tweetlek Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Hey, all. I've geared to the point where I'm ready to start stepping into the new Ops. I just need to solidify my decision on whether to remain Concentration or switch to Combat. I was Watchman from level 1-55 and I'm looking for a change which is why I'm not considering it. Having followed the Fury | Concentration Rotation thread and seeing some of the key class theorycrafters possibly putting together a guide for it, I'm under the impression all the specializations are viable to a degree in Ops? If so, I'd just like to avoid choosing a specialization which will run into a wall and I'd have to switch to be viable when I'm ready to step into HM and possibly beyond. Any advice on which to choose? If both will work and given the current boss mechanics, is there one that is more forgiving or has a slight edge? Appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenphon Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Is this for SM or HM? If it's the former there should not be any problem if you're running with an organised group, i.e. a guild run. Any class can do what's necessary in SM. There are still mechanics that punish melee more than ranged, but as long as you're capable of handling them it should be fine. The question is quite different in HM. Where SMs may have mechanics that punish melee more than ranged, HMs add to this rather significantly on certain fights. The current class balance is unequivocally in favour of ranged (unless you're a PT). They already output equal or better damage as melee with 100% uptime. The raid mechanics will punish you as a marauder, reducing your uptime on fights such as Bulo, Torque, SSU (there are ways around it here if your team is willing), Underlurker and Revan. Ranged are not punished at all or far less. As such, you need to know your class and spec very well to carry your own weight. The HMs are a significant step up in difficulty since the last tier of HMs. To be blunt, I do not think fury will be capable of doing that in a lot of those fights. I do not speak from experience, as I have only used it on the Revanite Commanders, but carnage and fury are already a fair bit below annihilation on parses. In a raid environment this difference would be quite clear, as the times when dots will tick and do damage while you have to move away, no such damage will be done as carnage or fury. You'd simply be reduced to cheerlead. I have cleared 9/10 on my marauder, and the Revanite Commanders is the only boss fight I think annihilation is not the spec to use if you want to help your team and do decent damage. Sure, you can use the other specs on Sparky and Malaphar. You'd probably do enough damage, but they are the entry bosses to the HMs. Bulo and SSU are both a good step up the learning curve and there are mechanics there that would leave a lot of downtime with no damage done if you go Fury or Carnage. SSU's issues can be circumvented, but it requires your team to know the fight well and help you achieve it. Something that's best to do after you're familiar with the fight and have it on farm. Disregard what I said about HMs if you're going into SM. You can go with any class there if you're doing a guild run and you know your class to some degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthSenf Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 (edited) So basically anni is the spec to go, and maybe switch to fury on commanders? And an offtopic question: I have both a marauder and a sorc on 60 with full or near full 186 gear, so if I want to raid, preferably HM if I get the gear and guild for it, I should go with sorc? Never played a range class in raids, except warlock in WoW.. I have always been the melee dude ^^ But if the current environment is realy that punishing to melees, I suppose I could give sorc a try.. ^^ Edited February 27, 2015 by DarthSenf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetlek Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 Thanks for the info, Xen. I was referring to starting out with SM but I wanted to see what my options would be once I'd be ready for HM. I had heard about the melee unfriendly nature of the new Ops and wondered if one of the two trees stood a chance once I got there. Guess I'll have to be content with SM until something hopefully changes. Also, you mentioned any spec would be viable for SM as long as you know the class and are in a guild run. Due to my schedule, I usually end up PuG'ing. Which of the two would be the more forgiving mechaincs-wise? Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llayles Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Annihilation is fine until your rotation gets put off and you have to sit there throwing out fillers waiting for it to reset. : ' ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenphon Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Thanks for the info, Xen. I was referring to starting out with SM but I wanted to see what my options would be once I'd be ready for HM. I had heard about the melee unfriendly nature of the new Ops and wondered if one of the two trees stood a chance once I got there. Guess I'll have to be content with SM until something hopefully changes. Also, you mentioned any spec would be viable for SM as long as you know the class and are in a guild run. Due to my schedule, I usually end up PuG'ing. Which of the two would be the more forgiving mechaincs-wise? Thanks again. There shouldn't be much different, honestly. That would probably be down to preference. Given equal skill in either spec, you'd do more damage as carnage. Fury has the better burst, but most fights do not require that much instant burst. Underlurker is the main one, but the burst of carnage is more than enough for that. You may end up experiencing some problems getting into a pug group, if the rumours I have heard are true. Given the punishing mechanics for melee a lot of pug groups these days are primarily looking for ranged and PTs as dps. Pug groups are fickle beings, so with the current operations anything that can make it easier will be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlanis Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Well I will make it simple, as a Raidlead I will only take a Sent if their is really no other DPS on the server......Guardian hit 44 yesterday at the moment I am tanking with my Vanguard mainly. Try a Sent in Hardmode beyond the first bosses......nice joke Bro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxtwofivexx Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I play combat spec in the new HM operations and am doing just fine. Playing a sentinel in the new ops requires a massive amount of raid awareness and understanding of your spec/rotation but they are completely viable. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Sentinels/Maras have a bad reputation because of how hard they are to play in the new ops, but a skilled player can do just as well as any ranged dps out there. Only the people who can't play the class correctly will rip on them and tell you they are no good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_mK Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I play combat spec in the new HM operations and am doing just fine. Playing a sentinel in the new ops requires a massive amount of raid awareness and understanding of your spec/rotation but they are completely viable. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Sentinels/Maras have a bad reputation because of how hard they are to play in the new ops, but a skilled player can do just as well as any ranged dps out there. Only the people who can't play the class correctly will rip on them and tell you they are no good. ^ This Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenphon Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I play combat spec in the new HM operations and am doing just fine. Playing a sentinel in the new ops requires a massive amount of raid awareness and understanding of your spec/rotation but they are completely viable. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Sentinels/Maras have a bad reputation because of how hard they are to play in the new ops, but a skilled player can do just as well as any ranged dps out there. Only the people who can't play the class correctly will rip on them and tell you they are no good. Before 3.0 I would agree with you. Not so much now. On some of the fights you can do this, but there is no way you'll do as well as any ranged on fights such as Torque, Underlurker and Revan. As a combat sent|mara, you'll also do worse on SSU, as the ranged such as mercs and snipers can multidot and help far more. Do you have to multidot? No necessarily. Does it help? It does indeed. As such, you will not do as well as those classes. I really want marauders to be just as viable as any other class in new operations. I cleared 9/10 and hoped 3.1.1 would solve some of our issues, but they did not. Yes, a good player will be able to clear 9/10 without too many problems. You'll have to work harder than ranged and PTs, but you can do it. Revan is a completely different matter. If you're unlucky with the dot you'll be walking away from Revan more than dpsing on the first floor. Second floor is actually better, but still annoying for melee without HO and only one 30m ability. Third floor is downright vicious. I hope to see a progression team actually clearing the current iteration of Revan with a marauder in their first kill. I would applaud said marauder and his team. Unfortunately, I am unsure whether it will happen or not. You're simply taxing your team far more than it should be allowed, because of BW's badly coded boss encounter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llayles Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 This thread inspired me to make a bit of a dig... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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