They Even Admit It’s To Sell DLC

Contaminate

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We’ve been reading everyone’s feedback about the recent change to Iceheart (not just on the forums, but other channels and sources as well) and we appreciate you taking the time to let us know your thoughts. We know it’s frustrating to see a strong set get adjusted in this way, but it was a necessary step to bring it a little closer in strength with existing and upcoming sets.

That said, based on some in-game data, testing, and the feedback we’ve been reading, we’re going to make further adjustments to this set in next week’s PTS patch. The plan is to make the baseline function meet the same standards as the Mother Ciannait set, with a 5k shield that lasts up to 6 seconds with a 6 second cooldown. With Iceheart's auxiliary function being focused on preserving the shield to get as much effectiveness out of the damage as possible, and Ciannait around rushing in boldly to break the shield to maximize the Magicka gain, there will be a better parity between the two that helps them both meet our standards as well as feel different from an engagement standpoint.

Iceheart, a defensive set not overperforming, never talked about being OP by PvE or PvP players, is getting nerfed so the crappy new monster helm looks stronger.

It was blatant but I still can’t believe the sheer gall to admit it so confidently as if this is standard practice.

newtinmpls

Seriously....you haven't been paying attention.

The whole game of ZoS has been to watch what is popular/used (even if not talked about) and nerf it.

Then look at what they want to push (for whatever reason) and what might be competing .... and nerf it.

svartorn

If I had a nickel for every piece of gear that was once good and has been nerfed to oblivion, and now lives on a mule alt in hopes some day it will be useable again...

...I’d buy another game.

Good news though since ZOS is killing group play stuff like battlegrounds, we won’t have a need for good sets anyway. Just go play Skyrim!

MrGarlic

This is not surprising to me.

Kalante

It's always been like this though. New DLC! which means better sets than whatever trash the vanilla game has or past old dlc's. This is one of the main reasons why ESO never evolves, people have become so complaisant with the way how dlc's are marketed. Maelstrom weapons are great example of this predatory practice, make them the best in slot weapons for a year and once everyone is done with it nerf the weapons and move on for the next DLC to sell. (wrothgar) maelstrom 2h stam and 1h weapons (morrowind)War Machine, Master Architect, (Clockwork city) mechanical acuity, (summerset) relequen, (elsweyr) lokkestiiz. BiS has always been locked behind a pay wall and then nerfed or overshadowed by the next dlc.

idk

Not that I think the change has anything to do with selling DLCs but the same standard design they have been trying to implement, but would you really expect Zos to come out and say they changed some gear to make DLC gear more attractive so they could sell more DLCs?

brandonv516

And they wonder why some people would rather scam their subscription service.

bmnoble

Shame they can't just fix the new monster set to make it good instead of making an old set bad so next to no one ends up using either sets when the changes go live.

Nothing they have changed makes me want to farm this Mother Ciannait set at all.

WildRaptorX

They really need to stop making sets be the same. When are they going to work on identity properly

Contaminate

idk wrote: »

Not that I think the change has anything to do with selling DLCs but the same standard design they have been trying to implement, but would you really expect Zos to come out and say they changed some gear to make DLC gear more attractive so they could sell more DLCs?

I wouldn’t, and yet they did. They “met the standard” of the new DLC set, which included a 30% shield nerf, a 100% increase on cooldown, and a small nerf to damage. And now both sets are decon fodder

Elsonso

What is really interesting to me is that they changed the appearance of some armor and removed a "boob window" a few years back. Boob-Gate prompted them to not change the appearance of stuff that people were accustomed to.

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, if people spend hours and hours farming some bit of gear, ZOS has no qualms about wandering by and negating all of that work.

gatekeeper13

We all knew the game had taken the money-grab direction but nerfing a monster set to sell DLC is just hilarious...

kongkim

So much QQ in here that i'm almost drowning..

Kel

Another nerf in the name of DLC items?

This game is a joke.

Kurat

Iceheart is not BiS for any content so I don't know why everyone is so upset.

spartaxoxo

Kurat wrote: »

Iceheart is not BiS for any content so I don't know why everyone is so upset.

It's BECAUSE it's not BIS for any content. People don't appreciate content they like getting gutted for no other reason than greed. This set already came with a significant downside, it didn't need to be garbage on top of it.

The nerfing of Iceheart proves these people no longer care about making good experience to sell items and instead prefer to ruin existing stuff so you'll pay for the similar functionality that you used to have.

Elsonso

Kurat wrote: »

Iceheart is not BiS for any content so I don't know why everyone is so upset.

Irrelevant. Why should people invest any time getting gear, BiS gear or not, if ZOS is going to change it? Why should anyone care about any of the new DLC sets? You might as well just stick with normal non-Gold crafted sets and easily obtained zone sets in whatever happens to drop.

Legate_Lanius

Kurat wrote: »

Iceheart is not BiS for any content so I don't know why everyone is so upset.

Because it still remains and crappy design direction if you need to nerf a find item to promote your new content.

