PvE Ice Mage DPS - Do you want it be a viable/supported playstyle?

Vaoh

To be clear, I’m not suggesting any actual Ice Staff or Warden balance changes, or any specific balance changes in particular in this thread (though it’d obv be an Ice Staff Mag Warden that makes a viable Ice DPS viable).

I want to know if you’d like the Ice Mage DPS playstyle to exist and be seen *in PvE* as viable as any other type of DPS.

A lot of people like playing builds focused on specific elements or themes. These are the general themes of each PvE Magicka DPS:
Magicka Sorcerer -> Lightning/Daedric Mage DPS
Magicka Dragonknight -> Fire/Earth Mage DPS
Magicka Warden -> Ice/Nature Mage DPS
Magicka Templar -> Holy/Light Magic DPS
Magicka Nightblade -> Blood/Dark Magic DPS

Currently a PvE Magicka Warden playing as a “Ice Mage DPS” (as in a build that uses almost purely Ice Damage spells) is absolutely horrendous..... they are so bad at DPS compared to Fire/Lightning Mages it’s impossible to understand unless you’ve really tried it. You don’t even have nearly as many spells for Ice Damage to use when compared to what a Sorcerer has for Lightning Damage or a Dragonknight for Fire Damage.

So the question then is:
Do you want the PvE “Ice Mage DPS” playstyle to not be horrible compared to other element-specific builds (Fire Mage DPS builds, Lightning Mage DPS builds, etc)? Do you want it to be viable and supported?

Chaos2088

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

YES YES YES.......with a double YES!

FakeFox

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

I never understood the tank rework of frost staff. In my opinion they should rework it again to a DPS weapon with suitable passives and status effects. But I know it would make the frost staff tanks out there pretty disappointed, so I guess it is here to stay.

srfrogg23

Don’t care

As long as they don’t remove its tanking capabilities I’m fine with it doing more damage.

MLGProPlayer

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

Ultimately, I don't care. But it would be nice to have a bit more diversity.

White wabbit

Don’t care

srfrogg23 wrote: »

As long as they don’t remove its tanking capabilities I’m fine with it doing more damage.

They'd have tol it will just muck up dungeons if they didn't

Numerikuu

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

That's what I was originally hoping for with the Warden/ice staves, but yeah...

Why they changed ice staves to taunt/block costs magicka is beyond me, especially when one-handed & shield is leagues better for tanking. Sure, you can probably make some pretty unique yet niche builds with ice staves, but said builds/users are incredibly few and far between.

Sylosi

No, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should stay as is

Never get why people want the game more homogenised, less diverse, there is already fire and lighting for DPS, you don't need yet MOAR DPS with frost/ice also.

starkerealm

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

I really wish the frost staff taunt was on a morph, so you could choose to go that route or not.

FakeFox

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

srfrogg23 wrote: »

As long as they don’t remove its tanking capabilities I’m fine with it doing more damage.

They would have to in my opinion. First of all for balancing. And secondly because the tanking passives are a part of why it is not viable. You can't have you regen stopping when you blockcast and maim is crap for DDs as well. The passives and status effect need to boost damage and magicka sustain otherwise it will not work.

White wabbit

Don’t care

FakeFox wrote: »

srfrogg23 wrote: »

As long as they don’t remove its tanking capabilities I’m fine with it doing more damage.

They would have to in my opinion. First of all for balancing. And secondly because the tanking passives are a part of why it is not viable. You can't have you regen stopping when you blockcast and maim is crap for DDs as well. The passives and status effect need to boost damage and magicka sustain otherwise it will not work.

So all those that like tanking with an ice now have to suffer

Raraaku

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

Yes please.

kylewwefan

I tried. It was not good, and that that was likely only amplified by my own skill level with this type of build/ class being not good to start with. That was during the everything must be lightning damage meta though. Maybe it better now?

Korprok

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

at this point they should rework all the classes that has elemental skill lines (DK, Sorc, Warden) to be universal (fire/frost/lightning), meaning we should be able to chose to say play as Frost/Lightning Dragon Knight, Fire/Frost Sorcerer and Fire/Lightning Warden.

adriant1978

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

Getting really bored with fire and lightning and I have characters for whom ice would be such a better thematic fit.

srfrogg23

Don’t care

FakeFox wrote: »

srfrogg23 wrote: »

As long as they don’t remove its tanking capabilities I’m fine with it doing more damage.

They would have to in my opinion. First of all for balancing. And secondly because the tanking passives are a part of why it is not viable. You can't have you regen stopping when you blockcast and maim is crap for DDs as well. The passives and status effect need to boost damage and magicka sustain otherwise it will not work.

