Magblades nerfed into Oblivion??? (Summerset)

arkansas_ESO

A lot of these changes are either nonimportant or a buff to magic NBs:

• Dark Cloak being made into a heal that scales off max health makes the morph useless to anybody that isn't a tank sucks, but if they fix Shadowy Disguise's guaranteed crit being consumed by DOTs (which hopefully they'll do) it'll be a non-issue.
• Shadow Image not requiring a target is a huge buff to mobility.
• The light/heavy attack changes are a buff to everybody, but if you stack max magic (necro NBs unite) it'll be a big damage buff.
• They've said they're changing Malevolent Offering to be a Breath of Life-like burst heal that costs 10% of your max health. Assuming it doesn't suck (would have to test it), this means NB won't be forced to run resto staff backbar for a burst heal any longer (which means you could, for example, run destro frontbar and 2H backbar for Forward Momentum to take full advantage of the light attacks buff.)
• Two-handed weapons counting as two item slots is a buff to every staff user, NB included.
• On-demand magicka Minor Force from the new Psjic skill line will be a buff if you can find room for it on your bar. It'll be a buff for bombblades in particular.

The only bad one is the Strife nerf, and it's less an issue of Strife itself now costing too much but rather the heal/damage component of it not being worth this new, much higher cost compared to what you'd gain from other options like Force Pulse. If they'd make it unreflectable, increase the base healing/make it's healing done it's own value as opposed to a percentage of damage done, allow Strife's individual ticks to crit again/make the HOT value not refresh each time it's cast but instead when it's value becomes higher, it'd still be worth slotting as a defensive counterpart to Force Pulse's pure damage.

Vapirko

In no way are magblade nerfed into oblivion. With staves and 2H counting as 2 set pieces they’re going to be stronger than ever maybe even boarding on op, we shall see.

Ectheliontnacil

A lot of people seem to be under the impression that buffs that apply to all classes and playstyles are buffs to magblades. This simply isn't true, as everyone benefits from light attack buffs and the psijic order skill line. It doesn't make magblades stronger in comparison to other classes.

Especially the buff to light attacks will make nbs using a 2h sword less effective! Yes, their light attacks get buffed slightly but they were hardly hitting for anything as it is. Magicka chars using staves and stamina chars using weapons will benefit from this change way more. 1h/s on mana builds might no longer be viable as well, if you miss out too much dmg.

And the strife nerf isn't something that can simply be fixed by dumping it for force pulse/crushing shock. Personally I like the way strife looks and using it makes me feel like a nightblade. Class skills should be more effective than the skills from weapon skill lines (hardened ward is larger and cheaper than harness, surprise attack hits harder than ransack, pigeons hit harder than shock...). If weapon skills are better than their class counterparts, every build will just slot the same generic skill setup and we might as well remove classes altogether.
There is no reason whatsoever that strife should be weaker than force pulse! Do not turn it into yet another useless skill. Wasn't it the purpose of these changes to increase build diversity???

Maryal

I really don't understand the strife nerf ... it makes little sense.

Most NB tanks are sap-tanks and sap-tanks need strife to be a low cost skill because it is a key spammable skill in the sap-tank rotation.

Magblades also need strife to be a low cost skill because it is a key spammable skill in their rotation, it deals decent damage and it heals ... which is why most magblades don't have to go around stacking shields like sorcs.

I don't get why the one skill that is such a 'key skill' to both magblades and sap-tanks is going to receive such an outrageous cost increase. Again, on paper it might sound decent, but the reality is completely different.

What about Dark Cloak? Okay, the change might sound nice on paper, but I don't think it will end up being very useful ... it scales off of max health. Sap-tanks are unique ... they don't spec into max health to be tanky ... for them it's all about a quick paced rotation that leaches health from their enemies (while doing damage).

With Morrowind we got a skill that took a chunk out of our health in order for us to cast a heal (and we all know how well that skill went over). Now, with Summerset it looks like we are getting another skills that heals us based on our max health? Let me ask you this ... what kind of NB specs into max health? I'll give you a hint: it's not sap-tanks, magblades or stamblades (although there are a few ganker builds that do).

So, please, 1.) don't raise the cost of strife, and 2.) don't have the (Dark Cloak) heal scale off of max health. Having a healing skill that scales off of max health will only end up reinforcing gank builds.

If, however, you have our healing skill (dark cloak) scale off of the highest of our max resource (= survivability), you may see more NBs opt for builds that are NOT ganking builds and fewer NBs going around cloaking.

cazlonb16_ESO

Maryal wrote: »

If, however, you have our healing skill (dark cloak) scale off of the highest of our max resource (= survivability), you may see more NBs opt for builds that are NOT ganking builds and fewer NBs going around cloaking

Actually that would almost certainly decrease the variety of builds people other than the very occasional oddball play even further. Who in their right mind would not stack max magicka ? We already have that exact problem with MagSorcs, there's little reason to expect different results when applying the same treatment to Nbs.

Joy_Division

Ectheliontnacil wrote: »

A lot of people seem to be under the impression that buffs that apply to all classes and playstyles are buffs to magblades. This simply isn't true, as everyone benefits from light attack buffs and the psijic order skill line. It doesn't make magblades stronger in comparison to other classes.

Context is always important and you're ignoring it just so you can claim your class is "nerfed in Oblivion."

If my class right now is walking around cyrodiil with 5/5/2 armor sets (and it is) fighting people with 4/5//2, then next patch I am going to be relatively weaker. Period. If that 5th set is Julianos, that's adding 300 base spell damage. That's an insane buff for anyone using a staff build (read just about all mag NBs, not many magplars). All those stam build running around with 2H/Bow (read stam NBs) are going to be freaking scary next patch.

Especially the buff to light attacks will make nbs using a 2h sword less effective! Yes, their light attacks get buffed slightly but they were hardly hitting for anything as it is. Magicka chars using staves and stamina chars using weapons will benefit from this change way more. 1h/s on mana builds might no longer be viable as well, if you miss out too much dmg.

So now you want to say context matters now and is a nerf? How many of these idiosyncratic 2H, 1H/S magblades are really running around there? How many 1H/S magplars are out there? It's not a contest.

I agree that Strife is practically pointless to use now, but nerfed into Oblivion? Not even close.

Ectheliontnacil

@Joy_Division

I never said context doesn't matter. It's true that the light attack buff won't just nerf 2h sword using magblades, also all magicka classes running 1h/s. But the fact remains that the majority of all classes will use weapon attacks that scale of their max resources (all stamina classes and magsorcs/ranged magblades). Therefore this is still a nerf to melee magblades.

The buff to 2h weapons is again a buff to all classes using staves, greatswords/axes/mauls and bows. And no doubt this will positively impact magblades, along with plenty of other builds! A majority of all playstyles use at least one 2h weapon and all of them get buffed. So this isn't a buff to nightblades specifically!

Marabornwingrion

joaaocaampos wrote: »

Where can I see that there's no more Minor Protection in Dark Cloak? Links, please! As far as I know, Dark Cloak will be a morph for tanks. So, there's no logic in removing such a buff. Again, links please!

It will heal instead.
All info is on Reddit.