PTS Patch Notes v2.2.3

ZOS_GinaBruno

OVERVIEW
The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited v2.2.3 is the last incremental patch to the PTS before we publish the Orsinium DLC game pack to the PC/Mac live megaservers. We have made several fixes to quests in Wrothgar, Maelstrom Arena, gameplay, and UI. We will also be copying all European megaserver characters again for this patch, which is approximately 6.7GB in size. Read on for all the details!

FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS

• DLC Game Packs
• Base Game Patch

ZOS_GinaBruno

FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS, DLC GAME PACKS

Dungeons & Group Content
Dungeons

• General
  • Updated the completion achievements for the White-Gold Tower and Imperial City Prison dungeons:
    • Anyone who has completed these dungeons previously will now have credit for the "Veteran White-Gold Tower" and "Veteran Imperial City Prison" achievements. Going forward, you will need to complete these dungeons at Veteran difficulty to get credit for these achievements.
    • Progress outside of Veteran difficulty is now tracked in the "White-Gold Tower Vanquisher" and "Imperial City Prison Vanquisher" achievements. These can be completed in either Veteran difficulty or Normal difficulty.
• Imperial City Prison
  • Fixed an issue where you would occasionally not receive loot after defeating the Lord Warden. Now, the loot from Lord Warden Dusk can be found in a treasure chest located at the exit of his arena.
  • The Lord Warden will now wait a few seconds to summon the portals after casting Darklight Burst.
• White-Gold Tower
  • The Planar Inhibitor
    • The Inhibitor Pinion is now more responsive when interacting with it.
    • Fixed an issue where the Inhibitor Pinion would occasionally animate incorrectly.

Public Dungeons

• Old Orsinium
  • Fixed various graphical-related issues, and issues relating to clickable objects.
  • Fixed an issue where you could not interact with one of the puzzle doors.
• Rkindaleft
  • A Heart of Brass: Fixed an issue where you would receive an error message “This quest cannot be shown on map” from your journal.

Veteran Dungeons

• Veteran Imperial City Prison
  • Decreased the amount of damage that monsters do throughout this dungeon.
  • Reduced the health of the Flesh Sculptor’s Flesh Atronachs.
  • The Flesh Sculptor’s sprinting inmates now move slower.
  • The Flesh Sculptor now summons fewer inmates.
• Veteran White-Gold Tower
  • Decreased the amount of damage that monsters do throughout this dungeon.

Imperial City
Patrolling Horrors

• Baron Thirsk
  • Daedric Arches are now defeated from five hits from any source, or from one fully-charged heavy attack.

Orsinium
General

• Fixed an issue where you could still interact with various NPCs, even when they had nothing to say.
• Fixed various locations where you could get stuck in the world.
• Eveli’s bow no longer disappears when you talk to her.
• It no longer rains inside Bonerock Cavern.
• The compass icon will now fade away closer to the entrance of Nikolvara’s Kennel so it's clearer where the entrance is.
• You can now find “Durzog Whelps” in Nikolvara’s Kennel.
• The Dead Harpies in Honors Rest can no longer be targeted or selected.

Art & Animation

• Fixed an issue that was causing snow textures in Wrothgar to appear black if you had your graphics settings set to low.
• Fixed multiple instances of FaceFX not matching the VO.

Audio

• Replaced the last of the robo-VO with real VO.
• Adjusted many lines of VO that were either too loud or too quiet.
• Improved the timing of many VO theater moments.
• Added the last of the new music to Orsinium.
• Added musical stingers to accentuate some of the key moments in Wrothgar.
• Added sounds to a number of interactable objects.
• Fixed some issues with ambient sounds not playing correctly in the zone.

Crafting

• Woodworking writs in Wrothgar will now correctly indicate that they award Woodworking supplies, instead of claiming to award Blacksmithing supplies.
• When using the cooking fire in the Orsinium Outlaws Refuge, your character will no longer temporarily appear inside of an adjacent rock wall.

