I think Sentinels were a missed opportunity

[Sancerre]

look i dont really care to make this a topic about min-maxing parties or having the bost possible solo character or something along those lines.  i already noted sentinels are quite good at solo play and function perfectly fine in parties.  obfuscating is trying to glow up sentinels to be better than they literally perform.

 

is your platform that sentinel is somehow more beneficial than either blaster or scrapper on a team?

what does a sentinel offer the team other than self-contained damage (reasonably a margin lower than scrapper and blaster) and a (very) small debuff for AV killing?

they offer less aoe (via the 10 target cap) than blasters.

they offer substantially less single target DPS than scrappers (not even stalkers win here ironically)

what is this party buff/utility that you think is so valuable?

 

go ahead and make your case.

 

maybe you just like arguing for the sake of arguing -- i dont know what your game is.  if you are looking to point out that it is a ranged scrapper for semantics sake, that is all well and good but IOs and incarnates have broken the ceiling of what is 'necessary' to be self-contained.  to me, a sentinel is a more defensive blaster -- despite whatever the initial intentions were.  apparently my opinion is invalid to you though, thanks for that.

[Thraxen]

My favorite sentinel is dp/sr. It’s just a matrix rip off but concept fits perfectly. 5 slotted flurry too. It’s just fun.

 

regen might be slightly better on a sentinel but it still sucks though. Sr is different but doesn’t get to 95% ddr for some reason. 

[Psiphon]

Hi, just wanted to point out that this isn’t true - Sentinels aren’t a missed opportunity.

 

Going back years, way before the servers went down, there were requests on the forums for a ranged/defence alt. At the time many were saying that it wouldn’t be possible, raising Tank Mages. Others that it was simply balancing damage against survivability.

 

Pre Sentinels Fortunatas and Crabs were the closest things that we had.

The devs have looked at the requests and delivered it and in my opinion have a done a fine job.

 

Cant be a missed opportunity if you’ve simply delivered on what your player base has asked for.

[Greycat]

Sentinels are perfectly survivable. I don't try to "aggro manage" for a team because that's not their job. And they do damage enough that, frankly, I don't feel short changed there.

 

If you like another AT's numbers better, play that AT. Have fun. There's zero reason to "what's the point" any other AT. Don't like it, don't play it.

 

As far as the point, for me? They let me actually run certain character concepts that "Melee with epic/pool ranged attack" or "blaster with APP shield finally in the 40s" don't. And no, neither does "IO it out."

[drbuzzard]

There's two arguments in favor of sentinels which I would proffer:

 

A) Conceptually sentinels are a much more common superhero trope than blasters. There's just not that many glass cannons in comics (blasters). There's an awful lot of ranged damage types with inherent protections (Iron Man, Captain Atom, Human Torch, Red Tornado, and many others). For a game which might seek to be 'comic booky', you rather need a sentinel AT. 

 

B) When people say things like 'blasters do more damage than sentinels' that really can be picked apart really easily. Do all blasters do more damage than all sentinels? Clearly no, given the spread in damage between sets. A fire/bio sentinel is going to be a better damage dealer than an energy/plant blaster. Yes blasters self buff damage nicely and have higher target caps, which is nice, but many of the sentinel sets are clear steps above the blaster/corr/def versions. Also if we're talking teams with plenty of buffs, the difference at the damage cap is very low (scalar 1.125 vs 1.1 with the same damage enhancement cap). 

 

As a side note people often dismiss the sentinel inherent debuff without considering one of its strongest aspects- it ignores the purple patch. The 15% resistance (and all the other debuffs) debuff is always a 15% debuff. Say you bring a radiation emission corrupter along and you're fighting +3s (so a party of 50+1s fighting +4s which is common), the sentinel will debuff more. If you're fighting actual +4s and +5 then sentinels get a clear advantage even over defenders. 

 

Though if we're going to concern ourselves with optimal team composition why does anyone do anything beyond 7 corrupters and a tank (maybe brute)?

