The Sentinel Inherent.

[Sunsette]

So, Sentinel is the thing I went most for -- it's the thing I always wanted in this game. I have to admit I'm feeling a little underimpressed by it -- there's a lot of work, but I feel like it's an AT that was designed for balance from the back half and not at all in the lower half. I am mindful that Sentinel has to be careful to avoid overshadowing the previous ATs but I think there's room for growth, and that it's unfortunately telling that I didn't really start to have fun with the AT until I was on my fourth or fifth max level respec and I realized how much the Epic AoE immobilizes help Sentinel out.

 

Most of that boils down to the inherent, I think, so I'm glad to see it's getting a rework.

 

Here's what I like about the inherent:

- The idea of choice. Defensive Opportunity is very strong on end return and the healing is OK -- I feel like the healing'd be a bigger deal on a res based set while I went all in with an energy based set. Offensive opportunity is a good choice to switch to when with a team or you don't need end at all.

- The fact that it's single-target focused. Sentinel's biggest weakness is in single target -- hard targets are boringly slow to kill so a big boost to them is nice!

- It rewards watching the bar closely and choosing a variety of abilities to help you build the bar.

 

Here's what I dislike about the inherent:

- Offensive opportunity's damage increase (as opposed to the -res effect on the target) doesn't scale with enhancement or other damage bonuses from my understanding. If it does, it feels very small, such that I don't notice the damage increase.

- Defensive opportunity's gradual nature doesn't really play well with defense-based secondaries that take a big burst of damage and might take two.

- If you slot the attacks out as part of your cycle, it is entirely too easy to accidentally trigger the wrong opportunity. I try to watch the bar, but sometimes it's a bit much imo. It's really bad when you get that 5% miss on the one you needed followed by the hit of the one you didn't.

 

The most often offered solution is that both offensive opportunity and defensive opportunity should be triggered by inherent paired powers, but I think this undercuts some of the value of making that first level choice.

 

I have some ideas for fixes, but I don't know that I entirely like my own ideas yet. While it feels unsatisfying from a certain perspective -- it takes away the value of making both a build choice and a tactical choice -- a simple fix would just be to make it a click power that activates both offensives at the same time. Sentinels need to carry a lot of toggles in many cases because so few powers are completely 'skippable' due to their slightly lower defense numbers and scrapper/brute toggles.

 

My ideal solution -- and I don't know how to implement this yet -- would be some sort of system with three types of opportunity. I do feel like the -res could be more significant; I often feel like I hit like a wet noodle when I'm solo, and while my defenses are good enough to wear down the minions and lieutenants with AoE in that case, bosses and EBs are much more of an issue for me than feels appropriate for a class that should be a strong soloer.

 

 

[Burnt Toast]

Already a discussion on first page of this section regarding Sentinels and their Inherent:

 

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,4192.0.html

[Sunsette]

Yes, but I opted to create a new post as the OP is not interested in fixing the inherent and wants to do something entirely different. While it is about sentinels and mentions the inherent, it is not looking to discuss that subject in depth.

[jack_nomind]

My proposal would be to combine/reconfigure both Opportunities into a singular version.  It would do three things: buff Sentinel damage for a little while, apply a modest but stacking reduction to enemy Resistance a little for a very long while (5 minutes or more), and apply a (medium duration, nonstacking from same caster) effect such that anyone hitting that enemy gets a small heal and restore.  This enhances the Sentinel team role to make them attrition fighters -- a Sentinel-backed team that can survive against any given AV will eventually win the fight by flooring the AV's resistance.  This helps give them an identity beyond "weak but durable blaster."  To give the Sentinel a little bit more survivability, triggering Opportunity could also have an unresistable Knockdown.

 

It wouldn't preserve the "choice" aspect, but (leading post aside) one of the most common objections to the existing mechanic is that the choice interrupts the flow of combat for an AT that usually wants to stick closely to its rotation.

[Sunsette]

Yeah, while I love the idea of a spontaneous tactical choice that has to be made, I think the primaries might need a significant rework to actually support that. I would love to have made some brilliant proposal that works with just the intent but I can't think of one.

