Best Of
Re: PTS Update 49 - Feedback Thread for Combat Refresh: Dragonknight
The current situation with the Combat Team not knowing the difference between the "To Monsters" and regular old "Damage Done" buckets is more important than it even appears on the surface with most recent parses.
Why? Because this misconception is literally embedded within the spreadsheet values that the devs use to determine set/passive/ability power!
It means that EVERYTHING that uses these values is either unintentionally weak or unintentionally powerful versus what the spreadsheet assumes. Everything is thrown into chaos immediately. Are Tide-Born and Velothi unintentionally overpowered? Or are abilities that provide buffs like Major Berserk actually underpowered? One of these cases is true and actions should be taken accordingly.
Moreover, though, it points to the fatal flaw that is the spreadsheet balancing. If the ratios and assumptions that are used to build the spreadsheet are flawed then EVERYTHING that proceeds from that document IS ALSO FLAWED.
We can see this clearly with the case of the DK but it is no less true for the case of 129 Health Recovery being seen as equivalently valuable to 657 Critical Chance. The spreadsheet grossly overestimates the fundamental value of Health Recovery as a stat and so literally everything that includes Health Recovery is dangerously underpowered.
Which should be yet more logs for the burning pyre that is the spreadsheet. The sooner that we cast down this false source of balance the better that the game will be over the long-term. I truly hope that the Combat Team learns lessons from this imbroglio and considers a better course.
Why? Because this misconception is literally embedded within the spreadsheet values that the devs use to determine set/passive/ability power!
It means that EVERYTHING that uses these values is either unintentionally weak or unintentionally powerful versus what the spreadsheet assumes. Everything is thrown into chaos immediately. Are Tide-Born and Velothi unintentionally overpowered? Or are abilities that provide buffs like Major Berserk actually underpowered? One of these cases is true and actions should be taken accordingly.
Moreover, though, it points to the fatal flaw that is the spreadsheet balancing. If the ratios and assumptions that are used to build the spreadsheet are flawed then EVERYTHING that proceeds from that document IS ALSO FLAWED.
We can see this clearly with the case of the DK but it is no less true for the case of 129 Health Recovery being seen as equivalently valuable to 657 Critical Chance. The spreadsheet grossly overestimates the fundamental value of Health Recovery as a stat and so literally everything that includes Health Recovery is dangerously underpowered.
Which should be yet more logs for the burning pyre that is the spreadsheet. The sooner that we cast down this false source of balance the better that the game will be over the long-term. I truly hope that the Combat Team learns lessons from this imbroglio and considers a better course.
Re: Delves are way too Overcrowded....
SilverBride wrote: »Warhawke_80 wrote: »SilverBride wrote: »I don't want instanced delves, or public dungeons etc.. I enjoy seeing other players when I'm running these.
Okay I'm sure they can give us the option....I mean unless you don't want folks having the choice?
I think options are good for many features, but there reaches a point where it would be more harmful than good for the game in general. I have seen countless threads proclaiming that the population is decreasing and the world is dead and players don't see any other players out in the world. We don't need to provide private instances of delves or other content to make that a reality.
I think you're missing the forest for the trees...
You’re worried private instances will make the world feel even more dead. I get it—people already complain about ghost towns. But the players yelling “the world is dead” are usually the same ones getting wrecked in public delves: toxic pugs, spawn camping, endless wipes, or just waiting forever.
Private instances don’t remove those people from the game—they keep them playing longer. Coordinated groups (friends, guilds, LFG) can run their own delves without tanking the public experience, and they’re still out in the world doing world content, farming, PvP, trading, recruiting, everything else.
Forcing everyone into public-only mode isn’t saving population—it’s accelerating burnout. Bad public runs drive casuals away way faster than private options ever could. WoW and Destiny 2 added private/group options for dungeons and raids years ago and their social hubs are still alive. Population drops when people quit from frustration, not because they had a choice.
Just add the toggle: public for the social chaos crowd, private for anyone who wants a chill, stress-free run. Most people will still do public anyway for the leaderboards, achievements, and human contact. But the ones who need private to keep enjoying the game? They’ll stay logged in—and that helps everyone.
Choice isn’t the problem. Burnout is.
Private options are a safety valve, not a death sentence.
