Watchman/Anni "rotation"

[Ardarell_Solo]

Beats me how any class designer would think "Hey let's set up a specc that has players use the blandest filler ability of its base class three times more than anything else". Slash-fest is not a rotation. And by no means an engaging playstyle. It's a mind numbing exercise in boredom.

I mean this is a tab target game with very little positional or situational combat, no active aiming, blocking, parrying or countering. So performing a rotation according to situation is the only engagement left. In comes Watchman doing  Slash - Slash - Slash - Slash - Merciless - Melt - DST/BB - Slash - Slash - Slash - Slash - Slash....

How can anyone think that's fun?

Even if you let a tactical item like Spiteful Saber pass through QA, you can't ever design everything else to have this come out as the goto choice for highest dps. Should have become a meme playstyle if anything at all.

Specc needs some interaction in its rotation that's more than "do I get enough crits to have resources for enough Slashes (and activate my simple off-GCD-dot)". It needs some kind of interaction between the specc's core abilities to be tracked/looked out for. Something that actually gives players a feeling of meaningful interaction with the rotation that makes a difference if done right.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Ardarell_Solo

[ChrisBlackSith]

I personally enjoy such a simple-minded playstyle. Apply DoTs, spam Vicious Slash. Lots of mental capacity to dedicate to watching your surroundings.

I do, however, think that Anni still needs some changes, even though 7.2 brought some.

1. Annihilate should lose the pointless maintenance buff reducing its cooldown in exchange for a slightly lowered base cooldown, down to something like 10s.

2. Pulverize should be replaced with a proc affecting a more important ability, like Annihilate or Force Rend.

And even if Pulverize stays as it is, the DST cooldown reset that 7.2 added to Pulverize is meaningless, as the reset's cooldown is the same as the cooldown for DST, so you gain basically nothing. Instead of 18 seconds, it would have to be 10 or so.

[Sikssix]

Treat your slash like CowBell.  Just don't use it twice in a row or so while under zen. 

 

From what I understand, The opener is:

Force leap + Overload saber right after
Zealous Strike + Inspiration + Valorous Call (depending situation)
Merciless Slash
Zen + Force Melt
Cauterize
Twin Saber Throw
Slash
Slash


What I learned from the changes, as well as talking to other players, I can verify the changes basically means Slash = Cowbell (I hope you understand the reference).  This tidbit is from one player that currently is posting the highest parse at this time for our spec.

1. Use Anni/Merciless Slash of CD no mater what, plan you rage so you will be able to use Anni/Merciless Slash as soon as it will be ready. This is ability is more important now, since Devious Wounds/Smoldering Burns got serious buff.

2. Never ever use non rage/focus spenders outside berserk/zen window

3. You want 12 rage/focus when bers/zen is over for consistency, in order to achieve it you have to do stupid things some times like in example Assault/Zealous strike(if both Ravage and DST on CD) when you have 12 rage/focus during last moment of bers/zen. If you are RNG god you can skip this, it's absolutely possible to generate 30 fury/centering with 10 rage/focus at your disposal when bers/zen is over, but your dispatcher should go gigachad mode, and yet you will probably will not be able to do Anni/Merciless Slash of CD in that case.

4. Don't use combination of two abilities in a row that proc Spiteful Saber(VS/Slash, DST/TST, VT/Dispatch) inside Berserks/Zen window, since you will drastically reduce chance that your fully stacked DS/Overload Saber will eat 2 bers/zen stacks.

5. Do not hesitate to use Rupture/Cauterize if bad RNG got you, this is the only ability that cost 2 rage/focus while generate 4 fury/centering and apply DS/OS stack. Otherwise you will be forced to delay your FR/Force Melt by 1 gcd which is worse alternative. 6. There is probability that it worth to use DST/TST before Pulverize/Mind Seer proc(only inside bers/zen window ofc), since you will be able to use it in two blocks in a row some times, but i can't confirm this.

After a hefty amount of testing and verifying some changes, I managed to get to 31K.  I am aiming to get back to where I was before the latest patch.  I also noticed, whenever you pop Zen right before Force melt (assuming you take the Melting Center and Burning center combo), you would want to use Twin Saber Throw before Slash, never use Slash twice or Merciless and Slash in a row while you're in Zen.  If you want the highest DPS with Watchman, you have to be a bit more precise now than before.  Thus not entirely feeling smoother, and more Cowbell.  

Edit:  Be sure to use Dispatcher's package with berserker's call, don't touch Fearless Victor.

