The Warden: Combat and Role Speculation

cowsayUshi

This thread is purely speculation and should be treated like so. All thoughts below in the original post and comments should pertain on this image published on an Xbox Magazine Article detailing the base skills of the Warden class.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, we can confirm that the information here is real. It's a scan from OXM (Official Xbox Magazine) that was just released last week.

Winter's Embrace

Polar Wind

Blast friends with soothing healing over time or strike at foes with nasty frost damage.

We see this debut in the Morrowind cinematic trailer dealing "nasty" damage hurling the Dwemer Sphere back, whether or not a knock back would be applied to a morph or the base skill, I think it's safe to say that this ability will stay single target, such as the Dragon Knight's Stone Fist ability. However, the argument could be made that it could have a AoE morph as you'll see sooner in other abilities the Warden shows a lack of AoE based moves.

Ice Fortress

An Icy shell over your torso with this skill and you'll get a meaty buff to your armor rating

The language might be confusing at first if you read the Crystallized Shield and the Ice Fortress abilities, but thankfully if cinematic trailer if it’s anything to go by, the ice Fortress ability could be compared to the Sorcerer's Bound Armor giving a buff to physical resistance, but directly affecting your armor rating so spell resistance could be included as well and Obsidian Shield being only temporary.
For a morph, I would like to see additions to making it more of mess to deal with, such as slowing melee enemies attack speed once in contact, or deal small AoE damage while it's up.

Impaling Shards

Activates a snare so that you can yank to your heart's content

When coming across even the name of this ability, my mind jumped to the Templar Aedric Spear nerf and thought to myself "So that's where oyr ability went", however instead of being a stun the Warden has a snare, which implies being a two-part ability as the enemy from my understanding must first be hit by this shard to be snared and then activated again to be "yanked". This ability sounds really underwhelming at first, and even compared to the upcoming ability Frozen Device, but the freedom of impaling shards allows the user to move them to your "heart's content", shows it’s uselessness in PvE, but in PvP the number of shenanigans in store for this class will be humiliating to those ensnared by this shard, being tossed around being impaled after another.

Crystallized Shield

Summons exactly what you think it would, Buffing your armor

Again, another ability that was showcased in the Morrowind trailer that we get to utilize, thank you ZeniMax for having the trailer reach our in-game expectations, at least on paper.
This shield would server to be a separate entity from the player, where not only we get a shield that hopefully takes a bit a damage from ranged attacks in PvE but also gives us a buff, which if it's anything like Rune Focus, we'll be able to weave in and out of this shield to refresh our armor bonus
For a morph, I would like to see some use in this in PvE, having it soak up some projectile damage if the target they're aiming at is happens to be right behind this ability. Would this be too much? Having reflective scales with Dragon Knights, and Guard in the One-Handed & Shield ability.

Frozen Device

Drop this rune onto the ground and any enemies that step on it will be teleported to you

All Dragon Chain users shook in the frozen utilities that this ability provides. Like Fire Rune in the Mage Guild, I bet this would be an AoE teleport allowing to move more enemies into a pile to allow your teammates the breathing room and the damage dealing opportunities to wipe the floor. This ability was incredibly unexpected in the Warden's kit, and I imagine to be incredibly annoying in PvP to zergs wishing to storm your Keep only to be teleported in an unintended location, or those too blind to see the icy sigil in their path.
I would imagine to see a very small radius to which the Warden can move where the rune can be active to prevent this abuse. For morphs, more an addition of more crowd control to seal the deal when one is teleported, such as a slow or an off balance.

Ultimate: Sleet Storm

Covers a large area and buffs any part members caught in the blast with protection... It also deals spikes of damage on enemies in the blast zone

The move seen in the trailer that finished them all, Sleet storm is our ultimate for this tree allowing damage and utility with its addition of buffing allies, although not with armor, but a damage shield as the writer chose to use the word “protection” instead of armor. This ultimate was most likely made to compete with abilities such as Dragon Standard, or the more relatable Dawn's Wrath ability: Solar Prison.
Morphs will most likely go down two simple routes, one producing more damage and another giving it more utility

The Winter Embrace set is surprisingly effective, with its other class based skills to go over, on paper the Warden sounds like a viable tank in any raid and dungeon that can probably go places Templar tanks wouldn't dare to dream. The amount of team supporting in this build is a great touch as well, as to be expected in a class based off a Druid, having more team supporting skills than the Dragonknight's Earthen Heart skill line, The Warden makes a great in-between in this games current tanking meta of Templar and Dragonknight heroes, and this is going in blind to the possible sets to be released into Morrowind.


