Greetings ESO Forum Posters

Lava_Croft · November 2015

I like the Roadrunner style Bolting from ledges. I make my own sound effects too.

Scyantific · November 2015

1. Scale Cloak duration off of current remaining health. Mainly because the majority of NBs that I see only spam the hell out of it when they know they're going to lose. Full duration at 100% health, 1s duration at <30% health. If every other class in the game has to be smart about which targets to engage, so should nightblades.

2. Make Surprise Attack, Ambush, and Killer's Blade do Physical Damage instead of Magic damage. This really should apply to all stamina morphs for all classes that don't deal any sort of elemental damage.

3. Bring back the old Dark Exchange. The new one is crap and is useless outside of very few niche situations.

Jitterbug · November 2015

Scyantific wrote: »

Scale Cloak duration. Full duration at 100% health, 1s duration at <30% health. .

sometimes cloak lets me escape, sometimes it doesnt. it very rarely works against good and smart players.

1 s duration, lol

Xeven · November 2015

Hexys wrote: »

1) Ball of Lightning, Morph of Bolt Escape (Sorcerer, Storm Calling)
6.5 seconds was to long for the ball to intercept projectiles, but I think 2.5 seconds is to short, maybe make the ball last for 4.5 seconds.

NO!

Hexys wrote: »

This ability also changed in 1.7, before that when you teleport of a ledge you would still move forward while in the air. Since that patch you hang in the air and fall straight down. I made a quick situation image to understand it easier.

YES YES YES!

Hexys wrote: »

2) Overload and it's Morphs (Sorcerer, Storm Calling)
The damage of the light attacks are way to high, nerfing the damage or inrease the cost will make it more balanced.

NO!

Hexys wrote: »

3) Wall of Elements and morphs (Weapon, Destruction Staff)
Boost the damage of this ability, right now it is way to low.

YES YES YES!

cschwingeb14_ESO · November 2015

Dark Exchange: this needs to scale with stats in some way, or have a much lower cost (Free, as a 1s cast, would not be unreasonable, given the low return it has). A magicka build cannot afford the stam cost to get magicka, ditto for the other morph with a stam build.

Steel tornado: nerf the radius. 12.5m radius is insane and causes cheesy gameplay in both PvP and PvE. 8m is in line with every other ability. Increase base radius to 6m

Sorc pets should not be toggles. This hinders use of pets so much. Also, gigantic flappy pets all over your screen is super annoying. Can we not get a DD pet that has muted non-combat idle animation.

MLRPZ · November 2015

Xeven wrote: »

Hexys wrote: »

1) Ball of Lightning, Morph of Bolt Escape (Sorcerer, Storm Calling)
6.5 seconds was to long for the ball to intercept projectiles, but I think 2.5 seconds is to short, maybe make the ball last for 4.5 seconds.

NO!

Hexys wrote: »

This ability also changed in 1.7, before that when you teleport of a ledge you would still move forward while in the air. Since that patch you hang in the air and fall straight down. I made a quick situation image to understand it easier.

YES YES YES!

Hexys wrote: »

2) Overload and it's Morphs (Sorcerer, Storm Calling)
The damage of the light attacks are way to high, nerfing the damage or inrease the cost will make it more balanced.

NO!

Hexys wrote: »

3) Wall of Elements and morphs (Weapon, Destruction Staff)
Boost the damage of this ability, right now it is way to low.

YES YES YES!

don't want to be nerfed ? xD

Emma_Overload · November 2015

Welcome! Here's what I hope to see in the future:

1) Improvements to Destruction staves such as higher damage for Wall of Elements.

2) A stamina based Conjured Ward morph for Stamina Sorcerers.

3) An instant (and high!) damage Sorcerer spell with morphs for both stamina and magicka.

ZOS_Wrobel · November 2015

Guys! I'm blown away by your creativity, constructive posts, and kind words. My team and I have been compiling all the suggestions for review and while we certainly can't do everything, there is a lot of great stuff here to work with. We’re currently focused on class specific skills for this round… we will have another thread for non-class related abilities soon!

Special call out to @Ffastyl (post #172) for a really well thought out and detailed analysis of problems – bonus for the inclusion of some in game numbers to compare different aspects of balance. Keep up the good work.

Finally, a number of you are eager to talk about AoE caps. We’ll have a focused thread on that subject next week.

Preyfar · November 2015

Wrobel wrote: »

Guys! I'm blown away by your creativity, constructive posts, and kind words. My team and I have been compiling all the suggestions for review and while we certainly can't do everything, there is a lot of great stuff here to work with. We’re currently focused on class specific skills for this round… we will have another thread for non-class related abilities soon!

Special call out to @Ffastyl (post #172) for a really well thought out and detailed analysis of problems – bonus for the inclusion of some in game numbers to compare different aspects of balance. Keep up the good work.

Finally, a number of you are eager to talk about AoE caps. We’ll have a focused thread on that subject next week.