Edited December 20, 2022 by Sikssix
Adding.

[Ardarell_Solo]

No offense, but I'm not looking for insight on how to play the specc 🙂 I've known Watchman rotations inside out in all forms from 1.0 on and had top Watchman/Anni and partially top overall dps parses in several expansions and have also written a few guides on the specc (including Dotsmash, when that was a thing). Character name is El'ethon, if you care to know or are looking for reference. Not saying this to show off, but to undermine that I do know just how boring exactly the current rotation is in comparison.

Let's take a look at the spec's current top parse as of today by Keetsune: https://parsely.io/parser/view/731139/0
If you look at ability usage you see Slash listed in top position with 111 Usages out of 242 abilities, meaning 46% of actual abilities used is the base class' blandest filler ability.
(Not counting off GCD stuff here, except for Overload/Deadly Saber which actually is a rotational ability, unlike say Adrenal or Valoruous Call/Zen. Even if you chose to count everything you press, it'd still be 111 out of 280ish which it still roughly 40% even counting pocket Sarlacc 😉 )

You have 5 Slashes in a row at 14:49:31.545, 14:50:17.351, 14:50:51.783, 14:51:25.533, 14:51:59.817, 14:52:33.822
6 Slashes in a row at 14:49:41.616
and several instances of 5 or 6 Slashes that have just one Merciless Slash among them.

What's probably even worse is that Slash also does the most damage (not even counting the burns it ticks, just its own damage) with a whopping 21.8%. Saying that all the nice things you learn as Watchman like Merciless, Cauterize, Force Melt, Overload Saber are just sidekicks to your main ability Slash that every Knight knows from the very beginning.

And this is for a specc that had rotations that used to keep you on the edge of your seat several times in 4 GCD cycles (yes Merciless/Annihilate once had just 6secs cooldown when fully stacked - meaning you could use that awesome signature ability with its satisfying animation and sound much more often instead of spamming boring ole Slash). The rotational interplay was absolutely entertaining and the payoff if you got things right was enormous - both dps wise and regarding what it felt like to perform it. At the same time specc was still doing more than ok if you couldn't manage to get the necessary procs consistently, which again was absolutely achievable with dedicated training. I'd also say that when you had learned how to do that by heart, your muscle memory allowed you to watch your surroundings excellently. Which also has to do with the fact that 4 GCD rotations have a unique internal rhythm to them compared to the pure priority system we have now.

 But how did all that come to be?

We have had this Slash spamfest ever since Merciless CD was lengthened and we got Watchman Vital Shot (also know as Force Melt/Rend) as our "spectacular" new ability when other specs got stuff like Vigilant Thrust 😉 There was just too much room in each rotation cycle that had to be filled somehow. Consequently devs have been tampering with filler stuff ever since, imo not very successfully. One of the strongest arguments against shorter rotation cycles, i.e. shorter CD on Merciless/Annihilate, was that the then 2 GCD long Blade Barrage (then called Master Strike) didn't allow to get all the other important abilities in the rotation and play them on cooldown. Mind you, that's no longer a point since we have one GCD Blade Barrage.

So today you could easily implement a rotation like this:

Merciless
Force Melt
Cauterize
Blade Barrage

Merciless
Filler/DST
Cauterize
Filler

Merciless
Filler
Cauterize
Force Melt

....

You could go back to Merciless/Dispatch-ViciousThrow shortening Cauterize's new default 12sec Cooldown (which would go back to be a 6sec dot that REALLY hurts and not just tickles) by 6 secs on a high percentage and Slash doing it on a mid percentage. In the old days Merciless and Slash completely reset Cauterize's cooldown, meaning you could actually reapply it too early, thus clipping the dot. So you had to memorize the GCD you had Cauterize in last time or actually track the dot on your target. Both was indeed a bit distracting from playing the more difficult mechanics in the game. By designing the proc to instead shorten the remaining Cooldown by exactly 6 secs the earliest time you can reuse Cauterize it is in the exact spot of the 4 GCD rotation you had it in before. That way you also prevent multidotting with Cauterize's hard hitting dot which resulted in potentially too much burst on multiple targets.

Nowaday I'd also add a failsafe mechanic that apart from the percentage based chance to proc Cauterize CD reduction by itself gives you stacks: 2 with Merciless/Dispatch-ViciousThrow, 1 with Slash. At 4 Stacks the 6s reduced CD on Cauterize is guaranteed. Every proc, no matter if by ability chance itself or 4 stacks, resets all stacks.

