34 réponses à ce sujet

[StJonofPDX]

Does anyone else feel that the sentinel was changed too much?

So, full disclosure: the sentinel was my favorite class so I was probably going to have some issues w/ any changes they made. That being said, after playing the demo I don't think it is just nostalgia that is effecting me.

I know it has been discussed elsewhere, but the sentinel's Tech Armor power was reworked pretty extensively to make it a little less game-breaking than it was in ME2. I am fine w/ that in principle and it didn't bother me in the beginning of the demo but as I got further in I found myself being made to play in a way that seemed entirely contrary to what the class traditionally brought to the game.

Allow me to repost what I said in another forum :

“I think there is an argument to be made that the sentinel is too powerful when given access to all weapon types, but the way they nerfed tech armor goes too far. I have no problem that recasting now triggers the area effect attack rather that recharging your shields, but the cooldown reduction forces you to play the class as a tank!

The Sentinels strength has always been in versatility (being able to use both warp and overload to deal w/ any type of enemy, Cryo Blast, and tech armor to keep pc alive), but that is no longer possible due to the increased cool down of 80%! Even fully upgraded you are looking at a 50% extra cooldown on abilities. For a class that is ALL ABOUT having a wide range of abilities, this kills the jack-of-all-trades aspect of the class and leaves the PC relying more and more on guns and melee attacks...which is not the point of the class.

The devs even realized this--look at the skill tree. What was the "Defense" branch of class-specific upgrades in ME2 has been changed to "Offensive Mastery" and all cooldown reduction has been replaced by damage upgrades. Even the omni-blade super-melee has been designed w/ a close-courters, high-damage, wide attack. It is clear they remade the class with close combat in mind.

Does that make the character weak/unplayable? No. But if I wanted that play-style then I would play a vanguard and bring along someone w/ overload. There is no viable replacement for what play-style the Sentinel used to cater to.”

So...any thought? At first I thought I was just over-reacting but the more I think about it the more I think there really is no replacment for the sentinels play style, and that seems like it leaves a rather large hole in the class system.

Where's the jack-of-all-trades?

Modifié par StJonofPDX, 15 février 2012 - 11:07 .

[TheKillerAngel]

I feel tech armor was changed in a way that inhibits its utility.

[Mand0l1n]

I think all the classes will have to engage in a bit of hand to hand now because enemies will storm your position if you just sit back behind the one piece of cover. The cooldowns really wont be a problem with the correct loadout and you can evolve powers to minimise recharge time. I've fully evolved throw in the me3 demo and not taken the cooldown reset variation and the cooldown is still relatively short. He's better now than he was in me2. I like the ooption of choosing when to detonate the armour and lift grenades are excellent.

[StJonofPDX]

Sorry--original post was doubled for some reason. Fixed now.

[rumination888]

For all we know the 80% cooldown penalty was needed to offset the cooldown bonus they could achieve compared to Adept/Engineer by having a higher weight capacity. Until we know the full extent of how weight capacity works, we can't assume Tech Armor was nerfed. Keep in mind that Tech Armor also increases power damage and force by 20%.

Its also too early to say the class can only be played as a tank. Until we know theres a bonus power that recharges shields, the Sentinel seems more suited to an artillary role.

[TekFanX]

I can only agree with you.
While the "explode at will"-function of the Tech-Armor gives it a new aspect, the class itself loses the thing that made it special: Biotics AND Tech.

In ME1 I chose that class for its mixture of Tech and Biotics. Also by roleplay-aspect, I liked the idea of playing a biotic engineer. Someone with technical education who happens to be a biotic.
I chose the Assault-Rifle-talent in my second Sentinel-playthrough to round up tech an biotics with a nice weapon.

When I first saw the Tech-Armor for ME2 I was excited. Jack of all trades plus a nice armor.
I didn't really need the blast, but it was a nice touch.

Now in ME3, I'm quite disappointed.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want an overpowered mega-shepard, I like a challenge, but the ME3-Tech-Armor binds my beloved sentinel to a playstyle I don't like.
Either I hide in cover and use a power, or I activate the power-armor and transform into a close-combat-soldier.
Plus: Getting out of hot situations with the power-armors blast is no longer possible.
Activate the blast and you'll be rewarded with a heck of a cooldown.

[Meken]

Jack of all, master of zip, basically. It was my favorite too, but this is utterly a disappointing class change.

