PTS Update 16 - Feedback Thread for Sorcerer

Lord-Otto

diplomatt wrote: »

Lord-Otto wrote: »

No?
If you put two equally skilled, good, players on sorc and blade, respectively, the magblade will win. Rhus making it easier to play for magblade, once you reached the ceiling.

No. Rotations, general burst, passives. NIghtblade can burst, but not so often as sorcerer. Also, much weaker shields, also, detection pots and radiant\inner light makes nb's cloak useless.
Equal experiensed nb will live until implosion or Mages fury will proc, usually together.

MagNB is not rocket science, I don't struggle. If you are stil having problems with basics, you're not at the ceiling yet and weren't effected by my post.

HoloYoitsu

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

Lord-Otto

Holo, I don't always like memes, but when I do, they are truly awesome!
d(^_^)

Your numbers look right to me and that is a big fat cost increase! Can't say it's realistic to have enough sustain for just a CC with 3k cost every seven seconds.

Bashev

If ZoS wants somebody to use Crystal Blast, they have to make it able to proc as instant cast skill as Crystal shard, then stun the target and add AoE damage but no longer increased damage and make it 8m range. Risk vs reward.

BohnT

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

Edit: Misread first quoted post

Maulkin

BohnT wrote: »

OdinForge wrote: »

I've literally never fought a sorc using a dedicated non-frag CC, that ever left me feeling like that sorc was a threat. Frags will not work like merciless resolve, merciless resolve will hit harder and be easier to land thanks to animation changes without the need for it to CC like frag did.

you Forget that frags have much better uptime, travel faster and can be cancelled aswell + you have a ranged undodgeable/blockable cc that you can use right before your frag hits

They definitely do not travel faster

BohnT wrote: »

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

Did you have full light armor for both pics?

Did you read the post you're replying to? Read the first line again.

Alcast

@HoloYoitsu lmao

BohnT

Maulkin wrote: »

BohnT wrote: »

OdinForge wrote: »

I've literally never fought a sorc using a dedicated non-frag CC, that ever left me feeling like that sorc was a threat. Frags will not work like merciless resolve, merciless resolve will hit harder and be easier to land thanks to animation changes without the need for it to CC like frag did.

you Forget that frags have much better uptime, travel faster and can be cancelled aswell + you have a ranged undodgeable/blockable cc that you can use right before your frag hits

They definitely do not travel faster

BohnT wrote: »

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

Did you read the post you're replying to? Read the first line again.

Wh

Maulkin wrote: »

BohnT wrote: »

OdinForge wrote: »

I've literally never fought a sorc using a dedicated non-frag CC, that ever left me feeling like that sorc was a threat. Frags will not work like merciless resolve, merciless resolve will hit harder and be easier to land thanks to animation changes without the need for it to CC like frag did.

you Forget that frags have much better uptime, travel faster and can be cancelled aswell + you have a ranged undodgeable/blockable cc that you can use right before your frag hits

They definitely do not travel faster

BohnT wrote: »

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

Did you have full light armor for both pics?

Did you read the post you're replying to? Read the first line again.

Frags do travel faster than Assassin's will.
With the last nerf to Assassin's will it is by far the slowest projectile in the game outside of snipe + the Audio cue of AW is just as loud as Incap making it one of the loudest in the game.

Mayrael

Biro123 wrote: »

gammelscroll wrote: »

Let's start with dodge roll. What's the problem with it?

Well, here's a list of basic skills that you cannot mitigate with dodge roll - they will hit you:
Puncturing Strikes (and morphs), Dive (and morphs), Radiant Destruction (and morphs), Dark Talons (and morphs), Petrify (and morphs), Aspect of Terror (and morphs), Daedric Curse (and morphs), Daedric Mines (and morphs), Lightning Form (and morphs), Spear Shards (and morphs), Backlash (and morphs), Scorch (and morphs), Impaling Shards (and morphs), Ash Cloud (and morphs), Wall of Elements (and morphs), Drain Essence (and morphs), Trap Beast (and morphs), Fire Rune (and morphs), Trapping Webs (and morphs), Caltrops (and morphs), Path of Darkness (and morphs), Agony (and morphs), Rune Prison (and morphs), Lightning Splash (and morphs), Volley (and morphs), Magicka Detonation (and morphs), Explosive Charge, Lotus Fan, Streak, Dark Flare (heal debuff portion only), Ritual of Retribution, Arctic Blast

