I think Sentinels were a missed opportunity

[Procellus]

I was talking with my brother the other day about Sentinels. He and I both prefer ranged toons and had dabbled a bit with the Archetype. I think he summed it up when he said, "What is their point? Less damage than a blaster for less survivability than a scrapper." The main thing I like about them is the mez resistance. In fact, if I were able to just get mez resists on a Blaster, there would be absolutely no point in Sentinels. 

 

Sentinels are not different enough to Blasters, their powersets are largely the same, with some being slightly better (Sent Beam Rifle is less damaging but better in certain ways) and some are outright worse (Ice's Chilling Ray being a sleep).

 

I think Sentinels would have been served better if they had been given the Assault line of powersets from Dominators rather than the Blast line. Think about it, Blasters have secondaries that have a lot of melee and PBAoE attacks that want them close to the enemy. Most blast sets are largely, if not completely, ranged. You don't have the incentive to get close to allow your secondary to provide the protection, you're just more likely to survive if things go wrong.

 

By proliferating the Assault sets you would have had a mix of ranged and melee attacks, essentially boiling Blaster primary and secondary powersets to their offensive powers. Some would need to be tweaked, like Ice Assault losing Freeze Ray, but I think it would have made Sentinels more interesting. You would have had more build diversity, able to focus on either ranged or melee attacks or mixing them. You could have played as a scrapper that could hit the runner without having to chase it down before Epic powersets. 

 

This is just something that has been bothering me and I thought the discussion would be interesting enough to make a post about it. 

[FupDup]

Assault sets in practice are mostly melee because that's where your most damaging attacks usually are, so basically you've just made an alternate Scrapper. Especially since Scrappers themselves can already pick up several ranged attacks in epic pools, which can get pretty close to playing like an "assault" build. Or heck, some Sent primaries mixed with some melee epics can also be pretty Assaulty. And since Blasters themselves are pretty much an assault AT already (their "secondaries" are their real primaries most of the time), you've not increased their differentiation from Blasters either. 

 

You'd also lose nukes, which is kind of a big thing to give up even with the adjustments that Sent nukes have (faster but weaker nuke is better than no nuke at all). You'd lose some existing themes like Beam, Storm, and Pistols but gain Savage and Martial I guess. 

 

Range/Armor was a largely nonexistent playstyle/niche on the live server, hence why Sents exist now. The execution of that concept has some kinks to work out, but the concept is what's important here. We don't need a fifth armored melee AT. We probably don't even need four of them. 

 

The most I'd accept is adding another melee attack to every Sent epic pool for those who want this playstyle, but I'll cling to the only range/armor AT in the game with my cold, dead hands. 

 

My pipe dream would be to lean into the range thing even more by offering replacements to all existing PBAOE's in Sent primaries and secondaries with ranged equivalents, but still allowing people to pick the old ones (like Sent SR does) for those who want them. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by FupDup

[Clave Dark 5]

Maybe I happened to stumble across the absolute best Sent build ever (I think I grabbed it from the forums), but I've only ever made one, and he can easily tank; damage isn't too bad either.  He's a Beam Rifle... something... maybe Energy Armor?  I can't recall.

[Luminara]

51 minutes ago, Procellus said:

"What is their point? Less damage than a blaster for less survivability than a scrapper."

 

Sentinels aren't blasters with status protection and damage mitigation, they're scrappers with ranged attacks.

 

And they're definitely not "less survivable".

[Procellus]

 

1 hour ago, FupDup said:

 

[Procellus]

I can't delete my own posts. Meant to quote sections but couldn't figure out how to do that. 

1 hour ago, FupDup said:

And since Blasters themselves are pretty much an assault AT already (their "secondaries" are their real primaries most of the time), you've not increased their differentiation from Blasters either. 

 

 

1 hour ago, FupDup said:

We don't need a fifth armored melee AT.

 

According to your logic we already have a fifth melee AT. 

1 hour ago, FupDup said:

You'd also lose nukes,

I already said the assault sets would have to be tweaked. I should have went into more detail than I did, 

 

 

23 minutes ago, Luminara said:

And they're definitely not "less survivable".

