Shield nerf for petsorcs: they didn’t consider how this would affect Maelstrom players

Locriana

Recent patch has UTTERLY DESTROYED MY PETSORC FOR MAELSTROM. First of all the ‘pets do not die’ thing doesn’t apply in Maelstrom. The pathetic shields we now get WHICH ARE NOW 1/3 OF WHAT THEY WERE IN MY BUILD cannot keep the pets alive. So the pets die, and so do I during the channeling time of recasting the pets.

Does anyone know how to compensate for this? Bastion is worthless now, correct? Since it is capped at 40% of your health no matter what else you do.

Now, I really, really wish I’d managed to get my Maelstrom fire staff in any of my 20+ runs of Maelstrom before they destroyed sorc’s ability to stay alive in solo content, but RNG doesn’t favor me, ever.

I have worked and worked on this build and after many, many failures, much learning and effort in my attempts over the years, finally learned to beat Maelstrom. It was not easy for me. I even managed it on my Magblade, but now I’m sure that one is toast as well because harness magicka is dead too.

But pet builds for Maelstrom should not be utterly killed by one patch update. I thought changes were supposed to be subtle, not ones that would destroy the game for any one class. I understand pvp people have a complaint about sorcs, but I don’t play my sorc in pvp. In trials this may be okay, with healers, but Maelstrom, no, just no..

This is completely unfair to sorcs in Maelstrom.

Please, pvp players, do not harass me here. This is a very extreme change and apparently there is no way to compensate?

Most of us are not in the top .1% of players, and struggle in a place like Maelstrom, and apparently NO ONE GAVE A SINGLE THOUGHT TO HOW THIS UNPRECEDENTED NERF WOULD AFFECT MAELSTROM PLAYERS.

Does anyone know how to compensate? I took all my points out of bastion, as that CP is now worthless, and put it into spell resistance. Still the same issues. As if I had changed nothing. THIS IS BROKEN, and I am utterly disheartened by this game, and the choices made by zos.

firedrgn

Mistress of apocrypha has a new one bar vma build check it out.

5 plague doctor etc

corvair62

firedrgn wrote: »

Mistress of apocrypha has a new one bar vma build check it out.

5 plague doctor etc

You beat me to it...I just posted his video on the forums today...

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/444783/1-bar-pet-sorc-vma-build-for-1st-clear-or-farming-weapons#latest

corvair62

Hope it helps. It is a gear change but is doable.

Knootewoot

They nerfed shield because Zos wanted healers to have a bigger role in Pve.

It was not nerfed because of PvP. For PvP a fix was that shield could get crit damage. Something not affecting PvE.

So PvP is not to blame.

ccfeeling

I tested my pet sorc yesterday , died 4th times and passed Stage 7 . Yes a bit harder than before . Especially stage 5 , pet died too fast , recast and die sometimes lol .
After a meal break , I reset my CP and released the useless Bastion , change my monster from Zaan to Iceheart , everything made easy , no death and done .

You will be getting better once you adapt the new small shield

Locriana

@ccfeeling so what did you put the cp into, since bastion is useless (and why I wonder did they leave it in there since it is useless now...they really didn’t think this through)

I put mine mostly into spell shield, as Maelstrom damage is mostly magicka, and I have 61 in ironclad because...archers. Didn’t even notice a difference. I think it’s bugged, when there is no noticeable difference putting 5o extra points in spell shield.

Locriana

Knootewoot wrote: »

They nerfed shield because Zos wanted healers to have a bigger role in Pve.

It was not nerfed because of PvP. For PvP a fix was that shield could get crit damage. Something not affecting PvE.

So PvP is not to blame.

I’m not ‘blaming’ pvp. I’m blaming the idiots that decided the most drastic nerf in eso history was actually ‘better’:
“damage shields are more powerful in PvE content since monsters generally don’t reduce armor. Heavy Armor players in particular will receive much more effective damage shields now. This is intended to make damage shields a more potent tools for tanks.”
Nice for tanks. And yeah, healers. But there are no healers in Maelstrom and there is no compensation for this in solo play.