And here's a list of skills that you can't mitigate with dodge once they've been applied:
Mages' Fury (and morphs), Sun Fire (and morphs), Eclipse (and morphs), Swarm (and morphs), Searing Strike (and morphs), Fiery Breath (and morphs), Cleave (and morphs), Twin Slashes (and morphs), Poison Arrow (and morphs), Arrow Spray (and morphs), Soul Trap (and morphs), Infectious Claws (and morphs)[Note: Infectious Claws is very, very difficult to dodge, but it's possible as per my tests], Entropy (and morphs), Volatile Armor

Bad huh? Gets worse:

Ultimates - Soul Strike (and morphs), Dawnbreaker (and morphs), Elemental Storm (and morphs), Meteor (and morphs), Dragonknight Standard (and morphs), Bat Swarm (and morphs), Consuming Darkness (and morphs), Soul Shred (and morphs), Summon Storm Atronach (and morphs), Negate Magic (and morphs), Radial Sweep (and morphs), Nova (and morphs), Sleet Storm (and morphs), Soul Harvest

And one ultimate which you can't mitigate by dodging once it has been applied: Lacerate (and morphs)

That's not all.

DW/2H Bleeds, Skoria proc, DoT set bonuses, lightning/resto heavy attacks - all undodgeable as well.

DDuke? Is that you?

Its now a known fact that, like Godwin's law every sorc thread turns into a 'light armour is weak' thread.. I can see where this is going..

btw - I've already discredited that list, because basically all this stuff is wrong:

1. Saying a dot is undodgeable when you can dodge the attack that applies it.
2. Saying a gtaoe is undodgeable when dodge is absolutely the quickest way to get out of the area
3. Saying a pbaoe is undodgeable when your dodge can take you out of the area
4. Saying cone aoe's are undodgeable when a dodge can take you out of their range/area
5. Listing a bunch of skills that are only used in PVE - cus they're useless in PVP

Its funny you list stuff like negate - when my massively overpowered, unkillable magsorc avoids it with a simple dodgeroll...

[minor edit for quote]

Reckt!

Even before THE ADDON frags when faced decent oponent was most of the time blocked/rolled/reflected. Now frags are countered 90% of a time even in large battles.

EDIT:
...and if you ask: so why every single mag sorc uses frags when they are so unreliable? Because mag sorcs have no other option. Sorcs have literaly 3 class skills that can be used to deal effective (even less as one of them is finisher) damage in PvP and since there is just one skill magicka toons can use to deal dmg in PvP outside of class skills (gbaoes and pbaoes are not efficient in PvP except of zergballing)... Well, sorcs are forced to use what they have.

Derra

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

16 or 61 what´s the difference?

BohnT

Derra wrote: »

BohnT wrote: »

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

Edit: Misread first quoted post

16 or 61 what´s the difference?

100% sure Gina just mixed the two numbers

Maulkin

Derra wrote: »

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

16 or 61 what´s the difference?

One's a GILF, the other is jail bait.

Biro123

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

I see a difference in duration there too - did they change that too?

Feanor

3k for Rune Prison? Sure...I expected something in the 4k range. That’s the thing with ZOS. Expect the worst and the patch notes just mildly surprise you.

GrigorijMalahevich

Feanor wrote: »

3k for Rune Prison? Sure...I expected something in the 4k range. That’s the thing with ZOS. Expect the worst and the patch notes just mildly surprise you.

4k range with 20k aoe, maybe there will be a small point to slot it in solo play...

OdinForge

@CyrusArya

As I said no bad feelings, just trying to figure out the mentality behind the statement.

Has anyone tried magsorc in duels on PTS yet, I wasn't around to get on PTS last night. Is anyone from EU still dueling on PTS?