Green Balance

Fungal Growth

Heal Friends in a cone in front of you

The immediate heal that the Warden needs to rival against a Templar, although this is target based having a skill that instantly heals in an expanding cone is perfect for a well set up team and cluster group up in trials. I cannot possible imagine a morph that will make this unique, you can have it restore resources or give to buff allies, but this would be more like combat prayer, unless that's ZeniMax's intention.

Healing Seed

Flora that grows will steadily heal nearby buds over time

The AoE over time heal of the Warden, healing seed will primarily be focused on the quick spamming ability to get cheap and effective heals such as Grand Healing. Although with the master Restoration staff giving stamina resources to those under Grand Healing I cannot imagine this being the go to ability unless its morphs push for resources or once again, or cleansing a team of de-buffs.

Living Vines

Seeks out the team member with the lowest health for a dose of life juice

The Warden's second instant heal ability, the terminology used this article could imply that the vines might have quite long animation being from the player casting the spell to the ally that desperately needs it's "dose of life juice". And it's because of this possible gap between cast and actual healing being done, I cannot imagine this ability to be used very often unless it's given impressive morphs.

Green Lotus

Blooming flower visual effect... powerful damage buff

The focus on buffing a group is the idea of having a Warden in a raid or a dungeon, and this ability until we understand how it's going to be cast might be the Warden's Combat Prayer. Not giving the health that combat prayer bestows might make Combat prayer's two in one deal more attractive to dungeon crawlers.

Nature's Grasp

This skill pulls you direct to them for timely lifesaving

This ability ties in the Winter Embrace and Green Balance tree together oh so well when thinking from a healer's standpoint. Often not as mobile as their damage dealing counter parts, the healer is left behind in most groups unless acting first and thinking last charging into enemies. This ability brings the mobility to the healer that no class can effectively utilize, with the synergy of Crystallized Shield and reading my ideas on what this ability might do, a healer will be able to jump to an allies’ aid and block attacks, give a buff, and easily heal anyone they jump to.

Ultimate: Secluded Grove

See trees slowly grow in a circle around you for a huge health rejuvenating heals for any friends milling about inside

Although the somewhat juvenile appealing to a younger audience, this one was worded just the way I need to get psyched about a healing ultimate, often swapping in more utility, silencing, and damage reduction. The addition of "milling about inside" imply that there's an outside (obviously) that will inaccessible from those who don't happen to be in the slowly emerging tree arena. Not only could this be used in protecting a group of stacked teammates this is an ability that can, with perfect synergy might trap groups of players in a thunderdome of your own. The uses of the ability this beautiful and would love to see it use in that way in Cyrodiil.

The perfect healer needed to drive apart the Templar healing meta with their passive AoE cleanse and instant casting bursts of rejuvenation, the Warden as expected is the perfect runner up for the ideal classes to have in your party. However, I would like to see more restoring resource abilities and some de-buffs to be applied to enemies that come within our sphere of influence

Animal Companion

Cliff Racer

These haranguing beasties were the scourge of our existence. Now they are our spike damage dealing beasties

I'll come back and give my thoughts on this ability once I stop laughing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYG0YWdkSKI

Subterranean Assault

Summon an underground Haj Mota and it'll arc forward in a stunning line of hurt

When I take in the idea of "stunning line" this might be an ability that passes through units, dealing damage that stand in its path.

Growing Swarm

Fletcher Flies...You send them after so just picture bees and you're on the right track

Bull Netch

Activate this and a floating Bull Netch will hover by your side recovering your stamina

Brid of Prey

This skill increases movement speed

Wild Guardian

This wild bear will stick with you until death. We're told to expect a streamlined control system which allows us to command it to attack things on our behalf

Morphs:
Automatically Resummons
Able to cast other abilities

I apologize for the lack of thoughts on this skill tree, but it's the simplest by far. With quotes that describe them well enough that there's only room to dream about it's possible morphs. The bear however has potential, as mentioned in the Morrowind Announcement Event, this bear shares the buffs that you give to your allies, or an ally can give to you. It can be healed to increase its longevity, which means there's no timer on this bear allowing steady DPS and a constant threat against the enemy in groups.

The Warden is split up into three perfect skills lines, the tanking, the healing, and the damage that in my eyes makes the Warden fit perfectly well for a class that's hidden paywall. It's roles are flexible, and cannot possible throw anything into disarray unless upcoming items and current item sets allow the Warden to be the superior choice.