[jack_nomind]

Add a singular "inherent power" button, and an intermediary layer to the Sentinel combo system.  After X activations, the inherent power button is enabled.  Once it's clicked, the next primary power activated will act as a finisher.  The specific effects of that finisher could be the same for every power, or different based on which power it is, or only work for the first power, or etc.

 

This would allow players to control their attack chain and still have the benefit of multiple types of Opportunity.

 

(I prefer my earlier proposal because I think it does a better job of keeping combat fluid and improves Sentinel team role.)

[Sunsette]

So I've given this some more thought. Here is my proposal.

 

TACTICAL COMBAT: As a Sentinel, you strategize during fights to find key openings which you can take advantage of. You gain a toggle power called Offensive Tactics

 

As you engage in combat, your Sentinel bar slowly increases (and decays likewise out of combat).  When the bar is maximized, you gain a passive benefit.

 

- While aggressive tactics is active, your endurance is increased by 10%, and you gain a stacking damage buff (like a miniature Fury) up to a maximum of +50% based on the bar.

- While aggressive tactics is NOT active, your base HP is increased by 40% of base, and your threat multiplier increases up to a maximum of +100% based on the bar (tanker multiplier).

 

In addition to the above, you may also use the Opportunity active power when the bar is maxed.

 

This does the following:

- Aggressive Opportunity: Puts a reticle on the target. While opportunity is active, the target takes -35% Resistance and -35% Defense, unresistable.

- Not-Aggressive Opportunity: Puts a reticle on the target. Taunts the target with each attack you make. While opportunity is active, the target takes -25% To-Hit and -50% Damage, unresistable.

 

An opportunity lasts about 15 seconds, after which it drains the bar, so you lose the stacking portion until you rebuild it again.

 

I am sure the numbers need work, but it addresses many of the clumsiness issues and allows a Sentinel to say, breeze through most of a mission building the bar and then only using it when they really need it.

 

Aggressive is most similar to the current iteration of opportunity now, but is significantly increased given how large of values can be dropped by defenders and corruptors with overall better packages.

 

Feel free to criticize my number choices if they seem off, but do not overly focus on them -- the idea of using toggles to manage opportunity and spending the bar only when you want to both appealed to me.

[ranevan]

Probably the easiest fix is trigger the opportunity whether the power hits or not.  Maybe don't trigger the timer until a power hits, but the oops power 1 missed, power 2 opportunity activated would be fixed. 

 

For the record I like my sentinel, but I'm a noob and not really sure how powerful I should feel at any given level.  My main sentinel is an energy blast, radiation shields toon, if I recall correctly, so I don't know if that has skewed my opinion.

[Crysta Clear]

I think some documentation on exactly what the different opportunity types even do, mechanically, would be neat.

 

I didn't even realize Defensive Opportunity refunded some endurance on every hit, just thought it was a tiny heal alone.

And I'm not sure whether the -20% RES debuff is only part of Offensive Opportunity, or if both of them have the -20% RES and Offensive is just trading the heal (and apparently endurance) packet for a small extra damage packet.

[Sunsette]

I think some documentation on exactly what the different opportunity types even do, mechanically, would be neat.

 

I didn't even realize Defensive Opportunity refunded some endurance on every hit, just thought it was a tiny heal alone.

And I'm not sure whether the -20% RES debuff is only part of Offensive Opportunity, or if both of them have the -20% RES and Offensive is just trading the heal (and apparently endurance) packet for a small extra damage packet.

 

It's both. Defensive Opportunity is better if you have literally any endurance or health issues aside from the lowest levels. Before enhancements, incarnate, etc. it's about +20% of the base damage IIRC again, but it doesn't scale with any of those, so it's more like... 5% by the end

[Sunsette]

Another idea that occurs:

 

The T9 is often an iffy take to begin with in defensive sets because most of the T9s crash afterwards. I'd argue it's at its least helpful on the Sentinel, because on the four other ATs that have it, they either have significant ST damage, significant threat, or both that can lead to them having aggro from something quite nasty in a group situation. The Sentinel has none of these. What if the Sent T9s were modified to add a weaker power boost effect (something Sentinels entirely lack atm) with a decent amount of +damage and a bigger amount of +special; make it a real moment of glory. Would probably need to reduce their amount of defensive benefit or the length of the effect somewhat.