Pts 3.2.2 magblade megathread

CavalryPK

This post is regarding the new magblade changes primarily the shadow image and merciless resolve.

Shadow image:
I spent few hours in pts. Testing shadow image across various terrain. I am pleased to report that out of 200 ish uses non of them failed. I hope you guys experience the same.

Another cool aspect of the skill is that if you go out of range the skill button will change letting you know that you are out of range and port will not happen and shade will recast. Once you go back in to range the skill button will change again letting you know you can port to your shade.


Merciless resolve.
This is qol change I find it very convenient I cannot tell you how many times I messed up my bow because I hit the button before my final light attack hit the target. Overall I love this change. I am worried tho that this change made magblade an easier class to play therefore more magblade will be out and about. I guess I don't feel unique and cool anymore. Jk would love to see more lizard wizards out there.

Since you keep your la stacks throughout the fight.. I noticed that stamblades would be able to add the spectral bow in to their burst combo more often.. which is nice for them but man.... painfully for their opponents since they already 2/3 shot ppl anyways.

What do you guys think ?

Subversus

Here's what I think of the new change: IT WAS NOT NEEDED. Magblade was in a fine place, both in top tier PvP and in PvE. All these buffs will ultimately lead to people complaining, then the inevitable mega nerfs into the ground. Magblade was in the best place it's been on in years, I don't get why they have to add all these damn changes nobody ever asks for.

Edit: also, the new change makes magblade even more ez mode than it was when they dumbed it down with morrowind. They slowly strip away all class identity, it wouldn't surprise me if soon they'll just make the merciless bow fire automatically. Stupid.

geonsocal

I'm with you - definitely appreciate the change on proccing from grim focus...

my stamblade uses relentless focus (tried merciless resolve on my magblade, but, could never get it to really work)...

even though the icon changes when it's ready to proc - still have a bad habit of hitting the skill to soon...

NightbladeMechanics

Shade fix is good to hear.

Merciless change is interestingly going to lower the skill floor and raise the ceiling. On the one hand, bad mageblades who mess up their weaving will enjoy not being punished for being bad. On the other hand, good mageblades will be able to refresh Merciless' duration closer toward its end and carry over the light attack weaves since firing their last proc, accelerating their offensive tempo. I hope ZOS sees this one coming.

kaithuzar

I'm just happy shade is finally in a better place

NyassaV

Merciless has a nasty bug which can be seen by watching Gilliamtherogue's stream from yesterday. Basically have to wait an entire second before firing the bow

LiquidPony

Subversus wrote: »

Here's what I think of the new change: IT WAS NOT NEEDED. Magblade was in a fine place, both in top tier PvP and in PvE. All these buffs will ultimately lead to people complaining, then the inevitable mega nerfs into the ground. Magblade was in the best place it's been on in years, I don't get why they have to add all these damn changes nobody ever asks for.

Edit: also, the new change makes magblade even more ez mode than it was when they dumbed it down with morrowind. They slowly strip away all class identity, it wouldn't surprise me if soon they'll just make the merciless bow fire automatically. Stupid.

I'm not sure how much of a "buff" the Grim Focus change really is.

Doesn't seem like it's going to raise the ceiling for top-end players very much, at least, not in the PTS testing I was able to do yesterday on my magblade and stamblade.

It's a buff for players who currently aren't able to proc the bow as often as they should, sure, but that's not much of a big deal. It's been a bit strange for a while that a magblade/stamblade has to put together some crazy complex rotation to achieve the same DPS as a magsorc/stamsorc or stamDK who mostly just Heavy Attack --> DoT --> Heavy Attack --> DoT ... etc.

NyassaV

LiquidPony wrote: »

Subversus wrote: »

Here's what I think of the new change: IT WAS NOT NEEDED. Magblade was in a fine place, both in top tier PvP and in PvE. All these buffs will ultimately lead to people complaining, then the inevitable mega nerfs into the ground. Magblade was in the best place it's been on in years, I don't get why they have to add all these damn changes nobody ever asks for.

Edit: also, the new change makes magblade even more ez mode than it was when they dumbed it down with morrowind. They slowly strip away all class identity, it wouldn't surprise me if soon they'll just make the merciless bow fire automatically. Stupid.

I'm not sure how much of a "buff" the Grim Focus change really is.

Doesn't seem like it's going to raise the ceiling for top-end players very much, at least, not in the PTS testing I was able to do yesterday on my magblade and stamblade.

It's a buff for players who currently aren't able to proc the bow as often as they should, sure, but that's not much of a big deal. It's been a bit strange for a while that a magblade/stamblade has to put together some crazy complex rotation to achieve the same DPS as a magsorc/stamsorc or stamDK who mostly just Heavy Attack --> DoT --> Heavy Attack --> DoT ... etc.

It isn't a buff It's a QoL change

This way I don't strain a muscle trying to use grim

Jitterbug

Subversus wrote: »

Here's what I think of the new change: IT WAS NOT NEEDED. Magblade was in a fine place, both in top tier PvP and in PvE. All these buffs will ultimately lead to people complaining, then the inevitable mega nerfs into the ground. Magblade was in the best place it's been on in years, I don't get why they have to add all these damn changes nobody ever asks for.

