Returning Player

[antiheroxi]

So i am a returning player to SWTOR, i subbed up a few days ago, hopped on a old low level sentinel to get the feel for the game again, and fell in love with the class. And before people tell me to jump ship or any other craziness...

 

i have played mmo's for over a decade and been around long enough to know even the worst class in a game will eventually be the best and vice versa. Its a giant slow moving pendulum. so that said im sticking with this guy, i like him the combats fun and the visuals are amazing. by far my favorite force user.

 

that said in pve i feel like i am a monster, my biggest issue is my squishiness but i more then make up for that in pure brute force as i smash and careen through mobs. went from the low teens to 29 in my couple days back. its been a blast. that said i am a pvp player first and as i do the dailies, pvp to break up the monotony that pve can be i have started to notice a trend that has me reaching out to you all for your thoughts...

 

So far i have mostly been combat as ataru form, all the procs, etc seems like a fast moving spec. and so far thats been true. but in pvp with only force jump and transendence if i have the focus to keep me in range it feels incredibly useless in the face of anyone with stuns and knockbacks (especially sorcs). My guildmate thats a higher lvl sent then i (60) says stay combat but are the other two specs better able to handle the ebb and flow of current combat (getting back in range and stomping) or is it just a suck it up fuzzball moment?

[HanSollo]

Well your in a bad place just like I am. I plan on playing my Sent (Combat) as well. As for getting back in to the fight. Concentration gets a 10 meter leap, which is almost useless for a gap closer due to the extremely short range. You will get Force Camo (45 sec CD) at 30 that helps, but only so much, as people quickly learn that you only get a few seconds of stealth. Valorous Call (3 min CD) on demand 30 centering stacks means you can pop Transcendence.

 

Combat seems to be worse off then the other two specs. we get very little damage reduction compared to the others and our damage reduction has to be worked for (3 Ataru strikes). Watchman has self heals, we on the other hand do not. Both get access to 5% more damage reduction although Watchman needs to apply a burn before they benefit from it. Concentration gets 10% defense from Concentrated slice. Overall combat has the worst damage reduction right now, and the most difficult damage to land. (Precision Slash window is very small)

 

Now let me be 100% honest with you. I realize that you don't want to hear this, but unless your going to have a healer following you around do not roll a Sent and especially not Combat. I ONLY PuB its just my preference, and there are times when it is absolutely horrid. Every stealther will kill you out right you will get little to no reaction to them. Sages are now at best very difficult for us to kill . Vanguard's do more damage, have more damage reduction, and are (short) ranged (yeah figure that one out), this also applies to Guardians as well. Commando's are almost killable but if they are good they will just run from you while they slow you and do 10 k damage. Gunslingers 2 knock-backs, a stun, and we cant leap at them. Most of the counters to you are on 10 sec CDs while your DCD are 45 seconds and up.

 

I don't say these things to discourage you, I say them to inform you this is not an up hill battle. You are climbing Mt. Everest and all you get is a sweater vest, a ball of twine and toe nail clippers and you gotta make that **** work.

 

With all that being said I hope you stick with it and enjoy the class.

Edited December 20, 2014 by HanSollo

[antiheroxi]

that is what i have heard, that the class itself is in a really really bad place but overall i am still going to stick it out. My guild itself is very active together at 60 so once i reach that point im not as worried about having to pug with no heals to support me.

 

but from what you described it does rather sound like i should just use combat to pve along but once serious pvp begins im better off perhaps switching to watchmen or concentration. which is fine and disheartening all at once. That said i will find a way to make one of the specs work but it does validate what i have seen as far as combat seeming to be in a bad place as far as gap closing / staying alive vs the other specs.