Itemization

• Fixed an issue where the visual effects on Maelstrom Destruction staves were not properly aligned with the weapon when casting Wall of Elements.
• Increased the chance to obtain a Maelstrom Weapon in the Maelstrom Arena.
• Adjusted the values on the Maelstrom weapons as follows:
  • One Handed Weapon: Increased the bonus damage and the Stamina restored by 50%.
  • Dual Wield Weapons: Increased the bonus Weapon Damage and Spell Damage by 100%.
  • Destruction Staff: Increased the bonus damage granted by 30%.
  • Bow: Increased the base value of the bonus damage by 280%. The amount gained per tick will remain the same. The tooltip has also been updated to reflect this change.
  • Shield: This item can now drop as part of either the Permafrost or Glorious Defender item sets.

Item Sets

• Briarheart: Fixed an issue where this item set’s ability was triggering off healing crits rather than only damage crits.

Maelstrom Arena

• General
  • You can now loot the chest from an arena in the lobby if you die after completing an arena, and later resurrect at a wayshrine. However, if you enter the portal either in the arena or the lobby to progress to the next arena, the chest will disappear.
  • Decreased the amount of points awarded for not taking power ups during Veteran Maelstrom Arena.
• Arena 6: Spiral Shadows
  • Hoarvors will now spawn faster.
  • Decreased the movement speed of hoarvors that are not in combat.
  • The Flesh Atronachs in this arena will now do less damage.
  • Decreased the base damage done by the Champion of Atrocity's Spit.
• Arena 6: Spiral Shadows, Veteran Mode
  • Decreased the health of Spider Daedra that are summoned by the Champion of Atrocity.
  • Decreased the damage done by the Void Lurchers.
  • Increased the overall health of the Dread Scorpions.
  • Fixed an issue where more than one obelisk would be unwebbed when the arena was initialized. Now, only one obelisk will be unwebbed.
• Arena 8: Igneous Cistern
  • Reduced the damage from the Dremora Kyngald's Flare.
  • Dremora Kyngald will now cast Inferno less frequently.
  • Increased the scaling of the damage from Dremora Kyngald's Inferno. This occurs on Veteran mode only.
  • Valkyn Tephra's Ward Stones will now increase your damage and reduce your damage taken when they are all destroyed.
  • Valkyn Tephra will now spawn adds less frequently. This occurs on Veteran mode only.
• Arena 9: Theater of Despair
  • The damage from Voriak Solkyn's Skull Swarm ability now increases in damage with each projectile launched, though the base damage has been lowered for the initial projectiles.
  • Reduced the damage from Voriak Solkyn's Necrotic Spear.
  • Reduced the health of the Crematorial Guards.
  • Voriak Solkyn's Soul Churn can now be properly interrupted using Spectral Explosion during Phase 3 of the arena. Voriak Solkyn will attempt to cast Soul Churn once he recovers from the stun.
  • The Xivilai Ravager will no longer absorb a Spectral Wraith while he’s spawning in.
  • The Sticky Web debuff will now be cleared upon completing the arena.
  • Reduced the frequency in which monsters cast stun abilities against you.
  • Spectral Wraiths will now spawn less frequently.
  • Spectral Wraiths will no longer spawn while enemies are stunned by the Spectral Explosion synergy ability.
  • You will now be able to continue absorbing Spectral Wraiths after obtaining the Spectral Explosion synergy. Absorbing Spectral Wraiths while the synergy is available will add 10 seconds to the remaining duration of the synergy.

Monster Abilities

• Ice-Heart
  • Ice-Heart will now wait at least 20 seconds after using Savage Winds to recast his Frozen Fortress.
  • Ice-Heart’s opening move to smash the remaining statues can no longer be interrupted.
  • Slightly reduced Ice-Heart’s health and power. He will summon more archers, but the archers also have reduced health and power.
• Reach Mage
  • Grasping Vines visual effects now better communicate the area of the effect.

