LA Weaving, Accessibility, Character Flexibility, and Action Effectiveness

Aelorien

Before everyone goes crazy saying "You just don't like LAs", I'll admit it. I don't like weaving for myself. I'm not completely healthy and the 60 APM weaving uses are a bit too much for me. I still have some valid observations to make. One more time: I am not trying to get rid of weaving. What I would like is a choice for people who don't like it or can't manage it. So, here we go...

1. ZOS stated part of their objective for tuning ESO right now is to increase accessibility. As I explained at length in a previous post, ESO's high APM requirement runs counter to this goal. Since half of everyone's rotation is light attacks, it makes sense to start by reducing that requirement.
2. Bethesda/ZOS has always made the Elder Scrolls games incredibly flexible. A slogan for ESO even says, "Play how you want". Once you get into the game you quickly learn that no matter what choices you make for your characters, you are always going to be spending half your actions doing the same old boring light attack.
3. ZOS stated they want light attacks to account for 5-11% of damage once this patch settles out but they're not changing how light attacks are performed in the game. A dps with a good rotation will still need to do as many light attacks as everything else combined. I'm no math genius, but I'm pretty sure that means other abilities are going to be ten to twenty times more effective than light attacks. Still, the meta will require one LA use every GCD (once a second), even for such terrible returns.

I understand weaving has been part of the game for a long time, ever since it was discovered by players and then sanctioned by the developers. It's part of the game's core mechanics. I would even go so far as to suggest that instead of the current proposed nerfs to light attacks, introducing an alternative for people like me would accomplish the same goal while causing less angst. I'll toss out some random ideas for possible set bonuses or mythics that would offer such a choice without effecting anything else. Bear in mind that these are just ideas. They would have to be improved to be considered for meta builds, and would almost certainly require tuning before being introduced for general use.

1. The super-simple: Your active skills deal 8% additional damage and healing. Your light attacks deal no damage.
2. The sustainer: Grants Calmed Spirit, increasing health, stamina and magicka regeneration by 1.5% of your total. Calmed spirit is removed for 20 seconds after using a light or heavy attack.
3. The booster: Increases the effectiveness of self-applied buffs by 25%. Using a light attack removes one random buff from you.
4. The copycat (sort of): Each second in combat grants you a stack of Channeling. Channeling increases weapon and spell damage by 20 per stack, up to a maximum of 20 stacks. One stack is removed every 5 seconds outside of combat. Using a light or heavy attack consumes all stacks to deal an additional 200 magic damage per stack to the target.
5. The retaliator: You generate a field of pulsing shrapnel that deals physical damage equal to 5% of the amount you block or absorb, gaining strength with each hit. This damage pulses every 2 seconds and hits enemies within 6 meters. The field looses 25% of its peak intensity every 5 seconds you fail to block or absorb damage. Using a light or heavy attack hurls the field to the target's location, where it deals damage for 10s before collapsing. You cannot generate a new field while the previous one exists.