This is my first gameplay / guide video for the dual-wielding Sentinel advanced class in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Sentinel is the mirror class for the Sith Warrior Marauder, so the material covered in this video is relevant to players of either class.
This video provides detailed educational commentary on the core mechanic (Focus), PVP-related abilities, and analysis of match play in Alderaan.
Errata / Comments:
- I should have used Zen during the video for the buff effect. I will discuss the mechanics in my next Sentinel video
To see me PVP’ing live, check out the streaming schedule on Twitch.tv. My stream features real-time narration and commentary – and to the extent possible interaction with the Chat Room.
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Taugrim's MMO Blog 
Slightly saddened that you’re rolling a Sentinel rather than Guardian at launch but still a great video. Love that you’re putting out all this awesome SWTOR content! Thanks!
I wanted to play a “tank” in PVP to get the Guard mechanic, but I ran into a few issues with my 14 Guardian:
1. Focus starvation was a constant issue
2. The tanking stance’s mitigation doesn’t seem to be as good as what I get from Sentinel’s Rebuke
At least as a Sentinel I’ll be rocking a heal debuff and lots of incoming Focus.
Hm. I had no idea about the stances. I did read that the focus starvation does get better at higher levels. But if this is the case I may roll a Sentinel as well. I too like playing a “tanky” class in PvP. Do you know if the stances are just like this at low levels or will this they be the like this as well at higher levels and at cap?
Great video. Can force charge be used in combat? Also, does the distance for it increase as you level (or by a spec point)?
Force Leap is usable any time (in or out of combat), but by default it has a dead zone of 0-9 meters. There are talents to reduce the cooldown and dead zone for FL.
The max distance (30m) never changes.
These vids are great Taugrim. Really useful for keeping up with what the game is gonna look like on release. Good job as always mate.
Awesome video, I really like the way you are commentating on your abilities and the over view of them at the start of the video… really helping me understand some of the mechanics in the immense game…Thank you very much for your hard work.
Thanks for the feedback!
I was debating how much time to spend discussing the mechanics and abilities. Too little context on the mechanics / abilities and people won’t understand the gameplay. Too much context and the video is too dry IMO.
Happy to watch your news videos on swtor (loved your riftblade guides on rift) but a little bit sad because you don’t roll a consular jedi :'( . Will we see a jedi consular video soon or not ?? (“sorry for my english”)
Frenchie PvP player
Jedi Consular is next :)
hey taugrim i am a big fan of ur progress since rift and i like the fact that u trying out swtor as well^ So here i wanna ask u this: Is there any melee dps class with good surviveability if not high and rly good or sick if u want dmg,maybe a self heal or something ; which if played on good hands can be proven a kill-machine, allowing u to get loads of kbs and deliver some respectable amount of dmg? Something like rb/pala warrior from rift or paladin from wow) Thanks in advance- Looking forward to ur reply^^
Maybe Jedi Knight Shadow / Sith Inquisitor Assassin.
I’m not sure about the Jedi Knight / Sith Warrior. They’re squishy for the “Warrior” archetype.
Cool video Taugrim.
Curious, since the NDA has been lifted by Bioware/EA, what is your impression about TOR, in regards to gameplay, richness, combat, PvP, PvE (I know you dont PvE much) as compared to say Rift?
Curious to know how deep TOR is going to be as well if it is a true MMO. I have talked to a few people and they say even though it is a MMO, its not a “true” MMO. Meaning, dungeons, raids etc. are very different compared to Wow or Rift and the feel of the game is more of a Single player RPG/MMO. Curious to see where this goes.
I am on the fence about TOR, whether I should play it or not.
Videos are cool. Well done.
Cheers,
Jason
Game is incredibly rich.
The UI is missing functional but is functional.
The questing storylines / cinematics incredibly well done.
PVP is much better than I was expecting – it’s fun. JK / SW need to be buffed for balance.
RIFT’s spec system far more flexible than SWTOR but SWTOR has no macros and lots of abilities, so the gameplay is challenging.
You can play SWTOR as a single-player game. Justin Lowe (Darth Hater) and Larry Everett have given good reviews of the PVE instancing. The one instance I ran (Esseles level 10) is good.
Taugrim, what is the very first class you’ll be focusing on the most, and posting on, so i can plan ahead?
3 months ago i didnt know the first thing about pvp, so then i watched your videos, and got to be a decent healer in the rift warfronts.
Since i cant make up my mind which class to play in swtor, i figure ill just follow your videos again, and hope for the same outcome as in rift.
Thanks,
Mittens@Faeblight
Still not sure, but I will be playing Commando and Sentinel at launch. Going to look at Smuggler and Jedi Consular over the next week.
Glad to hear it :)
You know, I loved Rift going into the game. The soul system was so diverse and rich. Allowing some amazing abilities to build a character you can enjoy. Often changing that character without having to regear (as much).
However, in the almost 8 months of the game, I’ve seen some very buggy content. Gimmicky fights (Estrode, really?) and it’s clear that Trion doesn’t know how to do math and refuse to listen to those of us who do. As such, their classes are grossly unbalanced and are completely different from one patch to the next.
SWTOR looks like it’s going to have some very rich PVP. I love the hazards in huttball. Starting to think I’m going to enjoy this game quite a bit.
Totally agree.
And agree with this as well. The 2 points you mentioned are the biggest gripes on RIFT:
1. buggy (PVE/raid) content
2. class over-balancing
Taugrim I cant seem to find where to contact you so Im just gonna leave a comment here. Im probably not going to be on Rift until SWTOR starts up. Can you email me so I can contact you closer to the time on where to join etc as I havn’t been able to catch you on vent? Looks like Im in the beta testing now too.
Frizz
I have a Gmail account. Take a wild guess what my address there is :)
You can always PM me on Twitter (@taugrim).
Are you in General Testing or the upcoming Weekend Testing?
I hope you pick Shadow next! These are some great tips for Sentinel, thank you!
Shadow is next :)
Will you be going with Infiltration??
The Focus starvation seems to be a problem in the lower lvls but from 50 Juggernauts I’ve talked to it gets better the higher you get, similar to warriors and their rage mechanic in WoW. There’s an interesting write up from a 50 juggernaut that I found on the forum:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=631686
I rolled a trooper but after a while I feel like I need a change. I have always been an in-your-face type of player. The sent and shadow interest me, but I want to know what you think is more useful for both pvp/pve.