Update 50 PTS – Week 2 Summary

Aliyavana · April 24

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Thieves Guild
[*]NPC Appearances – Lion Guard and More [Feedback]: This is a carry-over from last week’s PTS Summary. We’ve seen your feedback related to the appearance of NPCs you’ve encountered during the Thieves Guild content (and beyond.) For example, wishing the Lion Guard NPCs used the new Lion Guard Captain uniform. We are working on some outfit updates for key NPCs and a few factions based on your feedback. We have also seen the related request for broader NPC makeovers across the game. While our main focus right now remains on Season One content, we hear you and will keep this request and your suggestions in mind! (Related post.)

Thank you! I look forward to the changes that will improve immersion.

Firstmep · April 24

The lack of any mention of the weak and worthless templar masteries or class sets is baffling to me. Was there not enough feedback given on these this cycle?

albertberku · April 25

RIP Font of Power, you will be remembered forever..

coop500 · April 25

Is it possible that we might see what the 4th hidden 'Hircine's Hunter' skill style looks like for the werewolf transformation? Or maybe even a hint? *peeks*
@ZOS_Kevin

coop500 · April 25

Also, is it possible that the Tideborn crafted set will be looked into for being buffed back up to standards? Some of us used it as a comfortable, no ugly visuals set for RP reasons, paired with Order's Wrath for the same reason without being a heavy attack build.

DeathStalker · April 25

The incoming empower buff is nice and appreciated, thank you. But, please don't forget the rest. Some of us are not looking for easy damage, but have real limitations that limit what we can do. Most of us are not very vocal, but we are here and feel very unseen. Thank you again for the buff and the communication.

Dracane · April 25

albertberku wrote: »

RIP Font of Power, you will be remembered forever..

2k Magicka scaling incoming. Enjoy your broken 10% spell damage while other classes get 1k or more without stacking mag.

ZhuJiuyin · April 25

I'd wish to change the effect of Font of Power from increasing Weapon and Spell Damage by 1% for every 1750 maximum resources to providing 1% Weapon and Spell Damage and 1% Critical Damage for every 2000 maximum resources.
This is because Sorc is the only class among all classes whose passive abilities don't include Critical Damage or Penetration. Changing it to 1% Weapon and Spell Damage and 1% Critical Damage for every 2000 maximum resources would not only lower the cap but also raise the floor. Therefore, Critical Damage has a cap, while Weapon and Spell Damage does not.

Dracane · April 25

ZhuJiuyin wrote: »

I'd wish to change the effect of Font of Power from increasing Weapon and Spell Damage by 1% for every 1750 maximum resources to providing 1% Weapon and Spell Damage and 1% Critical Damage for every 2000 maximum resources.
This is because Sorc is the only class among all classes whose passive abilities don't include Critical Damage or Penetration. Changing it to 1% Weapon and Spell Damage and 1% Critical Damage for every 2000 maximum resources would not only lower the cap but also raise the floor. Therefore, Critical Damage has a cap, while Weapon and Spell Damage does not.

It is so innocent of you to think there would be a compensation buff when this gets nerfed.

I cannot recall Sorc ever having received compensations for a nerf. Same with Hardened Ward. The heal was not reduced or limited, but entirely removed, and neither was the ward itself strengthened or altered in some way.

MasterPeace · April 25

[BUG] The Implosion effect does not activate and is not activated with the Stormcurse Revenge gear set. Fix it!

Susurrus · April 25

I’m worried that pure Sorc will remain so poor a performer in content that it will remain relatively non-viable. At least until they update it in… December 2026?

YandereGirlfriend · April 25

Susurrus wrote: »

I’m worried that pure Sorc will remain so poor a performer in content that it will remain relatively non-viable. At least until they update it in… December 2026?

Yeah, I have a feeling that Sorc is about to get yeeted due to out-of-context parse cheese/bait.

Yudo · April 25

Static Reverberation for Sorc could use some tuning sure, but would be really sad to see Font of power get nerfed. Sorc still needs love on other areas too. Nerf the new mythic maybe, the interaction with shock damage is part of the problem.

