why is sentinel such garbage??????

[flowqz]

ive played in a top 20 raiding guild in wow and i still had some problems leveling this class up.

 

There were 3 difficult encounters for me, the first one was on aldaran if I remember correctly I had problems fighting this ant mobs which were clustered in 5+ mob packs. The second one was the nice classquest on tatooine with this enraging mobs, till I used my pacify + saberward spell on them at low hp the second they enraged, wating for cds before every pull. And at 47 I had problems in the south of voss, where u just get annihilated by an area quest, which lets 2strong mob spawn who dps even a geared t7 down in 3secs.

 

That said I was talking with other classes the whole time who just laughed at me struggling at these points, saying they “used cc and were k” or “just bombed them down and were k”.

The sentinel class is harder to play and harder to level if u compare them with faceroll troopers or sages.

 

In terms of pvp im level 50 right now and undergeared so I got less hp than most lv10 chars, but I got all my skills and all of my talent points and sometimes I die in 1v1 to backpaddeling lv11 troopers if I got some skills on cd. I just don’t wanna know how hard a level 50 trooper would own me. oh and i dont play huttball cause those knockbacks are just anyoing on this map... those spells should be disabled in this battleground!!

 

In terms of pve endgame I heared sentinel would be a great class and the only real viable melee, so I continue farming gear and hope the rumors are true!

Edited January 3, 2012 by flowqz

[Karoliina]

In reference to the OP. I was 35 when I took on Angral, Died 4 times got annoyed. Read on the forums about Watchman thought 'what the hell' and respecced. Best thing ever did.

 

Kicked Angral into next week leaving me with half health. Now level 38 and me and Doc are ripping through things like they are made of paper.

 

I just think there is a serious learning curve with this class. Interupting and using the right skills at the right time to make it work for you.

[Jeddex]

I Personaly have had no problems with my sentinel and I Personaly find it fun to play. It might be because I'm playing it differently. I think it's good as is but I do admit it is a bit of challenge to play but not as much as people are saying.

[Lancerx]

In reference to the OP. I was 35 when I took on Angral, Died 4 times got annoyed. Read on the forums about Watchman thought 'what the hell' and respecced. Best thing ever did.

 

Kicked Angral into next week leaving me with half health. Now level 38 and me and Doc are ripping through things like they are made of paper.

 

I just think there is a serious learning curve with this class. Interupting and using the right skills at the right time to make it work for you.

 

I had a similar experience with watchman. And for Angral, well I one shot him.

[slowantics]

i have a love hate relationship with my sent he can be strong in pvp. i seem to struggle in pve the most tho. if i dont use saber ward vs 4 mobs i die. and that cool down doesnt help ill have to wait antoher 3 min to mow down the next 4 mobs.

the lack of cc in pvp sucks too. i get stunned for 6 seconds and 2 lvl 10-19 already get me down to 30% health

lvl 34 combat btw

[JediGuru]

So far this "sentinels are crap omgomg" seems like a 20% imbalance and 80% l2p issue.

 

So far your posting shows 0 skill knowledge or facts and 100% fail.

 

Sentinels are weak relative to every other class, our dps is single target based, our defense is dismal, we have only 2 cc breaks.

 

We have to run everything down just to start to build power to start doing damage. We cant even solo our own class quests without dying 20 times in the process.

 

Dont give me the l2p bs, if we were even half on par with the rest of the classes in dps output this wouldnt be a problem

[Lancerx]

i have a love hate relationship with my sent he can be strong in pvp. i seem to struggle in pve the most tho. if i dont use saber ward vs 4 mobs i die. and that cool down doesnt help ill have to wait antoher 3 min to mow down the next 4 mobs.

the lack of cc in pvp sucks too. i get stunned for 6 seconds and 2 lvl 10-19 already get me down to 30% health

lvl 34 combat btw

 

What level are you? Where are you struggling, which companion do you use also? You should have no problems at all vs groups, not even at lower levels. At higher levels you can take out groups of elites solo. Id be willing to offer some advice or help if you let me know what level you are, what spec you have and where you seem to struggle the most. You can really own groups of mobs if you wanted too.