Re: Dragonknight Ability Updates for PTS Week 4
PeacefulAnarchy wrote: »I don't pvp much so at this point I have no idea where corrosive stands powerwise, but magma armor and magama shell at least should have their ulti gen restored. Magma shell is a good situational ult, it is not so strong that it deserves to nullify your ult gen for 15 seconds.
Glad to see the Magma Fist change.
@PeacefulAnarchy Actually Magma shell is the reason the ult gen is nullified because when using it, especially with Elf Bane being able to extend its duration (but not that of old Corrosive Armor), it made dealing with Marauders in Infinite Archive trivially easy. You could build up your ult again to full before the duration ended. I would disagree that it was trivially easy to deal with Marauders, but it was certainly the reason why Dragonknights were consistently scoring the highest in Infinite Archive until subclassing.
Functionally it is now in line with Bone Goliath, Blood Scion and Werewolf (if you ignore the virtually infinite duration of Werewolf for a moment). Should it be in line with them? Honestly, I'm not sure, but at least three of these make you "almost invulnerable" for their duration, so the comparison is not without merit.
Re: Delves are way too Overcrowded....
getting an optional instanced version for delves and public dungeons especially with the new difficulty option would be REALLY nice
Re: Update 49 PTS – Week 4 Summary
Skinnycheeks explained that the developers screwed up nerfing the DK because they didn't realize that moving the damage from the "damage done" bucket to the "damage done to monsters" bucket would affect the dps. In short, the developers don't understand how their own game works. Dk was parsing in the 170s and now it's parsing in the 160s.
1. This is not what PTS 4 did. ZOS moved around the damage done and damage to monsters stat with the intention of giving a slight buff to PVE and a more considerable buff to PVP damage, because PTS 3 only buffed PVE damage.
2. What Skinny cheeks said is only true if your [damage done] stat is considerably larger than the [damage to monsters] stat. Which it's not, in the vast majority of builds and circumstances.
Skinnycheeks got the calculations extremely wrong, and did it with nonesensical numbers that can't exist in ESO under normal circumstances.
Very disappointing to see blatant clickbait and outrage farming from a content creator like Skinnycheeks. It just encourages people to be angry and have knee-jerk reactions without understanding changes.
Marto
5
Re: Invisibility in cyrodiil. (exploit/bug , not cloak or potion)
Hi everyone! We wanted to confirm that we are aware of one bug that could be what you all are encountering. We are working on a fix that will go out with the next game update. There's a similar thread about it on Reddit here.
From what we've found, the effects of this bug only last about 10 seconds and it takes some very specific circumstances to trigger. So, if you see someone running around Cyrodiil or Imperial City for a lengthy amount of time completely invisible and non-targetable while attacking others, it may be something else.
From what we've found, the effects of this bug only last about 10 seconds and it takes some very specific circumstances to trigger. So, if you see someone running around Cyrodiil or Imperial City for a lengthy amount of time completely invisible and non-targetable while attacking others, it may be something else.
Re: Delves are way too Overcrowded....
There average delve shouldn't feel like a night club with new groups constantly coming through the door. There should be enough instances that this doesn't happen constantly.
Mik195
5
Re: Delves are way too Overcrowded....
Agree with OP. Public dungeons are okay - a chaotic free-for-all including players who may need a bit of help. Delves, however, are very frustrating due to too many players in wonderful but simple dungeons designed for soloing. What is enjoyable about players racing through pulling a train of mobs on a speed run to the boss? When you finally get to the boss (who will reliably be dead), you have to wait for a respawn and hope to get at least a light attack in before the boss dies again.
I have mentioned several times how much I would enjoy the option when you enter a delve of selecting a public instance (as they are now) or a private instance (only you and anyone who might be grouped with you).
I have mentioned several times how much I would enjoy the option when you enter a delve of selecting a public instance (as they are now) or a private instance (only you and anyone who might be grouped with you).
Re: Future of Battlegrounds
All I can say is that there's been a total of 0 3-way BG pops on the PTS despite big BG guilds trying to organize them there, and the feedback thread is buried on the second page.
If ZOS wants to incentivize people to play those battlegrounds on PTS they should organize some specific time for it, maybe get some developers to hop in (players love playing against devs).
Otherwise they'll be hard pressed to find enough players motivated to hop on to PTS in order to play 3-way BGs.
