Does anyone else feel that this game was so awesome till ZOS ruined it with the nerfs and balancing

Somber97866

Ive played this game since Cp 50 and the game was soooooo different. I love the additions to the game ( even though some of it I'd have done a bit differently) and the way they have done the stories have been pretty cool. But all the Nerf's have really bummed me out about the game. When I first started everyone knew if you wanted a magic heavy attack build then you go with a sorc or dragonknight. I remember finally getting the maelstrom lighting staff and going , " whoah that's really useful ! " When burning a group of adds in dragonstar. But now it seems those days are probably over. What do you all think. Are they or is ESO still ESO?

merpins

ESO is most definitely still ESO. They've done this thing for years, that is to say completely changing the game's direction. In the beginning this was good; going from a sub service in a game that was set up like any traditional MMO where mobs in the world were level gated to what we have now with one tamriel and a buy once model, adding champion points and moving away from veteran ranks allowing for more build diversity (this could also be seen as bad), going from flat values on light and heavy attacks to scaling... But they've also done things like Morrowind update with their changes to resource management, getting rid of the use of proc sets in pvp, removing crit chance from proc sets, the introduction of CP 2 which was basically just a blanket nerf to CP 1 (they also increased the CP cap at this time significantly and didn't compensate players for exp gained before the cap was increased)... Then reversing many of those decisions later. They also promised that they were done with these big sweeping changes, only to do a big sweeping change a couple months later. So ESO is still ESO, they're doing the same stuff they've been doing since the beginning, but it's just stuff we don't want rather than stuff we do want.

Aces-High-82

Cyro was awesome till the release of IC where performance went downhill.... 400 ppl fighting for a keep without lag was glorious (PS4 EU).

UrbanMonk

Game was never balanced and people always complained about one or another thing. Somethings have definitely gone into the right directions, but Try Hard approach towards balancing, which we have been seeing since last 10 patches have actually made it worse. Class identity which was a BIG TOPIC is no where to be seen. All classes are using same setup, same skills etc.
So TLDR...the game has gotten worse if not for the Quality of Life improvs.

Necrotech_Master

Aces-High-82 wrote: »

Cyro was awesome till the release of IC where performance went downhill.... 400 ppl fighting for a keep without lag was glorious (PS4 EU).

the game was a lot simpler back then, along with having much much newer servers lol

heres to hoping they can get new hardware for the console and EU servers soon [SNIP]

DrSlaughtr

People have a lot of rose color glasses when they think back to the first few years.

Everest_Lionheart

The game is still OK most players will never feel the difference in performance, nerfs or buffs one way or the other.

It’s the endgame that suffers having to grind for the new stuff every 3 months and relearn how to play the game 2x per year because of combat changes.

I’ve learned to just ignore every other nerf/buff cycle and try to roll with it the best I can. I don’t grind for the new gear anymore until it’s gone through at least 2-3 cycles and has stabilized. I don’t grind for mythics anymore because the nerf cycle hits them particularly hard and some of the pieces are locked behind ridiculous content like finals boss of DSA which is just a painful slog no matter how you look at it. At least it’s not gated behind BRP, nothing yet anyway.

For me the chapters that come out on odd years are better. Morrowind, Elsweyr and Blackwood are among my favourites. Summerset is OK but the main quests are way too long. Greymoor never got me excited, High Isle is leaving me kind of meh as well.

For me it’s inconsistent, but OK. Just OK. I’m just not as excited to play anymore. Since High Isle has dropped I have downloaded and beaten 6 other games with another releasing in a couple weeks. With so many frequent changes to the game I figure if I need to learn how to play again than I may as well learn how to play another game.

WrathOfInnos

Balancing is necessary and appreciated. However ESO has a long history of overnerfing various things, where it turns a meta set into deconstruction junk, or makes a class useless for several months. Abilities will be randomly turned into garbage for literal years before finally getting balanced (Liquid Lightning), or stay bugged for years before getting a fix (if ever).

Real balancing requires small, frequent adjustments, followed by collecting data and evaluating if more change is needed. That process has not been a strong point here.

Artim_X

Nerfs will always be annoying, but the game is still awesome imo.