[Sverrir]

i haven´t played the sentinel yet but i´ve played the assassin and in some cases I had problems with elite targets but your class must have some stuns and disrupt abilities. It often helped me to disrupt and stun targets when they are channeling an ability since their channeling abilities often dealed high amount of damage. on the assassin there was also a lightning charge that allowed me to drain some life from the enemy ( dark charge) if you have some ability like that also ( Don´t know for the sentinel) it could be usefull. If it is much of a problem i hope the devs will be able to fix it. I think the assassin should be boosted up a little also but I cant really tell since I haven´t played another class and I have to have something to compere it to. BTW i was dps speced not tank speced on the assassin. Edited January 3, 2012 by Sverrir

[Lancerx]

So far your posting shows 0 skill knowledge or facts and 100% fail.

 

Sentinels are weak relative to every other class, our dps is single target based, our defense is dismal, we have only 2 cc breaks.

 

We have to run everything down just to start to build power to start doing damage. We cant even solo our own class quests without dying 20 times in the process.

 

Dont give me the l2p bs, if we were even half on par with the rest of the classes in dps output this wouldnt be a problem

 

You say this but may I ask what level you are? I have shadow and commando, both level 40 or close. and my Sent in the 40's and my sentinel far out dps my other two. I don't say this to be abrasive or rude, but just to make a point. Sentinels have been for me very strong, at lower levels very good and at higher levels, 35+ I have started soloing groups of elites and solo'd a heroic 4+. I solo'd all my own class quests and never had issues dieing 20 times. I do believe you may be exaggerating a bit, at least for your sake I hope you are. I do believe I have some videos of me soloing champions my level and taking out groups for 4 elites with 2 strongs mixed in. Id be more then happy to post them just to show how strong sentinels can be if played correctly, albeit the argument has been made that playing a sentinel well may require a bit more skill then other classes. This does not make Sentinels weaker, but perhaps something should be done to make them easier to play, some sort of middle ground.

[Karagian]

I have a lvl33 Sentinel and Im stuck on Uphrades because I cant beat the Sith there...I imagine that I will get stuck like forever on Angral...Im playing an MMO for the very first time...

 

So far, I have to say that Sentinels are indeed a little bit underpowered compared to other classes. I would like him deadlier and fancier. At times, I feel useless when grouping, although at other times I like some of my abilities. But being lvl33 and having 300-400 damage moves is a bit silly...My only trully powerful move is Master Strike and it takes 27 secs to cool down.

 

I always use Kira and infact she has more hp than me...A little tip that I have found is to have her first attack an enemy and then go myself. This way, the enemy attacks her and not me.

 

I dont know if I made the right decision when I chose close, sometimes I regret it, sometimes not...

[Lancerx]

I have a lvl33 Sentinel and Im stuck on Uphrades because I cant beat the Sith there...I imagine that I will get stuck like forever on Angral...Im playing an MMO for the very first time...

 

So far, I have to say that Sentinels are indeed a little bit underpowered compared to other classes. I would like him deadlier and fancier. At times, I feel useless when grouping, although at other times I like some of my abilities. But being lvl33 and having 300-400 damage moves is a bit silly...My only trully powerful move is Master Strike and it takes 27 secs to cool down.

 

I always use Kira and infact she has more hp than me...A little tip that I have found is to have her first attack an enemy and then go myself. This way, the enemy attacks her and not me.

 

I dont know if I made the right decision when I chose close, sometimes I regret it, sometimes not...

 

When you say underpowered you have to consider more things then just your playing experience. For example, I one shot Angral and felt a sense of power and accomplishment with my sentinel as I leveled. So why is this? I am a good player, or at least I consider myself a good player, but this is not why. There are many good players out there struggling with sentinel's. If they was truly unpowered, then everyone would be struggling, which is not the case. Allot of people including myself are having a easy time of it. The problem is the learning curve is so steep, as discussed many time on here. Balance is not an issue, in fact the class is balanced extremely well, all the way to end game. The problem is the sheer amount of concentration and skill, micromanagement and apm required to actually play this class well, and the penalty for sub par play, which can be very harsh. Often times playing slightly sub par yields horrible results.

