Do you think the spell damage system needs tweaking?

RAGUNAnoOne

As it stands now, spell damage is directly related to weapon damage as a result you see multiple mages using dual wield swords to maximize their spell damage. The ones that actually use staves are as a result inferior to 2 handed and especially dual wielders. Yes I will admit that this poll is biased but I am sick of knowing that my staff wielding characters magic moves will be less effective than someone wielding 2 swords or a heavy weapon. Pure mages should naturally be more powerful with magic than someone who can divide their focus between both physical and magical attacks. I have no problem with a spellsword concept but spellswords should NOT be more powerful with spells than pure mages. The reason for creating this poll is to A: see the general opinions on this matter and B: if enough people agree hopefully ZOS will do something to change it (no outright nerf though please #nonerfnovember).

Parrotbrain

Let staff users be the better mages

did they not separate the two in 1.6? I thought staves scale off spell damage and stamina weapons off weapon damage?

Alucardo

Other (Please explain)

I agree with you, but we have to understand there are people with builds based around duel wielding. Changing the system to make staves better may affect them, so I'm kinda in the middle on this one.
If there was a way to keep everyone happy, definitely go for it.

RAGUNAnoOne

Let staff users be the better mages

Parrotbrain wrote: »

did they not separate the two in 1.6? I thought staves scale off spell damage and stamina weapons off weapon damage?

This is a hard one to explain but the damage they do is based off spell damage but the damage boosts from equipping weapons are not separated weapon damage bonus = spell damage bonus.

AfkNinja

Let staff users be the better mages

Parrotbrain wrote: »

did they not separate the two in 1.6? I thought staves scale off spell damage and stamina weapons off weapon damage?

They do however Dual Wield and Two Hand provide more raw spell power. The direct weapon hits still only scale on wep power but your spells will get more spell power.

Parrotbrain

Let staff users be the better mages

ok thanks for the explanation

olsborg

Let staff users be the better mages

The absurdity is, if youre a sorc, or a templar or such, and playing as a magicka caster ie a mage. If you hold a destruction staff and cast crystal fragments it will do less dmg then if you were holding 2x swords...go figure!

Gilvoth

Other (Please explain)

i think it needs adjusted, and looked into.

Nebthet78

Let staff users be the better mages

Staves and even Bows should have the same weapon damage as Greatswords, Mauls and Battleaxes seeing as they ARE two handed weapons. (they also seem to have a longer heavy attack despite the passive that is suppose to shorten it, comparison to the other weapons).

The Staves should also give a Spell Damage bonus to the users and the dual wielding should be changed to give a Weapon Damage bonus.

Troneon

Let staff users be the better mages

Also weapon damage/stam users can reach insanely higher numbers especially sorcs/nbs than spell damage/mag can...and get more survivability....

Egonieser

This has a very simple explanation - melee weapons give more because you lose ranged staff attacks. It's false ir you think using weapons is better off- you lose more DPS by dual wielding and you lose ranged light/heavy attacks thus a reliable ultimate generation as well. Only thing you can gain is higher peak crits, but lose sustained DPS cause you can't weave in light/heavy attacks and also generate magicka from a charged heavy, as weapons only return stamina. Staff will always be a superior choice as losing all the things I mentioned will hurt you lot more than the extra 200 or so extra spell damage from DW.
P.S. Heavy staff attacks hurt a hellova lot more than majority of skills, so those alone are worth it. They are a part of my rotation all the time, and when I switched to dual swords I suffered a lot more than I gained. It only works for very specific builds and situations not general use.

DannyLV702

Let staff users be the better mages

Can you imagine if a Fire Staff gave stamina users ore weapon damage than 2H??? AND to top it off, it's the only weapon we get! we don't have the same weapon options as a stamina user, it's ridiculous..

aidenmoore

Let staff users be the better mages

I agree, I wanted to use Destruction Staff but at this point, losing spellpower is not worth it and dealing less damage and healing is not worth it. Not to mention losing another set bonus.

NewBlacksmurf

Keep it as is weapon damage=spell damage

I'm thinking the way it is works best because changing this as described removes the play as you like concept and seems to move towards a traditional MMO which goes against TES concept of this game.

Kammakazi

Let staff users be the better mages

You didn't even specify PvP or PvE.

RAGUNAnoOne

Let staff users be the better mages

aidenmoore wrote: »

I agree, I wanted to use Destruction Staff but at this point, losing spellpower is not worth it and dealing less damage and healing is not worth it. Not to mention losing another set bonus.

Ack I can't believe I forgot to add this advantage to my argument in addition to the spell damage dual wielders can get another set bonus item!

RAGUNAnoOne

Let staff users be the better mages

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

I'm thinking the way it is works best because changing this as described removes the play as you like concept and seems to move towards a traditional MMO which goes against TES concept of this game.

Play as you want should not let one specific weapon type have such a noticeable advantage over another especially if it has nothing to do with the skills/playstyle it is supposed to support.

