So anyway, what's ESO got against heavy armor dps?

itscompton

LashanW wrote: »

Faiza wrote: »

It just seems so strange to me that only light and medium armor are "viable" for dps.

Viable? You are not doing endgame content, so why bother about a few dps stats you are missing from light/medium armor?

You are a redguard, you can easily sustain yourself by switching to buff food with resource recovery options (instead of max health options since heavy armor gives you more health and resistances) and swapping attribute points. Like Zvavi said, heavy armor has passives for resource gain. So you won't have sustain issues in the content you want to do.

Apart from sustain, here's what you get more from light/medium armor (stats that contribute to dps),
Light armor: 10% spell crit chance, 4884 spell penetration (which is around 15% dps increase, assuming target isn't fully penetrated)
Medium armor: ~10% weapon crit chance, 15% more weapon damage

That's it. Those few stats are not the absolute line between what's viable and what's not. Sure without those stats you may not reach 100k dps but who cares if you are not doing endgame content. There's also plenty of heavy armor sets with dps stats btw (including craftable sets).

Also, constantly comparing a game to the rest of its genre is a great way ruin your fun.

Each 600 resistance negates 1% damage so 4884 spell penetration should actually only be an 8% increase.

Faiza

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Faiza wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Faiza wrote: »

Sinolai wrote: »

Back in the days Heavies did have damage boosting passives but it was so broken in pvp that ZoS removed the passives and made it purely defensive armor.

Ah, so it did exist, that's a shame

...So you want a completely broken and OP set up that makes all the other armours pointless?

Literally no, that was not suggested by anyone at any point in this thread.

A person just said that this existed before and it was broken (And has been pointed out by others), to which you respond that it's a shame this no longer was. That is literally yes.

This is a weird hill to die on.

• Heavy armour is pretty balanced, although in pvp it's not and is the better choice.
• Changing heavy armour would cause so many issues like ruining the other armour types.
• There are a bunch of proc heavy armor sets that will make you a pretty good dps.
• There are a bunch of heavy builds that makes you a pretty good dps.
• You've said this is for overland. A content you could do more or less naked.
• And again, you can just make an outfit with the look of heavy armour.
• etc

I asked why there are no damage passives in the heavy armor skill line

Only one person actually answered the question, which is that there used to be and it was removed. I said, yes that's a shame, because removing it instead of balancing it like other classes (again, like just about every other mmo does and doesn't seem to struggle with) just seems a shame.

If ZOS decides tomorrow that mages should no longer wear robes and patches light armor passives to be 100% healing focused only, would that not be highly WEIRD to you guys? I'm just not understanding this mindset.

Sheezabeast

We have the ability to spec our skillpoints into all armor passives, and run 5-1-1 for the additional armor benefit. Why can't you be happy with putting your char. in a heavy cuirass or heavy legs or helmet, medium jack or legs or helmet, and light other pieces? 5 of one, and 1 of each of the other. You can have the look of whatever you want.

Slow lumbering heavy armor can be picked to be worn as jewelry and weapons, thus freeing up your armor slots to be used for your other 5 piece of choice. Play the system. don't let it play you.

Norith_Gilheart_Flail

Plate dps is just not a concept in this game.

No Death Knight, No Warriors, No Paladins as DPS specs.

Buuuut how good is it that you can at least change your armour to appear as such, and dye it. Unlike the other gave with a pathetic transmog option in comparison.

Either way, as it's not going to change. The better question for yourself is how will you help yourself adapt and move forward.

Dream96

Simply answer: developers made a choice and we have to respect that.

Vevvev

RedMuse wrote: »

Mettaricana wrote: »

Faiza wrote: »

It just seems so strange to me that only light and medium armor are "viable" for dps.

I really want to play my Redguard as a 2h heavy armor dps (dragonknight) but I'm discovering that there's...no passive skill support for heavy armor dps really. I mean, to be perfectly honest I'm gonna do it anyway, because no guild I'm in will care. And sure, I could just equip medium armor and slot heavy at the outfit station and none would be the wiser. But my question is why. It seems severely limiting, especially considering that heavy dps are kind of a staple in other mmos? Or is that just from looking through my WoW-coloured glasses?

Honestly got the best rude awakening playong ff14 the other day their tanks actually do damage comparable and sometimes superior to dps classes and im like come on zos give us something other than shield bash spamming add some weapon type used passives to sword and board penetration, bleeds, crit, dmg same as dw passives. Buff constitution to actually sustaining levels return the wrath passive. Make shields add wep dmg

Then what is the point of dps characters if tank can outdo them? Healers are already irrelevant in a lot of content, you want to make dps irrelevant too? There's supposed to be trade off or everyone just end up being the same and that's a really bad idea *points to STO*.