 

49 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Maybe I happened to stumble across the absolute best Sent build ever (I think I grabbed it from the forums), but I've only ever made one, and he can easily tank; damage

 

As far as being survivable as a scrapper, let's say you are both correct and that I am wrong (although using Energy Aura as the example doesn't make the point you think it does). Does it matter? Can a Sentinel reliably manage aggro to leverage that tankiness? If I add a Blaster to my team I can tell you what I am gaining. If I add a Sentinel to my team instead of a Blaster, I can tell you what I am losing. What am I gaining by having a Sentinel instead of a Blaster.

 

You may like the AT. You're not wrong for liking it. I just think that they could've been better and made more interesting. It's too late now, I know that, but I thought I'd share my two cents. 

[Frozen Burn]

1 hour ago, Procellus said:

"What is their point?...."

 

 ...Exactly.  😄  

• You have your Hero ATs that were original to CoH
• You have your Villain ATs that came with the release of CoV
• Then came the Epic ATs (Peacebringers, Warshades, Widows, and Soldiers)
• And then... out from much debate and arguing on the forums about Blaster survivability.... you get the Sentinel.

Sentinels were created from a large group of people who liked playing ranged damage characters, but grew tired of faceplanting all the time and feeling "naked" without any means of shields or survivability.  The only other option for ranged damage players were Defenders, Corruptors, or the Epic ATs.  Epics pigeonhole you into a concept and present their own challenges for building - many are not a fan of either.  And many don't want a buff/debuff set as their primary/secondary - they just want to shoot things and not HAVE to go into melee range.  So, people therefore asked for an alternate Blast set with scrapper-like shields so they can enjoy being ranged damage, have easier survivability, and don't have to worry about buffing/debuffing others.  So... the Sentinel was born.

 

1 hour ago, Procellus said:

"...Less damage than a blaster for less survivability than a scrapper." The main thing I like about them is the mez resistance. In fact, if I were able to just get mez resists on a Blaster, there would be absolutely no point in Sentinels. 

 

Yes, Sentinels do have lower damage as well as lower range, and this is because they have a defensive/shield secondary.  Blasters are nothing but pure damage - higher risk/higher reward.  Sentinels have lower risk because of their shield secondary, so lower reward.  

 

However, a properly made and played Sentinel can be as survivable as a scrapper, brute, or tank.  I actually took Provoke on mine so i could taunt and be a Tank!  

 

Blasters can get mez resistance/protection with the Clarion Destiny Incarnate ability (lvl 50+) and /Martial Combat has a "break free" power, but lastly, Blasters have Defiance which allow you to use your Primary T1 & T2 and secondary T1 powers even though you're mezzed... I cannot tell you how many times that has saved my Blaster's life.  

 

 

1 hour ago, Procellus said:

I think Sentinels would have been served better if they had been given the Assault line of powersets from Dominators rather than the Blast line. Think about it, Blasters have secondaries that have a lot of melee and PBAoE attacks that want them close to the enemy. Most blast sets are largely, if not completely, ranged. You don't have the incentive to get close to allow your secondary to provide the protection, you're just more likely to survive if things go wrong.

 

By proliferating the Assault sets you would have had a mix of ranged and melee attacks, essentially boiling Blaster primary and secondary powersets to their offensive powers. Some would need to be tweaked, like Ice Assault losing Freeze Ray, but I think it would have made Sentinels more interesting. You would have had more build diversity, able to focus on either ranged or melee attacks or mixing them. You could have played as a scrapper that could hit the runner without having to chase it down before Epic powersets. 

 

As mentioned above, having an Assault set as primary basically makes you scrapper.  There is no need for this. 

 

And Sentinels do have need to occasionally go into melee range to some degree depending on your blast set, which may have PBAOEs or short cones - but also for their armors which might get buffs from foes or debuffs them.  So, the incentive is there, if you choose to use it (just like with Blaster secondaries).  There are many who play their Sentinels purely at range and are happy with that, and there are others who play them in melee to leverage those PBAOEs and armor abilities.  

 

At the end of the day, there are no opportunities to miss with Sentinels - they are what they are:  filling a niche as an alternative to Blasters which the game was lacking.  But as I mention above, due to their defensive secondary, they will do lower damage and have shorter range as the tradeoff.  But with the recent changes to Sentinels, they've improved!  ...however, I will still always choose to play a Blaster over a Sentinel.  😄  

 

 

[Frozen Burn]

3 minutes ago, Procellus said:

As far as being survivable as a scrapper, let's say you are both correct and that I am wrong (although using Energy Aura as the example doesn't make the point you think it does). Does it matter? Can a Sentinel reliably manage aggro to leverage that tankiness? If I add a Blaster to my team I can tell you what I am gaining. If I add a Sentinel to my team instead of a Blaster, I can tell you what I am losing. What am I gaining by having a Sentinel instead of a Blaster.

