Do you think an ice staff heavy attacks should stay as a taunt?

Luvtrain

In my opinion, the ice staff passive for heavy attacks completely limits to how often you see it in group play. Besides a tank, who might just go and use a lightning staff or a bow on their back bar (or just be a werewolves now), there's only so many instances where I can think of a use for an ice staff. I believe that a possible re-work for ice staves so their passive for heavy attacks that involves something more interesting than a taunt could make them more used.

If you happened to pick no for the poll, please let me know what you would replace the ice heavy attack passive with. Also I'm interested how often many of you use ice staves in general!

ValueDrift

No

For every case where someone uses it intentionally to taunt, there's 10 people giving their tank gray hair doing it by accident. It's a newbie trap.

Don't know what to replace it with. Perhaps some sort of sustain buff.

RaveRaveRaveRave

Yes

If you get rid of ice staff heavy attack taunt then I want to be able to block with ALL destro staves and it cost magic and not stam. I mostly tank and have 1 tank in every class all of which have an ice staff backbar. Or come up with a third morph for destro staves that includes heavy attack taunt for tanks.

Cerbolt

No

They should make a defensive staff skill line instead of just tacking it onto the destruction staff line.

idk

Yes

Short of actually designing a Magicka tanking weapon the proper way their should not be any changes to the frost staff. The thought of a S&B tank using a shock staff on the back bar as OP suggests is not relevant as top tanks using staff on the back bar are not using it for the tanking passives anyhow. It is that some players are using the frost staff as an actual tanking weapon in the manner Zos redesigned it for.

mairwen85

Yes

ValueDrift wrote: »

For every case where someone uses it intentionally to taunt, there's 10 people giving their tank gray hair doing it by accident. It's a newbie trap.

Don't know what to replace it with. Perhaps some sort of sustain buff.

There could be a new passive that provides tanking options for all destros. Let tri focus affect dps options, ice included, and give an alternative passive explicitly for staff tanking (proper tool tips provided) with a caveat like can't invest in one if points spent in the other. Or even a single point passive that mutates tri-focus for tanking. Perhaps even an active toggle skill that changes destro mode on demand. Any of those would make everyone happy. However, seeing as ZOS have repeatedly demonstrated their inability to deliver simple changes that suit everyone, and there always has to be someone who suffers for it or some backhanded convolution, I voted to leave as is.

Starlock

Yes

Ice staves shouldn't be for tanking.

That said, until they finally release another magicka weapon line - like Alternation staves - that could be focused on tanking it needs to be left alone.

whitecrow

No

Never understood why this was... I guess nobody likes to get hit with a snowball.

VaranisArano

I've used it and enjoy it as an option, but I always kept Inner Fire as a backup taunt for the times I was too slow on the heavy attack.

I would prefer an Alteration Staff built for magicka tanking.

preevious

No

Just have one of the skill's morph be a taunt

redspecter23

No

It's a horrible mechanic that punishes new players that aren't aware of how it works and the groups they are a part of. If they want ice staff to remain a tanking weapon, I'm ok with that, but tie the taunt to an active ability like frost clench or perhaps the morph of weakness to elements that nobody uses currently. The last thing I want to do when I need to taunt is heavy attack.

JinMori

No

No, destro staff should have never been a tanking alternative.

Destro staff is for dps, end of story.

They should at least make certain setups work better with lightning and frost, at least warden and sorc respectively should work better with ice and lightning respectively, compared to fire.

Me and wrath already made quite a few posts about this so i will not be repeating the point here.

Mettaricana

No

Make the wall of elements be an aoe taunt and the clench or pulse be the puncture equivalent

mairwen85

Yes

Mettaricana wrote: »

Make the wall of elements be an aoe taunt and the clench or pulse be the puncture equivalent

You'd still have unwitting dps using it then though and all the annoyances around that. This solves nothing but adds more confusion and convolution.

If staff tanking is to be an option outside of dps, it requires either a dedicated skill line, or means to knowingly mutate the existing weapon line for tanking as I suggested further up.

valeriiya

Yes

Yes but change it to a skill so it only works as a taunt if you put a skill point in it

kringled_1

valeriiya wrote: »

Yes but change it to a skill so it only works as a taunt if you put a skill point in it

It already is that way, it only taunts if you put points in the tri focus passive.
I can understand someone wanting some b of the effects of that passive but not others, but that's not a choice at the moment.

luen79rwb17_ESO

No

The whole ice staff tanking idea is a design aberration IMHO... I hope they find a way to fix this mess and not hurt players who have invested into this playstyle but ALSO buff the heavily gimped ice mage gameplay.