Ah, Star Trek Online. The game where no matter what content you do or what class you pick the only thing that matters is DPS. And for those that never played STO that's not a joke. The tank and healer roles might exist on paper but even they build for DPS. It's only DPS...

BeefcakeManwich

It's simple really. Use eso sets. Scroll through heavy armor sets and decide which ones are dps. Obviously the weapons and jewelry do not have to be from the heavy sets. Boom finish. Not quite the dps? Boom outfit station. Not the same as wow. Boom uninstall. Pretty simple really.

Batgirl

I played Wow for 2 months, and what just didnt made sense to me at all is how tanks are allowed to do dps there - if i see 50k hp tank, being on top of group dps, why not just make 5-tank dungeon? Or 20 or whatever the number of players - tank raid?
Or why can't any character pick flowers, ore and brew potions but instead has to choose only 2 professions?
Why, if i drop amazing item on one character, can't i put it in Bank for use for another character, but im stuck with it? Why can't i put crafting mats in bank for others character to use and have to mail it instead? Why are trash overland mobs so strong and pulling 5 on my nooblet max level (!) character ends bad? Why can't i rez at spot or on some check point and be ready for fight, but have to walk half kilometer to fetch my corpse? Why can i use some my skills every 5 minutes, not sooner?

What i mean is, there is no point comparing different games this way.

spartaxoxo

Faiza wrote: »

If ZOS decides tomorrow that mages should no longer wear robes and patches light armor passives to be 100% healing focused only, would that not be highly WEIRD to you guys? I'm just not understanding this mindset.

Yes, because unlike when they did that to heavy armor there is no alternative magic damage armor type. You aren't understanding the mindset because you aren't really viewing the replies explaining the mindset and rationale behind why that works in other games and not eso as answers to your question. Try rereading these replies with that in mind and the mindset may become more clear even if you still disagree.

caperb

If in other games it is possible to have heavy armour DPS, that doesn't mean it is a design flaw in ESO. In ESO the armour types are designed to fullfill a certain role, not to be hybrids. And still heavy armour can be used on damage builds in either PvP or solo PvE. The only place were heavy armour is not suitable for damage is endgame PvE, and even there some sets are used on weapons like AY.

spartaxoxo

caperb wrote: »

If in other games it is possible to have heavy armour DPS, that doesn't mean it is a design flaw in ESO. In ESO the armour types are designed to fullfill a certain role, not to be hybrids. And still heavy armour can be used on damage builds in either PvP or solo PvE. The only place were heavy armour is not suitable for damage is endgame PvE, and even there some sets are used on weapons like AY.

Even with endgame PVE, it's not impossible to have the look of one and do fine unless you're trying to top the leaderboard of a dlc trial.

2 pieces of Heavy Armor Medusa gives the heavy armor battle mage look, and lets you put Sirora on your weapon instead of on armor, giving you better control of that armor set.

So you can do

Heavy Medusa Chest, Heavy Medusa legs, Medusa Jewelry. 2 piece LA monster set. And Sirora front bar weapon and small pieces of armor and have a heavy battle mage look with LA bonuses.

Not sure if you can do anything similar with medium armor.

I realize that's one specific build but it should allow you to do a lot of the endgame stuff too. Just not achievements/score pushing on endgame trials.

caperb

spartaxoxo wrote: »

caperb wrote: »

If in other games it is possible to have heavy armour DPS, that doesn't mean it is a design flaw in ESO. In ESO the armour types are designed to fullfill a certain role, not to be hybrids. And still heavy armour can be used on damage builds in either PvP or solo PvE. The only place were heavy armour is not suitable for damage is endgame PvE, and even there some sets are used on weapons like AY.

Even with endgame PVE, it's not impossible to have the look of one and do fine unless you're trying to top the leaderboard of a dlc trial.

2 pieces of Heavy Armor Medusa gives the heavy armor battle mage look, and lets you put Sirora on your weapon instead of on armor, giving you better control of that armor set.

So you can do

Heavy Medusa Chest, Heavy Medusa legs, Medusa Jewelry. 2 piece LA monster set. And Sirora front bar weapon and small pieces of armor and have a heavy battle mage look with LA bonuses.

Not sure if you can do anything similar with medium armor.