 

Its quite possible to play this class well, so is it easier to play other classes? I think so, having two other classes at high levels. How hard this class is to play is one of the things that attracts me to this class though. Maybe they need to make it simpler so people stop struggling, but for plenty of us that are not struggling we enjoy the class as it is. There is plenty of help and info available for those serious about getting better though, if you just ask or look.

[StyxzieWaterz]

So far your posting shows 0 skill knowledge or facts and 100% fail.

 

Sentinels are weak relative to every other class, our dps is single target based, our defense is dismal, we have only 2 cc breaks.

 

We have to run everything down just to start to build power to start doing damage. We cant even solo our own class quests without dying 20 times in the process.

 

Dont give me the l2p bs, if we were even half on par with the rest of the classes in dps output this wouldnt be a problem

 

Other classes being Troopers with Mortar Strike (or w/e it's called) right?

 

We can't even solo our own class quest eh? We dont have to deal with ANY quest as hard as the Smuggler quest on Tatooine.

 

Our defense is dismal eh? We are the ONLY class that can survive more than two globals of having a whole team focus fire us and still come out with at least one kill.

 

And I'll bet you won't die 20 times on class quest when you put Force Kick on your bars and actually use to interrupt casts (seriously, it's off the gcd. You can use it during any attack animation except Master Strike and it'll go off).

 

Your whole post highlight hyperbole and your need to L2P homie. Hopefully what I said helps you.

[HunterPDX]

I just joined a guild....not a big one, maybe 30 characters. I'm playing a sentinel and the first thing that struck me about the guild was that there were NO other sentinels. Now I understand why.

[JamieKirby]

I do not have a sentinel, but i have a Guardian that had similar issues, but it was not with Angral himself, i found him relative easy, compared to his security chief, that sod killed me around 8 times or so.

 

It got so bad, i was F'ing and everything, i mean my gear was fully up to to date, level 32...EVERYTHING.

 

I used all possible interrupts to prevent all the powerful hits of hitting me, but his damage was WAY too high, i swear that quest should NOT be a level 32, maybe a 34 or 35, but not a 32.

 

I died once on Angral, i over-estimated his casting spell's damage, the second time around, i won easily after force kicking when he was casting, but his security chief shouldn't be that difficult at all.

 

I am thinking its the Jedi Class in general that has issues, i really do, i pop all my cooldowns and everything, i was able to get his health down to like 10% and then all my health went from 5k down to 0 in like 3 seconds, i was like '***?!'

 

I know that there is always someone better, but the class needs alot of work, it seems like bioware designed the Jedi Knight to require Doc to be effective at solo'ing, while the other classes have no issues at all.

 

Equally geared, the other classes have no issues mowing down mobs that the Jedi Guardian has trouble doing, unless he has Doc to keep him alive, so if anything, i think it could be the Jedi Knights survivability or damage mitigation thats the issue? i have no idea and i am sick and tired of players saying 'you must suck then', because most of them were not Jeid knights, those that were admitted to be grouped at the time.

[RamzaBehoulve]

I just joined a guild....not a big one, maybe 30 characters. I'm playing a sentinel and the first thing that struck me about the guild was that there were NO other sentinels. Now I understand why.

 

Irrelevant anecdotal evidence.

 

I also joined a guild and there were a majority of Sentinels.

[Lancerx]

I just joined a guild....not a big one, maybe 30 characters. I'm playing a sentinel and the first thing that struck me about the guild was that there were NO other sentinels. Now I understand why.

Its sad the game seems to be full of low level Sentinels that like to qq allot. Not as many high level , but most of use that are high level have never had an issue and just destroy stuff. Sentinels are so strong right now, so tired of hearing people blame the class for as being weak. Its maybe harder to play then it should be , but its not weak.

