The Gold Road Chapter – which includes the Scribing system – and Update 42 is now available to test on the PTS! You can read the latest patch notes here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/656454/
Maintenance for the week of April 29:
• PC/Mac: No maintenance – April 29
• PC/Mac: No maintenance – April 29
RFC - Balancing and Resource management.
Rune_Relic
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Isolation of resources to enable individual Archetypal balancing.
This is a loose framework suggestion to simplify the balancing of all Archetypes among classes.
The idea is to combat builds that can excel at damage and damage mitigation or simply healing through damage all at the same time.
In the same token hybrids should still be viable to increase build diversity.
The changes have tried to remain within the bounds of the existing game mechanics as much as possible.
The removal of soft caps was supposed to prevent this "master of all" problem, but functional overlap replaced it.
The result is some builds can excel at multiple archetypes at once and this needs to be fixed.
The following pigeon holes specific aspects to specific weapon/armour/class trees (in an attempt to make overlap impossible but still allow complete build diversity).
Stamina, Magicka and Health attributes must be distributed appropriately to optimise any chosen build when mixing armours, weapons and class skills.
Weapon skills...Transient...
Destro staffs (Optimum Magicka Damage)
Dual Wield (Optimum Stamina Damage)
Two hand(excluding staffs) (Optimum Resource)
1h Shield + ward/shield + Resto staff (Optimum Mitigation)
1. Specialising with the above weapons improves your efficiency strength and speed...hence TARGETED cost reduction and restoration.
2. As Two-hand & Bow fall into the generic type DPS it is no longer the reserve of the stamina build as far as damage scaling is concerned. Its power is naturally and globally tempered through mean stamina/magicka and mean crit
3. You can switch from tank > healer > magicka dps > stamina dps > generic dps mode on the fly...enhanced by armour but fundamentally max resource dependant (TRANSIENT BUILD).
4. * The heal/bash/block cost resource will nest within the health (life) bar. This can only ever be less than or equal to current health and will increase or decrease within the bounds of the "current" health level.
5. * The damage shield activation will lock the current health until its damage mitigation is spent.
Armour skills...Temporary...
Light Armour (2:1 spell resist : weapon resist)
Medium Armour (2:1 weapon resist : spell resist)
Heavy Armour (3:3 weapon resist : spell resist)
1. Specialising with the above armour improves your efficiency strength and speed...hence cost reduction and restoration.
2. Aside from the penalties for light/medium/heavy physical/magical resistance.. resource, role and armour types are now clearly isolated and unambiguous.
3. The mix and match of 7 armour pieces still enables hybrids to tune builds to suit their unique preference....and can be changed in game when out of combat (TEMPORARY BUILD).
4. The meta of Shield stacking while DPS has little merit and Damage shield power/cost now scales off Health and Heavy....which sacrifices magicka/stamina DPS
5. You can now be Offensive(Magicka/Stamina DPS) OR Defensive(Health Tank/Heal) and somewhere between.
6. ** PHASE & DODGE (Class neutral). The dodge here in, is that provided by "evasion". Phase is a magicka version that causes a temporal shift so that the magicka wielder has little substance to hit if any.
7. ** Blink and Rolldodge. The sorcs Blink (Bolt escape) should become class neutral and be a magicka cost version of roll dodge and be replaced with PHASE. Bolt escape (magicka) can now be balanced properly along with dodge roll (stamina) to escape AoE.
8. ** Blink vs Rolldodge. Both will use the same button. Destro will blink only. Dual-wield will roll dodge only. 2h/bow/resto/shield will alternate based on highest available resource stamina/magicka.
9. To get full attack cost reduction requires the use of both armour and weapon of matching type. Which by default increases the cost of all other types (as you lose those cost reduction benefits).
10. Blocking is easier for tank builds but the cost is now a cost/second while holding block...rather than on being hit. No more standing with shield up indefinitely.