I realize that's one specific build but it should allow you to do a lot of the endgame stuff too. Just not achievements/score pushing on endgame trials.

Yeh that's exactly what I meant, some heavy sets are still used for damage. AY might not be the best example because it is used by stam DPS who still will be wearing 7 medium pieces. Medusa is the perfect example for magicka builds.

SgtNuttzmeg

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Faiza wrote: »

Supposedly ESO offers the ability to play any class as you would like...but we know this is not the case

All classes can be dpses, healers and tanks. No armour or weapon is restricted between classes. You can use whatever damn combo you want. 2 hander on a healer? Yes you can. Magicka user with a bow? Nothing is stopping you from anything.

Are they all viable or meta? No, and they have never claimed they should be either.

That's accurate but I never could quite understand why anybody would ever deliberately handicap themselves. I mean it would be one thing if the devs actually supported build diversity but we haven't seen that in years.

Faiza wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Faiza wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Faiza wrote: »

Sinolai wrote: »

Back in the days Heavies did have damage boosting passives but it was so broken in pvp that ZoS removed the passives and made it purely defensive armor.

Ah, so it did exist, that's a shame

...So you want a completely broken and OP set up that makes all the other armours pointless?

Literally no, that was not suggested by anyone at any point in this thread.

A person just said that this existed before and it was broken (And has been pointed out by others), to which you respond that it's a shame this no longer was. That is literally yes.

This is a weird hill to die on.

• Heavy armour is pretty balanced, although in pvp it's not and is the better choice.
• Changing heavy armour would cause so many issues like ruining the other armour types.
• There are a bunch of proc heavy armor sets that will make you a pretty good dps.
• There are a bunch of heavy builds that makes you a pretty good dps.
• You've said this is for overland. A content you could do more or less naked.
• And again, you can just make an outfit with the look of heavy armour.
• etc

I asked why there are no damage passives in the heavy armor skill line

Only one person actually answered the question, which is that there used to be and it was removed. I said, yes that's a shame, because removing it instead of balancing it like other classes (again, like just about every other mmo does and doesn't seem to struggle with) just seems a shame.

If ZOS decides tomorrow that mages should no longer wear robes and patches light armor passives to be 100% healing focused only, would that not be highly WEIRD to you guys? I'm just not understanding this mindset.

Heavy armor is relatively balanced. The problem comes down to balance for PvP is not seperate for PvE. Wraith used to grant stacks of weap and spell damage but they changed it because people wouldn't run other armors in PvP.

I think the biggest issue you would see with running heavy is a lack of Crit damage. Right now Crit damage is pretty meta for DPS. The other issue is that the sustain you gain from heavy armor could be tricky to work in right. You are forcing yourself to rely on heavy attacks which would force them to be apart of your rotation. You also get a bunch of useless passives. You don't need health, health recovery or additional armor as a dps. I main a magblade and have been doing so for many years and I can tank a lot of content despite wearing light armor.

The biggest thing you need to remember with theory crafting in ESO is that you are really limited. You only get 10 abilities, two ults, 12 armor, jewelry and weapon slots, one mundus, a pot, and food. On paper it sounds like a lot but it is easy to waste things. So it might be cool to run a certain ability or set cause it has a cool effect but more often than not it isn't worth it. DPS is king in ESO and anything you do to hinder that will just end up setting you back. It's really not worth it.

ghost_bg_ESO

as someone mentioned medusa...
i was thinking for magicka build with heavy armor : https://eso-sets.com/set/medusa + weapons and jewelry : https://eso-sets.com/set/treasure-hunter , it will need some tweaks of skills and CP but still will have decent damage.

LashanW

itscompton wrote: »

Each 600 resistance negates 1% damage so 4884 spell penetration should actually only be an 8% increase.

That's for player resistances.
I was strictly talking PvE. Player resistances and NPC resistances work differently. You can easily check it by attacking a dummy (skeleton ones) with damage numbers enabled (check non-crit) and adjusting your penetration. If you plot a graph between penetration values and damage done values, it's a simple linear graph. For PvP it's pretty much the same but the graph's gradient is more steep. That's why penetration is more important in PvP than PvE.

Fun fact:
Most PvE enemies have 18200 resistances. Say you do X amount of damage (non-crit) with zero penetration, then you will do ~1.57X damage against the same enemy but with full penetration (~57% dmg increase).

Klad

My StamBlade uses a mixture of heavy and Medium armor and two of the most wicked Ice blades I've ever seen, more often than not I end up carrying my groups.