AlienatedGoat · April 25

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Separating Players by Challenge Difficulty Setting [Feedback]: This is a carry-over from last week’s PTS Summary. We have seen your questions and feedback about separating players by Challenge Difficulty setting, so the only players you’d see are those on the same Challenge Difficulty setting as you. Much of this feedback is grounded in concerns that players on lower difficulty will affect players on higher difficulty in overland content. There are two main reasons why this is not possible.
Reason 1: Our game is an MMO and we want players to play together, see others, interact with the world, soft group, etc. Separating players would run counter to that ethos.

Reason 2: We cannot do this from a technical standpoint. Creating instances of each zone would be hugely detrimental to the game's technical health and adversely affect the entire game, not just the zones with instances.

We are still looking at your feedback, and this was identified when the system was developed but one thing to remember is this is not fundamentally different from the experience currently on the live servers. Players opting in to Challenge Difficulty will have a better experience most of the time, but in high traffic areas you may see a greater mix of lower- and higher-difficulty players. We have an additional post with more detailed technical info here.

I entirely understand why sorting players into separate zone instances would be a huge strain. But something that I feel the team hasn't fully considered is adding instance priority, which would be a much smaller overhead than making fully separate instances. Players of a higher difficulty could be given priority to be placed into instances with players of the same difficulty. A benefit of this is that the rate of priority could be tailored, reducing any undo strain on resources and allowing for the best possible experience under the limitations.

Techwolf_Lupindo · April 25

React wrote: »

Werewolf Power Level - You spent a lot of time in this post addressing all the visuals discussion around WW, but what about the extensive feedback about the power level? Especially in regards to WW benefiting from class mastery passives and being a bit too oppressive with certain ones active. Would be really good to hear if the team is going to consider further adjustments here. The main feedback thread devolved into a mess of back and forth, but there is quite a bit of solid testing that was shared there in regards to this.

You mean all the posts of tests that have details missing making it appear that way? They was called out for that, but it seem some are still at it.

N1kl0 · April 25

One QoL change I would suggest is the removal of the grouping XP penalty (iirc it's -30% with 4 people), as well as buffing XP gains in arenas, dungeons and trials. This would incentivize actual group content to be a good XP farm (especially for champion point gains) and would resolve the problem of a few overland and instanced zones being the go-to places for xp farming

allochthons · April 25

AlienatedGoat wrote: »

I entirely understand why sorting players into separate zone instances would be a huge strain. But something that I feel the team hasn't fully considered is adding instance priority, which would be a much smaller overhead than making fully separate instances. Players of a higher difficulty could be given priority to be placed into instances with players of the same difficulty.

This is a really interesting idea. Does anyone have a feel for how many instances a zone will have?
Obviously, the popular crafting zones will have multiple instances, and probably those with Undaunted Enclaves, and whichever zone is the newest or has an event going on.

But otherwise, do any zones have more than once instance? Does Malabar Tor have more than 1 right now? The Telvanni Peninsula? On PS-NA, I would guess not, but I don't really have a good idea.

If base-game or older DLCs regularly have more than one instance, and this idea is technically feasible, it deserves a real look.

allochthons · April 25

Speaking of the instances, I understand dungeons, trials, etc will be exempt from challenge difficulty.

What about Lord Hollowjack during the Witches Festival? And, of course, the Crowborne Horror, but I'm not as concerned about that one.

If those instances are subject to challenge difficulty, would it be set to whomever has crown?

I can solo Lord Hollowjack on one or two of my characters, but gracious, I don't like to do it. And if he gets any tougher...
I suppose the "LFG" calls can be modified for "LFG Vestige."

(edited to add crown question)

Freelancer_ESO · April 25

Thanks for posting a summary again

Personally, I'm not really a big fan of the Empower change.

My impression is that for anyone with less than +40% damage done besides Empower the change is a buff which isn't really needed for the Overland experience. It might be cleaner to buff it further in group content where the change might hurt more but leave the damage at 70% in non-group content.

Personally, I've used heavy attack builds before when I've got around in the IC Sewers. With the Empower change that probably will cease to be an option. Might it be cleaner to just cap the amount of damage Tri-Focus and Forceful can deal in PvP areas?

