JK/SW Sentinel / Marauder theorycatasspoopsocking to victory

[Fordel]

They'd have to be monumentally stupid to say "we think spec X should do 5% more damage than spec Y".

WoW said that for years! 

[Furiously]

Why would you play a DPS class over a tanking or healing class if they did the same damage?

[Sjofn]

Because you don't want to tank or heal, and you like the playstyle of the DPS class. Crazy, I know.

[Zetor]

Also, pure DPS classes typically have better CC / utility (combat tricks, buffs, etc) and offer more varied gameplay. If you want to dps as a hybrid class, you'll probably have one viable option that may not fit your preferences; if you want to dps as a 'pure' class, you'll have 3 options that are all viable.

[Furiously]

Because you don't want to tank or heal, and you like the playstyle of the DPS class. Crazy, I know.

I suppose.. I didn't care for the "pull out a shotgun of knife" part of the scoundrel or operative. But... the min/maxxer in me....

[Sjofn]

I am almost certainly going to play both my smuggler and my IA as the pure DPS spec, because the DPS option in the healing tree is stupid. Straight up.

[Trippy]

For Sentinel in PvE which of the three trees is the least "twitchy"? Or to put it another way which one is most forgiving if I'm only half paying attention? Survivability is also more important to me than killing as fast as possible.

[SnakeCharmer]

Focus is the most forgiving and least buttony, IMHO, but also takes the longest to develop.  Combat is middle of the road, and watchman is the most difficult / twitchy.

[Trippy]

Cool, thanks!

[trias_e]

I love the playstyle of annihilation (watchman).  It does remind me of playing starcraft 2 than a MMO though:  I have to use 15 hotkeys intelligently and regularly at level 27.  I like this, but I think many people won't.

I think retaliate is the best dps ability we have, being off the GCD.  Nothing like a good retaliate/force scream burst damage combo.  Might be different at 50 though.

[SnakeCharmer]

I love the playstyle of annihilation (watchman).  It does remind me of playing starcraft 2 than a MMO though:  I have to use 15 hotkeys intelligently and regularly at level 27.  I like this, but I think many people won't.

I think retaliate is the best dps ability we have, being off the GCD.  Nothing like a good retaliate/force scream burst damage combo.  Might be different at 50 though.

It gets worse.  You're going to pick up another half dozen or so abilities you'll (think you) need to work into your repertoire.  You'll need to start paring stuff down otherwise your brain might explode.

[Surlyboi]

Glad I picked up that Razer Naga then. 17 buttons should do it. 

[Morfiend]

Glad I picked up that Razer Naga then. 17 buttons should do it.  

Only if you use those buttons with modifier keys. Alt and Ctrl work well.  

*Edit*
While I am sort of joking above, I currently have 30 keys bound to my mouse for SWTOR.

[Azuredream]

Ok, my Sentinel is 41 right now, I just wanted to complain about the insane amount of abilities that I have (and I still have more coming I can see). My first 50 was a Sorcerer which fooled me into thinking all classes had that amount of abilities. I was horribly wrong.

[Ingmar]

Yeah, SW/JK button proliferation is pretty ridiculous.

[Paelos]

I don't know what I'm supposed to be using as a JK at level 33. It's too much!

[trias_e]

I love the playstyle of annihilation (watchman).  It does remind me of playing starcraft 2 than a MMO though:  I have to use 15 hotkeys intelligently and regularly at level 27.  I like this, but I think many people won't.

I think retaliate is the best dps ability we have, being off the GCD.  Nothing like a good retaliate/force scream burst damage combo.  Might be different at 50 though.

It gets worse.  You're going to pick up another half dozen or so abilities you'll (think you) need to work into your repertoire.  You'll need to start paring stuff down otherwise your brain might explode.

Not so bad yet at 40.  Got some useless abilities I never use.  I still basically am set with two full bars, but I mean FULL bars.  Getting any new abilities at this point have to go to the side bars.  :(

Still love the class though.  I've had no desire to respec:  Annihilation (watchman) is very fun!

[Mattemeo]

Focus is the most forgiving and least buttony, IMHO, but also takes the longest to develop.  Combat is middle of the road, and watchman is the most difficult / twitchy.

While levelling, Combat is currently considered to be the least forgiving, judging from talking to people in-game over the last couple of weeks. I've spoken with several Sentinel players and Watchman seems to be by far the most popular spec, and seems to cope with Story-based missions with less need of a level advantage. I've found that playing as Combat, if I'm not 2-3 levels higher than my Story bosses, I'm likely to get stuck.

[Mattemeo]

I don't know what I'm supposed to be using as a JK at level 33. It's too much!

If the skill is condition based or won't work on anything higher than a silver ranked mob, you don't need it. That should free up about 3 slots at 33!

[Ingmar]

I agree about the one that is based off of snares but the one off of stuns is really really useful when soloing, it speeds up kills on silvers a lot.

