I'm interested in developing my Melee DPS. I primarily PVE but I do dabble in PVP (not ranked just pugs).

I was wondering which is more "satisfying". I've played to about lvl 30 with DPS Guardian and it just feels dry (basic rotation that kind of 1 size fits all it feels like, I don't have to think hard on me feet).

That said I'm not looking for the most complex rotation in the world; the middle ground...if that makes sense.

Additionally take into account which is more desirable for groups (maybe not necessarily what is the most "leet"ist just what provides both high damage and maybe some utility.

Anyone who can provide insight into how either play is greatly appreciated. (Whichever I don't do for Republic I'll probably do for Sith side anyway)

I'm interested in developing my Melee DPS. I primarily PVE but I do dabble in PVP (not ranked just pugs).

I was wondering which is more "satisfying". I've played to about lvl 30 with DPS Guardian and it just feels dry (basic rotation that kind of 1 size fits all it feels like, I don't have to think hard on me feet).

That said I'm not looking for the most complex rotation in the world; the middle ground...if that makes sense.

Additionally take into account which is more desirable for groups (maybe not necessarily what is the most "leet"ist just what provides both high damage and maybe some utility.

 

Anyone who can provide insight into how either play is greatly appreciated. (Whichever I don't do for Republic I'll probably do for Sith side anyway)

Sentinels do a lot more damage than assassins in pve and significantly more in pvp. Sentinels also get a nice buff that increases damage by 15% for a moderate amount of time (15 sec?) so they are very good for groups. If you were to choose a class to dps in pve, Sentinels would be the optimal choice. The skill tree you would want to level as and take up once you get to level 50 would be watchman. There are multiple guides available for this spec and if you master the spec, you will be one of the best dps around on your server.

As DPS I only played DoT spec with both (I'm also trying Combat/Carnage) and only in PvP.

I would say : What Balance Shadow & Madness Assassin do, Watchman Sentinel and Annihilation Maraudeur do better.

If you're looking to put out massive amounts of dps as well as a challenge, Sentinel is the way to go. I dps for my guilds main Ops team occasionally (when they need another DPS for EC) and I 'm normally on the top of the dps parsing with normally 28%-35%(depending on how on my game I am) of total damage during bosses. On top of the massive dps, Sentinels have pretty good utility. As watchman you have self / group heals; as combat you have a huge armor reduction. Additionally, for solo play Sentinels have quite possibly the best non-tank defensive cooldowns. The challenge comes with the "rotation" for Sentinels. Particularly in watchman you have to do a priority based system for using skills since you have some "on proc" resets.

If you're looking for good dps with lots of variability, Shadow is the way to go. Based on which spec you choose, you can do your dps with mostly melee attacks with a few force attacks sprinkled in or vice-versa. Additionally, if you go Shadow you can always change to tank if you need / want to. In my opinion though, Shadows are far better at solo play than Sentinels. They also have a CC (Sentinels have a droid cc.... how useless).

I have a Shadow DPS as an Alt (my Main's a Guardian Tank). I went with the Shadow, simply because I didn't want to play through the Jedi Knight Story again. I also have a Sith Marauder (the mirror class to the Sentinel).

As others have said the Sentinel will do more outright damage per hit, but they are a bit limited in how they deliver that damage, basically it's all about the frontal assault, if you found the Guardian DPS a bit dry, you might find the Sentinel to be similar (except you get 2 light sabers, which is cool). The Shadow may not be able to match teh Sentinel in pure damage dealing but, with Stealth, Force Speed and 3 decent CCs they are a lot more flexible, also their force based attacks give you greater range than the Sentinel. Also while duel sabers is cool a Double Bladed Saber is even cooler

Personally I only found my guardian extremely fun to play towards 40+ and then even more so when I got BiS gear. It's not a fun toon when you can't hit hard.

If you have equal skill and gear with a sent and a shadow you will most of the time have higher dps on a sentinel. I would also say that due to the narrow minded people who play this game, you will find it easier to get into groups (premade raid groups) as a sentinel. Despite this, shadows are completely viable DPS and if you prefer not playing a class that all the lazy free-riders play then you wont be at a huge disadvantage.

45 sent and 32 shadow here: sent is single target crazy dps, shadow is good dps as infil until 22nd, then i would go aoe dps in balance (ie once you get FIB and mental potency@22).

I was infil on the shadow until 30th and then we balance, balance is much better for sustained pve fights i've seen so far, its more fun too.

i love the power of the sent but overall the balance shadow is more fun, more options vs the sent who just flattens +2 elite bosses (i run T7 since he's an awesome tank).

i can also respec the shadow to a tank, which is a nice option. so PVE I'd go Shadow because it feels more fun, and has more options.

I have a marauder that was a main for awhile - and for 1.4 i switched back to my sin. For starters, I never really 'dug' the marauder animations - specifically the stance he/she holds the sabers. The play style itself is ok, carnage or anni - and yes they are the most OP PVE class in the game. So many defensive cool-downs, and good damage.

Jugs look cooler, and vengeance has a more fluid playstyle to it.

My assassin, for starters, looks bad ***. In equal gear (in my case for sin pve dps, all hazmat / 63's minus an earpiece) can do better damage then a marauder / pt / sniper DEPENDING on the boss. I regularly do so with deception, for instance - but generally only on the droid puzzle boss in TFB, and on TFB himself. The other fights I usually end up 3rd or 4th (in 16man) simply because of the movement and clutter of players - it gets hard to position for mauls.

Madness is a good spec, but is a very hard spec to play and play well. You have to watch your bar for about 5 different things - all the while paying attention to raid mechanics. I have also found that as a deception assassin raiding, its hard to get respect with a group of marauders and powertechs. I have the single highest burst out of any class, Carange included. The issue with assassins is the sustained tampers off a bit after the minute and a half mark - whereas say Carnage can slap on bersek, massacre and it refunds rage...

Another issue with the assassin tree, is that we lack very basic stats that every other class get. We have no mainstat talent, no accuracy talent (in a stance or on a tree) and no force / melee crit talent (except charged master if your madness +3 percent)....

This makes itemizing the class EXTREMELY difficult. I have spent probably over 2 mill in the last month parsing on the ops dummy, swapping out mods / enhancments (more crit, less crit - ok then that means less accuracy or power). As an assassin, if your not spec'd madness - it is impossibly to achieve a crit rating of say 35+ (like every other class gets) with 110 accuracy, and a force/tech power of 1050+...impossible.

I had a blast leveling my shadow and think it's one of the more fun classes to pvp with.

However, when it came to end game pve, the damage and utility of it just can't touch a sentinel... so I rerolled.