Combat / Watchman / Concentration - Which do I go?

[Bigbazz]

I'm a returning player who has never played at endgame, I levelled my Sentinel to 50 during the pre-launch of SWTOR and then stopped playing shortly after, I then returned last year and levelled a Sith Jugger and in similar fashion I stopped at 50 (tho I had the Hutt Cartel expansion). So now I'm back again and intend to continue playing my Sentinel.

 

The problem is that so much has changed it is slightly overwhelming and I want to get some ideas from you to help me choose my path. In terms of performance (PVP & PVE) and playstyle where do they stand? In terms of dedication and skill required to play where do they sit? Any other tips or advice that could help me on my way?

 

I'm not new to MMO games but right now I feel like I'm looking at a load of gibberish while bumbling about aimlessly with a level 50 character that hasn't been played since 2011.

[Cuiwe]

I'd advise you to reroll immediately. As you said, there is no point in running around with a lvl 50 you haven't played in years. There have been many changes, disciplines trump them all. Now about your questions:

 

PvP:

 

I wouldn't even bother with PvP in swtor to begin with, but if I simply had to say something, here's where we're at. Every single discipline has huge problems because of two interconnected issues: we have huge issues sticking to a target and we have what you can safely call an utility bloat. Those two things just hamper sents so much that...idk why Bioware even did what they did with 3,0. If I had to pick a discipline for PvP, I'd pick Watchman due to it being a setup DoT discipline(well, mostly, ok it's a hybrid ) and hugely thanks to DoTs being uncleansable now(3,0+). I hear that the other two have some problems currently.

 

As for PvE: we are not viable here as well. They mostly ruined our levelling and in endgame, we're frowned upon due to current PvE endgame meta being heavily slanted vs melee. Sure, we've got huge dmg(even DPS!), but the troubles with range just hold us back. That's about group instances. About levelling, without getting struck, it has become very hard to build our secondary. Why? Because they moved Valour to lvl 51(********es). I mean, Sentinel is every bit as effective as it can be, but fun took a serious hit due to beforementioned relegation of Valour. I'd say that the best PvE discipline(overall) is Concentration. It's fun, the difficulty curve is balanced etc.

 

As for difficulty: Watchman(Juyo) has got to be the most difficult due to it including falling cd on m.slash, tracking DoTs(prior to 3,0 there was no such thing!) and a general care for what's happening. It should have the highest Sentinel parse otoh. Combat(Ataru) is mostly as it was(centred around the pinpoint usage of Precision-which now lasts 3s instead of 4,5 you remember it as) with a nerf. Concentration is fairly easy and straightforward. Don't think anything's changed here tbh. Shii-Cho being the most fluid and fun for me.

 

Just reroll and go from the scratch and play things you actually want to play ! Have fun!

[Warlord_Maliken]

SwtoR pvp is exceptional in my opinion, if you put it under the right scope. Its a star wars themed pvp arcade simulator, thats all. Its very fun, I even enjoy it more than all the other MMO's pvp. You can play swtor for a few months doing nothing but pvp and have a blast, you WILL eventually unsub, but you will very likely return within 3-10 months. At least, thats my track record for this game. I play my juggernaut and find it incredibly exciting, i wont have to play any other character when i get on, but that is a subjective matter, i know others who can't seem to play the juggernaut properly (juggling taunts properly, etc) and prefer other class(es).

 

TL;DR

I comment on pvp being super fun, and any class being viable if you are not meta gaming. I don't do rated, just fun / casual pvp arcade warzones

[Atlanis]

Reroll as current PTS shows we now lack anykind of Spec that could theoreticly be able to compete in PVP and PVE on a viable basis. ALL People that main a Sentinel agree on that FACT: As of 3.2.1. Sentinels will have no "barely viable" Spec for PVE Endgame after the removal from PVP Sents have no option to participate in Endgame at all if the current itteration of the PTS isn´t drasticly changed following community DEMANDS!

 

Guardian DPS is a nice option, it plays like a Sentinel could play if Devs would implement the Mantras of community Feedback.

[g_mK]

Ignore the poster above me.