 

You may like the AT. You're not wrong for liking it. I just think that they could've been better and made more interesting. It's too late now, I know that, but I thought I'd share my two cents. 

 

As I mentioned in my previous post just now, yes - Sentinels can be very survivable.  My Beam/Atomic is extremely so, and as I mentioned, I took Provoke so I can taunt.  One of my SG-mates has an Elec/Invuln Sentinel that just has a hard time dying - largely due to his draining the end of the foes - but that is leveraging your abilities and is what all players should do.  I have other SG-mates who are highly survivable with other armors as well.  

 

And you are right - you add a blaster to your team, you know what you're getting - lots of offense... and someone who may or may not be taking dirt naps all the time.  🙂  If you add a Sentinel, you know you'll get some damage, but they should be vertical most of the time. 

 

Again, I will always play or take a Blaster over a Sentinel... but Sentinels do provide an outlet for many players to enjoy a ranged AT without being yelled at by teammates to buff/debuff others because the only other option was a Defender or Corruptor (or a challenging Epic AT).  😄  

 

[Riverdusk]

Do sentinels really do that much less damage than a blaster now a days though after the upgrade?  Their ranged damage modifiers are now extremely close.   In exchange they get a lot more survivability. 

 

Also, too often I see these arguments only looking at end game and to me that is far from the whole experience.  At end game almost everyone is a tank and everyone is a nuker anyway,  AT's in general lose their distinctiveness to a big degree.  So to me the bigger difference is the leveling up experience.  Sentinels level up with a very different feel than a blaster does imo.  Closer to a scrapper, but still a different feel there as well.  So, I think there definitely is a point to them existing as they are currently.

 

I think giving them more melee would  make their leveling up experience even closer to a scrapper to me.  I'd be very much against that. 

[FupDup]

2 hours ago, Luminara said:

And they're definitely not "less survivable".

I mean...Sents do literally have a lower HP cap than Scrappers and lower defensive modifiers, meaning they often need to work harder in terms of IO building to plug their holes. 

 

But on the flipside, some armor sets like Invuln and SR get some huge advantages on Sents over their other variants. So it's a mixed bag. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by FupDup

[FupDup]

1 hour ago, Procellus said:

According to your logic we already have a fifth melee AT. 

I already said the assault sets would have to be tweaked. I should have went into more detail than I did, 

I said 'armored' melee. Blasters are largely melee but they're not armored. 

 

As for tweaks, it's hard to comment on that without the raw details but I do still stand by the concept/playstyle of range/armor here. Even if we got altered assault sets that got nukes added, it wouldn't hit the same fantasy as a character like War Machine or Iron Man like it currently does. I'd rather work with the design we've got now, like for example increasing their HP/defensive stats up to Scrapper par to amplify the survival difference between Blasters and Sents (which is currently smaller than it should be IMO). 

[Luminara]

3 hours ago, Procellus said:

As far as being survivable as a scrapper, let's say you are both correct and that I am wrong (although using Energy Aura as the example doesn't make the point you think it does). Does it matter? Can a Sentinel reliably manage aggro to leverage that tankiness? If I add a Blaster to my team I can tell you what I am gaining. If I add a Sentinel to my team instead of a Blaster, I can tell you what I am losing. What am I gaining by having a Sentinel instead of a Blaster.

 

Sentinels are scrappers with ranged attacks.

 

Sentinels are not blasters.

 

You're stuck in a faulty comparison.  Pop a Break Free.

[PeregrineFalcon]

1 minute ago, Luminara said:

Sentinels are scrappers with ranged attacks.

 

Sentinels are not blasters.

 

You're stuck in a faulty comparison.  Pop a Break Free.

You are correct. However I believe the entire premise of this thread is not what Sentinels are, but what they could have been.

 

Had I been designing Sentinels I would have given them 1 or 2 melee attacks in their secondary pools, then I would have adjusted the armor powers/toggles to compensate so that Sentinel defense would have been more like 80% - 90% of Scrapper values.