Discuses the possibilities of the Warden in our current meta below, do you believe that the Warden is a over powered, underwhelming, or just balanced enough to make a difference.

Baconlad

Will be balanced in time. Im sure just like the templar that things will APPEAR OP (massive AOE heal with 2 second cast time/ backlash/ rememberance) , these skill s are accually debatably extremely situational, and the same will absolutely apply here. The only thing that i hope is that the class is more mobile than templar XD

AzuraKin

cowsayUshi wrote: »

This thread is purely speculation and should be treated like so. All thoughts below in the original post and comments should pertain on this image published on an Xbox Magazine Article detailing the base skills of the Warden class.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, we can confirm that the information here is real. It's a scan from OXM (Official Xbox Magazine) that was just released last week.

Winter's Embrace

Polar Wind

Blast friends with soothing healing over time or strike at foes with nasty frost damage.

We see this debut in the Morrowind cinematic trailer dealing "nasty" damage hurling the Dwemer Sphere back, whether or not a knock back would be applied to a morph or the base skill, I think it's safe to say that this ability will stay single target, such as the Dragon Knight's Stone Fist ability. However, the argument could be made that it could have a AoE morph as you'll see sooner in other abilities the Warden shows a lack of AoE based moves.

Ice Fortress

An Icy shell over your torso with this skill and you'll get a meaty buff to your armor rating

The language might be confusing at first if you read the Crystallized Shield and the Ice Fortress abilities, but thankfully if cinematic trailer if it’s anything to go by, the ice Fortress ability could be compared to the Sorcerer's Bound Armor giving a buff to physical resistance, but directly affecting your armor rating so spell resistance could be included as well and Obsidian Shield being only temporary.
For a morph, I would like to see additions to making it more of mess to deal with, such as slowing melee enemies attack speed once in contact, or deal small AoE damage while it's up.

Impaling Shards

Activates a snare so that you can yank to your heart's content

When coming across even the name of this ability, my mind jumped to the Templar Aedric Spear nerf and thought to myself "So that's where oyr ability went", however instead of being a stun the Warden has a snare, which implies being a two-part ability as the enemy from my understanding must first be hit by this shard to be snared and then activated again to be "yanked". This ability sounds really underwhelming at first, and even compared to the upcoming ability Frozen Device, but the freedom of impaling shards allows the user to move them to your "heart's content", shows it’s uselessness in PvE, but in PvP the number of shenanigans in store for this class will be humiliating to those ensnared by this shard, being tossed around being impaled after another.

Crystallized Shield

Summons exactly what you think it would, Buffing your armor

Again, another ability that was showcased in the Morrowind trailer that we get to utilize, thank you ZeniMax for having the trailer reach our in-game expectations, at least on paper.
This shield would server to be a separate entity from the player, where not only we get a shield that hopefully takes a bit a damage from ranged attacks in PvE but also gives us a buff, which if it's anything like Rune Focus, we'll be able to weave in and out of this shield to refresh our armor bonus
For a morph, I would like to see some use in this in PvE, having it soak up some projectile damage if the target they're aiming at is happens to be right behind this ability. Would this be too much? Having reflective scales with Dragon Knights, and Guard in the One-Handed & Shield ability.

Frozen Device

Drop this rune onto the ground and any enemies that step on it will be teleported to you

All Dragon Chain users shook in the frozen utilities that this ability provides. Like Fire Rune in the Mage Guild, I bet this would be an AoE teleport allowing to move more enemies into a pile to allow your teammates the breathing room and the damage dealing opportunities to wipe the floor. This ability was incredibly unexpected in the Warden's kit, and I imagine to be incredibly annoying in PvP to zergs wishing to storm your Keep only to be teleported in an unintended location, or those too blind to see the icy sigil in their path.
I would imagine to see a very small radius to which the Warden can move where the rune can be active to prevent this abuse. For morphs, more an addition of more crowd control to seal the deal when one is teleported, such as a slow or an off balance.

Ultimate: Sleet Storm

Covers a large area and buffs any part members caught in the blast with protection... It also deals spikes of damage on enemies in the blast zone

The move seen in the trailer that finished them all, Sleet storm is our ultimate for this tree allowing damage and utility with its addition of buffing allies, although not with armor, but a damage shield as the writer chose to use the word “protection” instead of armor. This ultimate was most likely made to compete with abilities such as Dragon Standard, or the more relatable Dawn's Wrath ability: Solar Prison.
Morphs will most likely go down two simple routes, one producing more damage and another giving it more utility

The Winter Embrace set is surprisingly effective, with its other class based skills to go over, on paper the Warden sounds like a viable tank in any raid and dungeon that can probably go places Templar tanks wouldn't dare to dream. The amount of team supporting in this build is a great touch as well, as to be expected in a class based off a Druid, having more team supporting skills than the Dragonknight's Earthen Heart skill line, The Warden makes a great in-between in this games current tanking meta of Templar and Dragonknight heroes, and this is going in blind to the possible sets to be released into Morrowind.


