1. You can buff and heal people who are not in your group. That was implemented for a while, then was reverted due to pretty much the same reasons you cite. However, group size is reduced to 12.

2. Cooldowns didn't result in noticeable performance improvements. That was the first round of the tests, and it really hasn't been on the table since then. Understand that if ZOS does find something that dramatically improves performance, most players will probably put up with it just so the game works.

3. Proc sets are temporarily disabled due to player feedback that this was desirable gameplay. ZOS intends to re-enable them due to player feedback that proc sets were desirable gameplay, then provide a proc set and no-proc campaign so both groups can be happy. It's just that ZOS has explained that they needed to add the capability to have both types of campaigns, which wasn't previously available.


In short, if you like proc set gameplay, it'll be back. If you hate testing, ZOS has pretty much put than on hold after weeks of testing that haven't accomplished much.

If you don't like volatile changes and sweeping meta shifts...well, ESO may not be to your tastes.

"Why would I want to further partake in content that is so volatile and behaves drastically differently from the rest of the game experience?"

I hate to say it but you probably don't. They did reverse the healing changes, but the changes to group size stand and the ban on sets is still there for another month. The former killed the pug scene while the latter drove a lot of people away.

The servers do get locked at prime time but they cut the population cap substantially. No one's quite sure what it is, but even when factions are "capped" there's often not a lot of people around or much going on. Most of the day it's just dead.

And, yeah, the proc set change killed most people's builds, and any kind of build variety. I used to have a bunch of toons, all set to play differently. Now it's just slap on base sets like hundings, spriggans on a stam toon and go d-swing d-swing dawnbreaker execute.

On the plus side, there's no real investment required - you don't need to farm any gear, or transmutes etc. Any basic toon will work with stuff that can be crafted / available from guild vendors - so you could go try it out and see what you think.

I've tried going back the last week or so though, and it's a shadow of what it once was. It's you can find a fight, it can be fun, but there's an awful lot of waiting around / riding.

I'd suggest if you want to give it a go, look at the map before you queue. If the pop's are capped and the main alliances hold the key forts (ie red sej, yellow allessia; blue ash, yelllow nik, red blk, blue aleswell) you'll probably find people fighting there.

A three bar pop feels like there's maybe 20 people each side and if they're spread all over, it's a chore to find anyone to fight.

Probably worth checking back in a month though - theyre going to make changes next combat update which may draw people back. I was checking this am though and from a quick skim this mornign still hard to work out what it will mean.