 

I don't use melee attacks very often on my Blasters, but when they get forced into melee range they're nice to have. I keep having to remind myself that ranged attacks can also be used while in melee, and it just doesn't feel right to not have at least 1 melee attack. Please don't reply with "but you have Brawl." I mean specifically a melee attack that's in the style of the character's other powers.

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, FupDup said:

I mean...Sents do literally have a lower HP cap than Scrappers and lower defensive modifiers, meaning they often need to work harder in terms of IO building to plug their holes. 

 

But on the flipside, some armor sets like Invuln and SR get some huge advantages on Sents over their other variants. So it's a mixed bag. 

 

I'd argue that the adjustments to the secondaries for sentinels more than compensate for the slightly lower numerical values.  None of the secondaries were copied without alterations, and it's the way they were altered that pushes sentinels into comparable survivability statistics.

 

Example:  I have a level 50+ /Willpower brute, a level 50+ /Willpower scrapper and a level 50+ /Willpower sentinel.  Numerically, the sentinel is slightly below either of the other two, as I've built them... but only superficially.  Both the brute and scrapper rely on saturation of Rise to the Challenge to maintain survivability.  The brute's +Regeneration might be 1207% when she's surrounded by enemies, but that drops to 762% when she's fighting a single foe.  And if all of her enemies are keeping their distance, 515%.  By contrast, my /Willpower sentinel's +Regeneration is always 924%.  It's 924% when she's standing in the middle of a spawn, it's 924% when she's fighting one enemy, it's 924% when she's pewpewblasting, it's 924% when she's being sniped while running to a mission door... it's always 924%.  When the scrapper or brute is red-lining because enemy numbers or proximity have created a dearth of sources for Rise to the Challenge, the sentinel is still at 924%.

 

Yes, the /Willpower sentinel has a lower HP cap, but she's also less dependent on a higher HP total than the brute or scrapper, because her +Regeneration is invariable.  Yes, her +Def totals are a couple of points below that of the scrapper and brute, but she's also better equipped to handle the slight increase in incoming damage, because her +Regeneration is invariable.

 

 

There's far less variability in survivability for sentinels.  That reduction in variability doesn't simply make them better in edge cases and hypothetical scenarios, it's an improvement that encompasses the whole of the play experience.  Referring back to my example, you're never going to maintain full target saturation during combat and keep Rise to the Challenge "topped off", because the mere act of engaging in combat removes targets from the field.  My scrapper or brute will certainly start combat with a higher +Regeneration total, but that advantage lasts all of a few seconds, the time it takes for a couple of AoEs/PBAoEs to knock out half the minions.  From that point onward, their survivability is lower than the sentinel's, even accounting for the slightly higher typed Defense totals and Rise to the Challenge's -ToHit, because the sentinel's stats are constant.

 

Less variability is directly translatable to improved survivability.  Sentinels do fine with a lower HP base and cap, and lower +Def cap (which is still far, far above the soft cap, or even the Hard Mode 4* soft cap), because their damage mitigation is more consistent and reliable.

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

You are correct. However I believe the entire premise of this thread is not what Sentinels are, but what they could have been.

 

If the poster was referring to a hypothetical sentinel design, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have used the word "blaster".

 

Three times.

 

While asking what a sentinel brought to the table in comparison.

 

There's context, and there's context.  This is the latter.

[PeregrineFalcon]

1 hour ago, Luminara said:

There's context, and there's context.  This is the latter.

Ok, you're right. That's twice now. I really must stop posting before I've finished my coffee.

 

Nice analysis of Willpower, by the way. I just thought of something else though. Is there any chance that the Fighting Pool attacks have been buffed enough to fill in as Sentinel melee attacks? I don't expect them to be on par with Energy Transfer or Total Focus, but are they at least significantly stronger than Brawl?

[FupDup]

13 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Ok, you're right. That's twice now. I really must stop posting before I've finished my coffee.

 

Nice analysis of Willpower, by the way. I just thought of something else though. Is there any chance that the Fighting Pool attacks have been buffed enough to fill in as Sentinel melee attacks? I don't expect them to be on par with Energy Transfer or Total Focus, but are they at least significantly stronger than Brawl?

