3 Things I Miss

Marginis

There have been... so many changes to abilities over ESO's lifespan, it's crazy that I can only really think of three things I legitimately feel the game is lesser without. That said, there are some things that used to be that no longer are, that I miss. Also, this isn't to say that there aren't a million other considerations to be made with these things. These are just my personal thoughts and preferences... and I apologize if I get a bit rambly.

1. I miss being able to use invisibility as a Nightblade tank, or any non-DPS Nightblade, really, without sacrificing a significant part of my build. I really enjoyed being able to cloak for utility, for dealing with PVM content, going on NPC murder sprees in town, stealthing through tricky areas, or even in PVP just as a defensive tool rather than an offensive one. The main issue is that cloak morphs either to focus on DPS burst, or loses its invisibility effect. Now don't get me wrong - I really like the tank effects of the defensive morph - I'm just sad I have to give up invisibility for it. Even when I don't particularly need the health recovery, it's hard to justify the DPS focused morph as any non-DPS build.

2. I miss being able to stack heal-over-time abilities, namely grand healing/healing springs (I think I got those morph names right...), but others as well. Especially for Nightblade, which lacks any really good AOE heals, it was really cool to have an AOE heal that would ramp up over time, instead of having to scramble to send heals to teammates one at a time. Maybe even just having options for AOE heals that don't rely on using a specific class would be nice, y'know?

3. I miss having a magicka tank weapon. Now I don't need it to be the frost staff specifically (though I think it fits quite well), just some sort of tanking kit that uses magicka (just like it would be cool for stamina healers to be a thing). Specifically though, I miss the frost staff heavy being a taunt. There are so few ways to taunt in this game, that one extra choice opened up a lot of options in a build. Conversely, taking that away completely shut off a whole category of builds. It was really cool to have a staff that was effectively in a new category, like resto staves are, and getting rid of those things that make destro staves unique is in some ways kind of like taking away that category, if that makes sense.

Now, I do understand why these were taken away, at least generally (I think) - PVP balancing and Nightblade tanks wanting a powerful tool for their kit, server data stuff and general OPness, and players who either wanted their original frost staves back for flavor or players who taunted enemies away from tanks in dungeons because they didn't know how frost staves worked, respectively. Each one of these, however, straight up killed really fun unique builds I made. Overall, these kinds of changes I think took away a lot of uniqueness and utility and versatility from the game. And, to be honest, a lot of these kinds of changes reinforce meta builds and get rid of creative ways to play - and I thought was the whole philosophy of Elder Scrolls games was to make your own unique character and play the way you want, not make the same thing that everyone else is making because that's "what's good".

I mean I fully get that, at least these three things, will probably never get reverted. I mostly just want to let the devs know ('cuz honestly I've never known a more community-focused team than ESO's, so hey maybe my feedback will mean something), and I want to see if anyone out there agrees with me, or has their own things they miss for some reason other than that it was powerful. Any creative solutions might be fun to hear too. Especially with all the other changes the game is constantly undergoing... well, what do y'all think?

Ryuvain

Crystal Blast. You will always be missed. An aoe version of frags that also stunned the target hit. Was a great all around move that was kind of a spammable, but also aoe, and stunning.

I only played sorc back then since I only had 1 character, so can't comment on a ton of skills.

Way before I even played it seems sorc had some really cool summon abilities like restoring twilight. A morph that instead granted magic regen for allies? I would've really liked to know how that was.

Edit: Oh yeah. Double NB Shade. That seems so cool back when I first started, but I never got to try it out since it was changed very soon after. Wish I started playing NB before that happened.

Vevvev

Ice staff's taunt got moved to Frost Clench. Honestly it's a much worse version than the heavy attack simply due to the fact it also immobilizes the target which interferes with some strategies like DK taunting/pulling, then casting Talons for mass AoE immobilization.

That being said I actually feel like Frost staff tanking is a lot more fun now than it used to be simply due to the fact so many of their abilities have some kind of tanking element to them. Pulsar for brittle + protection, Ice wall for ranged defense, and heavy attacks now have a far more durable damage shield that can restore additional magicka when that shield takes damage.

Necrotech_Master

Vevvev wrote: »

Ice staff's taunt got moved to Frost Clench. Honestly it's a much worse version than the heavy attack simply due to the fact it also immobilizes the target which interferes with some strategies like DK taunting/pulling, then casting Talons for mass AoE immobilization.