Wuuffyy · April 25

React wrote: »

A bit disappointing that the response to the whitestrake's feedback is "this is why we're doing this", instead of just giving the community what they're asking for. Seems 90%+ are in agreement that the removal of trade bars was unneeded. These are part of what draw in new people who wouldn't otherwise participate in the event, which is the entire point of mayhem - huge fights with fresh faces in a variety of environments. This really seems like one of those moments where the team should just give in to the community.

Also disappointing that there aren't further buffs for the veterancy system planned. The system is extremely underwhelming, especially the capstone rewards. I do not understand why the studio is so hesitant to throw a bone to PVP players - we've genuinely put up with bare minimum for a decade now. Putting some more desirable rewards within this system would go a long way towards buying back good faith with the community.

It does seem like very little of the PVP feedback is being considered based on this post. Some main points that should really be addressed;
Conservation of Energy Power Level - The healing this skill can provide, especially when approaching 40k HP, is disgusting. It will outheal everything on CMX every single fight. Defensive power creep like this is not healthy for the game and has the potential to lead to a very stale, tank oriented meta. I'd urge caution when introducing things that heal or mitigate excessively, just as much as things that deal too much "free" damage.

Recursive flame/pyreband - Not even just in the context of dueling, despite that being all we can do to test PVP on the PTS. But this combination is just doing an absurd amount of "free" damage. Please reconsider the recursive flame passive to instead be some kind of %modifier to dots, instead of the current "proc" damage that it is. Again, it is not healthy to encourage so much "free" damage with minimal input.

Werewolf Power Level - You spent a lot of time in this post addressing all the visuals discussion around WW, but what about the extensive feedback about the power level? Especially in regards to WW benefiting from class mastery passives and being a bit too oppressive with certain ones active. Would be really good to hear if the team is going to consider further adjustments here. The main feedback thread devolved into a mess of back and forth, but there is quite a bit of solid testing that was shared there in regards to this.

@React, your (werewolf) testing was haphazard 1v1s with no info/proof on opponent, this was where it was devolved. Putting this as a friendly reminder to all passersby and developers.

Additionally, if they intend to adjust the power level of those passives (sorc and potentially DK; sorcs were parsing ~220k with passives) then it may curb itself without further action for werewolf being needed (ugh the power of name-dropping yourself to get what you want :'()

Werewolf's whole kit is 1v1-centric meaning it is going to perform superbly in a 1 v 1 with maximum time-on-target. 1v1 scenarios outside of a numbers-analysis-basis (controlled test) is a shoddy metric at best.

p.s. I will NOT reply here, feel free to meet me in 'the thread' to continue the conversation my lord-king-lord.

#chiselnotahammermyfriend #werewolfisallowedtobegooddespite1bardesign #streamerandfriendsdontspeakforus

Malyore · April 25

AlienatedGoat wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Separating Players by Challenge Difficulty Setting [Feedback]: This is a carry-over from last week’s PTS Summary. We have seen your questions and feedback about separating players by Challenge Difficulty setting, so the only players you’d see are those on the same Challenge Difficulty setting as you. Much of this feedback is grounded in concerns that players on lower difficulty will affect players on higher difficulty in overland content. There are two main reasons why this is not possible.
Reason 1: Our game is an MMO and we want players to play together, see others, interact with the world, soft group, etc. Separating players would run counter to that ethos.

Reason 2: We cannot do this from a technical standpoint. Creating instances of each zone would be hugely detrimental to the game's technical health and adversely affect the entire game, not just the zones with instances.

We are still looking at your feedback, and this was identified when the system was developed but one thing to remember is this is not fundamentally different from the experience currently on the live servers. Players opting in to Challenge Difficulty will have a better experience most of the time, but in high traffic areas you may see a greater mix of lower- and higher-difficulty players. We have an additional post with more detailed technical info here.