Green Balance

Fungal Growth

Heal Friends in a cone in front of you

The immediate heal that the Warden needs to rival against a Templar, although this is target based having a skill that instantly heals in an expanding cone is perfect for a well set up team and cluster group up in trials. I cannot possible imagine a morph that will make this unique, you can have it restore resources or give to buff allies, but this would be more like combat prayer, unless that's ZeniMax's intention.

Healing Seed

Flora that grows will steadily heal nearby buds over time

The AoE over time heal of the Warden, healing seed will primarily be focused on the quick spamming ability to get cheap and effective heals such as Grand Healing. Although with the master Restoration staff giving stamina resources to those under Grand Healing I cannot imagine this being the go to ability unless its morphs push for resources or once again, or cleansing a team of de-buffs.

Living Vines

Seeks out the team member with the lowest health for a dose of life juice

The Warden's second instant heal ability, the terminology used this article could imply that the vines might have quite long animation being from the player casting the spell to the ally that desperately needs it's "dose of life juice". And it's because of this possible gap between cast and actual healing being done, I cannot imagine this ability to be used very often unless it's given impressive morphs.

Green Lotus

Blooming flower visual effect... powerful damage buff

The focus on buffing a group is the idea of having a Warden in a raid or a dungeon, and this ability until we understand how it's going to be cast might be the Warden's Combat Prayer. Not giving the health that combat prayer bestows might make Combat prayer's two in one deal more attractive to dungeon crawlers.

Nature's Grasp

This skill pulls you direct to them for timely lifesaving

This ability ties in the Winter Embrace and Green Balance tree together oh so well when thinking from a healer's standpoint. Often not as mobile as their damage dealing counter parts, the healer is left behind in most groups unless acting first and thinking last charging into enemies. This ability brings the mobility to the healer that no class can effectively utilize, with the synergy of Crystallized Shield and reading my ideas on what this ability might do, a healer will be able to jump to an allies’ aid and block attacks, give a buff, and easily heal anyone they jump to.

Ultimate: Secluded Grove

See trees slowly grow in a circle around you for a huge health rejuvenating heals for any friends milling about inside

Although the somewhat juvenile appealing to a younger audience, this one was worded just the way I need to get psyched about a healing ultimate, often swapping in more utility, silencing, and damage reduction. The addition of "milling about inside" imply that there's an outside (obviously) that will inaccessible from those who don't happen to be in the slowly emerging tree arena. Not only could this be used in protecting a group of stacked teammates this is an ability that can, with perfect synergy might trap groups of players in a thunderdome of your own. The uses of the ability this beautiful and would love to see it use in that way in Cyrodiil.

The perfect healer needed to drive apart the Templar healing meta with their passive AoE cleanse and instant casting bursts of rejuvenation, the Warden as expected is the perfect runner up for the ideal classes to have in your party. However, I would like to see more restoring resource abilities and some de-buffs to be applied to enemies that come within our sphere of influence

Animal Companion

Cliff Racer

These haranguing beasties were the scourge of our existence. Now they are our spike damage dealing beasties

I'll come back and give my thoughts on this ability once I stop laughing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYG0YWdkSKI

Subterranean Assault

Summon an underground Haj Mota and it'll arc forward in a stunning line of hurt

When I take in the idea of "stunning line" this might be an ability that passes through units, dealing damage that stand in its path.

Growing Swarm

Fletcher Flies...You send them after so just picture bees and you're on the right track

Bull Netch

Activate this and a floating Bull Netch will hover by your side recovering your stamina

Brid of Prey

This skill increases movement speed

Wild Guardian

This wild bear will stick with you until death. We're told to expect a streamlined control system which allows us to command it to attack things on our behalf

Morphs:
Automatically Resummons
Able to cast other abilities

I apologize for the lack of thoughts on this skill tree, but it's the simplest by far. With quotes that describe them well enough that there's only room to dream about it's possible morphs. The bear however has potential, as mentioned in the Morrowind Announcement Event, this bear shares the buffs that you give to your allies, or an ally can give to you. It can be healed to increase its longevity, which means there's no timer on this bear allowing steady DPS and a constant threat against the enemy in groups.