As for fixing the main BG mode:
1. Revamp solo queue 4v4 into a 3v3 or 4v4 shuffle mode where everyone plays with/against each other across multiple rounds.
2. Remove flag games from 4v4 (preferably 3v3).
3. Introduce a simple win/loss MMR system, gaining or losing points based on opponents' average MMR. System tries to match you against people of similar MMR/rank.
4. Make this MMR visible and rank people based on it - they can even use same ranks as in ToT to keep it Elder Scrolls themed.
5. Introduce seasonal rewards unlocked at each rank and for people at the top MMR of the highest rank, similar to ToT.
6. Add the same matchmaking system to 8v8, minus ranks and rewards. Keep the number invisible - this is the casual mode.
7. Kick people down from spawn after 15 seconds to prevent spawn camping and toxic afk'ing to prolong matches out of spite.
8. Add a prompt to pick up chaosball, reduce the number of chaosballs to one.
9. In CtR move relics further away from spawn location, or move spawn locations close to middle to prevent the infinite respawn loop of interrupters while providing people the chance to intercept a relic runner instead. Would require substantial map redesign.
10. Reduce the amount of flags in certain Domination maps or significantly increase the amount of time it takes to flip one.
11. Add more maps.
If ZOS wants to incentivize people to play those battlegrounds on PTS they should organize some specific time for it, maybe get some developers to hop in (players love playing against devs).
Otherwise they'll be hard pressed to find enough players motivated to hop on to PTS in order to play 3-way BGs.
As for fixing the main BG mode:
1. Revamp solo queue 4v4 into a 3v3 or 4v4 shuffle mode where everyone plays with/against each other across multiple rounds.
2. Remove flag games from 4v4 (preferably 3v3).
3. Introduce a simple win/loss MMR system, gaining or losing points based on opponents' average MMR. System tries to match you against people of similar MMR/rank.
4. Make this MMR visible and rank people based on it - they can even use same ranks as in ToT to keep it Elder Scrolls themed.
5. Introduce seasonal rewards unlocked at each rank and for people at the top MMR of the highest rank, similar to ToT.
6. Add the same matchmaking system to 8v8, minus ranks and rewards. Keep the number invisible - this is the casual mode.
7. Kick people down from spawn after 15 seconds to prevent spawn camping and toxic afk'ing to prolong matches out of spite.
8. Add a prompt to pick up chaosball, reduce the number of chaosballs to one.
9. In CtR move relics further away from spawn location, or move spawn locations close to middle to prevent the infinite respawn loop of interrupters while providing people the chance to intercept a relic runner instead. Would require substantial map redesign.
10. Reduce the amount of flags in certain Domination maps or significantly increase the amount of time it takes to flip one.
11. Add more maps.
Decimus
5
Re: Update 49 PTS – Week 4 Summary
ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »Two-Handed Weapon Skill Line Refresh
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen your questions and suggestions related to the Two-Handed skill line refresh work, particularly on the combat and balance side. We recognize that we could have been a little clearer with you about the planned scope of the skill line refresh work compared to that of the class refresh work. We’d like to take a moment to explain that now.
Our primary focus with the refresh work is the classes, which as you’ve probably noticed with the Dragonknight is a pretty extensive holistic overhaul that includes animations, VFX, audio, and combat/balance work. While the weapon skill lines are part of the class and skill lines refresh efforts, they are getting a lighter touch than the classes. Weapon skill line updates are and will be largely on the animations, audio, and VFX side, with some minor balance adjustments where needed. If we plan out any major overhauls of skill lines outside of the classes in the future, those would come after the class refresh work is complete.
We do see your feedback about the Two-Handed skill line, and greatly appreciate the time and effort spent on those posts. In the short term, we will continue to make minor balance adjustments and bug fixes to this skill line.
I don't want to derail this thread, but this has me very concerned for Update 50.
Is the refresh to Werewolf only going to be minimal, like the Two Handed refresh in Update 49? Surely since Werewolf is the only refresh scheduled for Update 50, and the skill line by its nature plays like a Class, we can expect more substantial changes to Werewolf?
I'm just worried because Werewolf players have been awaiting another substantial update to their playstyle for a very long time, and now we can expect it'll be minimal because it's not a Class?