I just have to say I'm seriously glad you joined the forums and started communicating with us. The feedback has given me some warm and fuzzies and re-assurances to me that I've been craving for some time.

altemriel · November 2015

Wrobel wrote: »

Guys! I'm blown away by your creativity, constructive posts, and kind words. My team and I have been compiling all the suggestions for review and while we certainly can't do everything, there is a lot of great stuff here to work with. We’re currently focused on class specific skills for this round… we will have another thread for non-class related abilities soon!

Special call out to @Ffastyl (post #172) for a really well thought out and detailed analysis of problems – bonus for the inclusion of some in game numbers to compare different aspects of balance. Keep up the good work.

Finally, a number of you are eager to talk about AoE caps. We’ll have a focused thread on that subject next week.

I am not sure if this is also under your responsibility, but I post it here

please implement also this in the game, that would be great!

Why is there not a possibility to improve the level of a particular armor/weapon??
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/2454411#Comment_2454411

and this please too

) - an awesome armor!!
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/229402/please-zos-would-you-include-this-armor-motif-to-you-future-updates-it-is-just-awesome#latest

cheers

!

ToRelax · November 2015

Hexys wrote: »

1) Ball of Lightning, Morph of Bolt Escape (Sorcerer, Storm Calling)
6.5 seconds was to long for the ball to intercept projectiles, but I think 2.5 seconds is to short, maybe make the ball last for 4.5 seconds.

This ability also changed in 1.7, before that when you teleport of a ledge you would still move forward while in the air. Since that patch you hang in the air and fall straight down. I made a quick situation image to understand it easier.

2) Overload and it's Morphs (Sorcerer, Storm Calling)
The damage of the light attacks are way to high, nerfing the damage or inrease the cost will make it more balanced.

3) Wall of Elements and morphs (Weapon, Destruction Staff)
Boost the damage of this ability, right now it is way to low.

I think Overload dps is fine, it would be hard to justify this skill for anything else than the 3rd bar otherwise. Though it also helps with magicka management if someone is willing to take a little gamble and go below what magicka regen he'd need without Overload hitting regularly.
I'd rather cap the maximum ultimate pool much lower than the current 1000. That's the original cost of WW transformation, but since that is now 350 or something, there's not really a reason to let Overload ult stack up that high.
It would also effect PvE a lot though, but honestly, even though I don't play it much, I wouldn't want Sorc dps to be all about that ultimate anyway.

About BoL, I'd like an increase to 3 seconds, maybe even 3.5, but it has to stay under 4 seconds as otherwise I'd just keep it up permanently against magic projectile users (again). That was boring enough in 1.6.

PS:
It's really nice to see how we might get some better communication between devs and players now. I'll hold back my judgement until the next update though.

Scyantific · November 2015

ToRelax wrote: »

PS:
It's really nice to see how we might get some better communication between devs and players now. I'll hold back my judgement until the next update though.

Hopeful, but prepared for the worst.

Ezareth · November 2015

Some thoughts on Sorcs:

I think Overload damage is justifiably high yet balanced in the fact that you can't animation cancel light attacks with it and you lose access to all weapon abilities while in overload mode. Power Overload also continues to operate extremely buggy. You'll often end up being unable to throw a light attack until you block or end up stuck in heavy attack until you block. Often you'll get stuck in overload mode as well, similar to weapon swap delay yet sometimes worse.

The changes to Bolt Escape and Ball of Lightning outside of the increasing cost has made playing the Sorc class far less enjoyable for me, especially in PvE because of the Bolt Escape hitching and the lack of long term mobility that was taken from us. That above all else I enjoyed in my sorc and now instead enjoy in my Nightblade by being able to permanently sprint and cast double-take to move around as fast as I used to be able to on my sorc.

Crystal Fragments has a quirk that allows you to proc the fragment without actually casting a spell. This is because the check that is done to calculate the proc chance acts independently of the spell actually firing. Many times I will cast a direct damage spell while moving behind LoS on a target and the crystal frag will proc yet my spell will never have fired (I don't do think intentionally as an exploit).

Since the changing of the Expert Mage ability I feel the base damage of Mages Fury is just not high enough and it doesn't justify the cost of slotting it. I wish it had an increased cost and a damage somewhat closer to the damage of crushing shock to use as an alternative elemental direct damage ability.

Prabooo · November 2015

Jowrik wrote: »

As early players probably know, Animation Cancelling was never an intended combat mechanic. Back in the day you had skills such as the Nightblade's Haste (now Grim Focus) to buff the player with some extra Attackspeed to get some more Light/Heavyattacks going (it reduced the animationtime).

Zenimax just kind of "rolled" with it when people started (ab)using this, yet they kept focussing their combat around an animation-time mechanic.

Why did they think leaving Animation Cancelling in and then balancing attacks around animation times would work out? If you wanted it like that, might as well remove all DoT's and make all attacks instant cast. Why do the strongest attacks have cc and empowers which do nothing but promote spamming them. Add in animation canceling and you have the mess we have where it's more like rockem sockem robots with button mashing and macros. No setup. No real combinations.