Maulkin

Feanor wrote: »

3k for Rune Prison? Sure...I expected something in the 4k range. That’s the thing with ZOS. Expect the worst and the patch notes just mildly surprise you.

While the increase is laughably not 16% but >60%, I must say it kinda makes sense.

~3k cost for an instant-cast, unblockable, undodgable, 28m range, 2.5" Hard CC skill is kinda par for the course. At 1.9k cost it was a bit cheap. This brings it in the region of Petrify basically and consider that Petrify got nerfed to melee range (but ofc also provides a root element)

Lord-Otto

Maulkin wrote: »

Feanor wrote: »

3k for Rune Prison? Sure...I expected something in the 4k range. That’s the thing with ZOS. Expect the worst and the patch notes just mildly surprise you.

While the increase is laughably not 16% but >60%, I must say it kinda makes sense.

~3k cost for an instant-cast, unblockable, undodgable, 28m range, 2.5" Hard CC skill is kinda par for the course. At 1.9k cost it was a bit cheap. This brings it in the region of Petrify basically and consider that Petrify got nerfed to melee range (but ofc also provides a root element)

Maybe.
But sorcs are already struggling with sustain as is. This is another hit to it. Then Lich gets further diminished by the new Siphoner CP. Heavy destros are always blocked or rolled, so no sustain from that. This pidgeonholes sorcs into Dark Conversion, I fear - exactly what no one wanted.

Speaking of which, has anyone tested the sustain sets? I imagine Conversion+Amber/Shackle to be the strongest, but riskiest sustain available. And Seducer now outperforming Lich.

Kilandros

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

LOL

olsborg

Derra wrote: »

Kilandros wrote: »

Derra wrote: »

Kilandros wrote: »

Derra wrote: »

Kilandros wrote: »

Zer0oo wrote: »

Kilandros wrote: »

OdinForge wrote: »

I've literally never fought a sorc using a dedicated non-frag CC, that ever left me feeling like that sorc was a threat. Frags will not work like merciless resolve, merciless resolve will hit harder and be easier to land thanks to animation changes without the need for it to CC like frag did.

Except you actually need half a brain to proc Assassin's Will and use it at the right time and not just "LOL FORCE PULSE SPAM PROC CRYSTAL FRAG SPAM"

Wow someone really must have a hard time in pvp against sorc.

Not really. It's just a really easy class to play. Going to be a fun patch watching all the mediocre Sorcs who think they're good players because their class has the highest skill floor (easiest to play ok while being bad) get roflstomped by good magicka NBs.

They already get roflstomped by magica nbs.

mNB has a significantly higher skill ceiling than mSorc, if that's what you mean to say. But mSorc has a significantly higher skill floor than mNB. That skill floor for mSorc just got dropped considerably with the CC removal from frags though, and it's going to be fun to watch.

The problem of sorc is stacking shields imo.
The change to frags just limits the class even more than it already is while at the same time not changing anything about it´s asinine gameplay mechanics that make it frustrating and unenjoyable to fight.

So yeah the class just got a little worse overall and also a little more onedimensional for the good players. Can´t say that i think this is a good thing.

I think the Rune Prison change will make mSorcs more multidimensional for the good players, while the removal of stun from CF will hit the low-skill players the hardest.

Magsorc has the most onedimensional skill loadout out of all classes. Basically every magsorc runs the same skills with maybe two flexi spots on your bars.
Now you have another mandatory skill addet to the class reducing build variety in the process.

It will improve the class for good players - not arguing that. But it will also reduce possible skllchoices even more - which is crap if you´re asking me.

Bolded the part I agree with the most, and that reason is prob one of the 3 top reasons I stopped having fun on my magicka sorc, that I played in pvp for just about a year.

Maulkin

Lord-Otto wrote: »

Maulkin wrote: »

Feanor wrote: »

3k for Rune Prison? Sure...I expected something in the 4k range. That’s the thing with ZOS. Expect the worst and the patch notes just mildly surprise you.

While the increase is laughably not 16% but >60%, I must say it kinda makes sense.

