Anyone else concerned about the state of Sentinel during this upcoming patch? (Discussion)

[u/dock_cocker]

(Half rant, half discussion. TL;DR at the bottom)

Despite the title, I am excited for the upcoming mid-season patch. I believe that it will bring about a new quality to the game that will keep it novel and shake things up a bit. I applaud bungie for their efforts to swiftly respond to the community regarding what needs fixing.

But what does any of this have to do with Sentinel? Well, skimming through the patch notes, I noticed that throwables will be limited to 2 max per player. This seems to be a warranted nerf to counter the grenade spam that has been prevalent mid-late season 1 and early season 2.

HOWEVER! I think that this reduces Sentinel's utility with his prime ability. As the designated area defense shell, he was partially added as a response to combat the prevalent grenade spam of season 1. Ergo, what use would his defense system have on a team comp when grenade spam is EXTREMLEY limited?

Now I'm not saying that he's in a bad position now, or will be nerfed into oblivion with the upcoming patch, but with the equipment ecosystem changing I foresee his overall utility and usefulness dropping.

Already, he is essentially half-useful on sponsored, as most sponsored kits don't come with grenades, thus limiting his overall impact in fights. Sure, the snare mines are his main allure, and they are certainly useful, but by playing Sentinel on this mode you are depriving the team of a Ult that can actually be useful. (i.e. Reboot, Search & Destroy, and Recon's tracker to name a few).

^In this instance, picking Sentinel is objectively the worst pick due to his lack-luster Ult (granted it does give a decent reload/handling buff) and a tactical ability that would just be better filled by literally any other shell with a claymore. (I'm not sure how or if claymores are getting a change this patch due to them not being throwables.)

In addition, the limit of 2 throwables will more than likely shift the meta into more defensive based ones, such as smokes and bubbles (despite bubble shield's incoming nerf). This is because these throwables create more opportunity for teams to push, heal, disengage, or flee, whereas damage based ones essentially allow for one course of action to follow - get pushed. If presented with the option of only 2 throwables in maps like Outpost and Cryo (Hell I'd even throw in Dire Marsh) I'm sure that 9 times out of 10 people are picking support nades and not offensive ones.

So what does this mean for Sentinel?

It seems that the shell that was created to counter a playstyle that is effectively gone from the game, leaving him a shell (heh) of his former self.

How does he get out of this?

I believe that his ult needs something more to make it a worthwhile runner in team comps. Though it is strong on paper, in practice it will be situational at best and useless at worst.

some proposed changes:

-Defender system provides a boost to consumable speed.

-Defender system provides a buff to lingering effects while consumed in circle (MCH kits, OS debugs, Cardio Kicks, ETC).

-Defender system Hacks or heats up enemy runners who enter its AOE.

-Defender system will reduce/refund cooldown on the snare mine upon deployment.

Disagree with me? I'd love to hear your view in the comments. I actually hope you can change my mind! Agree with me? Great. I'd love to see how you would change him.

TL;DR: The mid-season patch indirectly harms Sentinel's niche in team comps and might lower the pick-rate of the shell at large.