Quests

• A King’s Gambit: Chief Laurig will now only appear at the moot if it is appropriate for the quest.
• Anger of a King: Fixed an issue where doors would not appear properly in the Chambers of Loyalty.
• Blood and Sacred Words: Azrath will no longer be referenced as “The Hooded Orc.”
• Blood on a King’s Hands: Added additional music upon finishing this quest.
• Draugr Dilemma: Narsis now immediately reappears when you resurrect in place in Exile's Barrow.
• For King and Glory: Kurog no longer sits down while waiting for you.
• Heart of Brass: Fixed issue that was preventing quest pins from displaying properly on the map. The experience and rewards for this quest will also now scale to your level.
• Hidden Harvest: Harpies no longer catch fire and fall from great heights every time you enter the front area of Frostbreak Fortress after a certain step of this quest.
• Invitation to Orsinium: Anyone who enters Orsinium through Friendship Gate will now find the message from Alga to begin the quest. In addition, you can no longer attack the Winterborn that Bazrag throws from the tower.
• Long Live the King: The map pins for the funeral are now more accurate.
• Quarry Conundrum: Talking to the High Elf after your groupmates solve the puzzle will now advance you past the puzzle step. In addition, the experience and rewards from this quest will now scale to your level.
• Reeking of Foul Play: The quest pins associated with this quest will no longer point to “Strange Mechanisms.”
• Sorrow’s Kiss: Lady Laurent will no longer be silent while talking to you in certain cases, and Stibbons will no longer call for help.
• Thukozod the Eternal: The experience and rewards from this quest will now scale to your level.
• Where Loyalty Lies: Lord Ethian will no longer appear in the tower after the quest is completed, and Captain Henrisa will no longer call Orc player characters “filthy Orc-lovers.” That was pretty rude.

World Bosses

• Corintthac the Abomination
  • An additional wave of enemies will now join the fight while Corintthac is out.
  • Increased the damage that Corintthac and his adds do against you.
  • Reduced the overall health of Corintthac and his adds.
  • Reduced the waves of enemies that precede Corintthac’s entrance to three from four waves.
  • Choking Pollen can no longer be interrupted.
  • Lurching Brushfire now hits harder, moves slower, and its visual effects now better communicate the area of the effect.
• King-Chief Edu
  • Increased the damage that King-Chief Edu and his adds do against you.
  • Reduced the overall health of King-Chief Edu and his adds.
• Mad Urkazbur
  • Mad Spikes will now create the Madness adds.
  • Mad Urkazbur will no longer cast Create Simulacrum more than once.
  • Adds will now wait a short time before attempting to heal Mad Urkazbur after a heal finishes or is interrupted.
  • Increased the damage that Mad Urkazbur does against you.
  • Increased the health of his adds in the fight.
  • Mad Urkazbur's "Madness" summons no longer drop loot or award experience points.
• Nyzchaleft
  • Dwarven spiders will now appear less frequently while Nyzchaleft is out.
  • Increased the damage that Nyzchaleft and his adds do against you.
  • Nyzchaleft now uses the abilities Pressure Release and Spin Cycle more frequently.
  • Reduced the overall health of Nyzchaleft and his adds.
  • Reduced the waves of enemies that precede Nyzchaleft’s entrance to three from four waves.
• Old Snagara
  • The Echatere corpses will now decompose faster.
  • Increased the damage that Old Snagara’s adds do against you.
  • Reduced the overall health of Old Snagara’s adds.
  • Reduced the waves of enemies that precede Old Snagara’s entrance to three from four waves.
• Zandadunoz the Reborn
  • Exploding portal scamps now glow with Daedric fire.
  • Increased the damage that Zandadunoz the Reborn and his adds do against you.
  • Reduced the overall health of Zandadunoz the Reborn and his adds.
  • Reduced the waves of enemies that precede Zandadunoz’s entrance to two from three waves.
  • Daedric Arches are now defeated from five hits from any source, or from one fully-charged heavy attack.
  • Scourge Bolt now knocks you back.
  • Titan’s Rage now deals more damage.

ZOS_GinaBruno

FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS, BASE GAME PATCH

Alliance War
General

• Fixed an issue where rams that were built far away from keep doors would move in random directions. You will now be required to build rams slightly closer to keep doors.

Combat & Gameplay
General

• When using the /stuck command, you will never be charged more gold than you have available, and is now correctly reflected in the stuck confirmation window.
• [PTS only] Fixed an issue where Soul Trap abilities were incorrectly treating all targets as invalid for Soul Gems.
• Using the following abilities will now cause your weapon to unsheathe:
  • Conjured Ward
  • Grim Focus
  • Poison Mist
  • Solar Prison
• Vampire and Werewolf bites are now permanent, and can only be removed by getting a cure or fully transforming into a Vampire or Werewolf.