The Warden is split up into three perfect skills lines, the tanking, the healing, and the damage that in my eyes makes the Warden fit perfectly well for a class that's hidden paywall. It's roles are flexible, and cannot possible throw anything into disarray unless upcoming items and current item sets allow the Warden to be the superior choice.

Discuses the possibilities of the Warden in our current meta below, do you believe that the Warden is a over powered, underwhelming, or just balanced enough to make a difference.

what you mean to say is, it will have the damage output of any nb or sorc dps, the healing output of any templar or nb, and the tankiness of any templar or dk with the pet utility of a sorc as well. in other words, get rid of your nb, get rid of your templar, get rid of your dk, get rid of your sorc, become a warden and play as if you are all 4 of them. all thier strenths, none of thier weakness' all hail the age of warden where no other class is worth playing because warden will have all thier unique strengths.

Nonpoint

Every expansion class in the history of any game was totally OP when it dropped so that people will buy the expansion/class, etc...

Once the income from purchases slows down and the complaining on the forums peaks, the class will get some kind of balance patch.

AzuraKin

Nonpoint wrote: »

Every expansion class in the history of any game was totally OP when it dropped so that people will buy the expansion/class, etc...

Once the income from purchases slows down and the complaining on the forums peaks, the class will get some kind of balance patch.

ye, well if i wanted to play a game where new classes were add every x months, i would play wow. oh wait i playing eso not wow, so obviously games that come out with new classes that negate need/use/uniqueness of older classes are a huge turn off. its one of the things i love about wizard101 still, 8+ years, not one new class.

cowsayUshi

Baconlad wrote: »

The only thing that i hope is that the class is more mobile than templar XD

With the ability "Nature's Grasp" it sounds the Warden will have the mobility to weave through enemies to get to an ally. And "Bird of Prey" for additional movement speed, so without of doubt we're more moblie than a Templar.

AzuraKin wrote: »

what you mean to say is, it will have the damage output of any nb or sorc dps

We're unaware what most of these abilities deal in damage, range or radius, and how much they cost. I'm interested in what makes you think that this could be stronger than those two classes.

AzuraKin wrote: »

The healing output of any templar or nb

Nightblade, sure. What's to expect from a class with a dedicated healing skill line, but as strong as a Templar? I cannot agree. The Warden has the same amount of healing abilities the Templar has, and more desirable with an instant cast heal that doesn't need to be targeted has always been the staple of the Templar and not only they Repentance provides God-like health and stamina recovery with no cost. And restoration staff skills that sound more appealing because of our current set of morphs and items. We'll have to wait until we get some details on morphs and items to see if it's above a Templar.

AzuraKin wrote: »

tankiness or dk with the pet utility of a sorc as well.

Though I imagined the Warden to have all abilities in the Animal Companion tree to be combat pets, but however abilities like "bird of prey" is not a companion to summon, just an animal based ability. "Subterranean Assault" and might possibly "Growing Swarm" might also just be animal based.

Silver_Strider

Nonpoint wrote: »

Every expansion class in the history of any game was totally OP when it dropped so that people will buy the expansion/class, etc...

Once the income from purchases slows down and the complaining on the forums peaks, the class will get some kind of balance patch.

Tell that to Astrologian and Machinist from FFXIV.
Machinist was (and arguably still is) a worse Bard and Astrologian was for the longest time just called a discount White Mage with some RNG buffs.

Wolfchild07

Definitely looks like Warden will suit any role just fine, but that could be both it's strength AND it's weakness. We don't know yet. I was looking forward to a druid type class since launch. Even if they're underpowered, I don't care, I'm still gonna have 3 of them.

strikeback1247

AzuraKin wrote: »

cowsayUshi wrote: »

This thread is purely speculation and should be treated like so. All thoughts below in the original post and comments should pertain on this image published on an Xbox Magazine Article detailing the base skills of the Warden class.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, we can confirm that the information here is real. It's a scan from OXM (Official Xbox Magazine) that was just released last week.

Winter's Embrace

Polar Wind

Blast friends with soothing healing over time or strike at foes with nasty frost damage.

We see this debut in the Morrowind cinematic trailer dealing "nasty" damage hurling the Dwemer Sphere back, whether or not a knock back would be applied to a morph or the base skill, I think it's safe to say that this ability will stay single target, such as the Dragon Knight's Stone Fist ability. However, the argument could be made that it could have a AoE morph as you'll see sooner in other abilities the Warden shows a lack of AoE based moves.

