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Attempt at Making Attibutes Meaningful
Rune_Relic
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Looking over the threads for months, we always come back to the same balance issues.
They could be no one investing in anything other than 62+ magicka or stamina, because DPS builds are biased to win.
They could be DPS builds doing massive damage and having access to shields or stealth too.
Some tanks that were simply unkillable and some builds that roflstomped Vet dungeons.
The threads are never endless where people question the fairness of certain builds and/or classes.
My goal then was an attempt (perhaps futile) to reconcile all of these differences.
Perhaps come up with a system that could hopefully keep everyone reasonably satisfied, or at least not feel unfairly treated.
A system where people could easily define and understand any build they could imagine using a simple graphic.
To do this I went back to basics.
Originally all games had attributes that could be varied to define your unique character.
Sometimes these were a pre-built that could be selected (aka classes) and save you the configuration of numerous attribute values.
Many games having so many attributes for indiviual aspects you often were left completely dumbfounded.
Caps were often added on top to add a sense of balance.
Softcaps in ESO worked very well for some builds making them excel at almost every role.
But still, some builds could hit most caps and others builds couldnt.
Some builds soloing Vet dungeons in the process while others could barely survive in a group.
The point I guess is that softcaps were applied globally to all builds rather than being build dependant.
Removal of softcaps gave us more potential variety of builds but at the cost of them being useless.
Hybrids are pretty much inneffectual although great fun to play.
So how exactly can we get to a stage where all builds are viable and fun ?
How can we keep pure breeds viable at the same time as hybrids ?
My answer here, is to give hybrids unique roles that are just as desirable/required as pure roles.
A redistribution of abilities that forces mutual reliance, yet allows all builds to shine in a very, very unique way.
No build gets a monopoly on all roles and gain serious weaknesses as well as strengths.
1. Pure builds have great direct damage or passive mitigation. Hybrids have to counter that. So I gave them dynamic mitigation in the form of shield, ward or stealth for protection. Plus enhanced indirect damage in the form of DoTs to make up for some of the short fall (ie DoTs OR good Direct damage but not both).
2. Offensive builds rely on getting in, doing max direct damage, evading damage and getting out. So to counter this I gave defensive builds snares, roots and CC to counter offensive speed and enhance DoT damage. DPS cannot purge DoTs and rely on other builds or sucking it up or not standing in the red.
3. Giving DPS shields as well as evasion made them too effective to counter with the extreme damage combined. So only the Hybrid DPS gets stealth as a shield, as the Hyrbid DPS does not have the same damage impact. Dps completely rely on movement and/or stealth to avoid damage.
4. The pure tank no longer has the ability to stand there with a shield and laugh at people... shields are given to hybrids instead. In return they have been made the captain of defense. With roots, weapon debuffs and armour buffs for allies and great passive mitigation. They are the ultimate pain in the arse for offensive builds (having so much impact on their builds movement), so need to be removed. This makes tanks meaningful in PvP rather than simply ignored. They are hard to take down (if you can get to them)....but they rely on healers if they cant control the incoming DPS. There dynamic mitigation is through crowd control and manipulation.
5. The hybrid DPS is the opposite of the pure tank. It is the captain of offense. It lacks gap closers/makers and evasion of the pure DPS, but gains stealth and movement speed instead. The lack of direct damage is enhanced with indirect magicka and stamina dots and also aids allies with movement, stealth, weapon buffs and armour debuffs. This build is the key to keeping the pure DPS dangerous through stealth and buffs. Teams would be wise to get this build out of action as quick as possible.
6. The Hybrid Healer is the playmaker in the field of battle. Where the Pure tank controls defense and the DPS hyrbid controls offense, the healer can practically reset any battle. Where the stamina hybrid tank can only purge stamina dots and the magicka hyrbid tank can only purge magicka dots, the healer can purge both. The healers healing ability is greatly amplified compared to all other builds to make up for the loss in offensive and defensive combat abilites. They can also restore resources to a tired battle group so become key to their uptime. Their enhanced hyrbid regen rates keep them in the game.
TL;DR... http://compuversal.com/eso/eso-attribute.pdf
An attempt to make attribute distribution balanced and meaningful by bringing 7 archtypal builds and 100s of random builds to the table.
This isn't an I want. This is a basic framework to hopefully get some ideas rolling to solve the issues we have rather than argue about the symptoms.
Feel free to discuss, modify, or propose alternatives.
I am hoping for masterplans rather than bits and pieces of solutions as I believe this is an all encompassing issue that requires an all encompassing solution.