[Rackward]

Well after reading most of these posts i thught id share my experiences as a sentinel player.

 

First off, i am not a very experienced mmo player. I played wow for probably a month, and i managed to get a few characters to level 30 but i couldnt seem to break the 30 mark. So, you could say that im a bit of an mmo noob, a hotkey game noob anyway. When i came to tor i had no idea what rotations where, had never played a melee character before.

 

Anyway, now my actual experience with sentinels. I started out with the combat tree up until about level 20 something. Up until this point, i was finding it average, but not easy to get through combat. I really realised that i wasnt doing very well when i was at lvl 17 on coruscant. I challenged a lvl 15 sentinel with a watchman spec and got beaten. Thats when i really realised i wasnt playing this class properly. I wasnt happy with the combat tree at that time anyway so i respecced to watchman. After that, everything just became so much easier. I think combat is more of a responsive play-style and watchman is much more rotational. I set up a good rotation and the game really came alive. I breezed through nar shadda at level 19 solo.

 

I think its really just about finding a playstyle that suits you and the way you want to play, and honestly, i am really loving my sentinel right now and breezing through content.

 

Anyway, just my 2c.

[Lancerx]

Well after reading most of these posts i thught id share my experiences as a sentinel player.

 

First off, i am not a very experienced mmo player. I played wow for probably a month, and i managed to get a few characters to level 30 but i couldnt seem to break the 30 mark. So, you could say that im a bit of an mmo noob, a hotkey game noob anyway. When i came to tor i had no idea what rotations where, had never played a melee character before.

 

Anyway, now my actual experience with sentinels. I started out with the combat tree up until about level 20 something. Up until this point, i was finding it average, but not easy to get through combat. I really realised that i wasnt doing very well when i was at lvl 17 on coruscant. I challenged a lvl 15 sentinel with a watchman spec and got beaten. Thats when i really realised i wasnt playing this class properly. I wasnt happy with the combat tree at that time anyway so i respecced to watchman. After that, everything just became so much easier. I think combat is more of a responsive play-style and watchman is much more rotational. I set up a good rotation and the game really came alive. I breezed through nar shadda at level 19 solo.

 

I think its really just about finding a playstyle that suits you and the way you want to play, and honestly, i am really loving my sentinel right now and breezing through content.

 

Anyway, just my 2c.

 

Your right and I mostly agree with you. I played combat from 1-30 I think and then tried watchman and never looked back. I think watchman can be more rotational where as combat is basically building focus then when procs align you blow stuff up. Still watchman can require your rotations to change and can become very dynamic when you are soloing champions or elites and you want to keep your dots up 100% at 3 stacks. Do this and you can just watch elites face's melt off. At 37 I solo'd a level 35 heroic 4+ on Balmorra doing this.

[Kaylees_spirit]

im not sure what you people are whining and complaining about sentinel being THAT bad and especially without companion out... I mean without my companion out on my 26 inquisitor sorcerer normal mobs are piece of cake but anything harder than weak or normal opponents and I get 3 - 4 shotted by elites and champions and a full group of 'strong' level mobs my level...

 

I really dont know what you guys are trying to pull, I mean everyone knows force users are slightly gimped as of launch for sure, But you guys make it sound like the class is utterly broken! Yet I still see plenty of sentinels mop the floor with dead mobs they slice and dice and or pvp bodies plenty of times..

 

Am I saying L2P? No

Am I saying jedi and sith melee classes arent gimped? They are - slightly

Even Jedi and Sith caster classes, need slight improvements

 

But Please... stop with the broken class bs.

 

And if you think casters are so overpowered and wonderful, just try playing the game without their companion out and you might find yourself seriously reassessing your statement after you cant even move anywhere without being 5 - 10 shotted.

 

The non force user classes are all Overpowerd at launch by about a 10 - 20% spread, (10% being trooper and 20% being BH or Smuggler) simply because they wanted to make them attractive, so that you wouldnt see 1 million light sabers running around 24/7.