11. Healing, Bashing and Blocking use the same resource. The user decides which is more important. All heals/attacks are disabled when blocking
12. OKOMA "decrease health" becomes "reduce health cost" (to match DENIMA & MAKKOMA)
13. A spell caster that wants to DPS and Heal with resto/destro would want to wear Heavy + Light and make sacrifices in both resources and power to accomplish both. To what degree is determined by the heavy:light ratio and resource allocation.
13. A melee fighter that wants to DPS and tank with 1hs/dual-wield would want to wear Heavy + Medium and make sacrifices in both resources and power to accomplish both. To what degree is determined by the heavy:medium ratio and resource allocation.
14. A neutral fighter might want to optimise stamina/magicka/health use while tanking/healing and choose 2hand/1hs or 2hand/resto... 1hvy:3med:3lgt (8:27:27) or 3hvy:2med:2lgt (26:18:18) or 5hvy:1med:1lgt (44:9:9) depending on resource allocation.
15. Spell DPS + Tank with destro/1hs, heavy/light, magicka/health is viable as is weapon dps + Heal with dual-wield/resto, heavy/medium, stamina/health
Class skills... Permanent... (Only 5 passives can be selected. Enabling one disables the two peer positions on the other trees)
Magicka based skill tree
Stamina based skill tree
Health based skill tree
1. This enables true build diversity for all classes by making them powerful in all archetypes with unique flavours.
2. The class skill are here to enhance the weapon skills and work in harmony with them...rather than substitute/replace them.
3. Resource on hit bonus remains in the weapon tree (class neutral - transient). Restoration bonus remains in the armour tree (class neutral - temporary). Max resource bonus is confined to the class tree (class dependant - permanent)
4. Class skills are for supplementary DOT damage/mitigation, damage enhancements and unique utility skills that identify the class. Class skills are not weapons/spells in their own right. Weapons are reserved for the weapon/(future)spell tree.
5. Notice the the 2 handed weapon users may have the best resource management but they would have to choose from weapon or spell speed and not get both. They sacrifice damage efficiency for resource efficiency.
6. Notice if a Magicka DPS takes advantage of the spell speed/range/area, they will cripple their mitigation enhancements as well as the weapon enhancements.
In Brief...
Weapon/armour/class skill and resource overlap has to be removed to allow archetype isolation and proper balancing.
Until this is done we will always have the "Master of All" builds creating havoc in Tamriel and havoc when balancing.
The problem has created persistent nerfing to certain skills to the detriment of all classes when the skill was only a problem from certain archetypal aspects.
In removing each problem we have created 2 more in the process.
This is a framework. A general guideline on how to change weapon/armour/class skills so that the DPS / Tank / Healer aspects of all classes can be treated independently without any knock on effect to other archetypes inside or outside the class.
Please feel free to modify the framework or expand upon it or fill in the details.
Please feel free to point out possible problems that could arise with the framework described from the archetypal isolation perspective.
Any suggestions that result in being best in multiple archetypes at the same time wont be discussed for obvious reasons.
This is a loose framework suggestion to simplify the balancing of all Archetypes among classes.
The idea is to combat builds that can excel at damage and damage mitigation or simply healing through damage all at the same time.
In the same token hybrids should still be viable to increase build diversity.
The changes have tried to remain within the bounds of the existing game mechanics as much as possible.
The removal of soft caps was supposed to prevent this "master of all" problem, but functional overlap replaced it.
The result is some builds can excel at multiple archetypes at once and this needs to be fixed.
The following pigeon holes specific aspects to specific weapon/armour/class trees (in an attempt to make overlap impossible but still allow complete build diversity).
Stamina, Magicka and Health attributes must be distributed appropriately to optimise any chosen build when mixing armours, weapons and class skills.
Weapon skills...Transient...