Play as you will ignore the try hards, there is literally a metric crap ton of folks that play like you.

SgtNuttzmeg

ghost_bg_ESO wrote: »

as someone mentioned medusa...
i was thinking for magicka build with heavy armor : https://eso-sets.com/set/medusa + weapons and jewelry : https://eso-sets.com/set/treasure-hunter , it will need some tweaks of skills and CP but still will have decent damage.

That still doesn't really compensate for what they are losing. They will be getting minor force from another source and if you compare Crit chance you gain from that to https://eso-sets.com/set/mothers-sorrow there is a huge difference. That's not even including the amount they would lose from not running 5 light.

CSose

Heavy armor is for tanks. Light is for mag dps, medium for stam dps.

Heavy armor wearers should be MORE heavily encumbered and slower than they are in this game, AND their dps should be much lower than it is now. ZOS is getting it wrong to a degree, but in the opposite way the OP suggests.

Dagoth_Rac

I think the original poster's concern is that in other games, a "Knight" in heavy armor with a giant sword is a DPS archetype. And a "Rogue" with daggers is a DPS archetype. And an "Archer" with a Bow is a DPS archetype. And a "Mage" shooting fireballs is an archetype.

And the Knight in heavy armor with a giant sword is not really an archetype in ESO.

But keep in mind that the Knight in other games usually has limitations that a player in ESO does not have. Can the knights in those games strongly self-heal, like in ESO? Can they switch to a Bow or staff at will in middle of a fight, like they can in ESO? Can they slot skills and gear that make them move super fast, like in ESO? Can they go into stealth, like in ESO?

The extreme flexibility of being able to slot any gear and any weapon and use any skill in ESO is not applicable to other MMOs. Heck, you can not only equip any weapon, you can have two weapons available at any time!

To balance this, ESO has put some role-specific passives on something you cannot switch up in the middle of combat: armor weight.

In other games, your role is often determined by your class. But in ESO, any class can be anything. A Dragonknight can be a stamina DPS, a magicka DPS, a tank, or a healer. They can be ranged or melee. The name may conjure up images of a "Knight", but they can be anything. Likewise, a Sorcerer in ESO is not necessarily a Mage archetype. They can be tank. And not a "magical tank". They can be a traditional tank. Or a Sorcerer can be a rogue-like character with daggers and physical attacks.

So, your "role" in ESO is generally determined by what weight of armor you wear and what skills you put on your limited skillbar.

To give players extreme flexibility in some areas, ESO took away some flexibility in other areas. And armor weight is one of those areas. Heavy armor is for mitigating damage, not dealing damage. You can still deal good damage if you build for it as much as possible in other areas, and you can clear pretty much all content in game as a heavy armor DPS. But you will simply not have that min/max meta DPS to be top of the leaderboard and get no-death + hard mode + speed run trifectas. And min/max meta DPS builds are all you are really going to see at websites devoted to ESO builds.

Why are there no meta DPS builds in heavy armor? Because ESO had to differentiate roles somewhere. And with any class able to fulfill any role, armor became one of the places to define role. It also helps that you can switch armor outside of combat, making it not only possible for a class to fulfill all roles, but switch between roles quite easily. I have literally been a ranged magicka DPS in parts of a Trial, and then switched some gear and skills and been the melee off-tank in other parts of that Trial. Having armor weight and skills be such a big part of role makes that possible.

So, yeah, armor weight plays a part in role in ESO. Because it is probably the best way possible to keep classes and builds as flexible as possible and still have roles.

ghost_bg_ESO

SgtNuttzmeg wrote: »

ghost_bg_ESO wrote: »

as someone mentioned medusa...
i was thinking for magicka build with heavy armor : https://eso-sets.com/set/medusa + weapons and jewelry : https://eso-sets.com/set/treasure-hunter , it will need some tweaks of skills and CP but still will have decent damage.

That still doesn't really compensate for what they are losing. They will be getting minor force from another source and if you compare Crit chance you gain from that to https://eso-sets.com/set/mothers-sorrow there is a huge difference. That's not even including the amount they would lose from not running 5 light.

that's way treasure hunter, but i'm grinding for staffs i want to test it with, and don't have still full divines medusa... probably HA for ressources recovery and more skills instead LA. and i don't target min-max build.

Jeremy

Faiza wrote: »

It just seems so strange to me that only light and medium armor are "viable" for dps.