Edited January 4, 2012 by Kaylees_spirit

[Nueshaks]

As a level 50 Sentinel with three pieces of epic PVP gear (two of which being sabers) and the rest being very well geared blues I have 24% mitigation and primary damage is over 1000 with 24% crit rate and 79.9% crit multiplier; I can say that we do in fact need some help. This is not a L2P issue because I will gladly challenge any fellow sentinel to a friendly duel to prove you otherwise. (Nueshak Ba'ne on Varook Lemar server)

 

I have played sentinel religiously since beta. I am familiar with all mechanics, trees, general and situational rotations, as well as how to properly gear my self for either PVE or PVP. At level 50 I cannot get a fellow guild mate who is a tank speced Guardian below 70% health in a duel. We simply do not do enough damage in comparison to how little damage we can take. Inquisitors/Consulars have the abilities to be glass cannons with extremely high ranged burst dps or excellent CC abilities and situational control. Sentinels have none of these abilities beyond basic snares (two possible roots if speced into it). The "best" sentinel tree (Watchman) is DoT based which leads the problem of us being dead before we see the benefit of our damage output. We have very little in the way of CC break or mitigation and it just makes us fast moving punching bags until we are chain held then we are immobile squishy punching bags. So I win toe to toe in PVP with some folks? Sure....but often times I have to work twice as hard just to even come out on top when I am fighting a level 25 Trooper or BH and I am a decently geared level 50.

 

What I have come to realize is that Sentinels are in fact terrible at 1 v 1 engagements or "soloing" in pve. I had to use Doc all the way through end game because even with a well geared Scourge I was needing to either pop too many med packs or rest between every fight that consisted of more than two strong and weak mobs.

 

YES in WZ I can be in the top 3 for total damage simply because I work my butt off putting as many dots on people as possible but I can only get around 230K dmg MAX....I see consular/sorcerers putting out 300K+ dmg AND over 100K healing as well; and Troopers, Scoundrels, and BH are whole other beast entirely.

 

Long story short is that playing a Sentinel is playing SWTOR on VERY hard mode. It can be done; but only if you really have the patience and skill to make it work even half as well as some of the other classes function with minimal effort.

 

All the DEVs have to do is look at the score charts in 90% of the WZ matches and they can see where the dependencies are. Level 24 BH should not be constantly outscoring level 50 sentinels. Simple fix? Increase our damage output by 30% across the board to at least fall in line with a DPS speced Guardian; give force sweep a KB component (so we are finally useful in WZs) or even a Sentinel equivalent of Guard that ups the dmg of the person you are "guarding" by 25%...Long term fix? Complete overhaul of the game play mechanics to make a sentinel more inline with the other classes of the game in terms of functionality (cc. cc breaks, dps, and mitigation potential).

 

The classes in SWTOR show their true colors in PVP due to the scaling component. I normally am not one to cry foul on a particular class but I have been playing MMOs since Everquest 1 and I can tell an outright broken class when I see one. Good news is...they don't stay broken long so I am sure Bioware is aware of every issue we are discussing. All we can do is hope and wait....mean time...gonna keep swinging my sabers at stuff till it's dead.

Edited January 4, 2012 by Nueshaks

[flowqz]

after a few games of pvp yesterday all i can say is that if u got a healer, who makes it possible that u live long enough to make your sustained dmg matter, u seem to own in pvp. dunno if its just the gear/lv advantage but for me its fun playing those battleground with a healer mate.

[Gushy]

No Problems with Darth Angral, lvl 31 watchman spec taken down first time, just time the interrupts and you are laughing!!!!

[Blackfriar]

So far this "sentinels are crap omgomg" seems like a 20% imbalance and 80% l2p issue.

 

Guardians and Sentinals have a class balance problem. And it's not because I don't don't know how to play the classes. I notice it because I play ALL EIGHT CLASSES and notice how pathetic they are in all the situations my other toons (just as hard/easy to play) cruise through them.

