Nightblades are Extinct!

Solaire

So i always see on the forums people complain that, Nightblades are no more, no one plays them anymore or as they used to be,
like seriously stop it, they are the most played class in the game, there is no such a thing as "Extinct"
so why even bother with these comments? what makes you think they are extinct?
and why?
if you are one of those people, tell us why?

No class is extinct, some are played less than other due to some obvious "reasons" but i wouldn't say Nightblade is one of those low population classes,
they are definitely one of the top most played classes in the game.

Edit: just a recent match: https://ibb.co/M7wYrY8

max_only

Nightblades are a popular class for solo players trying to recreate the feeling of the single player rpgs in this franchise.

Starlock

max_only wrote: »

Nightblades are a popular class for solo players trying to recreate the feeling of the single player rpgs in this franchise.

They are?

I mean, speaking as a (mostly) solo player who focuses heavily on questing and storytelling, there's nothing in particular that appeals to me about nightblades in that aspect. All the classes are good for this.

BackStabeth

Not sure where this is coming from, but I cannot tell you how many times I have joined a pug queue and there are two nightblades. Just a few min ago in fact. Where is this coming from? Nightblades are all over the place.

Kiralyn2000

Starlock wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

Nightblades are a popular class for solo players trying to recreate the feeling of the single player rpgs in this franchise.

They are?

I mean, speaking as a (mostly) solo player who focuses heavily on questing and storytelling, there's nothing in particular that appeals to me about nightblades in that aspect. All the classes are good for this.

Coming into the game from Skyrim, my first character was.... a sneak/archer Stamblade. It's terrible, from an ESO standpoint.

Brandathorbel

Starlock wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

Nightblades are a popular class for solo players trying to recreate the feeling of the single player rpgs in this franchise.

They are?

I mean, speaking as a (mostly) solo player who focuses heavily on questing and storytelling, there's nothing in particular that appeals to me about nightblades in that aspect. All the classes are good for this.

well nightblades can sneak around and grab shards or go right to the bosses unmolested.

oXI_Viper_IXo

People make comments like this because NB has been heavily nerfed over the course of the last year or so.

They aren't "extinct" but they aren't even close to what they used to be in terms of combat effectiveness or how fun they are to play.

ChunkyCat

they’re not extinct, they’re just cloaked

Solaire

BackStabeth wrote: »

Not sure where this is coming from, but I cannot tell you how many times I have joined a pug queue and there are two nightblades. Just a few min ago in fact. Where is this coming from? Nightblades are all over the place.

Exactly,

From comments withing the forums, whenever Nightblade comes up i have seen many say they are not played by many anymore, they are a low population class but in reality they are not,

IndianaJames7

When people say they are ‘extinct’ (that choice of word is probably a hyperbole in most cases) they are referring to the proportion of players in PVP and vet trials who play them, not overland questers or RP toons.

Mag sorc and stamblade have been the two most popular classes for as long as I have been playing (I believe this is mainly due to their unique, fun and classic identities). However since nightblade ‘rebalancing’ let’s call it, the number of people who play this class in PvP and vet trials has significantly decreased.

When I can do 5-10k less damage than some of my guildies on other classes in vSS but still be 10-25% higher in the logs for my class comparatively, the reason for this should be no surprise.

max_only

There’s no shortage of nightblades in pvp.

SidraWillowsky

(PvE here)

They're not even close to the most-played class. I rarely see them any longer.

Stamblade: they took away our Minor Berserk, Major Fracture (yeah, I know Mark Target does it, but that's an entire skill slot that I'd otherwise need), added cast times to a class ulti as well as Dawnbreaker, which are the two ultis that stamblades typically use. My stamblade went from my strongest DD at 45k on the 6 mil to the weakest by a large margin at 37k. The rotation feels clunky, Surprise Attack isn't really worth using right now, and what used to be a glass cannon is now just... glass.

Magblade: the class was slowly dismembered over the course of several updates. It's been awful for a while now. Last update Twisting Path got buffed a lot, so things felt a little better, but buffing one skill isn't a fix, it's a band aid- buffing one skill while changing nothing else doesn't do anything to address the multiple things wrong with the class.

There's no reason to play a stamblade over any other class right now. Mine is currently on survey duty (since her crafting is all maxxed out and isn't the case on my main) and mobs that my magden/magplar/stamplar can shred through without thinking give me trouble. She went from a powerhouse to just kind of flailing around. I was never very good at magblade, nor do I particularly enjoy the class, so my magblade is a crafter now.

xxthir13enxx

ChunkyCat wrote: »

they’re not extinct, they’re just cloaked

Lmao

CassandraGemini

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

Starlock wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

Nightblades are a popular class for solo players trying to recreate the feeling of the single player rpgs in this franchise.