I really want to play my Redguard as a 2h heavy armor dps (dragonknight) but I'm discovering that there's...no passive skill support for heavy armor dps really. I mean, to be perfectly honest I'm gonna do it anyway, because no guild I'm in will care. And sure, I could just equip medium armor and slot heavy at the outfit station and none would be the wiser. But my question is why. It seems severely limiting, especially considering that heavy dps are kind of a staple in other mmos? Or is that just from looking through my WoW-coloured glasses?

They do have some heavy armor sets for DPS. Medusa and Rattle Cage come to mind.

But yeah, you will give up some offense in the form of passives for more defense. I'm not sure why you object to this though. It wouldn't be fair if players could get more defense through heavy armor without having to sacrifice any offense.

regime211

Faiza wrote: »

It just seems so strange to me that only light and medium armor are "viable" for dps.

I really want to play my Redguard as a 2h heavy armor dps (dragonknight) but I'm discovering that there's...no passive skill support for heavy armor dps really. I mean, to be perfectly honest I'm gonna do it anyway, because no guild I'm in will care. And sure, I could just equip medium armor and slot heavy at the outfit station and none would be the wiser. But my question is why. It seems severely limiting, especially considering that heavy dps are kind of a staple in other mmos? Or is that just from looking through my WoW-coloured glasses?

you must of not been here when heavy armor had the wraith passive and granted like 500 weapon damage lol

Jeremy

regime211 wrote: »

Faiza wrote: »

It just seems so strange to me that only light and medium armor are "viable" for dps.

I really want to play my Redguard as a 2h heavy armor dps (dragonknight) but I'm discovering that there's...no passive skill support for heavy armor dps really. I mean, to be perfectly honest I'm gonna do it anyway, because no guild I'm in will care. And sure, I could just equip medium armor and slot heavy at the outfit station and none would be the wiser. But my question is why. It seems severely limiting, especially considering that heavy dps are kind of a staple in other mmos? Or is that just from looking through my WoW-coloured glasses?

you must of not been here when heavy armor had the wraith passive and granted like 500 weapon damage lol

Yeah, if I remember correctly it was a stacking buff that climbed as you took damage.

Faiza

regime211 wrote: »

Faiza wrote: »

It just seems so strange to me that only light and medium armor are "viable" for dps.

I really want to play my Redguard as a 2h heavy armor dps (dragonknight) but I'm discovering that there's...no passive skill support for heavy armor dps really. I mean, to be perfectly honest I'm gonna do it anyway, because no guild I'm in will care. And sure, I could just equip medium armor and slot heavy at the outfit station and none would be the wiser. But my question is why. It seems severely limiting, especially considering that heavy dps are kind of a staple in other mmos? Or is that just from looking through my WoW-coloured glasses?

you must of not been here when heavy armor had the wraith passive and granted like 500 weapon damage lol

...I take it this is the passive that interfered with pvp? 😆

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

I think the original poster's concern is that in other games, a "Knight" in heavy armor with a giant sword is a DPS archetype. And a "Rogue" with daggers is a DPS archetype. And an "Archer" with a Bow is a DPS archetype. And a "Mage" shooting fireballs is an archetype.

And the Knight in heavy armor with a giant sword is not really an archetype in ESO.

But keep in mind that the Knight in other games usually has limitations that a player in ESO does not have. Can the knights in those games strongly self-heal, like in ESO? Can they switch to a Bow or staff at will in middle of a fight, like they can in ESO? Can they slot skills and gear that make them move super fast, like in ESO? Can they go into stealth, like in ESO?

The extreme flexibility of being able to slot any gear and any weapon and use any skill in ESO is not applicable to other MMOs. Heck, you can not only equip any weapon, you can have two weapons available at any time!

To balance this, ESO has put some role-specific passives on something you cannot switch up in the middle of combat: armor weight.

In other games, your role is often determined by your class. But in ESO, any class can be anything. A Dragonknight can be a stamina DPS, a magicka DPS, a tank, or a healer. They can be ranged or melee. The name may conjure up images of a "Knight", but they can be anything. Likewise, a Sorcerer in ESO is not necessarily a Mage archetype. They can be tank. And not a "magical tank". They can be a traditional tank. Or a Sorcerer can be a rogue-like character with daggers and physical attacks.

So, your "role" in ESO is generally determined by what weight of armor you wear and what skills you put on your limited skillbar.

To give players extreme flexibility in some areas, ESO took away some flexibility in other areas. And armor weight is one of those areas. Heavy armor is for mitigating damage, not dealing damage.

