LightMaster

One of the devs, I think is called Powerhouse or something iirc, did call Sentinel AT like that, reflecting the reduced range and armor. For those giving a thumb down to me, please have a decency to tell me why you don’t agree with the suggestions. Those of Discord server hating on the Sentinel AT will get lost and wonder why bother if we don’t step in to give a counterargument.

While it is true that some Dominators primarily uses ranged damage, other Doms primarily uses melee (as those melee powers deal more damage) or even a good mix of both. I’m one that uses both since I feel like the Assault power set is intended to go for mixed, going in and out of melee range with enough powers to constantly attack a mez-resistant enemy, such as an Arch-Villain or a Giant Monster. That said, Miss Me allows your version of Manipulator to have more survivability in comparison to any type of Dominator, so the Manip exchanges control prowess for better survivability. If you want a suggestion on Devices, maybe have the Manipulator using faster version of Mine and Time Bomb to compensate having to set up in the first place, while Tactical Arrow… maybe make that one exclusive to Blasters, as only Brutes and Tankers uses Super Strength among melee ATs to give an example. Perhaps a variant called “Tactical Claws / Combat” can be used instead for the Manipulator.

Picking this thread back up because there are trash-talking on Sentinel in Discord. On one hand, Sentinel can be very good with certain power sets, with Elec/Elec being a highlight. It’s a strong “last bastion” archetype when push come to shove as well, with any survivability is better than the Blaster’s lack thereof. Endgames and hardmodes might be a different story, but that one has a small amount of player participating. On the other hand, there are legitimate reasons why the Sentinel is disliked beyond misuse of the Archetype. Although a few criticisms are very extreme (dealing less damage than a Defender? Really?), there are a few points I find to be valid. There are arguments that Sentinel should have at least get a crit-like inherent, as well as much stronger ST damage at cost of same Target Cap and reduced AoE potential. This allows the Sentinel to be a sidegrade to Blaster - a range Archetype less damage, but have better survivability. It was discussee earlier in this thread, too. If instead of a crit system, a way to do that is to make a variant of a snipe, called a “Charged Blast”, which brings to mind a charging ranged attack akin to Samus or Mega Man. It starts with Extreme damage when not engaged, but if a condition is met for two seconds or more, it becomes stronger in both damage and secondary effect. Part of why the Sentinel of Tesla Cage is beloved is due to being able to deal Extreme damage AND has a helpful secondary effect in the form of a Hold. Simply put Sentinel’s range more in-line with other ranged ATs (while still allowing Aim to increase range for safer shooting), since the lowered range just doesn’t work on a conceptual level since the Blasters can already be melee-ranged due to having one PBAoE nuke depending on the power set, and the strong melee powers in most of the Blaster’s secondaries. Personally, I think the Sentinel’s Control powers in the Ancillery and Patron Power Pools should be able to deal a harsh secondary effect alongside mezzing the foe to compensate the long recharge rate. These may help out the Sentinel having a nice push without completely eclisping the other ranged ATs, while staying true of being a “ranged Scrapper”.

Helps that -Res can be done by pretty much any AT and any Power Set as long as you got the right IO that do that, such as Achilles’ Heel. I myself like to pick Misdirection whenever possible if I pick up the Concealment Power Pool because I discovered that it has -Res on a PBAoE, and it’s a pretty powerful 15% on VEATs, Tanker (why would you do that on a Tanker though?), Controller, Defender, but even 10,5% is pretty good on multiple foes at once. So of course you can stack it with your -Res charged Corruptor. I have a Sonic/Arrow Corruptor that took all the -Res powers on the secondary.

After looking at the responses… What was I thinking? Seeing negative reactions and even asking for removal regarding the Sentinel skewed me to see it as lower tier, and that’s despite me having a lot fun with the archetype. After revising how I feel about the Sentinel AT, I do agree that it only needs a single something to truly feel like a ranged Scrapper, like a crit, so that it can compete with Scrappers and the like, but definitely not close to the level of Corruptor and Blaster. Just an overall bit higher single target DPS with that in mind. Regarding inherents, that’s more of a wide issue than the Sentinel’s specifically, so this thread isn’t appropriate for this thread regarding Controllers, Dominators and Masterminds unless for comparison, and Sentinel’s Vulnerability more falls victim of being severely underused / misused by players due to a lack of guidance than the inherent itself having issues. I would not argue against Vulnerability stacking, but with diminishing returns as to not make it obsoletely good.