Nightblade

• Shadow
  • [PTS only]Manifestation of Terror: Fixed an issue where this ability did not fear enemies who triggered the trap.

Weapons

• Destruction Staff
  • Impulse: Fixed an issue where the visual effect for the health reduction would not affect the enemy health bar backgrounds. The enemy health bar backgrounds will now shrink appropriately.
• Dual Wield
  • Twin Blade and Blunt:
    • Updated the tooltip to clarify the conditions of each bonus. For example, having a sword equipped increases damage on all attacks, not just basic attacks or skills from this ability line.
    • Adjusted the axe bonus so the bleed damage is increased, but now has a lower proc chance. This fixes an issue where, previously, the bleed was not dealing damage because it was being reapplied too quickly.
    • The sword bonus no longer grants a percent bonus to Weapon Damage and Spell Damage (a change that was made for the Imperial City update). It once again modifies all damage as a direct bonus.
• Two Handed
  • Heavy Weapons:
    • Updated the tooltip to clarify the conditions of each bonus. For example, having a sword equipped increases damage on all attacks, not just basic attacks or skills from this ability line.
    • Adjusted the axe bonus so the bleed damage is increased, but now has a lower proc chance. This fixes an issue where previously the bleed was not dealing damage because it was being reapplied too quickly.

Battle Leveling

• Fixed an issue where ability costs for battle leveled player characters were less than intended.
• Fixed an issue where the per-level scaling for bonuses or damage done was lower than intended for battle leveled player characters.

Champion System

• The Apprentice
  • Elfborn: Fixed an issue where this passive was increasing critical damage and healing less than intended.
• The Ritual
  • Precise Strikes: Fixed an issue where this passive was increasing critical damage and healing less than intended. This passive will also now properly increase healing from effects that scale off Stamina and Weapon Critical (such as Rally).

Monster Abilities

• AvA Faction Border Guard
  • The visual effects for Unstable Core will now display correctly.
• Nightblade (monster)
  • The beam from Soul Tether now correctly strikes the player character closest to the Nightblade, not any one player character within its area of effect.
  • Reduced the duration from Soul Tether’s area effect to 2 seconds from 4.5 seconds.
  • The visual effects for Soul Tether will now display correctly.

Mundus Stones

• The Steed: Fixed an issue which was preventing the Divine Armor Trait from applying properly to the Health Recovery bonus provided by this boon.

Crafting & Economy
Enchanting

• It is once again possible to extract potency runestones from the lowest rank of enchanting glyphs, Trifling Glyphs.

Harvesting

• Potency Runes found in Wrothgar and Cyrodiil will now rarely produce the Veteran Rank 16 potency runestones Repora and Itade.  These will only appear if you possess the skills required to craft with them.

Crown Store
General

• Adjusted the text from the popup when you attempt to purchase the Orsinium DLC Collector’s Bundle as an ESO Plus member. Now, it will clearly state that as an ESO Plus member, you do not automatically have access to the collectible items included in the Collector’s Bundle.
• Riding lessons can now be used regardless of whether or not you have an active mount.

Exploration & Itemization
Item Sets

• Archer’s Mind: Fixed an issue with this item set’s ability which prevented it from providing the base 5% Critical Damage increase.
• Way of Martial Knowledge: Fixed an issue where this item set could trigger when blocking an attack.

Miscellaneous
General

• Fixed an issue that was causing a DirectX error to appear when launching the client.

Quests & Zones
Deshaan

• Adjusted the respawn rate of the Alits found in Mournhold Sewers.

Shadowfen

• Adjusted the respawn rate of the Dreugh found in the Bogmother.

UI
General

• Added a loading screen tip to help clarify door behavior in combat scenarios. As long as you have neither hit an enemy nor been hit for the last several seconds, you will be able to flee from combat by using a door.
• Updated the design icon for the blank heraldry crest to better indicate that you can actually use a blank crest.

Alliance War

• Fixed an issue where the "Show Alliance" section at the bottom of the filter in the Cyrodiil revival map would appear empty.

Controller Support

• Fixed an issue where the incorrect D-pad icon was used when displaying the gamepad keybind to adjust your POV.
• Fixed an issue where combat tips were not displaying the correct controls when switching between the Gamepad and Keyboard UI.
• Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor icon would get stuck after trying to pan through the world map.
• Added a new keybind to switch between Gamepad and Keyboard modes.
• Fixed an issue where the leaderboard keybinds would break when entering a leaderboard too quickly.

