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elmergosh

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  1. Exactly the question I had and exactly the answer that I needed. Onwards to Level 58. When I first returned, I was afraid that it was going to be completely terrible. But overall I'm pretty happy with the rotation now, except no 0 meter force leap. I just miss it so much. :'(
  2. I completely agree with this. But I think it should be extended to all of them. I mean, Rakata is easy enough to get while so many people are so geared. I've had occasion to do a NiM and couldn't since I did a HM run earlier in the week. I didn't need any of the gear for sure, I was just going for something to do. And honestly the SM Ops ought to be completely free of lockouts. They are done mostly as randoms for BH comms these days, and when someone has a new L50 character, we can easily run them through HM/NiM EV/KP or SM EC and gear them up to Rakata in an evening. I've also known guilds to just run through LI HM a few times with a new 50, then take them on an EC HM trip and they're half or more campaign in a day. Anyways, moral of the story.... relax lockouts for the old content
  3. I'm a L50 Watchman Sentinel and for endgame PvE it's tops =) Though Combat seems perfectly legitimate as well. I leveled my character in Focus spec because I, like you, loved the huge AoE damage. In terms of endgame, whenever I see a Sentinel in Shii-Co form I immediately try to educate them further (for non-PvP) =P I haven't played Focus since pre-1.2, but from what I read in the patch notes and see in the skill tree, BioWare tried to make Focus a semi-respectable single target dps tree as well. It of course isn't; not for endgame anyways. It appears that besides Force Sweep, you're basically relying on Strike/Slash, with some Blade Storm mixed in (remember things that boost your Force Crit chance and/or damage will increase Sweep, Blade Storm & Stasis damage). Given the fact that you won't have one of the main elements (and the burstiness) of Watchman until at least L40 (Merciless Slash), I think Watchman wouldn't be that more exciting to level than Focus. I'm positive all 3 trees are viable and Watchman would have an edge on fighting bosses in your class story (which are a joke really). But at the end of the day, 95% of what you need to kill are trash mobs and those go down quick & easy with uber Sweeps =) Anyways, it's late, I'm tired and rambling. My point is that, unless you're set on using one and only one spec for the rest of your SW:TOR days, it's a perfectly viable and fun way to level with Focus tree and then switch to Watchman at L50. I know, it's exactly what I did =P But welcome to the wonderful world of being a Sentinel! Such a fun class to play =)
  4. I just want to point out that, with Defensive Forms, you are technically "attacked" anytime you take damage and hence build centering. As pretty much everything involves fairly consistent AoE damage, I feel it's worth taking. I also take Defensive Roll and Steadfast. For the longest time I was against taking Steadfast, but I think 3% Accuracy is good enough that you can trade the Accuracy in your gear for a lot more crit/power/surge. I am not entirely sure how many extra stat points, but I think it's worth it. I am curious to try out my dps with Insight and Swift Slash. Taking the extra in Swelling Winds though I think is foolish. It's only good on trash, and trash isn't worth spec'ing for =) Anyways, that's just my 2 creds.
  5. Watchman Spec, mainly PvE, some PvP 1. How do you think your Sentinel spec is perceived by other classes? I think most players see the Sentinel (watchman spec) able to top damage on most raid bosses where they're given a chance for sustained output. Obviously this depends on skill and especially a Sentinel's ability to stay in melee range and on the boss. Most people see this as the trade-off of having to be melee and deal with more incoming damage. 2. How do you perceive your own spec? <33333 I loooove my Sentinel. It does great damage when I'm affording it the attention that it deserves. I feel that it takes some skill and attention to detail to do it right, which makes me feel less like some face-rolling shmuck. I've met a fair number of Sentinels that don't dish out as much dps as me so I guess I'm doing something right =) PvP Note: Watchman suffers from being more sustained dmg and less bursty (need 5 stacks of Juyo and 3 stacks of Mercilless to reach your full potential). Decent survivability if you time your cooldowns right, I certainly wouldn't think them OP.
