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.