I should have worded better since I don’t really want the Sentinel to be removed either and I’m fine with how it is currently, given that HC did at least took time and effort to create a new archetype either. I took it since there’s a few people of the server that straight up suggested to remove Sentinel altogether which is counterproductive.

Hopefully without something like Scourge. If that’s the case, then it might be a solid well-rounder AT without overlapping too much with Melee ATs, then.

On one hand, some of the Corruptor’s secondaries does encourage getting up close and personal such as Poison, but giving Corruptor access to Assault power sets might be asking for making an S-tier AT to be unbelievably overpowred, as Assault’s Melee Powers tend to have the best ones of their Full Melee Counterparts. A Scourged Melee Damage might be either comparable or even surpassing a Scrapper’s crit. There were suggestion on Melee/Buff and there are concerns about that AT idea overshadowing both sides. Allowing Corruptor to using highly-damaging, reliable Melee Powers before reaching Level 35 is asking to overshadow the Melee ATs even more. At least the Dominator doesn’t use Buff/Debuff and is countered by factors like higher than average endcost and WANTING to use Haste to be optimal.

Yeah, but I’ve also been told that the Sentinel AT is supposed to be a DPS AT and not a tanky AT, and the Scrapper still deals lot more damage in comparison, so it resulted the Sentinel to be a master of none when compared to other ATs other than “the last bastion” unless one go for Electric/SR. A ranged tanky AT would be better off as a seperate AT and not Sentinel. I know for sure a rework too drastic will annoy players with multiple Sents, especially with ones built with DPS in mind. That’s why I want to keep an open mind to ensure a solution that makes Sent players happy, with less changes the better.

Ooooor maybe leave the Luminous and Umbral stuff to Peacebringer and Warshade as-is? Granted, what powers the VEATs have aren’t super unique per say, but rather a neat combination, with A. Soldiers have a mix of Assault Rifle, Stalker stuff in Bane and Crowd Control and pseudo-MM in Crab, while A. Widows are basically Claws + Thorn + Psionic hybrid, but I rather not stripe away what uniqueness the Peacebringer and Warshade has beyond their exclusive forms, since some prefer to just stick with human form and not bother with the other two forms. Darkness elemental Power Sets can already scratch the Umbral / Void itch, and Energy is already used well as a substitute for light-based powers. I already requested Energy having Melee FX on Energy Blast and vice versa in here, for one, so that you can blast some really luminous projectiles for Energy Blast, while Energy Melee can enjoy punching with particles as FX options, akin to Dark’s Soul Noir option. If the HC devs are already making Luminous and Umbral stuff profiliated to compatible Archetypes, then sure, I can live with that, but I rather have the Kheldians catching up to par and make them relying a lot less of Changeling exploits first and foremost.

Yeah, that’s a way for Sentinels to catch up in DPS while keeping their concept. Scrappers have crits, Stalkers have crits, even Corruptors and Controllers have crits (called Scourge and Containment respectively), and Blasters have a “pesudo-crit” in Defiance that grants Damage Bonus which means more damage to not one, but many foes. … Although I’d think that it should be a distinct type of “deal doubled damage” crit that either plays with Vulnerability, or by simply adding another inherent that deals a conditional crit, like Controller having two Inherits (Containment and Overpower), or both. Like making guaranteed crits within two/three seconds of a Vulnerability-targeted foe. Alternatives would be… First Strike (100% crit on full health foes, and then occasionally crit on foes with more than 50% health; basically the opposite of Scourge but the decreasing chance as HP lowers is a bit more strict) Weak Spots (Chance-based like Scrappers’, but have higher chance against foes that have high Resistance, Defense or ToHit) Saving Throw (Any time a Sentinel misses, dodged enough damage or suffered enough damage, it will deal a guaranteed, unmissable crit; especially useful for finishing off a Defense-boosted foe like a Tanker-type Crey Paragon Protrctor) Charged Shot (Every four successful strike, the fifth one will be a guaranteed critical hit; missing will not reset the combo, but not using any power for fifteen seconds will)

