Coming Back to ESO After 1 yr

The_Lex · December 2

A serious health issue forced me to take nearly a one-year break from the game, but I'm planning on coming back soon. What are your thoughts on the state of the game, PvE and PvP?

I have all classes, except an Arcanist. Well, I have an unleveled Arc, but it didn't really appeal to me.

I usually played PvE casually...solo, non-sweaty dungeons, and non-score pushing trials.

In PvP, my main used to be an Imperial Templar. But just before my break, Templar was gutted by serious nerfs. Has it improved? What's the general PvP meta now?

Are there any must-have sets for PvE or PvP?

Appreciate the feedback!

moderatelyfatman · December 3

The_Lex wrote: »

A serious health issue forced me to take nearly a one-year break from the game, but I'm planning on coming back soon. What are your thoughts on the state of the game, PvE and PvP?

I have all classes, except an Arcanist. Well, I have an unleveled Arc, but it didn't really appeal to me.

I usually played PvE casually...solo, non-sweaty dungeons, and non-score pushing trials.

In PvP, my main used to be an Imperial Templar. But just before my break, Templar was gutted by serious nerfs. Has it improved? What's the general PvP meta now?

Are there any must-have sets for PvE or PvP?

Appreciate the feedback!

Welcome back. Before you do anything, just check that your game is stable. A lot of players right now can't play the game properly because they're getting logged out.

Overall, PvE is in a good state for more casual players.
PvP is a bit of a desert right now... perfromance issues are not great so a lot of players are taking a break. The new BGs still need more work but offer some interesting new possibilities once they technical issues get fixed.
Yeah, Templar is still Ice Comet -> Javelin -> Beam spammer and not much else. Magden got a nerf.
Everything else is pretty much the same.

gariondavey · December 3

If you pve you likely can still have a good time
If you pvp I suggest you play another game

Mathius_Mordred · December 3

I see the usual doom singers are already here.

PvP is fine, it can take some time to get into gray host on busy evenings, so queue early.
PvE is great, lots of new sets to craft, my new favourite is Highland Sentinel from West Weald.

As for stability, I think my game has kicked me once in the last 3 months, and I've only had the odd report from our 500 members in the guild and it's usually a them problem. There is the occasional lag spike but it's not a serious issue for me.

LadyGP · December 3

I hate to be that person but if you want to know how stability is... simply look at this 7month thread with over 2,000 replies and 100k views.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/658253/zos-massive-spike-in-ping-lag-in-recent-days-what-gives#latest

Stability is a HUGE issue in this game and ZoS isn't being honest with us/themself about it.

The_Lex · December 3

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

Yeah, I watched a PvP stream last night, and the streamer got kicked several times. He got frustrated and played New World instead. Much of my old PvP guild is playing the AoC alpha.

I love the Elder Scrolls, so I'll still give it a shot and hope for the best. But I'll need to join a new guild or two (PvE and/or PvP). Maybe I'll ease in to PvE to farm a few sets.

I know I want to farm Torc of the Last Ayelid King and Aetheric Lancer. How bad is the IA farm?

Theist_VII · December 3

The_Lex wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

Yeah, I watched a PvP stream last night, and the streamer got kicked several times. He got frustrated and played New World instead. Much of my old PvP guild is playing the AoC alpha.

I love the Elder Scrolls, so I'll still give it a shot and hope for the best. But I'll need to join a new guild or two (PvE and/or PvP). Maybe I'll ease in to PvE to farm a few sets.

I know I want to farm Torc of the Last Ayelid King and Aetheric Lancer. How bad is the IA farm?

Horrible, the IA farm is worse than any other farm in the game if you’re playing a normal build as you have two entire sets to plow through.

For Ayleid King, having all leads in one place makes finding them a lot longer than any other leads.

Aetheric Lancer is insane in PvP, but Templar is not. Make of that what you will.

The_Lex · December 3

Theist_VII wrote: »

The_Lex wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

Yeah, I watched a PvP stream last night, and the streamer got kicked several times. He got frustrated and played New World instead. Much of my old PvP guild is playing the AoC alpha.

I love the Elder Scrolls, so I'll still give it a shot and hope for the best. But I'll need to join a new guild or two (PvE and/or PvP). Maybe I'll ease in to PvE to farm a few sets.

I know I want to farm Torc of the Last Ayelid King and Aetheric Lancer. How bad is the IA farm?

Horrible, the IA farm is worse than any other farm in the game if you’re playing a normal build as you have two entire sets to plow through.

For Ayleid King, having all leads in one place makes finding them a lot longer than any other leads.

Aetheric Lancer is insane in PvP, but Templar is not. Make of that what you will.

So, is it safe to assume that DK, Arc, and NB are the meta in PvP?

Thumbless_Bot · December 3

The_Lex wrote: »

Theist_VII wrote: »

The_Lex wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

Yeah, I watched a PvP stream last night, and the streamer got kicked several times. He got frustrated and played New World instead. Much of my old PvP guild is playing the AoC alpha.

I love the Elder Scrolls, so I'll still give it a shot and hope for the best. But I'll need to join a new guild or two (PvE and/or PvP). Maybe I'll ease in to PvE to farm a few sets.

I know I want to farm Torc of the Last Ayelid King and Aetheric Lancer. How bad is the IA farm?

Horrible, the IA farm is worse than any other farm in the game if you’re playing a normal build as you have two entire sets to plow through.

For Ayleid King, having all leads in one place makes finding them a lot longer than any other leads.

Aetheric Lancer is insane in PvP, but Templar is not. Make of that what you will.

So, is it safe to assume that DK, Arc, and NB are the meta in PvP?

Different folks have different opinions on this but I think the general consensus is that sorc and nb are meta rn and warden is right behind them. Dk and plar are strong. Then there's necro which most people consider d tier. I am not sure about arcanist since u44 but I think it was nerfed a bit and suffers in pvp but is meta for most pve.

Imho dk was overtuned with the IA set pyrebrand but that got nerfed into oblivion.

Sorc is busted because of ward

Nb has stupid strong heals because of the battle spirit exception. So every buff they get is effectively twice as strong for healing. There are mixed reviews on the toggle change to cloak. Some like it and some hate it. For the most part, if you build into defense, nb aren't so bad.

I think plar is better than people give it credit, though I do believe jabs couldn't jab its way through a paper bag, so look for another spammable with major brut/sorcery and you are good.

Warden is. Imho, where every single class should be. Really strong but nothing too broken... polar can get out of hand with too much health though and there are some ridiculous meme heal bot warden builds out there. Otherwise. This class is perfectly balanced. <let the vitriol begin>.

Outside of this, ranged damage is completely broken and can make the game unplayable for melee builds who aren't really good pvpers.

Necro is good in the right hands, but there are about five pairs of hands on pcna that know how to make it shine. It's tough though because of buff management issues.

That's about it.

Oh, and the torc in IA is strong but not busted and, if you have 137 years to farm IA is worth it for most content and not too shabby in pvp.

The_Lex · December 3

@Thumbless_Bot

Thanks for the detailed run-down. I really appreciate it!