Class Identity: 5 Points

Joy_Division · March 2020

One: ZOS’s definition and approach

They told us right here https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/57025 ZOS breaks things down “into two primary components: power fantasy and play patterns.”

ZOS wrote:

Power fantasy refers to the fictional justification of your character's power and how it’s expressed through the look and feel of abilities. Necromancers draw their strength from death magic as they manipulate souls, flesh, and bone. Templars call upon the power of light and the burning sun. Every class should have a clearly defined source of power, and class abilities should reinforce that fantasy through their descriptions, animations, visual effects, and audio.

I do want this, but it is fluff; it’s abstract, a lot of it isn’t tangible, and it’s asking me to pay more attention to my imagination and aesthetics rather than the cold hard data and how these mechanics impact gameplay. It’s asking me to ignore the fact that ZOS “standardized” every ability in the game such that many cost exactly the same (e.g. 2700 magicka for a damage “spammable”), do about the same amount of damage, have the same duration, and apply the same generic (de)buffs because the color of their animations are tooltip descriptions are different. Class identity should be more than fluff.

ZOS defines its second component, “play patterns,” as “the specific mechanics and behaviors you have to learn, engage with, and master to achieve objectives in battle.” This may seem to sound what I’m looking for, but ZOS’s own example indicates that it’s not:

”ZOS” wrote:

While all healers might have an objective of "prevent ally health from reaching zero," you can achieve this through several effect behaviors: direct heals, heal over time, damage shields, and damage reduction, to name a few. Each of these effect behaviors exhibit benefits and limitations that, when combined with a triggering method, make them more or less effective in various contexts.

Read that again. All the mechanics ZOS is describing are generic. It’s not these classes have different behaviors, rather it’s these game mechanics – that are all accessible to every class – should be used at different times. Thus the determining factor is not so much what class you play, rather the combat situation or “triggering” method you are in. It doesn’t matter much if your healer is a templar, nightblade, or warden, what does matter is that you will slot a restoration staff, pick the “combat prayer” morph and cast that every 8 seconds, put down the Grand Healing ability every 10 seconds, provide the team with an Orb on cooldown for resource management. It’s exactly that, a “pattern” that every class will follow in the same manner.

ZOS wrote:

“When you see a player using class abilities, you should have little doubt which class they are playing, and it should look awesome!”

No, it should be awesome. Do you have any idea how fun it was to reflect back a “crystal mortar” into some smug sorcerer’s face? This is what ESO has lost. It was these sorts of exciting and impactful abilities that made our builds consequential and a heck of a lot more exhilarating than completely gutting both skills such they’re just boring percentage modifiers. Think about that, it’s so sad. “Crystal Mortars” and Reflective Scales were two of the most iconic abilities in the game right now are just percentage modifiers (indeed, nobody calls it “crystal mortars” anymore). That’s not awesome. That’s not class identity. That’s a boring “play-pattern.” That’s not impactful gameplay.

We’re not yet ready to share details on those long-term efforts, but the team is excited to push toward a future where class identities are unique, coherent, and satisfying for all players in all roles.

Why not? If it’s so exciting, why not tell us? I could use a little ESO excitement. Let us know what you’ve got in the pipeline so that we might be genuinely excited about what’s in store. That’s generally how marketing works, isn’t it? 90 seconds of previews for Top Gun 2: Maverick have already convinced me to spend my money to watch it.

Two: Stonefist and Bosmer stealth: What ZOS doesn’t seem to realize

I don’t even play a stamina dragonknight, but I can understand the collective “meh” reception for this change. Stamina DKs have for years begged for a class skill that could synergize with their supposed identity of a close-combat melee brawler. And instead got a ranged attack – with a cast-time! – that they must spam 3 times just to get the generic stun status effect and adds a little extra damage for their teammates. They already have an ability that gives them an instant stun, they are primarily melee combatants, and they’re about as far away from the “bard” archetype looking to help the group as you can get in ESO. If I play a stamina DK to be a devasting close combat hero, that’s an actual identity, that’s a meaningful play pattern, that’s something distinctive; does the Stonefist skill actually accentuate or has any synergy with any of that? No, it doesn’t. Way too much focus on the “power fantasy” angle and I don’t think the payoffs of a generic status effect or taking an old Templar mechanic constitutes a unique “play pattern.”

This does not mean the skill isn’t useful. A PvE raid lead wants the stagger damage amplification effect. But any DK can do this and it isn’t really impacting how the stamina DK plays and isn’t helping them to do stamina DK things better. Just because a class skill gets slotted and used, that does not make for class identity, especially if its benefits are only perceptible by looking at the group’s damage logs.

One of the longest threads in ESO history emerged with the update that changed racials: Bosmer players were upset that the race no longer offered a reduction to opponent’s stealth detection. Even though I personally could not care whatsoever about this change (I actually prefer the new passive), I do understand where these players are coming from. They want the bonus to be attached to their choice of playing a Bosmer. That is identity. I remember bringing up this “pain point” up and was told it would be eventually resolved because other options (such as gear) would be introduced into the game that would enable stealth gameplay.

STOP. RIGHT. THERE. This train of logic, that a player could simply wear a gear set or use a generic mechanic to impact our gameplay is precisely why ZOS is missing the point when it comes to identity. We want our avatars, through the choices we make in our class and race to make us distinctive and heroic, not because of a generic gear set, debuff, or game mechanic that everyone else can do the same thing (and potentially better).

Three: What I realized taking a break from ESO

I’ve played fantasy and RPG games since the 1980s and every single one of them operated on the same principle: you started out feeble and mostly just did basic attacks and the longer you played, the more your abilities became interesting, powerful, and unique. And FUN. My 1st level “Wizard” spent the majority of the time basic attacking and her big moment came once a day putting a few orcs to sleep. Eventually she began fireballing things, polymorphing into a dragon, teleportation, disintegrating creatures into dust, stopping time, etc., and never made a basic attack. Yet my ESO experience has been precisely the opposite. When I first starting playing this game in 2014, I had a lot of unique and interesting abilities that were really fun to play: I could reflect meteors, blind my enemies, launch “crystal mortars,” or play a “saptank.” But over the years, the potency of those abilities declined. And more time, attention, gameplay mechanics, and development resources devoted to executing basic attacks. What?!? Playing ESO for any extended period of time is like starting a Dungeons and Dragons campaign at level 20 and then regressing the player characters to lower levels with less impactful abilities and more basic attacks. It’s totally backwards.