Edit: also, the new change makes magblade even more ez mode than it was when they dumbed it down with morrowind. They slowly strip away all class identity, it wouldn't surprise me if soon they'll just make the merciless bow fire automatically. Stupid.

I enjoy Very Much seeing ez mode and magblade in the same sentence.

Arrchangell

I still don't get why people think it's a huge buff for merciless resolve, on the PVE it just "buffs" the lower dps players cause of more forgiving rotation, the high end people already have mostly perfect rotation so no difference to them. In PVP while ganking this does absolutely nothing, u still need to initiate a fight first to get stacks.

rustic_potato

Subversus wrote: »

Here's what I think of the new change: IT WAS NOT NEEDED. Magblade was in a fine place, both in top tier PvP and in PvE. All these buffs will ultimately lead to people complaining, then the inevitable mega nerfs into the ground. Magblade was in the best place it's been on in years, I don't get why they have to add all these damn changes nobody ever asks for.

Edit: also, the new change makes magblade even more ez mode than it was when they dumbed it down with morrowind. They slowly strip away all class identity, it wouldn't surprise me if soon they'll just make the merciless bow fire automatically. Stupid.

Bow firing automatically would be overpowered af. Means it would be separate from the skill GCD translates to more DPS in PVE and more burst in PVE.

Arrchangell wrote: »

I still don't get why people think it's a huge buff for merciless resolve, on the PVE it just "buffs" the lower dps players cause of more forgiving rotation, the high end people already have mostly perfect rotation so no difference to them. In PVP while ganking this does absolutely nothing, u still need to initiate a fight first to get stacks.

PVE mNB rotation is all sorts of messed up if you are looking to push for max DPS. After the 3rd bow there are times you will be able to get upto 3 stacks before the buff runs out (you can miss upto 2-3 light attacks and still get 3 bows depending on ping). This change would mean every 2 casts you get an additional bow proc if you are perfect with weaves and animation cancels.

I personally was able to get an extra bow every 3 casts. Could push for every 2 casts with perfect timing.

So for the PVE mNBs out there this is a buff to the ceiling. With the nerf to off balance I can see mNB outdpsing some stam classes pretty easily.

technohic

Glad to hear Shadow Image is fixed. Will be nice to be able to count on it again rather than wonder if I should just do without it.

mb10

Thanks for the update for us console players, hopefully thats the end of the shadow image problems...

I personally think magblade is in a healthy state now and will only need changes to one or two skills but everything really is fine.

Its in a good place ZOS

ecru

Subversus wrote: »

Here's what I think of the new change: IT WAS NOT NEEDED. Magblade was in a fine place, both in top tier PvP and in PvE. All these buffs will ultimately lead to people complaining, then the inevitable mega nerfs into the ground. Magblade was in the best place it's been on in years, I don't get why they have to add all these damn changes nobody ever asks for.

Edit: also, the new change makes magblade even more ez mode than it was when they dumbed it down with morrowind. They slowly strip away all class identity, it wouldn't surprise me if soon they'll just make the merciless bow fire automatically. Stupid.

You're really, really wrong IMO. Lag and broken animations shouldn't be a factor in whether you waste 4 stacks of merciless resolve or whether you get the proc. It wasn't fine. Magnb abilities should work consistent with all other abilities for all other classes in the game, but they do not.

In fact, magnb still isn't fine. The animation for various magnb abilities (funnel health for example) still prevents proper light attack weaving. If you receive the visual cue that your light attack went off by seeing the animation after funnel health, you should actually use a light attack, but this isn't the case. The animation of funnel health is still broken, and needs to be fixed. I believe the problem is caused by the animation itself just being too long, although I'm not positive.

You might suggest that these are changes "no one asks for", but everyone I know in game who plays magnb does not enjoy wonky/broken animation interactions or losing stacks because of lag/inconsistencies in the way abilities interact.

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

Merciless change is interestingly going to lower the skill floor and raise the ceiling. On the one hand, bad mageblades who mess up their weaving will enjoy not being punished for being bad.

It's not about "being bad". Hitting a light attack 100ms earlier than you did the previous light attack and not using a light attack even though you see the animation should not be a determining factor in your dps. It's inconsistent with the way that every other class is played. If you see a light attack animation, a light attack should go off, and you should receive a stack of merciless resolve, EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Instead, one mistake or one lag spike and woops, you've wasted 4 stacks. When you're racing the countdown of merciless resolve, this is a huge annoyance. On top of this, your framerate in game is inversely proportional to your input lag, so a lag spike does not have to just be a latency issue, it can be an issue with your framerate too, which causes discrepancies between the timing of your rotation while you are dummy parsing and in an actual raid setting.

usmcjdking

I think this change is a massive QOL fix for magblades but it also puts Grim Focus into stupidly abusive territory for PVP. A mediocre base damage nerf 6-10% is not uncalled for if this change goes to live.

Twohothardware

I think they completely took all skill out of the Merciless Resolve ability and therefore need to adjust the damage to reflect that if they're going to leave it as is. I'm okay with the change to where it doesn't refresh the number of light attacks needed every time you activate the skill again but you should still have to land those light attacks within 20 or 30 seconds of each other.

