My thoughts as a VR12 player
GaldorP
✭✭✭✭✭
My thoughts on the game as a player whose main character has reached VR12:
(Summary at the end
)
1. PVE:
1.1. PVE Endgame options
There is currently no meaningful PvE endgame activity in the game except for trials. You can grind for materials and gold alone or in smaller groups, but all the good dropped sets and VR 12 items in general drop in trials only. (Some good sets drop in the old veteran dungeons, but then again you only get those in preparation for trials). So anyone who doesn't like timed 12 player instances has no meaningful endgame content in PvE (except maybe waiting for crafting researches to complete).
-> It would be nice to have meaningful activities that can be done alone or with a smaller group.
1.2. PvE VR leveling speed since Craglorn
Craglorn has made questing in the regular veteran zones incredibly inefficient in comparison to the new leveling options. It's a bit unfair for the people who did all the content in regular VR zones and got to VR 12 the "hard" way. But ok, that's the normal course of a MMOG. Things get easier accessible after a while. Even though it happened a bit fast here
But then within Craglorn, there are few ways to gain exp in VR levels that are so easy and efficient that many people refuse to do anything else. They farm Anomalies or the three bosses near the entrance of Seeker's Archive or they do the dungeon Balamath over an over again (because this dungeon has the highest number of bosses of all the dungeons in Craglorn and these bosses are also close together and most of them are relatively easy).
The rewards (both exp and item reward) for daily quests and especially one-time quests are very low in comparison to what you get from killing a single boss. The exp reward for clearing a dungeon for the first time (achievement reward) is good, but still it is almost impossible to find people willing to do just regular dungeons (because Balamath is the best dungeon for boss farming and the bosses in the main zone of Craglorn are incredibly easy to kill with a large group of players so many people would rather do that than a dungeon where they could run into challenging content).
The worst thing, however, are the one-time quests that take you through several dungeons and make you complete objectives on the map. While doing "Warrior's Call", for example, there are several stages where you need to find other people that are at the exact same stage of the quest you are or you can't continue. If you can't complete the entire quest (and some of these quests may take several hours) with one group that stays together, if only one person leaves, you might as well abandon the quest and begin from the start again. I had to shout for several days in zone chat and my guilds until I finally found 3 other people that were at the same stage of "Warrior's Call" so I could finally continue the quest. And also, since they are one-time quests you can't help any friends doing them anymore once you have completed the quest. Of course, the final reward for doing these one-time quests is, once again, really bad (both exp and item-wise): You get better rewards for killing a single boss at an Anomaly.
-> A penalty on exp for repeatedly killing the same boss would be nice (like every time you kill a boss you'll get -30% exp and loot chance on the next kill of the same boss for four hours. So it would be 70% on the second kill, 40% on the third kill, 10% on the fourth kill, 0% on the fifth kill within 4 hours).
-> Make completing daily quests more rewarding
-> Make completing one-time quest a lot more rewarding
-> Slightly decrease the exp per boss in dungeons with many bosses
-> Let people search groups for (veteran group) dungeons below their level with the grouping tool
This would give people a reason to do a higher variety of content in Craglorn and not just do the same dungeon or boss over and over again.
1.3. Class Roles in PvE
The game was advertized as "you can play however you want" (that's not a quote just summarizing the idea with my own words). Sceptical minds suspected from the start that this could only mean two things: Either everything is perfectly balanced and almost the same so all your choices are mostly of aesthetic nature or it's a very complex system which will necessarily create some overpowered builds and others that, in comparison, seem almost useless. The second thing is what happened in ESO, and, at the start, that wasn't a big problem. Sure, Destruction Staff builds were ridiculously overpowered but even weaker builds still were fun to play and could do something.
Then people reached the VR zones and suddenly, many builds did not work so well anymore. Most could be fixed with a few adjustments though and the player had to learn how to block and dodge now and could not blindly charge into large groups of enemies anymore (except for destruction staff builds that could still do that while basically being invincible).
Even in regular VR group dungeons, you didn't need a "perfect" build to beat the dungeon as long as your group knew what to do, avoided the red circles, etc. but it almost became a requirement that each person filled a certain role again (as in a classic MMORPG), either tank, damage dealer, or healer (instead of a buffer class there are synergies in ESO which was a good decision and sets with a bonus for the whole group which was a bit more problematic and had to be nerfed [the boni of multiple group sets of the same type do not stack anymore]). Hybrid builds were still an option in veteran group dungeons though.
