Haven't Played Sentinel - Seeking Jedi Wisdom Please

[Jinook_Phi]

Howdy ;-)

 

I was in early BETA, on and off since then, but even when Ive come back, I really have not touched my Sentinel in probably 18 months. In the past, the deal was Sentinel had a single target burst, single target sustained and then the AOE (Balance?). I leveled doing the latter.

 

The rotations were complicated, took me some time to learn. Im more of a family guild, casual player. I dont mind a cool raid if its with cool people, now and then, but definitely not hardcore. My Sent is currently around Level 53.

 

When I came back, I started two new toons, have had fun with them. Ive never really been in a situation like this, though, with my Sentinel. Having to relearn without leveling.

 

Q1: The cliffs notes version of how the three trees or whatever they are called now are different? I read a lot on this, but am still unclear, from a playstyle- PvE leveling standpoint, how the three are different. Im a soloist, so being able to to solo is key until I join a guild for end game.

 

Q2: How would you could about getting reacquainted? Due to level sink, I was thinking maybe spend a tiny bit of time on level 30 content, a bunch more on level 40, to get a feel for the toon again, before diving into my level content. Thoughts on that? Where might be good?

 

Q3: While I MASSIVELY admire the people who know all the numbers, have flawless rotations, that will never be me- LOL. The whole gear thing has me massively confused, some threads saying avoid Mastery as mod, others saying double down it. ACK!?#O(#$)

 

I realize thats a lot of questions, so a million thanks with two tons on bantha steaks for anyone that helps.

[thereter]

Concentration spec is for pvp. Go Combat for easy playstyle and watchmen for the better pve dps.

 

As far as gear goes, for the most part you can consider Mastery and Power the same. So whenever you upgrade gear, choose the piece that has a bigger sum of both. Critical and alacrity are now much more powerful stats, so most of the time, whenever you need to choose between them and either Mastery or Power, its usually better to choose Critical/Alacrity. (not sure where Accuracy fits in among the lower levels)

 

I tried to answer from a casual point of view. Good luck.

[Ardarell_Solo]

Agree on most with previous poster, here are some additional thoughts.

 

Q1: The cliffs notes version of how the three trees or whatever they are called now are different? I read a lot on this, but am still unclear, from a playstyle- PvE leveling standpoint, how the three are different. Im a soloist, so being able to to solo is key until I join a guild for end game.

 

Leveling content has become pretty easy. You can pretty much just chose the spec you enjoy playing the most. In short the three specs are:

 

Combat: Very bursty, gets the job done quickly, also amazing AoE now with buffs to our spammable AOE. But: You need to be quick on your buttons to be efficient.

 

Concentration: A lot of buttons to press, nice burst without any setup at all, ok AoE. Sustained DPS is lowest.

 

Watchman: One of the highest sustained DPS specs in the game, but pretty complicated to play and long setup until damage really kicks in. AoE is amazing on strong mobs via dotspread. Self healing helps tremendously for soloing content, so you might want to consider it for what you're saying you want to do.

 

Q2: How would you could about getting reacquainted? Due to level sink, I was thinking maybe spend a tiny bit of time on level 30 content, a bunch more on level 40, to get a feel for the toon again, before diving into my level content. Thoughts on that? Where might be good?

 

As I said above, leveling has become so easy I think you can just hop right in and continue leveling :-)

 

 

Q3: While I MASSIVELY admire the people who know all the numbers, have flawless rotations, that will never be me- LOL. The whole gear thing has me massively confused, some threads saying avoid Mastery as mod, others saying double down it. ACK!?#O(#$)

 

- Try to keep your accuracy to at at least 105% for leveling, once you start end game it would have to be 110%.

- Use critical crystals

- As previous poster said: Use modifications that have highest value for the combination of Mastery and Power

- User enhancements with most power on them. Use Crit vs. Alacrity at roughly a rate of 3:2

- Augments: You don't really need them for leveling.

If you do want to use them, especially for raiding, you should stay away from Mastery and Power as soon as you're getting 216 story mode raiding gear (For leveling you would actually use Mastery). You'll be better off using Critical and Alacrity and maybe also Accuracy so you can use lesser enhancements and don't go over 110% too much.

 

Have fun! :-)

[Jinook_Phi]

Very much appreciate the insights, Mate. Shall give them a whirl.

[OniGanon]

IMO Concentration is a great spec for solo play because it has so much resource income from Zen, and several abilities free of cost, so you spend so much less time faffing about with basic attacks to build resource, or setting up DoTs or whatever . Also the boosted Sweep helps clear trash real quick.

[Ld-Siris]

I always level with fury until about 48. Carnage doesn't come into its own until 48. Plus like previously mentioned you will suffer rage gain which makes fury the best until that point. For anni I think there is too much set up to be worth anything unless on a boss fight.

[Jinook_Phi]

Because I was Balance before, now Concentration, I did go with that for the reasons noted but once I tick 65, then I can relook at things for higher level content. Appreciate the thoughts. ;-)