[element eater]

Im in agreement, im thinking i will change class with my sentinel femshep, a shame shes not going to make it through 3 games. In ME1 i played as a medic and in me2 it switched to a more defensive character which was fine i always imagined that shep as the backbone of squad that just kept everything going but as u say this new version seems to be based around offensive play which is really disappointing. Its defensive capabilities and versatility seem pretty much gone. Im realy wondering what the point of this class is in the new game as offensively vanguard will always be more fun. Also as u say in the op no class seems to take up the sentinels role from previous games

Modifié par element eater, 15 février 2012 - 11:51 .

[I Tsunayoshi I]

The Cooldown nerf has a huge effect in the viability of using Tech Armor. The fact that you have to minimize your weapon loadout to 2 tops to keep from having the increase you wanted to get more power usage from being completely wiped out and sent into the red, making yourself useless by default, is already something that severely hurts just because Sentinels lose their defining power and much of what made them effective and a blast to play in the first place.

As I have seen already touted around the boards a good bit, without Tech Armor, Sentinels effectively begin playing like inferior versions of Infiltrators or Adepts with nothing that effectively gives they a real place in the battlefield. Also as already mentioned in more than one thread, the dmg resistance and power boost is already moot on high difficulties in SP and on any sort of mission in MP because of the horrifically spongy nature of the enemies in general.

[Mand0l1n]

If the sentinel has been nerfed so much how come he's one of the easiest classes to play in the demo?

[Rane7685]

To be honest this class needed a nerf. In ME1 it was terrible (could barely fire a pistol) but in ME2 you could quite easily walk around taking a lazy stroll in the open on insanity and thats not much of an exaggeration. After tech armor and defensive mastery was maxed i dont think i even used cover. The sentinel class now imo encourages a more versatile and adaptable game play mixing up warps and overloads. In ME2 I had next to no reason to use warp overload or throw (cause without cover my tech armor tended to explode a lot and had to reequip it). In ME2 i was just walking around with an assault rifle. In ME3 im diving cryoing meleeing whipping into cover overloading a turrent and exploding liaras singularities. Im still getting used to the class but I suspect given time I will enjoy the class even more

[Rane7685]

Mand0l1n wrote...

If the sentinel has been nerfed so much how come he's one of the easiest classes to play in the demo?

He's been nerfed relative to the game-breaking stupidly powerful class he was in ME2. Game breaking really says it all though. Sents needed  a nerf

[Mand0l1n]

Agreed - still a great class though. I preferred playing a warpbombing cryo shattering sentinel in me2 so thats probably why the changes don't bother me so much.

[Drinking Shepard]

Yeah, I felt a great disturbance in the Force too

[HolyAvenger]

Ehh easily the class I've enjoyed the least in MP.

[jackyboy666]

You have to remember though that the powers like Overload (IMO) seem a lot more powerful. And the Sentinel also has cryo blast which can affect more enemies now (since most standard enemies do not have shields etc) so making the Sentinel a little less powerful in terms of cool down etc may seem a bit more balanced when combating enemies. And yes the Sentinel in ME2 was way too powerful, can see why people miss it

[seirhart]

I actually like this new version of the sentinel, along with the new version of the engineer

[eye basher]

you can quite literally sentinel yourself into mordor.

[TheKillerAngel]

Rane7685 wrote...

Mand0l1n wrote...

If the sentinel has been nerfed so much how come he's one of the easiest classes to play in the demo?

He's been nerfed relative to the game-breaking stupidly powerful class he was in ME2. Game breaking really says it all though. Sents needed  a nerf

They could have nerfed sentinels without making their core ability (tech armor) almost useless. If you want to be a power-centric sentinel there is almost no point in investing in tech armor, and it is not durable enough to provide a meaningful difference on high difficulty.

[nocbl2]

Where are mah other tech powers?

[Craquehead]

The demo forces you to carry 4 weapons (including the mattock, which is very heavy), which wreaks havoc on your recharge time. When you can roll with a pistol, or maybe a pistol+smg, your recharge times will go way, way down.

[WaffleCrab]

If it was me, i would only roll with mattock with sent. or eviscerator+pistol or GPS+pistol. but never an SMG.

[Craquehead]

Yeah I'm not a fan of the SMGs in this iteration, I know that in MP, some of the engineer races get a weapon bonus to SMG as one of the power-ups.

Additionally, once you get a couple of stability upgrades for the M-8, it turns into a laser beam. IIRC you gain something like 15-20% recharge time by choosing an M-8 over a Mattock, so I generally carry the M-8.

Modifié par Craquehead, 16 février 2012 - 03:33 .

[jackyboy666]

The Infiltrator would benefit with the Tempest SMG. Cloak, get up close then unload on the SOAB

[Eveninglost]

I dunno. I have quite enjoyed the smg with scope/stability that I have gotten in MP.