nature of the specc has changed in the opposite direction Devs were claiming they would change it to. No biggie, just ponting it out for Devs and fellow Sents to be aware of the new priorities.

 

Edit: It also does change target switching a bit. You really have to plan ahead, if the mob you're attacking will live more than 6 seconds or not, because you're now wasting more potential DPS output if you waste Cauterize on a target, that's dead after 4 seconds. On the other hand it's now even more beneficial to use Cauterize resets for Multidotting, e.g.

 

Cauterize Target 1

Merciless Target 1 -> procc

Cauterize Target 2

 

Especially effective, if Overload Saber stacks are applied to different targets as well.

 

Yes, you could do that before 2.8., but it wasn't as effective. It moves Watchman to a playstyle associated with Dirty Fighting (or Hybrid) Gunslingers/Scoundrels or Balance Sages...

So, want to point out a few things.

 

Cauterize was always better damage per activation than Merciless. Merciless got a 6.7% damage boost, while Cauterize got ~11.25% from 2.8. So things are a bit better for Cauterize but it was a higher hitting attack before.

 

Multi dotting OS actually does less overall damage than when you use it single target. If you spread one stack on 3 different enemies, you would have 9 ticks of damage at 1 stack. So nine units of damage from that activation. Using it single target has 3 ticks at 3 stacks (9 units), 1 tick at 2 stacks (2 Units), and 1 tick at 1 stack (1 unit). So multi dotting does 9 units, single target does 12.

[Vodrin]

Yep it got more dotty and is viable for Endgame Operations and somewhat in PUG Battlegrounds. I would still rather run a stealther, Sniper or Sage in PvP if I had one on 55;-)

 

It's also viable in team ranked now with the correct group comp. I've heard some complaints about how OP one particular group is running a madness sin with an annihilation mara.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Vodrin

[Atlanis]

It's also viable in team ranked now with the correct group comp. I've heard some complaints about how OP one particular group is running a madness sin with an annihilation mara.

 

Well, the people who know how to counter a Watchman tend to be very scarce nowadays since the Spec was practicly dead in pvp a long time, it is not that hard as the dotprotection for us doesn´t have a 100% uptime like for right tree Sages/Shadows. Plus we lack the rooting, slowing ability of a Combat Sent for example or the second jump of a Focus Sent. It should be relativ easy for any Class but another Sent/Guardian to kite us to death, but given that movement is not the 2nd Name of Range DPS (looking at the Fokus AoE Nerf there because of that) at the moment it is fun running round as a watchman killing Range DPS of the label "German Oak". ;-)