Houshiki

Considering just how much ZoS has been pushing pets in previous patches, mirkmire just doesn't make sense. And is honestly a poor design directions, imo.

Knootewoot wrote: »

They nerfed shield because Zos wanted healers to have a bigger role in Pve.

It was not nerfed because of PvP. For PvP a fix was that shield could get crit damage. Something not affecting PvE.

So PvP is not to blame.

I agree that the shields was not a nerf due to PvP, but disagree that it was meant to give healers a bigger role in PvE. If anything, healers would have been less pressured if a dps cast a shield. As for healers not having as big of a role in PvE in previous patches, of which I'm not entirely sure where that even came from, I would say its more due to the increasing cp power creep, and that newer content keeps making use of "everything needs to be able to one-shot". Seriously, healers don't have a role if everything one-shots, since you can neither heal nor shield through a one-shot.

Locriana

firedrgn wrote: »

Mistress of apocrypha has a new one bar vma build check it out.

5 plague doctor etc

Plague doctor for magsorcs, to try to deal with ridiculous decision-making on the part of the developers.
Dps in the toilet with heavy armor.
Oh, joy.

Usually their nerfs are a small percentage difference. Not 66% worse. That’s messed up.

Locriana

corvair62 wrote: »

firedrgn wrote: »

Mistress of apocrypha has a new one bar vma build check it out.

5 plague doctor etc

You beat me to it...I just posted his video on the forums today...

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/444783/1-bar-pet-sorc-vma-build-for-1st-clear-or-farming-weapons#latest

Thanks for the link

ccfeeling

Locriana wrote: »

@ccfeeling so what did you put the cp into, since bastion is useless (and why I wonder did they leave it in there since it is useless now...they really didn’t think this through)

I put mine mostly into spell shield, as Maelstrom damage is mostly magicka, and I have 61 in ironclad because...archers. Didn’t even notice a difference. I think it’s bugged, when there is no noticeable difference putting 5o extra points in spell shield.

https://alcasthq.com/eso-magicka-sorcerer-pet-build-pve/#_murkmire

Hi Loc , I just copied the CP allocation what Alcast recommanded
Threw them to ironclad and spell shield .

Light armor shield or Sorc shield is not really helpful in VMA even we spent so much CP , but at least it could save our life a few seconds , what we have to do is damage , we have to kill mobs quick before they kill us .

Skill loadout I also run Surge , so Sorc shield + Surge + Iceheart proc shield , this defense setup is pretty solid .

Double shields is noticeable

Chrysa1is

well apparrently, according to some people on the forums, a lvl 3 can complete maelstrom arena.

John_Falstaff

@Chrysa1is , without weighing in on discussion in any way, I'll just say that finishing on level 3 wouldn't correctly illustrate anything, because arena scales with player level below CP160.

Feanor

Running a dedicated tanking set on a DD. Sad times.

Gundug

It is possible to finish vMA as a magicka sorcerer without using shields at all. I have a light armor character (Julianos / Netch) I put together more like a stamina sorcerer, relying on the heal from power surge, and the extra mitigation from lightning form, with streak to avoid dangerous hits. I chose Valkyn Skoria for more health. Since most of the damage buffs are covered by skills in this case, I made potions that recover health as well, to help stay alive. I’m sure you could play around with sets and skills to make something that would work very well without having to rely on shields, or straight tanking sets.

I used to have a pet sorcerer for this pre-patch, and honestly, shields put them on a completely different level from everything else. I would power clear through levels without any understanding of the damage mechanics whatsoever, like shielding through the argonean behemoth’s scream.

Royaji

Can someone find that video of a guy light attacking his way through vMA? We really need to have it pinned somewhere...