Maybe. With the way it’s currently setup it would be unbalanced, but I’m sure they could rework it so it’s not all tied to the staff. Maybe rearranging some passives and functionality so it’s tied to an armor type would work? I don’t know, they’re smart enough, I’m sure Zos could figure out how to make both work so everyone can get a bit more variety.

I’m a fan of magicka tanking, but if they can make it work, I’d like people to be able to play the ice-dps archetype too.

Uviryth

I want an Ice-Meleedps. Like the one in the Morrowind-Cinematic. (and no, that most definitely wasnt a Tank).

Kuramas9tails

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

I loved using my ice staff on my Mageblade....until ZOS changed it to taunt when you do a heavy attack.

Doctordarkspawn

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

Ice-staff tanking was a half-baked idea with near-worthless implimentation. It needs removed. It needs re-implimented as another weapon and refined, not left to rot like it is. Fix it, ESO. Admit this implimentation was wrong and remove it.

Kuwhar

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

Sylosi wrote: »

Never get why people want the game more homogenised, less diverse, there is already fire and lighting for DPS, you don't need yet MOAR DPS with frost/ice also.

How does making another element viable make things less diverse?

I want to do a frost mage myself, and i think the frost staff tanking should be reworked to make it more deliberate, so i can HA on a mage without drawing aggro.

Vercingetorix

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

ZoS should change the Chilled status to instead cause the enemy to be afflicted with Minor Breach (because they turn brittle, right?). This adds a dps utility to Cold damage that is similarly available from the other elements. If folks want to tank with magic, ZoS NEEDS to have a new weapon skill line dedicated to it, just like stamina does: an Alteration Staff skill line

Arobain

No, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should stay as is

people that vote yes here, havent actually made an ice mage, and have just looked on the forums and saw all the idiotic hate

Arobain

No, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should stay as is

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Ice-staff tanking was a half-baked idea with near-worthless implimentation. It needs removed. It needs re-implimented as another weapon and refined, not left to rot like it is. Fix it, ESO. Admit this implimentation was wrong and remove it.

why? it works, but you wouldnt know because you never tried

Arobain

No, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should stay as is

Kuramas9tails wrote: »

I loved using my ice staff on my Mageblade....until ZOS changed it to taunt when you do a heavy attack.

simple fix, dont get that passive

Arobain

No, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should stay as is

adriant1978 wrote: »

Getting really bored with fire and lightning and I have characters for whom ice would be such a better thematic fit.

no need to wait then, ice mage works perfectly fine! go out there and explore the builds

TheTwistedRune

Right. This explains a lot. I freely admit to knowing nothing about the meta and playing purely for the stories and immersion. So as I exclusively play solo I was beginning to wonder why complete strangers would occasionally ask the following if we crossed paths in delves or public dungeons and got into a conversation or whatever.

Stranger: "Are you using an ice staff?"

Me: "Yep."

Stranger: "Oh. Are you a tank? You don't look or play like a tank."

Me: "No I'm wearing cloth armour for more damage."

Stranger: "So why use an ice staff then?"

Me: "I like the way it looks and the chill effects etc."

Stranger: "OMFG LMAO L2P noob."

Me: "Ok thanks bye. P.S. Hope you die soon!" or some other rebuff.


So yea, now I know why.

Doctordarkspawn

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

Arobain wrote: »

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Ice-staff tanking was a half-baked idea with near-worthless implimentation. It needs removed. It needs re-implimented as another weapon and refined, not left to rot like it is. Fix it, ESO. Admit this implimentation was wrong and remove it.

why? it works, but you wouldnt know because you never tried

It's objectively worse then sword and shield, even for magicka builds. It does not apply armor pen, it does not have a on-demand taunt, it does not have a second enchantment slot for dat tristat. It's objectively worse, it does not matter if it 'works'. It's sub-optimal, and it wouldn't be if it wasn't shoehorned in.

It deserves it's own weapon and to not be half-arsed, and I -could- try it, if I wanted something that's even sub-optimal even for my magicka tank build. But I dont. So I wont.

_Ahala_

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

Yes... I’m sick of playing half a class

mb10

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

There are way too many sources of minor maim and the frost status effect now is quite rubbish.

The status effect needs to change, and the frost magic skills need to do either more damage or have additional effects because Im sick of seeing fire and lightning but never frost!

Chaos2088

Yes, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should be as viable as the other elements

Arobain wrote: »

people that vote yes here, havent actually made an ice mage, and have just looked on the forums and saw all the idiotic hate

That would be incorrect.

DamenAJ

No, the Ice Mage DPS playstyle should stay as is

No. I think the ice mage should stay as a tank. This gives someone who prefers magicka and staffs a build to work with.

There's a build I would love to have, a stam DPS who uses shield and sword, and fetcherflies. But it's suboptimal, because sword and shield is for tanking, and fetcherflies are magicka.

Everything has it's role. Either play that role, play suboptimal, or play something else.