[FupDup]

It took me all of these days to realize that the thread title is actually a pun. 

 

The thread title is that Sentinels are a "missed opportunity." Sentinels' inherent is called Opportunity. Get it? Please clap. 

[Force Redux]

I currently enjoy sentinels after the recent buff. They are at the right spot where I feel they do not eclipse blasters nor scrappers, but do well enough at their own niche. 

 

As was posted above "kind of a ranged scrapper". I'll take a small hit on damage to not chase things in melee.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Force Redux

[Icono04]

17 hours ago, drbuzzard said:

Though if we're going to concern ourselves with optimal team composition why does anyone do anything beyond 7 corrupters and a tank (maybe brute)?

This phrase should be posted at the top of every AT subforum. Or even better: Auto-inserted as a footer in every post in any of the AT subfora. To remind all of us, including myself, not to get too caught up in our arguments for why a particular AT of powerset is better than another.

 

I happen to be in the "no, sentinels do not perform quite as well as a scrapper, a blaster or a corruptor in most game modes in CoH" camp BUT I also concede the point that several people have made in this thread: Whether sentinels are as powerful as other ATs or not is irrelevant, because their main raison d'etre is to fill the role of ranged scrapper, which is a role that a lot of people wanted to be able to play. 

So I am one of the people being admonished (gently) by @drbuzzard and the abovementioned quote, and I stand corrected.

[BazookaTwo]

Let me explain for those who don't "get the AT" why it works. One more time...

• Versatility - you can choose ranged or melee in a combat situation, dare I say it? Situationally. If someone else is overwhelmed, I can hop in and save their bacon. If no one else is around me, I can dive head first into a mob, and be whittling down the boss as it's standing there amazed it's mob is suddenly ashes. I can swap team roles in a heartbeat, and do exactly what the team needs from me at that moment. Be that damage dealer, soft controls, or alpha strike absorber. And then do something else in the next moment. 
• Aggro management - if I'm not attacking it, it's looking elsewhere, period. Sentinels peel off aggro like a Stalker going into hide. When solo on a Sentinel, I can easily manage exactly how much aggro I'm taking on at that moment.  
• Mitigation - oh, is that a problem for other ATs? I never noticed any mitigation problems on my Sent. 
• Unique tweaks - all the primaries and secondaries have really interesting little tweaked powers in them that other ATs don't get. Fire/ has complete lack of movement suppression, /SR gets master brawler, DP/ gets additional range with cryo ammo, etc. etc. Read up on these, find an exploit that sounds profitable, and go to town. For example: My fire/bio is indeed a more steady damage dealer than a fire/anything, and never gets mezzed. I haven't even finished the build on it yet and it feels pretty boss because of the movement non suppression, the uptime of the nuke, and the repel baked into the snipe. 

[FupDup]

If we wanna talk about a real missed opportunity, my fantasy for the inherent would be to make it kinda like the old version that had a split between offensive and defensive, but as separate clickies with a shared cooldown so you aren't forced to pick both the T1 and T2 powers. They'd build up over time like Vulnerability does. 

 

Offensive makes you hit harder and more accurately, maybe even add a little range IDK. Defensive makes you tankier and maybe applies a taunt proc to your attacks, letting you be a sort of offtank for a short time. Takes the generalist/adaptability aspect to a new level, basically making them like "Bio Armor: The AT."

Edited December 21, 2023 by FupDup

[biostem]

13 minutes ago, FupDup said:

a split between offensive and defensive

Or a pair of mutually exclusive toggles, one which increases damage while reducing defensive modifiers, and the other that does the reverse.

[JJDrakken]

On 12/2/2023 at 8:52 AM, Procellus said:

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. 

 

You honestly don't understand a Sentinel.  Less survival?  You do realize they have same values/caps as a Scrapper right? Honestly resist sets on a Scrapper are never best option do to cap of 75%.  Unless it's Radiation Armor(That set just OP in general).  I have Electric Blast/Rad Armor Sentinel that fucking scary.  I have other types to.  When it comes to defense values, everyone soft caps at 45% thus granting 5% chance to be hit by a mob. Before any debuff/buff is factored in.

