PvP AoE changes still needed after U27?

BalticBlues

Update 27 brought a pleasant surprise (at least on console [PS4 EU] where I play):
U27 removed most of the lag in PvP to a point where playing PvP IS FUN again.

Now that after years most of the lag is fixed and PvP IS FUN again,
does ZOS really need to impair the gameplay with the proposed PvP AoE changes?

The proposed PvP AoE changes will impair three things most:

1. predictability and effectiveness of skill rotations
2. healers (most of their skills are AoE)
3. group gameplay (people will not play healer anymore)

With the proposed changes, AoE skills will work entirely different in PvP.
People will have to RELEARN AND CHANGE THEIR GAMEPLAY in PvP.

ZOS, do we really need & want this?

Taleof2Cities

It’s just a test, @BalticBlues, nothing more.

Nobody (including ZOS) has indicated this will be a permanent change to the game.

Another “sky is falling” thread in the forums isn’t really productive for discussion ...

BalticBlues

[snip]
On PS4 with U27, players finally experience skillful fights again. Skills now work reliably again, even in heavy battles. Players finally can play the game again as it was meant to be, which is great. However, most of the proposed/tested AoE changes would make AoE skills unreliable and harm the experience again. The feedback of players who already did some tests really is not good.

Given how good the game overall runs now in PvP with U27,
do we really need unreliable skills again with U28?

[edited for baiting]

Nirntrotter

I hope the current test is really just to gather data on how certain things affect server performance and not actually a test of upcoming combat changes, because you can't really call that combat anymore.

SpacemanSpiff1

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

It’s just a test, @BalticBlues, nothing more.

Nobody (including ZOS) has indicated this will be a permanent change to the game.

Another “sky is falling” thread in the forums isn’t really productive for discussion ...

It's heavily implied that it will be implemented in some capacity. They're just looking for comfirmation:

ZOS_RichLambert wrote: »

We will be very upfront, but please be aware that if these tests confirm our hypothesis, then chain-casting AOE abilities will no longer form the core of the ESO PvP experience in the way it has for the last few years.

DigitalHype

SpacemanSpiff1 wrote: »

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

It’s just a test, @BalticBlues, nothing more.

Nobody (including ZOS) has indicated this will be a permanent change to the game.

Another “sky is falling” thread in the forums isn’t really productive for discussion ...

It's heavily implied that it will be implemented in some capacity. They're just looking for comfirmation:

ZOS_RichLambert wrote: »

We will be very upfront, but please be aware that if these tests confirm our hypothesis, then chain-casting AOE abilities will no longer form the core of the ESO PvP experience in the way it has for the last few years.

Exactly. People continue to write "this is only a test". But, Rich has clearly stated they will be making changes similar to the parameters of the test, as long as it confirms their expected results. His next sentence was...

"We would then go through each class and ensure that there are viable builds for each and make adjustments as necessary."

This seems pretty clear to me. This is going to happen in some form, unless the tests show their is either little or no performance improvements. You can also count on the fact someone is closely monitoring subs and active player counts during this period. It can't be 100% technical.

BalticBlues

DigitalHype wrote: »

ZOS_RichLambert wrote: »

We will be very upfront, but please be aware that if these tests confirm our hypothesis, then chain-casting AOE abilities will no longer form the core of the ESO PvP experience in the way it has for the last few years.

Exactly. People continue to write "this is only a test". But, Rich has clearly stated they will be making changes similar to the parameters of the test, as long as it confirms their expected results. His next sentence was...

"We would then go through each class and ensure that there are viable builds for each and make adjustments as necessary."

This seems pretty clear to me. This is going to happen in some form.

Thanks for these insight statements. To be honest, I am afraid of this. Because if "viable" builds in PvE will not work anymore in PvP, PvP will probably become an exotic area of only specialist players with specialist builds. In some sense, this would be the end of "ONE TAMRIEL", because it would create an ALTERNATIVE TAMRIEL where gameplay consists mostly of preferred single target skills and useless/avoided/unused AoE skills.