Thank you for understanding what I was saying, this is a good explanation

I still don't really agree that it is sensical, especially when you compare it to other dps classes and healers

Right now if you scroll on this page, you'll see a lot of folks saying healers aren't needed in content blah blah every class has some element of health sustainability. Players are running content completely without healers and tanks at all, not just normal content but in vet as well

So I feel like that really breaks down this argument about denoting an armor type for survivability, when clearly your survivability in ESO isn't tied to your armor if 3 stam nightblades and a magdk all in medium armor can skip through content without a tank or a healer at all. I just struggle to see how much difference it would make. A lot of these folks are even outright refusing healers from groups. So how does that fit?

Especially since we have a champion point and attribute system - maximizing your damage in heavy armor traditional comes at the cost of your health pool anyway. Sure you may be hardier than a mage, but you're largely depending on large crit spikes and burst damage to avoid getting smacked as hard as a tank.

Flaaklypa

just make an outfit that uses heavy armour, while wearing light/medium.

MaleAmazon

when clearly your survivability in ESO isn't tied to your armor if 3 stam nightblades and a magdk all in medium armor can skip through content without a tank or a healer at all

They still have less survivability. They just don´t need more.

It is a design choice that they have settled on: medium armor is for stamina DPS, especially archers. Light armor is for magicka DPS and healers.

The armor skill lines contain no choice whatsoever anyway (apart from the active skill morph), since they are just passives.

Yes, this is dull and boring, since it artificially crams you into 5-2 or 5-1-1 setups.

However, the outfit system allows you to bypass this 'limitation', if you feel like it is one. So, you can play with axes that look like swords, for example. Personally, I play with a DW medium armor character, but she is still in mostly plate mail.

Additionally, some heavy armor sets are more for damage than others.

And if all else fails, craft gear yourself and pick the armor weight.

So, you can certainly play a heavy armor DPS character.

BeefcakeManwich

It seems you are replying to people therefore reading the replies. There were some good explanation and ways to go around it. Yet you feel like beating the same dead horse. In regards to no tank or no healer dungeon groups. Not everyone can do it. You can either get carried by one or two good players. Not gonna happen if all four are scrubs.

Faiza

BeefcakeManwich wrote: »

It seems you are replying to people therefore reading the replies. There were some good explanation and ways to go around it. Yet you feel like beating the same dead horse.

This wasn't about ways to go around it, it was about the reasoning, which is why I don't respond to the people saying ways to go around it...because those replies didn't read the OP where I acknowledged the existence of workarounds already.

But thanks

eKsDee

spartaxoxo wrote: »

caperb wrote: »

If in other games it is possible to have heavy armour DPS, that doesn't mean it is a design flaw in ESO. In ESO the armour types are designed to fullfill a certain role, not to be hybrids. And still heavy armour can be used on damage builds in either PvP or solo PvE. The only place were heavy armour is not suitable for damage is endgame PvE, and even there some sets are used on weapons like AY.

Even with endgame PVE, it's not impossible to have the look of one and do fine unless you're trying to top the leaderboard of a dlc trial.

2 pieces of Heavy Armor Medusa gives the heavy armor battle mage look, and lets you put Sirora on your weapon instead of on armor, giving you better control of that armor set.

So you can do

Heavy Medusa Chest, Heavy Medusa legs, Medusa Jewelry. 2 piece LA monster set. And Sirora front bar weapon and small pieces of armor and have a heavy battle mage look with LA bonuses.

Not sure if you can do anything similar with medium armor.

I realize that's one specific build but it should allow you to do a lot of the endgame stuff too. Just not achievements/score pushing on endgame trials.

If all you're after is looking like a battle mage, you can just use the outfit system to make your armour look like heavy armour, while actually using whatever armour type you want/need. No need to faff around with getting a specific weight drop for a specific slot.

Faulgor

The obvious answer is that in ESO, armor is the fulcrum of the offense/defense trade-off. One that is necessary in any RPG.

But I will say that it never made much sense to me that armor should provide any offensive buffs at all. It's not like the type of clothes you're wearing is making your daggers sharper, or your blows more penetrating. From a point of view that is consistent with the logic of the game world, I would expect armor bonuses to be wholly defensive in nature, possibly some in regards to regeneration/encumberance.
I would expect heavy armor to have more defense in return for limited movement; I would expect medium armor to provide better dodge rolls, e.g. longer invincibility frames; I would expect magic-focused light armor to be more receptive to enchantments. But I wouldn't have expected medium armor to directly boost my weapon damage. That's just weird.