They are?

I mean, speaking as a (mostly) solo player who focuses heavily on questing and storytelling, there's nothing in particular that appeals to me about nightblades in that aspect. All the classes are good for this.

Coming into the game from Skyrim, my first character was.... a sneak/archer Stamblade. It's terrible, from an ESO standpoint.

Same! Well, I mean, it wasn't long before I realized that this is not really viable in ESO, but I sure tried for a few levels, sniping everything I came across.

Then I unlocked bar swap, searched the internet a bit and brought DW into the mix, which helped, obviously, from an ESO standpoint. But yeah, my very first thought when starting up ESO for the first time and looking at the classes was: "Okay which one looks like it is closest to my preferred playstyle from Skyrim aka 'the sneaky archer'", and the answer, to me, was clearly Nightblade.

Solaire

IndianaJames7 wrote: »

When people say they are ‘extinct’ (that choice of word is probably a hyperbole in most cases) they are referring to the proportion of players in PVP and vet trials who play them, not overland questers or RP toons.

Mag sorc and stamblade have been the two most popular classes for as long as I have been playing (I believe this is mainly due to their unique, fun and classic identities). However since nightblade ‘rebalancing’ let’s call it, the number of people who play this class in PvP and vet trials has significantly decreased.

When I can do 5-10k less damage than some of my guildies on other classes in vSS but still be 10-25% higher in the logs for my class comparatively, the reason for this should be no surprise.

I see them all the time in PVP, yes the nerfs to MagSorc and StamBlade did force some people to quit or change classes but not low population classes for sure.
i'd say MagSorc are less seen compared to StamBlade, there is always StamBlade in PVP but not MagSorc,

Starlock

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

Starlock wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

Nightblades are a popular class for solo players trying to recreate the feeling of the single player rpgs in this franchise.

They are?

I mean, speaking as a (mostly) solo player who focuses heavily on questing and storytelling, there's nothing in particular that appeals to me about nightblades in that aspect. All the classes are good for this.

Coming into the game from Skyrim, my first character was.... a sneak/archer Stamblade. It's terrible, from an ESO standpoint.

That's fair.

That definitely wasn't my first character, in Skyrim though. I almost always do mages in any digital RPG for a first run and it is by far the character type I tend to replay as the most often too.

One thing I can't stand about mages in ESO though is the lack of weapon options. It annoys me to no end. So much so that I just go "screw it" and create things like my ashlander who uses the "wrong" weapon types in spite of being a magicka-based character. He works okay, but I sure wish he could restore resources on those heavy attacks without having to equip some specific set to do it (he doesn't... too many other good sets to use for him).

Joinovikova

WTF NB is one of the most played class in this game at least on EU PC cyro pvp.

IndianaJames7

Solaire wrote: »

IndianaJames7 wrote: »

When people say they are ‘extinct’ (that choice of word is probably a hyperbole in most cases) they are referring to the proportion of players in PVP and vet trials who play them, not overland questers or RP toons.

Mag sorc and stamblade have been the two most popular classes for as long as I have been playing (I believe this is mainly due to their unique, fun and classic identities). However since nightblade ‘rebalancing’ let’s call it, the number of people who play this class in PvP and vet trials has significantly decreased.

When I can do 5-10k less damage than some of my guildies on other classes in vSS but still be 10-25% higher in the logs for my class comparatively, the reason for this should be no surprise.

I see them all the time in PVP, yes the nerfs to MagSorc and StamBlade did force some people to quit or change classes but not low population classes for sure.
i'd say MagSorc are less seen compared to StamBlade, there is always StamBlade in PVP but not MagSorc,

Maybe there are still a bunch out there in PVP, but I’d never know judging by my death recaps (I pay a lot more attention to the people who beat me than the people I kill). I’ve done very little PvP over the last 6 or so months but when I do go in, vast majority of what I see on my recap is DK and Templar. Whereas before cyrodiil was overrun with nightblades. Comparatively, it seems as though most have vanished.

wolfbone

Solaire wrote: »

So i always see on the forums people complain that, Nightblades are no more, no one plays them anymore or as they used to be,
like seriously stop it, they are the most played class in the game, there is no such a thing as "Extinct"
so why even bother with these comments? what makes you think they are extinct?
and why?
if you are one of those people, tell us why?