  6. The specific wording of Defensive Forms says "Builds 1 Centering when attacked." Does this include general AoE dmg? Or only when you have threat and are being actively attacked? If it's only when you have threat then I'd beg Bioware to put Steadfast on Tier 1 so I can skip Defensive Forms but still take useful points to get to Defensive Roll. However, if it builds Centering from AoE attacks, it's probably worth taking on its own merits. My current build (maybe a duplicate of someone else's....didn't bother looking at them all): http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/jedi_knight/sentinel/#::fe2f2efcf12e5fe2fe8f10ef8
  7. Though I highly doubt anyone cares, the original point of this thread is to post an idea for something new or different that Bioware could implement that would make you so excited you'd say "Please Bioware, take my money! He is not saying the game sucks, he is not saying the game is perfect, he is just asking for ideas for new features or content that would get you really excited to continue playing the game. Just remember that not all threads are for constant haters of the game, some of us actually read swtor.com cuz we enjoy swtor =P hehe, cuz I'm new to MMOs and enjoy the terminology, I'm just gonna say: L2R
  8. First off, thanks to the OP because the idea behind this thread is great (though my reading of the first few pages seems that a lot of people can't get the point). I looove the game, so much so that at any given time my computer may blow up from overuse. With that said, some things I'd like to see are... *A much larger variety of crafted items. My thoughts would be to make everything RE'able for an orange schematic. Even lightsabers, which you can't really see, I'd love to have my old lightsaber "Punisher" back crafted with an augment slot. But making everything RE'able would be sooo much variety in gear with top level stats. *More FANTASTIC flashpoints and operations like the new stuff (Lost Island and Denova). I have done Lost Island about 10 times and have beaten it just 3. It's an excellent challenge and very doable after you get the hang of it. Don't nerf any new content and you will have my love forever =) *Names for pets. And I daresay the ability to add them into the legacy family tree somehow? Or at least display a name + the legacy name. Who doesn't love the family pets? =P (I also like the idea of pets/creature mounts) *Let me be a Jawa Jedi!! hehe *More/new space missions. I really loved the space missions while levelling, though now (and on my alt) I can't get into them as much. Oooh, one of my favorite ideas... *At some point (probably down the line), make a legacy-unlockable Rakata transport on your ship with corresponding ones on each planet and fleet. This being such a super reward it would go great with a series of challenging quests to unlock each planet's Rakata transport (like I said, an idea for the longterm). *More companion conversations & quests & yada yada yada. Certain quests or areas where more than one companion can be used at a time in battle & questing. *Legacy bank, which I'm guessing will be coming at some point (I can't be the first to think of that =P) Conveniently implemented as a new tab on the regular Cargo Hold would be tops =) *Ohhh, how could I forget (my only semi-gripe)...cross-server LFG or server transfer/merge/etc options to beef up population on servers. I'm pretty good finding groups on my own these days, but it's a constant struggle. Being an overactive user is a casual raiding guild (2 nights a week), I would honestly like to be able to do all 3 operations in normal and story mode every week. I'd even set up pug raids for others like me if there were enough to go around =/ (Might also help to make lockouts apply to completing the raid in its entirety, not just a portion, or being able to reset once if it's partially completed...just some random thoughts) *Otherwise just keep up the great work, keep listening and communicating with your player base and I will continue to play this until people that care about me drag me away from this computer, kicking and screaming =) Phew.
  9. The magic answer? It depends! hehe I have Artifice on mine, which I generally enjoy. You can make crystals and hilts and enhancements and augmented lightsabers. If you're still low level, you may choose Cybertech instead as it can craft Mods and Armorings and Earpieces, which are a great cheap way to keep your gear more closely up to date as you level (assuming you use all orange gear, which is my preference). Synthweaving is also nice as it can craft orange Jedi armor with augment slots. And there is also a steady vote for Biochem as it is often seen as the most profitable, as well as giving you reusable stuff (like stims & medpacks I believe). The others (Armormech, Armstech) are more for non-Jedi so they will be of limited use to you. At the end of the day it will be your preference. You generally won't be able to get everything you want and need out of a single craft, so be smart and use the GTN to get yourself some credits for buying what you are unable to craft. A good suggestion would be to focus on a few mid-level (20-40) purple items that you've learned from Reverse Engineering, and sell them on the GTN for more than you think they're worth. I generally find that mid-level items are vastly underrepresented on the GTN so you'll have minimal competition for selling them. As for the Gathering/Mission skills, I would suggest getting the ones paired with your craft. Otherwise you will have to work the GTN to purchase materials to craft which can be a pain (and costly too). Last tip: Whatever crafting you decide to do, it's probably best to keep it at a few levels above your current level so that you can craft in anticipation of what is to come.