Here's why I think Animation Cancelling should be removed from the game entirely:

• Slower combat pace, making PvP dmg/healing reductions unnecessairy: they implemented this to fight the 'insta-burst/unkilleable' problem.
• More visible combat cues, because that's what they were there for in the first place. Currently you're able to miss one or two ability cues by just blinking your eyes.
• The possibility to make combo's aswell as creating a more unique setup
• In PvP, Animation cancelling gives the target no feedback whatsoever. You stack your attacks and leave targets in the dark about what happened, removing any chance for counter - and in some situations - not providing any clue it got hit. There are skills that work properly - at least from the game mechanics and skill use and effect implementation point of view. One example is Snipe. Now, no matter what you think about the skill itself, the implementation is something that should be considered for any skill and would remove the animation canceling / attack weaving and block casting once and for all.
- Why?
1. It's cast breaks when you interrupt it with blocking, light or heavy attacks.
2. It's cast breaks when your target get's out of sight or range.
3. It has a cast time, which can be set to the appropriate value for each skill.

Given that at least someone at ZOS knows how to properly program a skill like snipe (and the code is already there and readily available), use it for all skills and adapt it accordingly to the length of the animations (taking into account weighted traits and skills like haste, which might speed it up, but also snares and such, which might slow it down) and scale the damage, healing or other effects accordingly to be in line with the typical cast time (based on animation length). This naturally means that all "instant" abilities would have to have a (rather short but non-zero) cast time as well.
This way you - but also your targets - get a proper feedback, which skill is currently used (against them) and when and how long it was used and a clear indication when the next skill can be used.

What you see is what you get,
should be the golden rule of combat animations.

If my shield is not in front of my face actively blocking, then I'm not blocking.
If my sword does not hit my target, I should not be doing dmg.
If I cancel an action, then that should skip the animation and abort the action.
If I cancel an action, then that should not skip the animation and still give me full effect of the action.

If your animation system does dmg with invisible or half spasm or half finished fidgeting attacks, then your animation system is screwed, looks poor, feels weightless, and needs a fix.

Animation skipping in ESO, especially light or heavy attack weaving, does not require any extra skill or player ability to execute.

Its about knowing that it is possible, and about pressing button A at point B instead of at point C.

You just need to identify B, and then look for B instead of C. It is very easy.

Pressing button A at point B, does not require more player skill, then pressing button A at point C.

Pressing button A at point B, does not add more depth to the game, then pressing button A at point C.

At this point you may argue 'but what about block cancelling and bash weaving?'
The answer to that is, within how the current system works, even while you weave a block or bash into a ability like 2H Executioner, the internal cool down for queuing a weapon ability after a weapon ability, or a class ability after a class ability, still remains.
As the game is now, your next Executioner starts casting no earlier then regardless if you weaved bash or block into the first Executioner animation or not. The added benefit is the extra dmg from the bash, while your rate of cast with Executioner remains the same regardless.
Bash cancelling, besides adding the extra hit, does not in itself speed up your attack cycle, if you look at when the next (non - light/heavy attack) ability starts cast.

While animation skipping, especially light and heavy attack weaving, in itself as a mechanic does not add more player skill or depth to the game, it does however increase your rate and number of executed actions. In other words, it makes the combat faster.

Faster combat with more actions does arguably add more skill to the game.
Essentially you could speed up the animations, and still achieve the same thing as animation skipping allows today. The benefit would be that you would also get full complete good looking animations, instead of the invisible/spasm/half-finished fidgeting hits we have today.

You could possibly also add some sort of bonus to executing light attacks, still encouraging their use. That bonus could even vary, depending on what ability is following the light attack.

The code to remove animation skipping while retaining the fluidity of the combat system already exist to some degree in the game. Just look at abilities like Dawnbreaker. Dawnbreaker can be cancelled at any time, but if you do it early in the animation, you also abort the action. This also without having to introduce any form of global cooldown, since it is tied to the individual internal animation timer/cycle of specific abilities.

Another kick in the teeth for players, due to ESO allowing animations to be skipped very early in the animation cycle, while retaining full effect from the attack, is how this ties into latency and attack weaving.
As a rather poor general rule of thumb, you can say that your ability to weave attacks sits at, very roughly/simplified and inaccurately said, about 2x your latency.

For a 65ms connection player, her attack weave cycle sits at 130 ms.
For a 120ms connection player, her attack weave cycle sits at 240 ms.
For a 160ms connection player, her attack weave cycle sits at 320 ms.

If you do not somewhat curb latency advantages either through a global cool down system, or through individual animation cycles/timers for individual abilities, then that will hit the balance in your game.

Since a flat global cool down leads to very static combat, it would be preferable that individual animation cycles cap out your attack rate, in regards to somewhat alleviating and addressing the latency issue.

In regards to Block Casting.

Block casting adds nothing to the game but laziness and comfort. It is a crutch, nothing more and nothing less.

