Sentinel Attack Abilities Idea/feedback

[plznohurtme]

I'd been using Shade for some time just leveling it up and getting a feel for having a sentinel that could stealth. I found it pretty amusing across the board and although I had leveled up my Wyrm first I just left it on the shelf and used the Shade. Once the Dethcube came along and I saw quite a few people using it and one of my friends suggested getting it I went back to using my Wyrm for a bit to see how noticeable not having stealth was.

After having played several high level alert missions solo I can say that with the increased range on the attacks my Wyrm was dying a lot more than my Shade ever did. In turn in some cases with bad luck I would end up dead as well (commander teleport switch etc) and the one thing I thought after this had happened several times where my Wyrm faceplanted is that something with the attacks should change.

Right now your choice is either have your Wyrm/Dethcube just not have an "autoattack" and it will likely serve its purpose and use its special abilities, or to leave it on and run the risk of your Sentinel dying. What I would like to see is either change the sentinel attacks to be universal or make mods for a revenge type attack for Wyrm/Dethcube and a warrior/swift deth type attack for Shade.

It would be nice if you could make it so the Wyrm/Dethcube would only attack the stuff that attacks you hopefully allowing them to live longer in those rough circumstances.

[SolluxCaptorTA]

Get some good defense mods and they can survive just fine.

But with that said, Sentinels (all of them) get ridiculous amounts of aggro. They're tiny compared to use, and aren't the bogeyman they learned stories about. Why the hell do they focus fire on them?

tl;dr (You have no attention span) Reduce aggro on Sentinels, it's crazy.

[fishworshipper]

Get some good defense mods and they can survive just fine.

But with that said, Sentinels (all of them) get ridiculous amounts of aggro. They're tiny compared to use, and aren't the bogeyman they learned stories about. Why the hell do they focus fire on them?

Why do we focus fire on the Shield Ospreys?

Because they're obviously helping the more powerful enemies.

And before you say "Shield Ospreys have giant blue streaks, sentinels don't" chances are the Grineer have a HUD that shows Sentinels and their healing abilities. And when you have 2 things mowing down your guys, you generally take out the less durable one first.

Edited June 6, 2013 by fishworshipper

[plznohurtme]

Get some good defense mods and they can survive just fine.

But with that said, Sentinels (all of them) get ridiculous amounts of aggro. They're tiny compared to use, and aren't the bogeyman they learned stories about. Why the hell do they focus fire on them?

tl;dr (You have no attention span) Reduce aggro on Sentinels, it's crazy.

They don't survive worth a S#&$ against lvl55+ Grineer that's for sure, I have decent health/shield/armor/shield regen on them and it really doesn't help. Shade in my experience always has outlasted Wyrm easily and the biggest difference between the two at range is that Wyrm attacks whatever it sees first and Shade attacks whatever attacked you.

 

Why do we focus fire on the Shield Ospreys?

Because they're obviously helping the more powerful enemies.

And before you say "Shield Ospreys have giant blue streaks, sentinels don't" chances are the Grineer have a HUD that shows Sentinels and their healing abilities. And when you have 2 things mowing down your guys, you generally take out the less durable one first.

While your point is definitely valid, the whole point of the thread and what I was trying to get across is that I'd prefer being able to have any sentinel be reactive in its auto attack rather than only the Shade. This is definitely a reason why Wyrm/Dethcube can easily die the way they do is that they're either getting focus fire from some random enemies it decided to shoot or it will have lower shield/health due to that fact and die to other things.

I would just like to see the quality of life for Wyrm/Dethcube be able to be raised without taking away their "autoattack" like ability.

Edited June 6, 2013 by plznohurtme

[halofury36]

If the argument about tactics is going to be introduced for enemy AI, then I suggest that there is still an issue with sentinel aggro.

 

Not all enemies should focus on the sentinel. A melee attacker should focus on you before attempting to swat the floating drone; or the heavy grineer with the rocket launcher - aim for the bigger target!

 

That said, I do agree that from a tactics point of view the sentinel is a logical first target for those with precision shots. I guess I just feel that the sentinel pulls aggro way too fast and way too often. It is just really odd to realize that you survived for as long as you did because your little drone tanked for a solid 2-3 minutes...

 

Back on topic... the idea of sentinel attacks in general could stil use quite a bit of work. The current system works, but it feels very simplistic; between adding more tactics/AI to a sentinel and allowing weapon swapping, I think there is a lot of room for growth.

 

I know adding a shotgun and a "revenge" style precept to either Wyrm or Dethcube would be really awesome. And more lasers...

Edited June 6, 2013 by halofury36

[plznohurtme]

If the argument about tactics is going to be introduced for enemy AI, then I suggest that there is still an issue with sentinel aggro.

 

Not all enemies should focus on the sentinel. A melee attacker should focus on you before attempting to swat the floating drone; or the heavy grineer with the rocket launcher - aim for the bigger target!

 

That said, I do agree that from a tactics point of view the sentinel is a logical first target for those with precision shots. I guess I just feel that the sentinel pulls aggro way too fast and way too often. It is just really odd to realize that you survived for as long as you did because your little drone tanked for a solid 2-3 minutes...

 

Back on topic... the idea of sentinel attacks in general could stil use quite a bit of work. The current system works, but it feels very simplistic; between adding more tactics/AI to a sentinel and allowing weapon swapping, I think there is a lot of room for growth.

 

I know adding a shotgun and a "revenge" style precept to either Wyrm or Dethcube would be really awesome. And more lasers...

Yeah I think it would be interesting if they expanded the weapon choices on sentinels as well as their attack properties. It's a good place for some cool stuff to be potentially added and then have the sentinels be differentiated by their special abilities. Now just for them to fix up crowd dispersion to work much better than it does now!