[Mattemeo]

I may have to revise my opinion on that one since the last patch supposedly made combat flow a lot better; I might actually be able to make it actually go off for the first time, ever. Up to this point, it has never worked. It's been off my bar for a while...

[Samprimary]

Sentinel was so ability bloat clogged that it really legitimately started to hurt my fingers. I figured earlier that I might just stop and wait for macros, but I went ahead and went all third party on it instead. The class plays really, really well with macros. It's .. haha, a huge client side stealth buff.

[Ingmar]

I assume there's some kind of EULA violation involved though?

[Threash]

I hope not, my Razer Naga has built in macros and they are partnered with swtor.

[Nebu]

Sentinel was so ability bloat clogged that it really legitimately started to hurt my fingers. I figured earlier that I might just stop and wait for macros, but I went ahead and went all third party on it instead. The class plays really, really well with macros. It's .. haha, a huge client side stealth buff.

Assassin/shadow also benefits greatly from 3rd party macros.  Having the ability to pair attacks depending on force need and position reduces the need to look at the UI while circle strafing to get positionals off.

[Sky]

Macro = crutch.

You suck, l2p.

[Fordel]

I don't know SWTOR's specific policy, but usually the way it goes is if it's hardware provided it's fine, but if it's software mucking up with the game itself then you could be in trouble.

[Merusk]

I'm trying to figure out how you'd do a 3rd party hardware macro that takes in to account positionals & what buffs are up and I'm not seeing a way of doing it.  Am I missing something here?

[Nebu]

I'm trying to figure out how you'd do a 3rd party hardware macro that takes in to account positionals & what buffs are up and I'm not seeing a way of doing it.  Am I missing something here?

Have it activate two keys in reasonably rapid succession by priority.  If the first key can activate, it will.  If not, the second key will activate. 

[Nebu]

I'm trying to figure out how you'd do a 3rd party hardware macro that takes in to account positionals & what buffs are up and I'm not seeing a way of doing it.  Am I missing something here?

Isn't a hardware macro really just a third party software macro talking to the hardware through its driver?

[Ingmar]

The only thing I really want to macro is strike/sundering strike. Maybe slash/guardian slash but they have different focus costs...

[Morfiend]

I want to macro those two "cant use these in pvp" abilities, pummel strike, and umm, savage kick I think. I want to set them to my main abilities so that they always fire when ready. I am sick of watching my bar for them to light up.

[ajax34i]

Personally I haven't macro'ed, but I've multi-keyed buttons.  Specifically, I hate having the bottom center bar visible, but the keybinds assigned to it don't work if the bar isn't visible, so I've programmed the keyboard to do:  switch-to-bar-2, ability x, switch-back-to-bar-1, as a work-around.

[SnakeCharmer]

The only thing I really want to macro is strike/sundering strike. Maybe slash/guardian slash but they have different focus costs...

I use autohotkey for all my macro needs on my Anni spec Mara.  I use Retaliation whenever possible to maximize uptime for Cloak of Pain (2/2 in a Cloak of Annihilation, 2/2 in Cloak of Carnage).  I was able to cut my keypresses down by about half.

For example, my Force Charge + Deadly Saber + Cloak of Pain.  This ensures that Deadly Saber and CoP are always up when I start a fight, and it refreshes it when in extended fights since Force Charge is apart of my rotation.  And if FC is on CD but I need to refresh DS and/or DS?  Press 1 again instead of v and b or v or whatever.
$1:: ;
Send {1}  <---Force Charge
Sleep 150
Send {v} <---Deadly Saber
Sleep 50
Send {b} <---Cloak of Pain
return

Rage builders, Retaliation proc
2:: ;
Send {2} <--Battering Assault (if available)
Sleep 50
Send {1} <--Slash (always available)
Sleep 50
Send {c} <--Retaliation (procs if available)
return

Rupture, Retaliation
3:: ;
Send {3} <--Rupture
Sleep 50
Send {c} <--Retaliation
return

Annihilation, Retaliation
4:: ;
Send {4} <--Annihilation
Sleep 50
Send {c} <--Retaliation
return

Defensively, I worked in a combo that does Obfusciation, then 6.25 seconds later hits Saber Ward.  Really handy in 1 vs 1 PvP or against elites, champions.

If I'm on my Smuggler Gunslinger, I use AHK for any ability that requires cover.  So, it activates cover and the ability with 1 keypress instead of 2 (or 3).  So, for example with Cover + Smugglers Luck + Charge Shot, I can do 3 actions by simply pressing the 2 hotkey - puts me in cover, then activates the Smugglers Luck buff for 100 percent crit on Charge Shot.  Same for Aimed Shot, Sab Grenade, etc.  And if you're already in cover, you'll just get some red text telling you that you're in cover.

[Threash]

How much of an increase in dps is the 36% extra offhand damage talent? There are WAY too many things in annihilation i want and i need the "heal on cc breaker" talent from rage to milk healing medals in WZs so the only thing i can give up are those 3 points in carnage.  36% offhand damage seems like a heck of a lot to give up, specially if it applies to skills that use both sabers.