Is anyone going to argue ESO is a better game ever since the Crystal Fragments spell was nerfed such that it did less damage, no longer stunned, and added a travel time? How many patches and wasted developer resources went to constant adjustments of the Rune Prison ability (which sorcerers still don’t like) to replace that lost stun? How fun was it playing a sorcerer knowing you had to run a Master Destro to be competitive? How did that add identity and diversity? And how pointless was that Crystal Fragment nerf because the very same “problem” emerged because sorcerers used a specific weapon to have a high damage skill that stunned, which prompted ZOS to somehow nerf the skill rather than the weapon?

And for what? Because some PvPers whined. Why is this tiny part of the community being catered to? Seriously, it makes zero sense. It would be understandable if PvP became more popular or appealing because of these changes, but this change (and others like it) did not make PvP more popular. It did precisely the opposite. I have multiple 5-star characters. Don’t tell me it’s lag. It’s the gameplay. It’s no longer nearly as fun. It’s like ZOS never considered the possibility that their constant nerfs and removal of interesting things we could do might make the game more bland, boring, and unexciting. Tell me I’m wrong. But afterward tell me how much fun Nightblades are having this patch.

********

But, if you give DK their Reflective Scales back, it’s too overbearing to my ranged magicka player!

Too bad. Yeah, I said it. Too bad. In order to have meaningful character (let alone class) identity, there must be situations in which your class excels and situations your class struggles. If you are finding those pesky DKs so troublesome, why don’t you play the way Cyrodiil was meant to be played and find a buddy, a small group, or a raid so your strengths and weaknesses can be complimented by those of your allies? Genuine solo players are good enough not to complain and ask for nerfs. So why must ZOS cater an entire Alliance War just so "zerg-surfers" can run around pretending to be a solo hero and never have to worry about coming across something they can’t handle by themselves? In what other RPG or fantasy game is this even remotely a consideration? If I chose to play a “wizard” character and I find myself in a close quarters fight vs a “barbarian,” it’s generally accepted that the “wizard” is dead meat. And I’m totally fine with that because I can cast fireballs, which the “barbarian” can’t. Strengths and weaknesses. It has worked just fine in other games for over 30 years. And it worked here. During 1.6, DKs even with “oppressive” wings, lost to sorcerers with “Crystal Mortars” way more often than not. Yet somehow in an Alliance War format, ESO caters to zerg surfers who aren't genuine solo players and refuse to “git gud” or withdraw or seek help in unfavorable combat scenarios. You will never satisfy these types of people because their ego and myopia prevents them from recognizing other classes need to have interesting and impactful skills in order for the gameplay to be just that, interesting and impactful. By catering to them, ZOS has lost a lot more people because the gameplay keeps regressing with all these nerfs.

ZOS, bite the bullet and stop worrying that one class just might be better in a certain situation than another or is able to do something the other classes can’t. All that does is homogenize everything and remove the distinctive elements that made our characters fun to play to begin with. I don’t want to spam Stonefist three times just to get a stun. Are Nightblades somehow supposed to believe they are elite assassins because they have the same minor vulnerability debuff that one can get by playing a Warden, using a lightning staff, wearing the Infallible Mage set, or by equipping poisons?

Four: Stop mollycoddling PvP players and give us back our distinctive abilities

I do appreciate the effort put in to ensure that there is counterplay to powerful abilities in PvP combat. It is not fun to get deleted without the belief there was nothing you could do. However, ZOS has gone way too far. Minimum travel times, nerfing allegedly “over-performing” abilities, the removal of most stuns and CCs that we used, throwing in overpowered gear, and putting cast times on ulitmates have made it such that PvP is full of mediocre players who run builds that can face-tank a ridiculous amount of damage. This is not in dispute. Yet, what is the reason we have these cast-times? ZOS plainly told us:

ZOS wrote:

Adding cast times to Ultimates appears to be a change most people here have reacted negatively to. Why are these cast times being added? What issue is the team attempting to solve with this change?
Ultimate abilities are some of the most powerful abilities in the game. We added cast times so there is counter play; we felt that having 3-4 abilities hitting you at once, including an Ultimate, is just too much. You also can’t animation cancel them because we don’t want players to be able to instantly cast them anymore. They are just too powerful.

No they aren’t! Players aren’t dying. They aren’t powerful enough! This change was counter-productive as it encourages the unhealth combat of perpetual stalemate. It is also contradictory to ZOS’s own statement of what combat should be. I quote from the Morrowind Update:

ZOS wrote:

Combat in ESO is, and has always been, about fast-paced action

Travel and cast times violate this principle. It took about 30 minutes of trying to play with Dawnbreaker to realize it’s now too awkward, graceless, and sluggish. Now that character is a pack mule. I don’t even want to think about the poor Nightblade players, who have to wonder why Incap has a cast-time, but somehow there isn’t one on Crescent Sweep or Dragon Leap. Really? How is that remotely fair?

Nowhere has the mollycoddling been more obvious than the removal/nerfing of some many of the game’s stuns. Crystal Frags: removed. Deep Fissure: removed. Blazing Spear: removed. Luminous shards: removed. Puncturing Strikes: removed. Incap: Downgraded to Silence (which just gives free CC immunity Vs. stamina opponents), Obsidian Shard: Removed. Stone Giant: Need to spam thrice now. Petrify: range nerf. Rune Cage: ability has been changed so much I legit forget what it did or does. All I know is that when it’s used against me, I don’t find it very threatening. Dizzy Swing: Now requires conditional debuff to stun. Destructive clench: major range nerf. Lightning no longer stuns (lol why not?). Drain Essence: now requires the entire channel.

This is ridiculous. Players need to be stunned, especially now that gear sets are handing out powerful buffs like they are going out of style without even having to press a button. Getting stunned is not the end of the world. Stop balancing the game as if it is this some “over-performing” oppressive burden. It isn’t. Just CC break and for 7 seconds it can’t happen again. Asking us to play mini games with a generic mechanic like off balance (which ZOS also just nerfed) does not add class identity.

The point here is that it’s really frustrating to read the patch notes and find out another thing that my class can no longer do. As for how common that disappointment is, I point to the Morrowind update. There were so many heavy handed nerfs that patch that ZOS knew there would be a huge collective disappointment and so basically tried to sell these nerfs by putting in “this will be a buff if [insert non-viable build].” Wouldn’t it be a nice change of pace if the community genuinely looked forward to an update? Please stop over-simplifying gameplay, homogenizing our abilities, and taking away the core features of our class kits – in short do what is a tried and true fantasy RPG formula – and I promise you I will be genuinely excited for the next update.