 

As for your Blaster reference, that's ok. They have one thing a Blaster does not have.  Status Protection toggles. Blaster would murder your children for that option. So of course they won't have high end dmg.  It's called a Trade Off.

 

They are fine.  Just a ranged Scrapper without the crits, but with bonus of being ranged.  Honestly, I see a lot posts like this(not just on Sentinels). By folks who don't either play test, don't recipe up, don't understand, etc.. Just assume and then talk about it. 

 

Also this should be in Sentinel forum.

Edited January 8 by JJDrakken

[tidge]

On 12/2/2023 at 10:37 AM, 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 isn't too bad either.  He's a Beam Rifle... something... maybe Energy Armor?  I can't recall.

I just wanted to pop in to write that my Beam Rifle / Energy Aura Sentinel is shockingly good at jumping directly into the fray... And STANDING THERE.

 

I don't consider this to be true tanking, as there is no aggro management per se, yet spreading Disintegration and mixing up targets can get a lot of attention. It took me a while to glom onto this play style for BR; it is what I think works best for me.

[Sovera]

Sentinel suffer from one problem only: the community.

 

The AT is fine by itself. But, just like in GW2 back when dungeons were a thing, in both cases the community of a super casual game would get really acerbic about X seconds lost if Y class was brought.

 

To be completely fair the only complaints about Sentinels I see come from the forums. I have a decent time spent in game playing the game and never once in all that time did I see someone refused because they were a Sentinel, kicked out because they were a Sentinel, or snarked because they were playing a Sentinel.

 

From HM TFs? I mean, sure, is more than 1% of the population running those though?

[Exqzr984]

Hi all,

 

Being new(ish) to the game, I can offer only a limited experience.

 

But, for me.  Sentinels are just perfect.  I thought I was going to be a Brute Player and one day decided to take my love for SR on my brute and try it on a Water Sentinel.  I cant look back.

 

I dont overly concern myself with Minx Max concepts but rather playstyle and just pure joy.  And for that, Sentinel delivers.   A few have suggested already the ability to plug a front line hole  or swing back to provide cover for the squishies, while putting up some control and consistant damage is what makes them special.  They can go anywhere, be anything, do anything and I love it.

 

That all said, the OP has a point.  Not that his concept should replace Sentinels no no.  Rather, wny not just create another AT - if the Devs could ever get to it.

 

The DESTROYER AT.  Assault plus Armour.  I like it.  Would definitely play it.  This would be Spiderman imo.  Asaault plus SR.

 

Still, Sentinels would be my 10/10.

 

 

Edited January 8 by Exqzr984

[FupDup]

11 hours ago, JJDrakken said:

 

You honestly don't understand a Sentinel.  Less survival?  You do realize they have same values/caps as a Scrapper right?

I just wanna point out here that the HP caps on Sents are in fact lower than Scrappers: 2000ish vs 2400ish. 

 

Also, the base values given by armor powers are slightly weaker. For example, Temp Invulnerability gives 22.5% resists on Scrappers but only 21% on Sentinels. A similar trend exists for all directly equal resist/defense powers between the two ATs. Sents have a work slightly harder with set bonuses to make up that gap. 

 

I'm on "Team Sentinel" for sure in this debate, I've got over a half dozen of them at level 50 so I'm no hater by any stretch, I just want to keep the facts straight here. 

Edited January 9 by FupDup

[tidge]

1 hour ago, FupDup said:

I just wanna point out here that the HP caps on Sents are in fact lower than Scrappers: 2000ish vs 2400ish. 

 

FWIW from memory, this Sentinel is the only character in my stable that hit its ATs HP cap (with accolades, and not counting what I might be doing with some of my Tankers). It is also the only character for which I ever 6-slotted the Ragnarok set!