  10. I levelled Focus and it was very fun =) Since most of what you eat are trash mobs, the ******ity of Force Sweep makes life easier. But once you are working on hardmode flashpoints and operations, Focus is way too AoE-"focused" and doesn't have enough single-target damage to give you the raid dps you want to put out. I do miss it on the trash mobs though =( I've never played Combat but I've heard good things about it, and I think it's very competitive with Watchman + gives armor debuffs that (I believe, I honestly have nothing concrete) help increase the damage of the entire raid. But I am willing to wager that a Combat-spec'd Sentinel will pull aggro far more often than a Watchman Sentinel due to its burst-ier nature. Again, little experience with Combat so these are just semi-educated guesses. With that said, I'm presently Watchman spec'd and put out the most single-target damage of anyone in the operations I have run. In fact, once mastered and honed, I almost want to call myself OP =P (Pleeease don't nerf me!) Which I think isn't bad as we are a dps-only spec. So what we lack in versatility should give us a slight edge in what we do best: dps =) (Though honestly I end up tanking a lot hehe) HOWEVER, I believe you'll find that levelling as a Sentinel is fun no matter what you do =) If I could do it all over again I'd probably respec once a week and have fun with them all. Note: As a non-PvP'er, I can't say much about that, but I've heard all have their advantages and disadvantages for PvP. I'd try out all of them and see what suits your playstyle best, just make sure you're not Focus-spec'd when you're running endgame PvE =P (Trust me on that)
  11. PvE: In PvE, as far as I've seen, it's always better to go with as much Strength as you can and turn away all stats in lieu of Strength. If I recall correctly, Strength gives .2 extra dmg per point and power gives .23 extra dmg per point (sustained dmg that is) and Strength also gives a bonus to critical chance (non-linear, I believe diminishing returns factors in a lot). I can't remember if it gives a bonus to critical multiplier...I don't think so... So it probably depends on how stacked you are on crit/surge/etc, but I have found that strength dominates above all in PvE for Sentinels Off-topic question: How do you find having just 1 point in Close Quarters? Can you use Force Leap every cooldown? I have the same spec as you except 0 points in Force Fade (since no 99% reduction anymore ='( ) , one more point in Close Quarters and a fairly pointless point in Steadfast, mostly for my curiosity.
  12. Usual disclaimer: I do only PvE, no PvP. I haven't read this whole thread yet (going to go back and do it), but I can't help myself and need to mention that I have seen absolutely no reason to get additional accuracy. Btw I am Watchman spec. I've heard accuracy might be worthwhile for the OH attacks of Ataru. The question I have is, how often are you missing? I never miss on an attack in my priority list. Once in awhile I might see that Strike missed, but aside from low focus times I feel that strike is the weakest choice and try to use it as little as possible. If you hover your mouse over accuracy you see that "special attacks" start at 100% accuracy. Now I have no verification of what these are, but I think that only Strike (maybe Slash too?) are basic attacks and the rest are special and hence already have 100%+. I have always been a pro- power/surge, against crit, but since only burns autocrit in watchman I am going to pick up 30% crit or better. But for Focus I'd go as much surge to get 75%, over that power is probably giving a lot more bang for your buck. But since I feel accuracy is a complete waste, I have replaced all but one of my accuracy enhancements with crit/surge ones, soon to be all. If I notice more missing than usual I will come back and edit my post.
  13. Usual disclaimer: I do zero PvP, only PvE. Until we start seeing some effects of the new Combat Log, it is impossible to know everything 100% certain, but... You're right about Strength, Endurance is nice but I wouldn't trade power or crit for endurance. What you definitely DON'T want is: Shield, Absorption or Defense. Since we are a dps-only class the best idea is to stick with what you're good at. For increased survivability get used to Rebuke, Saber Ward and Medpacks =) What we DO enjoy is: Power, Crit and Surge (maybe accuracy? ask a Combat-spec Sentinel). Depending on your level and specification, which ones are best may vary (and honestly I can't tell you for sure). One thing to note is that all Sentinel classes have something that makes them automatically critical on something. In the focus tree it is Force Sweep, your main dmg. So for focus tree I would take as little crit as possible (again, your main main main damage criticals automatically) and focus on surge to get to 75% (80 maybe) and the rest power. That was also my thoughts for the other trees but I am Watchman spec'd and since the only thing that criticals is 6 ticks of our burns every 30 seconds or so, I have been looking into getting more crit (to 30% about). I believe Combat tree's main damaging force (Blade Rush or Blade Slash or something?) also auto crits. (I could be wrong, never played combat) I have heard they like Accuracy whereas I detest it (they like it for increased chance to hit on their offhand