No class is extinct, some are played less than other due to some obvious "reasons" but i wouldn't say Nightblade is one of those low population classes,
they are definitely one of the top most played classes in the game.

because may be, just may be, they where killed by one, and want to claim the class is dead. as a night blade my self, I quite like them, high damge, and low health, it's got high risk, for high reward of being able to smile at the fallen

Cage_Lizardman

I still get killed in cyro mostly by nightblades. Maybe there's a bit less of them, but they still seem pretty good at finding me.

Solaire

IndianaJames7 wrote: »

Solaire wrote: »

IndianaJames7 wrote: »

When people say they are ‘extinct’ (that choice of word is probably a hyperbole in most cases) they are referring to the proportion of players in PVP and vet trials who play them, not overland questers or RP toons.

Mag sorc and stamblade have been the two most popular classes for as long as I have been playing (I believe this is mainly due to their unique, fun and classic identities). However since nightblade ‘rebalancing’ let’s call it, the number of people who play this class in PvP and vet trials has significantly decreased.

When I can do 5-10k less damage than some of my guildies on other classes in vSS but still be 10-25% higher in the logs for my class comparatively, the reason for this should be no surprise.

I see them all the time in PVP, yes the nerfs to MagSorc and StamBlade did force some people to quit or change classes but not low population classes for sure.
i'd say MagSorc are less seen compared to StamBlade, there is always StamBlade in PVP but not MagSorc,

Maybe there are still a bunch out there in PVP, but I’d never know judging by my death recaps (I pay a lot more attention to the people who beat me than the people I kill). I’ve done very little PvP over the last 6 or so months but when I do go in, vast majority of what I see on my recap is DK and Templar. Whereas before cyrodiil was overrun with nightblades. Comparatively, it seems as though most have vanished.

It's a Tank Meta so you gonna see that a lot, and i have Addons which shows me everyone's Classes and real CP.

Asardes

On new characters I start doing PvP I always get Grand Nightblade Slayer and Grand Sorcerer Slayer achievements way before the one for Wardens, let alone Necromancers; Templar and also DK have became more popular since the last few patches. Getting kills is a good proxy for how much a class or races is played, at least in PvP.

xXMeowMeowXx

I have been playing my stamblades in Cyro, never stopped.
My bf and our friends play their Nbs toons, as well, among others.

I just noticed the bad ones that refuse to put any effort into learning the class are crying, dying, and whining falsehoods.

Nbs are for people that want to really learn the class in all it’s intricacies. They are not a good choice for casuals or people that refuse to update and change their builds.

There are issues that I feel need to be tweaked with the class but your post is just 100% false.

Bekkael

Hmm. You can stir them with a stick in Cyro. I keep getting randomly jumped by NBs out of nowhere.

The_Lex

I get gank attempts all the time. The difference is that, in 99.9% of the cases, the ganker fails to kill me. I've either gotten better at PvP, NBs have gotten worse, or NBs have been nerfed too hard.

Solaire

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

I have been playing my stamblades in Cyro, never stopped.
My bf and our friends play their Nbs toons, as well, among others.

I just noticed the bad ones that refuse to put any effort into learning the class are crying, dying, and whining falsehoods.

Nbs are for people that want to really learn the class in all it’s intricacies. They are not a good choice for casuals or people that refuse to update and change their builds.

There are issues that I feel need to be tweaked with the class but your post is just 100% false.

What do you mean by false? there are already people in on this thread think they are a dead class.
or you just don't agree that they are one of the most played class in the game?

Bekkael

The_Lex wrote: »

I get gank attempts all the time. The difference is that, in 99.9% of the cases, the ganker fails to kill me. I've either gotten better at PvP, NBs have gotten worse, or NBs have been nerfed too hard.

I think they're pretty weak, usually. I don't die easily either, and that's completely on my PVE build MagDK. So...

Finedaible

Solaire wrote: »

So i always see on the forums people complain that, Nightblades are no more, no one plays them anymore or as they used to be,
like seriously stop it, they are the most played class in the game, there is no such a thing as "Extinct"
so why even bother with these comments? what makes you think they are extinct?
and why?
if you are one of those people, tell us why?

No class is extinct, some are played less than other due to some obvious "reasons" but i wouldn't say Nightblade is one of those low population classes,
they are definitely one of the top most played classes in the game.