~3k cost for an instant-cast, unblockable, undodgable, 28m range, 2.5" Hard CC skill is kinda par for the course. At 1.9k cost it was a bit cheap. This brings it in the region of Petrify basically and consider that Petrify got nerfed to melee range (but ofc also provides a root element)

Maybe.
But sorcs are already struggling with sustain as is. This is another hit to it. Then Lich gets further diminished by the new Siphoner CP. Heavy destros are always blocked or rolled, so no sustain from that. This pidgeonholes sorcs into Dark Conversion, I fear - exactly what no one wanted.

Weren't they already? Dark Deal was already a necessary part of my Sorc toolkit despite backbarring Lich, so no changes there. I mostly play BGs and being able to get 10k magicka and health when I buy myself couple of seconds of LOS protection is extremely important to my survival.

As for Siphoner, I'm not sure how widespread its use will be. We'll wait and see. I don't expect people to have more than 10-15 CPs into it.

CyrusArya

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

Hilariously incompetent math/bold faced lies aside, can't say I disagree with this cost increase. It makes sense and brings the cost in line with other hard stuns.

That being said, the whole set of changes is just dumb. Giving an unwanted buff to a skill and then gutting a core class ability to compensate. Unless you consider the alternative. That they were intending to nerf frags from the beginning and offer force rune prison as an alternative, but presented the changes in reverse so as to cull dissent and ensure their way gets implemented with little push back, resistance, or dialogue. If you think about it, they have been doing that a lot lately. I know they don't come up with balance change ideas in the middle of a pts cycle...these things are surely discussed and hammered out in advance. So ask yourself, why have they only in recent patches started releasing balance changes in a staggered manner with major changes being announced towards the end of the pts?

Ultimately it's their game and they can do whatever they want. But this kind of duplicitous and neglectful behavior is unsavory, and not one I am keen on being a patron of.

GrigorijMalahevich

Maulkin wrote: »

Feanor wrote: »

3k for Rune Prison? Sure...I expected something in the 4k range. That’s the thing with ZOS. Expect the worst and the patch notes just mildly surprise you.

While the increase is laughably not 16% but >60%, I must say it kinda makes sense.

~3k cost for an instant-cast, unblockable, undodgable, 28m range, 2.5" Hard CC skill is kinda par for the course. At 1.9k cost it was a bit cheap. This brings it in the region of Petrify basically and consider that Petrify got nerfed to melee range (but ofc also provides a root element)

Brother, that was not rune prison just defensive rune morph...

Maulkin

Valera Progib wrote: »

Maulkin wrote: »

Feanor wrote: »

3k for Rune Prison? Sure...I expected something in the 4k range. That’s the thing with ZOS. Expect the worst and the patch notes just mildly surprise you.

While the increase is laughably not 16% but >60%, I must say it kinda makes sense.

~3k cost for an instant-cast, unblockable, undodgable, 28m range, 2.5" Hard CC skill is kinda par for the course. At 1.9k cost it was a bit cheap. This brings it in the region of Petrify basically and consider that Petrify got nerfed to melee range (but ofc also provides a root element)

Brother, that was not rune prison just defensive rune morph...

They got the same cost brother. And the same distance, CC duration etc. etc.

ak_pvp

RinaldoGandolphi wrote: »

Since Ezareth isn't here to say it, i'll say it for him:

"the hate on Sorcs is born out of irrationality....its not my fault you chase my glowly balls of light and then get rekt when you follow me over the hill"

this is literally what it boils down too. everyone hates the sorc because they must chase the sorc and when they can't zerg said sorc down 12v1 and the said sorc 1vX 4 potatoes who only push one button, they get mad come on forums and complain.

Look i stopped playing Mag Sorc long before these changes because the class should be the definition of nerf.

