What are your favorite things about Sentinels?

[Galaxy Brain]

I've noticed a lot of negativity surrounding Sents lately, and I think it's time to turn that around! 

 

For me, a Sentinel was the very first thing I made on HC as it was a brand-new AT. A mix of Ranged and Armor with tweaks to both? It sounds like a blast! Combined with the big, flashy target you can apply it makes for a rather unique character compared to the rest.

 

How about you?

[Bill Z Bubba]

What's not to dig? The tankmage is fun. Especially when built and played as a chaos mage, floating around in complete safety, never gettin mezzed, never gettin dropped to the dirt, blasting away one's enemies with complete impunity.

 

Mine probably gets added points since he's my "me" character.

[drbuzzard]

The fact that you get to make an AT which really is very comic booky is what I like about sentinels. I remember when VEATs came on the scene back on live, I jumped on that because it allowed the ranged tanky type. A SoA became my de facto main. However you are very limited in choices with a VEAT both aesthetically and in powers if you want to be a ranged blaster. Sentinels open up a wealth of choices in powers, and don't leave you with ugly cyber legs sticking out of your back. 

[oldskool]

4 hours ago, Galaxy Brain said:

I've noticed a lot of negativity surrounding Sents lately...

 

Only lately? 😆

 

The Sentinel offered me an opportunity to explore ranged sets deeper than I had ever bothered to on Live.  On Live, whenever I bothered with a ranged set it was an means to an end with a support AT like the Corruptor or Defender.  I never liked the gameplay of the Blaster, and I still don't.  The Sentinel was a compromise on mechanics while still allowing a freedom of expression I couldn't find elsewhere.  

The Sentinel is still a very fun AT to play for me regardless of common forum knowledge.

 

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by oldskool

[Naraka]

For me, I tried Sent a little when I first came back but the reason I didn't give them a better effort was I had other concepts I wanted to make. Couple that with having played many blasters, defenders and some Corruptors and I didn't really see the point in revisiting those sets. Same with the armors and scraps, stalks, tanks and brutes, I had played all the sets and their different iterations.

 

Having recently taken a closer look at the AT's sets, there is a lot more different than other AT's iteration of a given power set. This gives them even more variance in mechanical feel than what I initially thought an armor AT paired with blasts would have.

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, oldskool said:

I never liked the gameplay of the Blaster, and I still don't.  The Sentinel was a compromise on mechanics while still allowing a freedom of expression I couldn't find elsewhere.

 

What he/she said.

[Snarky]

5 hours ago, Galaxy Brain said:

I've noticed a lot of negativity surrounding Sents lately, and I think it's time to turn that around! 

 

For me, a Sentinel was the very first thing I made on HC as it was a brand-new AT. A mix of Ranged and Armor with tweaks to both? It sounds like a blast! Combined with the big, flashy target you can apply it makes for a rather unique character compared to the rest.

 

How about you?

I also started HC with a bevy of Sentinels.  I have always favored Brutes.  But i always wanted a Ranged Blaster. 
 

What can I say. I still love armored characters.  I love Mez protection

 

Personally (and i have heard opposite opinion from people i respect) I think Willpower has it’s strongest showing on Sentinels.  Better suited to the job than any other armor set available.  For me this is due to how the Armor was designed.  Not designed to absorb Alphas. Great, not in a Sentinels job description. Able to recover health very fast and with endless blue energy. Okay, now we are talking.   Mez protection and a passing amount of all around armor, defense.  Nothing to wrote home about, but again, not designed to take Alpha. Set and forget armor.  Lets a Sentinel concentrate on the job with the Primary set.  Very nice

 

i do like that there is a ranged character with armor

 

But i am Snarky(reg TM pat pend). So here goes: the range sucks, the target cap is crap, the damage is anemic, the inherent is a joke.  Fix any two of those things we might be able to talk. I have recently levelled a bunch more of these things with Willpower (and one Dark/Dark). As true today as it was when i first started HC. These things need some love. They were 75% finished and shoved it out the door. Sad panda

[Arcadio]

The armor sets are all quite different from the melee versions, and different in interesting ways. Allegedly sentinels aren't as survivable as scrappers and stalkers, but that has not been my experience (maybe because I love melee regen). 

 

My other favorite ranged AT with mez protection is a perma-dom, but those are pretty expensive to build. And the defenses are so much more active it leaves so much room to mess up and die. Which is not the case for sentinels.

[Hardboiled Hero]

  I find myself downtalking sentinels alot, but I still consider them my "main" AT.  What I like about sentinels is that they represent a proud tradition of comic book characters.  There are a plethora of comic characters with some kind of ranged attack and some kind of defense, whether you're talking about ironman shooting energy blasts at enemies from the safety of his armor (and forcefields as well), or Punisher with his trusty assault rifle and kevlar vest.  There's Iceman and Human Torch..  Spiderman is much more controly than most sentinels, but still uses a mix of ranged attacks and super reflexes.  So aestheticly I feel like the sentinel fills a much needed niche in a superhero game.