Means it wasn’t that good in the first place if you have to resort to that. Guess I’ll look elsewhere since in GW2 it’s pretty much the same problems.

Thevampirenight

At least they are being honest about it.
This is typical practice I believe in mmos nerf older content so newer content will be used.
Though people are upset about this. I think they reworked it because of one the dlc and also because they took a look at it at after maybe finding it the functionality was similar to the new set and the new set wasn't on par with it. They could have left it alone and buffed the new set despite their new standards which might be more important in the new combat overhaul I think they are going to be working on like the performance. That will rework the Cp system. Maybe they decided to change it. I don't know.

Sadly I think this is going to backfire and if they were smart I think they would revert the change and at least beef up the new set instead of nerfing the old one to make it look better. But here is the thing there is so many sets in this game. Its not even funny. There is bound to be based game sets that are better then some of the dlc dungeon ones. Point is I think the dungeon dlcs are used to sell these new sets and well that is their practice along with cosmetics and other rewards. But its been something they have been doing for a while. I do think they want all their dungeon sets to be viable for something. Which is why I think they nerfed it but it really does look bad. Hopefully they will at least listen to the players on this one.

Kittytravel

I'd really like to hear an answer on why Mother Ciannait is the baseline and not Iceheart. Why is a set that has existed in base-game for years adhering to a set being newly added? It should most certainly be the other way around, if Ciannait isn't tuned up enough to match Iceheart then buff it.

If you want to argue that Iceheart is "over performing" well then I have some news for you; time to nerf Velidreth, Zaan, Valkyn Skoria, Ilambris, Selene and Stormfist who all currently "over preform" compared to other monster sets in their same target category.

@ZOS_GinaBruno Can I get a reasoning here on this please? I'd really like to know the development teams thoughts on why new DLC items are being decided as the "baseline".

iaminc

Thing is that they didn’t need to try and sell the dlc , it’s Skyrim ........ again.

LadySinflower

I watched a YouTube video of Alcast running one of the new Greymoor dungeons solo on the PTS. The dungeon looks fun! But he was wearing iceheart and he kept saying over and over how great it was, how strong the shields were, etc. Now all of a sudden this nerf comes out of nowhere. I can't help but wonder if they saw that video and said "oh no, we can't have that..."

luen79rwb17_ESO

My alts are full of legacy sets that once were good or decent but now are trash, from twice-born star to molag kena, from elegance to IA

snoozy

svartorn wrote: »

Good news though since ZOS is killing group play stuff like battlegrounds, we won’t have a need for good sets anyway. Just go play Skyrim!

iaminc wrote: »

Thing is that they didn’t need to try and sell the dlc , it’s Skyrim ........ again.

todd howard laughing in the distance

Dusk_Coven

Kalante wrote: »

BiS has always been locked behind a pay wall and then nerfed or overshadowed by the next dlc.

I would prefer if they used a combination of NICHE and LORE to make sets "relevant". That would reinforced their supposed focus on power fantasy, play pattern, and play the way you want.
Part of why people are upset about the Iceheart nerf is because it erodes their already few choices for an ice-power power fantasy.

A big part of ESO is the lore. How about reinforcing that? Match up the set bonus with the look of the piece and the story that surrounds its source.

idk

Contaminate wrote: »

idk wrote: »

Not that I think the change has anything to do with selling DLCs but the same standard design they have been trying to implement, but would you really expect Zos to come out and say they changed some gear to make DLC gear more attractive so they could sell more DLCs?

I wouldn’t, and yet they did. They “met the standard” of the new DLC set, which included a 30% shield nerf, a 100% increase on cooldown, and a small nerf to damage. And now both sets are decon fodder

They said they are using a standard, not that the DLC sets are above the standard. Seems someone is reading a lot into things

Mr_Walker

Just keep chasing the meta guys.

Elsonso wrote: »

Kurat wrote: »

Iceheart is not BiS for any content so I don't know why everyone is so upset.

Irrelevant. Why should people invest any time getting gear, BiS gear or not, if ZOS is going to change it? Why should anyone care about any of the new DLC sets? You might as well just stick with normal non-Gold crafted sets and easily obtained zone sets in whatever happens to drop.

Bingo. It's why I stopped caring a long time ago. Why bother chasing/working towards getting a great set, and spending my time/resources golding it all out when it's just gonne be nerfed to death in a patch or 2. I'll stick with solid reliable oevrland/crafted sets thanks.

Even so, I'd chase if I were able to use them for a good length of time, but you know they go mental every quarter, so... no. Zos isn't gonna yank me around by the short and curlies.

Shantu

Hell, I don't even use IceHeart and this statement pisses me off. Gibberish nonsense.

Zulera301

and this is why I always use budget builds. No point in wasting millions of gold or hundreds of hours trying to get the optimal set, just for it to be nerfed to oblivion next quarter.

ZOS_GregoryV

Greetings,

After reviewing the thread, we have decided it best to shut it down due to Bashing. Bashing is defined as follows in accordance with our rules:

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