Destro staffs (Optimum Magicka Damage)
- scale off level, magicka and spell crit
- fire, frost, lightning damage buff
- magicka class skill tree cost reduction
- major destro cost reduction
- Absorb magicka on hit
- Uses Magicka as resource
Dual Wield (Optimum Stamina Damage)
- scale off level, stamina and weapon crit
- poisons, diseases damage buff
- stamina class skill tree cost reduction
- major dual-wield cost reduction
- Absorb stamina on hit
- Uses Stamina as resource
Two hand(excluding staffs) (Optimum Resource)
- scale off level, average magicka/stamina and average crit
- physical/magical damage buff
- magicka/stamina class skill tree cost reduction (tempered by mean stamina and crit scaling)
- major two-hand(except staff)/bow cost reduction
- Absorb magicka/stamina on hit (returns double magicka if stamina is full and vice versa)
- Uses combined Magicka/Stamina as resource
1h Shield + ward/shield + Resto staff (Optimum Mitigation)
- scale off level, health & average crit
- healing buff (resto) or physical/magical damage debuff (1h/s)
- health class skill tree cost reduction
- major bash/block or resto cost reduction
- Absorb health "resource" on hit (Does not replenish health..only the drained resource aspect)
- Uses Health based damage shield pool as resource with max limited by "current" health [see below *]
1. Specialising with the above weapons improves your efficiency strength and speed...hence TARGETED cost reduction and restoration.
2. As Two-hand & Bow fall into the generic type DPS it is no longer the reserve of the stamina build as far as damage scaling is concerned. Its power is naturally and globally tempered through mean stamina/magicka and mean crit
3. You can switch from tank > healer > magicka dps > stamina dps > generic dps mode on the fly...enhanced by armour but fundamentally max resource dependant (TRANSIENT BUILD).
4. * The heal/bash/block cost resource will nest within the health (life) bar. This can only ever be less than or equal to current health and will increase or decrease within the bounds of the "current" health level.
5. * The damage shield activation will lock the current health until its damage mitigation is spent.
Armour skills...Temporary...
Light Armour (2:1 spell resist : weapon resist)
- scale off level, magicka and spell crit
- fire, frost, lightning resist
- spell reflex save (Auto magical evasion)
- magicka class skill tree cost reduction
- bolt escape cost [see below **] (Manual physical/magical evasion - attacks disabled - all regen disabled)
- minor destro/2h(except resto) cost reduction
- magicka restoration
Medium Armour (2:1 weapon resist : spell resist)
- scales off level, stamina and weapon crit
- poisons, diseases resist
- weapon reflex save (Auto physical evasion)
- stamina class skill tree cost reduction
- dodge roll cost (Manual physical/magical evasion - attacks disabled - all regen disabled)
- minor dual-wield/2h(except destro/resto) cost reduction
- stamina restoration
Heavy Armour (3:3 weapon resist : spell resist)
- scales off level, health & average crit
- damage shield, ward
- stun/snare/root immunity chance (Auto CC evasion)
- health class skill tree cost reduction
- block "cost/second" (Manual physical/magical evasion - attacks disabled - all regen disabled)
- minor bash/resto cost reduction
- health & health resource restoration
1. Specialising with the above armour improves your efficiency strength and speed...hence cost reduction and restoration.
2. Aside from the penalties for light/medium/heavy physical/magical resistance.. resource, role and armour types are now clearly isolated and unambiguous.
3. The mix and match of 7 armour pieces still enables hybrids to tune builds to suit their unique preference....and can be changed in game when out of combat (TEMPORARY BUILD).
4. The meta of Shield stacking while DPS has little merit and Damage shield power/cost now scales off Health and Heavy....which sacrifices magicka/stamina DPS
5. You can now be Offensive(Magicka/Stamina DPS) OR Defensive(Health Tank/Heal) and somewhere between.
6. ** PHASE & DODGE (Class neutral). The dodge here in, is that provided by "evasion". Phase is a magicka version that causes a temporal shift so that the magicka wielder has little substance to hit if any.
7. ** Blink and Rolldodge. The sorcs Blink (Bolt escape) should become class neutral and be a magicka cost version of roll dodge and be replaced with PHASE. Bolt escape (magicka) can now be balanced properly along with dodge roll (stamina) to escape AoE.
8. ** Blink vs Rolldodge. Both will use the same button. Destro will blink only. Dual-wield will roll dodge only. 2h/bow/resto/shield will alternate based on highest available resource stamina/magicka.