Since you can just blindly hold your block button and keep casting/attacking, and don't have to time your blocks or pay attention to what type of attack is incoming , it removes player skill, thought and depth from the game.

In summary

Give us fast combat
Give us many actions to execute rapidly in combat
Give skill, depth and challenge in combat
Give us visceral and aesthetically pleasing combat
Please don't slap a general generic global cooldown on abilities.

Do all of the above, and discard the fidgeting spasm arm flailing goop slush that is animation skipping today.

I simply don't buy the argument that we need bad and half finished animations in this game in order to have fun and fast paced challenging combat.
I never will.

At minimum todays attack rate and number of buttons pushed + what you see is what you get + better animations + less latency dependency = win.

@Wroebel I hope you see this...and yes, it's a ton of work to fix this, but i'm pretty sure this would make the game's combat.

^ This ^

Remdale · November 2015

I thought I would be a little more specific with my previous suggestions and add onto them. I hope that's okay.

Templar -

1) Charge
Ideal: Attractive to both Stam and Magicka users. Rebuilt (special callout to Vosh Rakh Jump) or delay finally fixed. We already have two Aedric skills that stun, one/two magicka and one stamina, so give it something cool.
Baseline: Deal damage, off balance / interrupt casting enemies, gain speed buff.
Morph 1: Deals AoE damage and applies AoE snare. Alternatively, gives damage shield.
Morph 2: Can additionally be used on allies (if possible) and gives nearby allies Minor Protection, or just gives gives nearby allies Minor Protection and/or Heal, or Ward, etc. Alternatively, gives nearby allies damage shield.
Final Word: Could use this to give Templars a little more survivability, or our allies, or a AoE CC as all Templars want, especially tanks.

2) Solar Barrage (morph of Solar Flare)
Ideal: Perfect place to give Templars an AoE CC which we dearly want.
Morph: AoE knockback and/or snare with damage either conal in front of player, or expanding around player.

3) Healing Ritual
Ideal: This is a cool ability that has a lot of potential, but unfortunately is rarely seen.
Morph 1: Reduced cast time, reduced heal.
Morph 2: While channeled, nearby allies gain HoT or Minor Ward.

Additional suggestions: Make a slight bonus to healing received baseline, for Stamina Templars. Change Restoring Focus to a either HoT while you're near it that scales off either Stamina or Magicka and increase its cost, or let it give Minor Berserk, or more Ultimate! while near - just something that makes it worth it to stay in it to Stam too, please. Give the Sweep Ult a slightly larger radius so it hits enemies when it feels like it should, and let the damage morph reduce enemies' armor if it can't deal physical damage when stamina is higher. Remove the snare from Solar Disturbance and just give it even more damage, its damage is still too low for anyone to almost ever pick it over Meteor, or give it something else that would incentivize that choice. Replace Total Dark morph of Eclipse with one that lets you cast it on yourself for a reduced effect, and let the Unstable Core morph initially interrupt an enemy. Let Honor the Dead target yourself first, give Extended Ritual a little something extra, and please, pretty please, change the Spear Wall passive to something that's useful in PvP too for blocking! Something instead of 'melee attacks', urgh - I think all Templars envy the DK block passive.

Stamina Morph: If you give one more ability a Stamina morph, please let it be a morph of Charge!

omfgitsbatman · November 2015

1. Longer availability of synergy for Magma Armor.
2. Longer availability of synergy for Soul Tether.
3. More uniform DoT lengths for things like path of darkness, cripple, shadow image, etc...

Remdale · November 2015

Dragon Knight -

1) Fiery Grip
Ideal: Give DK's a more reliable gap closer, give DK's back some of their cool past flare.
Baseline: Pull and Empower.
Morph 1: Increased range and when enemy cannot be pulled you are pulled to enemy, also: When pulled to the enemy you stay latched to the enemy for 1 second, or the enemy is immobilzed for 1 second.
Morph 2: Chains latch onto nearby enemies, dealing damage or constant damage and snaring them as long as you remain near, 2-3 sec duration. Alternatively, a short range AoE pull.

2) Volatile Armor (morph of Spiked Armor)

Ideal: A good use for recasting this ability and more cool flare, yeah.
Morph: Upon activation for 1.5 seconds melee attackers are put off balance and/or briefly stunned (think the NPC special block vs heavy attacks).

3) Ash Cloud
Ideal: Give ranged magicka DK's something nice, as I think was the intent of this ability.
Baseline: Make morph 1 (snare persists) baseline, maybe slightly shorter (because of Morph changes).
Morph 1: Double the radius.
Morph 2: Still deals increased initial damage, but also applies Minor Breach while within the AoE.

Additional suggestions: Obsidian Shard, morph of Stone Fist..... I like what you tried to do here, but I think giving nearby allies a buff, or a damage shield, would be more better and make more sense. Shattering Rocks, morph of Petrify..... A chance on breaking of it applying to nearby enemies would be pretty cool. For Dragon Blood, perhaps if it gave an additional HoT? It seems a little weak now.