 

  The problem comes when talking mechanics.  Most commonly discussions about sentinels start with someone asking one of two questions. "Does the sentinel do good damage?" or "what role does a sentinel fill?" Then we're stuck explaining that a sentinel is a pure damage AT that doesn't do as much damage as any other pure damage AT.  We're competitive with Corruptors and Defenders for damage, without the ability to fill any secondary roles.  Many players assume we're "ranged tanks", but we lack any real tanking tools, and having only 2/3 the range of other ranged classes.

 

  But I always try to tell people they should play a sentinel because it's fun.  I just don't want people coming in thinking they're going to do blaster damage while having tank survivability.

[plainguy]

I have a Sent Beam Rifle Energy Aura that I literally can fall asleep him fighting a pack of mobs and wake up and he will still be alive..

 

I have a Sent  DP Super Reflexes that is similar and defense capped. 

I can run 8/4 setting them without any issues.  

Also let me add my DP Super Reflex was created at a time Hail of Bullets was broken. 

 

My whole thought process is as follows.

If I can SOLO 8/4  or even 8/3  then any additional player is just X amount of time faster that we can do a mission.
Again I am not about speed either when it comes to missions. Meaning I don't need to finish a mission in record time or I failed.  

But I am also aware of many players just do not understanding game mechanics or think that Proc's in every power possible is now the end all be all. But they are not.
You can have all the procs in the world but if can't survive the return Alpha strike from NPC ,which they do regardless if you kill them or not.. Then what is the point of all the procs if you are dying on every pull.  Further there are only so many Luck inspirations you can make before you run out "Luck" no pun intended in getting 3 same inspirations to create more Luck Inspirations. 

So if I am running 8/3 SOLO and you barely run 4/2 on your level 50 IO, incarnate build, who needs who here ? 
Again this isn't me sitting up on my high throne looking down.. Make what you want..  For me regardless of what Arch Type I play I am a Mastermind. Because every added player is just more DPS. If I come across another one or two defense capped player of sorts it is even tons better.. Because it simply becomes a much more powerful steam roll effect. 

I hear that Sent have a lack of DPS. I have never looked into reading up on the number comparison.  If I can do 8/4 or 8/3  I am winning.. How bad can they be.. I am doing 8/3 setting on a Petless Masterminds..  Lowest DPS and HP in the game and being able to do it. So my point is they can't be worse that Petless Mastermind.. 

[Snarky]

1 hour ago, plainguy said:

So my point is they can't be worse that Petless Mastermind.. 

This sums up Sentinels perfectly

[Dark Dove]

My favorite thing about sentinels is the idea.  So many great concept characters will work for sentinel, ranged damage, armor set. Sometimes a blaster just won't do.

 

That doesn't make up for them being 75% of the effectiveness in their particular niche (ranged, mez protection, armor set) as compared to a ranged VEAT, who will do everything the sentinel does but better with normal AoE target caps and ALSO bringing force multiplier team buffs and other stuff. Sentinels have a tax I guess to be able to recolor the powersets and have electricity or dark beams instead of only psychic stuff and crab guns?

Edited July 1, 2021 by Dark Dove

[Sunsette]

I enjoy Opportunity conceptually; I like putting those big crosshairs on a target.

 

In general, Sent has the least boring version of multiple armor powersets, which is nice.

 

I'm as down as anyone about the Sent right now, but it feels a bit rude to go into someone's thread asking for positivity and be negative... can just not respond (or participate in one of the many many other discussions we have about this elsewhere) if you want to.

Edited July 1, 2021 by Sunsette

[Dark Dove]

41 minutes ago, Sunsette said:

I'm as down as anyone about the Sent right now

 

I also feel this way.

[TheMoncrief]

I like that I can get consistent mez protection without having to play yet another melee toon.

[Underfyre]

I like Defense secondaries, but I hate jockeying for a melee position next to a fairly small mob. I get my defense and I can just plink away at range without having to reposition all the time. It's nice.

[Teirusu]

My favorite thing is that they feel powerful and versatile like my melee characters, but have fewer annoyances/limitations.  While, at the same time, doing a decent chunk of damage still.

Can blasters out-damage them?  Sure, of course they can.  But they don't necessarily feel as powerful while doing it.  Why?  Because they're just not at the same level of survivability as your normal blaster.  Only with very specific builds can you get somewhat close to Sentinel-level survivability.  And, that's just not good enough for me.  Especially after playing melee characters for a while.

 

For me, being able to 'LEEEEEROOOOOY JJJJJJEEEENKIIIIINS!!'  ..NUKE!  And have a large chunk of the mob gone in an instant.. That's fun, that feels powerful!  And, I can do that basically every-time all the time.  I don't have to worry about having particular buffs/de-buffs and/or ATs around.  They are definitely a Tankmage and they're fun for that.

 

Bad tank on the team?  That's okay; I can generally survive fine on my own, I'll just nuke them.

 

Bad buffers/debuffers on the team?  No problem;  I can generally survive fine on my own, I'll just nuke them.