Then trials were added, with an even higher difficulty and some bosses that are nothing but Dps and Hps (Heal per second) meters. Now these *force* people by design to play only the most efficient builds available. I wanted to continue playing my Bow DK as Dps with both high Weapon and and Spell Crit combining Light Attack/Venom Arrow spam with several DoTs (Searing Strike, Standard and Engulfing Flames). But people laughed at me when they saw me using a bow, and I got the feeling they regretted inviting me to the party and would much rather have invited another Dps. And they were right, of course. No matter what other build I take, I won't be able to reach the same level of sustained Dps that I can reach with a Destruction Staff Fire build.
Now, even if your group is not trying to get a good time, there are several bosses in each trial that are nothing but Dps meters. Your entire group will auto-wipe if you don't have the necessary Dps. And this forces people to play only the most overpowered builds.
As a Dragonknight you basically have two options: Be a Tank or a Destruction Staff Dps.
As Nightblade you are only accepted in trial groups as a healer.
I'm not sure about the other 2 classes but I think Templars are accepted as healer and tank and Sorcs in any of the 3 roles.
So the "play however you want" philosophy is miles away from the reality of the game now. This also applies to itemization where some sets are definitely too strong (Warlock Set) and the passives of Light Armor are so good in comparison that almost noone is using Medium or Heavy Armor anymore (lots of Medium Armor sets have a Stamina Recovery bonus on them that serves no purpose because anyone with the Medium Armor passive skills will already have reached the soft cap for Stamina Recovery).
-> Change bosses that are pure Dps and Hps meters; bosses should be beatable by a group of VR12 players that have a good strategy, react fast to incoming threats and adapt to each situation accordingly. Pure efficiency groups will still be able to have better times in trials, but at least give the other groups (also well-organized experienced players just not only the most overpowered builds) a chance to beat the boss.
-> Balance the Armor Skills (active skills and passives)
-> Give Stamina heavy builds a chance T_T
-> The Staves are so good because their abilities benefit from the same passives Class abilities do (or all Magicka based abilities for that matter) and they also have a better damage per ressource cost efficieny than stamina weapon skills.
2. PvP
2.1. Bugs and exploits
I'm glad the caltrops bug is fixed now (I think this bug had really made PvP a lot less enjoyable for many people). The Twilight Online era (the era of Bat Swarm stacking) has also ended a long time ago. The Dragon Standard spamming was slowed down a bit thanks to the Ultimate gain nerf. And the NPC merchants selling mercenaries have been removed from the game (unfortunately there are still some players who seem to be able to summon infinite quantities of mercenaries, now, after the patch, on Auriel's Bow EU campaign). So right now, the worst bugs have been fixed (I still get the bug where I stay "In Combat" forever a lot so I sometimes can't ride for like 5 minutes and there are still lags from time to time for people in large groups, but overall it's getting better I think)
2.2. Objectives
What many people have mentioned on forums already is that there is a lack of objectives for smaller groups. Taking a ressource hardly gives any points and by itself doesn't serve any purpose (doesn't feel rewarding). How about a system where merchants travel between keeps of the same side (like a metal merchant would travel from Arrius to Blue Road Keep if the faction that holds Arrius also holds the Arrius Mine; there would be another one for the Lumbermill and one for the farm too). There could be missions (quests) added to hunt enemy merchants (which would always be accompanied by a few bodyguards of course) and whenenver a merchant would reach its destination the merchant's faction would gain additional Alliance points. Or maybe add small Trading Posts that could be captured or missions to save villagers that you could start in places like Vlastarus and where you would have to escort an NPC that could be killed by enemy players to the closest keep Or maybe add watchtowers that can be captured and increase or reduce the defenses of the nearest castle (depending on which faction owns it).
Also, timed events that only take place on certain days or at certain times of the day would be nice I think the announced shorter duration of campaigns is definitely a step in the right direction Also, I never liked the "Honor" system in WoW (never liked WoW in general), but something like that could give the daily PvE quests in Cyrodiil a meaning again. Maybe a new currency (Cyrodiil PvE points) that would allow people to buy some rewards from merchant at quest nodes like Vlastarus, after a while.
3. Werewolves
Werewolves still are utterly useless and can't survive against more than 1 monster in VR content. They have only two active skills: a very expensive gap closer that hardly does any damage and an AoE fear that can be resisted in PvP and will only kick in in PvE after each monster you're fighting has hit you at least once.
Also, while werewolf monsters seem to have a huge attack range (maybe 5-8 meters) and have more health than average monsters of the same level, werewolf players have a felt attack range of less than 1 meter, have no more Health than in their normal form and loose the bonus of their weapon enchant, their weapon trait as well as all weapon passives when they transform. As others have pointed out before, the werewolf transformation right now is a buff to do less damage and become much more vulnerable for some time.