That being said I actually feel like Frost staff tanking is a lot more fun now than it used to be simply due to the fact so many of their abilities have some kind of tanking element to them. Pulsar for brittle + protection, Ice wall for ranged defense, and heavy attacks now have a far more durable damage shield that can restore additional magicka when that shield takes damage.

not to mention frost clench is basically half the range of the undaunted range taunt

i liked having the taunt on the heavy attack as well because it allowed me to keep an extra skill on bar lol, but i know this whole thing was improperly used by a large part of the playerbase

to the OP: grand healing is the base skill, healing springs/illustrious healing are the morphs

UntilValhalla13

I still miss cost reduction cp.

El_Borracho

Elf Bane making Zaan the flame of doom.

Relequen proccing the old version of Ravager.

Getting free crown crates as the mid-month rewards

gariondavey

Cyrodiil population

Cyrodiil performance

Getting new pvp content

OWLTHEMAD

El_Borracho wrote: »

Elf Bane making Zaan the flame of doom.

Relequen proccing the old version of Ravager.

Getting free crown crates as the mid-month rewards

I hate dks, (fighting them i mean) but still i too mourn the loss of elfbane zaans.

It was such a cool little bit of class identity that specifically benefitted dks. It wasnt "broken" in pvp due to zaans built in range limitations, and gave dks a dope, and thematically appropriate tool for higher end dps.

I also miss nbs and dks being able to teleport strike / leap on to keep walls.

It was cool mechanic that gave them both unique pvp functionality, and in the case of nightblade, was very much in keeping with the assasin theme.

I miss lightning heavy attack sorcs. Or rather sorcs double barring lightning in general.

Never played them but there was a clear class identity and power fantasy built there.

Most of all i miss class identity in general. Back when each class felt unique and brought something to the table.

These days everyone uses the same gear with reskinned versions of the same abilities.

Pvp is still a tank meta.

Nbs are just budget sorcs/templars who bring almost nothing uniques and useful to a group, where as before magblades at least had the option of bringing alot of extra healing in exchange for a litlle damage.

I miss major expedition on cripple rather than the pretty useless sourcing from twisting path.

Homogenization is just such an awful disease to this game.

Marginis

OWLTHEMAD wrote: »

El_Borracho wrote: »

Elf Bane making Zaan the flame of doom.

Relequen proccing the old version of Ravager.

Getting free crown crates as the mid-month rewards

I hate dks, (fighting them i mean) but still i too mourn the loss of elfbane zaans.

It was such a cool little bit of class identity that specifically benefitted dks. It wasnt "broken" in pvp due to zaans built in range limitations, and gave dks a dope, and thematically appropriate tool for higher end dps.

I also miss nbs and dks being able to teleport strike / leap on to keep walls.

It was cool mechanic that gave them both unique pvp functionality, and in the case of nightblade, was very much in keeping with the assasin theme.

I miss lightning heavy attack sorcs. Or rather sorcs double barring lightning in general.

Never played them but there was a clear class identity and power fantasy built there.

Most of all i miss class identity in general. Back when each class felt unique and brought something to the table.

These days everyone uses the same gear with reskinned versions of the same abilities.

Pvp is still a tank meta.

Nbs are just budget sorcs/templars who bring almost nothing uniques and useful to a group, where as before magblades at least had the option of bringing alot of extra healing in exchange for a litlle damage.

I miss major expedition on cripple rather than the pretty useless sourcing from twisting path.

Homogenization is just such an awful disease to this game.

I think making every class work as a tank/healer/DPS is a good thing, personally, but the great thing about it used to be that every class got to do those roles in their own unique way. Nightblade sap tanking was really fun, especially when someone saw you were a Nightblade tank, thought you would be bad, and then you blow them away.

El_Borracho

@OWLTHEMAD Totally agree. I still enjoy the game, but I really liked it when each class had a specific identity, with specific advantages that others did not. Nightblades were one of the most fun classes to play. Very strong attacks but much more difficult to play, making it fun. DKs were more survivable, but when Elf Bane came around they were actual offensive weapons other than tanky second tier DDs. And in PVP, both were incredibly fun because they could leap/teleport onto walls.

I forgot about the heavy attack sorcs. One of the better PVE and PVP builds. I only use that now in VMA.

Now, everyone can hit 100k+ on almost anything in the game.

OWLTHEMAD

Heck im okay with everyone being able to do high end dps. Just the loss of class specific utility and style is tragic.

With all the trial sets now, rather than let old dps sets become obsolete, they should be retooled to be built around specific classes, and enhance group utility.

Eg. Infal sorcs, master architect nb/templar, lokestis necro ( cuz of self synergy) et cetera.

Retool these sets so that they are a very clear winner for certain classes.

Go along way towards bringing identity back.