 

Spoiler

Primary Power Set: Beam Rifle

Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura

Power Pool: Flight

Power Pool: Leadership

Ancillary Pool: Leaping

 

------------

Level 1:                 Kinetic Shield    

 (A) Kismet - Accuracy +6%: Level 30

 (*) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)

 (*) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance: Level 50+5

 (*) Shield Wall - Defense: Level 50+5

 

Level 1:                 Single Shot         

 (A) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Accuracy/Damage

 (*) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Damage/Recharge

 (*) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

 (*) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

 (*) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

 (*) Superior Sentinel’s Ward - Recharge/Chance of Absorb

 

Level 2:                 Cutting Beam    

 (A) Ragnarok - Damage: Level 50+5

 (*) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50+5

 (*) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5

 (*) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance: Level 50+5

 (*) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge Level 50+5

 (*) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown: Level 50

 

Level 4:                 Flight    

 (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)

 (*) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance

 (*) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range

 

Level 6:                 Disintegrate      

 (A) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Damage/Recharge

 (*) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

 (*) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

 (*) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage

 (*) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

 (*) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Recharge/Chance of Opportunity

 

Level 8:                 Aim       

 (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff

 (*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge

 (*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance

 (*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance

 (*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance

 (*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance of Build Up

 

Level 10:              Energize              

 (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal

 (*) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance

 (*) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/Recharge

 (*) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Recharge

 (*) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Recharge/Endurance

 (*) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb

 

Level 12:              Power Shield    

 (A) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance: Level 50+5

 (*) Shield Wall - Defense: Level 50+5

 

Level 14:              Lancer Shot       

(A) Apocalypse - Damage: Level 50+5

 (*) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50

 (*) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50

 (*) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance: Level 50+5

 (*) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge: Level 50

 (*) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage (Negative): Level 50

 

Level 16:              Entropy Shield  

 (A) IO Endurance: Level 50+5

 

Level 18:              Refractor Beam               

 (A) Hami-O Centriole (Damage/Range): Level 53

 (*) D-Sync Guidance (Accuracy/Range): Level 53

 (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

 (*) Bombardment - Chance of Damage (Fire)

 (*) Shield Breaker - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

 (*) Touch of Lady Grey - Chance of Damage (Negative)

 

Level 20:              Power Armor    

 (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance

 (*) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance

 (*) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Recharge

 (*) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP

 (*) IO Health: Level 50+5

 

Level 22:              Piercing Beam  

 (A) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage

 (*) Annihilation - Damage/Recharge

 (*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

 (*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

 (*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

 (*) Annihilation - Chance of Res Debuff

 

Level 24:              Repelling Force

 (A) IO Defense: Level 50+5

 (*) IO Defense: Level 50+5

 

Level 26:              Overcharge

 (A) Superior Frozen Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

 (*) Javelin Volley - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50+5

 (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

 (*) Bombardment - Chance of Damage (Fire)

 (*) Shield Breaker - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

 (*) Touch of Lady Grey - Chance of Damage (Negative)

 

Level 28:              Kinetic Damping              

 (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)

 (*) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance: Level 50+5

 (*) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50+5

 (*) Aegis - 5% Psi Resist / 20% Mezz Resist

 

Level 30:              Maneuvers        

 (A) Reactive Defenses - Defense

 (*) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance

 (*) Reactive Defenses - Endurance/Recharge

 (*) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Recharge

 (*) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance/Recharge

 (*) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage

 

Level 32:              Power Drain      

(A) IO EndMod: Level 50+5

 

Level 35:              Combat Jumping             

 (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

 

Level 38:              Assault

 (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50+5

 

Level 41:              Overload            

 (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

 

Level 44:              Hover   

 (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

 

Level 47:              Evasive Manuevers        

 (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

 

Level 49:              Vengeance        

 (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

 

Level 1: Brawl    

 (A) Empty

 

Level 1: Sprint   

 (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50+5

 

Level 1: Vulnerability     

 

Level 2: Rest      

 (A) Interrupt Reduction IO: Level 50

 

Level 2: Athletic Run      

 