According to Mids, the unenhanced values on a Sent are:

 

Brawl: 22.24

Boxing: 61.04 (with Kick trained)

Kick: 67.47 (with Boxing trained)

Cross Punch: 102 (with both trained)

 

So basically the first two are around the strength of a T1 blast attack, give or take (some of the weaker ones are around 50, most are 60ish). Most T2's are gonna do around 80, with some going up to 100. Cross Punch could be compelling for the self-buffs it gives and holding Force Feedback, but Boxing and Kick seem more like a concept thing rather than a powerful choice in terms of meta/statistics.

 

Epic pools are where you get a real ST melee attack, but only one (and usually a PBAOE too, depending on the pool). 

Edited December 2, 2023 by FupDup

[Luminara]

6 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Is there any chance that the Fighting Pool attacks have been buffed enough to fill in as Sentinel melee attacks? I don't expect them to be on par with Energy Transfer or Total Focus, but are they at least significantly stronger than Brawl?

 

I use Cross Punch on several characters (fully synergized with Boxing and Kick).  It's a good T3/T4 substitute on sentinels, and from a DPA perspective, better than some T3/T4 attacks (fuck you, Frost Breath).  Treat it like a single-target attack and don't waste time trying to line it up for maximum cone saturation, just take whatever extras happen to be in the arc as a bonus.

 

Boxing is okay as a filler attack at lower levels (T1 attack numbers), but even a shit build can have a fully fleshed out attack chain with higher damage attacks by the late game, so it has limited value.

 

Kick isn't worth using for any reason other than the animation.  The DPA is abysmal, even with Boxing and Cross Punch.

[Clave Dark 5]

10 hours ago, Procellus said:

As far as being survivable as a scrapper, let's say you are both correct and that I am wrong (although using Energy Aura as the example doesn't make the point you think it does).

I said that I don't even remember what his Armor set is, you're trying to invent a "point" for me or something. 

 

Just for chuckles, I opened up the game to check, he's Radiation, not EA.

[twozerofoxtrot]

19 hours ago, Procellus said:

What am I gaining by having a Sentinel instead of a Blaster.

 

Well -15% Res All and -11.25% Def All on demand is pretty freaking useful. Definitely helps to have that up the first 45 seconds of an AV fight.

 

With two Sents on your team you can maintain the debuff constantly. 

 

Now imagine procing your attacks with Achilles, FOTG, and Annihilation. 

 

 

This whole thread has gone on for the day and nobody's mentioned their signature ability (which actually does more than I mentioned, I'm just highlighting the most powerful part).

 

Also I quite like the -Perception and -ToHit resists the AT has inherently. Speaking of which, did you know that Sentinel version of Focused Accuracy is actually a team-wide buff? Yeah. That means all your melees getting their ToHit debuffed won't be with your Sentinel in close range proximity. 

 

I think someone mentioned getting fast nukes so no point in beating a dead horse.

[Sancerre]

sentinels are fine solo.  team environment they are less optimal than having a collection of corruptors and blasters.

 

i dont know why people really love obfuscating the truth... platitudes of play it your way or as long as you are trying your best then its all fun......... yes sentinels can slap fingers on the keyboard and everybody can win at the game.  you can complete a task force with 7 people instead of 8.  sentinels do not have good aggro draw tools, do less damage than blaster and have a lower target cap (10).  there is no mindset here of being a 'ranged scrapper' here.  it is a -less useful- blaster because a blaster with team buffs will make the entire secondary tree that sentinel has worthless.  sentinel's passive is... functionally better than its inception but still a farcry from tanker gauntlet or scrapper crits -- yes it is 'useful' but 99% of the party content will be annihilating anything less than an AV before it serves any functional purpose.  even on an AV, it is... very tiny.  all the other -res procs do not stack -- a sentinel does not need to be the one to apply them all (and likely someone else is already).

 

outside of hard-mode and especially solo content, sentinel is great.  i think the concept overall of sentinel is fine.  no real changes needed (or maybe a look at power pool options?)

 

also -- dominators exist.

[Grimm2]

27 minutes ago, Sancerre said:

also -- dominators exist.

I'll bite. Please explain how this isn't a non sequitur. 

[Sancerre]

13 minutes ago, Grimm2 said:

I'll bite. Please explain how this isn't a non sequitur. 

it is mostly non sequitur and wasnt really a highlight of my post... a bit of a shower thought -- dominators are already a mez protected melee/ranged hybrid.  what is the purpose of proliferating assault sets by pairing with armor sets?

