I'm one of those players who doesn't like to follow what everyone else is doing. So I hate the meta and try to avoid it unless it happens to be the sort of build I want to run. I get bored easily, so I like choice in games. But only when those choices are similarly effective and actually balanced. Then you CAN actually choose how you play and not have team mates complain about your low DPS. If you always feel your build is worse than those you group with, that "choice" doesn't feel very good. It really pushes players towards those meta builds when the non meta is so far behind.

What I feel with subclassing is that the choice is an illusion. Theoretically we can build many subclass combinations or play pure builds. In reality though, only a few things work really well and the others can be far less satisfying. Wanting to do a good amount of damage and be effective doesn't mean you only want 2 builds to choose from!

I honestly feel ESO's fake choice is more harmful at this point, because a player can see all these theoretical options, but then finds it disappointing that only a few feel effective. When you're playing a game with actual choice and balance alongside ESO, the fake choice in ESO just feels like the devs have crippled the fun and replayability of their own game.

Maythor wrote: »

They have totally stuffed up the way we get rewards in events now, it's much less fun and more just trying to keep us plugging away to get the stuff.

If that’s the goal it’s not working.

I’ve been doing 2 or 3 dungeons a day both on NA and EU, and so far I haven’t gotten a singe new style page. I’m not even going to bother anymore. I’ll just get my tickets, finish the golden pursuit and be on my way.

How many dungeons do they think I can do between coming home from work, making dinner and going to bed.

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Guys, please, stop. Playing a pure class today is basically the same as giving up on Champion Points or new sets. And instead of saying that the subclassing system is breaking your gameplay, you’re saying things like, “subclassing would be good if…”. That makes it sound like everything is basically fine, except for a few minor nuances. There’s no “if” — there never will be. Subclassing is what it is right now, and there’s no point in consoling yourself.

As for buffing pure classes — that’s not going to work. It’s not just about stacking passive abilities, it’s also about choosing the best active skills. And you’re suggesting just buffing skills that aren’t supposed to be too strong on their own. On top of that, don’t forget that a pure DPS class still has lines with passives for regeneration and defense, which ZOS can already consider a compromise.

No, we won’t. Subclassing has broken gameplay and people who are invested in the future of the game itself are going to contribute ideas and suggestions to help improve it overall.

Very rarely does a Dev team ever get a game right on the first try, whether it’s game launch or major game updates, such as Subclassing.

We’ve had imbalance issues before and people brought them to light here, but now, it’s become even more pronounced with subclassing.

Having an open forum for ideas where the Devs have access to consider what’s thrown out there is never a bad thing.

If we just acquiesce to the poorer directions of the Devs and offer no constructive criticism or feedback back the game will suffer.

And with that, there are never any guarantees that the Devs will listen. I had that experience with Battlefront 2, but if we say nothing then we get what we get and the game can suffer in the long term.

I am pretty sure that they already know what the forum thinks about them...

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

We chose Reddit because the layout and upvoting make it easier for the team to find and address relevant questions in an AMA format. Reddit also does a better job of keeping conversation threads together. We have tried to find a ways to replicate that here on the forum, but it isn't built for that.

I know this was a fun thread, but I thought I would provide an answer incase anyone was wondering.

Mods plz ban for off-topic, thread is clearly titled "wrong answers only"
But more seriously, it would be great if the Reddit AMA replies were collated into some sort of "AMA Roundup" news post to make it more accessible for people who don't want to dig through the thread.

Love subclassing, I agree in that regard.

My problem is still arcanists beam, even though I use it a lot, I even like it:

• The amount of cleave damage leaves many other single-target skills in the dust, and most encounters have several enemies.
• The amount of damage being on par with single-target skills for all targets makes it a jack of all trades.
• I like the simplified rotation, not needing to be too cognizant of maintaining DoTs as your main focus is using direct damage abilities to generate crux. But outside of Heavy Attack builds, no other build comes close to as little complexity as this, or one that primarily uses direct damage attacks. There's a variety of abilities in the game, but little variety of approach.

Does our ESO membership automatically give us a reddit account now?

Why would any game related discussion take place anywhere other than on the official forums for such discussions? I see a rep posted an explanation, but it rang hollow for me. Why does this forum exist now then?

It seems to me that the problem is that ZOS either balance all skills to be exactly the same, in which case players complain that there's no difference between their characters and the classes, or they have the skills unbalanced in which case ultra competitive players complain that the meta build is overpowered so they're forced into it, while the non-competitive players love the fact that they can play the way they want and see a meaningful difference between their characters thereby promoting the development of multiple characters.

I accept that some will argue that it's a question of the degree of any imbalance, but that is a hugely subjective point. I also accept that it's not just about skills, but also about sets - and they do seem ridiculously excessive in number these days, most of the time they're mentioned I've never even heard of them let alone got them!