Stamina Morph: If you give one more ability a Stamina morph, please let it be a morph of Lava Whip!

tinythinker · November 2015

Wrobel wrote: »

Guys! I'm blown away by your creativity, constructive posts, and kind words. My team and I have been compiling all the suggestions for review and while we certainly can't do everything, there is a lot of great stuff here to work with.

Sorry for the late welcome, but welcome nonetheless!

Wrobel wrote: »

We’re currently focused on class specific skills for this round… we will have another thread for non-class related abilities soon!

Oh, good to know.

I'll go with...

1. Simple buffs for Templars to make them better at what they do rather than an overhaul. They aren't in a terrible place but some tweaks could make some lamented skills much more useful:
AEDRIC SPEAR

Replace the Knockback on Puncturing Strikes and its morphs with a Stun (target can't move or use abilities until effect ends or they Break Free) or pair the Knockback with Concussion (target deals 10% less damage for the duration of the effect or until they Break Free). This gives an opening for another ability or weapon attack rather than just spam, spam, spam, spam...

Give a 15% base damage increase to Piercing Javelin and its morphs rather than 10% only to the Aurora Javelin morph; increase the range of the Aurora Javelin morph from 20 to 25 meters, increase the travel speed of the projectile to compensate for the longer distance, and boost the extra damage based on distance to a max of 60%.

Increase shield strength to 40% of caster's health for Sun Shield and its morphs. Double the damage on activation for Radiant Aura while either Stunning or Knocking Back those caught in the blast of the activation. Add Disorient (same as Stun but also ends if target takes damage) or Knock Back to enemies in range of the AoE damage effect when Blazing Shield explodes.

Change the Spear Wall passive to add a 10% chance to inflict Minor Maim (15% reduction in target's outgoing damage) for 8 seconds on an enemy whose melee attack has been blocked. [Helps make more of Blocking with the increased cost in 1.6 and the removal of Stamina Regeneration while Blocking in 2.1.]

For the Balanced Warrior passive, as others have mentioned, staffs haven't used Weapon Damage in a looong time. Have it include Spell Damage in the 3%/6% bonus as well while including Physical Damage in the 1000/2000 resist bonus.

Radial Sweep (Ultimate):

The Empowering Sweep morph works for being tanky in PvE on large pulls because of the damage reduction, so I use it when fighting large groups of mobs while solo adventuring. I just collect them and use Empowering Sweep, Blazing Shield, Puncturing Sweep. You can go all day like that because of the low ult cost with as many trash mobs as you want, the more enemies the better. I wouldn't use it in PvP. It also works if you're an actual tank in group play.

Crescent Sweep is meant to be a small burst+dot focusing on enemies in front of the player (33% more damage to enemies in front of the caster on the initial hit). It's more like a really strong AoE regular skill than an ultimate but that is probably tied to it being relatively cheap. Adding in something like a debuff to those caught in the +33% strike would be nice though and might make it better for PvP as an opening hit. Either major breach (significantly reduced spell resistance) since it does magicka damage or both minor breach+minor fracture (moderately reduced spell + physical resistance) would be nice. Just pop Cresent, hit your morph of Puncturing Strikes, and enjoy. Either that or up the damage on the initial hit to those standing in the frontal cone area of effect to 50%.

DAWN'S WRATH

Make all spell projectiles in the Dawn's Wrath skill line -- Sun Fire and its morphs along with Solar Flare and its morph Dark Flare -- unable to be Dodged. Target(s) can still Block the projectiles to reduce damage taken, Reflect the projectiles, or Absorb the projectiles. [Dark Flare's cast time and slow travel speed would be balanced by the "no Dodge" effect. This would not effect PvE at all as most mobs don't dodge, but it would make the skill more useful in PvP. The target and nearby enemies would still receive Major Defile if it is Reflected.]

Replace Major Prophecy for Vampire's Bane (increase caster's Spell Critical chance by 10%) with Major Breach (lower target's Spell Resistance by 5120) to make the DoT more effective. [Many players already slot Mage Light or get Major Prophecy from a potion.]

Reclassify Eclipse and its morphs as non-CC abilities that cannot be removed by Break Free. They could still be cleansed/purged. Increase the bonus damage for Unstable Core to 50% or 60% (at least). Failing that, double or triple the damage done by the base ability and morphs when someone breaks out of the bubble in order to make up for wasting magicka in order to give them instant CC immunity. Make them choose between taking real damage or waiting it out (and taking normal "end of ability" damage). If it's going to be a "one target at a time" skill make it worth it.

Add "healing effect increased up to 20% based on your current magicka" to Radiant Glory.

Change the Enduring Rays passive to only increase the length of Nova, Sun Fire, and Eclipse. The Focused Healing and Light Weaver passives from the Restoring Light skill line only affect the ultimate and two active skills, so why not keep the boost to the skills that benefit from lasting longer and un-nerf those that do not?

Nova (Ultimate): Drop the cost to the 200-220 range.

