Q&A with Eric Wrobel on ESO Live

DDuke

Is anything being done about damage shields?

They are extremely strong on PTS, due to them being uncrittable & stronger+more cost efficient than damaging abilities.

Momentum now applies to all physical damage, instead of only 2H

Is this on your radar? It is really pigeonholing everyone into using the already strong 2H weapons, because same 20% more damage buff doesn't exist in Dual Wield or Bow.

Pancake-Tragedy

Can sorcerers get a ranged instant-cast single-target class ability (that isn't an execute) so that we don't have to rely on weapon skills for dps?

Thanks

Pancake-Tragedy

LonePirate wrote: »

Are there any plans to make the DK skill Petrify more attractive for PVP? It is probably the least used stun skill in Cyrodiil due to its general ineffectiveness. Can the skill be changed to stun more targets or deal more damage?

On that same note, are there plans to take a look at all of the long duration stuns (NB - agony, Sorc - rune prison, DK - petrify)? They seem to be useless in all areas of game play.

kurstein

most NB skills are magica and not stamina will this be fix in update 6
and skills do magic dmg even if you see your wep. do the attack, if it is wep. attack the do wep. dmg.

Gyudan

I'm watching you Eric Wrobel. I hope you make the right tweaks to 1.6.3.

Suntzu1414

An chance for NB self heal. With the removal of caps.
The necessity of NB self heal, is now more then ever...

If NB hybrid builds are to survive.
A self heal in necessary addition.



for your kind reply
ST

Rev Rielle

What is the future of the Veteran Rank system?
Are veteran rank 14 characters here to stay, or will all veteran ranks be balanced back to level 50 at some point in the near future?

sniserb16_ESO

Sorcerer has tons of toggle skills... pets, bound armor. Why so many?
Pets in Elder Scrolls where 1 min cast. Why pets in ESO aren't working the same way?

Also pets are not improving from some stats like critical damage. is this a bug?

Champion points are not improving pets in some stats like damage or damage reduction. When there are players with a lot of champions points wouldn't make pets useless since they are not scaling?

Theegoliath

1. Will we ever see weapon attack speed buffs in the game as skils or pots, or even as a crafted spell?

2. Are the inflated numbers in ESO 1.6 here to stay, and there is nothing anyone can do about it?

Cogo

Will you add more Champion passives since some players MIGHT get most points? Is not the point of the champion system that no one ever will get the all and everyone always have a reason to get exp = evolve their char?

Cogo

Rev Rielle wrote: »

What is the future of the Veteran Rank system?
Are veteran rank 14 characters here to stay, or will all veteran ranks be balanced back to level 50 at some point in the near future?

Why do you always ask the best questions?

Yemeth

This game needs more flexibility, hirable NPC companion should be included in the game.

Look at this thread please :

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/146133/hirable-npc-companion-concept/p1

Is is possible to add it to the game ? Extend this idea and I'm sure a lot of people will thank you.

Lionxoft

Why after months of bug reports is dark cloak still bugged?

Why after months of bug reports does syphoning attacks not proc vs a shielded opponent?

Why after months of bug reports does your own shielding prevent the constitution passive from returning resources when hit?

I can keep going but...

Morvul

Why do you think it's ok for the sorcerer class to be very, very good in small scale PvP - and pretty much useless for any other ingame activity?

Fecius

Hi everyone.

And I have a question to Eric. And, surprise-surprise, it's a Sorcerer question.

Will Sorcrers ever get those classbased DPS spam-ability without CC and/or DoT-based ability (Curse is a bomb, not DoT)? PvP is good, but don't forget about high end PvE, plz

Trick is that when you have a CC on any ability it will obviosly deal less damage then same ability without CC in sake of balance. Maybe make one of the morphs of Sorc's Crystal dealing more DMG but without stun for example? Or something like this. Since Sorcs have so many CC abilities, we don't have decent DPS-spam one for PvE and this is sad.

Rev Rielle

Cogo wrote: »

Rev Rielle wrote: »

What is the future of the Veteran Rank system?
Are veteran rank 14 characters here to stay, or will all veteran ranks be balanced back to level 50 at some point in the near future?

Why do you always ask the best questions?

spoqster

Will you transform the Champion System into a more horizontal progression system by removing/nerfing passives that increase character power, and instead replace them by vanity and convenience passives?

Games like Counter Strike prove that players will spend limitless amounts of time playing a game that does not have a long-term progression system, as long as you provide the right content and game mechanics. I don't believe ESO needs a vertical progression system beyond level 50.

spoqster

Will you transition back to the original number scale?

The new scale does not add value to the game. Stat increases that would not be visible in the old system are insignificant in the new system as well. Beyond that, the original number scale offers more easily digestible values and thus better usability.

spoqster

Will you be addressing the issue of solo player content being way too easy?

I have detailed the problem and made a few suggestions in this thread: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/151390/level-1-50-zones-so-easy-its-frustrating-suggestions-wanted

In a nutshell:

• Allow players to adjust their xp gain rate to be lower than the current rate.
• Allow players to adjust the difficulty by downscaling their stats for solo content (but not for VR dungeons, trials and pvp).

spoqster

Are you planning to implement a mechanic that gives players access to more skill points and passives inside PVP and VR dungeons and trials right from the start?

This would allow players to get started with PVP and endgame quickly and they can switch between these competitive modes and the more relaxed and progression oriented single player experience from early on in the game. This kind of feature would help players to play the way the want and would quiet down quite a few negative discussions about the game mechanics and progression systems.

ArconSeptim

Gacka gacka my favourite ZOS dev guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWXRX1UsSyw

Ethoir

I am with @Suntzu1414 and @spoqster on their respective points.

