sentinel vs occultist

Cythius

hey, new to the  game, a friend is getting me into it.  I've narrowed down my class choice to either Sentinel or Occultist and had a few questions I hope I could get some help on.

1) which of these classes kills better with straight damage?  Or do both rely more on locks/affliction stacking to kill

2) Which class is better at 1v1?

3) which class scales better with artefacts?

4) it looks like occultist has some great escapes/mobility, does sentinel have any good escapes or mobility other than burrow?

5) which class will be harder to learn in terms of combat for a new player?

Dunn

Occultist has great mobility and is potent in 1v1. Sentinel is also great in 1v1 and has awesome utility. Both are in very different factions though, so you consider that. Both aren't what I would consider 'easy' to learn. Occultist scales better with artifacts. As for damage kills, both can do it.

Hanley

As per question 5, Serpent.

Santar

Honestly, Sentinel vs. Occultist are about even on every single question you asked there. 

They both can do damage, though Sentinel is probably a wee bit more inclined towards damage strats. They're about the same at 1v1. They both scale great with arties. Occultist has great mobility, but so does Sentinel with leap + evasion + burrow, but the real thing that gives Sentinel a lot of mobility is the abillity to zone out their enemies with traps.  They're both fairly complex classes, but Sentinel will be easier for a new player because you can just do easy damage strategies until you learn how to do other things.

Cythius

I appreciate the feedback, damn this is a tough choice though.  Both classes seem great RP and combat wise.  In a 1v1 setting how would each class matchup with monk/serpent/knight?

Kafziel

I lean towards sentinel personally, because the RP restrictions are slightly looser, and I think team green is more fun than ashtan/chaos, even if just because Ashtan has so many people that you rarely get raided. You'll have plenty of time to hone your skills on Eleusian/forest defence (defence is more forgiving than offence for someone starting out because people won't generally - and shouldn't - jump you for defending).