Vengeance(test1) is everything PvP should be, in any game: Fair, equal, accessible, about player skill, and without immortal players roaming around. Basing PvP off of gear has been ESO's entire problem with all the available PvP modes.

MagdaV wrote: »

@Vulkunne

I agree. We are essentially reduced to arguing over a campaign that lags, bugs, is run rampant by ball groups that aren't even working to the actual objectives of Cyro, unkillable tanks, and a max alliance player count of, what, 50?

Versus

Minimal lag, zero combat bug (although I will admit there were a few bug issues still with siege and getting stuck in walls), no ball groups, playing Cyro as it is intended; an alliance WAR, no unkillables and a player count of more than 300 people at a fight with battles lasting 2 hours and hardly anyone lags or disconnects.


Why is there so much fight against PvP becoming something playable by a larger number of people? This iteration of Vengeance won't be the end all be all. Anyone with common sense can see they are actively creating a NEW PvP experience from semi-ground up. They will have the issues to address from this round, and just like last round they will make the necessary adjustments to proceed to the next level of testing. I just do no understand why there is such dramatic response to ZoS actually fixing PvP. This isn't a "wave a magic wand" type of thing to fix.

If smaller scale is what you are into, there is both IC and Battlegrounds. Cyro is meant for large groups working together to conquer the map. That is why score is based on territory/scrolls obtained and not just kill count.

I've pretty much stopped fighting against it, but this is why I don't think Vengeance (current or future expanded form) is a good solution.

For context, I first discovered the Elder Scrolls franchise with the release of TES 3: Morrowind. Before playing eso, my experience with mmo's was limited to the early days of WoW (up until cataclysm iirc).

The thing that got me curious enough to try eso was the fact that it's Elder Scrolls. But the thing that got me invested in the game was Cyrodiil. The first time I experienced it was during mym some years ago, at a time when pop caps were still high enough to have multiple epic battles all over the map.

By the end of last year I got frustrated enough with the declining pop caps, ball group lag, and overall bad decisions made by zos that I decided to look around and see if the grass was greener somewhere else. I ended up giving guild wars 2 a try, and so far haven't been disappointed.

I'm well aware that I look at it through rose tinted glasses, compared to the brownish tint that colors my view on eso, but here's some of the things I'm getting out of it: Far better storyline and voice acting, to the point where I actually follow along instead of hitting the "skip" button. Far better open world experience, with multiple choices of world events to join at any given time. No server downtime, just a notification that I should restart the game because there's a new build of the client available. Stable technology, having seen 2 disconnects total. A cash store that allows to buy their version of crowns for gold directly through the ui. Proper customer support and care for customer satisfaction (due to a Steam connection issue, I was once locked out of the expansions I bought for the better part of a day - as a compensation I received their monetary equivalent of 400 crowns).

But most of all: in World v. World (their version of Cyrodiil) I get 50 ms pings. Consistently. No lag spikes.

And yet, I miss Cyrodiil. Combat in gw2 is fun, but it's not as fast-paced as it is in eso, with skills having cooldowns and cast times. There are keeps, strategic points, and siege to take down the defenses, but siege is a slow process. Gear is all stat based, with limited options to try fun or niche builds like you can with all the sets in eso. Buffs are all named, with a limit to how high they stack, which helps to keep the power potential of organized groups in check (a good thing). But it also means every zerg turns into a ballgroup, in that they will usually have every buff maxed out due to their large number, which means zerg surfing is usually the optimal play. So far I personally find it a boring experience, feeling like my only contribution is adding +1 to the zerg, but at this point that could still be a skill issue on my end.

Vengeance includes all the things I just described. It may be turning Cyrodiil in something playable by a larger number of people, but it's also removing everything that made it unique. Zenimax isn't creating a new pvp experience from semi-ground up, they're creating an experience that already exists in other games.

What I want is the promise of Cyrodiil that has been sold to us for years. Huge battles, proper network infrastructure, and the build flexibility eso offers. Or used to offer before multiclassing at least.

Did your ability to play and/or complete certain types of game content improve after the launch of Update 46?
Not significantly. There’s no denying that subclassed builds using the most optimal skill lines now deal far more DPS than builds did pre-U46, so in that sense, yes: things die faster and content can feel a bit easier because of that. But I was already able to complete the content I wanted to before U46, so I wouldn’t say my ability to play has improved meaningfully.

General feedback about my play experience between U45 and U46:
I have two fully leveled characters of every class (except for just one Sorcerer and one Arcanist), and I used to rotate between them pretty frequently. Since subclassing was introduced, though, I’ve barely touched most of my alts. Every time I look at one, I find myself thinking: “Well... I could swap in these two skill lines and increase its DPS by 20%+." But doing that means all my characters end up feeling very similar - and part of the fun, for me, was in their class identity and unique playstyles.

Apparently, I’m also too much of a min-maxer to use a more thematic or "pure" build when I know it’s significantly weaker than an optimized combo with more meta skill lines. So now I’m stuck between playing something underpowered or playing something that doesn’t feel unique anymore.

Other feedback
I do have to say that I was genuinely excited by the idea of having 1000+ unique skill line combinations and the opportunity to experiment with new, creative builds with subclassing. Unfortunately, due to how large the power gap is between the different skill lines, that excitement hasn’t translated into practice.

Therefore, I personally really hope to see some buffs to underused or underwhelming skill lines soon. Shadow, Dark Magic (even with the U47 change) and Draconic Power all feel like they’re lagging behind in terms of usefulness, for example.

For some skill lines, I also think it’d be a great idea to consolidate near-identical morphs to make room for more distinct or creative alternatives in the future. For example, quite a few players seem interested in building a Druid-style DPS character, but the game currently lacks plant-based damaging abilities. Since many of the morphs in the Green Balance line are very similar, it would be awesome if some of those could be reworked into nature-themed DPS skills instead. Not only would that open up new build options, it would also benefit “pure” Warden damage dealers - who currently have an entire class skill line that’s essentially useless for their role.

All in all, I do think subclassing has the potential to increase build diversity and enable a lot of fun, thematic builds. But in its current form - due to balance issues and rigid role-focus in some skill lines - that potential hasn’t entirely been realized yet in my opinion.

The BEST thing you can do for the game and its developers - play it as much and engage with it as often as possible and get other players to play it - the more people play it and the more undeniable it is the better for the game and its employees...

if your goal is to get gifts then i will guess the answer is No.

you can always make Elder Scrolls art, but i think it is unwise to do it only to get gifts.

As far as has been publicly confirmed, from the daily win from the battlegrounds purple rewards box thatnyou get once per toon per day, and the drop chance is altered ifyoubwin a 4v4 vs a 8v8.

Sythen88411 wrote: »

The mail win or loose. Got 2

That is lucky! GG

Contests are organized events with specific criteria that are open to all players to participate in if they choose, with set prizes already established. That is not the same thing as a player receiving gifts from the Devs for creating unsolicited works on their own.

I've decorated over 50 houses, but I should not receive gifts from the Devs for any of them outside of an organized housing contest.

Wouldn't that kinda fall under bribery in that case?

No vengeance is a very balanced and 'fun first' environment (for a lot people) that has a very low entry barrier for every type of player to jump in. Subclassing would detract from that.

I would be a fan of a few rotating skill lines and a very limited rotating set pool per campaign to keep things fresh.