1. NB's need a better self-heal class skill than "Swallow Soul" since they end up chuffing health potions like candy or resort to Resto Staff to make up for it. Any plans to address this feeling of "Squishy" for NB's (and yes, Sorcs too. Critical Surge has become nearly mandatory for Sorcs on Live to survive)?
2. I noticed that in livestreams of PTS, players had 40k health, ludicrously high armor values, and equally high damage output but were less durable than an equivalent character on Live with the same approximate setup. It would be VERY jarring if that is carried to Live with the patch. Will we use the same scale system that we already have on Live and thus still have the same amount of health/magicka/stamina we already have on Live (after the small health scale I think is coming)?
3. Why did Sparks/Heated Blades/Ember Explosion get removed in favor of a AoE damage reduction skill? Yes, damage mitigation is useful, but the best defense against an AoE is to just not be in it if you can help it. This total change removes any concept evasion/dodge tanking from the game outside of dodge rolling and kiting your enemies. I rather liked the idea of having a skill (or two) that made it that much harder for mobs to touch me with melee or weapon (stamina) skills while I stood there stabbing them in the face for the next three seconds.
4. I've been hearing whispers/rumors that characters are essentially getting stealth nerfed by the Champion Point system, losing some of their "power" while all but forcing players to invest in the constellation skill trees to get back some of the "power" they lost. Is this what happened? Will our characters end up losing some of their hard-earned "power" when 1.6 hits Live?
5. Any chance of getting an "unarmed" weapon skill line for those of us that like being "Monks" that get things done with their bare fists?
6. According to the PTS notes, the Impenetrable trait now negates the damage bonus from crits instead of negating the critical chance rating of the offending enemy attacking the player. Both methods are the same in PvP in that players will still stack Impenetrable and crit builds will not be doing much if any extra damage to their enemies. It still makes crit builds feel pointless. Do you have any comments on this? Is there some as-yet un-discussed tweak that still makes landing crits worth the effort for Crit-based DPS builds?

Glierhuin

Rev Rielle wrote: »

Cogo wrote: »

Rev Rielle wrote: »

What is the future of the Veteran Rank system?
Are veteran rank 14 characters here to stay, or will all veteran ranks be balanced back to level 50 at some point in the near future?

Why do you always ask the best questions?

Why would you want to ask the lead combat designer about a system change?

Also they already said that everything regarding the removal of veteran ranks will happen a while after 1.6 hits. Not "in the near future" probably.

Saint_JiubB14_ESO

Multiple questions any answers would be appreciated.

1. Are aware of the large discrepancies n armor types currently on pts and do you have plans to change them?
2. Are you aware of the dramatic reduction of viable builds, especially magicka builds?
3. Please explain why there is still a cooldown on surge? And why sorcs are being forced to use pets for dps?
4. Are you aware that that, due to the shift of base game mechanics (blocking, ability cost, regen) from the core mechanics to the champion system will create large power imbalances between current players and new players, and what specifically will you do to correct this.

Helluin

Magic and elemental damage on stamina skills and weapon glyphs
Speaking about 1.6, we have some skills that consume stamina dealing magic, poison or other kinds of elemental damage (Killer's Blade, Ultimates, Poison Arrow, etc.).
Do these skills, being stamina ones, use armor penetration or not?

Since we have some stars improving those types of damage, it would be nice to know if, when using stamina, the penetration is always armor one and, when using magicka, is spell one.

How the weapon glyphs work for penetration?


Ultimates, Synergies and skills scaling off max stat
From what tested, I saw that also skills like Assassin's Will/Grim Focus are using the highest stat for the damage dealt.

It would be possible to change this scaling system for Ultimates, Synergies and this kind of skills into something like "(total stamina&magicka/3) x2" or any other balanced multiplier?
This infact could be a big help to make hybrid builds viable and competitive with pure builds.

This different scaling system could be used also on the class skills with a stamina/magicka morph so also players with pure stamina or magicka builds can use the morph they prefer as utility.

bugmom

Would you ever consider giving us more than 5 slots for active skills - or at least adding one or two for skills that merely toggle? In addition to pets being weak (tried on PTS, twilight still dies too easily to be of use) they take slots away from active skills. As a sorcerer, if I use a pet, mage light, a buff like surge, and something defensive, that only leaves one slot for doing damage.

ArconSeptim

Common guys dont be so nerdy, ask him something personal

LonePirate

ArconSeptim wrote: »

Common guys dont be so nerdy, ask him something personal

Does he still play lacrosse?

Drazhar14

Rev Rielle wrote: »

What is the future of the Veteran Rank system?
Are veteran rank 14 characters here to stay, or will all veteran ranks be balanced back to level 50 at some point in the near future?

Well they said removing vet ranks would be the final step in the Champion system, so hopefully they keep their promise this time.

Sacadon

1) New question! Why has ZOS evolved the sorc into either a stamina-focus with primarily weapon skill line or magicka pet build with primarily pets and no other approach for competitive DPS relative to the other classes? (Well, it was at least a diff way of asking the same question) I personally hate using the pets, and really used to enjoy being a sorc.

2) When will ZOS full commit to their game and its design approach by showing us players a handful of real examples of how to be successful with each class in a few common situations (PvE & PvP, stamina/magicka, mele/range/rogue/tank)? Why not just record a few of your internal QA play sessions and have someone walk us through a build, the stat allocation, thought process etc...? The purpose is both high-level guidance and standing proudly behind what you've built.

3) Most important one last... What did ZOS learn from the recent PvP event with us (aka: lag fest), the next steps to resolve and ETA on when we can expect to see the changes?