No point changing a wheel if the engine has dropped out.
They could be no one investing in anything other than 62+ magicka or stamina, because DPS builds are biased to win.
They could be DPS builds doing massive damage and having access to shields or stealth too.
Some tanks that were simply unkillable and some builds that roflstomped Vet dungeons.
The threads are never endless where people question the fairness of certain builds and/or classes.
My goal then was an attempt (perhaps futile) to reconcile all of these differences.
Perhaps come up with a system that could hopefully keep everyone reasonably satisfied, or at least not feel unfairly treated.
A system where people could easily define and understand any build they could imagine using a simple graphic.
To do this I went back to basics.
Originally all games had attributes that could be varied to define your unique character.
Sometimes these were a pre-built that could be selected (aka classes) and save you the configuration of numerous attribute values.
Many games having so many attributes for indiviual aspects you often were left completely dumbfounded.
Caps were often added on top to add a sense of balance.
Softcaps in ESO worked very well for some builds making them excel at almost every role.
But still, some builds could hit most caps and others builds couldnt.
Some builds soloing Vet dungeons in the process while others could barely survive in a group.
The point I guess is that softcaps were applied globally to all builds rather than being build dependant.
Removal of softcaps gave us more potential variety of builds but at the cost of them being useless.
Hybrids are pretty much inneffectual although great fun to play.
So how exactly can we get to a stage where all builds are viable and fun ?
How can we keep pure breeds viable at the same time as hybrids ?
My answer here, is to give hybrids unique roles that are just as desirable/required as pure roles.
A redistribution of abilities that forces mutual reliance, yet allows all builds to shine in a very, very unique way.
No build gets a monopoly on all roles and gain serious weaknesses as well as strengths.
1. Pure builds have great direct damage or passive mitigation. Hybrids have to counter that. So I gave them dynamic mitigation in the form of shield, ward or stealth for protection. Plus enhanced indirect damage in the form of DoTs to make up for some of the short fall (ie DoTs OR good Direct damage but not both).
2. Offensive builds rely on getting in, doing max direct damage, evading damage and getting out. So to counter this I gave defensive builds snares, roots and CC to counter offensive speed and enhance DoT damage. DPS cannot purge DoTs and rely on other builds or sucking it up or not standing in the red.
3. Giving DPS shields as well as evasion made them too effective to counter with the extreme damage combined. So only the Hybrid DPS gets stealth as a shield, as the Hyrbid DPS does not have the same damage impact. Dps completely rely on movement and/or stealth to avoid damage.
4. The pure tank no longer has the ability to stand there with a shield and laugh at people... shields are given to hybrids instead. In return they have been made the captain of defense. With roots, weapon debuffs and armour buffs for allies and great passive mitigation. They are the ultimate pain in the arse for offensive builds (having so much impact on their builds movement), so need to be removed. This makes tanks meaningful in PvP rather than simply ignored. They are hard to take down (if you can get to them)....but they rely on healers if they cant control the incoming DPS. There dynamic mitigation is through crowd control and manipulation.
5. The hybrid DPS is the opposite of the pure tank. It is the captain of offense. It lacks gap closers/makers and evasion of the pure DPS, but gains stealth and movement speed instead. The lack of direct damage is enhanced with indirect magicka and stamina dots and also aids allies with movement, stealth, weapon buffs and armour debuffs. This build is the key to keeping the pure DPS dangerous through stealth and buffs. Teams would be wise to get this build out of action as quick as possible.
6. The Hybrid Healer is the playmaker in the field of battle. Where the Pure tank controls defense and the DPS hyrbid controls offense, the healer can practically reset any battle. Where the stamina hybrid tank can only purge stamina dots and the magicka hyrbid tank can only purge magicka dots, the healer can purge both. The healers healing ability is greatly amplified compared to all other builds to make up for the loss in offensive and defensive combat abilites. They can also restore resources to a tired battle group so become key to their uptime. Their enhanced hyrbid regen rates keep them in the game.
TL;DR... http://compuversal.com/eso/eso-attribute.pdf
An attempt to make attribute distribution balanced and meaningful by bringing 7 archtypal builds and 100s of random builds to the table.
This isn't an I want. This is a basic framework to hopefully get some ideas rolling to solve the issues we have rather than argue about the symptoms.
Feel free to discuss, modify, or propose alternatives.
I am hoping for masterplans rather than bits and pieces of solutions as I believe this is an all encompassing issue that requires an all encompassing solution.
No point changing a wheel if the engine has dropped out.
Anything that can be exploited will be exploited
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