 

I first noticed the disparity while I was on Nar Shaddaa. Both classes have DPS given/DPS taken imbalance that has widened as they've progressed up the levels. I can cruise through something with my Shadow, my Gunslinger, my Scoundel, my Commando, my Sage.... But the Guardian/Sentinals? They're the ones that get in trouble.

 

Last night for example, I was on my Shadow (tanking spec'd) and my idiot helper went off and aggroed two more groups (both containing mini-bosses) in the Red Light district right after I just finished a fight with a trash mob. I ended up killing all the NPCs in the room without any rest and using one level 16 heal pack.

 

I survived as did Lizard-Boy.

 

My guardian couldn't do that. I know it for a fact because Kira did the same thing. Ran off into the aggro-range of a second mini-boss group during a fight because BioWare has programmed it so henchman can also aggro. He couldn't kill the mini-bosses and the trash mobs fast enough to keep their dps from, eventually, overwhelming his tank and killing him. My sentinal died (even faster) for similar reasons, his second-rate dps couldn't kill them fast enough to keep their dps from shredding him.

 

Yet I have survived, repeatedly and routinely, the same multi-mob issues with every other class.

 

Now on could say I need to learn to play my class(es). But these are NOT DIFFICULT CLASSES TO PLAY. Rather, the issue is I can't stop the dps with one crappy interrupt that, often, doesn't even fire when I tell it to fire because of the (known issue) server delay which is getting worse and worse as these Knight classes progress. Nor can I tank it. Nor can I out DPS it.

 

It's a NO WIN situation.

 

One interrupt that resets every 8-second doesn't do much. Sure, it will blow up (if it works right) a major attack. But you still die to trash mobs and regular dps which it doesn't stop.

 

And this dps-given/dps-taken imbalance is also apparent in boss fights and is really an issue in the the Level 25 post-Nar Shaddaa character quest that serves as a gate-quest to Tatooine. It's really hard to make it past that quest. And it's not like I've had that problem with any other class. I've done the Level 25 companion quest, at least once, in every class-story line. The only one for which I had a problem was Sentinal/Guardian.

 

On my Sentinal I solved the Kira Level 25 quest by dismissing Kira and bringing in T7 for the fight. (Obviously I died 'cause you can't do it otherwise.) With his tanking and my using a top-of-the-line party-heal stim (that did additional regenerative heals) I managed to kill him. Barely.

 

Ironically, I killed him with Kira on my Guardian on the first try. But he can tank better than a Sential by far and between my heal-stims, damage absorbtion stims and keeping interrupts up and keep Kira buffed while taking aggro I managed to succceed. Even then it was a close, close thing where she died and I had maybe 5% hit points left.

 

Biggest problem I had with the fight, besides my lack of dps, were my interrupts not working. They didn't fire when I ordered them to fire due to the skill-lag problem this game has or I'd still be stuck in a combat animation while desperately trying to cancel it for my interrupt. Then, having missed the timing I'd have suffered the damage from his big attack and would be on cool-down for his next big attack.

 

In other games when you 'kick' or 'punch' or whatever the interrupt is, and you don't have a combat skill in the queue, it does it THEN. Not at some time in the future because you've some server-side delay issue and you don't know when it's going to fire, if at all. And you usually have a bit more of a warning when a big attack is going to come off so you won't be stuck in a pointless combat attack animation for some punk-low-dps attack when you need to kick to save your life.

 

So, essentially, I have two characters that just can't cut it. They're not difficult to play classes, despite the skill bloat. They're very straight-forward in classic roles -- heavy tank and DPS melee. But both of them are just imbalanced in the dps they take versus the dps they get. No matter how many catty comments you make about the skills of other players.

[Nunchi]

jedi buisneuss get bak to ur drinks

[Blackfriar]

Darth Angral shouldn't be hitting you with his abilities. If he is, you're doing it wrong. Try again.

 

Fix the effing skill lag. Oh you can't. Then shut up.