I'm 7/10 HM right now and run combat in both endgame pve and pvp and I find it to be the most rewarding spec for sentinel. You should be aware that currently sentinel is not the most overpowered class in game and you may have an easier time with another class for both contents, Sentinel is and will still be viable for HM operations even after 2.3.1

Edited May 2, 2015 by g_mK

[jauvtus]

If you find a team who don't care that all the other dps need to overwork because of you, then choose combat, it is the easiest for PVE, I find Concentration easiest for PvP. If your team has some brains though, they will rather take a slinger, sage, commando, vanguard dps instead, right now looks like this game is about them.

[Cuiwe]

If you find a team who don't care that all the other dps need to overwork because of you, then choose combat, it is the easiest for PVE, I find Concentration easiest for PvP. If your team has some brains though, they will rather take a slinger, sage, commando, vanguard dps instead, right now looks like this game is about them.

 

Remove the sage from your list and you're dead on. Tbh idk and I can't fathom *** is Bioware doing. To me it looks like they want a star wars game where jedi/sith are NOT the Main attraction.

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.

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...*** Bioware?

[Grue_Hunter]

If you find a team who don't care that all the other dps need to overwork because of you, then choose combat, it is the easiest for PVE, I find Concentration easiest for PvP. If your team has some brains though, they will rather take a slinger, sage, commando, vanguard dps instead, right now looks like this game is about them.

 

I play Concentration spec in PvP and it is far from a smooth flow (and I'm speaking as one who used the equivalent, Focus, in pre 3.0). This is the first time I've been thinking of abandoning my fav spec for Watchman (with DoTs being uncleansable - it makes more sense). If you do go Concentration spec and do wzs, just avoid Hypergrating and the odd arena -- and you should be fine (the damage is slightly above the middle of the pack in most wzs, but the regular respawning gets annoying).

[PallyHk]

Honestly, if you want to go Jedi or SIth, go Juggernaut or Assassin.

 

They are just that much better in PVE.

[Bigbazz]

Thanks for the replies, it seems like quite the dire situation on some fronts. While waiting for some replies I went ahead and specced into combat and leveled from 50-52, though I think I had some buff as everything on Makeb was pretty much completely faceroll compared to what I remember before, I was killing elite (star) enemies like they were nothing.

 

To be honest I just haven't had enough time playing the spec to understand the intricate details of how it plays, I'm smashing buttons and stuff is dying but to be honest I have no real idea what I'm doing other than flashy lightsabre animations.

 

The problem with the idea of re-rolling is that I really enjoy a Warrior type of class, a melee lightsabre wielder is the only thing that really interests me, I've already got two characters ready to go, a Sith Jugger (50) and Jedi Sentinel (52) and I have no real preference to sides. The idea of leveling up from scratch again just to learn a class doesn't seem appealing, as much as I enjoy the class stories I got bored to near death with all the filler stuff that needed to be done on each planet.

 

I will check out my Juggernaut again and weigh up my options.

[Ahavery]

Ok. Regarding the original post, I feel like I am in a unique and advantageous situation to respond to your query. For the last year or so I have played a mara and a jug frequently in both PvP and PvE. However, I recently decided to reduce the number of alts I play regularly and switch servers. I decided vanguard would be one and either guardian or sentinel would be the other. So essentially, I was dealing with the exact same question you have now: all other things equal, do I want to invest time into a guardian or a sentinel?

 

I chose to roll a guardian. Here's why.

 

1) Utility. A sentinel is a melee damage class only. A guardian can melee dps, melee tank, and off-tank. I agree with most of the above posts that melee dps is tough for PvE now. However, that is not the case for tanks (obviously, the game would be broken otherwise). A guardian player who knows his class can simply switch specs and be able to contribute to a raid. A sentinel must dps, and is at a disadvantage. In PvP, the same applies. Regardless of spec, taunting really helps your team. Additionally, guardians are arguably more mobile with force push>leap and guardian leap. And to top it all off, guardians hands down have more effective defensive cooldowns.