As some of you may know, the Sentinel Archetype haven’t got their solid identity compared to other ATs. Being a “ranged Scrapper” proved to be fundamentally flawed, as it’s damage don’t even come close to a Scrapper, and it’s reduced Target Cap means it’s AoE is gutted out in overall damage it can do against a group of foes. And if one were to play a ranged Scrapper, then a pure ranged Blaster can already do that job far better in terms of DPS. So what can be done to Sentinel without overshadowing an existing Archetype? Well, instead of being a “ranged Scrapper”, the Sentinel could become a tanky ranged archetype instead. There are superheroes and villains that have a combination of high ranged damage and survivability. Iron Man having his faithful armor that shoots strong energy blasts, War Machine with a similar armor but with a multiplicity of weaponry, The Sentry that uses both melee and ranged powers on top of regenerative abilities, Mr. Freeze with his body suit that can withstand damage and can dish deadly ice projectiles in return, et cetera. With those in mind, it’s only fair that the Sentinel should be reworked into putting emphasis on survivability as a ranged counterpart of a Tanker, but also an opposite where the Sentinel focus on single-target damage and debuff* with less Target Cap. Their DPS still won’t reach the likes of Scrappers, Corruptors or Blasters, but they make up for it with a much more impressive survivability at a mid-range combat if all else fails, and in terms of debuff-inflicting, they surpass the Defender in damage. * Perhaps increasing the value equal to Defender so that any of the Sentinel’s blast power other than Electric Blast (already great on Sent) and Fire Blast (already great and never going wrong with DoT) will have more time to shine without dealing with the Defender’s low damage scalar. Again, to make up for low target cap and mid-range. Vulnerability should probably be enhanced with enemies taking more damage than it already does to make up for the Sentinel’s more limited Target Cap, as well as more severe reducing Resistance to mezzing and debuffs to make it a much more effective Force Multiplier, but otherwise it’ll be left as is. Armor secondaries would be touched accordingly since Super Reflexes is easily a favorite of Sentinels, and I found lot of good uses with Energy Armor, so it’s likely that Defense-oriented Armors and Super Reflexes will remain top tier. Instead, the Resistance-oriented Armor would be buffed to be ahead of Scrapper and Brute, but still behind Tanker’s versions, with the Sentinel’s Resistance cap increased (perhaps around 80 or 85%). The Snipe-replacing powers will probably have to be buffed to have a stronger secondary effect or stronger damage output depending on one’s want. Or have at least one “Tesla Cage” type where it deals Extreme Damage to make up for a lack of Snipe; Tesla Cage is part of what makes Electric Blast so good on Sentinel. As tempting as it is to remove / replace Sentinel entirely, I do not want to see an Archetype that the HC team had put some effort and time to put on. All being said, what would be your idea to improve the Sentinel other than removing it?

Wouldn’t hurt to bring some screenshots and see if those NPCs have multiple positions. I am not sure if it was already a thing since some non-important NPCs (like visiters / ravers) did stick to a place.

Why would be Tankers have no good “niches”? Being by far the tankiest AT, at least in the Melee category, and great at aggro control is a good reason we see in a variety of teams, be it casual to even Four Stars contents. I do think making the four existing Melee archetypes more distinct beyond numerical numbers and Inherents should take priority over trying to make a new Melee archetype, though. Stalker having Hide being Endurance-free stealth is a big start, so is Tanker’s big aggro control and specialty on survivability, leaving Scrappers (outdone by Corruptors, not just Blasters in damage) and Brutes in a rut.

It often happens when you logged back in after suddenly disconnecting from the server, and you can enter your password and enter the server list just fine if you try again after receiving the message. I don’t think it’s something to worry about as long as you’re not multi-boxing, since multi-boxing involves different accounts. Players can individually report if they suspect two or three toons are being multi-boxed at a server with 1100 players or more / three red dots.

I can imagine it as “Elemental Blast / Melee / Affinity / Control / Manipulation / Assault” with Swap Ammo type of power as a free package, at cost of being a master of none Set that can at least able to swap the type of damage on the fly, which means Fire, Cold, Energy, Negative, Psionic and Toxic (or even add Smash via Wind and Lethal via Metal) to circumvent an enemy group heavily resilient to a specific type of damage. In case of Affinity and Control, it also has a different additional effect like slight boost on Resist/Defense (or -Res for Control) versus that type of damage depending on one of the six / eight Elements chosen. I said Master of None because I don’t want that having different secondary effects on the fly and make other sets feeling obsolete. Mechanically, it can serve as a “beginner friendly” power set with no severe weaknesses and easy to understand, that nonetheless does have a level of complexity to it that allows veterans to take advantage of the Damage Swap system to defeat enemies that, say, a Fire Melee might struggle, at cost of being average across the board without the use of Enhancements. As a bonus, all powers can use different elemental FX, to really sell on specializing more than two elements lore-wise and can also help for a thematic “master of elements or Kirby/Mega Man-esque” concept, with Storm Blast being the closest with dealing Cold, Energy and Wind-based Smash damage in one package without involving weaponry.

