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Thoughts on 1.5 Watchman Heal Nerf?


SovereignConvict

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Seems pretty silly to me. Over the long run this healing is useful, but doesn't make a huge difference against the burst classes. I'm actually surprised they didn't nerf focus and combat burst although I realize that is pretty hard to do.

 

I don't see this as having much of an effect although again seems kind of pointless.

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It seems fair to me. Fair compared to Balance Shadows. Before it healed as much as for them, while they had to spec deep in the tree to have these 2%, while having lesser damage reductions and no increase of critical rate of DoTs (Sents and Maras had up to 15% bonus-crit chance on it) making them harder to proc heals than Sents and Maras.

Not ever mentioning that it added to the 1% from Zen...

Edited by Altheran
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Before I could take on 1 healer and 1 tank by myself with zen self heal and i can no longer do that. Having sed that, focus sent/guardian can still 1v2 and down 2 players in less than 15 sec if they time everything right. So can inf and balance shadows. So... what's up with the hate on watchman??? Shouldn't they be nerfing the stun bubbles or focus before they nerf watchman even more?
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I agree. This is one of the most senseless nerfs I've seen in a long time.

Another PvP oriented decision that also drastically affects PvE.

 

However in PvP with the 30% damage reduction already imposed it makes this spec almost completely non-viable as the heals were an integral part of the sustained damage and survivability. Further, the burns can be cleansed by any class.

 

In two warzones tonight I did 300k damage and healed 11k and 35k respectively while the Guardian Tank healed for over 55k.

Edited by Drazzen
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This decision has taken away 50% of the fun I have playing my Sentinel. I also play a Shadow, and I have 3 DoTs I can drop on a target as opposed to the 1 and a 1/2 DoTs I can do on my Sentinel. The only major different is the garanteed healing from mashing a 30 stack of Zen. Even with the additional 15% crit chance on burn effects (which requires a small build-up to get to that point), I didn't notice a substantial difference in the frequency of healing tics. All in all, they seemed about even in terms of healing, but depending on what I was fighting at the time my Sentinel would have a slight advantage when jumping from target to target to keep the 5 stack buff up constantly and rebuild 30 stacks zen very quickly. With the healing changes, this is no longer possible.

 

Sentinels and their Sith counterparts were concidered a fast-paced combat class that cut paths of destruction through enemy ranks with deadly efficiency and speed. I think this only applies to the other specs in the tree now, since Watchman/Annihilation relies on the heals to keep them alive and deal their damage as opposed to the burst and hard hitting build-up attacks from the other 2 specs.

 

The healing done is solely based on your max hps, and since I don't have the time to sit on this game for hours farming Hard Modes and find Pugs for raids, I'm not uber geared on either toon. Maybe end-game equipment was a determining factor for this change (i.e. dps builds getting themselves over 20k+ hps or whatnot from raid gear), but from what you guys are saying it was more than likely a decision based on PvP mechanics. What I do know, is that I can no longer jump into a group of 4 minion classified mobs of equivalent level and come out with half my health bar intact. I didn't realize how dependant I became on the healing until now. I can no longer use my dps companions for fast burn-downs like I used, and using a tank companion for tougher mobs has gotten almost pointless. I'm forced to use my healer companion for any mob stronger than a silver or any group of mobs including a silver and more than 1 add.

 

I realize I'm complaining, which wasn't my intention. I just want to know why the healing was reduced and exactly what means they used to make this determination. I will be very disapponted if F2P had something to do with it...

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You should know those are the only kinds of decisions they make. BioWare doesn't give a rat's as$ about PvE.

 

I'll agree this was obviously a PvP oriented nerf, but to claim that Bioware cares more about PvP than PvE is taking it way too far. They've said themselves that PvP was a secondary concern.

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There is currently a lot of "negative outlook" in the PvP community regarding Sentinels/Marauders. I do think most of it has to deal with human perception flaws (e.g. you're more likely to think the guy that was "up in your face" killed you rather than the 7 other guys that were all shooting you from a distance at the same time). Regardless, from all the classes I play, I definitely think Sentinels could stand a little nerf.

 

BUT... I think the nerf should have been to either Combat or Focus, NOT Watchman. Watchman is really only useful in PvP when you're pugging. It's basically a penalty against solo players, who have enough penalties already.

 

All things considered though, it's far from the end of the world. I played a ton in PUGs last night with my Watchman specced Sentinel. The difference wasn't too bad.

 

I wish they'd nerf the crap out of those Operatives that can CC me and kill me in three hits, and can CC me three times in a row! Also, I'm a fully equipped Elite War Hero (minus the Vindicator set bonus, which I'm still working on).

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combat doesnt need a nerf its squishy as hell and easy to counter. Bursts like hell though :D and its a fun play style i've recently went combat from watchman and with the recent nerfs i see no reason to go back. <.< Edited by AngusFTW
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I agree. This is one of the most senseless nerfs I've seen in a long time.

Another PvP oriented decision that also drastically affects PvE.

 

However in PvP with the 30% damage reduction already imposed it makes this spec almost completely non-viable as the heals were an integral part of the sustained damage and survivability. Further, the burns can be cleansed by any class.

 

In two warzones tonight I did 300k damage and healed 11k and 35k respectively while the Guardian Tank healed for over 55k.

 

But it WASN'T a PVP oriented decision. Go to the PVP forums and all they are saying is "Another PvE decision that drastically affects PvP..."