• Shields reduced 15% Cyrodiil
• Sheilds Reduced 50% in Cyrodiil
• Streak No longer builds ultimate
• Streak 50% increase cost
• Streak 50% increasing cost now stacks
• Streak halves out of combat Mag Regen
• Streak no longer disorients(goes through block)
• Shields reduced from 20 to 6 seconds with no change in their cost(largest nerf in history of the game)
• Ball of Lighting reduced from 6.5 seconds to 2 seconds
• Expert Mage cost reduction removed
• Storm Atronach no longer taunts
• Negate No longer stuns players
• Power Overload Damage reduced from 15% to 6%
• Crystal Frag Damage proc bonuses reduced by 10%
• Can only build 500 ultimate instead of 1000(Another direct Nerf to Overload)
• Daedric Mines nerf preventing more then one going off even if your standing on top of two of them at the same time
• Crystal Frags no longer stuns

Im sorry but if you still think Mag Sorc is the top class after all that, you probably should just uninstall the game....Sorcs have clear weaknesses....I have never lost a 1v1 against a Mag Sorc on my Mag Blade, i'll either kill him or withdraw and there is nothing whatsoever the said Mag Sorc can do about it...he chases me with Streak i know he has over extended his mag pool and he is screwed....when you have played Sorc as long as me, you know this....constant snares and CC on immunity end over and over will leave said Sorc vulnerable to be killed and unable to use Dark Conversion(if slotted). This isn't rocket science.

I have since moved on to Mag DK/Mag Blade and Templar, all 3 of which are stronger then Mag Sorc and have been stronger since One Tamriel....

Mag Sorc is a shell of what the class was in 1.5 and 1.6...IMO the class is dead....they have sucked every last ounce of fun out of the class.....it has nothing it does well anymore except Streak....MagBlade is better with Destro and Resto then Sorc is, DK Pyromancers in PVE have higher DPS if played right, All Stamina toons are better solo pvp set ups then Mag Sorc is....Mag Sorc no longer relaly does any one thing exceptionally well.

• Templars and Wardens Heal better and are more tanky
• DK are far more tanky and better CC (Talons with a nice synergy)
• Mag Blades are far better solo open world due to Cloak and Shadow Image, a Magic version of Major Evasion and cheap hard hitting nukes like Merciless Resolve and Soul Harvest

Mag Sorc has been a victim of its press clippings since 1.6 and IMO is now a dead class....I have played MSorc since early access 2014, and defeated some of the best to ever play this game such as Ezareth, Pixy Sticks, Morinith, etc(And lost to them too)....and I could still play the class well, but why bother? I become more and more of a casual as the weeks pass by. Mag Sorcs have been homogenized from a fun unique class with mobility to a trashy mine camping turret class with less damage and suvivability then a MagBlade.

A Destro/Resto Mag blade is better in every single facet of the game then a Mag Sorc is and has been for quite sometime.

Im just a dirty casual now, lucky to play once a week....im sure glad i got to fight against the best back in the day though....i got to play Sorc the way it was meant to be played back when it was actually fun before the all whiners came to the forums and literlaly sucked all the fun out of the classes....they crushed Templars with Morrowind, and now they have done the same to Tank DK and Mag Sorcs...next update "your class is next" because...nerfs are so healthy for a game that's servers can't support zergs, yet they promote more zerging LOL!!!! the irony around here i tell ya...

That is not true.

1/2) Battle spirit. Wow every class nerfed let's go home

3) Elaborate

4/5/6/7) Because it was broken OP, similar to dodge roll or stopping stam whilst blocking. Now you have a better, petrify. Streak conal disorient was OP.

8) Every class

11) Hardly a nerf, not at all for pvp.

12) Best utility in the game.

16) Fixing pve corner stacking.

5 proper nerfs and many many buffs. Sorc is still top dog so don't ***. They can stack shields or streak to have equal survivability as a templar and a Warden without losing any mobility or damage. Oh, and higher ranged better cc.

Magblade is harder with easily broken cloak, nothing gets through shields bar oblivion/bleed. Sorc has a nuke they don't even have to buff up or weave for and a free execute passive.

DK better in pve lel. Stam toons better in solo lel. Warden, NB and the pure tank meta DK. The other two aren't.

I'll agree with you on the fact that they killed all class uniqueness with uncounterable abilities, nerfs, etc. DK and templar are litterally down to block/heal

CyrusArya

ak_pvp wrote: »

Stam toons better in solo lel.