Ice Fortress

An Icy shell over your torso with this skill and you'll get a meaty buff to your armor rating

The language might be confusing at first if you read the Crystallized Shield and the Ice Fortress abilities, but thankfully if cinematic trailer if it’s anything to go by, the ice Fortress ability could be compared to the Sorcerer's Bound Armor giving a buff to physical resistance, but directly affecting your armor rating so spell resistance could be included as well and Obsidian Shield being only temporary.
For a morph, I would like to see additions to making it more of mess to deal with, such as slowing melee enemies attack speed once in contact, or deal small AoE damage while it's up.

Impaling Shards

Activates a snare so that you can yank to your heart's content

When coming across even the name of this ability, my mind jumped to the Templar Aedric Spear nerf and thought to myself "So that's where oyr ability went", however instead of being a stun the Warden has a snare, which implies being a two-part ability as the enemy from my understanding must first be hit by this shard to be snared and then activated again to be "yanked". This ability sounds really underwhelming at first, and even compared to the upcoming ability Frozen Device, but the freedom of impaling shards allows the user to move them to your "heart's content", shows it’s uselessness in PvE, but in PvP the number of shenanigans in store for this class will be humiliating to those ensnared by this shard, being tossed around being impaled after another.

Crystallized Shield

Summons exactly what you think it would, Buffing your armor

Again, another ability that was showcased in the Morrowind trailer that we get to utilize, thank you ZeniMax for having the trailer reach our in-game expectations, at least on paper.
This shield would server to be a separate entity from the player, where not only we get a shield that hopefully takes a bit a damage from ranged attacks in PvE but also gives us a buff, which if it's anything like Rune Focus, we'll be able to weave in and out of this shield to refresh our armor bonus
For a morph, I would like to see some use in this in PvE, having it soak up some projectile damage if the target they're aiming at is happens to be right behind this ability. Would this be too much? Having reflective scales with Dragon Knights, and Guard in the One-Handed & Shield ability.

Frozen Device

Drop this rune onto the ground and any enemies that step on it will be teleported to you

All Dragon Chain users shook in the frozen utilities that this ability provides. Like Fire Rune in the Mage Guild, I bet this would be an AoE teleport allowing to move more enemies into a pile to allow your teammates the breathing room and the damage dealing opportunities to wipe the floor. This ability was incredibly unexpected in the Warden's kit, and I imagine to be incredibly annoying in PvP to zergs wishing to storm your Keep only to be teleported in an unintended location, or those too blind to see the icy sigil in their path.
I would imagine to see a very small radius to which the Warden can move where the rune can be active to prevent this abuse. For morphs, more an addition of more crowd control to seal the deal when one is teleported, such as a slow or an off balance.

Ultimate: Sleet Storm

Covers a large area and buffs any part members caught in the blast with protection... It also deals spikes of damage on enemies in the blast zone

The move seen in the trailer that finished them all, Sleet storm is our ultimate for this tree allowing damage and utility with its addition of buffing allies, although not with armor, but a damage shield as the writer chose to use the word “protection” instead of armor. This ultimate was most likely made to compete with abilities such as Dragon Standard, or the more relatable Dawn's Wrath ability: Solar Prison.
Morphs will most likely go down two simple routes, one producing more damage and another giving it more utility

The Winter Embrace set is surprisingly effective, with its other class based skills to go over, on paper the Warden sounds like a viable tank in any raid and dungeon that can probably go places Templar tanks wouldn't dare to dream. The amount of team supporting in this build is a great touch as well, as to be expected in a class based off a Druid, having more team supporting skills than the Dragonknight's Earthen Heart skill line, The Warden makes a great in-between in this games current tanking meta of Templar and Dragonknight heroes, and this is going in blind to the possible sets to be released into Morrowind.


Green Balance

Fungal Growth

Heal Friends in a cone in front of you

The immediate heal that the Warden needs to rival against a Templar, although this is target based having a skill that instantly heals in an expanding cone is perfect for a well set up team and cluster group up in trials. I cannot possible imagine a morph that will make this unique, you can have it restore resources or give to buff allies, but this would be more like combat prayer, unless that's ZeniMax's intention.

Healing Seed

Flora that grows will steadily heal nearby buds over time

The AoE over time heal of the Warden, healing seed will primarily be focused on the quick spamming ability to get cheap and effective heals such as Grand Healing. Although with the master Restoration staff giving stamina resources to those under Grand Healing I cannot imagine this being the go to ability unless its morphs push for resources or once again, or cleansing a team of de-buffs.