I entirely understand why sorting players into separate zone instances would be a huge strain. But something that I feel the team hasn't fully considered is adding instance priority, which would be a much smaller overhead than making fully separate instances. Players of a higher difficulty could be given priority to be placed into instances with players of the same difficulty. A benefit of this is that the rate of priority could be tailored, reducing any undo strain on resources and allowing for the best possible experience under the limitations.

This is a great idea.

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

spartaxoxo · April 25

I didn't see anything about how pet sorcs are still the only group not being shown anything unique for them in the class mastery system. They're actually punished for using their skills.

Malyore · April 25

spartaxoxo wrote: »

I didn't see anything about how pet sorcs are still the only group not being shown anything unique for them in the class mastery system. They're actually punished for using their skills.

I agree that the way it's currently set up doesn't quite fit for pet sorcs, but I also think that once something is found that fits better, then trying to give non-pet sorcs a boost shouldn't be seen as "punishment" for pet users.
It's just that the implosion mastery doesn't match up with the reality of the output pets bring. If pets hit every 0.2 seconds or something then yeah it'd make more sense to reduce the percent chance. But they don't, and so it's odd right now. Yet the philosophy behind the idea makes sense, and I think should be both adjusted and expanded on.

There are numerous ways to address non-pet sorcs for the refresh, with multiple threads discussing the options (I'll gladly give some reminders too). If those options are wisely implemented, then there may not even be a need to check and alter a sorcerer depending on if they have pets or not.

Wup_sa · April 25

Why no WW nerfs so far? Its heavily (which puts it lightly) overperforming in pvp atm. Youll create worse balance than subclassing ever did if you release it like that and that is coming from someone who despises subclassing more than anything.

Celas_Dranacea · April 25

Wup_sa wrote: »

Why no WW nerfs so far? Its heavily (which puts it lightly) overperforming in pvp atm. Youll create worse balance than subclassing ever did if you release it like that and that is coming from someone who despises subclassing more than anything.

Dueling is like .05% of PvP

TheGodlyImage · April 25

I don't get why they even give sorcs certain buffs if they just plan to nerf the crap out of us. Stop giving us pure damage, we're the class that doesn't NEED IT. We need AOE team buffs on ANYTHING.

Please, I get it, sorc dps is fine, but what tf about the other roles? They absolutely cannot heal and they absolutely bring nothing to tanking besides major berserk, which another sorc can bring if necessary.

Wuuffyy · April 25

redacted wrote: »

redacted wrote: »

Werewolf Power Level - You spent a lot of time in this post addressing all the visuals discussion around WW, but what about the extensive feedback about the power level? Especially in regards to WW benefiting from class mastery passives and being a bit too oppressive with certain ones active. Would be really good to hear if the team is going to consider further adjustments here. The main feedback thread devolved into a mess of back and forth, but there is quite a bit of solid testing that was shared there in regards to this.
[/list]

Just wanted to follow up here. We do have some changes for all three items listed above coming in Week Three Patch Notes. We are taking a pass at addressing some of the power level feedback from the Werewolf, in addition to some other visual elements. Full notes on Monday, but wanted to give a quick note that we are addressing some of this and will continue to evaluate feedback after the changes made next week as well.

Wup_sa wrote: »

Why no WW nerfs so far? Its heavily (which puts it lightly) overperforming in pvp atm. Youll create worse balance than subclassing ever did if you release it like that and that is coming from someone who despises subclassing more than anything.

~agenda~

YandereGirlfriend · April 25

Wuuffyy wrote: »

redacted wrote: »

redacted wrote: »

Werewolf Power Level - You spent a lot of time in this post addressing all the visuals discussion around WW, but what about the extensive feedback about the power level? Especially in regards to WW benefiting from class mastery passives and being a bit too oppressive with certain ones active. Would be really good to hear if the team is going to consider further adjustments here. The main feedback thread devolved into a mess of back and forth, but there is quite a bit of solid testing that was shared there in regards to this.
[/list]

Just wanted to follow up here. We do have some changes for all three items listed above coming in Week Three Patch Notes. We are taking a pass at addressing some of the power level feedback from the Werewolf, in addition to some other visual elements. Full notes on Monday, but wanted to give a quick note that we are addressing some of this and will continue to evaluate feedback after the changes made next week as well.