DenMoria

Let staff users be the better mages

I did not know that mage damage was based on weapons damage. I guess my girl will have to become a duel wielder just to keep up. Shoot.

demustacio

Other (Please explain)

Alucardo wrote: »

I agree with you, but we have to understand there are people with builds based around duel wielding. Changing the system to make staves better may affect them, so I'm kinda in the middle on this one.
If there was a way to keep everyone happy, definitely go for it.

This. Agree 100% with you

Steel_Brightblade

Weapon shouldn't matter at all, magic comes from the mage, whether its focused through a stick or a dagger shouldn't make any difference at all.

BCBUDZ

Let staff users be the better mages

Mages use spells and staff
Warriors use shields and swords
The mage's guild has no place for a sorcerer with swords
That's basically every rpg known except eso who grotesquely has twisted this and now magic based staff users suffer for believing in tradition.

Suru

DenMoria wrote: »

I did not know that mage damage was based on weapons damage. I guess my girl will have to become a duel wielder just to keep up. Shoot.

Don't be misinformed. Staves and Swords/2H have something called power. Which is applied to your spell or weapon damage. This DOES mean you will hit harder with class spells. DW and 2H have more power and passives that affect magika builds which seems contradictory to the stamina skills in its lines. The reason these weapons have more power is to compensate for the comparative resources a magika or stamina build will have. Can almost guarantee that with existing sets you can always have over 40k+magika while stamina builds are barely getting over 37k. Less resource pool, more weapons damage. Stamina talk.

Does not mean you will have competitive dps in pve. You still need to weave as a DK and Sorc for dps. If you weave with a staff, that weave or light attack or heavy attack goes off spell damage. Whilst weaving with swords is actually detrimental when it goes off weapon damage which you do not have. Prepare to laugh at the damage when you see it if you try.

Exceptions where swords are competitive for magika dps. Execute Phase with a NB,Sorc or Templar. Overload. Nightblade Sap AoE

PvE aside, in PVP alot of magika builds are using it, ie sorcs stacking proxy,inevitable det, curse and frags for burst DPS.

UltimaJoe777

Keep in mind though that Staves are the only way to return Magicka with Heavy Attacks. That alone gives them something Dual Wielding does not.

BCBUDZ

Let staff users be the better mages

Yes my arch mage gear does that. Oh wait they nerfed it so that ability sucks lol

RAGUNAnoOne

Let staff users be the better mages

UltimaJoe777 wrote: »

Keep in mind though that Staves are the only way to return Magicka with Heavy Attacks. That alone gives them something Dual Wielding does not.

dual wielders can fall back on physical hits and still do the most damage if someone has nirnhoned traits on everything something staff users cannot do. staves do not restore stamina which is needed for almost every defensive maneuver and can be just as essential to mages. also they can have one more crafted set item and 2 enchantments, I think staves getting a magicka damage buff pales in comparison to these combined advantages to dual wield.

eliisra

Let staff users be the better mages

UltimaJoe777 wrote: »

Keep in mind though that Staves are the only way to return Magicka with Heavy Attacks. That alone gives them something Dual Wielding does not.

If you need to start heavy attacking in PvP to get magicka back, than you already lost the fight. It's almost as bad as being unable to break cc or dodge. Sustain is everything in PvP. Staffs are nothing.

Even worse is heals with resto in PvP. The low spell power on resto staff makes is really mediocre compared to templar Breath Of Life with DW or non-class skills like Vigor, Entropy and Rally. It's s direct nerf to non-templar healers.

In PvE most builds still use Destruction Staff on one bar for fire medium weaving, so still have some use there I guess. But of course mandatory with DW on other bar for AoE, execute and class nukes.

lolo_01b16_ESO

Keep it as is weapon damage=spell damage

I like it how it is at the moment, as it creates build diversity. Mages have to choose if they use swords or staves or one of each. On my characters I have both, swords and staves and I switch between them depending on what fits best for my next fight.

bigbabyleonb16_ESO

Let staff users be the better mages

Ever way i wish my staffs will do the damage its says, they are weak as hell and i had a v16 do my staffs so they knew what to do to get my damage up more but still hitting them like a fly's hit them. staff mages are weak and don't see why!

Undefwun

Other (Please explain)

I kind of like the system but I play magblade, so lot of my skills are up close and personal, so i can weave in attacks with my DW (which I prefer the look of too btw), but this statement is for the style of PvP I prefer

Running group dungeons with a dedicated healer I run dual destro because I'm squisher in mainly light armour.

I think 2 handed weapons should count as 2 items (set bonuses) and maybe there can be an additional category for staves with passives that put them on par.

PBpsy

Keep it as is weapon damage=spell damage

I think the system Is good, but yes the best magick damage should allays be done using staves.

notimetocare

Keep it as is weapon damage=spell damage

A staff will already produce higher dmg in most cases. If you fail to weave attacks, then yea it will lose.