Completely removing the time limit not only makes it too easy to proc since anyone can land 7 light/heavy attacks if they have a couple of minutes to do it and it allows a skilled player to land 6 light attacks and then just wait until they get the opponent low on health before they do the last light attack to get a huge burst of damage between the Spectral bow and an execute or Ult.

The skill with a Magblade right now is timing the Spectral bow and sometimes having to fire it a few times before you finally line up that perfect burst combo. Now you can just wait forever to use it since it doesn't run out until you're out of combat. The change really makes no sense.

Calboy

The merciless change is very welcomed. However, mark my words that this will be the change that leads to an over nerf in the future so have fun while it lasts.

NyassaV

usmcjdking wrote: »

I think this change is a massive QOL fix for magblades but it also puts Grim Focus into stupidly abusive territory for PVP. A mediocre base damage nerf 6-10% is not uncalled for if this change goes to live.

As long as being in/out of combat and keeping/loosing stacks actually work, it should be ok

Qbiken

Shade fix was nice.

Merciless change not needed. Why buff a class that´s already #1 when it comes to range DPS???? I don´t see the logic...

olsborg

Shadow image will be a welcome fix. Would also like to know if they have a fix planned for cloak (breaking on light atks)

Trashs1

as i said preveously

you pve guys with your perfect rota might not need that change on mercyless resolve but if u suffer in cryo big lag spikes and cant get sometimes even 1 bow off you will be grateful for that QoL improvement

pvp isnt about rota its about acting and reacting... thats a verry different game. You @CavalryPK should know this well too since u are a known pvp mblade

Turelus

Has anyone tested to see if the port to someone else shade works if theirs is in range but yours isn't?

That little "feature" has allowed for some very sneaky gameplay in the past.

Lord_Eomer

Love Grim Focus change, was always having difficulty proc this.

Shade changes is also nice, overall good changes for NB

Lord_Eomer

Qbiken wrote: »

Shade fix was nice.

Merciless change not needed. Why buff a class that´s already #1 when it comes to range DPS???? I don´t see the logic...

Merciless change is very good as previously many players found very difficult to proc. They may reduce some damage but it has to be this way.

Ragnaroek93

I think the change is good (better for open world) but the number of light attacks required should be increased up to 6 to make sure that the skill won't be overperforming, nightblade didn't need any buffs in my honest opinion.

CavalryPK wrote: »

Jk would love to see more lizard wizards out there.

Oh dude, no

Subversus

Ragnaroek93 wrote: »

I think the change is good (better for open world) but the number of light attacks required should be increased up to 6 to make sure that the skill won't be overperforming, nightblade didn't need any buffs in my honest opinion.

CavalryPK wrote: »

Jk would love to see more lizard wizards out there.

Oh dude, no

Sad but true though, if you don't play an argonian on a magblade you're gimping yourself. There's nothing more to it but that.

technohic

Has anyone tested the merciless resolve change? Refreshing while already up sounds like no big deal at all. I think the real concern is after letting it expire and still keeping the stacks so long as you stay in combat is a concern; but what happens if you cloak? Does it consider that leaving combat and remove the stacks?

Might try to test myself later today if I get a chance.

Trashs1

technohic wrote: »

Has anyone tested the merciless resolve change? Refreshing while already up sounds like no big deal at all. I think the real concern is after letting it expire and still keeping the stacks so long as you stay in combat is a concern; but what happens if you cloak? Does it consider that leaving combat and remove the stacks?

Might try to test myself later today if I get a chance.

stacks stay but only 4 secs than they are gone. u also need to be still concerned about them although its not that hard anymore

technohic

Trashs1 wrote: »

technohic wrote: »

Has anyone tested the merciless resolve change? Refreshing while already up sounds like no big deal at all. I think the real concern is after letting it expire and still keeping the stacks so long as you stay in combat is a concern; but what happens if you cloak? Does it consider that leaving combat and remove the stacks?

Might try to test myself later today if I get a chance.

stacks stay but only 4 secs than they are gone. u also need to be still concerned about them although its not that hard anymore

Then I don't really see the big deal. Not much different from now where I can get my stacks up to 5, cloak out then open on a target. In 4 seconds, anyone Im going to hit is right there where I was already fighting. Now; if I could sit there and keep refreshing it while I sneak to gank someone off their horse well away from where there was fighting enough for me to build 5 LAs; then we'd have a problem.

That said; I do think it is enough to just refresh if pressed to early. That is QOL. Having it stay when you let the buff expire however; is unnecessary.

grannas211

Everyone rejoice in the fix of shade.

Blackleopardex

For the merciless change, it was a good one. It will be easier for new and unexp players to get the procs they need to have decent dps at the same time you still need to practice to really benefit from it. When it comes to endgame and experienced NB players it is a needed buff. Not because you could not get enough procs in one cast but because when you have boss mechanics to worry about(forcing you to block/dodge/shield). It was easy to loose that last proc and loosing that last proc is devastating. Just for the record I'm not talking about hitting the dummy I'm talking about combat like vet trials.