A Journey Through Time: How ZOS has changed two abilities since Launch

Spear Shards at Launch:

25 meter range
Cost 42 magicka (same as Puncturing Strike]
Deals 11 magic damage to enemies in area of effect (ESO’s damage descriptions back then were always sketchy. It was a little less than the Javelin). Disorients one target for 6 seconds
An ally may pick up the spear, granting them 25% [!] stamina and additional stamina over 10 seconds. Little remembered fact: In Beta, it was reported that this ability increased the weapon and spell power of the ally who synergized the spear. That’s teamwork, that’s class identity, that’s interesting. That’s no longer part of ESO. Instead now you farm gear like Burning Spellweave and wait for a random proc to increase your damage.
Blazing Spear morph: Adds a small damage over time component. Now stuns a target for 2 seconds instead of disorients.
Luminous Shards morph: Restores more stamina and also magicka over time.

This skill should have never been changed. In fact the Beta version of the skill was the most appealing and interesting it ever was. That’s great design: a skill that increases allies’ damage, but not the user’s own. No matter how crappy this class may be because of meta changes, unnecessary nerfs, etc. it would always be wanted as what it offered couldn’t be acquired elsewhere and was not something that the templar could selfishly use itself. Spear Shards was a nice multi-functional skill, one templars liked using, and legitimately impacted gameplay beyond “power fantasy” fluff as the synergy was potent and was something that came from being a Templar.

Zos’s changes:

1.1.2:

ZOS wrote:

Fixed a visual issue with this ability where the spear was falling horizontally.

Graphic bug fix, that’s fine.
1.2.3:

ZOS wrote:

This ability will no longer disorient targets that roll dodge.
Blazing Spear: Moderately increased this ability's damage over time.

Bug fix and slight buff (as buffs should be). Nice.
1.5.2

ZOS wrote:

Spear Shards: Fixed an issue where this ability wasn't damaging or disorienting stealthed enemies.
Blazing Spear: Slightly improved your game performance when using this ability.

Bug fix and even a game performance to boot. Can we go back to this philosophy of updates, please?
1.6.5

ZOS wrote:

Fixed an issue where Spear Shards and Volley would not hit an enemy using Shadow Cloak.
Fixed an issue with this ability and its morphs not sorting targets.
Blazing Spear: This ability will now continue to deal damage over time even if the spear is removed as a result of someone using the Synergy. If you are stunned by Blazing Spear, you will now gain crowd control immunity.

More bug fixes, and one that was needed. I remember how this could chain stun.
2.3.5

ZOS wrote:

Blazing Spear (Spear Shards morph): This morph now displays a hostile red telegraph if it is cast from enemy Templars.

Quality of life improvement. Nice.
2.6.4

ZOS wrote:

Fixed an issue where this ability and the Luminous Shards morph were disorienting the incorrect number of targets.

Bug fix. How updates should be.
2.7.5

ZOS wrote:

Decreased the time it takes for the spear from this ability and its morphs to land after being cast at the target location to 750 milliseconds from 1100 milliseconds.
Increased the duration of this morph to 8 seconds from 6 seconds, causing it to tick damage an additional 2 times; however, it no longer stuns the enemy when it first hits them.
The ticking damage from this morph now has the same radius as the initial damage.
Developer Comments: We took the stun off of Blazing Spear and increased its damage over time duration to help differentiate it from Luminous Shard. We want Blazing Spear to be damage focused, and Luminous to be CC focused. Note: We're still working through a solution that makes Luminous feel unique from the other CC abilities, while maintaining the functionality of effectiveness on blocking targets.

I have talked to dozens of Templars and not one liked this change. Nobody asked for this. Nobody thought this ability was overpowered. Even many non-templars were puzzled as to the removal of the stun. I have not used this ability in PvP ever since as it’s just a weak ground DoT and the Orb synergy is the better resource return option. ZOS, you ruined the ability right here for anyone who PvPs. Let’s read the last part of the developer comment again:
“We want … Luminous to be CC focused. Note: We're still working through a solution that makes Luminous feel unique from the other CC abilities, while maintaining the functionality of effectiveness on blocking targets.”
This was February 6, 2017. I’m still waiting for that solution the makes Luminous feel unique. Might I suggest you don’t nerf something until you’ve thought things fully through?
3.0.5

ZOS wrote:

The Synergy from this ability and its morphs now restore Stamina or Magicka, whichever pool is larger. The amount restored is now based on your character level instead of your Max Resource. The synergy also has a shared cooldown with the Necrotic Orb Synergy.
This ability and the Luminous Shard morph no longer disorient an enemy. It also now deals moderate additional damage over time after the spear lands.
Developer Comments: There are three main goals behind the changes to Spear Shards and its morphs. First, we want the design of Spear Shards to be more clearly focused – it's a powerful area of effect damage ability with a prominent synergy. Templars still have crowd control options with other abilities such as Piercing Javelin, Eclipse, and Focused Charge. This also prevents scenarios where the disorient on this ability would be a detriment; since Spear Shards could proc Burning Light, there would frequently be situations where the disorient broke immediately and gave your enemy a "free" crowd control immunity.
Second, we wanted to lower the damage gap between the Luminous Shards and Blazing Spear morph choices. Blazing Spear is still ideal for raw damage, but it is no longer such a prominent difference; you won't feel as penalized if you want to sacrifice some damage to have better group utility.
Finally, we've buffed the Luminous Shard synergy to return more resources. While this synergy will share a cooldown with Necrotic Orb, it allows Templars to have a more distinct version of the synergy without making it mandatory in end-game group content.
Blazing Spear: This morph now increases the damage over time by approximately 30% as a morph effect.
Luminous Shards: This morph now causes the synergy to always restore Magicka and Stamina. It restores the current value of Magicka or Stamina to your highest maximum, and half of that value to the opposite resource.
Necrotic Orb: The synergy from this ability and its morphs now restore Stamina or Magicka to the synergy-user, whichever resource pool is larger. The amount restored is now based on your character level instead of your Max Resource. The synergy also has a shared cooldown with the Spear Shards synergy.
Developer Comments: This allows classes other than Templars to bring a powerful resource restore synergy to the group as a substitute to Spear Shards.

OK, a lot to unpack here. First, I agree the disorient was self-defeating since Luminous was given a DoT (which would instantly break the CC). But that is *not* an improvement. I’d want the CC more than a small DoT and ZOS in a previous update said they wanted Luminous to CC and “Luminous feel unique from the other CC abilities, while maintaining the functionality of effectiveness on blocking targets.” This most certainly does not accomplish that goal.

