This is a discussion thread to chat over the sentinel rework testmerge, the venator spitter strain, and the defiler T3
what do you think of each? please please please please please stay constructive and do not be shitty to the contributors or each other, this is meant to be a place of positive conversation
I didn’t get to play defiler but I had fun with the other two. 
Out of these three I’ve only played sentinel with any meaningful time though and I personally find it better than pre-rework.
The only one I’ve had experience with so far is Sentinel, I like what it’s going for but it felt a little underwhelming.
When I played marine I felt like I cold just ignore it whenever I was getting spat at because the spit really doesn’t seem to do much unless the Sentinel goes in and uses it’s melee abilities, and as long as I’m at the front surrounded by lots of marines it’s basically suicide for the Sentinel to try and do that. It never felt like a threat at all. Felt like all the spit did was give me a stink aura and nothing else.
I also played a few rounds as it and basically felt the same thing but from the other side. Spit alone doesn’t really do much and going in for the melee abilities feels very high-risk low-reward. Like sure, the stun on Draining Bite is good, but Defender also has a good stun and all they have to do is get adjacent to you and press a button, and they are tanky enough to survive. Runner pounce is also a really good stun, albeit harder to use without dying unless the marine is alone. Why does Sentinel have to spit someone over and over again, spending almost all it’s plasma in the process, and then use a sprite click melee ability just to get a stun? On the front where there’s constantly bullets flying everywhere, it just doesn’t feel worth it.
And I’m not necessarily saying that the stun specifically needs to be easier. I would be fine if it doesn’t even have a stun. It just needs something, some useful payoff they can reasonably achieve. If neuro did more than just a little oxygen damage then spitting would feel worth it but I imagine it’s hard to buff neuro without it becoming frustrating to play against, like old Sentinel.
Plasma was also a pain. I think I read somewhere that the intention is to make it so that Sentinel needs weeds, but the problem is that currently you spend more time sitting around waiting for plasma regen than actually fighting, and that’s with recovery pheros. If you don’t have recovery pheros it’s even more painful. I think it really needs a plasma regen buff if the high cost on spit is going to stay the same.
Also I wasn’t able to confirm if this is definitely the case or if I just misinputted, but if toxic slash forces harm intent I think that’s really silly especially considering it locks you in to it for 3 slashes.
Anyway, that all said, I do like what it’s going for. Spitting is actually fun now that is has IFF instead of just being constantly frustrated by other xenos getting in the way. Going in for a tail stab after building up neuro is fun even if it feels not impactful enough for the difficulty of pulling it off, same thing with bite. Like the concept is really fun it’s just the balance that feels off.
I didn’t think I’d like TGMC Defiler Despoiler but it’s actually pretty swag. I think like inventory bloat is bad and doodoo (and thats another issue elsewhere) but I think inviting the opportunity for more people to counter it strategically with having to take ointment, extra pills, etc. is kind of neat. It always saddens me how many people leave their ointment (I know space restrictions exist, it just feels weird).
Easy enough to counter the chemical drain too, and because it didn’t go the route of Defiler introducing seven zillion novel chemicals and mostly focused on burn conversion, I think its approachable and easy to play as or play/pack against.
Haven’t done the other two but looking forward
Not that into eschar though. Not strongly against either but not into it. Mostly the surgery for it, but honestly everything else seems fine 
I like me splints staying on