Grouping Tools

• Fixed an issue where the search status would occasionally get stuck after zoning.

timidobserver

Seriously, you are nerfing Imperial Prison and WGT again? Didn't you already nerf it once? Why do you keep nerfing it?

Enodoc

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We will also be copying all European megaserver characters again for this patch

Aww, that means I'll have to start over again @ZOS_GinaBruno What was the reasoning behind this reset? Usually there's two weeks available per copy.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Quests

• Invitation to Orsinium: Anyone who enters Orsinium through Friendship Gate will now find the message from Alga to begin the quest. In addition, you can no longer attack the Winterborn that Bazrag throws from the tower.

One of two's not bad. Now we just need to get Stuga into all the cities (and not just Daggerfall/Davon's Watch/Vulkhel Guard), and anyone will be able to start the quest from anywhere.

ZOS_GinaBruno

Enodoc wrote: »

show previous quotes

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We will also be copying all European megaserver characters again for this patch

Aww, that means I'll have to start over again @ZOS_GinaBruno What was the reasoning behind this reset? Usually there's two weeks available per copy.

We had to do some testing on our end in preparation for Monday's live publish.

CP5

[quote[Vampire and Werewolf bites are now permanent, and can only be removed by getting a cure or fully transforming into a Vampire or Werewolf.[/quote]

Glad to see this be a thing, was very irritating going into town next to the wayshrine only to have someone spamming purge ruin your day.

I also want to comment on the changes to the world bosses. The increase in damage but drop in health is clearly intended to reduce the duration of those fights but honestly I thought the long battles were a good thing. I was fighting Nyzchaleft alone on pts and it was a very enjoyable fight, having a long battle to learn the mechanics and testing how well my character could last in a long fight I found to be very refreshing since most other world bosses in the rest of the game are killed far to quickly in my opinion. I liked the long fights, not sure how much I like seeing them shortened.

Malmai

timidobserver wrote: »

Seriously, you are nerfing Imperial Prison and WGT again? Didn't you already nerf it once? Why do you keep nerfing it?

So more people can play not only the ones with Super OP gear...

BuggeX

timidobserver wrote: »

Seriously, you are nerfing Imperial Prison and WGT again? Didn't you already nerf it once? Why do you keep nerfing it?

We dont know how much they nerf it.

Soulac

Malmai wrote: »

show previous quotes

timidobserver wrote: »

Seriously, you are nerfing Imperial Prison and WGT again? Didn't you already nerf it once? Why do you keep nerfing it?

So more people can play not only the ones with Super OP gear...

Cause good gear in this game is so hard to get.

eliisra

timidobserver wrote: »

Seriously, you are nerfing Imperial Prison and WGT again? Didn't you already nerf it once? Why do you keep nerfing it?

I'm sorry but this was kind of needed, depending on how hard they toned it down:

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

[*]Veteran Imperial City Prison
[*]Reduced the health of the Flesh Sculptor’s Flesh Atronachs.
[*]The Flesh Sculptor’s sprinting inmates now move slower.
[*]The Flesh Sculptor now summons fewer inmates.

You shouldn't need 20k dps players, perfect ping + fps and luck with unresponsive synergy interaction, to complete a boss on VR16.

I'll agree about other nerfs of vWGT and vICP being unnecessary tho. I can already complete that with a casual(if still semi-organized + ts) PvE group with normal dps and deaths from stupid. No need to reduce the dmg more.

Than again, this is no longer endgame content once Orsinium comes out. They always nerf old stuff, when new comes out. If they want to keep the IC DLC relevant and selling, might have to adjust it to suit a bigger audience. Especially now that you're expected to use the LFG tool and team up with randoms for daily rewards.

Xsorus

"Shield: This item can now drop as part of either the Permafrost or Glorious Defender item sets."

I'm trying to figure out a set combo where this would actually work out and i can't really.

Because the main setup that'd you want to do this with is non crafted gear... Like for example if I wanted to run Black Rose setup with Perma Frost...if it was Sword/Shield you could do that..but since its just shield it means you have to give up Undaunted Head and Shoulders for that to work...and no one is going to do that really.

