Some ideas to spice up the Sentinel Inherent Power

[Runaway]

I realize that I’m late with this, but I haven’t played in 3 years and I chose to make a sentinel when I returned. When playing it, I can’t help but notice how bland the opportunity mechanic feels. Hence this complaint/suggestion post. I've seen that I'm not the only one who feels that Sentinels are not right atm, but still I’m sorry if I’m flogging a dead horse with this.

Why I think the Opportunity/Vulnerability mechanic is bland:

1. The Vulnerability debuff name perfectly describes what it does, but the name + application feels thematically non fitting to me.
2. Vulnerability is a non stackable debuff, which makes it weak in large group settings. Having almost every buff/debuff be stackable has always been one of the things I love about coh, and now there’s this one archetype defining inherent power that doesn’t stack.
3. The opportunity meter might just as well not be there. There’s no way to directly affect it, all one can do is wait for it to fill, which makes it just like a recharge. Vulnerability could have had a 15s up time and 20s unenhanceable recharge and gameplay wise, it would feel almost the same.
4. The application of the inherent is done with an extra button that thematically doesn’t fit within the primary powerset, which is also inconsistent with how inherents of other archetypes work afaik. It seems out of place and tacked on afterwards.

My suggestions:

1. Rename Vulnerability to something more thematic, for example “Opportunity Target”.
2. Stackable “Opportunity Target”, with diminishing returns. Simplified numbers:
   1. 1 stack = 15%
   2. 2 stacks = 23% = 15+8
   3. 3 stacks = 30% = 15+8+7
   4. 6 stacks = 45% = 15+8+7+6+5+4
   5. Every extra stack of “Opportunity Target” after that, increases it with 3%.
   6. The diameter of the visual effect target reticle increases with each stack.
3. A more involved Opportunity Meter:
   1. Increase the “Opportunity Target” duration to 30 seconds.
   2. Setting an “Opportunity Target” costs 100% of the full bar.
   3. Leave the opportunity bar recharge at 60 seconds for going from 0 to 100%.
   4. When your active “Opportunity Target” is killed (it doesn’t have to be by you), then your opportunity bar is fully recharged & the sentinel gets a small stackable buff called “Opportunist”.
   5. “Opportunist” lasts 30 seconds and buffs offence in some small, but not insignificant way. Examples: +10% accuracy/damage/recharge or 15% recharge/speed or ... Exact stats subject to balance calculations + testing.
4. Fit the application of the debuff within the primary powerset:
   1. When the opportunity bar is full, certain (or all?) single target attacks of the primary powerset, will set the current target as the “Opportunity Target” upon initiation of the animation (so before the attack even lands).
   2. The application of the “Opportunity Target” debuff must be done before it lands, so that the attack itself benefits from it. This application is unresistable.
   3. And no more separate incongruent “Vulnerability” skill.

How I imagine this would work gameplay wise:

• If you miss an opportunity, then you’ve got to wait 30 seconds for it to come around again.
• But if you choose your opportunities wisely and don’t waste any, then you can chain them indefinitely & get some nice buffs going.
• In a setting with a tough boss without side mobs, the up time of the defence debuff will be less. But as an upside, more than 2 sentinels will be able to contribute to debuffing the boss. 
• In an aoe dps setting, instead of spreading your single target damage around so that everything dies roughly at the same time, the “Opportunity Target” mechanic + the "Opportunist" buff encourages you to not do that and instead blast down your chosen opportunity target as fast as possible.
• Imo this last point is what would give sentinels a unique playstyle without infringing on the territories of the other archetypes which share the same primary powersets. It can make a playstyle that wouldn’t be optimal for the other archetypes, the optimal playstyle for a sentinel.

 

Not directly related to the opportunity mechanic, I also wish that some of the nerfs to primary attacks were lessened. The much shorter range on aoe attacks feels especially bad on my sentinel, since having a different range for the aoe and for single targets, makes it so that they can’t be part of the same ranged attack cycle. Yes, it makes it so that I play my sentinel play different than I would play a blaster/corruptor/defender with the same powerset, but this has been accomplished in a negative way. There’s a reason why all those attacks had the same range. Sentinels should be encouraged to play differently than blasters by positive reinforcement, not with punishment 😉