I suggest a few mild changes: ^^
-> Add a 50% global reduction of incoming damage for werewolf players but make heals on them less efficient (both effects only when the player is transformed).
-> Reduce the cost of the Werewolf Ultimate to 400.
-> Change the the passive Blood Rage to grant a werewolf player 10 Ultimate every 5 seconds when the player takes damage (only when the currently slotted ultimate ability is the werewolf transformation, as it works now).
-> Add a maximum duration cap of 2 minutes for the werewolf transformation. When the transformation ends, the player's ultimate points are set to 0 (as it is now).
-> Make the werewolf transformation stronger: In werewolf form the player would gain the following boni: Weapon power increased by 20, speed increased by 12%.
-> Increase the range of regular light and heavy attacks of transformed werewolf players to the range of two-handed weapons.
Summary:
- I don't like trials very much because they force you to play one of the most overpowered builds and because it's hard to get a group of 12 people together and I feel like the game misses alternative endgame activities in PvE (especially things you can do on your own or with a small group).
- Gaining VR ranks in Craglorn is now very easy and requires no skill at all. People do the same content over and over again and mostly ignore the vast majority of Craglorn's dungeons and quests. I suggested to add better rewards for the quests and penalties for doing the same content over and over again as an incentive for people to level in various places in Craglorn.
- I still enjoy PvP (especially now that the caltrops bug has finally been fixed) but a change from the same activities all the time would be nice (special, timed events or new daily missions would be great). I would appreciate more meaningful PvP activities for smaller groups in Cyrodiil (I made a few suggestions). I would appreciate it if the daily PvE quests in Cyrodiil had some meaning again (offered better potential rewards; I've made a suggestion there too).
- I feel that one of the optional skill trees available to all classes in the game, the werewolf skill tree, suffers from some severe balancing issues. I made a few suggestions how the werewolf transformation could be made a bit more viable.
- Final Suggestion: Why not add some meaningful activity that allows higher level VR players to return to the original zones of their alliance?
(Summary at the end
)1. PVE:
1.1. PVE Endgame options
There is currently no meaningful PvE endgame activity in the game except for trials. You can grind for materials and gold alone or in smaller groups, but all the good dropped sets and VR 12 items in general drop in trials only. (Some good sets drop in the old veteran dungeons, but then again you only get those in preparation for trials). So anyone who doesn't like timed 12 player instances has no meaningful endgame content in PvE (except maybe waiting for crafting researches to complete).
-> It would be nice to have meaningful activities that can be done alone or with a smaller group.
1.2. PvE VR leveling speed since Craglorn
Craglorn has made questing in the regular veteran zones incredibly inefficient in comparison to the new leveling options. It's a bit unfair for the people who did all the content in regular VR zones and got to VR 12 the "hard" way. But ok, that's the normal course of a MMOG. Things get easier accessible after a while. Even though it happened a bit fast here
But then within Craglorn, there are few ways to gain exp in VR levels that are so easy and efficient that many people refuse to do anything else. They farm Anomalies or the three bosses near the entrance of Seeker's Archive or they do the dungeon Balamath over an over again (because this dungeon has the highest number of bosses of all the dungeons in Craglorn and these bosses are also close together and most of them are relatively easy).
The rewards (both exp and item reward) for daily quests and especially one-time quests are very low in comparison to what you get from killing a single boss. The exp reward for clearing a dungeon for the first time (achievement reward) is good, but still it is almost impossible to find people willing to do just regular dungeons (because Balamath is the best dungeon for boss farming and the bosses in the main zone of Craglorn are incredibly easy to kill with a large group of players so many people would rather do that than a dungeon where they could run into challenging content).
The worst thing, however, are the one-time quests that take you through several dungeons and make you complete objectives on the map. While doing "Warrior's Call", for example, there are several stages where you need to find other people that are at the exact same stage of the quest you are or you can't continue. If you can't complete the entire quest (and some of these quests may take several hours) with one group that stays together, if only one person leaves, you might as well abandon the quest and begin from the start again. I had to shout for several days in zone chat and my guilds until I finally found 3 other people that were at the same stage of "Warrior's Call" so I could finally continue the quest. And also, since they are one-time quests you can't help any friends doing them anymore once you have completed the quest. Of course, the final reward for doing these one-time quests is, once again, really bad (both exp and item-wise): You get better rewards for killing a single boss at an Anomaly.
-> A penalty on exp for repeatedly killing the same boss would be nice (like every time you kill a boss you'll get -30% exp and loot chance on the next kill of the same boss for four hours. So it would be 70% on the second kill, 40% on the third kill, 10% on the fourth kill, 0% on the fifth kill within 4 hours).
