My thoughts as a sword and board user

noobfury

First of all let me get this out of the way , the decision to reduce damage in pvp by 50% is the first step in the right direction based on the current offense>defense game we've been tolerating for quite some time. There simply aren't enough viable options to counter the massive burst common in the majority of encounters , this is especially true for things like HA being less effective than it should be along with over the top penetration and other known issues.

PVP in ESO is not dueling , it's rarely a 1v1 situation unless it's consensual. Being hit simultaneously by multiple attackers is the norm in most cases as is dying within a few seconds unless your just flat out able to evade everything.

It is not unusual to roll in to a conflict involving 60 players and have 6 of them standing at range spamming one player with spell attacks and bow attacks while mele users are launching themselves from 20 meters away with critical rush or invasion hitting you with physical damage. Add siege weapon damage to this and the game becomes nothing more than a contest to see who can re spawn the fastest.

What I'm not quite understanding , I don't know maybe I just suck , Is where people got the idea that using a shield makes such a huge difference when dealing with the obscene amounts of damage from multiple sources. A shield , despite what some people might think is not some kind of magical device that allows you to repel anything and everything constantly without dying , at the most it just slows down the process a little bit. Yet somehow we have people claiming that shield users have the ability to block endlessly and never die while simultaneously dishing out huge amounts of damage.

In pve using a tanky DK build in Crag I've managed to solo some not all , group encounters at mid VR levels but pvp doesn't work that way. There are on top of everything else , multiple skills that bypass shields completely .

Even one guy standing behind everyone else can spam RD or Soul Assault and kill you unless your able to close the gap and interrupt them. Try doing that when your being feared at the same time or being hit with ice comets and ballista bolts. A shield, no matter how long you hold it will get burst down eventually.

Do I care that they are going to make stamina regen stop while holding a shield up? The answer is yes and no. I understand with the damage adjustments they will need to maintain balance however, considering that 1H and shield skills use stamina including defensive stance which I use a lot in pvp what this will ultimately do is lengthen the time in between being able to use other skills after halting stamina regen while blocking.

The reason I picked up a shield in the first place was to try and mitigate some of the incoming damage from different sources , primarily bows and to use some of the 1H skills for defense , I would rather not have to worry about holding that mouse button in all the time TBH.

I guess blocking and bashing will be a thing of the past now also but otherwise I'll just have to re design my build . It's not the end of the world but I really wish people would stop implying that shield blocking is some sort of exploit until they actually use one regularly in pvp , it really gives the impression they don't know what their talking about .

Now if you do want to talk about certain Sorcerers being able to stand in front of 25 k ballista bolt without taking any damage then I'm all ears. Otherwise let's stop spreading myths about how op shield blocking is or put some proof on the table.

ToRelax

noobfury wrote: »

What I'm not quite understanding , I don't know maybe I just suck , Is where people got the idea that using a shield makes such a huge difference when dealing with the obscene amounts of damage from multiple sources. A shield , despite what some people might think is not some kind of magical device that allows you to repel anything and everything constantly without dying , at the most it just slows down the process a little bit. Yet somehow we have people claiming that shield users have the ability to block endlessly and never die while simultaneously dishing out huge amounts of damage.

People see someone with a working blocking build for once and draw the conclusion that blocking must be OP.
I know it sucks, but those are the players ZOS listens to it seems.

trimsic_ESO

ESO is a beautiful game, and has many assets to be successful. But the combat system is such a big mess since day 1, that it is the reason #1 why the game did not succeed as it should have. And what I heard during the last ESO live makes me think that this is going to be even worse.

noobfury

ESO is a very good mmorpg , not quite as good as EQ 2 was imho but one of the better ones. It has the most popular rating for one year 3,091,672 unique hits at mmorpg.com . The pvp ava system is a good concept and can be a lot of fun but there is clearly a need for some decision making on the part of the devs to address the multitude of problems.

Also , as someone who has supported the game financially by continuing my monthly sub after it became buy to play , I don't think it's to much to ask them to get their priorities straight.

Starting with this.

cozmon3c_ESO

lol EQ 2 sucked imo. boring combat .

Soris

Eric: "Players will now tend to block that one specific attack rather than holding down RMB blablabla"
That's cute.

noobfury wrote: »

Anything above 5v5 brings you 200+ ping in Cyro. What Eric said is not possible. I guess he played too much Mount & Blade: Warband lol

noobfury

Soris wrote: »

Eric: "Players will now tend to block that one specific attack rather than holding down RMB blablabla"
That's cute.

noobfury wrote: »

Anything above 5v5 brings you 200+ ping in Cyro. What Eric said is not possible. I guess he played too much Mount & Blade: Warband lol

Wait , give me a minute while I take a look around and select which of the eight different attacks coming at me simultaneously I wish to block with my op magical repels anything shield using my endless supply of stamina.

Zsymon

I really don't think any of the developers actually do PvP. They seem to be completely clueless as to how it is actually played. No players won't block that one particular attack now, they just won't use block at all anymore and find another way to survive, just like they will just stop using dodge as a means to survive and (try) to find another way to survive as a stamina build.

But Sorcs will rule supreme, since theirs is the only (overpowered) defense mechanism that remains viable.

They nerf block and dodge into the ground to the point where it's just meaningless to use it anymore, but they leave shield stacking intact.. I am really losing hope for this game's future.

It's like they thought, "Hmm, Sorcs turned out a bit weaker than other options, let's destroy those other options."

Master_Kas

Zsymon wrote: »

I really don't think any of the developers actually do PvP. They seem to be completely clueless as to how it is actually played. No players won't block that one particular attack now, they just won't use block at all anymore and find another way to survive, just like they will just stop using dodge as a means to survive and (try) to find another way to survive as a stamina build.

But Sorcs will rule supreme, since theirs is the only (overpowered) defense mechanism that remains viable.

They nerf block and dodge into the ground to the point where it's just meaningless to use it anymore, but they leave shield stacking intact.. I am really losing hope for this game's future.

It's like they thought, "Hmm, Sorcs turned out a bit weaker than other options, let's destroy those other options."

Agreed to 100% . Why nerf both blocking/Rolling but give NO penalty to shieldstacking?
Yes they nerfing shields by 35% (15% now to 50%) but damage is Also reduced now. This basiclly screws over templar & dk shields the most.

Instead they nerf bolt escape again . Sometimes I wonder, do they even play eso pvp?

CMG138

I think ZOS should make sword and board a bit more viable. I know a lot of people are going to cry when I say this, but your shield should double as a weapon and add to weapon damage, not to the extent of dual wielding, as well as add to armor. Historically speaking, sword and board was a very deadly combination, so I do think that bash damage should be increased. Just my opinion though.