Level 2: Swift     

 (A) Run Speed IO: Level 50+5

 

Level 2: Hurdle 

 (A) Jumping IO: Level 50+5

 

Level 2: Health  

 (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance

 (*) Miracle - +Recovery

 

Level 2: Stamina               

 (A) Performance Shifter - Chance of +End

 (*) Performance Shifter - EndMod

 (*) Power Transfer - Chance of Heal

 

3 hours ago, Sovera said:

To be completely fair the only complaints about Sentinels I see come from the forums. I have a decent time spent in game playing the game and never once in all that time did I see someone refused because they were a Sentinel, kicked out because they were a Sentinel, or snarked because they were playing a Sentinel.

 

I don't often play Sentinels, but I love seeing the targeting reticle appear on an enemy. In addition to the effects it brings, it demonstrates to me that the player is paying attention to the fight.

Edited January 9 by tidge
a typo in a slotted power

[JJDrakken]

On 12/20/2023 at 7:25 PM, FupDup said:

If we wanna talk about a real missed opportunity, my fantasy for the inherent would be to make it kinda like the old version that had a split between offensive and defensive, but as separate clickies with a shared cooldown so you aren't forced to pick both the T1 and T2 powers. They'd build up over time like Vulnerability does. 

 

Offensive makes you hit harder and more accurately, maybe even add a little range IDK. Defensive makes you tankier and maybe applies a taunt proc to your attacks, letting you be a sort of offtank for a short time. Takes the generalist/adaptability aspect to a new level, basically making them like "Bio Armor: The AT."

 

Yet when you recipe just right. You'll hit Caps on Resists majority the time. Honestly, folks don't tool around in Mid's Reborn as much as they should or recipe up. They just go SOs, throw em in the trunk & move on.

 

That's fine if that's what you do. But then don't bitch about an AT, when your basically ignoring rest of the game for that AT your own.

Edited January 10 by JJDrakken

[biostem]

I love playing my sentinels;  They feel like the perfect leadership AT - you can survive in the front lines, but don't have to worry about closing to melee range should you need to contribute elsewhere.  I also feel that many of their blast and armor sets received some very nice updates/adjustments...

[HelenCarnate]

Just like most ATs it all depends on who builds them.  Mine can take on most anything a scrapper can at close to the same speed.  Is it stronger than a similar scrapper?  No.  Is it squishier?  Yes.  Does it matter to me since I don't have to be in melee range and can do a lot more on a team?  No

 

Not every class is for every person.  Just because you don't feel like its viable doesn't mean they did something wrong.  I won't play MMs.  Ever.  I suck at them.  Doesn't make them bad or useless just because I can do the same things they can do with another AT.

Edited January 9 by HelenCarnate

[Paragon Vanguard]

Sentinels were not made to be better or worse, they were put in to fill a Concept Void. From there the team found ways to make them more viable. I don't see sentinels as "blaster like" or "scrappper like", though they can be close to "blapper like" if you will. 

Think Iron Man, and that type of comic book character and you have what a sentinel is. Not Wolverine (scrapper) and not Cyclops (blaster).

Sentinels were considered a bit meh at first, though I did defend them even then. They were worked on and made much better to my surprise! NOTHING is perfect, just check the forums on any AT and you will see people unhappy, but they do fit what they were meant to be. I have plenty of sentinels, and in fact fell too much in like with them that I made too many and had to trash some (I will claim it was only trial runs). 

 

As was said above, it may not be an AT for your play style if you can't seem to find joy in them, but I have concepts that I could not play as anything but a sentinel without losing something of them. 

 

My 2 cents, usually not worth a dime. 

[Sovera]

On 1/10/2024 at 8:11 AM, Paragon Vanguard said:

Sentinels were not made to be better or worse, they were put in to fill a Concept Void. From there the team found ways to make them more viable. I don't see sentinels as "blaster like" or "scrappper like", though they can be close to "blapper like" if you will. 

