Cotlu-Hunlon Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 The change to Cauterize to 12 seconds duration, and adding in Force Melt, both DoTs that need to be tracked and annoyingly precisely reapplied, is baffling to me. There are 18 damage disciplines in the game, 1/3rd of which (Balance, Serenity, Plasmatech, Ruffian, Dirty Fighting, Saboteur) require this style of DoT tracking. Why did they make another spec in this style with Watchman? (now 7 DoT tracking disciplines) Watchman used to be so much more fun when it was more similar to Vigilance: The DoT durations were shorter than the cooldowns of the abilities that applied them, so you weren't having to check enemy buff bars (or count abilities in your head). Why did they have to homogenise Watchman to being just like any of the other DoT specs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuiwe Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 The change to Cauterize to 12 seconds duration, and adding in Force Melt, both DoTs that need to be tracked and annoyingly precisely reapplied, is baffling to me. There are 18 damage disciplines in the game, 1/3rd of which (Balance, Serenity, Plasmatech, Ruffian, Dirty Fighting, Saboteur) require this style of DoT tracking. Why did they make another spec in this style with Watchman? (now 7 DoT tracking disciplines) Watchman used to be so much more fun when it was more similar to Vigilance: The DoT durations were shorter than the cooldowns of the abilities that applied them, so you weren't having to check enemy buff bars (or count abilities in your head). Why did they have to homogenise Watchman to being just like any of the other DoT specs? If you included Sab, how about including Tactics too? It's pretty much the same amount of DoT yknow? But I agree with Watchman. It was so fun back before 3,0. Now it is garbage. Effective garbage, but still garbage. Sometimes I wonder if Bioware even plays its own game... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotlu-Hunlon Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 If you included Sab, how about including Tactics too? It's pretty much the same amount of DoT yknow? But I agree with Watchman. It was so fun back before 3,0. Now it is garbage. Effective garbage, but still garbage. Sometimes I wonder if Bioware even plays its own game... Tactic's Gut bleed is refreshed with High Impact Bolt so there's no actual DoT tracking to do, same with Telekinetic's Weaken Mind I just really miss the Cauterize ticks every second, it felt so menacing, but a tick every 2 seconds is just so slowww Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuiwe Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) Tactic's Gut bleed is refreshed with High Impact Bolt so there's no actual DoT tracking to do, same with Telekinetic's Weaken Mind I just really miss the Cauterize ticks every second, it felt so menacing, but a tick every 2 seconds is just so slowww Ah ye. It lasted what? 6 seconds and ticked every second? Imo, every DoT should act like that instead of MMOretarditis: ticking per interval(typically 3s). That's just another reason why I loved Watchman. Damn, why the past tense, now I'm sad :( . And everything refreshed HIB hence it reapplies Gut to the point of Gut becoming a proc, not a DoT... Edited March 9, 2015 by Cuiwe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trogusaurus Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) The changes they've made are counter intuitive to the class's needs. For instance a big problem Watchman has always had in pvp was ramp up time. If you nerf the spec's hardest hitting short dot into a long, mediocre one, how is that helping opening burst? Another example, Slash has always been a pretty useless move for Watchman, but at least in 2.10 you had a reason to use it in order to refresh Cauterize. It worked beautifully. Now it's arguably better to clip Cauterize's dot when faced between it and Slash for a 2-focus filler due to the combination of face damage and the dot's internal hit. How does that make sense? Edited March 9, 2015 by Trogusaurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Yui- Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 The change to Cauterize to 12 seconds duration, and adding in Force Melt, both DoTs that need to be tracked and annoyingly precisely reapplied, is baffling to me. There are 18 damage disciplines in the game, 1/3rd of which (Balance, Serenity, Plasmatech, Ruffian, Dirty Fighting, Saboteur) require this style of DoT tracking. Why did they make another spec in this style with Watchman? (now 7 DoT tracking disciplines) Actually, Watchman is by far the most annoying DoT tracking spec, in a large part due to the fact its melee, but also due to the fact there are 3 DoTs, of which the icon for Cauterize makes it difficult to differentiate from other DoTs on the target. For instance, the DoT application for Lethality/Dirty Fighting specs for Sniper/Scoundrel is just throw corrosive grenade and throw corrosive dart since both have the same duration -- not much managing needed, especialaly since you're fairly likely to switch to a new target. Watchman on the other hand...is a little bit more annoying. I'd say it makes the spec more interesting though. Ramp up time isn't necessarily increased, as you can just Force Rend at the end of your normal rotation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotlu-Hunlon Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 The changes they've made are counter intuitive to the class's needs. For instance a big problem Watchman has always had in pvp was ramp up time. If you nerf the spec's hardest hitting short dot into a long, mediocre one, how is that helping opening burst? Another example, Slash has always been a pretty useless move for Watchman, but at least in 2.10 you had a reason to use it in order to refresh Cauterize. It worked beautifully. Now it's arguably better to clip Cauterize's dot when faced between it and Slash for a 2-focus filler due to the combination of face damage and the dot's internal hit. How does that make sense? This makes me sad reading it .... I miss that reset feeling, it's a little dopamine reward that makes the rotation feel like it's giving you a gift Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ardarell_Solo Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I keep wondering, too! It used to be one of the most elegantly designed specs, a steady flow mixed with a lot of quick descisions, versatile, just fun to play. A lot of players loved it for that. Why of all classes you would introduce the most severe changes in a patch that promised you wouldn't need to relearn a specc you're familiar with is just way beyond me. And I agree that among the Dot classes it's the most annoying one to track, because the Dots that you need to track have a stupid 3:2 ratio (18 secs Force Melt : 12 secs Cauterize). I do agree it's not a problem on the Dummy, you can develop a steady (note: but also boring) pattern there. But in a raid situation, when you do quick target switches and then return to your main target, good luck finding your two dots and seamlessly getting back into your reapplication rhythm - which you have to if you want to keep up with ranged DPS :| I really do think that for melee Dot specs Dot duration should always equal or be shorter than their cooldown. It's challenging enough to get your positioning right and quickly decide which dot/s make/s sense to apply/reapply on a target or if it doesn't makes sense at all. Noone wants to additionally have to check targets' buff bars every 6 secs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuckimusPrime Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 good luck finding your two dots and seamlessly getting back into your reapplication rhythm - which you have to if you want to keep up with ranged DPS :| Use the option to sort the debuffs on your target frame, then the dots you've applied will always be in the one place. I really do think that for melee Dot specs Dot duration should always equal or be shorter than their cooldown. It's challenging enough to get your positioning right and quickly decide which dot/s make/s sense to apply/reapply on a target or if it doesn't makes sense at all. Noone wants to additionally have to check targets' buff bars every 6 secs. But I completely agree on all this. Having to debuff watch is even more punishing when playing melee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Projawa Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) Why did they have to homogenise Watchman to being just like any of the other DoT specs? Because that makes their job easier. Homogenizing all dot specs means they don't have to craft new mathematical modeling just for watchman. Edited March 10, 2015 by Projawa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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