RESTORING LIGHT

The Healing Ritual ability has always been in need of something, but the changes to it haven't really made it much better or worse. It does great healing, but the immobility, two second cast time, and ten meter radius in exchange for that healing is a bit much on the offset side of the scales. Increase the interval before the delayed heal of Lingering Ritual to 10 or 12 seconds and give those in the 10 meter radius who receive the initial cast Minor Vitality (+8% healing received) until that extra heal ticks. Add Major Mending (30% health recovery), for the caster only, to Ritual of Rebirth.

Have the Light Weaver passive grant 8 ultimate, not 2, when allies under 60% health are affected by Healing Ritual. Even if players spam it, there is little chance of exploiting given the limited range and immobility while casting. Besides, cheap ultimates are cheap, so it doesn't matter if you charge them a bit faster. And getting to the costlier ultimates faster makes Healing Ritual more appealing, which is a good thing.

Rite of Passage (Ultimate): I rarely see either morph of this ability used outside of PvE. Sometimes I and some healer Templars will use Remembrance in group PvE play for bosses that have high damage phases, while others use Practiced Incantation and its slightly longer channel time (an extra two seconds). I personally don't find the extra two seconds for Incantation a good trade for the damage reduction, but that's a matter of preference and some favor it. Perhaps that morph could be altered to be the PvP-preferred version. For example, by extending the caster's immunity to crowd control effect to the allies being healed for the duration of the ability.

2. Gear sets that help class-specific skills shine. In other words, rather (just) than buffing, nerfing, tweaking, or replacing some class skills, let people do more/have more build diversity by using armor sets that take skills/skill lines in different directions. Here is a set DoT-dependent DKs might find helpful:

Aetherial Spark (heavy armor)
2 pc Max Health
3 pc Physical Resist
4 pc Spell Resist
5 pc Grants the wearer a 10% chance per DoT or HoT tick to score a double critical hit.

Of course, since magicka builds might find this generally more useful, the 2pc to 4pc bonus could be less tanky and add in some spell crit or a bonus to magicka.

3. Lots of ideas for magicka DKs in this thread, so I will just generally endorse the idea of some kind of buff. Either improve sustain/mitigation/healing on existing abilities or increase outgoing damage. And poor Chains. I see nothing wrong with pulling people off of keeps, but I guess with the change to pull DKs to enemies that can't be pulled this is gone for good. There must be some buff/debuff that could be added to make the ability more useful/fun. I know that the Empowering morph has been given the buff of the same name, but in PvP I'm not sure what I would use either morph for. Maybe the Extended morph could also have some buff or debuff. Hmm the enemy could be stunned for a couple of seconds after being pulled so far so fast, or at least disoriented.

Anyway, thanks for the thread and to your team for reading so many comments. Have a great day.

PainfulFAFA · November 2015

Welcome to the forums Wrobel. About time.

Can your team look into Stamina sorcs again? Especially Crystal Blast ( the most useless morph ever)

I've read and heard multiple requests from DKs asking for executes and stamina morphs for instant cast damage abilities.
If DKs are given stamina morphs of whips or executes then sorcs should have them too.

The reason why NBs are so abundant is because of abilities such as cloak, fear, but most importantly, a SPAMMABLE INSTANT CAST ability such as Surprise attack. All a NB has to do is spam that 8k surprise attack over and over again. Its better than wrecking blow!

So again, if Dks are going to receive something similar, give sorcs the same thing. A stamina morph instant cast ability.
The only stamina morph instant cast ability given to sorcs was Thundering Presence.... laughable.

Ishammael · November 2015

I think magicka DK was probably the best designed class in the entire game at launch. It is a compelling mix of tank and dmg that is totally unqiue. However gameplay changes have made many DK options no longer viable. My suggestions are designed around these core features: choices of dmg and tankiness.

My theme for DK has always been stand and fight. You win or you die.

Some suggestions for magicka DK:

1. Fiery grip. As it stand it is too buggy to be viable in pvp. First, fix the z-axis checks. One morph should remain a pull. One morph should always take you to the enemy. Empower for both. Range 24m for both.
2. Inferno. This crit bonus is redundant with inner light. Inner light also gives you 7% mana and is thus always better. Re-introduce the previous incarnation which was a fire DoT to players near you at the continuous cost of mana. One morph should give the DK a major speed buff, the other should give more fire dmg.
3. Stone fist. This is probably the worst skill in the game. Replace completely. Suggestion: base skill is a PBAoE (6m radius) with modest dmg and minor heroism. One morph should provide additional dmg against low HP targets, the other morph should provide dmg reduction when at low health for a short time.
4. Ash cloud. Please add major or minor evasion back to one of the morphs. Make the other morph larger radius (12m).
5. Dragon Blood. Needs to not be affected by the battle spirit 50% healing reduction.
6. Magma armor. Corrosive shell synergy should be replaced with a buff for magicka builds, e.g. bonus 20% to fire dmg for the duration.