Wup_sa wrote: »

Why no WW nerfs so far? Its heavily (which puts it lightly) overperforming in pvp atm. Youll create worse balance than subclassing ever did if you release it like that and that is coming from someone who despises subclassing more than anything.

~agenda~

My agenda is common sense: one-bar builds with a simple two-button pseudo-rotation should never approach the output of sweaty two-bar builds, in any game mode or under any conditions, because the level of effort required to play them is not remotely comparable.

In other words, if you can achieve identical results with less effort expended then there is no incentive to apply yourself and work harder/get better.

The question at-hand is what percentage of the top-end results should those simpler styles provide? 65%? 75%? 85?% Etc. If we are ever in a world where simple styles are within a few small percent or somehow even ahead of complex builds then we have gone completely off the rails. IMO, 75% seems quite fair. Which is right around where WW seems to sit in PvE parses on the PTS. No issues there.

But a situation where WW is leading the pack (heh) in dueling and has like 200% production of, say, pureclassed Necros, is a HUGE red flag.

WW-enjoyers in this thread should heed the ancient wisdom of players from the past. Releasing a class as giga-broken now means that it will inevitably get laid-low by the nerf-hammer in the future. So the enlightened path is to accept gentle balance now so that your class avoids catastrophe later. Necromancer mains worldwide nod their heads in sage agreement with this inescapable truth.

Wuuffyy · April 25

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

Wuuffyy wrote: »

redacted wrote: »

redacted wrote: »

Werewolf Power Level - You spent a lot of time in this post addressing all the visuals discussion around WW, but what about the extensive feedback about the power level? Especially in regards to WW benefiting from class mastery passives and being a bit too oppressive with certain ones active. Would be really good to hear if the team is going to consider further adjustments here. The main feedback thread devolved into a mess of back and forth, but there is quite a bit of solid testing that was shared there in regards to this.
[/list]

Just wanted to follow up here. We do have some changes for all three items listed above coming in Week Three Patch Notes. We are taking a pass at addressing some of the power level feedback from the Werewolf, in addition to some other visual elements. Full notes on Monday, but wanted to give a quick note that we are addressing some of this and will continue to evaluate feedback after the changes made next week as well.

Wup_sa wrote: »

Why no WW nerfs so far? Its heavily (which puts it lightly) overperforming in pvp atm. Youll create worse balance than subclassing ever did if you release it like that and that is coming from someone who despises subclassing more than anything.

~agenda~

My agenda is common sense: one-bar builds with a simple two-button pseudo-rotation should never approach the output of sweaty two-bar builds, in any game mode or under any conditions, because the level of effort required to play them is not remotely comparable.

In other words, if you can achieve identical results with less effort expended then there is no incentive to apply yourself and work harder/get better.

The question at-hand is what percentage of the top-end results should those simpler styles provide? 65%? 75%? 85?% Etc. If we are ever in a world where simple styles are within a few small percent or somehow even ahead of complex builds then we have gone completely off the rails. IMO, 75% seems quite fair. Which is right around where WW seems to sit in PvE parses on the PTS. No issues there.

But a situation where WW is leading the pack (heh) in dueling and has like 200% production of, say, pureclassed Necros, is a HUGE red flag.

WW-enjoyers in this thread should heed the ancient wisdom of players from the past. Releasing a class as giga-broken now means that it will inevitably get laid-low by the nerf-hammer in the future. So the enlightened path is to accept gentle balance now so that your class avoids catastrophe later. Necromancer mains worldwide nod their heads in sage agreement with this inescapable truth.

"one-bar builds with a simple two-button pseudo-rotation should never approach the output of sweaty two-bar builds"

"in dueling"

"pureclassed Necros"

~agenda, squared~

Erickson9610 · April 25

Just give Werewolf a second bar and 5 more active abilities. Spread the power out between all 10 Werewolf Active Abilities and encourage us to bar swap.

At least then we'd have no excuse not to be comparable to a Class. And we'd finally get to do the bar swap mechanic in Cloudrest as an added bonus.