Stamina is undoubtedly better solo. That is, if your definition of solo play is winning 1vX fights. If you’re the kind of player that thinks zerg surfing while ungrouped is solo PvP, then that might be your confusion.

Miswar

Hmmm. Maybe this "developer" could enlighten how is the mag sorc supposedly going to kill these tanky never ending sustain stam dk's, wardens and sorcs.. that can have 30-40k health with never ending resources with high dps?

...not even forgot that IF someone is actually getting their health down they ofc can MIST form until dawn.

You want to Light attack, Curse and Mages wrath them? ...or spam Crushing shock like crazy?

Seriously how out tuned are you with your OWN GAME. Oh.. ESO+ not continuing and game time coming down day by day... just enlighten your customers though.

ToRelax

Miswar wrote: »

Hmmm. Maybe this "developer" could enlighten how is the mag sorc supposedly going to kill these tanky never ending sustain stam dk's, wardens and sorcs.. that can have 30-40k health with never ending resources with high dps?

...not even forgot that IF someone is actually getting their health down they ofc can MIST form until dawn.

You want to Light attack, Curse and Mages wrath them? ...or spam Crushing shock like crazy?

Seriously how out tuned are you with your OWN GAME. Oh.. ESO+ not continuing and game time coming down day by day... just enlighten your customers though.

Thankfully there is no such build.

Joy_Division

CyrusArya wrote: »

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Here's the cost comparison (in 5 light + Unholy Knowledge passive)


Comes out to a 62.6% cost increase in practice.

Rune Prison: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 16%.

Hilariously incompetent math/bold faced lies aside, can't say I disagree with this cost increase. It makes sense and brings the cost in line with other hard stuns.

That being said, the whole set of changes is just dumb. Giving an unwanted buff to a skill and then gutting a core class ability to compensate. Unless you consider the alternative. That they were intending to nerf frags from the beginning and offer force rune prison as an alternative, but presented the changes in reverse so as to cull dissent and ensure their way gets implemented with little push back, resistance, or dialogue. If you think about it, they have been doing that a lot lately. I know they don't come up with balance change ideas in the middle of a pts cycle...these things are surely discussed and hammered out in advance. So ask yourself, why have they only in recent patches started releasing balance changes in a staggered manner with major changes being announced towards the end of the pts?

Ultimately it's their game and they can do whatever they want. But this kind of duplicitous and neglectful behavior is unsavory, and not one I am keen on being a patron of.

True.

They did have to come up with a new way to sell their nerfs as the whole "This will be a buff if..." tactic did not work so well.

Lord-Otto

Maulkin wrote: »

Lord-Otto wrote: »

Maulkin wrote: »

Feanor wrote: »

3k for Rune Prison? Sure...I expected something in the 4k range. That’s the thing with ZOS. Expect the worst and the patch notes just mildly surprise you.

While the increase is laughably not 16% but >60%, I must say it kinda makes sense.

~3k cost for an instant-cast, unblockable, undodgable, 28m range, 2.5" Hard CC skill is kinda par for the course. At 1.9k cost it was a bit cheap. This brings it in the region of Petrify basically and consider that Petrify got nerfed to melee range (but ofc also provides a root element)

Maybe.
But sorcs are already struggling with sustain as is. This is another hit to it. Then Lich gets further diminished by the new Siphoner CP. Heavy destros are always blocked or rolled, so no sustain from that. This pidgeonholes sorcs into Dark Conversion, I fear - exactly what no one wanted.

Weren't they already? Dark Deal was already a necessary part of my Sorc toolkit despite backbarring Lich, so no changes there. I mostly play BGs and being able to get 10k magicka and health when I buy myself couple of seconds of LOS protection is extremely important to my survival.

As for Siphoner, I'm not sure how widespread its use will be. We'll wait and see. I don't expect people to have more than 10-15 CPs into it.

I used to be able to sustain with Lich and five light - barely. Dark Conversion would have helped, but I wanted to save the slot. Now things will be more difficult... Like I said, balancing should enable more variety - it's doing the opposite here...