 

Team split?  Scrapper got scrapper-locked and pulled in another spawn?  That's fine; Just more bodies to nuke.

 

Things just went completely to hell?  That's cool, I'll pop some inspirations, then I'll just AOE immobilize them, shoot them from range/in the air, and NUKE those suckers back to HELL.

 

"But what about-?"  'Shhhh.. it's okay.  Don't worry about it.  The answer is 42.. _{and nuke}.'

[Naraka]

I personally don't get why people are so down (granted I don't play endgame because it's pretty boring).  It's the closest things so far to playing a Scrapper but also wanting to use the conceptual powers of a ranged set.

 

People wanted a melee version of DP for Scrappers for the longest and Sent is basically that.  Playing an offensive armored character but wanting to use those sonic or psychic blasts?  Sent is your go-to.  Basically, it's like playing a Scrapper but not wanting to use Savage Melee or Titan Weapons for the 12th time so you use Assault Rifle or Electric Blast instead.

[nihilii]

On 7/1/2021 at 5:50 PM, oldskool said:

The Sentinel offered me an opportunity to explore ranged sets deeper than I had ever bothered to on Live.  On Live, whenever I bothered with a ranged set it was an means to an end with a support AT like the Corruptor or Defender.  I never liked the gameplay of the Blaster, and I still don't.  The Sentinel was a compromise on mechanics while still allowing a freedom of expression I couldn't find elsewhere.  

This is me to a T.

 

It also helps that Fire Blast was rebalanced and brought in line on the Sentinel port. The traditional version of Fire Blast on Blasters/Defenders/Corruptors does so much more damage than everything else. If you suffer from the same powergaming munchkin disease I do, it's very hard to stay motivated picking anything else.

 

Sentinels solve that problem. I can pick anything but Assault Rifle or Energy Blast and have a good time.

 

I think I just motivated myself to make an AR sentinel with this post.

Edited July 2, 2021 by nihilii

[DrInfernus]

The independence. 
 

Waiting for a team to fill and no tank turns up? No bother, I can handle my own aggro. No buffer? Peachy. Can get by fine without them. No debuffer or healer? I’m fine thanks, can look after myself. 
 

Ranged damage-wise, Sentinels are always going to be the poor relation to blasters, and I can live with that. We’re the dependable cousin, slower and sturdier but in no way turdier. Might not be the Mr Saturday nights of the team demanding the spotlight but we get the job done with a quiet yet dignified authority and confident command. 

[Bopper]

On 7/1/2021 at 3:09 PM, Dark Dove said:

That doesn't make up for them being 75% of the effectiveness in their particular niche (ranged, mez protection, armor set) as compared to a ranged VEAT, who will do everything the sentinel does but better with normal AoE target caps and ALSO bringing force multiplier team buffs and other stuff. Sentinels have a tax I guess to be able to recolor the powersets and have electricity or dark beams instead of only psychic stuff and crab guns?

This is a great point and one I mostly share. However, it is worth noting that Sentinels do get two advantages over VEATs: their damage cap is 500% as opposed to 400% and their base hit points are 1,204 instead of 1,071 (12.5% higher). It's not much...I'll admit, but it's not nothing either.

[Zerethon]

Oh man, my favorite char is Shadovolt, Elec/Elec/Mu mastery AKA "Mr. F*** yo' End Bar"

Blappers were my blueside go-to for live pre-GR, so a stuck-in high defense ranged DPS was a dream come true.

Ignoring all my nitpicks, i still have the most fun on HC running any one of my small army of sents (But most commonly shado) and just harassing enemies to death in creative ways, made an Energy/WP Recently JUST for punting fools across the map at mach 4.

If/When the jankiness gets dealt with? I will more or less live on my sents when i'm not farming 😅

[Galaxy Brain]

Great replies! Something that stood out tho... it seems like Opportunity isn't on anyone's radar?

Edited July 3, 2021 by Galaxy Brain

[Bill Z Bubba]

43 minutes ago, Galaxy Brain said:

Great replies! Something that stood out tho... it seems like Opportunity isn't on anyone's radar?

 

There seems to be a general disdain for it, which would explain its lack of mention in this thread.

[nihilii]

1 hour ago, Galaxy Brain said:

Great replies! Something that stood out tho... it seems like Opportunity isn't on anyone's radar?

Do people really name Criticals as their favorite part of Scrappers, or Scourge as their favorite part of Corruptors?

 

I guess they *kinda* do sometimes, even if it's a minority. Whereas here, nada.

But I don't think I've ever seen anyone refer to the inherent of Defenders, Controllers, Masterminds, Kheldians or SoAs as their favorite part of the AT. Quizz time for that matter... How many of us can name the inherents for these from memory? I'm blanking out with Khelds and SoAs.

 

I don't want to insinuate you're making a point you're not making, it's an interesting comment. I'm happy with Sentinels not being an inherent-centric AT to the point people don't really think of it. I could see a strong counterpoint that Opportunity *is* one of these inherents that is fairly in your face graphically, so the lack of mention might hint it is really unsatisfying.