If its crafted gear you can already get around it and its not needed....

SleepyTroll

Soulac wrote: »

show previous quotes

Malmai wrote: »

timidobserver wrote: »

Seriously, you are nerfing Imperial Prison and WGT again? Didn't you already nerf it once? Why do you keep nerfing it?

So more people can play not only the ones with Super OP gear...

Cause good gear in this game is so hard to get.

No but a good group is;)

timidobserver

BuggeX wrote: »

show previous quotes

timidobserver wrote: »

Seriously, you are nerfing Imperial Prison and WGT again? Didn't you already nerf it once? Why do you keep nerfing it?

We dont know how much they nerf it.

It does not matter. They already nerfed it once. That was enough.

Preyfar

eliisra wrote: »

You shouldn't need 20k dps players, perfect ping + fps and luck with unresponsive synergy interaction, to complete a boss on VR16.

The Flesh Sculptor on ICP was ridiculously hard. We had an amazing group with strong DPS across the board, but that fight can be thrown off for a number of reasons. The uber-DPS crew (where people are doing 20-30K single target) just go "Burn the boss, ignore the adds". Which works great if you have the perfect DPS. But if you're just under it, the Flesh Atros enrage and wipe your group.

So you go by the fight's actual mechanic. The grenades don't always respond when you go up to them, or explode before you get to them. Nor do they always respawn by the time you really, REALLY need one, or they all spawn across the room. I like the mechanic and think it's great, but it requires almost as much luck as it does skill. I have enough problems with the RNG than to have a major boss fight that's reliant on the RNG.

Personofsecrets

You know @ZOS_GinaBruno , I explained very thoroughly why the Maelstrom tanking items were undesirable. Rather than fixing the item, the bad parts of the item were buffed, but those parts are still bad.

A total redesign of the item is needed. I will explain in a few short points.

Issue 1: The item is balanced around doing 3 things, Damage, stamina return, and extra armor rating, but that is a downside because all three things end up being lack luster as a way of balancing the item.

Fix 1: Remove two of the items effects, such as damage and the stamina return to make design space for adding a single powerful effect

Issue 2: The buffs aren't that good for a tank. Low Slash is a skill used to protect a group and, frequently, the fights that call for Low Slash skill use are tanking focused and the damage is just not pertinent here. Additionally, the extra armor and spell resist isn't needed because of how easy it is for tanks to reach the armor rating damage mitigation cap. On the other hand, every other Maelstrom item gives players exactly what they want and can use more of.

Fix 2: Make the altering effect pertinent toward protecting an entire group of players. Again, remove the unwanted effects so that a large good effect can be put on the item.

Issue 3: The Maelstrom tanking weapons are the only one that require it's user to do something extra (full heavy attack) in order to gain the altering effect. What the heck?

Fix 3: Minor effects are gained passively. Bring this item in line with all of the other maelstrom items by not requiring a single action to gain an effect.

The item as is might as well be altering heavy attacks rather than Low Slash - it is really pathetic. There are more issues, I could go on, but please see the thread that I worked very hard on putting together about this Maelstrom item. In that thread I designed a vision of the item that many people appreciated and would be excited for, but even if the developers don't like what I did, then at least tell them to use the points that I make in my post as building blocks to redesign the tanking items.

Honestly, the way this tanking item was handled is darn unfair. I'm really fed up with how tanking sets, and the role in general, are being envisioned. There is a tremendous disconnect going on. Just look at some of the threads in the combat section of these very forums which are totally polarized between people who are still wanting and able to tank and those who are tired with the role and wanting nothing of it since the stamina regeneration nerf. Then we have PVP to think about and that is just another tanking mess.

Can we get one thing in Orsinium to happy about? Please?

ThatNeonZebraAgain

The sword bonus no longer grants a percent bonus to Weapon Damage and Spell Damage (a change that was made for the Imperial City update). It once again modifies all damage as a direct bonus.

Anyone have an idea what this means for magicka builds that use dual wield?

Xsorus

The new Maelstrom Low Slash upgrade is still worthless...an extra 1200 damage and 400 stamina regen on a fully charge heavy attack is not going to make this weapon good...