Think Iron Man, and that type of comic book character and you have what a sentinel is. Not Wolverine (scrapper) and not Cyclops (blaster).

Sentinels were considered a bit meh at first, though I did defend them even then. They were worked on and made much better to my surprise! NOTHING is perfect, just check the forums on any AT and you will see people unhappy, but they do fit what they were meant to be. I have plenty of sentinels, and in fact fell too much in like with them that I made too many and had to trash some (I will claim it was only trial runs). 

 

As was said above, it may not be an AT for your play style if you can't seem to find joy in them, but I have concepts that I could not play as anything but a sentinel without losing something of them. 

 

My 2 cents, usually not worth a dime. 

 

I remember back in the day before IOs and people roleplaying their iron man concept. In roleplay and roleplay forum posts, sheesh, so strong, then I played with them and the occasional faceplants we were meant to ignore 😄

[Seed22]

I still always recommend this AT for new players as it gives you some melee, ranged, armor and light CC. Basically exposure to most of the game’s mechanics with relative safety.

 

I then immediately recommend they build a sturdy blaster and enjoy insane damage for minimal tradeoff

[Heatstroke]

On 12/20/2023 at 8:13 PM, BazookaTwo said:

Let me explain for those who don't "get the AT" why it works. One more time...

• Versatility - you can choose ranged or melee in a combat situation, dare I say it? Situationally. If someone else is overwhelmed, I can hop in and save their bacon. If no one else is around me, I can dive head first into a mob, and be whittling down the boss as it's standing there amazed it's mob is suddenly ashes. I can swap team roles in a heartbeat, and do exactly what the team needs from me at that moment. Be that damage dealer, soft controls, or alpha strike absorber. And then do something else in the next moment. 
• Aggro management - if I'm not attacking it, it's looking elsewhere, period. Sentinels peel off aggro like a Stalker going into hide. When solo on a Sentinel, I can easily manage exactly how much aggro I'm taking on at that moment.  
• Mitigation - oh, is that a problem for other ATs? I never noticed any mitigation problems on my Sent. 
• Unique tweaks - all the primaries and secondaries have really interesting little tweaked powers in them that other ATs don't get. Fire/ has complete lack of movement suppression, /SR gets master brawler, DP/ gets additional range with cryo ammo, etc. etc. Read up on these, find an exploit that sounds profitable, and go to town. For example: My fire/bio is indeed a more steady damage dealer than a fire/anything, and never gets mezzed. I haven't even finished the build on it yet and it feels pretty boss because of the movement non suppression, the uptime of the nuke, and the repel baked into the snipe. 

 

 

Everything this guy said is dead on point. I play Sentinels A LOT.. several 50s all maxed out and the VERSATILITY is the number one thing..  
 

[Sovera]

15 minutes ago, Heatstroke said:

Everything this guy said is dead on point. I play Sentinels A LOT.. several 50s all maxed out and the VERSATILITY is the number one thing.. 

 

Even in this thread we have people acting like we are in a 100 meter dash race and we gotta be first. Which brings me back to the earlier example I gave of GW2 and how a casual game (at the time, ever since they introduced fractals and raids and etc) was hellbent in shaving every second off a run since they were 'meant' to do X runs an hour.

 

But CoH is not a 100 meter dash. There isn't even a DPS meter to be ashamed of. Any and all 'downsides' of a Sentinel are in people's heads. It doesn't do as much damage as a Blaster? So what? Few things do more damage than a Blaster. It's not as sturdy as a Tanker? So what? Few things are sturdier than a Tanker. Does that mean we delete all other ATs other than Blaster or Tanker?

 

'But a Sentinel does not bring much to the team other than damage'. Bruh, it's not the kind of game where team compositions matter outside of hardmode TFs, people solo TFs, people do TFs with 8 of one type of AT.

 

A lot of stuff is in people's heads or in spreadsheets. Lets have a team with a Sentinel. Lets do a TF. Now lets keep the exact same team composition and take a Blaster. Will the TF be finished earlier or more easily because the Blaster is there?