 

2) Time to mastery. Both offensively and defensivly, sentinels are in my opinion harder to learn than guardians. In general sentinels have tougher rotations, with the one exception being combat spec. Sentinels have a lot of defensive cooldowns to manage (even though the guardians are better), and knowing the right time to pop say your vanish or GBTF takes skill and practice. With a guardian, you simply hit one button and heal to full (focused defense/enraged defense). I'm not saying you cant master a sentinel eventually, just that it will take more work and perhaps more grief.

 

3) Playstyle in PvP. No surprise here, but sentinels are more like a rapier and guardians are like a sledgehammer. There is less margin for error with a sentinel. If you don't bring your "a" game and know your PvP role you will struggle. Less so with the guardian because they are designed to be able to leap into a scrum, taking and dealing significant punishment.

 

4) Similar damage output. I do not know the parsing numbers, but I assume watchmen sentinels are the highest in the warrior class. However, I have found guardians do similar, perhaps slightly less sustained damage in PvE. Not enough of a difference to sway my decision. And in PvP, though sents may be able to parse higher, they cannot apply their damage as effectively due to mobility concerns, time on target, worse defensive cd's etc. The silliest thing of all: guardians, especially Vigilance guardians, do more damage with Master strike than sents, even though sents get off hand bonus damage. The recent updates nerfed offhand damage so much it is laughable.

 

Hope this helps. If it were me, I wouldn't waste anymore time mashing buttons on your sentinel.

[teclado]

Sentinel / Marauder is without a doubt the worst pvp class right now. The issue is that so much changed with 3.0 but sentinels remained mostly the same. 3.0 massively favored ranged classes.

 

Combat is my favorite spec in terms of playstyle. Watchman doesn't have much burst - it takes too long to get your DoTs going on a target, not real easy to spread the DoTs. Concentration is probably the best overall in pvp due to the instants, burst, and much less reliance on master strike.

 

Shadow / Assassin is easily the best pvp dps class in the game right now. The DoT spec is easy to play, easy DoT spread, great anti-CC tools, great CC, good burst. Sage/Sorc are easy to play, highly mobile, really good damage, lots of ways to keep melee frustrated. Vanguard / PT have superb burst damage, awesome mobility, OK survivability. Guardian / Juggernaut would be as miserable as Sent / Mara were it not for their awesome defensive abilities that make them hard to kill, some anti-CC after leap (for Vengeance / Vigilance spec).

 

I have a VG, Sent, Guard, Commando, Sage, Shadow all to 60 and have played them a bit. I tried pretty hard to make my sent work in pvp for a while after 3.0 came out, but I found that I can't stand to play more than 2-3 matches with my sent before I get so frustrated that I log off. Playing my Shadow or Sage feels like easy mode while my Sentinel feels like impossible mode. If you are up for a real challenge and you don't mind playing with one hand behind your back, give concentration a try.

[Cuiwe]

Thanks for the replies, it seems like quite the dire situation on some fronts. While waiting for some replies I went ahead and specced into combat and leveled from 50-52, though I think I had some buff as everything on Makeb was pretty much completely faceroll compared to what I remember before, I was killing elite (star) enemies like they were nothing.

 

To be honest I just haven't had enough time playing the spec to understand the intricate details of how it plays, I'm smashing buttons and stuff is dying but to be honest I have no real idea what I'm doing other than flashy lightsabre animations.

 

The problem with the idea of re-rolling is that I really enjoy a Warrior type of class, a melee lightsabre wielder is the only thing that really interests me, I've already got two characters ready to go, a Sith Jugger (50) and Jedi Sentinel (52) and I have no real preference to sides. The idea of leveling up from scratch again just to learn a class doesn't seem appealing, as much as I enjoy the class stories I got bored to near death with all the filler stuff that needed to be done on each planet.

 

I will check out my Juggernaut again and weigh up my options.

 

What filler content? Use the 12xp Luke!

 

[akatokuro]

As for the original post, I would recommend Concentration as it tends to be in my opinion the easiest to get into and robust enough to keep you interested once you've mastered the basics. Watchman is going through some tough times right now and combat has a fairly steep learning curve.

 

If you do play a Guardian/Jugg, you can translate a lot of the skills from Focus/Rage into the Concentration spec with a few adjustments.

 

Hope that helps!