Living Vines

Seeks out the team member with the lowest health for a dose of life juice

The Warden's second instant heal ability, the terminology used this article could imply that the vines might have quite long animation being from the player casting the spell to the ally that desperately needs it's "dose of life juice". And it's because of this possible gap between cast and actual healing being done, I cannot imagine this ability to be used very often unless it's given impressive morphs.

Green Lotus

Blooming flower visual effect... powerful damage buff

The focus on buffing a group is the idea of having a Warden in a raid or a dungeon, and this ability until we understand how it's going to be cast might be the Warden's Combat Prayer. Not giving the health that combat prayer bestows might make Combat prayer's two in one deal more attractive to dungeon crawlers.

Nature's Grasp

This skill pulls you direct to them for timely lifesaving

This ability ties in the Winter Embrace and Green Balance tree together oh so well when thinking from a healer's standpoint. Often not as mobile as their damage dealing counter parts, the healer is left behind in most groups unless acting first and thinking last charging into enemies. This ability brings the mobility to the healer that no class can effectively utilize, with the synergy of Crystallized Shield and reading my ideas on what this ability might do, a healer will be able to jump to an allies’ aid and block attacks, give a buff, and easily heal anyone they jump to.

Ultimate: Secluded Grove

See trees slowly grow in a circle around you for a huge health rejuvenating heals for any friends milling about inside

Although the somewhat juvenile appealing to a younger audience, this one was worded just the way I need to get psyched about a healing ultimate, often swapping in more utility, silencing, and damage reduction. The addition of "milling about inside" imply that there's an outside (obviously) that will inaccessible from those who don't happen to be in the slowly emerging tree arena. Not only could this be used in protecting a group of stacked teammates this is an ability that can, with perfect synergy might trap groups of players in a thunderdome of your own. The uses of the ability this beautiful and would love to see it use in that way in Cyrodiil.

The perfect healer needed to drive apart the Templar healing meta with their passive AoE cleanse and instant casting bursts of rejuvenation, the Warden as expected is the perfect runner up for the ideal classes to have in your party. However, I would like to see more restoring resource abilities and some de-buffs to be applied to enemies that come within our sphere of influence

Animal Companion

Cliff Racer

These haranguing beasties were the scourge of our existence. Now they are our spike damage dealing beasties

I'll come back and give my thoughts on this ability once I stop laughing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYG0YWdkSKI

Subterranean Assault

Summon an underground Haj Mota and it'll arc forward in a stunning line of hurt

When I take in the idea of "stunning line" this might be an ability that passes through units, dealing damage that stand in its path.

Growing Swarm

Fletcher Flies...You send them after so just picture bees and you're on the right track

Bull Netch

Activate this and a floating Bull Netch will hover by your side recovering your stamina

Brid of Prey

This skill increases movement speed

Wild Guardian

This wild bear will stick with you until death. We're told to expect a streamlined control system which allows us to command it to attack things on our behalf

Morphs:
Automatically Resummons
Able to cast other abilities

I apologize for the lack of thoughts on this skill tree, but it's the simplest by far. With quotes that describe them well enough that there's only room to dream about it's possible morphs. The bear however has potential, as mentioned in the Morrowind Announcement Event, this bear shares the buffs that you give to your allies, or an ally can give to you. It can be healed to increase its longevity, which means there's no timer on this bear allowing steady DPS and a constant threat against the enemy in groups.

The Warden is split up into three perfect skills lines, the tanking, the healing, and the damage that in my eyes makes the Warden fit perfectly well for a class that's hidden paywall. It's roles are flexible, and cannot possible throw anything into disarray unless upcoming items and current item sets allow the Warden to be the superior choice.

Discuses the possibilities of the Warden in our current meta below, do you believe that the Warden is a over powered, underwhelming, or just balanced enough to make a difference.

what you mean to say is, it will have the damage output of any nb or sorc dps, the healing output of any templar or nb, and the tankiness of any templar or dk with the pet utility of a sorc as well. in other words, get rid of your nb, get rid of your templar, get rid of your dk, get rid of your sorc, become a warden and play as if you are all 4 of them. all thier strenths, none of thier weakness' all hail the age of warden where no other class is worth playing because warden will have all thier unique strengths.

>Has only seen the names of the abilities with very short descriptions:
>"DITCH ALL OTHER CLASSES, THE WARDEN OVERLORDS WILL BE HERE SOON! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE AGAINST THE NEW WARDEN GODS. Nightblade cloak? USELESS! Sorc shields? USELESS! DK tanks? USELESS! Templar healers? ABSOLUTELY USELEEEEESS!!!!!!11"

- The average ESO forum user

Anhedonie

First half of a year the Warden will be OP, but they will balance him out. And I hope that they will balance him, not nerf him into useless pile.

