Do you like the proposed Grim Focus changes on net?

darkblue5

Overall do you like the direction the devs are taking Grim Focus even if you'd remove the heal or change the mitigation percentages?

Iskiab

Yes

As a Magblade how could you not like it? It’s obvious that the devs are trying to curb NB dps so changed merciless. They took away the damage buff and added a heal and mitigation.

How could they buff it more? Add a stun? An I win button? I don’t get the complaints at all.

Narvuntien

Yes

What are you talking about with RAT reference I am confused...?

Jaimeh

I WANT MOAR DAMAGE AND ONLY DAMAGE EVEN IF PVE NB DPS IS ON TOP PVP NB SHOULD DEAL SO MUCH DAMAGE ALL DIE ALL DIE NONE WITHSTAND MEEEEEEEEEE

I mean, have you seen our rotations

darkblue5

Yes

Narvuntien wrote: »

What are you talking about with RAT reference I am confused...?

Us magblades are pretty hyped about the new Race Against Time change offering snare removal and Major Expedition. That's a pretty big buff to magblade on its own.

Iskiab

Yes

Narvuntien wrote: »

What are you talking about with RAT reference I am confused...?

I think he means limited bar space and the devs removing ‘overlap’ in our abilities will make it almost impossible to slot everything. A lot of builds won’t be able to have RAT (Race against time) and Merciless.

darkblue5

Yes

Iskiab wrote: »

Narvuntien wrote: »

What are you talking about with RAT reference I am confused...?

I think he means limited bar space and the devs removing ‘overlap’ in our abilities will make it almost impossible to slot everything. A lot of builds won’t be able to have RAT (Race against time) and Merciless.

I mean I fit Mist on my bar when I tried resorting to vampire which worked poorly. I'm probably going to see if I can manage Master's Destro clench as spammable and CC.

ZeroXFF

Yes

My NB tank is happy. 15% mitigation with 100% uptime for the cost of 5 light attacks at the start of the fight. This isn't quite enough to offset the cloak nerf, but hey, damage you don't take is damage that doesn't have to be healed...

Tommy_The_Gun

No

As Gilliamtherogue said: You pay recources to participate in a mni-game.

Now they added additional dmg mitigation. But since light attacks are quite unreliable (especially in PvP), they may land...or not, NB basically pays resources to participate in a 2 minigames...

Imho they should simply eliminate the initial cost so Grim Focus will simply count light attacks "while slotted" and the only cost would be the bow proc.

Ragnaroek93

Yes

I really hated this change on paper but after testing it I think that it's alright to be honest. 3% mitigation per stack might be a bit too high tho, needs to be tested out and maybe finetuned. I really like the idea to add some mini-games, same reason why I start liking the new essence thief set. Grim Focus now feels interesting and unique to use again which is very important for a core class skill.

The thing which I don't like tho is that it makes heavy armor builds even more tanky, which are meta since years now but I think this is an issue for itself. Heavy sets and sword and board could really need some nerfs (or 2h, bow and dw buffs).

darkblue5

Yes

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

As Gilliamtherogue said: You pay recources to participate in a mni-game.

Now they added additional dmg mitigation. But since light attacks are quite unreliable (especially in PvP), they may land...or not, NB basically pays resources to participate in a 2 minigames...

Imho they should simply eliminate the initial cost so Grim Focus will simply count light attacks "while slotted" and the only cost would be the bow proc.

What I have sometimes have trouble with is the 5th, 6th, 7th light attack will look like they have made Assassin's Will/Scourge available but the lag means it in fact isn't avaliable . And then I'm wasting resources trying to use my proc while instead refreshing my buff dealing no damage and not healing etc.

Building stacks on magblade is a generally a lot easier and a lot more necessary as you'll get laggy range problems less often. I'm not sure that is a bad thing for balance that it is easier for the more vulnerable spec to access the defensive buff quicker and easier.

P.S. Rip melee magblade with two-hander and dual wield. They were eaten by a Grue RAT.
P.S.S. That minigame is my favorite part of nightblade.
P.S.S.S. Can you hear the RATs expeditiously scurrying in the wall? They are coming. They whisper to me. I flee. They flea. Without snare removal they catch me. It is too late, save yourselfs.

Insco851

Heal based on damage is pretty ridiculous. Another post in another thread had detailed out some “heals” they actually received from it. 5 GCD proc for 1 vigor tick sounds stunning...

Insco851

Iskiab wrote: »

Narvuntien wrote: »

What are you talking about with RAT reference I am confused...?

I think he means limited bar space and the devs removing ‘overlap’ in our abilities will make it almost impossible to slot everything. A lot of builds won’t be able to have RAT (Race against time) and Merciless.

