Question about build diversity

Sadetius

Me and my friends have not reached end game yet (I have one V3 toon but still so still not there yet.). The thing is we are mainly PVE and we do take role playing into consideration to some degree when builing a character. We do not mind following guidelines to a degree, we understand that some things won't work. And we do not expect the same level of performance as optimized builds have. However we would like to be viable at least.

So my question is how is the diversity and freedom in end game pve regarding builds? Will we have to follow strict guidlines and follow a certain meta like in PvP? Or is is more wiggle room ?

Robo_Hobo

Unless you're going for leaderboards or going with strangers I'd imagine all that matters is if it works, if you don't mind it taking longer or being possibly more difficult. Not that I'd know, I've only ever done one group dungeon, but just by logic alone it can't be impossible to succeed with only a certain setup, especially when there's champion points and new/better gear being released after the content was made and balanced around that older stuff. I do hear the veteran IC group dungeons are particularly difficult though so in that case it might well make the difference between success or failure.

TheShadowScout

Most builds can be made to work. Maybe not all can work "leaderboardinglish" well, and maybe not all can work "cyrodil slaughtermaster" well, but most will get you through almost everything else. It helps not going with PUGs, but doing the groupey stuff with friends who are willing to excuse a little "less-then-super-effectiveness". And if you start with champion points... even generally "meh" builds work well enough with good gear and a big chunk of c-points propping them up.

The way I see it, there is a lot of leeway, especially since the right ability mix is often more important then other considerations. Know your build well enough to be able to tailor your "loadout" to the fight at hand can be half the effectiveness...

Heindrich

Questing and normal group dungeons are faceroll easy. They can be completed with almost any build. When I was a noob I didn't even have any crafted sets until I reached VR1 and I ran an embarrassingly bad build. I still managed to complete all the group dungeons with friends or pugs.

Veteran dungeons require a bit more performance, and they differ in difficulty quite significantly, with Wayrest Sewers feeling like a non-vet dungeon, whilst vet Imperial City Prison is legit challenging for most non-elite groups. Trials ofc are challenging, although AA and Hel Ra are very easy now since they are still designed for VR12 groups.

If there is a theoretically maximum performance level of 100 that includes min/max gear, CP, build etc... then most content can be done at a much lower level. Hell even for Vet Maelstorm, which is the toughest PvE content in the game, there are all sorts of different builds that can complete it.

Leon119

As long as you dont want to get the best scores and results and you are planning for fun with likeminded people then the classic archetypes of warrior mage rogue work easy

Sadetius

thank you for the info, seems like we are good to go then. And we don't mind not being super efective. We were a bit worried that it might turn out in one those situations where you have to stick to the meta strictly.

However is the pve really a faceroll ? or can we expect some challenging content?

Artjuh90

most of the people who are complaing the hardest went full scale cp grinding who are now at max cp with a min/max build.
if they think it's to easy go for a less optimal build and stop bothering others with your qq.
but have to add the game was alot challenging when it first came out on pc espicially the solo content

Sadetius

thank you for all the responses and information, I heard that the game has gotten eaier over the course of its life. I can understand that the starting areas are more casual friendly. However I just hope there is enough challening pve content as well.

Heindrich

Sadetius wrote: »

However is the pve really a faceroll ? or can we expect some challenging content?

As I said, Vet Dungeons will be a challenge for most casual gamers, particularly the harder ones towards the bottom of this list:

1. Wayrest Sewers
2. Spindleclutch
3. Banished Cells
4. Elden Hollow
5. Fungal Grotto
6. Darkshade Cavern
7. City of Ash
8. Crypt of Hearts
9. White Gold Tower
10. Imperial City Prison

Trials:

• Aetherian Archives and Hel Ra are easy cos VR12
• Sanctum hard mode is still pretty hard despite VR14
• Vet DSA pretty hard despite VR14
• Vet Maelstorm is VERY hard, like not even 100 Templars and 100 DKs can complete it in all of EU every week.

Tomato

The new meta is just damage and no real diversity

TheShadowScout

Sadetius wrote: »

thank you for the info, seems like we are good to go then. And we don't mind not being super efective. We were a bit worried that it might turn out in one those situations where you have to stick to the meta strictly.

However is the pve really a faceroll ? or can we expect some challenging content?

Much of PvE can be somewhat facerolly, true. The trash mobs are, unless you aggro too many groups of them (and even that can often be beat if you have some really good AoE to spam).
The bossfights... well, many are easy enough these days (wasn't always the case, there had been bossfights where old hands can tell horror stories of wiping again and again, failing dozends of times despite their best efforts, and coming back to win only after ten more levels... but they nerfed that with the scaling bosses I guess...), some might surprise you with a little twist that can get you in trouble the first time around...

But for those seeking a challenge, there are other options.

Soloing public dungeons, dolmen or world bosses in cadwells regions.
Visiting Craglorn without a full group (note - some quests there need four people for switch pulling, but people who want to test their skills can try their hand at overland mob groups and dwelves...).
Maelstrom arena in Wrothgar.
And of course the undaunted pledges, dungeons do scale after all...

And if you feel -really- tough, there's always trying to Solo the Wrothgar WBs... (closest I ever came to that feat was being one of only two people who took on a certain dwemer super-centurion, and won, with only two respawns each... and that's one of the easy ones once you know the tricks...)
Or go visit Cyrodil, and especially "gankers central" Imperial City. Some of the PvPeople are... sheeesh. As in "fight half a dozend enemy players, and still win" sheesh (okay, the emperor bonus certainly had something to do with that, but... still...). And in IC, even the mobs alone are giving you a tough fight. Though you'll get ganked a lot just trying to fight mobs, by people wanting to grab your stones... but if you don't care about those, it can be good expees, and testing your skills.

Magdalina

You can make a lot of things work if you use some common sense(i.e. you may not have to have hardcapped armor/spellresit as a tank but it'll probably help a lot if you don't stand in those pretty red circles ) which you don't seem to have a problem with:)
Most of the content right now is indeed really easy, to the point where "l33t players at CP cap and in full v16 gold gear" can solo a lot of it(like group dungeons, even a lot of vet dungeons' bosses, Wrothgar WB, etc). You may have issues with unoptimized builds in vWGT and vICP, that content can still be pretty challenging. There are their non vet versions however which share same quest and even same exact mechanics, just are that much less punishing so you won't be missing much if you don't like the vet versions' challenge.

You're probably better off running with friends who share similar mindset though, a lot of the times people pugging a pledge just want to rush through it and will get upset with something hindering their progress.