I would like to use this post to talk about the current state of WW in eso and how to improve it going forward.
This will primarily concern pvp, where WW is struggling. I feel WW is in a much better place in PvE as I can do maelstrom and 4 man content fine on a WW, although letting WWs use synergies would be good.
WW advantages:
-fast (unique speed buff when transformed)
-most actions have multiple affects
-easy to get high max stam, weapon damage, resistances (unique stam, resist, weapon damage buffs)
-high burst damage, high damage from free light/heavy attacks + bleed
-best major defile in the game
-furthest gap closer in the game
-more heavy attack resource return
-ability to set enemies off balance easily(exploiter)
-more stam recovery
-pets that auto resummon
-can be used as any class to adjust play style
WW disadvantages:
-new resource bar(WW timer)
-high ability cost(if howl is dodged it is a huge hit)
-burst heals from magic(can be considered an advantage)
-no viable hot
-high ult cost
-pets don't resummon after character death
-one ability bar
-losses weapon passives
-take more damage from fighters guild abilities and poison
-cannot use synergies (more for PvE)
-cannot rez allies
Expanding on some of the points above:
WW is very fast, and while it is very powerful to use this, especially with major expedition, it is not as powerful as snares are in the current game and one stampede will have you basically motionless as a giant target. I tried warden + orc to see if this was better but was still too slowed to use the speed as an advantage without a cleanse available. This is fine but increases the WWs need for a reliable way to get health back when pushed to the defensive or a need for an escape for a chance recover.
Although WWs only have one ability bar, all 5 abilities have multiple effects. Even tho WWs have limited skills, every button press can accomplish more.
WWs have a verity of unique buffs that will stack with other available buffs in the game: 15% stam recovery, 9966 resistances, 18% weapon damage + 10% from hircine's rage, 30% max stam
WWs have a 7m aeo major defile. I feel this is one of the best skills in the game and a huge way WWs get kills. This skill being so effective in pvp is one of the reasons claws of life is not a viable HoT
WWs get a 100% more resources from heavy attacks, this lets us get stamina back very quickly if we can get heavy attacks off, which is difficult on a WW, especially without a HoT
WWs cannot use synergies. This feels out of place with the game when synergies are so important. As you don't ever see humans running with wolf packs, I don't feel adding this would really effect pvp in any meta way.
Claws of life is a very effective skill in PvE, it allows me to very comfortable do maelstrom without only relying on magic for healing. In PvP, it can be a reasonable heal, 1-2k every 2 sec if it is on 3-4 people, but the low duration and difficulty of keeping it up when being focused by 4 players makes this much less effective, especially when rebuffing the enemies healing is so effective this patch.
The burst heal from magic can be very strong, especially with pelinals and a decent magic pool. The problem with this heal, more so then its cost, is that to use it, which in our case is healing at all on a WW, we have to stop attacking and cast it. Stam build are very effective healing with vigor because they can play evasively while it ticks of even burst heal with rally while it ticks. The WW heal cannot be effectively used in the same way and there are not viable hots to combo it with so one person running a heavy dot build means you cant do anything but cast heal.
What fixes these issues best now: Hint: Be a tank
There are a few things that could help that I have found when making WWs with less damage and more sustainability. Although it was possibly to make a WW that I could more or less play like any class, the resulting loss in damage meant that a player running a normal ult could burst more effectively and although I could now heal in a comparable way to really vigor, I couldn't kill good players.
I was able to raise my suitability reasonably well with troll kings although this alone was not enough be able to make much of a difference outside of duels.
lich and prisoners both enabled very good sustainability although prisoners is easily countered with snares, roots and stuns which can be used to render it useless.
raise max health/resist to withstand burst
gottbeards pelinals WW is also sustainable but the bust heal off WW naturally favors a tank.
What can we do:
WW has seen a lot of progress with the addition of sets like pelinals and shacklebreaker, so adding more sets that would help with the hybridization of resources is definitely a good and proven way to buff WW while enabling other players.
WWs have also seens buffs from food. Dubious Camoran Throne and Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch can both work great with the right sets. Even the new Clockwork Citrus Filet looks interesting, adding an accompanying max health & recov/max stam & recov would definitely buff WW.
Another possible buff to WW that would enable other players is adding an accompanying magic recovery for the stam recovery of a WW, but this would obviously be too powerful compared to vamp so we can throw that out.
Give WW some way to counter play snare to make better use of speed.
An accompanying health recovery buff can be added to WW. This could get too strong so it could be added in the transformed state. This makes sense vamps lose recovery and health recovery now has a counterplay with defile. I feel this would work well with troll king on a WW without being too strong as our burst heal hits for 5k+, it will heal too much to proc troll king unless used intelligently.
Recap:
Buff WW with some combination of sets added, food added, or direct change to class passives, WW passives, or lesser used WW skill morphs. Let WWs use synergies. Let WWs rez players.
If anyone has thought or additions please add them below. Lets start a discussion to help zos make WW great again.
P.S. I have not talked about transforming into a WW for burst and gong back because I feel the risk reward compared to a high damage build using another ult isn't worth it.
Side note, fear used to take NBs out of stealth, The WW fear has a cast time and slows the caster. Without this mechanic it is nearly impossible to fight a good NB without a detect pot. Please consider putting this effect back on the WW fear as most NBs can avoid it anyway.
Edited by Rmmichael95 on November 26, 2017 3:06AM Masters of the Imperial Harem
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