[Riverdusk]

1 hour ago, Sancerre said:

sentinels are fine solo.  team environment they are less optimal than having a collection of corruptors and blasters.

 

i dont know why people really love obfuscating the truth... platitudes of play it your way or as long as you are trying your best then its all fun......... yes sentinels can slap fingers on the keyboard and everybody can win at the game.  you can complete a task force with 7 people instead of 8.  sentinels do not have good aggro draw tools, do less damage than blaster and have a lower target cap (10).  there is no mindset here of being a 'ranged scrapper' here.  it is a -less useful- blaster because a blaster with team buffs will make the entire secondary tree that sentinel has worthless.  sentinel's passive is... functionally better than its inception but still a farcry from tanker gauntlet or scrapper crits -- yes it is 'useful' but 99% of the party content will be annihilating anything less than an AV before it serves any functional purpose.  even on an AV, it is... very tiny.  all the other -res procs do not stack -- a sentinel does not need to be the one to apply them all (and likely someone else is already).

 

outside of hard-mode and especially solo content, sentinel is great.  i think the concept overall of sentinel is fine.  no real changes needed (or maybe a look at power pool options?)

 

also -- dominators exist.

 

Ah, the end point of all the AT debate threads, we've reached it already.  If you want to use that criteria the majority of the game's AT's are "sub obtimal" in a completely min/maxed team. Best example is the thread about it in the controller forum "what's the point of controllers at level 50?"  I know it isn't the only AT forum to have such a thread.  I know tanks used to have one as well, but now I think it's moved to brutes too.

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, Sancerre said:

team environment they are less optimal than having a collection of corruptors and blasters.

 

Sentinels aren't comparable to corruptors or blasters.  Sentinels are comparable to scrappers.

 

1 hour ago, Sancerre said:

i dont know why people really love obfuscating the truth...

 

Good question.  We'll come back to that.

 

1 hour ago, Sancerre said:

 sentinels do not have good aggro draw tools,

 

True, but intentional.  As a ranged-by-design archetype, toggle PBAoE aggro magnets would serve little purpose, and a click Taunt power with 75% -Range built into the primaries would give them the capability to use all of their attacks while keeping an enemy/enemies out of melee range (in other words, overfuckingpowered).

 

1 hour ago, Sancerre said:

do less damage than blaster

 

Sentinels aren't comparable to blasters.  Sentinels are comparable to scrappers.

 

1 hour ago, Sancerre said:

and have a lower target cap (10).

 

Because they're comparable to scrappers.  Scrapper target limits are 5 for cones, 10 for AoEs/PBAoEs.  Sentinel target limits are 6 for cones, 10 for AoEs/PBAoEs.

 

You didn't think sentinel target caps were randomly selected, did you?  Or that the archetype which was designed to deal less damage than a blaster was given lower target caps "just because"?

 

1 hour ago, Sancerre said:

there is no mindset here of being a 'ranged scrapper' here.

 

The developers have clearly and unequivocally stated that sentinels were designed to be comparable to scrappers, though.

 

 

Their secondaries are tweaked scrapper secondaries.  Their scalars and modifiers were carefully selected to emulate scrapper values without surpassing them.  The original version of Opportunity was specifically intended to bring sentinel damage up to near-scrapper level.

 

 

So yes, there is a "ranged scrapper" mindset.  The only people who haven't adopted that mindset are the ones stuck in the "it go pewpew, it a blaster!" mindset.

 

1 hour ago, Sancerre said:

it is a -less useful- blaster

 

Sentinels aren't comparable to blasters.  Sentinels are comparable to scrappers.

 

1 hour ago, Sancerre said:

because a blaster with team buffs will make the entire secondary tree that sentinel has worthless.

 

And looking at it from the other perspective, since the sentinel already has status protection and damage mitigation, it doesn't need those team buffs, thus the team can use more combat-oriented buffs which would be beneficial to the sentinel.

 

Team buffs aren't restricted to "stuff that keeps blasters from humping the floor".  The street goes both ways, champ, and sentinel can benefit as much from being on a team as blasters can.

 

Oh, circling back to that obfuscation issue, what's the deal, yo?  Why you tryin' to obfuscate?