MindOfTheSwarm

I have mixed feelings. I hate the standardisation nonsense as it dulls variety and play styles. That being said, now and again we get something cool. Solo arenas are my favourite content, but we only have 2 right now. We need more. For me solo arena is the pinnacle of PVE content in the game.

ToRelax

The game is much better than anything pre Morrowind imo.

Jaimeh

In terms of quality of life, content, and activities that you can do, the game has massively improved: we have so many awesome additions nowadays, and going back to the old days would be unthinkable. In terms of class identity, combat and performance it has become noticeably worse: the classes feel homogenized, there's no variety, and combat is becoming slower, plus performance has taken a toll, and there's so many longstanding, unresolved bugs. I love the game because of the combat so that makes me disappointed and worried for the future of the game. Also, I'm very displeased with ZOS, they have done one too many faux-pas when communicating with the playerbase, so for now, I'm not playing for a sub or buying crowns, and so on, until I regain some trust in the company.

Galarthor

I feel the game reached it peak in terms of enjoyable gameplay in Summerset. After that it went downhill.
Homogenization of stuns and their durations was a good thing. The ridiculous homogenization of everything else where all classes and builds pretty much feel and play with the only distinction between them being the color of the animations just sucked the fun out of the game completely.

For some reason ZOS thinks everybody should perform the same no matter how much time and effort they put into the game. This destroys any sense of achievement and thus the fun you get out of playing this game.

INM

I feel like standardisation and homogenisation is applied to every piece of the game, everything is done in accordance with some standards and formulas, it's really eye-catching when you play this game for a while. And if not balance will kill the game then it will be the lack of creativity.

Sandman929

The game has had good updates where only a dozen or so pain points needed slight adjustments. Zos ruins things by not knowing their game and not knowing what a slight adjustment is.

Ragnaroek93

I remember a time when they made combat balance changes every PTS week instead of only 2 times per PTS cycle.

Sandman929

There's so much in this game that is absolutely serving no purpose to anyone in PvP or PvE or role-playing an innkeeper...from sets to skills to CP to racial passives. Rather than address that, ZOS chooses to continually break and rebuild the parts that do serve a purpose.

ThirdEye_PULSE

Was there ever a point that they didnt do wild balance changes every 3 months? Sounds like a game id love to play. ESO with 6 month balance changes VS 3 month balance changes sounds like a dream. Let me wake from this nightmare.

DUTCH_REAPER

I’m loving the game. Been here since PC Beta. Lots of changes since then. It’s okay. I’ll adapt.

ThirdEye_PULSE

Galarthor wrote: »

I feel the game reached it peak in terms of enjoyable gameplay in Summerset. After that it went downhill.
Homogenization of stuns and their durations was a good thing. The ridiculous homogenization of everything else where all classes and builds pretty much feel and play with the only distinction between them being the color of the animations just sucked the fun out of the game completely.

For some reason ZOS thinks everybody should perform the same no matter how much time and effort they put into the game. This destroys any sense of achievement and thus the fun you get out of playing this game.

100% agree. Classes no longer feel that much different to play. Most classes feel like a hallowed out version of what they once were.

Skill is no longer rewarded, especially in PVP. So many sets and mythics have turned awful players that have a lot to learn into somewhat deadly foes.

I cant believe how many players ive fought that dont know how to dodgeroll or block or even barswap, yet outputting constant 7k hits with a bow. Often in BGs youll face a whole team of these bow sniper types which absolutely should not be rewarded with a single kill for the level of skilled gameplay their capable of.

We live in an age of participation trophies. You get a trophy, you get a trophy! Hard work and skill no longer is rewarded and its slowly infiltrated every aspect of society even unto our video games.

SirLeeMinion

Vet boss health has been nerfed 10%, DPS has been nerfed 20%, High-Isle is discounted 35%, and there is a 0% chance I'll buy it for all of my accounts. I'm currently debating if I'll buy it for even one.

Yes, OP, the bait and switch gear changes, the buff and nerf combat cycles, the 3-6 month expiration date on build information... they all have thoroughly sucked the joy out of this game. Whether the fault lies with the combat team, or if they are just following orders is difficult to tell.