Frost skills don't look viable for damage tbh, I think Animal Companion line will take place of damage tree. Probably, a lot of magical/bleed damage. But I really care only for healing tree to be honest. I alway loved classes that can cast a lot of heal over time effects and provide buffs/resources to party.
Zenimax shouldn't forget that the more complex rotation you have, the less amount of magicka skills should cost. Templar can restore to full health in one cast. The Warden, probably, will need to keep 3-5 hots on a target at the same time to keep its health full. Kinda the reason why mDK suffer from sustain issues right now - just replace hots with dots.



Also, any lore behind wardens? I wonder how reasonable altmer-warden combo would be.

Dasovaruilos

I think from what we know so far that the Warden is aimed directly at the off-tank/support role. It won't take DK's place as the class for tanking or Templar's place as the class for healing, but it will replace DK/Templar as off-tank.

My guess is that Warden will be OP for the first 6 or so months. No amount of internal testing can reproduce the stress people will put on the class when it comes live. And for marketing purposes it NEEDS to be shine, powerful and relevant so people will want it and buy the chapter.

I would also bet that the new Trial and a few of the new dungeons will have a few mechanics that will make everyone think "man, we need a Warden here to do X and Y".

In a lower level then high end trials, I believe Warden CAN be the ultime tank/heal for dungeons. I've seen people try with Templars and NB but it is never as good as I expected. My bet is that the Warden, in the hands of a good player, will make 1 Support (Heal/Tank mix) / 3 DPSs even more a thing.

Lynx7386

Anhedonie wrote: »

Also, any lore behind wardens? I wonder how reasonable altmer-warden combo would be.

Have you done the greenshade quest line for the dominion? An altmer girl who was born with an ability to control nature and the land becomes the wilderqueen.

cowsayUshi

Anhedonie wrote: »

Frost skills don't look viable for damage tbh, I think Animal Companion line will take place of damage tree. Probably, a lot of magical/bleed damage.

The only damaging skills in Winter's Embrace are Polar Wind and Sleet Storm. Polar wind probably being only single target, hopefully they'll get an AoE morph similar to Reflective Light or Solar Barrage. As mentioned before Sleet Storm will become this classes Nova, dealing OK damage but solely used for it's utility.

The Animal Companion skill doesn't sound like it has much AoE, unless growing swarm is a literal group of expanding Fletcher Flies that increase in damage and radius.

cowsayUshi

cowsayUshi wrote: »

Though I imagined the Warden to have all abilities in the Animal Companion tree to be combat pets, but however abilities like "bird of prey" is not a companion to summon, just an animal based ability. "Subterranean Assault" and might possibly "Growing Swarm" might also just be animal based.

It looks to be true in the most recent trailer for Morrowind we see the Warden use the Cliff Racer ability, and instead of being a combat pet it's just an animal based attack. So as of right now, the Warden is not surpassing the Sorcerer in anyway in pet utility.

Anti_Virus

cowsayUshi wrote: »

cowsayUshi wrote: »

Though I imagined the Warden to have all abilities in the Animal Companion tree to be combat pets, but however abilities like "bird of prey" is not a companion to summon, just an animal based ability. "Subterranean Assault" and might possibly "Growing Swarm" might also just be animal based.

It looks to be true in the most recent trailer for Morrowind we see the Warden use the Cliff Racer ability, and instead of being a combat pet it's just an animal based attack. So as of right now, the Warden is not surpassing the Sorcerer in anyway in pet utility.

Animal companion skill line will supplement Bow players according to Rich Lambert, they will have lots of ranged stamina abilities The cliff racer will probably be one of them.

cowsayUshi

A new quote from the Tales of Tamriel Episode 135, where this interesting tidbit came up about the balance of the Warden and they had this to say.:

How is going to affect game balance? How does the Warden fit in relative to the other four classes?

“It fits not only to the player fantasy of having a ranger/druid, but it’s a different style in the style that’s it’s more of a support style, like it’s got a healing, armor and such… and obvious damage from the animal line.”

“Classes is really just through skill line, there’s ton of other skill lines you can mix and match already, and so we already have that mindset when we’re balancing, so yes we’re adding three new skills lines with this, and we’re wary of that but it’s not a giant leap ahead in balance problems”

cowsayUshi

List of the Warden skills from leaked images of the all passives, abilities and a few that have been morphed. Check them out.