attacks). But "special attacks" have 100%+ accuracy so I generally avoid this stat as much as possible. So, in review, stay away from defensive based stats like defense, shield, absorb. Get a ton of power and surge and some crit as well. It's generally best to spread them around a bit as surge and crit have diminishing returns. Oh and search the forums for Jedi Sentinel - A Primer...it saved my swtor life =) It used to be stickied and should be again. Last tip: Take everything with a grain of salt (including this). Most suggestions are just suggestions based on experience. If someone tells you something you DEFINITELY MUST DO, they are likely too closed-minded to be shelling out advice. Use your own judgement and if you feel your dps is starting to fall flat, try out something else. hehe if they gave awards for the longest posts I think I'd be near the top
  14. Disclaimer: I PvE only so if you're doing mostly PvP I apologize for analyzing as I am quite the PvP pre-noob. I look at specs in terms of "how will it do on bosses you fight for 5 minutes or more and can't be stunned, etc." torhead's tooltips are incorrect for damage (or use some base damage I'm not aware of) and I'm taking it you are using your own numbers for Slash. In my current spec Merc Slash does 2500-3K dmg. As for Slash crit'ing all the time, I don't see quite how that's possible. If you have 30% crit chance + the 15% from Swift Slash you are at best crit'ing half the time. Also I'd like to note that after Focused Slash, Slash costs 2 and Merc Slash costs 4. So Merc Slash does roughly the same damage as 2 Slashes, costs the same focus. It has only GCD to worry about but takes 2 GCDs to do the same damage as 1 Merc Slash (which has a CD of 7.5 sec when done properly). Merc Slash is also twice as likely to finish the CD on Cauterize. And since you said to use Zen to save focus, I'm guessing you're in Shii-Co form? Which means you're not taking advantage of a lot of the burn-related stuff in the Watchman tree or stacks of Juyo to increase damage. If you are in Shii-Co form, I'd suggest dropping Jedi Crusader and putting those 2 points in Zephyrian Slash to beef up your Slash attack. (But again, Jedi Crusader in PvP might be better) Also to get the Swift Slash you need to drop 5 points in the first Tier which (besides Master Focus) doesn't give a huge benefit to most of your attacks. I typically only use Force Sweep when everything is on CD or I am fighting trash. And the only abilities I can see that would benefit from Insight are Stasis, Force Sweep and Blade Storm. I never use Blade Storm and use Stasis mostly for focus generation (which I may stop doing and just use strike) or trash. Those points could be better spent improving survivability a bit. I'm not saying your spec isn't viable in PvP or PvE, and maybe when I figure out this combat log determining dps thing, I'll give it a shot to test it out =) I do like the idea of Swift Slash as I'd rather use Slash than strike, especially when I've got some extra focus to burn. I'm not at all confident that Dual Wield Mastery is worth 3 points so I may put those into Insight (meh) just to get the Swift Slash. Here is what I think will be my next spec: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#501bIbRrRMfsZoMZRM0M.1 I still feel that those 3 points into Swelling Winds and Insight is a waste, but unless I start to miss the AoE dmg reduction of Defensive Roll or the minor dmg increase of Duel Wield Mastery, I think this is what I'll stick with until the min-maxers tell me what I should do =P
  15. (Note: I only PvE, no PvP) As a Sentinel who hasn't played a Guardian (yet), I can tell you that sentinels aren't just FOTM (unless they decide to nerf us, which I really hope doesn't happen!). One thing that I can tell you is that sentinel does GREAT dps for those players willing to learn and work hard to do great dps. It's the type of class that (imo) requires a good amount of skill and practice, but gives you great rewards for your effort. I've seen it done fantastically (and I'd like to think I'm pretty decent myself =P) and I've seen it done POORLY. So much so that I've had to correct certain people's viewpoints on sentinels by showing them that it can be done to great effect. In PvE, Guardian tanks seem to do quite as well as Shadow or Vanguard tanks. However, most of the Guardian dps I've come across don't do quite as well. It could just be that I've not met enough good ones, but a gut feeling says that their increased survivabilty with heavy armor has to be traded off for something... In PvP (to which I am almost completely ignorant), it seems that survivability vastly increases damage potential and I can see my (relatively) squishy Sentinel having to die often enough. So having the extra time alive as a guardian may work better to your advantage. In PvE survivability isn't as bad provided you have a decent+ healer and get good at controlling threat and using defensive cooldowns when necessary. Final thought: Since I mostly PvE I can tell you one major disadvantage of the Jedi Sentinel: single spec. And since every class can technically dps, dps are usually the least often needed (except on ops nights it would appear). So finding groups becomes more of a pain. Good luck and if you roll a Sentinel, don't make us look bad! hehe
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