Ice Mastery has a Snipe for Scrapper + Stalker, whereas Ice Blast does not? It’s not like Ice Blast needs it all things considered (Ice Assault Doms might appreciate it though), but now I should keep that in mind next time I make an ice-themed Scrapper / Stalker. I’m also surprised that Moonbeam have a higher slow-snipe base damage than other Scrapper + Stalker Snipes despite the animation speed being the same as Zapp and Frozen Spear. I thought at first a Slow Snipe feels redundant with Hidden Assassin’s Strike, but it can be a much safer alternative and adds an Extreme damage to your rotation as a fast-snipe, too. I’d only recommand Mace if it goes with your theme (i.e. Arachnos hired assassin or someone who stole some gadgets) but otherwise stick with Elec and Dark Masteries that you’d preferred.

TBH increasing the Dominator’s damage scales runs the risk of making the AT overpowered and away from it’s main role, since such main role first and foremost is “damage dealing CC” as twozerofoxtrot pointed, and not one of the damage dealing ATs, with Scrapper, Stalker, Corruptor and Blaster from tied 3rd for Scrapper and Stalker, to 1st for Blaster. If we increased the Dominator’s damage scales, they’ll end up forgoing CC most of the time because they will deal too much damage. While a smidge increase on Ranged Damage is fine, that scalar is ultimately good enough as is due to still doing enough damage to finish off targets and fight at a safe distance. It helps that Dominator have access to a Snipe in most Assault sets, too. Unlike Heatstroke, I’m taking advantage of the Assault the way it is meant to be; a nice mixture of Blast and Melee sets of the same theme, making Dominator one of the only true mixed ATs alongside the Blaster and the Epic ATs. I’ve been told in the Discord server of Homecoming that Assaults and most Manipulations (the Blaster’s secondaries) tend to have the same best melee powers as their Melee set counterparts, too. If anything, it gives a Dominator a sense of duality one must take advantage off on both solo or on a team. On one side, a Dominator can off Crowd Control often if the foes aren’t resistant to mezzes, then finish them off with their Assault powers. On the other side, on a team with already lot of CC or if the foes are resistant to mezzes like AVs, then pelt them with your Assault powers while shooting your CC powers time to time if you are on Domination. Perma-Dom (increased magnitude, resistance to mez for the Dominator, and insta-full End on activation) helps a lot in this regard as the Domination meter fills faster by using Assault Powers than with Control Powers iirc. If anything, the Controller is the underperforming one in the past, not the Dominator. Both can fill up some good Damage-Procs on their CCs, but the Dominator already have good damage on their own as well, giving the latter AT a bigger edge in a damage-oriented meta today, whereas the Controller have to rely on Containment, their pet damage and buff/debuff sets to significantly contribute beyond Crowd Control, and Overpower is inconsistant vs Domination. At least Defender have a much stronger buff and debuff than all other ATs, especially if such Defender can inflict -Def or -Res on foes. The Controller doesn’t have a luxury, only equal to Corruptor’s buffs and debuffs but with far less damage potential. It doesn’t make the Controller bad, I’ll say it is still good all things considered, just doesn’t hold the candle compared to other ATs. tl;dr Dominator is already in a good spot today, doesn’t severely need any buff, and already does better than Controller, an AT that is good but overshadowed.

A job for a Tanker is to control, get as much Resist / Defense fo survive and maintain that control, and distribute AoE damage. Energy Melee doesn’t have much AoE, thusly while servicable on a Tanker it is not the AT I’d recommand using for optimal use of the Power Set unless you’re more into the thematic sides of things, or combine with Bio Armor for granting one self extra damage to clean low ranked foes, then grant extra Resists for dealing with the big guns. Stalker is a common answer and for very good reason. Stalker are the most ST focused among pure Melee ATs* and thusly would love to use Energy Assassin Strike, Bone Smasher (optioanally), Total Focus and Energy Transfer as the single target damage chain. Although criticals work differently for Total Focus and Energy Transfer instead of a straightforward 2x danage, Total Focus Crits giving 2x Energy Focus means you have two Quick Energy Transfers, allowing for effective 2x damage on that power.

