Should I Abandon Light Armor / High Elf Re Roll 1.6?

Troneon · February 2015

I recently came back to the game and have invested a lot of time in my main High Elf Templar.

I am hearing and reading really bad things about 1.6 in regards to racial passives and light armor and that the balance design is just to nerf the crap out of light armor and popular race passives. I don't personally see this as balancing as more going overboard but ok, I admit I am asking purely on youtubers, twitch streamers and reddit posters comments and other research of information.

Basically most are saying medium and heavy armor will have a crap ton more spell resistance, light armor will have hardly any in 1.6 and that light armor in resistance and armor value is being nerfed into the ground.

I am being told by people who have played since the launch of the game and play on the PTS that I need to switch to heavy / medium. I am also being told that racial passives are being changed so High Elf is a bad choice now.

I use destruction staff, light armor on my templar with a high damage/debuff/cc ranged build, secondary heals for when I am solo or in groups and is needed. My build is pretty much 100% magicka and I mainly use stamina for dodging. It would kind of suck for me to have to ditch light armor and start from scratch with medium or heavy, especially since I don't even want them or worse have to re roll due to passives being nerfed or others being buffed so much it would be stupid not to change.

So should I be worried if I am a Light Armor High Elf in 1.6? It seems kind of stupid that medium armor or heavy would have much higher spell resistance than light and get a 50-75% more armor value as well....why would anyone bother to choose light anymore? It just seems like everyone will choose heavy now.

I understand Light armor was too OP etc in PVP, but seems like these balance changes are taking things too far in the other direction?

Flaminir · February 2015

Not aware of any Altmer race changes yet.... though happy to be corrected if I've missed them.

And on the plus side... Templars are pretty awesome now!

Light armor is mega squishy... but if you're still levelling then just wear a combination of light/medium/heavy with training trait and you'll level all of them... that way you can use whatever you want later on without any worries.

Troneon · February 2015

davedwildebeast wrote: »

Not aware of any Altmer race changes yet.... though happy to be corrected if I've missed them.

And on the plus side... Templars are pretty awesome now!

Light armor is mega squishy... but if you're still leveling then just wear a combination of light/medium/heavy with training trait and you'll level all of them... that way you can use whatever you want later on without any worries.

Ok thanks, the people who mentioned High Elf Racial passives not being a good choice any more were more about how other racials are much better in 1.6 and worth choosing now over High elf. Not that High Elf was nerfed or anything.

I do not really like the idea of wearing split armor types even if it does make sense some times, I dunno just feels weird to me lol Plus I am a pure magicka build so having all light just made sense I guess.

I do not like heavy or medium armor at all for my character so my build is getting nerfed I guess now because of sorcs.

If you are VR 14 already, how long does it take to lvl say a skill line like heavy armor from 0? Is it really long?

With Light armor nerfs is it just armor value and spell resists value being nerfed or is it all the light armor passives now?

Flaminir · February 2015

The light armor nerf has nothing at all to do with Sorc's... its just a general issue that it has been way OP for all classes... considering that a lot have been able to tank in it says a lot. I think they've taken it a bit far personally... but that's just my opinion. It will still likely be used by most Magicka based DPS/Healers. But some are talking about having 2 heavy so they keep the 5 piece light passives but have a little more protection.

I'm not suggesting run all types at end game (Though there is an undaunted passive that gives you a small boost if you do)... just that its a good idea when levelling... that way you always have the choice/flexibility, even if you intend to just use light for example.

The race choice depends entirely on your build... EG there are a lot of stamina builds now as stamina DPS is very strong in 1.6.... so Imperials become VERY strong for that due to their stamina racial passives. As you are magicka then no need to worry... Altmer is still strong for that.

Levelling time... how long is a piece of string? Depends what you do, how much you are wearing, has it got training trait etc etc etc

spryler · February 2015

Protection from Light armor is way too high now. There is no reason to choose Heavy Armor as the system is currently set up. So they are fixing what is now OP in my opinion.

However I will not be changing from light armor on my Magicka DK. I am supposed to be at ranged and avoid getting hit anyway. So if I am playing correctly it will not really affect me.

I may have to put more points into Spell Resistance in the Champion System. I may have to use a reinforced trait for once in my life (well I probably won't go that far). I may have to switch to a 5 LA 2 HA depending on how things shake out. Tough to say now, but I will still use at least 5 LA.

Troneon · February 2015

Thanks for the ideas and replies.

How hard is it to level an empty skill line though once you reach Vet 14? Is it much longer than if you level a skill line during your lower levels?

spryler · February 2015

No, you can level them up quite easily at V14. I've noticed that the early skills are much easier to raise than the later ones. So Venom Arrow (or whatever) is the first skill in the Bow line....that levels up crazy fast. The last one, Snipe (or whatever) takes a lot more xp to raise.

I still try to have one or sometimes two skills on my bar that I am leveling as I level up. Hard to waste that xp by putting a skill I've already maxed there

likewow777 · February 2015

Troneon wrote: »

Thanks for the ideas and replies.

How hard is it to level an empty skill line though once you reach Vet 14? Is it much longer than if you level a skill line during your lower levels?