Asardes

If you've already done the arena 20 times you should be familiar enough with the mechanics so you won't need the shield as much. If you're still having issues you can just swap your current monster set for Iceheart since that gives a free 8.6K shield - it is buffed by Bastion but it's not really worth putting points there IMO.

Leocaran

Chrysa1is wrote: »

well apparrently, according to some people on the forums, a lvl 3 can complete maelstrom arena.

Normal maelstrom, yes, it's possible. Not veteran. I've done nMA on lvl 6 (and ended at lvl 18). But. It's nowhere as easy as these people say. Nowhere close. Actually, it's quite painful and very long. At least for a first-timer. Also you have to find and read a good guide. So I wouldn't say it's an easy way to level up.

Asardes

Leocaran wrote: »

Chrysa1is wrote: »

well apparrently, according to some people on the forums, a lvl 3 can complete maelstrom arena.

Normal maelstrom, yes, it's possible. Not veteran. I've done nMA on lvl 6 (and ended at lvl 18). But. It's nowhere as easy as these people say. Nowhere close. Actually, it's quite painful and very long. At least for a first-timer. Also you have to find and read a good guide. So I wouldn't say it's an easy way to level up.

I leveled 11 characters in Normal Maelstrom in the last year, without spending even a skill point on passives, with training gear I switched every 10 levels (I've been using that for 3 years, and passed it on as I made more chars) and with 3/6 or even 4/6 useless skills on my front bar to train them all as I go (hence the missing passives). Most monsters die from 1-2 light attacks, bosses require a DoT on top of that. Most mechanics can be ignored since incoming damage from is laughable ex. I've been walked around with the poison from the mushrooms in Vault of Umbrage for almost a whole round and the HoT from Rally & my base health recovery was out-healing it; on veteran the same poison kills you in 2-3 ticks if you don't go into the pools, and even one shots you if it gets you <50% HP and you have a heal ticking on you.

In a nutshell normal Maelstrom is brain dead easy, and thus useless if you want to train for veteran. I'd say doing vMA is closer in terms of difficulty to doing a part 1 or even part 2 base game dungeon on Veteran. For example if you can go in veteran Darkshade Caverns 1 and clear it solo without struggling, you're probably good enough for vMA. If you can't even clear normal solo then you have a long way to go.

phaneub17_ESO

Locriana wrote: »

@ccfeeling so what did you put the cp into, since bastion is useless (and why I wonder did they leave it in there since it is useless now...they really didn’t think this through)

Because there are still other shield spells and effects that don't have health limits still receiving benefits from Bastion.

GreenhaloX

Ha ha.. yeah. Definitely was the good ward that so many sorcs before were able to clear vMA with Flawless. Though, I don't support the nerf to the shield, but it kind of makes it fair-play now that sorcs running through vMA will have to rely on the skills and abilities and not just stacking ward and shield as before. That's how stam toons have to do when running vMA. Stams always have poor damage shield. However, I did enjoyed running with magsorc before this nerf, but not as much now. I used to enjoy blasting through dungeons and delves with Empowered Ward and Boundless Storm on through the mobs and adds without getting damaged. Oh well.. at least, I still enjoy my stamsorcs, until the next whatever f-ed up nerfs to be emplaced. Ffing nerfing.. what a load of ffing crap.

Feric51

@Locriana

I see you're on console, and if you haven't been following the PC patch notes you might not know there was a bug introduced on PC with the base Murkmire patch that affected how pets take damage. I'm not talking about their supposed 100 resistance to damage in group content (which may, or may not, actually be true).

Instead: pre-Murkmire pets had an 85% reduction to AoE and DoT damage in all non-group content, this was removed by a bug and pets started taking unreduced damage from all sources. They fixed this on PC with incremental patch 4.2.6, but it appears the fix did not make it into the console release of Murkmire.

This may be the real reason your pets seem to be dying more often than before. Yes, shield size does play a role, but it might be exacerbated by the lack of damage reduction pets should be getting.