I appreciate giving your saying in the matters, particularly the “surprise” development. Regarding Hard Mode / Four Stars, It helps that players aren’t forced to participate on it at any point nor does Four Stars replaced the original (Lady Gray / Imperious) or the Four Star being the original one (Dr. Aeon) regarding Task / Strike Forces. They moreso serve for those who thinks those aren’t difficult enough and it helps that each Star adds additional objectives beyond boosting the critters’ numbers, with increased rewards in Prismatic Aethers. It does have an unfortunate effect of only certain ATs and powersets being selected a vast majority of the time for Four Stars, with loads of Corruptors and a Tanker back in the day, and then five Corrs, one Tanker and two Blasters. Back into the subject, I do think that civility should be enforced more given we saw some threads getting derailed a bit (if not severely so) with a few reaction post / snarky things in a row that didn’t add much to the conversations.

That’s something many would agree with, hopefully as two-in-one power purchase (you bought a Mini, you got the proportionally balanced version) as to reduce the need to cash in more Prismatic Aethers for those who purchased the Mini.

Something something Energy Blast having glowing FX akin to Energy Melee (and Energy Blast FX for Energy Melee), same for Assault and Manipulation. Given Dark powers have Soul Noir as an alternative FX based on Soul Mastery, and given that Energy Blast and Energy Melee have different FX despite sharing the concept powerset. Having options like those allows for easier interpretation on whether one toon uses it as “light” for glowing / hardlight particles with Energy Melee FX, or “molecular particles” with Energy Blast FX for the more general version of energy for both Blast, Melee, Manipulation and Assault. In case anyone asked, I rather not have Peacebringer light as an option it’s a distinct Kheldian light FX, same for Warshade’s FX regarding Darkness powersets. Storm and Marine Manipulations for Blaster given the Melee Powers of those and Dominator’s Assaults are useful to expand onto full melee sets of those concepts. Perhaps expand upon the Legacy Chain with critters of levels higher than 30, given they are supposed to be guardians of mystic arts that avoid letting those fall in evil hands, and / or have branches with level higher than 30 that have members that decided enough is enough and take more drastic measures, with skillsets and in-lore + in-game power level higher than the Legacy Chain we saw to back themselves up. Have one existing endgame enemy group to be more resilient against either Negative, Fire or Energy since those three are the least resisted type of damage among the enemy critters.

Def an interesting concept, but as far as I know, there’s not much insect NPCs available on top of having to create new skeleton riggings for the mantis. It’ll likely take years if it were to be implemented. But if it were to be implemented or something like that was planned in advance, I’d consider the following: The whole set focus on reducing stats and dealing Damage over Time, to make up for being mostly melee ranged. Praying Mantis are the one reducing Resistance, giving them an edge over other T3 pets. Black Scorpions (or just Scorpions to not confuse them with THE Black Scorpion of Arachnos) are the one dealing more DoT than other pets in general and reducing Defense. Giant Ants are the one dealing -DMG on the foes, which with all three Giant Ants makes for a heavy -DMG on one foe if all three are kept well alive. Perhaps smaller ants be available akin to Gang Wars and Hell on Earth, with weaker HP but adds even more damage if protected and buffed well.

Yeah, it have been suggested a lot as Rudra pointed out. From what I experienced with my Demon Summoning Mastermind, it deals Fire damage with Poison DoT. I can imagine the Whip Power Set starts with Smash damage and Lethal DoT, but can be embued with three different “modes” that changes damage type and secondary effect akin to Staff Fighting and Dual Pistols, or even mutually exclusive powers that serves as a single alternative mode. With Demon Summoning’s Fire damage and Toxic DoT being one of them, of course.

Other than directly helping out newly created toons via donations, of which we don’t have to partake if we really don’t want, I don’t see much solution for this supposed problem. Plus donations can be exploited by creating multiple toons, so a limitation per player might be needed like a cooldown-on-creation. Everlasting, the server I’m maining, have players that grant around 10 million inf or so for low level players. I also received 2 mil inf from a player during a SF in Exelscior, which helped me a lot for enhancements. Otherwise, it is not a gigantic problem even for new players that don’t speak up, and even then, new players that stick around figure to make the most of the Auction House. That is how I got much better at managing enhancements, btw… back before I realize how easy it is to use once you understands the basic, I was stuck using Merits to directly buy SOs, and not convert them into Converters / Unslotters / whatyouwant then sell then to AH. Ever since, my Inf income got a lot more stable.