Nightblades are the most played because they were a good class for the longest time until ZoS arbitrarily decided to nerf them into oblivion. I still play Nightblade because that's the class I chose for my main character and I can't be bothered to change classes and re-grind that mess. NBs are still okay for strictly PvE activities. However it is largely irrelevant to roll a new Nightblade in the current state of the game where Necromancer, Warden, Sorcs, and Fighters Guild abilities all have similar debuffs and in some cases, superior skills: Bound Armaments is more overloaded than Grim Focus ever was and is a lazy copy of the same mechanics with very minor changes, so saying Grim Focus nerfs over the years have been justified is utter bull****. They've taken away two of NB's stuns. Turn Evil is far better than NB fear as it grants you minor endurance AND minor protection for unlimited targets vs the pitifully brief resistances provided by the Shadow Barrier passive (which requires a heavy armor tank meta to even take advantage of). Wardens and Necromancers have minor/major vulnerability now. Mark Target, while a nice ability, is a dps loss in PvE and a big giveaway in PvP. Executioner does more damage than any NB executes. Onslaught is straight up better than Incap, and even Magicka characters can benefit from it. They nerfed Soul Shred with a cast time apparently for no reason other than maybe it was because it had been slightly better than Incap by comparison after the endless nerfs? Don't even get me started on how unreliable and how many counters there are to cloak; only noobs get fooled by it.

In summary, Nightblade abilities are pretty crap compared to generic skill lines and other classes now, and it's just seems pointless to even roll one in its current state.

Solaire

Finedaible wrote: »

Solaire wrote: »

So i always see on the forums people complain that, Nightblades are no more, no one plays them anymore or as they used to be,
like seriously stop it, they are the most played class in the game, there is no such a thing as "Extinct"
so why even bother with these comments? what makes you think they are extinct?
and why?
if you are one of those people, tell us why?

No class is extinct, some are played less than other due to some obvious "reasons" but i wouldn't say Nightblade is one of those low population classes,
they are definitely one of the top most played classes in the game.

Nightblades are the most played because they were a good class for the longest time until ZoS arbitrarily decided to nerf them into oblivion. I still play Nightblade because that's the class I chose for my main character and I can't be bothered to change classes and re-grind that mess. NBs are still okay for strictly PvE activities. However it is largely irrelevant to roll a new Nightblade in the current state of the game where Necromancer, Warden, Sorcs, and Fighters Guild abilities all have similar debuffs and in some cases, superior skills: Bound Armaments is more overloaded than Grim Focus ever was and is a lazy copy of the same mechanics with very minor changes, so saying Grim Focus nerfs over the years have been justified is utter bull****. They've taken away two of NB's stuns. Turn Evil is far better than NB fear as it grants you minor endurance AND minor protection for unlimited targets vs the pitifully brief resistances provided by the Shadow Barrier passive (which requires a heavy armor tank meta to even take advantage of). Wardens and Necromancers have minor/major vulnerability now. Mark Target, while a nice ability, is a dps loss in PvE and a big giveaway in PvP. Executioner does more damage than any NB executes. Onslaught is straight up better than Incap, and even Magicka characters can benefit from it. They nerfed Soul Shred with a cast time apparently for no reason other than maybe it was because it had been slightly better than Incap by comparison after the endless nerfs? Don't even get me started on how unreliable and how many counters there are to cloak; only noobs get fooled by it.

In summary, Nightblade abilities are pretty crap compared to generic skill lines and other classes now, and it's just seems pointless to even roll one in its current state.

I agree that StamBlades got Overnerfed similar to MagSorc which they still get nerfs even today, both of them in my opinion need a rework,

But there is literally not shortage of Nightblades in PVP, and they are very good at it, i have seen a lot of very skilled and good Nightblades,

i do agree the Tank Meta is out of hand it's pretty bad right now.

Jaimeh

I don't know about the PvP side of things, but in PvE I do see NBs around, usually mag specs, though nowdays there's a lot of the other classes as well (particularly necros and DKs), so it's a starkdifference from the days when NBs were omnipresent. They're still very popular for trials like vAS, and since Sunspire, a lot of tank players have turned to NB characters for that particular trial. The damage is definitely a bit lacking compared to other specs, all things being equal, but for me at least, it's still a lot of fun to play, and personally my favourite class to do dps on. And although damage is not what it used to be, I'm happy to see other classes in trials, especially DKs and templars, which were overlooked for years. I think in terms of PvE DPS, magwardens would have the most reason to complain about scarcity, you hardly see them outside of a healer role.

Salix_alba

I'm gonna have to tell my nb with 170+ days play time on her alone that she doesn't exist