ItsJustHashtag

No

Make ice staves passively increase frost damage.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

No

It's just not needed and causes confusion among new players, which of course, adds to groupfinder rage.

We already have a ranged and melee taunt. The ranged taunt is not tied to a weapon and can be run by anyone. No reason for a mechanic like this. I don't see where it adds value outside of very Niche playstyles, but I do see a lot of problems it can cause. Cost/Benefit analysis is poor.

WrathOfInnos

No

The taunt should have never been tied to a heavy attack. Heavy attacks are slow to charge up and not a viable way to taunt several enemies in a row. They should be reserved for restoring resources, with possibly a damage passive (such as the Lightning AoE or the increased damage on Inferno). If you want to keep it as a support weapon then maybe something like fully-charged Frost Heavy Attacks reduce the target’s Spell Resistance by 600 for 20 seconds. The taunt can be moved to Elemental Susceptibility, which is also free to cast, can be used more rapidly, and debuffs enemies similar to ransack/pierce armor. That way anyone can use a Frost Staff without accidentally taunting, because it’s on a skill that has to be slotted, not a core game mechanic that often locks up and casts instead of a light attack.

AcadianPaladin

Yes

I don't have strong feelings on it but we got what we got for now.

Only one of the variants of my character runs an ice staff and she likes it just fine. She is a solo pve magwarden who delivers reasonable dps, has great survivability and packs plenty of heals. She runs ice/resto. She has no interest normally in ice heavy attacks. If she wants magicka, she casts a resto heavy. The only time she ever uses the ice heavy attack is to intentionally taunt a WB off weaker players. Though she prefers solo, she does try to help others who show up for a big fight. Sometimes it is just easier to pull the boss into her face and deal with him than try to heal running squishies or deliver effective damage on the rogue boss who is chasing them. She has never ever pulled a boss from a tank who is actively holding the boss. Her bar space is too tight to consider slotting a taunt skill so the ice staff taunt is like a free small benefit that sometimes comes in handy with no downside since, as a warden, she still benefits from the warden perks to her ice LA weaving.

CMDR_Un1k0rn

Yes

Until a dedicated magicka tanking weapon arrives.

You see, there is one thing to remember about Frost Staves. It's not just the taunt they have, but when using it, you block with magicka, not stamina.

This has more uses than one might think.

CyberSkooma

Yes

All these replies sound like they come from people who don't tank. Unless they add a brand new kind of staff that can drop, the ice staves need to remain untouched.

CMDR_Un1k0rn

Yes

CyberSkooma wrote: »

All these replies sound like they come from people who don't tank. Unless they add a brand new kind of staff that can drop, the ice staves need to remain untouched.

Exactly.

PrimusNephilim

No

Heavy attach for taunting is too slow, its equipped on my back bar (tank) and I hate using it.

zaria

ValueDrift wrote: »

For every case where someone uses it intentionally to taunt, there's 10 people giving their tank gray hair doing it by accident. It's a newbie trap.

Don't know what to replace it with. Perhaps some sort of sustain buff.

Someone who HA intentionally has some grasp of ESO mechanic, if they are told they should not use HA on ice staff but use the other bar why don't listen?
its a lot of weird stuff in dungeons you just has to follow especially to get HM on the old 1 dungeons anyway.

Grandchamp1989

Yes

Destruction staff is mandatory for tanks as in procs crusher.
It is needed. I wish it wasn't... but yeah. With this system keep Ice Staff the tank staff.

Danksta

No

The whole Ice Staff tanking thing is obviously just tacked on. If they want to have another tanking weapon it should have it's own skill line, instead of sharing it with a dps skill line.

PeterUnlustig

No

Instead they should make the taunt on bash or give it to the elemental drain morph that no one ever uses together with 10% stam and mag cost reduction for blocking and 10% more dmg blocked like we have on snb skills

Olupajmibanan

Yes

Have you ever thought of putting away points from Tri Focus? That way a Frost Staff becomes equivalent to shields (to some degree).

kringled_1

PeterUnlustig wrote: »

Instead they should make the taunt on bash or give it to the elemental drain morph that no one ever uses together with 10% stam and mag cost reduction for blocking and 10% more dmg blocked like we have on snb skills

Blocking with ice staff has reduced cost and increased mitigation already as part of the ancient knowledge passive.