Secondly, “we want the design of Spear Shards to be more clearly focused” means “we are nerfing this ability and removing the identity players have enjoyed since Launch.” Every skill that became “more clearly focused” is less interesting, has less impact on gameplay, and isn’t as enjoyable to use.

Thirdly: “Finally, we've buffed the Luminous Shard synergy to return more resources. While this synergy will share a cooldown with Necrotic Orb, it allows Templars to have a more distinct version of the synergy without making it mandatory in end-game group content.” No. This was the infamous Morrowind update that featured sweeping nerfs. The Luminous Shard morph was not buffed. Rather everything resource related was nerfed. The Luminous morph shard had at Launch restored stamina and magicka, the functionality of that morph is no different here, except its return was much smaller (then roughly 3300, which is a far cry from it’s original 25% of the synergizer’s resource pool). Also what exactly is the problem with having a class be wanted in end-game content? Shouldn’t this be the goal? If a class provides nothing that end-game players want, let alone need, then there isn’t any reason to bring that class, i.e. no more identity and turn it into a pack mule when it doesn’t parse as high as the others on a target dummy. The way you make other classes as appealing choices for support is to just do that: give them something that makes them appealing, not by homogenizing the Templar.
It was with this patch that ZOS made this skill redundant for PVE.
3.1.5

ZOS wrote:

Fixed an issue where the cooldown buff from Spear Shards and Necrotic Orb's synergy had different names.

Pointless. Like, how do you think Templar players felt reading through those patch notes, hoping for some improvement to Spear Shards and saw that?
3.3.5

ZOS wrote:

Fixed an issue where this ability and its morphs could not be dispelled by Negate Magic or the Earthgore Item Set.

Bug fix. Fine.
4.2.5

ZOS wrote:

Increased the damage done by this ability and the Luminous Shards morph by approximately 67%.
Blazing Spear: Increased the damage done from this ability by approximately 60%.
Developer Comment: This skill should now be more in line with other class area of effect damage over time abilities, such as Lightning Splash, and have more interesting choices between the two morphs.

Years later, finally a buff. Except this isn’t an interesting choice. Luminous no longer CCs, its resource return pales in comparison to Orbs, there is no reason to select the morph.
5.0.5

ZOS wrote:

Increased the initial hit damage of this ability and its morphs by approximately 36%.
Increased the DoT of this ability and the Luminous Shards morph by approximately 5%.
Adjusted how these abilities power up as they increase in rank:
Spear Shards: Increases damage dealt by entire ability as it ranks up.
Luminous Shards: No longer increases damage as it ranks up, but instead gains cost reduction (-90 Magicka per rank)
Blazing Spear: Increases damage dealt by entire ability as it ranks up.

How bad has this ability been for years that another notable damage buff was deemed necessary?
5.1.5

ZOS wrote:

Decreased cost of this ability and its morphs to 3024 from 3240.
Decreased the DoT damage of Spear Shards and Luminous by approximately 37% per tick, and Blazing Spear by approximately 42% per tick.

And now the damage is getting decreased?
5.2.5

ZOS wrote:

This ability and its morphs now last 10 seconds, up from 8.
Increased the base cost to 4950, up from 3024.
Reduced the damage per tick of these abilities by approximately 30%.
Blazing Spear (morph):
Increased the initial hit damage of this ability by 10%, but decreased the damage over time by approximately 59% per tick.
This morph now increases the total damage dealt by 20% compared to the base ability, rather than 10% of just the Damage over Time.
Luminous Shards (morph):
Decreased the base cost of this morph to 4590, down from 4950. Note that it still continues to decrease in cost base on rank, down to 4320 at Rank IV.

My head is literally hurting here. The damage is getting reduced again, by 30% and the blazing morph by 59% [!], but now the total damage is increased by 20% compared to the base ability instead of just the damage over time?

Oh, and the cost went from 3000 to 5000 [!]. Just let that sink in for a minute. ZOS is trying to sell me that because the Blazing Spear morph does a 20% increase compared to the base morph – which literally zero people in the world care about because nobody uses the base ability – somehow putting a 59% [!] nerf on the actual ability we used in the game somehow warrants a 67% cost increase? No wonder half my guild went to WoW Classic.
5.3.4

ZOS wrote:

Reduced the cost of this ability and its morphs to 3780, down from 4950.

Well, yeah, the 5000 cost was ridiculous. We told ZOS this during the PTS and it was obvious, but we still had to play with that ridiculous cost for 4 months. And the cost is still ridiculous because of all the nerfs that were put into the skill removed most of the reasons for using it. One cast of an Undaunted orbs can be synergized by 100 people whereas Shards can only be synergized a single person.

This is what Spear shards is now

25 meter range
Cost 3970 magicka [now 1000 more than Puncturing Strike]
Deals X magic damage to enemies in area of effect (where X is the standard for ESO’s AoE damage abilities. Does (about 10% the initial) damage over time for 10 seconds.
An ally may pick up the spear, granting them 3960 magicka or stamina, whichever is higher.
Blazing Spear morph: Increases the damage by about 10%.
Luminous Shards morph: Reduces costs slightly. Synergy also restores 1980 magicka or stamina, whichever is lower.

All this ability now is an expensive PVE DoT that DPS will put into their rotation. There is no CC, its resource mechanic is replicated by the more efficient Undaunted skill, there is nothing unique about it, and its impact on gameplay is now less than something like Lightning Flood (as it offers a synergy that cannot be replicated). In short, ZOS ruined what was once a useful skill that set the Templar Class apart. The facts and crystal-clear pattern of ZOS’s updates are right there to see.

Also note how ZOS’s updating philosophy has changed. The updates in the beginning of the game fixed bugs, improved our abilities and (at least tried) not to take away their defining features. Then about 2017, all this changed.

Nerfs. Removal of core features. Homogenization. Wild swings in nerfs/buffs. No discernible direction. The ability is in every way more lackluster than it was at Launch or anyone who rolled a templar before 2017. It is not nearly as fun or impactful to use as it once was. I challenge anyone to dispute this. That is what I mean by no longer having a class identity.

Everyone on these forums knows I

my Templar so in the interest of combating potential bias, I will do the same methodology on a class I’ve never liked, Nightblades.

Let’s look at Death Stroke.