-> Make completing daily quests more rewarding
-> Make completing one-time quest a lot more rewarding
-> Slightly decrease the exp per boss in dungeons with many bosses
-> Let people search groups for (veteran group) dungeons below their level with the grouping tool
This would give people a reason to do a higher variety of content in Craglorn and not just do the same dungeon or boss over and over again.
1.3. Class Roles in PvE
The game was advertized as "you can play however you want" (that's not a quote just summarizing the idea with my own words). Sceptical minds suspected from the start that this could only mean two things: Either everything is perfectly balanced and almost the same so all your choices are mostly of aesthetic nature or it's a very complex system which will necessarily create some overpowered builds and others that, in comparison, seem almost useless. The second thing is what happened in ESO, and, at the start, that wasn't a big problem. Sure, Destruction Staff builds were ridiculously overpowered but even weaker builds still were fun to play and could do something.
Then people reached the VR zones and suddenly, many builds did not work so well anymore. Most could be fixed with a few adjustments though and the player had to learn how to block and dodge now and could not blindly charge into large groups of enemies anymore (except for destruction staff builds that could still do that while basically being invincible).
Even in regular VR group dungeons, you didn't need a "perfect" build to beat the dungeon as long as your group knew what to do, avoided the red circles, etc. but it almost became a requirement that each person filled a certain role again (as in a classic MMORPG), either tank, damage dealer, or healer (instead of a buffer class there are synergies in ESO which was a good decision and sets with a bonus for the whole group which was a bit more problematic and had to be nerfed [the boni of multiple group sets of the same type do not stack anymore]). Hybrid builds were still an option in veteran group dungeons though.
Then trials were added, with an even higher difficulty and some bosses that are nothing but Dps and Hps (Heal per second) meters. Now these *force* people by design to play only the most efficient builds available. I wanted to continue playing my Bow DK as Dps with both high Weapon and and Spell Crit combining Light Attack/Venom Arrow spam with several DoTs (Searing Strike, Standard and Engulfing Flames). But people laughed at me when they saw me using a bow, and I got the feeling they regretted inviting me to the party and would much rather have invited another Dps. And they were right, of course. No matter what other build I take, I won't be able to reach the same level of sustained Dps that I can reach with a Destruction Staff Fire build.
Now, even if your group is not trying to get a good time, there are several bosses in each trial that are nothing but Dps meters. Your entire group will auto-wipe if you don't have the necessary Dps. And this forces people to play only the most overpowered builds.
As a Dragonknight you basically have two options: Be a Tank or a Destruction Staff Dps.
As Nightblade you are only accepted in trial groups as a healer.
I'm not sure about the other 2 classes but I think Templars are accepted as healer and tank and Sorcs in any of the 3 roles.
So the "play however you want" philosophy is miles away from the reality of the game now. This also applies to itemization where some sets are definitely too strong (Warlock Set) and the passives of Light Armor are so good in comparison that almost noone is using Medium or Heavy Armor anymore (lots of Medium Armor sets have a Stamina Recovery bonus on them that serves no purpose because anyone with the Medium Armor passive skills will already have reached the soft cap for Stamina Recovery).
-> Change bosses that are pure Dps and Hps meters; bosses should be beatable by a group of VR12 players that have a good strategy, react fast to incoming threats and adapt to each situation accordingly. Pure efficiency groups will still be able to have better times in trials, but at least give the other groups (also well-organized experienced players just not only the most overpowered builds) a chance to beat the boss.
-> Balance the Armor Skills (active skills and passives)
-> Give Stamina heavy builds a chance T_T
-> The Staves are so good because their abilities benefit from the same passives Class abilities do (or all Magicka based abilities for that matter) and they also have a better damage per ressource cost efficieny than stamina weapon skills.
