So Let's talk Sentries

They've have the same attack pattern for the longest time, and pretty much everything else has seen a refresh, but Sentries really haven't changed a bit. More than a few fights with them, and you'll realize that you reflect/dodge the immobilize, block or dodge the shield bash for the stun, they're easy pickings. I'd like to see them change up their AI package and give them new weapons/abilities.

Considering you can absorb all of that and still kill them, unless you make them at LEAST camp supervisor level, it doesn't matter.

All of the lords, camp supervisors have the same patterns they always have. It's a NPC. It's what they do.

They are contest bots that mark players and cripple yaks. They are not meant to defend your territory in place of players.

One change I would make is to change their marked aoe format into a column with tall height. Then have the marked debuff also collapse gliders.

Sentries are fine. They do what they're supposed to.

@Justine.6351 said:They are contest bots that mark players and cripple yaks. They are not meant to defend your territory in place of players.

One change I would make is to change their marked aoe format into a column with tall height. Then have the marked debuff also collapse gliders.

Agreed. The PvE aspect of it is ok, but the strategy aspect could be promoted.

Maybe sentries could be upgraded.T1 - Cripple Yaks, small scout range;T2 - increase scout range, shoot gliders;T3 - increased scout range, cc gliders;

move watchtower buff from tower to sentry please

They seem fine now. Don't make them any harder. It will only keep pve players longer in the map.

@lLobo.7960 said:

@Justine.6351 said:They are contest bots that mark players and cripple yaks. They are not meant to defend your territory in place of players.

One change I would make is to change their marked aoe format into a column with tall height. Then have the marked debuff also collapse gliders.

I actually like this idea. Have sentries upgrade. Maybe based on each yak they cripple?

@Bigpapasmurf.5623 said:

@lLobo.7960 said:

@Justine.6351 said:They are contest bots that mark players and cripple yaks. They are not meant to defend your territory in place of players.

One change I would make is to change their marked aoe format into a column with tall height. Then have the marked debuff also collapse gliders.

The cripple to upgrade would be counter productive. New yaks don't come out until those crippled yaks arrive at destination. Also if you take an enemy sentry with the thought of cutting a glider line and the camp is not sending yaks the sentry wouldn't upgrade.

@Strider Pj.2193 said:Considering you can absorb all of that and still kill them, unless you make them at LEAST camp supervisor level, it doesn't matter.

All of the lords, camp supervisors have the same patterns they always have. It's a NPC. It's what they do.

There are ranged Lords, Keep Lords use different AoEs on the different maps (Desert being the exception with having a unique Lord at every objective) and some of them have Hammers.

But I agree. It's fine that they have a very simple pattern, they are the most simple enemy besides the trash mob guards at a camp and they do their job in scouting automatically.

@Optimator.3589 said:Sentries are fine. They do what they're supposed to.

Pretty much this.

D:

Leave the PvE out of my WvW! ;_;

@Bigpapasmurf.5623 said:

@lLobo.7960 said:

@Justine.6351 said:They are contest bots that mark players and cripple yaks. They are not meant to defend your territory in place of players.

One change I would make is to change their marked aoe format into a column with tall height. Then have the marked debuff also collapse gliders.

CLAIMABLE SENTRIES! xD

additional mat sink to guild hall upgradesadds upgrades to sentry pointsdisplays guild emblem on the flagpole next to the sentry guy(maybe slottable upgrades for more sentries on a post?)

10/10 would come up with more silly ideas again ;)

@Justine.6351 said:

@Bigpapasmurf.5623 said:

@lLobo.7960 said:

@Justine.6351 said:They are contest bots that mark players and cripple yaks. They are not meant to defend your territory in place of players.

One change I would make is to change their marked aoe format into a column with tall height. Then have the marked debuff also collapse gliders.

It was just a spitball. Maybe have the sentry upgrade with the camp its associated with?

Make sentries spawn as random open world bosses, or just grub.If not change their cripple into chill, this game needs more annoying chill conditions.Or leave them as is, because they're meant to be low level scouts not raid bosses.