At Launch:

5 meter range
Cost 50 ultimate [During a time we had dynamic ultimate generation].
Deals 25 magic damage, while reducing the target’s healing by 50%. Damage increases with ultimate charge up to 275%. (Again, ESO’s damage descriptions back then were sketchy. Veiled Strike lists 22 damage for comparison’s sake).
Incapacitating Strike morph: Stuns target for 3 seconds if caster has lower health.
Soul Harvest morph: Passively add +7 ultimate from kills.

Again, I’m going to say this skill should have never been changed. Especially since the way it was designed put a premium on the Nightblade player to intelligently think about when to use it. The stun only came when the NB was in trouble, so it offered a real alternative to trying to turn the tables on a losing fight rather than spam cloak and it wasn’t overly oppressive to someone if the NB was winning the fight. Also, the bonus damage for having a higher ultimate was a built in incentive that awarded users for actually thinking about when to best use this skill, rather than simply spam it on cooldown (which would become a self-created problem the devs made due to their own changes). No cast-time was necessary because it wasn’t oppressive, and the smart NB player wouldn’t spam this because the skill paid higher dividends for waiting for the opportune moment to use it.

Zos’s changes:

1.1.2:

ZOS wrote:

Fixed a visual issue with this ability where the spear was falling horizontally.

Graphic bug fix, that’s fine.
1.2.3:

ZOS wrote:

This ability no longer receives the critical damage bonus when used as a sneak attack. It will still cause a stun and a guaranteed critical hit.

If something has to be nerfed, this is the way to do it. Specifically identify the situation when the skill is a problem, and then use a scalpel to address it as oppose to a sledgehammer that ruins it for every other scenario.
1.5.2

ZOS wrote:

This ability now deals 35% increased damage, and no longer scales up with increased Ultimate.
Death Stroke now increases the damage you deal to a target by 20% for 6 seconds.

Mistake. ZOS is rewarding unthinking spam when ready gameplay. The ability was more interesting before.
1.6.5

ZOS wrote:

Death Stroke and its morphs will now apply the Major Defile buff.

Nerf and loss of class identity. Before, it was 50% reduced healing, now that something a Nightblade can only get via the champion system (which is unavailable in no CP gameplay). Not only that, but because Major Defile is a named buff available to everyone easily through gear or spammables such as Blighted Blastbones, it’s not something the class is associated with anymore.
2.4.5

ZOS wrote:

Reduced the damage of this ability and its morphs by 4.5%.
Incapacitating Strike: This morph now always stuns the target when it is used, regardless of the caster's health. This morph now also deals Disease Damage instead of Magic Damage.

Mistake. Huge mistake. Right here is when ZOS created the Frankenstein of the overpowered Nightblade. It already incentivized spamming it on cooldown, now it made the better morph always stun? Crazy. Very, very few abilities in ESO were ever legit overpowered: 50 cost high damage, defiling, ultimate that always stunned and gave bonus damage to everything afterward? That should have never left the drawing table.
2.7.5

ZOS wrote:

Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs to 70 Ultimate from 50 Ultimate.
Developer Comments: With the Nightblade's high Ultimate generation, Death Stroke is available too frequently for how powerful it is. Increasing the cost keeps its current burst potential while making Nightblades think more tactically about when to use it.

Wrong. ZOS tried to solve a problem caused by its own unnecessary changes. If you wanted Nightblades to think more tactically about when to use Incap, then it should have never been changed from launch. Besides, there is no “thinking” here. They are being forced to use it less because the cost is being increased.
3.0.5

ZOS wrote:

Fixed an issue where this ability and the Soul Harvest morph's damage was being mitigated off the target's Physical Resistance instead of their Spell Resistance.

Most likely nobody noticed because there was no reason to actually use this morph.
3.3.5

ZOS wrote:

Soul Harvest: Fixed an issue where you could not dodge this morph.

Bug fix. It’s Fine.
4.1.5

ZOS wrote:

This ability now only stuns if you have 120 Ultimate or more. To visually show its readiness state, the icon will change to a recolored version and the animation of the cast will change.

Misguided. The issue with the stun was not that the target got stunned when the NB only had 70 ultimate. It’s that the target got stunned when the Nightblade was already is a winning position and couldn’t do anything because they had to CC break, were defiled, and had to eat 20% more damage from the hardest hitting abilities in the game (grim focus + impale) while having their armor shattered from Surprise Attacks.
5.0.5

ZOS wrote:

This ability and the Incapacitating Strike morph will no longer apply Major Defile to the target.
Developer Comment: Death Stroke has been notorious for being a very potent Ultimate. We wanted to retain this ability's identity as a mark for death on your target, helping the Nightblade excel at assassinating high priority targets while reducing some of the over bearing nature it enables. You'll note that Soul Harvest has been left untouched, which is due to the morph only granting a conditional bonus previously. Now, Soul Harvest offers a guaranteed bonus with a conditional, while Incapacitating Strike doubles down on offering two powerful conditional bonuses.
Incapacitating Strike (morph): This morph will now Silence the enemy for 3 seconds if cast with 120 or more Ultimate. This Silence can be CC broken, and will fail to apply to CC immune enemies.
Developer Comment: The goal with the change to Incapacitating Strike's conditional bonus was to tone down some of the shut-down mechanic to it, since Silences are essentially stuns that allow the target to continue moving, blocking, and dodging. We are aware of the nature that Silences have in terms of effectiveness on varying builds, which is why we found the ability to CC break this effect would be an ideal compromise; it still has the counter play options of a traditional stun, but no longer needs to always be broken.

A lot unpack here. First of all, I hate this theory of making an unattractive morph more appealing: leave the already unappealing morph alone and nerf the crap out of the morph that everyone enjoys using. That is not improving the game. That is forcing players to make an undesirable choice.

Secondly, the silence change is something I still don’t understand the logic for. No matter how many times I read the developer comment, I am still scratching my head. If I am a magicka build, *of course* course I am going to break it because I can’t use any of my abilities if I don’t. If I am a stamina build, then that totally screws over the Nightblade caster because it completely removed what the ultimate offered outside of damage: no more defile, no more hard CC.

Thirdly, the little resource return is just peanuts and its puzzling (and unprecedented) inclusion just goes to show how poorly the collective changes made to Death Stroke have been. All of this came in the wake of the ill-thought out 2.4.5 update that encouraged NBs to spam this ultimate.

I don’t care for this class. But I have to be honest here: these changes have gutted Death Stroke such that I do not fear getting hit by it. I challenge anyone to argue with a straight face that Death Stroke, let alone the 120 cost version of it, comes anywhere near the potency of Templar’s 75 cost Crescent Sweep or DK’s 110 cost Take Flight. They aren’t even in the same ballpark.
5.1.5

ZOS wrote:

Added a 400ms cast time Death Stroke and morphs

At this point, you’re just kicking someone who’s down.