2. PvP
2.1. Bugs and exploits
I'm glad the caltrops bug is fixed now (I think this bug had really made PvP a lot less enjoyable for many people). The Twilight Online era (the era of Bat Swarm stacking) has also ended a long time ago. The Dragon Standard spamming was slowed down a bit thanks to the Ultimate gain nerf. And the NPC merchants selling mercenaries have been removed from the game (unfortunately there are still some players who seem to be able to summon infinite quantities of mercenaries, now, after the patch, on Auriel's Bow EU campaign). So right now, the worst bugs have been fixed (I still get the bug where I stay "In Combat" forever a lot so I sometimes can't ride for like 5 minutes and there are still lags from time to time for people in large groups, but overall it's getting better I think)
2.2. Objectives
What many people have mentioned on forums already is that there is a lack of objectives for smaller groups. Taking a ressource hardly gives any points and by itself doesn't serve any purpose (doesn't feel rewarding). How about a system where merchants travel between keeps of the same side (like a metal merchant would travel from Arrius to Blue Road Keep if the faction that holds Arrius also holds the Arrius Mine; there would be another one for the Lumbermill and one for the farm too). There could be missions (quests) added to hunt enemy merchants (which would always be accompanied by a few bodyguards of course) and whenenver a merchant would reach its destination the merchant's faction would gain additional Alliance points. Or maybe add small Trading Posts that could be captured or missions to save villagers that you could start in places like Vlastarus and where you would have to escort an NPC that could be killed by enemy players to the closest keep
Or maybe add watchtowers that can be captured and increase or reduce the defenses of the nearest castle (depending on which faction owns it).Also, timed events that only take place on certain days or at certain times of the day would be nice
I think the announced shorter duration of campaigns is definitely a step in the right direction Also, I never liked the "Honor" system in WoW (never liked WoW in general), but something like that could give the daily PvE quests in Cyrodiil a meaning again. Maybe a new currency (Cyrodiil PvE points) that would allow people to buy some rewards from merchant at quest nodes like Vlastarus, after a while.3. Werewolves
Werewolves still are utterly useless and can't survive against more than 1 monster in VR content. They have only two active skills: a very expensive gap closer that hardly does any damage and an AoE fear that can be resisted in PvP and will only kick in in PvE after each monster you're fighting has hit you at least once.
Also, while werewolf monsters seem to have a huge attack range (maybe 5-8 meters) and have more health than average monsters of the same level, werewolf players have a felt attack range of less than 1 meter, have no more Health than in their normal form and loose the bonus of their weapon enchant, their weapon trait as well as all weapon passives when they transform. As others have pointed out before, the werewolf transformation right now is a buff to do less damage and become much more vulnerable for some time.
I suggest a few mild changes: ^^
-> Add a 50% global reduction of incoming damage for werewolf players but make heals on them less efficient (both effects only when the player is transformed).
-> Reduce the cost of the Werewolf Ultimate to 400.
-> Change the the passive Blood Rage to grant a werewolf player 10 Ultimate every 5 seconds when the player takes damage (only when the currently slotted ultimate ability is the werewolf transformation, as it works now).
-> Add a maximum duration cap of 2 minutes for the werewolf transformation. When the transformation ends, the player's ultimate points are set to 0 (as it is now).
-> Make the werewolf transformation stronger: In werewolf form the player would gain the following boni: Weapon power increased by 20, speed increased by 12%.
-> Increase the range of regular light and heavy attacks of transformed werewolf players to the range of two-handed weapons.
Summary:
- I don't like trials very much because they force you to play one of the most overpowered builds and because it's hard to get a group of 12 people together and I feel like the game misses alternative endgame activities in PvE (especially things you can do on your own or with a small group).
- Gaining VR ranks in Craglorn is now very easy and requires no skill at all. People do the same content over and over again and mostly ignore the vast majority of Craglorn's dungeons and quests. I suggested to add better rewards for the quests and penalties for doing the same content over and over again as an incentive for people to level in various places in Craglorn.
- I still enjoy PvP (especially now that the caltrops bug has finally been fixed) but a change from the same activities all the time would be nice (special, timed events or new daily missions would be great). I would appreciate more meaningful PvP activities for smaller groups in Cyrodiil (I made a few suggestions). I would appreciate it if the daily PvE quests in Cyrodiil had some meaning again (offered better potential rewards; I've made a suggestion there too).
- I feel that one of the optional skill trees available to all classes in the game, the werewolf skill tree, suffers from some severe balancing issues. I made a few suggestions how the werewolf transformation could be made a bit more viable.
- Final Suggestion: Why not add some meaningful activity that allows higher level VR players to return to the original zones of their alliance?
1
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Liquid_Time✭✭✭✭✭- Final Suggestion: Why not add some meaningful activity that allows higher level VR players to return to the original zones of their alliance?
^
This.
Add daily Vet level quests to your home starting location.
Accept said quest and it could send you to the other Vet zones that depend on your vet level. If this was added you could be vet V1-12 and still have some daily quests. These quests could be very rewarding and worthy of doing.
Dunno.. Just an idea and it allows them to re-use content and bring value.¸.•¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•` Liquid_Time'*-.¸.-•-.¸_¸.-•-.¸_¸.-•-.¸_¸.-•-.¸_¸.-•-.¸_¸.-••¤
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IGN: Liquid Past || Rank: V14 || Class: Nightblade || World Skill: Vampire
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