Idk. Rat will replace syphoning strikes on my bar... basically no perma cloak but a viable skill to survive up close encounters with RAT.

Rehdaun

No

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

As Gilliamtherogue said: You pay recources to participate in a mni-game.

What Gilliam didn't mention was that you also pay resources mid-game to proc the bow and you get a pitiful heal that no one cares about and you get some weird damage mitigation where you lose it when you proc the bow. This is also unwanted by nearly anyone interested in PvE end game.

My god, this skill is a mess!!! Makes my head hurt.

HEBREWHAMMERRR

Great change! I’ve been plying a magblade brawler for quite a long time and honestly the two glaring issues with our class have been mitigation and immovability.m (and wings ha). They have addressed these two main issues at the expense of 8% damage. I’m speaking from a complete pvp perspective as a day 1 magblade btw, not PvE but I don’t think this is a huge blow for PvE. The damage loss will hurt but this gives us so much flexibility with builds and a naturally built in tankiness. You’ll be able to run 2 damage sets and probably a monster offensive set if you choose and build around protective jewelry and sustain enchants. I am very excited for the change and believe this will be the best place a brawler nightblade will have been in a long long time.

TriangularChicken

Yes

Now they only have to nerf cloak for stam NBs and the class will finally be as strong as the other 4.
1 or 2 more little buffs for mag NB would be nice tho.

Jeezye

No

I mean yes, its certainly buffs and I'll appreciate playing a stronger magblade in PvP, but these changes are completly missplaced.

AW is overloaded with effects again, has super clunky mechanics, the playstyle is unintuitive with a weird forced range/melee hybrid playstyle, and more importantly:

the limited selfhealing for magblades through swallow sould (and now AW) still hasn't been addressed, is miniocre and unreliable.

Fiktius

Yes

Very hard choice between "Yes" and "Has too many sick RATs and got the plague."

Ended up to vote Yes regardless. And why that's so?

I'm playing as solo mag blade and adapted non-cloack playstyle at live servers. My whole backbar is filled with different kind of protecting buffs, including shield, heals and shady stuff like dark cloack and shade. I did not suffer from snares earlier and I'm not gonna remove essential skills in order to slot RAT. I move with shade.

In Cyrodiil I've paid attention that shade breaks near destructible buildings, so I will not leave shade to first floor when I enter to second floor by myself. I always leave it on the same floor where I am. Keeping this in mind decreased a lot those moments when shade suddenly stopped working.

When I did read that dark cloack got nerfed in PTS, that was giant disappointment and that of course is another topic of its own whether that skill should get buffed again and how much.
However these news of increased damage mitigation for my class via Grim Focus were pleasant news due it does decrease the amount of damage I receive and therefor my heals have less left to overheal and my shields lasts slightly longer.

And before someone screams "DID YOU TEST THIS OUT?!??112#", I can say I did and I also did like what I saw in PTS server.
It's not really an issue to hold the bow a bit longer when I'm under higher pressure and wait for the burst window, when my combo is ready. And at those moments when I fire my bow, I of course throw all gained mitigation out of window, but it's not really problem to re-active shield/buffs and start pressuring enemy again. My playstyle did not change and I'm more than fine with that.

spacebandit

I WANT MOAR DAMAGE AND ONLY DAMAGE EVEN IF PVE NB DPS IS ON TOP PVP NB SHOULD DEAL SO MUCH DAMAGE ALL DIE ALL DIE NONE WITHSTAND MEEEEEEEEEE

I think we should just be able to blade of woe any player we can sneak up on

Iskiab

Yes

TriangularChicken wrote: »

Now they only have to nerf cloak for stam NBs and the class will finally be as strong as the other 4.
1 or 2 more little buffs for mag NB would be nice tho.

Yea, magblade will be in a good spot with all these changes (for pvp), I’m sure of it.

The only thing left to address is maybe the size of refreshing/twisting path. I remember saying the heal on refreshing is strong enough... now thinking about it I’m not sure. 6 target limit and someone has to get 4 tlcks to heal for just as much as combat prayer.

The HPS is double that of ritual, but it also has a shorter duration and no secondary cleanse effect and no snare.

If increasing the value would make it OP then increase the size at least. I still use it now in pvp because it’s a shadow ability plus another form of hot. Some change in either duration, size, value... whatever would be nice. Literally the only thing left outstanding to resolve for NB from my perspective.

Increasing the execute range on impale to 35 or 40% and reducing the damage a bit would also be a good change for pvp, but I’m fairly sure the pvers would go insane. Best for ESO to leave it and not upset the pvers for a pvp issue, because pve and casual players are ESO’s base.

P.S. - melee/stam also don’t have easy access to expedition. With RAT the value of expedition on path will go down, but will help stam not be perma kited by magicka using RAT... if the size is increased.