In addition Force Melt has a 15 sec Cooldown here and will thus move through your rotation on the filler spots in GCDs 2 and 4, adding more dynamics to the rotation.

This is a hybrid form of playstyle: a short rhythmical rotation with clear priorities. It would also give Watchman a bit shorter dots, making target swaps and burst a bit better - which is absolutely needed, since devs also still refuse to dump that stupid Merciless stacks rampup problem with Watchman that is no longer justified by superior overall dps.

Even if you don't go for that faster and more entertaining playstyle there must be something more meaningful you can do with all the filler GCDs in the current rotation that come from way to long a Cooldown on Merciless Slash than having players spam Slash - for the love of the Force 🙂

Edited December 22, 2022 by Ardarell_Solo

[Sikssix]

On 12/22/2022 at 7:37 AM, Ardarell_Solo said:

No offense, but I'm not looking for insight on how to play the specc

Thanks for that clarification, 

 

On 12/22/2022 at 7:37 AM, Ardarell_Solo said:

I've known Watchman rotations inside out in all forms from 1.0 on and had top Watchman/Anni and partially top overall dps parses in several expansions and have also written a few guides on the specc (including Dotsmash, when that was a thing). Character name is El'ethon, if you care to know or are looking for reference. Not saying this to show off, but to undermine that I do know just how boring exactly the current rotation is in comparison.

I know who you are, I have seen you and competed on top parses before.  Had top spot as well for a good minute back then too.  

 

On 12/22/2022 at 7:37 AM, Ardarell_Solo said:

What's probably even worse is that Slash also does the most damage (not even counting the burns it ticks, just its own damage) with a whopping 21.8%. Saying that all the nice things you learn as Watchman like Merciless, Cauterize, Force Melt, Overload Saber are just sidekicks to your main ability Slash that every Knight knows from the very beginning.

As I said, Slash is now Cowbell.  I do agree with you on everything else however, the whole spec feels dull and has been something I stated on the PTS forums.  I don't intend to discourage or undermine, I trust any and every good player to do their thing, and if I see people parsing higher than I am, it just encourages me to do the same, as I hope to do the same to others.  

[StrikePrice]

What the spec needs is burst. Merciless Slash should do its damage and collapse all DoTs on the target. Give this spec something interesting to do. 

[Sikssix]

On 3/28/2023 at 7:57 AM, StrikePrice said:

What the spec needs is burst. Merciless Slash should do its damage and collapse all DoTs on the target. Give this spec something interesting to do. 

We got Force Fracture for that, and even the buffs they applied to it in 7.2, it's a bit underwhelming, about 1 to 3k dps loss compared to traditional.  It is pretty bursty, but not enough to do justice as you still have to wait for Overload Saber and Force Melt to be applied.

[PallyHk]

Fracture sounds fun but overall it doesn't really work well, especially that it replaces your main bleed.

[Ardarell_Solo]

Came back for the new FP and daily area (which is really done well this time, kudos to the devs!) and played both on Vigilance Guardian, which I had chosen as my secondary combat style for my Sentinel Main (it has now actually become my main specc, for the reasons I stated in opening post). Either way I just HAD to do another test on Watchman - and it still bores the hell outta me. Force Melt being the top priority as the blandest dot ability imaginable and infinite Slash spamfest. I've tried so many other speccs in this and numerous other games and I'm all the more bewildered how one of the most elegant and fun to play speccs for years of SWTOR could deteriorate to the pinnacle of boredom as of now.

A suggestion regarding Force Fracture: That rotation is pretty repetitive too, admittedly Force Fracture is a more interesting ability than Slash though (functionality, animation and sound).
Force Fracture build just lacks a tactical item that boosts it like the Spiteful Saber tactical does to become viable and maybe stops the repetitiveness. Something like this:

"Force Fracture has a 25% chance to reset the cooldown on Blade Barrage or give you the Mind Sear proc (you could make it so it alternates between the two effects). Both blade Barrage and Twin Saber Throw apply the the double amount of additional Elemental damage that Force Fracture does regardless if dots are ticking on your target or not."

That way the rotation would become less repetitive and with a proc you would use Blade Barrage and Twin Saber Throw not only in the last two GCDs before Force Melt becomes available and the dot isn't ticking anymore but with proc you'd actually use them rotationally.

That'd be fun to play and could get the build a bit closer to Slashfest dps wise :-)

And I still think Spiteful Saber shouldn't be allowed to be the max dps tactical item. It's just mindunmbing to play (except you like cowbells ;-) ...