Just like adding a set bonus to the shield won't help (since you need weapon and shield to make it viable)

ToRelax

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Using the following abilities will now cause your weapon to unsheathe:

• Conjured Ward
• Grim Focus
• Poison Mist
• Solar Prison

Why? Who asked for this? This just means slower reaction times in PvP when ganked -> taking out a little bit more skill again.

Dymence

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Issue 3: The Maelstrom tanking weapons are the only one that require it's user to do something extra (full heavy attack) in order to gain the altering effect. What the heck?

?

The destruction staff altering effect requires you to place wall of elements, and then you have to use a light/heavy attack to gain the actual bonus damage of the effect.

The dual wield altering effect requires you to use flurry, and then cast a dot which will then receive a buff.

Erraln

ThatNeonZebraAgain wrote: »

show previous quotes

The sword bonus no longer grants a percent bonus to Weapon Damage and Spell Damage (a change that was made for the Imperial City update). It once again modifies all damage as a direct bonus.

Anyone have an idea what this means for magicka builds that use dual wield?

If my understanding is correct, it means they are improving. Rather than getting 5% increased weapon damage, you're now getting 5% total damage, which is a more powerful effect. If you made a Greatsword for the purpose of using that buff, however, it will no longer be ideal, and you'll have to craft swords to replace it.

Xsorus

Dymence wrote: »

show previous quotes

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Issue 3: The Maelstrom tanking weapons are the only one that require it's user to do something extra (full heavy attack) in order to gain the altering effect. What the heck?

?

The destruction staff altering effect requires you to place wall of elements, and then you have to use a light/heavy attack to gain the actual bonus damage of the effect.

The dual wield altering effect requires you to use flurry, and then cast a dot which will then receive a buff.

Flurry counts as a dot....

Spamming Flurry does around 10k+ DPS alone with two maelstrom weapons with like 2000 weapon damage....

Dymence

Xsorus wrote: »

show previous quotes

Dymence wrote: »

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Issue 3: The Maelstrom tanking weapons are the only one that require it's user to do something extra (full heavy attack) in order to gain the altering effect. What the heck?

?

The destruction staff altering effect requires you to place wall of elements, and then you have to use a light/heavy attack to gain the actual bonus damage of the effect.

The dual wield altering effect requires you to use flurry, and then cast a dot which will then receive a buff.

Flurry counts as a dot....

Spamming Flurry does around 10k+ DPS alone with two maelstrom weapons with like 2000 weapon damage....

Yeah, I think that's a little oversight there

Ommy71

Again, i dont see any comment about loading screen.

Someone can confirm if it is the same s***?

zerosingularity

Thanks for the Natch Potes, and very glad that somewhere someone mentioned the Maelstrom Dagger buff doesn't buff channeled DoTs, that was just crazy.

There are still a few things about Maelstrom Arena that need addressing. But there are many a thread and post about that.

The Stranglers are still glitching out on Vet Arena 3, where sometimes they pull you and you bounce back to where you were pulled from. 100 ms latency and 60 fps, not likely on my end.

Also I would like to mention, that partway through the first 3 arenas somewhere, part of my food buff wore off. Using the crown food, I still had the hp portion, but lost the magicka and stamina buffs. (Still had about 30 minutes left on the timer.) Reapplying the food fixed it, but this was not a tool-tip error, my shields (Sorc template) and dps took a hit. I do not know if this is crown food specific or a result of random deaths in vMA, but seems like something players would complain a lot about if it became a rampant bug. If no one experiences it and it is just a template bug, then meh.

Personofsecrets

Dymence wrote: »

show previous quotes

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Issue 3: The Maelstrom tanking weapons are the only one that require it's user to do something extra (full heavy attack) in order to gain the altering effect. What the heck?

?

The destruction staff altering effect requires you to place wall of elements, and then you have to use a light/heavy attack to gain the actual bonus damage of the effect.

The dual wield altering effect requires you to use flurry, and then cast a dot which will then receive a buff.

Thank you @Dymence for correcting my point. My point should instead be the following.

Spoiler

No other player has to do something antithetical to their well being in order to activate their Maelstrom weapons altering effect other than a player using the Maelstrom tanking weapon.