 

PvE'ers weren't calling for a nerf on Sent healing. PvP'ers weren't calling for it. (recently anyway, at some point every ability of every class has been called on to be nerfed by anyone who has ever lost to that class)

 

This is just another head-scratcher by Bioware that leaves their players going "huh?"

 

The only thing that is clear about this nerf is that Bioware WANTS me to re-spec focus/rage. So watch out WZs... Another geared out lolsmasher coming through...

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Further, the burns can be cleansed by any class.

 

Except Guardians, Sentinels, Gunslingers, Vanguards; Shadows have one ability to cleanse them on a 1 minute cooldown.

 

So yeah, actually most classes can't cleanse the burns. But I have to admit that it's at least hilarious that Sentinels complain about a tiny nerf, especially considering that Watchman is far and away the best PvE DPS spec and you can still put up monster numbers with it in PvP.

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So yeah, actually most classes can't cleanse the burns. But I have to admit that it's at least hilarious that Sentinels complain about a tiny nerf, especially considering that Watchman is far and away the best PvE DPS spec and you can still put up monster numbers with it in PvP.

It isnt the best pve spec combat can put out just as good dps if not more. Most people will agree that they are on equal footing depending on a players preference.

 

The survivability of the self heals is what made it a good spec to solo queue for pvp but nerfing that puts it behind the other specs in modern day swtor pvp where burst is everything and combat/focus will give more of that. Sure watchman like most dot specs will still put out great scoreboard numbers (maybe not to focus extremes) in the right circumstances and its still viable but nerfing the self healing which is one of the big draws of the spec is just going to make more people respec to derpsmash or combat...

 

TLDR its like bioware wants every sent to spec focus..

Edited by AngusFTW
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Except Guardians, Sentinels, Gunslingers, Vanguards; Shadows have one ability to cleanse them on a 1 minute cooldown.

 

So yeah, actually most classes can't cleanse the burns. But I have to admit that it's at least hilarious that Sentinels complain about a tiny nerf, especially considering that Watchman is far and away the best PvE DPS spec and you can still put up monster numbers with it in PvP.

 

You're right, Drazzen shouldn't have said "every class". But watchman is for sitting on a healer, all 3 of which can cleanse, so your point is pretty moot. Watchman may have the potential for really high numbers, but it's easily countered by people who know what they're doing (hence it being unviable against good ranked teams). Besides, focus has a higher dmg potential anyway. It's funny how people have taken a break from complaining about the significantly OP smashers just to laugh at the watchman sents being nerfed. It's like you *want* to be smashed more.

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You're right, Drazzen shouldn't have said "every class". But watchman is for sitting on a healer, all 3 of which can cleanse, so your point is pretty moot. Watchman may have the potential for really high numbers, but it's easily countered by people who know what they're doing (hence it being unviable against good ranked teams). Besides, focus has a higher dmg potential anyway. It's funny how people have taken a break from complaining about the significantly OP smashers just to laugh at the watchman sents being nerfed. It's like you *want* to be smashed more.

 

I don't get it either. Ignore the lolsmasher spec hitting people for 6k+ and nerf the survivability of another spec? I think some wires in the Bioware R&D got crossed.

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Except Guardians, Sentinels, Gunslingers, Vanguards; Shadows have one ability to cleanse them on a 1 minute cooldown..

 

Kind of nit-picky huh? What I meant was any class with a cleanse, which you should have inferred.

 

I don't think that operatives/scoundrels should be able to cleanse it.

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The problem ist that a Crit stacked Sentinel, >500 Points in Crit. Like I play one.

Respective Critchance of the two DoTs 65%

Before the nerf you could reach 25% of the HPS a normal Healer reached, most overheal but still 25% of a Healer when doing a lot of DPS. 0.5% or 1% in Total aka 50% of the healing reduced seems a bit harsh, but in only takes down the self healing for Crit Sentinels, who could easily heal the Raidwide AoE DMG away.

 

Example Asation HC, all bosses at some point have Raid AoE, a Crit Wachman seldomly needed to be heald. The nerf has no real issue in PVP or for RAIDs as it only nerfes the Selfheal that comes without ZEN. It is a very big nerf, but it doesn´t kill the class^^

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My issue is I'm being outhealed 3:1+ by Shadows/Assassins *and all theirs are self heals* and almost 2:1 by Guardians/Juggernauts (in Soresu/Shii-cho Forms) *also self heals*

 

Heal classes are still healing in excess of 100k (Sages/Sors) and still pumping out some top DPS #s and from ranged.

 

Today I was disgusted I actually had a 6k heal stat with over 200k damage done in a warzone. In focus spec if I used my CC Break an average of 8 times in a typical warzone, my self-heals *with trauma applied* would be about 14k. Guardians/Juggernauts also get Focused Defense as well as a set bonus heal for using Guardian Leap which I could use (albeit theoretically) 40+ times in a typical warzone, for an estimated 40k more healing.

 

Look, just give us back our heals.

Edited by Drazzen
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while its by far the pettiest thing biocakehole has done, im still rolling folks watchman so....i just do half the healing which i dont understand . ranked teams dont want watchmen and you take away a grp ability? sick....more pressing concerns i have for pvp tho are my inability to use merc slash on even par with sweep when it also hits for less.... lower the cooldown on it plse...so i can use it more in pvp...but ya dont nerf the 7k hitters, nerf a ability that does small grp heals.... smart chioce biodorks.....
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