@XenesisII.1540 said:Make sentries spawn as random open world bosses, or just grub.If not change their cripple into chill, this game needs more annoying chill conditions.Or leave them as is, because they're meant to be low level scouts not raid bosses.

Shadow behemoth and Teq.

@Strider Pj.2193 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Make sentries spawn as random open world bosses, or just grub.If not change their cripple into chill, this game needs more annoying chill conditions.Or leave them as is, because they're meant to be low level scouts not raid bosses.

Legendary Pocket Raptors.

@Justine.6351 said:

@Strider Pj.2193 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Make sentries spawn as random open world bosses, or just grub.If not change their cripple into chill, this game needs more annoying chill conditions.Or leave them as is, because they're meant to be low level scouts not raid bosses.

In a pack.

@"Optimator.3589" said:Sentries are fine. They do what they're supposed to.

The "If ain't broke don't fix it" mentality has never helped anyone improve anything. In fact, I assure you every single manufactured thing in your room has been an improvement over something that already did what it was supposed to do.

They may do what they are supposed to do within the narrow context of what a sentry camp is supposed to do, but they are part of a game, and games are meant to be fun. If any parts of a game are less fun than others, making them more fun is always an improvement.

But how can you make them more fun? It's not like you can make them smart since AI is limited no matter what. So the only possibility left is making them less repetitive. Have more variation. Spice them up so you may not always know what you are find to find there every time you visit the camp.

For example:

• Veteran events are pointless. Completing them gives no score and they do not help in any way. Other than a daily achievement and a bit of participation they do nothing. They could be given a meaning by making it so defeating a veteran event gives a Special Action skill to whoever participated the most in the event. Using the special action skill at controlled sentry or camp would add the veteran and its minions to that location as reinforcements, and they would stay there until killed.
• Maybe sentries could increase in number the longer a sentry post has been captured, or the more objectives are captured along a supply route, or the higher the tier of the objectives in the supply route, or 2 of those possibilities, or even a combination of all 3.
• There could be guild consumables usable on them every X minutes.
  • There could be one that adds reinforcements to a controlled sentry location,
  • Or one that replaces the sentry with a different version that has different skills an stats.
  • Or one that gives a powerful effect to a sentry. Like a DPS cap that prevents them from losing more than 1/10 health per second, so they can't die in less than 10s. Thus giving a bit more time to get there and prevent capture to anyone patrolling the supply route.

@MithranArkanere.8957 said:

@"Optimator.3589" said:Sentries are fine. They do what they're supposed to.

On the flipside, I have seen far too many developers take the "If it ain't broke, keep fixing it until it is" mentality. And on many occasions, I have seen fun greatly diminished, if not snuffed out.

Looking back at MMOs, Champions Online was a particularly egregious example of this. Cryptic holds the dubious distinction of putting out a game that was better in beta than it was 6 months after launch. Sure, they fixed some bugs in that timeframe, but they just kept mucking about with EVERYTHING. I'd really like to avoid other games that follow suit.

Should be easy enough swapping the t3 extra patrols for PoF raiding parties, or put a bow/dagger mordrem to scout instead. We saw this happen when the desert map came out. But frankly you are better off playing there instead if you are bored of the mechanics because they are only there to either mark you or destroy your siege. Sure you can run around being a PvE hero, but this is WvW and therefore tailored for group play. Imo we should leave all the npc jobs to designated guilds/players instead, ton more fun to fight against anyways and would allow for some interesting approaches.

Sentries would benefit the most out of a NPC to Player promotion mechanic where the Player can take over the role for extra bags or wxp.

Player Sentries would be limited to a certain range around the ring, gain a small amount of vitality (sentries aren't really a combat threat as far as damage goes), and gain a special action Mark ability that marks foes. The mark skill would have huge range, large radius, and relatively low cooldown.

Bonus rewards would be generated when a friendly yak reaches its objective, anytime you kill an enemy yak, and defeating enemy players while within the capture ring.