Hexys · November 2015

Wrobel wrote: »

Guys! I'm blown away by your creativity, constructive posts, and kind words. My team and I have been compiling all the suggestions for review and while we certainly can't do everything, there is a lot of great stuff here to work with. We’re currently focused on class specific skills for this round… we will have another thread for non-class related abilities soon!

Special call out to @Ffastyl (post #172) for a really well thought out and detailed analysis of problems – bonus for the inclusion of some in game numbers to compare different aspects of balance. Keep up the good work.

Finally, a number of you are eager to talk about AoE caps. We’ll have a focused thread on that subject next week.

This is a great step for us man, really appreciated that you are doing this. ESO is a great game for me and it would be sad to leave it because there was a lack of communication. All for a balanced, good working and fun game!

Nifty2g · November 2015

@Wrobel

I want to chat about Templars for a bit a very diverse class that has been well thought out overall but could do with some tweaks here and there and some passive changes to make it balanced as it already is. I'd like to mention that I am in no way asking for buffs on the class to truly make it shine out as the most overpowered thing on ESO.

1. Class Skills and Passives

1a. Aedric Spear
Blazing Shield Skill: This has been changed around a lot and currently, it's near worthless to bother using it, I believe the shield on this skill needs to be increased but the damage it deals be decreased it was widely abused in Cyrodill and as a result the skill has instead been rendered useless lowering Templars defensive skills which are honestly little to none now because of this skill being change.

Radial Sweep + Morphs Ultimate Ability: This is probably the most useless of all ultimates within the game considering the ultimate cost I would think this ability would work the same as Incapacitating Strikes causing a knock or Increasing your damage dealt or even increasing your ultimate earned. The Nightblade version of this was done perfectly but this flopped it.

Aurora Javelin + Morphs Skill: So I have a unique idea with this, and I think this skill should completely be reworked no one uses this or has a use for it at all, there is no situation you'd use this skill, ever. My idea would be to rework this into a new ability some what the same as Extended Chains, but with a Light Beam to drag your enemies closer to you, this would balance out the Tanking diversity this game has and bring the Templar class up to the same as Dragonknights.

Balanced Warrior Passive: As pointed out by @EgoRush Currently this bonus seems unclear and it has been around for quite some time, "Increases your Weapon Damage by 6% and your Spell Resistance by 2640" judging from the Passive title, it doesn't seem balanced to only passively increase your Weapon Damage but miss out on your Spell Damage. This would slightly put Templars in line with other high damaging class groups. Could we also see something increasing your Physical Resistance here too?

1b. Dawn's Wrath
Vampire's Bane Skill: This skill is not really used as the travel speed still isn't all that fast, also it deals Flame Damage, while every other skill of Templars deals Magic Damage, this causes the skill to be highly undesirable to majority of Templars due to the Champion System would cause us to put points into Elemental Expert for no real reason, this is why the skill is so weak. Could we maybe have this changed around?

Purifying Light Skill: It's been brought up a couple of times but currently this skill can not land a critical hit on you, I was thinking maybe reduce the total damage it can store up but give it the ability to land critical hits on you for the amount of damage it stores up and total time it's really not worth it.

1c. Restoring Light
Rune Focus + Morphs Skill: This used to be an amazing skill, for Tanking, Healing or dealing damage a great means for survival and sustaining. However the change made to this skill forcing you to be within the circle is against the gameplay style ESO is all about, there is no situations in which you stand absolutely still, again I think you guys went too far with changing this skill around and rendering it totally useless in every situation. I think you should have reduced the time outside of the circle instead of removing it all together.

Master Ritualist:I was thinking that resurrected allies should be revived with a bonus to their Stamina and Magicka also, not 100% but maybe 20% additional, this would increase the need for Templars in a group for a support role or similar.

Also, there has been a lot of talk about Puncturing Sweep and Dark Flare, with my current thoughts on this, I think you should leave these abilities alone, they are key points for Damage for a Templar these abilities should not be changed in any form, keep the knock back that Sweeps allows, it is a great form of defense and the charge up from Dark Flare with Empower is as it should be.

Cinnamon_Spider · November 2015

Revert the nerfs to block, streak, and dodge roll. You took them all too far.

Helluin · November 2015

Wrobel wrote: »

Guys! I'm blown away by your creativity, constructive posts, and kind words. My team and I have been compiling all the suggestions for review and while we certainly can't do everything, there is a lot of great stuff here to work with. We’re currently focused on class specific skills for this round… we will have another thread for non-class related abilities soon!

Special call out to @Ffastyl (post #172) for a really well thought out and detailed analysis of problems – bonus for the inclusion of some in game numbers to compare different aspects of balance. Keep up the good work.

Finally, a number of you are eager to talk about AoE caps. We’ll have a focused thread on that subject next week.

Thank you and your team for reading those and for your feedback.

I add something to what I already posted.

