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racial passives rework concept...

Sparxlost
Sparxlost
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These will be small nerfs to make sure whatever race you picked would have realistic bonuses but wont perform better overall in certain areas over another race. (ex. Argonians would be popular choice for healers as they have a buff to healing thus making them a better option almost all of the time when building a healer. so once nerfed or changed be less useful then the need to play an argonian wont be so strong)

Adding conditions to races strengths makes them harder to truly qualify for and reducing the chance that someone will pick a race other than the one they think looks cool. though of course if you wanted to play to your class's strengths then you might find a very cool playstyle with its own kind of versatility.

High elf
Spell recharge no longer gives you damage resistance when channeling or casting
Syrabane's boon: reduces the cost of magicka abilities
elemental talent is now destructive mage and increases damage with magic damage by x amount (only specified magic damage abilities not elemental damage)

Argonian
Life mender applies healing done by 3% at max value when you have not taken damage for a few seconds

Bosmer (wood elf)
resist affliction max stam buff changed to stamina skill cost reduction..
Hunters eye the penetration now applies only to bow skills but is buffed a bit as well

Breton
Gift of magnus increases mag recovery
Spell attunement reduces damage taken from magic and elements by a small amount. no longer gives magicka recovery.

Dunmer (dark elf)
Dynamic gives reduced mag and stam skill costs
resist flame is now a 4% resistance to flame damage
Ruination applies damage to flame damage attacks only

Khajiit
Robustness increases stamina recovery
lunar blessings reduces detection radius and adds tri recovery when hidden
Feline ambush increases unarmed damage and crit chance when dual wielding ( unarmed included)

Nord
Stalwart increases max health and stamina
Resist frost no longer increases max health
Rugged reduces damage taken by small percentage (like 4% or something)

Orsimer (orc)
Swift warrior wep damage buff applies only to two handed skills now

Redguard
martial training reduces cost of stam abilities. no longer reduces snare effectiveness
Adrenaline rush gives you small amount of tri recovery in combat.

imperial
no changes

just a concept.. I dont think these changes would break the game it would just penalize players less for doing something other than what their race is typically good at..

  • Roylund
    Roylund
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    I don't think the game has to stray as far from current racial passives to make them more balanced. I also don't think shoehorning certain races into certain builds is a good idea (except maybe for Wood Elves since Wood Elf + bow is so iconic). With your changes DK DD would almost always want to be a Dark Elf, if DW is meta then everyone goes Khajiit, if 2h is meta then everyone goes Orc.

    This is what I would do. I would balance races so they have a clear role in mind that is consistent with their inclinations in the lore. I would make concessions whenever their lore inclinations would break the game. I would expect tradeoffs of some kind for being good at one thing. I would keep stat bonuses at 4k maximum, providing some other benefit to races that do not reach this threshold.

    High Elf
    Best wizard race according to lore. Racials should reflect them leaning towards destruction magic.
    • Spell Recharge - Same as live but now recovers your non-hp stat with the lowest % (so can now recover main stat).
    • Syrabane's Boon - Same as live.
    • Elemental Talent - Same as live. Ideally this would just be spell damage but I don't think ZOS is ever going back on hybridization.

    Argonian
    Guerilla warriors, resilient, good with spears (rip Morrowind spears). Also natural healers (lore life menders and Skyrim hitskin).
    • Resourceful - 1k max stamina on top of max magicka. Shadowscales and An-Xileel?
    • Argonian Resistance - Same as live.
    • Life Mender - Increases your healing done by 8%. If we're going to make Argonians healers then they better warrant being run over Khajiit/Altmer/Dunmer.

    Wood Elf
    Sneaky, most proficient race at using bows, nimble in combat, rarely confront enemies head-on.
    • Y'ffre's Endurance - Same as live but stealth passive makes a comeback here.
    • Resist Affliction - Same as live. Ideally would be poison and disease resistance bc lore but it's not a big deal.
    • Hunter's Eye - Movement speed increased by 5%, physical and spell pen increased by 950, 5% increased damage while using a bow. Effects double for 12 seconds after performing a dodge roll. The old rolly-polly Wood Elf passive fit their fighting style well, I think this is a more balanced approach to what they used to have and what they have now. Bow damage makes too much sense not to be added here. Bosmer need something that differentiates them from Redguards as a sustain race (outside of the pen passive).

    Breton
    Most magically-inclined human race. Adept at resisting magic.
    • Gift of Magnus - Same as live.
    • Spell Atunement - Same as live. Tbh I would like to see this act like Dragonskin in Skyrim and Redguard's Adrenaline Rush but I think this is fine as it is.
    • Magicka Mastery - Reduces the Magicka cost of your abilities by 8%. I think the gap between Imperials and Bretons should be wider when it comes to Magicka reduction. Imperials become battlemages because of their military training, they are not as naturally inclined to magic as Bretons are and sustain passives should reflect that imo.

    Dark Elf
    Versatile race, magic and might (ALMSIVI), flame resistance. Great assassins, warriors, and wizards. Buffing their fire damage would be nice because of the lore but would warp builds too much.
    • Dynamic - Increases Max Magicka and Max Stamine by 2000. If we want High Elves to stand out as wizards over Dark Elves we should do it with other passive bonuses, not by having Dark Elves trail them with a measly 90 points in Magicka.
    • Resist Flame - Same as live.
    • Ruination - Same as live.