Change is hard. Life is hard, too. In many parts of the world, there is enough unwanted change going on that I don't come to a game to get more change simply for the sake of change. Improvement is good, and there have certainly been many improvements. But, the combat changes, really since Murkmire, have detracted from the game to the point that I dread updates and spend a lot less money on the game.

deleted221106-002999

Balance == imbalance

The rate of change is burnout inducing.

There's no point in chasing a meta that is guaranteed to be killed off within weeks of inception.

It almost seems as if it's change for the sake of change: visionless, insipid and ennui-inducing. Or it was stuff planned so long ago that it's no longer relevant to today's game but is pushed forward anyway because of a complete disconnect between players and developers.

Loss of character individuality with awa meant that even turtling up into quest-mode is pointless and rather dull with an assemblage of cloned drones, particularly with combat homogenisation - not necessarily bad in itself - compounding the mirror-image effect on character individuality loss.

And communication still sucks - @ZOS_Kevin excepted, naturally, and one or two others who help with support tickets.


edit: typos

Vertun

Just wanted to say that this patch is the worst thing that could happen to ESO. Its not increasing power of new players and killing fun for endgameplayers. Im VERRY sad about those changes. Pls dont delet.

Vertun

One of the great aspects of the game was, that it was not casual. Stop Casualing! pls

boi_anachronism_

Everest_Lionheart wrote: »

The game is still OK most players will never feel the difference in performance, nerfs or buffs one way or the other.

It’s the endgame that suffers having to grind for the new stuff every 3 months and relearn how to play the game 2x per year because of combat changes.

I’ve learned to just ignore every other nerf/buff cycle and try to roll with it the best I can. I don’t grind for the new gear anymore until it’s gone through at least 2-3 cycles and has stabilized. I don’t grind for mythics anymore because the nerf cycle hits them particularly hard and some of the pieces are locked behind ridiculous content like finals boss of DSA which is just a painful slog no matter how you look at it. At least it’s not gated behind BRP, nothing yet anyway.

For me the chapters that come out on odd years are better. Morrowind, Elsweyr and Blackwood are among my favourites. Summerset is OK but the main quests are way too long. Greymoor never got me excited, High Isle is leaving me kind of meh as well.

For me it’s inconsistent, but OK. Just OK. I’m just not as excited to play anymore. Since High Isle has dropped I have downloaded and beaten 6 other games with another releasing in a couple weeks. With so many frequent changes to the game I figure if I need to learn how to play again than I may as well learn how to play another game.

Problem is it's not just end gamers. Mid and lower mid level is getting hit hard every cycle. As of pts 1 when parse we're done by bruh we got this his builds where in the 50-55k range. When tested on pts some dipped as low as 30k. People doing 70k were hitting 50k or less. End game will always figure out how to adapt if they stay because meta is a mindset. I had/had bis gear and I'm not end game, just regular vet trials and I will have to rebuild everything. There are expectations on gear for mid level raiders and they still have to go back and grind gear, they just have less gold to upgrade so its even more taxing.

shadyjane62

It was a great game, in five days it will no longer be a great game. It will not even be playable for some of us.

Veinblood1965

I found that if you ignore the forum posts about what has changed or is going to change with each patch the changes are hardly noticeable. Btu then again I'm not working to be an OP player, if that was the case then I'd probably be on here complaining also.

ThirdEye_PULSE

Veinblood1965 wrote: »

I found that if you ignore the forum posts about what has changed or is going to change with each patch the changes are hardly noticeable. Btu then again I'm not working to be an OP player, if that was the case then I'd probably be on here complaining also.

Wish i could do that as a pvp player. Ive left for months and come back and just get obliterated by not changing anything. It kinda forces you to pay attention to changes in game and classes.

Dragonlord573

Deadlands was this game's peak.

IZZEFlameLash

Continuing cycle of them trying to reinvent the wheel every 3 months ruin things for sure. Why can't they just let things be and focus on fixing what is broken for once?

karekiz

Summerset was the height. Wrobel we didn't know. We didn't know.