This is the current version of Death Stroke:

5 meter range
Cost 70 ultimate. 400 millisecond cast time.
Deals 1315 damage, and increase your damage against the target by 20% for 6 seconds (Veiled Strike lists for 822 damage for comparison’s sake).
Incapacitating Strike morph: If cast with 120 or more ultimate, silences and enemy for 3 seconds. While slotted, gain Reave, which restores 85 magicka and stamina when you deal damage with a Light or Heavy Attack on an enemy with a negative effect active on them.
Soul Harvest morph: Also afflicts enemy with major defile, reducing healing received by 30%. Passively add +7 ultimate from kills.

Scroll up to the Launch version and wince. This ultimate has been turned into is a (more) expensive DPS ability – just like Spear Shards. Once again, we have the removal of class identity but an accommodation to the all mighty target dummy parse, which is the all-determining factor for competitive gameplay.

*********

What have we learned from our trip down memory lane?

What I am writing here is not nostalgia. I know the difference between history as recorded in primary sources at the time and our flawed memories. You can look with your own eyes the distinctive feature both of these abilities used to have, the removal of those features and replacement by generic (de)buffs available to everyone, and the slow devolution of Spear Shards and Death Stroke into skills we primarily use for DPS purposes.

The original design of these abilities at Launch demonstrated the talent and imagination of their designers. These abilities were once imaginative, impactful, did something aside from DPS, offered each class a distinctive identity, and, importantly, were fun to play. They should never have been changed. Not only that, the modifications that were made were counterproductive as they only sent ZOS on a wild goose chase trying to compensate for previous ill-advised radical changes. If Incap had not been made a spammable that always stunned, the cost increase, cast-time, and removal of its features would not have been necessary. And I still can’t get over the cycle of huge damage buffs/nerfs and massive cost increases/decreases for Spear Shards. All it amounted to was a waste of time and resources. If the next patch reverted both of these abilities to what they were at 1.4, when the only changes made were bug fixes, there would be widespread applause and acclaim from the community.

Just let that sink in: after 6 years of nerfs and removal of core features, ZOS is still trying to figure out exactly how these abilities should work. How can a game progress, evolve, or move toward a discernible direction without a solid foundation? It can’t. What is frustrating is that these abilities already had that foundation. That class identity is even a topic for discussion and a design goal six years after Launch is mind-boggling. Shouldn’t this have been sorted at in development and Beta? The thing is, it *was* sorted out. We once had it. Now we do not. This issue arose because the because for years the patch notes have mostly comprised of nerfs, the removal of core class features, and the “standardization” – to use a euphemistic term – of the abilities and mechanics that dictated how our avatars interacted with the world of ESO. The Morrowind patch, which elicited widespread disillusionment, should have prompted self-reflection. It didn’t. That we are even talking about class identity after six years should not be the case.

CassandraGemini · March 2020

A TL;DR would be nice. I'm really not opposed to reading longer texts and what you have to say seems interesting - but it's just too much. Way too much. It really might have been better to stick to what's most important and leave some of the rest out, because I seriously doubt that many people will read through the whole text, and, as I said, it actually seems interesting, so that's a bit sad.

actosh · March 2020

True.

Sanguinor2 · March 2020

It really is a shame what became of many old class abilities.

Agree with everything you wrote, Zos really shouldve figured out at least the base game classes by now. I doubt we will ever go back tho, Zos would have to rebalance so much and I cant see them making that Kind of effort.

After seeing what they did to nb I really dread the Moment Zos turns their Attention to templars, I still remember being completely baffled when Zos said in one patch that dk was supposed to be the Attrition class and in the next completely gutted dk class dots together with all other dots after overbuffing them in the patch before.

It really is telling how most People I know dont look Forward to class updates and balance changes at all and rather are wondering which classes or abilities we enjoy will be gutted next.

JTD · March 2020

Agreed and agreed.
When you read it like that it makes me really sad.

Bashev · March 2020

Good memories back in the time.

Joy what you are asking for is not casual friendly and it works mostly in PvP environment where skills counter each other.

ZoS makes all skills same because PvE-ers use only the best dps skills. The pve is only buff dps and try to do more dps. This is the best strategy and nothing else is better. On the other hand in PvP there are a lot of factors. All these legacy skills were designed for PvP and not for PvE. The game was mainly PvP oriented but the truth is that all the money are in the PvE. ZoS found it and adjusted according the revenue.

Imryll · March 2020

Insightful or awesome? Agree completely. Early combat was more fun. If every class has a few "OP" skills, the classes can still be balanced overall if not in every moment of time. Of course, once you nerf one class's standout skills, you have to nerf all the other classes' standout skills. It's a downward spiral to blander gameplay.

dazee · March 2020

ESO's scaling system is fine, if you feel weaker at higher levels than lower ones, stop wearing overpowered gear while leveling.

If you craft purple set gear for below 50 characters, you have no excuse to complain.

I agree with only one of your points, which is Abilities should Look, and BE Awesome. abilities which reflected things right back at the enemy need to come back, and come back now, and not all classes should have that specific ability in equal measure, some should have some other cool special trick.

Wouldn't it be awesome if Sorc could turn other players in pvp into small animals for a short time? we know its possible from a couple quests where you become a monkey for a bit.

Back in the glory days of Blizzard, their game Starcraft became extremely popular, largely due to ASYMMETRICAL BALANCE. Not all factions in starcraft did everything equally well, each one did a different thing better than any other and this made them truly fun and unique in their own way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e31OSVZF77w

Tommy_The_Gun · March 2020

It baffles me how they made their goals to balance the game and yet many times they failed at it, completely ignoring some of the "goals" they themselves made...

Take Argonian racial passives for example. Is there a poison immunity there, or at least increased poison resistance ?
Nope, it is gone... but there are still quests in game involving Argonians in which the lizards literally say:
"I have survived only because of my kind is highly resistant to poisons and in many cases immune to it."

What is even more baffling & hilarious is that there are quests made AFTER racial rebalance that have this lore plot element - Argonians being resistant / immune to poison & disease (not only disease as current passive says).

Was it so hard to add some small poison resistance (without immunity) ? Nope. It is not a huge game changer. It would not make Argonians super OP or something. It would be irrelevant, but it would be at least acknowledging the lore.

kylewwefan · March 2020

TL;DR: in beta this game had class identity. Now it does not.