This goes back to what Eric Wrobel said during ESO Live 21. He found that tanks were 'just holding block the whole time' and I don't doubt that. The issue is that just because they made a nerf to stamina regeneration doesn't suddenly make tanks less wary of an enemies fully charged attack. But how does this relate to tanking itemization and, in particular, the Maelstrom tanking item?

Well, I think it is to do with the perceptions of the developers. Based on Eric's comments I find it reasonable to assume that the developers find not blocking, or fully charged heavy attacks in the case of the Maelstrom tanking set, as viable for tanking in this game. Despite that perception though, many enemies can either one-shot a non-blocking tank or do so much damage that unblocked damage causes unnecessary stress for the healer of the group. I point to the Black Rose set, the Endurance set, and now the Maelstrom tanking set, as further proof that the developers don't want permanent blocking and think that tanking difficult content in other ways is something that tanks should consider.

Shortly after Deltia let the cat out of the bag about the Black Rose set allowing him to permanently block, the set suffered a tremendous change. The Endurance set featured stamina regeneration despite the nerf to stamina regeneration while blocking. Now the Maelstrom tanking weapon features the effect that requires a fully charged heavy attack.

The developers can keep trying to incentivize tanks to not be 'just holding block the whole time,' but ultimately the biggest incentive is to not die and I don't think that the developers can overcome that part of tanking by giving tanks a very, very, lame bonus if they drop block once in a while.

In the end, I am certainly wrong, but I also think there is still an important distinction between what tanks have to do for their Maelstrom weapon activation and what DPS have to do for their activation. I took for granted that stamina DPS would already be using DOTs so I did not consider there to be a cost to their Flurry based Maelstrom weapon. I'm also pretty sure that most players are weaving attacks so I jumped to conclusions by not considering light or heavy attacks as a real cost for magic DPS who want to activate their Maelstrom staffs altered effect. I don't necessarily believe that multiple actions should be a part of activating any Master or Maelstrom weapon effect and I certainly don't believe that a second action should be antithetical to the role using said weapons (like is the case with the Maelstrom tanking weapon).

DisgracefulMind

I just really don't understand why the new dungeons are getting nerfed again. They were at a perfect spot. Many, many players were finally starting to get them down and complete them, and you nerf them again. It's unnecessary. This is why people have no clue how to play this game. Eck.

ThatNeonZebraAgain

DisgracefulMind wrote: »

I just really don't understand why the new dungeons are getting nerfed again. They were at a perfect spot. Many, many players were finally starting to get them down and complete them, and you nerf them again. It's unnecessary. This is why people have no clue how to play this game. Eck.

Yea, there needs to be at least some content that has a high skill threshold so that players have something actually challenging to play and gives guilds good reasons to set up group event nights, and so on. Once people learn the mechanics and associated strategies more widely it will become more accessible as well.

I haven't completed either of the new IC dungeons yet, but that's just because of my schedule more than anything. I want to experience the challenge first hand before the nerf, so I guess I better get a move on!

Personofsecrets

There is also a distinction between challenging in a good and in a bad way.

Wing

Personofsecrets wrote: »

There is also a distinction between challenging in a good and in a bad way.

that's challenging vs punishing, and something a lot of people don't understand. especially when you say "something is too hard" everyone is like "pfffft you want an easy button!" this is usually not the case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea6UuRTjkKs&index=17&list=PLhyKYa0YJ_5BkTruCmaBBZ8z6cP9KzPiX

also I agree with all there recent tank sets, literally all of them are like "don't hold black and heavy attack damn you!" I especially thought reactive armor was funny, that literally rewarded poor skill "you get a bonus when you don't block and get knocked on your bum by a boss, go try it!"

its like they don't like tanks but want tanky DPS

Also @ZOS a designer once said "players are going to leave your game, its inevitable, so when they do make sure they are happy not angry."

Dymence

@ZOS_GinaBruno

What happened with the Veteran Maelstrom Arena leaderboards this patch? I don't see anything about it in the patch notes, but the scoring system has changed tremendously from the previous patch.

My best on the last version was a time of 1h3m14s with 2 deaths and that gave me a score of roughly 629,000.

Now I just completed another run which was much better than that run. I completed it in 59 minutes with also 2 deaths, identical sigil use (but the penalty for using sigils should be less now, anyways) and I only got a score of roughly 303,000.

What gives?