There are a couple of places in Coldharbour that are great for levelling skills. The Vile Manse (haven't been there in a while, is that right?) I think is one of them. Zombies respawn forever, so run around and kill

I usually don't run with more light than heavy armor, I use 5/2 heavy/light for tanking, and when I heal it's 5/2 light/heavy, so I can't speak too effectively to that. Definitely, light is gonna be harder to use, so I'd say to throw on a couple pieces of heavy to compensate. I'm being simplistic, I know, but I'm certain there's a way to make your build work, especially with CPs added.

What I would say is, there's no reason to reroll and not use a High Elf if you have one now. At no point have I thought, in 1.6, that the race was the problem. In fact, with the magicka related racial passives, it's been an incredible boon. To compare, my magicka tank/DPS DK is an Imperial, which has no magicka racial passives, and I'm definitely strapped for resources more often.

knaveofengland · February 2015

pick and mix

likewow777 · February 2015

knaveofengland wrote: »

pick and mix

A good TL;DR on the original question, I think. Templars are very adaptable, more so in 1.6 especially with the added DPS.

Merlin13KAGL · February 2015

likewow777 wrote: »

Troneon wrote: »

Thanks for the ideas and replies.

How hard is it to level an empty skill line though once you reach Vet 14? Is it much longer than if you level a skill line during your lower levels?

There are a couple of places in Coldharbour that are great for levelling skills. The Vile Manse (haven't been there in a while, is that right?) I think is one of them. Zombies respawn forever, so run around and kill

I usually don't run with more light than heavy armor, I use 5/2 heavy/light for tanking, and when I heal it's 5/2 light/heavy, so I can't speak too effectively to that. Definitely, light is gonna be harder to use, so I'd say to throw on a couple pieces of heavy to compensate. I'm being simplistic, I know, but I'm certain there's a way to make your build work, especially with CPs added.

What I would say is, there's no reason to reroll and not use a High Elf if you have one now. At no point have I thought, in 1.6, that the race was the problem. In fact, with the magicka related racial passives, it's been an incredible boon. To compare, my magicka tank/DPS DK is an Imperial, which has no magicka racial passives, and I'm definitely strapped for resources more often.

@likewow777‌ , Cave of trophies is another good one. Lots of Daedra, so plenty of Ult generation with FG passives.

Regarding armor, throw a few pieces on with Training trait, wear a full set if you can manage.

Regarding alternate skills, you don't even have to have that weapon slotted - just the weapon skill. (It's broken and counterintuitive, to be fair, but it works.)

OP, you will have to adjust some things, but I don't think it's time to forfeit your character entirely. There will be methods to get things to work, just not the same as they are on live.

Islyn · February 2015

For now I am wearing Whitestrake x3 with my seducer for the spell resist - seems not bad - but we will see.

Sheuib · February 2015

I am planning on sticking with all light armor for my high elf templar. I am just planning on using blazing shield and the resto staff damage shield for my primary means of protection. If that doesn't prove to be enough I can always through in another bubble of some sort. However, I am thinking that will be plenty since it is backed up by the healing morph of puncturing strike and of course my regular heals. So I am thinking bar number one with the healing staff is going to look like:

puncturing sweep
blazing shield
steadfast ward (haven't decided which morph to use yet)
breath of life
purifying ritual

barrier as the ultimate

Bar number two is going to be my destro staff and ranged dps.

entropy
vampire's bane
crushing shock
dark flare
radiant oppression

nova or meteor for the ultimate

That will basically be my soloing and PVP setup and just change out for what is needed in group PVE.

Armitas · February 2015

My plan is to use a reinforced shield, get enough points into steed to get 75% more shield armor (will have to test if it includes reinforced value or base) and use my magicka to keep volatile armor on. I will also buff the bubble value of igneous shield with the CP system to over come the -15% bubble size in cyrodiil.

Basically we use magicka to protect ourselves now.

Digiman · February 2015

Templers have better adaptability, and as a Altmer your not screwed in the racial department if you plan on sticking magicka. You should have enough defensive abilities to keep from getting shredded.

spryler wrote: »

Protection from Light armor is way too high now. There is no reason to choose Heavy Armor as the system is currently set up. So they are fixing what is now OP in my opinion.

However I will not be changing from light armor on my Magicka DK. I am supposed to be at ranged and avoid getting hit anyway. So if I am playing correctly it will not really affect me.

I may have to put more points into Spell Resistance in the Champion System. I may have to use a reinforced trait for once in my life (well I probably won't go that far). I may have to switch to a 5 LA 2 HA depending on how things shake out. Tough to say now, but I will still use at least 5 LA.

Since most of the damage dealt came from magicka light armor became more a prime choice. I do think it was ridiculous to see LA tanking with HA, but the 1/4 nerf was like cutting off someones legs because they were running faster then you.

1/2 seems to be better fit and doesn't make you feel like your wearing nothing when some thing hits. As a DK destruction build my advice to you is hope have proper shielding because you will tear like paper when one melee person gets to you and thats if they don't lock you down with a simple stun. Eitherway non sorcerers are the ones who will feel the LA pinch more if they don't have any shields they can refresh that absorb physical damage.