[quote="This may annoy the whole player base but if they're not that radical, they'll do some weird frankenstein effort of a patchwork monster of all the previous layers of decisions.

[/quote]

The problem here is that the Sorc is already a Frankenstein's Monster at its inception. ESO had multiple classes on the drawing board from the get go, but they were scrapped for a quicker and easier launch, with the hope they would come later. But it took years to get even half of those classes.

On launch ESO had 4 classes that filled specific roles. 1)DK=(PVE)Tank/(PVP Beserker Warrior), 2) Templar=Healer(PVE)/melee light magicka knight(PVP), 3)NB=STAM DPS (PVE) Rouge/Sniper (PVP), 4)Sorc=Mag DPS (PVE)/EVERY MAGICAL DPS NORMALLY OFFERED IN A FANTASY GAME.....(PVP/PVE)

They were:
Elementalist (SHOCK)
Summoner/Conjurer (Pets)
Rune Dealer/Rune Caster (Dark Magic and Curses)

They were designed to fill the large magic fantasy gap of roleplay that weren't available in ESO but available in other games.

I mean Necropotence was a BIS most expensive set in the game (beating even mother's sorrow) for a class that had nothing to do with Necromancy, and that set has now been dead for years even with a pet necromancer now in the game.

They have gone from being considered the easy beginner class that gave you massive defensive shields and a baked in PVP lethal burst combo, as well as end-game top tier pve dps by holding heavy attacks and letting your pets do everything else....to being wiped from the DPS boards and one of the weakest classes in PVE with weaker AOE damage (ON A SHOCK ARCANIST THEME mind you) than even the Nightblade (Twisting Path hit harder than Liquid lightning and lasted longer at base while giving more buffs as well as DARK Shade being (you guessed it another pet honestly) doing Strong AOE damage) to which they had to make curse an AOE explosion as a patch to give the sorc something in AOE capabilities....and in PVP shields being wiped from the game (For multiple years) and their burst combo being nerfed multiple times in both timing (finisher now only 2 seconds) to skills being reworked and lowered damage as well as removing functionality Frags...to yes as another poster noted the 3rd bar of the sorc design being removed, and limits being put on the light attack damage available through their ultimate.

All the while these reworks and guts taking place, other Classes were being added that now filled the individual roles that the Sorc was originally designed to encompass.

We have an actual Arcanist by name that deals fully in magic rune dealing/rune casting....we have 2 other pet focused classes in both the Necromancer and the Warden......and because of the Sorc already being the pet build of the game, these classes have been designed wonky as to not replicate the sorcs design....I mean can we please put the bear as a skill and not ultimate for the warden as it was originally previewed and commercialized so the entire wardens damage isn't tied to a single ultimate that has to be double bared and up at all times or you hit like a wet noodle...not to mention striping the warden of true aoe ultimate damage needed in raiding, or that a Warden is more affective in PVP being built for ice damage with 1 animal skill (shalks) instead of feeling anything like the concept of a warden.....And why are Necromancers Elementalists? Even the Grave Lord line was called Elementalist at first preview and the Colossus was a Conjured Dragon.

These are the issues that I was hoping class refresh would target. Not just leveling a class up to the current damage meta and beating subclassing, but actually making the classes more on theme and feel more unique and satisfying to play as individual designs....The DK did a good job...it switched everything to flame damage driving home they are the fire mages of the game. They went heavy into the dragon theme of the class and they created a unique play to the class that still feels like a dragon knight but also different...no ground AOE everything moving with you, everything in melee range damage, deep cuts into large AOE damage and power that comes overtime like burning something up....is it perfect...no...but it is a very strong class identity and play-style that is both devestating in PVE and PVP....yes....so it was an excellent start.

What does that look like for a sorc? What is the prevailing theme and damage going to be? Will they make some entirely new skills since so many of the sorcs skills are just copies of each other, and will they finally get a spammable or will they double down on everything being a delayed time burst that you have to manage? Will the sorc still be built with both class passives that are different depending on if pets are used or not. Will pets still need to be double barred, can't pets be used in a different manner while not erasing them from the game, but taking them from being the main damage of the class...like volatile familiar being the sole damage pet, with Calnnifer being a different skill entirely that can be used in 1 morph for a taking heal and damage reduction while the other morph being the sorcs stun/root as they function when fighting them in PVE, and the Twilight being a straight healing Pet in all iterations as Azura had originally designed them to be thus they no longer need to be double barred and only do active functions when you press them(Also make them pigmy versions so they are smaller and take less space on your and others screens and make them protected by oblivion so they dont die, which wont be a problem since they no longer deal passive damage all the time.....thus the summoner and pet idea is not gone but used in a different manner than on all the other classes and can be used by all 3 roles of a sorc if they wish.....yet damage is not tied to them so you can build maybe an actual shock elementalist effictively....i dunno....then design the other actual pet focused classes around ya know, using pets.

There is just so much that has to be worked on, that saying I don't want penetration over crit is like throwing water in a well for me....there is so much I don't want that is on the Sorc, and so much that is wrong between classes, and not enough play-style differentiation let alone theme designs. Penetration for me yes, is nothing....unless they make the amount overwhelming to replace Alkosh in PVE...it is a group buff that means nothing...and that means it has to be as large as MAJOR BREACH while not being major breach which would then give the sorc a major level buff instead of minor and likely cause a ruckus in PVP by sorc having 12k penetration just by having their class passive and major breach up.....and in PVP yeah its something...but honestly...getting decent levels of penetration is weirdly very easy to do without much tradeoff, yes building crit is much harder.