Suspected reasons: Too much catering to dummy humpers & PvP’ers.

Standardizing things has left the game bland.

Thedragonlolitucker · March 2020

really well written, completely agree

MusCanus · March 2020

ZOS in the meantime: "Nah, it's all fine, our revenues increased x-fold since launch. That means people are happy."

Ragnaroek93 · March 2020

Too bad that ZOS can't admit that they did mistakes and revert some of the changes. They're too proud for that. Haven't really played the game since Elswyer (just logging in once every 2 months and checking patchnotes) and I honestly don't plan on returning either until I see really promising changes. I just can't forgive what Gilliam and Wheeler did to my class and with how much ignorance they leave it in trash tier and I will certainly not pay them for this.

I agree with most of the stuff in the post but I also have to admit that I don't really care much at this point. Their talking about class identity is just PR crap since they realised that their standarization is a major failure and did solve exactly nothing. I don't even care that much about class identity as long as I have fun on the builds which I'm playing and as long as they are competitive. In case of my Nb, it's not about Incap, they nerfed half of its skills (like Surprise Attack was the first stamina class morph on the class and it was fine since 1.6 and suddenly Gilliam considers it as overloaded and nerfed it while buffing Dizzy...), as a developer you should take a step back and realise that this is probably too much of a nerf.

It's even worse how they even fail at being consistant when trying to standarize all skills. Why does templar not have a cast time on his ult meanwhile I have one on my ults (not even Incap even Soul Siphon - a defensive skill - has a cast time)? Why does Necro have Major Defile/Protection? Why do Jabs deal more damage than the other spammables? And the list goes on. Either nerf all of this stuff too so that every class is trash tier and I can laugh about the mass exodus which will happen afterwards or give the trash classes their cool *** back.

Lord-Otto · March 2020

Gaming since 1980? Geez, you're old!
(^_-)
Sadly, we can really pinpoint ESO's degradation start to Morrowind. It's easier for ZOS to balance the game when everything is on the same level of weak and that's why they hold onto that homogenization mentality. But it makes the combat as a whole more uninteresting and will 100% be the death of ESO. Not an abrupt death, but a slow suffocation. =/
Well, interesting read, well done!

Iki · March 2020

Thank you Joy_Division, very well written, I couldn`t agree more. Hope all Zos devs and decision makers take time to read and think about this excellent opening post.

Czekoludek · March 2020

As a nightblade main:

BooPerScOOper · March 2020

@Joy_Division

Beautifully said - hit the nail on the head..

Try not to think about it to much or you'll wind up like Ian...

Froil · March 2020

DID SOMEBODY SAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02kKKQ3JWPY

Beardimus · March 2020

Spot on @Joy_Division I think your paragraph about the Frag nerf made me fist pump, you are spot on.

And actually back to your opening points on ZOS 1&2 I think old Sorc felt to me great on both.

Zipping about, MagDW, shock skills, winding up an entropy empowered Frag to hit had felt like a Sorc to me. Full on mobile glass cannon. FELT AWESOME. and overload X 1000 for PvE fun.

Now it's meh. Still competitive but meh. It's lost its zing. For me their first point is important 'fluff' actually.

Ward changes also have meant we aren't even glass anymore. We run Impen, and Resistances and it's inconvcieble that Chudan is a very viable BIS PvP spec MH lol. Much more an abomination than running MagDW for that epic burst.

Who knows. But you make excellent points and detail here.

TheRealCherokeee3 · March 2020

I love this post!
What I convey in a brief and usually half informed way, you expertly lay out in a term paper level manner that makes me sit back and nod constantly. Your steady question amidst all this; "why?" has been answered through all your observation and surmising. In fact I think most of us that have been around long enough know this answer we don't want to cynically believe is true: the original passion and joy they once had in making a game for a certain nostalgic dedicated fan base, has degraded to a one size fits all to appeal to as many casual and new players as possible as the game slowly makes its way out the door. And it's not that I believe the game will die as is often lamented. That actually would be a good death. A worse death and one I anticipate is that it will instead be relegated to a long term eyeroll of bland happenings with "showcases" in the crown store and flash and pizzazz with no real substance. In essence, Elder Scrolls is becoming an exploitation of itself. I've seen your posts. I've seen your dismay at the detached and out of touch meetings, where you metaphorically tossed up your hands and felt useless. What so many of us and you have seen I believe, is the slow reveal of that stereotypical bad leader in the movies that smiles and nods at their crew while resisting any and all good advice, and continues to make horrible decision after horrible decision as they sail straight into that nightmare storm off in the horizon that will sink the ship. You gave expert advice, as did other devs. The forum warriors also gave theirs. Yet that storm looms and isn't growing smaller...but rather larger as ZOS continues full steam ahead into the squall.

Narvuntien · March 2020

Tl;DR.

I just skimmed it. I haven't played it long enough to know everything that has changed but to me, I have only ever seen the game improve.

It's not like my playstyle wasn't constantly nerfed, it was and I just adapted again and again and again. perhaps it is because I am not a traditional RPG or MMO player so I am used to this kind of thing from other games.

The game has been in an awkward state for a long time, where it started out as a traditional MMO but it turned out Elder scrolls players didn't want that so they started unravelling the rigidity of an MMO which caused problems of being a hybrid game that didn't really fulfil either player. I consider that state a couple of years ago where DKs were the only tanks and templars the only healers but you could dps with a lot of things. Now they are in the process of unravelling that, adding Warden and Nerco has helped variety since both work well as both tanks and healers.

Atm there are a couple of classes that properly fulfil the fantasy that is MagDk and Pet Sorc which is why sets like necro and silks of the sun are worth a ton. And Ideally, I'd really like for other builds to work in the unique way these two do.

Dracane · March 2020

Joy, you are a saint. As always, on point and 100% true. Preach this and pray the team sees this and thinks about it... intensively.

You have voiced exactly what is wrong with this game and why combat gets less exciting with each patch. Everything is there to please streamlining and equality. With equality I mean, taking as much skill and learning from the game as possible.

I admit, I had tears in my eyes when reading this.

It reminds me of all the sadness and anger I have felt over the years with nearly every patch. I loved this game so much, now it is but a dead and frustrating husk. I often find myself remembering the good times with allies from back then. 1.6 and shortly after was when this game was at its best.

And then, more anger overcomes me for I lack the understanding how a game developer can downgrade and destroy their own masterpiece of a game in such a manner.