9. To get full attack cost reduction requires the use of both armour and weapon of matching type. Which by default increases the cost of all other types (as you lose those cost reduction benefits).
10. Blocking is easier for tank builds but the cost is now a cost/second while holding block...rather than on being hit. No more standing with shield up indefinitely.
11. Healing, Bashing and Blocking use the same resource. The user decides which is more important. All heals/attacks are disabled when blocking
12. OKOMA "decrease health" becomes "reduce health cost" (to match DENIMA & MAKKOMA)
13. A spell caster that wants to DPS and Heal with resto/destro would want to wear Heavy + Light and make sacrifices in both resources and power to accomplish both. To what degree is determined by the heavy:light ratio and resource allocation.
13. A melee fighter that wants to DPS and tank with 1hs/dual-wield would want to wear Heavy + Medium and make sacrifices in both resources and power to accomplish both. To what degree is determined by the heavy:medium ratio and resource allocation.
14. A neutral fighter might want to optimise stamina/magicka/health use while tanking/healing and choose 2hand/1hs or 2hand/resto... 1hvy:3med:3lgt (8:27:27) or 3hvy:2med:2lgt (26:18:18) or 5hvy:1med:1lgt (44:9:9) depending on resource allocation.
15. Spell DPS + Tank with destro/1hs, heavy/light, magicka/health is viable as is weapon dps + Heal with dual-wield/resto, heavy/medium, stamina/health
Class skills... Permanent... (Only 5 passives can be selected. Enabling one disables the two peer positions on the other trees)
Magicka based skill tree
- [scale off level & magicka]
- spell fire, frost, lightning DOTS damage
- spell area limit
- spell range limit
- spell speed limit
- max magicka limits
- ...magicka based 'unique utility only' class skills here...
Stamina based skill tree
- [scales off level & stamina]
- weapon poisons, diseases DOTS damage
- weapon area limit
- weapon range limit
- weapon speed limit
- max stamina limits
- ...stamina based 'unique utility only' class skills here...
Health based skill tree
- [scales off level and health]
- DOT evasion/mitigation
- healing area limit or area debuff [morph]
- healing range limit or range debuff [morph]
- healing cast time or speed debuff [morph]
- max health limits
- ...health based 'unique utility only' class skills here...
1. This enables true build diversity for all classes by making them powerful in all archetypes with unique flavours.
2. The class skill are here to enhance the weapon skills and work in harmony with them...rather than substitute/replace them.
3. Resource on hit bonus remains in the weapon tree (class neutral - transient). Restoration bonus remains in the armour tree (class neutral - temporary). Max resource bonus is confined to the class tree (class dependant - permanent)
4. Class skills are for supplementary DOT damage/mitigation, damage enhancements and unique utility skills that identify the class. Class skills are not weapons/spells in their own right. Weapons are reserved for the weapon/(future)spell tree.
5. Notice the the 2 handed weapon users may have the best resource management but they would have to choose from weapon or spell speed and not get both. They sacrifice damage efficiency for resource efficiency.
6. Notice if a Magicka DPS takes advantage of the spell speed/range/area, they will cripple their mitigation enhancements as well as the weapon enhancements.
In Brief...
Weapon/armour/class skill and resource overlap has to be removed to allow archetype isolation and proper balancing.
Until this is done we will always have the "Master of All" builds creating havoc in Tamriel and havoc when balancing.
The problem has created persistent nerfing to certain skills to the detriment of all classes when the skill was only a problem from certain archetypal aspects.
In removing each problem we have created 2 more in the process.
This is a framework. A general guideline on how to change weapon/armour/class skills so that the DPS / Tank / Healer aspects of all classes can be treated independently without any knock on effect to other archetypes inside or outside the class.
Please feel free to modify the framework or expand upon it or fill in the details.
Please feel free to point out possible problems that could arise with the framework described from the archetypal isolation perspective.
Any suggestions that result in being best in multiple archetypes at the same time wont be discussed for obvious reasons.
Anything that can be exploited will be exploited
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