    Khajiit
    I don't know when we decided Khajiits would be Dark Elves with fur and tails but people like this direction so I wouldn't take it away from them. In the lore they are great thieves and assassins.
    • Robustness - Increases Health, Stamina, and Magicka Recovery by 100. I don't know the formula for calculating health vs offensive stat equivalencies but I don't think rounding out the stats breaks the race. I'm ok with this staying as it is live if this doesn't make sense.
    • Lunar Blessings - Increases your Max Health, Magicka, and Stamina by 1000. See above.
    • Feline Ambush - Increases your Critical Hit Damage and Healing by 10%. I think from a design standpoint it doesn't make sense that a race with extra sustain and tankiness matches up in damage with races that don't have those benefits. In a world where Khajiits, Dark Elves, and High Elves all hit the same DPS numbers, there would be no reason to take the latter when the former has higher hp and sustain. Yeah right now Khajiits underperform in trials but they outperform in all other content. This could even be changed to two lines of crit chance. I just don't want Khajiits to outheal Argonians and outdamage damage races (in most content). Their tankiness and sustain should come with steeper tradeoffs.

    Nord
    The hardiest human fighters, always saving the Empire. Often forgo shields in favor of two handed weapons. Don't believe the Shalidor psyop, they stopped caring about magic a while ago so they're all in on martial prowess for the foreseeable future.
    • Stalwart - Same as live.
    • Resist Frost - Increases your Max Health by 1500 and Frost Resistance by 4620. They are the beefiest human race. Their health should show it (why would a Nord squaring off against an Imperial have less health? Resistance notwithstanding.)
    • Rugged - Needs a nerf so other races can step up to tank but I am not familiar with tanking so I don't know what that value should be.

    Orc
    The strongest warrior race of elves. Tough in combat and thrive being in the thick of it. Proficient with heavy armor.
    • Brawny - Increases your Max Stamina by 2000. 1000 is too low, yeah I would hate to see Orcs be great tanks/dps/healers but I think this is fair. Dark Elves are not as tanky but they have an offstat they can lean to (especially now that we have hybridized builds) and now we have two races that are optimal for stam dps. If it's still overpowered, I'm okay lowering this to 1500.
    • Unflinching Rage - Same as live.
    • Swift Warrior - Increases your weapon damage by 258. Reduces the cost of Sprint by 12% and ignores the speed penalties of heavy armor. Ideally this would be weapon damage only but we know how it goes. Sprint cost reduction makes sense since they can lug heavy armor with ease but the sprint speed buff does not. They have historically been one of the slowest races, it makes sense that heavy armor doesn't take away from their base speed (hence ignoring the heavy armor sprint penalties) but it doesn't make sense that they're straight up faster than other races.

    Redguards
    Ahh what have they done to you. Arguably the most skilled and fearsome warriors in the lore. Incredible warrior culture that leads to martial mastery and discipline. Are we really going to make the race that got so good at using swords that they nuked Yokuda strictly inferior to every other race that has a damage bonus?
    • Martial Training - Reduces the cost of weapon abilities by 12% Doubles the bonuses obtained from weapons. Weapon cost reduction is far more specific than magicka or stamina reduction. The bonus should be much higher than what Bretons and Imperials have. If Redguards are martial masters and fearsome warriors then they should also have bonuses tied to how destructively they wield those weapons. Do sword swings just feel lighter to them or are they actually employing their expertise to deal more damage? Doubling weapon bonuses like mace pen, sword dmg, dagger crit, etc. I think is fair in light that Redguards have ZERO defensive bonuses (no resistance of any kind, no health passive) and that the bonus is lost upon switching to a different weapon. The number itself could be tweaked but the idea should remain.
    • Conditioning - Same as live.
    • Adrenaline Rush - Same as live.

    Imperial
    An interesting fusion of wizarding (Nibenese) and martial (Colovian) cultures brought together to create a people that have subjugated every corner of Tamriel (with Bretons and Nords leading the charge but don't tell them that). They become proficient mages and warriors through discipline and practice, they are not necessarily as naturally inclined to either path as other races are.
    • Tough - Increases your Max Health by 1000. Maybe change the name because 1000 hp doesn't sound all that "tough" lol. Still, Imperials aren't naturally hardier than Orcs or Nords, they become better soldiers through training.
    • Imperial Mettle - Increases your Max Stamina and Magicka by 1000. Max stam and mag go up to reflect Colovian and Nibenese heritage. Imperials don't have a specific resistance and their total health pool is going down so I think higher stat density is warranted.
    • Red Diamond - Reduces the cost of all your abilities by 6%. Increases your highest offensive stat by 1000. Now here is where the "are you a battlemage or a warrior" part of the Imperial life comes in. Imperials are known both for being great battlemages and soldiers because they have what it takes to become either, a player's choices should be reflected here.

    I think my ideas for the passives make sense but the balancing could be fine-tuned a lot better, especially with regards to efficiencies and whether certain bonuses are exceeding the power budget of each race. I tried sticking to the lore as much as I could without breaking the game and without ruining the fantasy for any lover of a particular race. I do not like Khajiits and Argonians but I want you guys to be able to play your race and have it excel over others in specific ways. People's choices should come with tradeoffs so that they become more meaningful and so that no race becomes suboptimal in every scenario.
  • colossalvoids
    colossalvoids
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    This design philosophy is exactly what was eliminated the last time we've got a rework, so it's definitely something that won't return. Some of your suggestions already were in-game in some form. Current ones could use some work for sure, like tuning redguard, but it's the healthiest state we've got.
  • UNSeki
    UNSeki
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    I like races being just a flavor. If they make races more impactful, this would be a whole new pandemonium of balancing and players would never be happy.
  • Mrtoobyy
    Mrtoobyy
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    I would love to try out a system like that in Oblivion. You pick a race then you pick your birthsign.
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