Draxys · March 2020

Thoughtful and accurate, as always. The loss of identity is really why I’ve only half heartedly been playing this game since consoles came out. Sadly, I don’t have any hope whatsoever that meaningful and positive changes will ever be made to this game.

pieratsos · March 2020

CassandraGemini wrote: »

A TL;DR would be nice. I'm really not opposed to reading longer texts and what you have to say seems interesting - but it's just too much. Way too much. It really might have been better to stick to what's most important and leave some of the rest out, because I seriously doubt that many people will read through the whole text, and, as I said, it actually seems interesting, so that's a bit sad.

Rule of thumb. When Joy writes an essay about game balance, you read it. Period. There is no tldr

Dracane · March 2020

pieratsos wrote: »

CassandraGemini wrote: »

A TL;DR would be nice. I'm really not opposed to reading longer texts and what you have to say seems interesting - but it's just too much. Way too much. It really might have been better to stick to what's most important and leave some of the rest out, because I seriously doubt that many people will read through the whole text, and, as I said, it actually seems interesting, so that's a bit sad.

Rule of thumb. When Joy writes an essay about game balance, you read it. Period. There is no tldr

Exactly. Some things must be said as they are. Not everything can be pre-chewed for you to digest easily. If you care for this game and have been there since a long time, you will have no hesitation or trouble reading and following this text until the end.

Drdeath20 · March 2020

First off well done. It was clear, concise and thorough. With that being said i have a few rebuttals.

While although you are technically correct that the game is ~6 years old, we are not on the same lead combat designer and i believe that is a fairly big difference maker. I can say that since wheeler has taken over there is a much clearer direction the game is heading in. Seems like he wants every class/spec to be able to damage deal but then they are split between being competitive healers or competitive tanks. I kind of like this. Sorcorer, templar, warden healers and dks, necromancers, and nightblade tanks. The goal should always be to improve and balance (while maintaining some unique differences) but for now i think thats a fair divide.

This kind of segways into part 2 of my rebuttal. Should there be distinct pvp skills and distinct pve skills? I just cant see any other way of making the game fair without segregating the 2. I will admit that I dont think that most of the skills/morphs are good in their current iteration but i do think there is a clear delineation between pvp and pve skills. Of course there are skills that are useable in both scenarios but that does not detract from the original point of having specific segregated pve and pvp skills.

I also believe animation cancellation is necessary because it does add an element of joystick skill to the game and also slightly makes a rotation more difficult. I can understand wanting to feel more powerful as you put more time in the game but i think there is other avenues they could go down to get there.

Lastly what you seem to be advocating for is every class to have unique and powerful ability/abilities that has been taken to a far more extreme level than what we currently have. In alot of ways i am with you on this but in a few ways i can dissagree. I think going down that road is a slippery slope. Not everything that is powerful is equally powerful. So we would have clear winners and clear losers. Just ask any nightblade right now how they feel about being demoted to the losers list.

Like ive said above i believe most of the skills/ultimate morphs are not good enough im just weary of a 1 skills power making every other class or players skill level trivial.

Kamchuk · March 2020

I agree with you JD. Even the part about NBs. As a Magplar I used to hate NBs too. Now they are just a mosquito waiting to be swatted. I love my Magplar. I only have one toon and have had only one since launch. I am only an average player at best and I used to only play a few hours each day. But I don't even play as often as that anymore. I too dread the updates because I know there will be another nerf to homogenize the classes. And I don't have the time or inclination to adapt anymore. Every class should have a weakness to another, particular class. Mine used to be NBs. Now it is Necros. I suspect Necros will be nerfed eventually too.

I also agree with Bashev in that PVE is probably ZOS' main revenue stream. ZOS is in business to make money otherwise they would not have developed this game. But I suspect that the homogenization of the classes has more to do with the performance. This game launched 6 years ago, but was in development at least 8 years ago. Think about the PC technology back then, (#dual_core_processors). Now think about the number of classes, armor sets they have added over the years. The number of floating point calculations in their code has to be astonishing now. No wonder the performance is so bad when a major battle occurs at a PVP keep. (I remember the PVP days when there were 100 man Zergs. Now, 1 bar in PVP probably equals about 25 players.) Every time they add another Class or Armor set - they will need to nerf something to balance it. I doubt they will update/increase their servers for a game that is 6 years old, just for PVP. That would be a major investment and the return on that investment would have to justify it. (Perhaps if PVP was only for ESO Plus members…)

I never complain without offering a potential solution, but in this case I don't have a solution. I come home from work, fix a relaxing drink, login and kill as many AD and DC as I can, and I'll continue to play the game for a while longer. But I see the game on the downward slope. And that is a shame because this is truly an amazing game with so much more potential.

kalunte · March 2020

a post that definatly deserves the time i spent reading it

thank you joy

Starlock · March 2020

I don't agree with everything the OP asserts, but I do generally agree that combat in this game leaves much to be desired. I don't view aesthetics as mere "fluff" as the OP does, but it is true that the aesthetic distinctions should ideally be backed by mechanical distinctions. I think that the OP highlights some of the "worst case" changes made that resulted in abilities becoming more bland rather well, but that they also overlook "best case" changes that made abilities more interesting.

In the spirit of that, what about abilities that have become better and more distinct over time? Are there many players who think the original iterations of Bound Armor and its morphs were more interesting than what we have now? What about Searing Strike, which got a damage type shift for the stamina morph to work better with the CP system? How about Rune Focus where we got a morph that gives stamina characters a stamina recovery skill? Were these sorts of things bad changes? Are the homogenizing and/or providing more options for different character types?

I'm not going to pretend to have an answer. Besides, there's only opinions anyway.

Kalixte · March 2020

Wow, this is some serious quality post! You are totally right, feeling the same way about the game. Thank you!

CassandraGemini · March 2020

pieratsos wrote: »

CassandraGemini wrote: »

A TL;DR would be nice. I'm really not opposed to reading longer texts and what you have to say seems interesting - but it's just too much. Way too much. It really might have been better to stick to what's most important and leave some of the rest out, because I seriously doubt that many people will read through the whole text, and, as I said, it actually seems interesting, so that's a bit sad.

Rule of thumb. When Joy writes an essay about game balance, you read it. Period. There is no tldr

*lol* By now I have read through all the comments (and yes, I also found the time to read through the essay and it is indeed very well written) and have realized that this is obviously not the first time, OP has posted something like this. I guess I have neither been playing the game nor visiting the forums long enough to know about this - or a lot of the things they talk about in the OP and the changes that have been made. Apologies for my ignorance there, next time I'll know