For Nightblades I see that some people asked Killer's Blade and Death Stroke + morphs to deal physical damage.
From a point of view I agree with that and I completely understand it, especially when I play my NB as stamina with a Mighty build, but we should consider also another point of view on this matter.

But for poison skills with bow (one WW skill partially using disease, Fighters guild skills not spammable), there are just these two skills + ultimates using Thaumaturge.
A stamina NB going for a Thaumaturge build atm infact is missing completely a poison/disease/magic stamina melee skill to be used consistently. This apply also to other classes.
As I already wrote then there are three options: 1) to add a poison/disease melee skill to be used consistently in weapons or other skill-lines, 2) to give an option to altering the dmg dealt through Cloak, 3) to have skills with stamina/magicka morphs working on your highest stat and consuming it.

I wouldn't be surprised if, through the skill-lines of Thieves guild and/or Dark Brotherhood, a skill or more skills using poison/disease/magic will be added to game and Alchemy expanded to venoms.
If this is not the case, then a melee stamina skill - morph, with poison/disease/magic dmg, should be added through class or weapons (DW more than 2H seems appropriate for it).

That's why imho, but for our personal builds, we should consider this matter from a global point of view.

Personally I play NB with many builds because I like to change sometimes between a role and another one, between stamina and magicka, between stamina mighty and stamina thaumaturge, etc. Too bad I had to give up on hybrid builds since 1.6, but for few times, and too bad we have not a double-multiple build system (morphs, CP, attributes) so we have to respec everytime (and it's not cheap, if you do this often).

Because of this reason, what I suggested about Shadow Cloak + morphs is: A) to address some issues in PvP, B ) to satisfy a greater number of players through an altering skills mechanic.

On a further note, Shadow Cloak + morphs, invisibility potions, Clouding Swarm, Shadowstrike (in the Shadow) and sneak are already altering what Veiled Strike + morphs do.
Imho this mechanic could be expanded to create an even more unique playstyle, adding a deeper and more satisfying gameplay.
Not just Veiled Strike + morphs but also other Assassination, Shadow and Siphoning skills could have an additional effect when used from sneak/invisible.
Otherwise this mechanic could be used for Thieves guild and/or Dark Brotherhood but... it would make these skill-lines more appealing for NB, so I consider better do this through NB skills.

A similar mechanic was used for example with the Shadow Warrior's skill Vengeance of Nagarythe in Warhammer Online and it was fun.

Bfish22090 · November 2015

I'm excited that fengrush will be buying a bear mount now

Scyantific · November 2015

Dragonknight:

Stonefist - Completely rework this skill because it sucks right now. Make this the gap-closer for DKs, similar to either Toppling Charge or Shield Charge. Make the skill deal Magic Damage, then give it both Stamina and Magicka morphs, where the Stamina morph deals Physical Damage and the Magicka morph deals Magic Damage.

cjhhickman39 · November 2015

Glad to see you here. Would love to see a way to keep yourself in werewolf form worked on. Right now having to stop and feed or just take hits to maintain your form kills your attack flow. This has had many ideas put out so there is plenty to choose from. I would love to see a special quest that upon completion you receive a bonus to your time in form the trick to the quest is you have to maintain werewolf form for the whole quest

Armitas · November 2015

Stonefist heal...No one really know what this is. I punch someone in the face and the nearest guy gets a small heal. I am either going to cast this because something needs to be CC'd and is not immune, or I'm going to cast healing ward because if someone needs a heal larger than a hot can cover and they are out of my range I'm going to ward them, not find and punch the nearest enemy to him.

I can only assume by this heal, and the healing buff from igneous shield that your intent is to give DK's an alternate healing role. I rolled a DK because I thought it would be the buff/support class so I'm all for this mentality. But for this skill to be worth slotting in such a role it needs to heal 2-3 people well enough that I would not just ward them instead. For it to have a place in a healing role it should either be a lesser version of BOL, or provide a group buff on location as well a moderately high hot at a short duration similar in concept to vigor, not but greater than it. In such a role the CC of stone fist is unnecessary and can be replaced for this specific morph. It's unnecessary because you will be firing this for the purpose of the group buff and hot regardless of whether the target is immune or not and removing the fist aspect and subsequent CC may allow a more coherent name and animation for the morph.

For example maybe it's no longer a fist but an earth spike that emerges out of the ground and underneath the target, does a small amount of damage to the target, provides a group buff on location, and gives the party in range a hot attached to any player in the area when the spike emerged.

AverageJo3Gam3r · November 2015

I'd prefer a stam stonefist over a stam whip for DK. I have plenty of stam melee options. Give me more ranged stam options.

olsborg · November 2015

Welcome to the forum @Wrobel

Nightblade - Bolstering Darkness, it costs too much ultimate for it to be effectively used.
Sorceror - Dark Exchange (and morphs) needs to heal more or faster to cast for it to be effective use in combat.
Overall - Damage shields need to not be stackable. This is specificly strong vs magicka dmg, you can stack say hardened ward + dampen magicka + healing ward and you have to hit through a 20k+ shield.

Thx