Just food for thought.

Leocaran

Asardes wrote: »

I've been walked around with the poison from the mushrooms in Vault of Umbrage for almost a whole round and the HoT from Rally & my base health recovery was out-healing it; on veteran the same poison kills you in 2-3 ticks if you don't go into the pools, and even one shots you if it gets you <50% HP and you have a heal ticking on you.

Funny you've used this as an example. We probably play different games. Because my char died in 3 seconds max if not went into the pools. And he was a templar, so had healing from the start.
So that's exactly what I was writing about: nowhere close to 'brain-dead easy'.

LioraValkyrie

@Locriana asks about compensation for petsorcs in vMA and the majority of comments are about how you either don't need to compensate or how easy normal mode is. /facepalm.

The mistake most people make is to assume vMA is a DPS race therefore you must use a glass cannon DD build to complete it. If you want a 560k+ score, sure. But if you are looking for a first clear or to farm it safely and easily, there are plenty of other options available.

BTW I'm using Plague Doctor on jewellery and weapons, so you still gain all the light armour passives, which are indeed indispensable. There are other sets which you could use to achieve the same effect, but the concept is straightforward: sacrifice some damage to become incredibly tanky and use strategic ultimates and sigils to kill the highest priority targets quickly.

Unless you are doing vMA so quickly that things die before they have a chance to attack, it is only natural that you must be able to deal damage, heal and tank with a single build. With this in mind, wearing one damage set and one tanking set isn't so unreasonable.

DaveMoeDee

Locriana wrote: »

Knootewoot wrote: »

They nerfed shield because Zos wanted healers to have a bigger role in Pve.

It was not nerfed because of PvP. For PvP a fix was that shield could get crit damage. Something not affecting PvE.

So PvP is not to blame.

I’m not ‘blaming’ pvp. I’m blaming the idiots that decided the most drastic nerf in eso history was actually ‘better’:
“damage shields are more powerful in PvE content since monsters generally don’t reduce armor. Heavy Armor players in particular will receive much more effective damage shields now. This is intended to make damage shields a more potent tools for tanks.”
Nice for tanks. And yeah, healers. But there are no healers in Maelstrom and there is no compensation for this in solo play.

This is why balance is pointless. Too many game modes.

But are people tanking Maelstrom? As a tank, I'm not as sympathetic as I otherwise might be as most solo content is really not meant for us.

Undefwun

Royaji wrote: »

Can someone find that video of a guy light attacking his way through vMA? We really need to have it pinned somewhere...

Probably @Gandork ....

Gandork's YouTube

28min run as stamblade when he goes for score. Naked run, Unarmed run, First Person run and other fun ways to run vMA...

Elwendryll

DaveMoeDee wrote: »

But are people tanking Maelstrom? As a tank, I'm not as sympathetic as I otherwise might be as most solo content is really not meant for us.

Out of curiosity, could you tell me what vMA reward has your interest as a tank?

Asardes

You can actually do vMA as "tank", but not in a PvE trial tank kind of setup (Ebon/Alkosh/Lord Warden) but as a heavy armor damage dealing build, something that's pretty common in PvP (Seventh Legion + Werewolf Hide + Bloodspawn).

Royaji

Undefwun wrote: »

Royaji wrote: »

Can someone find that video of a guy light attacking his way through vMA? We really need to have it pinned somewhere...

Probably @Gandork ....

Gandork's YouTube

28min run as stamblade when he goes for score. Naked run, Unarmed run, First Person run and other fun ways to run vMA...

Thank you, that was what I was looking for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO5zS5aMOow

He literally light-attacked his way through vMA. Saying that vMA is not easy with the amount of CPs we now have just because your shield is weaker is a learn to play issue.

FrancisCrawford

Royaji wrote: »

Can someone find that video of a guy light attacking his way through vMA? We really need to have it pinned somewhere...

He used the phrase "Zero Abilities". That and "VMA" should let you search.