Veteran content in U35

Riptide

There have been quite a number of threads where we are discussing U35 and the conversation becomes less than edifying quickly as it is largely two very different matters being discussed. Directly speaking overland and normal content was never really a major concern for most people participating in the PTS and the subsequent discussions over the last week. Overland content is largely trivial, normal dungeon and trial content only marginally less so - and so the balance updates will be less acutely felt there and present in an entirely different way than it will in veteran content.

My family and friends are watching and waiting to understand how veteran content is shaking out before committing long term to a competitor.

So I would be thankful to hear experiences about U35 restricted only to veteran content, particularly DLC dungeons, trials, and arenas. And it might avoid some needless confusion and disagreement if it was focused into its own thread, without conflating it with overland and normal content.

Thanks in advance for any insights as far as experiences with veteran content in U35.

Necrotech_Master

the only experience i have so far is with non-HM veteran content

last week i ran vDSR with a group, and the logs said i was doing 36k dps on the final boss
yesterday i ran vDSR with a group and the logs showed i was doing 35k dps on the final boss

i ran a stamplar and made absolutely no build changes except swapping the ultimate out from empowered sweep to dawnbreaker of smiting

so with the same group, knowing mechanics and everything, we had no problems clearing vDSR (and it was actually our fastest clear to date, around 1 hour 13 minutes)

stevenyaub16_ESO

Combat changes always shake things up so it's nothing new. The damage right now is still higher than during greymoor.

Dungeons I think are in a good spot. It's the best content in the game range through all difficulties due to the sheer amount. Unfortunately you will have to do some research to figure out which is the easiest (you can go vet -> hms).

The designs have always been pretty good and well designed both normal, vet and hardmodes.

Trials I think are just a mess and been progressively worse starting with greymoor, often feeling like there is a lack of testing and design.

MudcrabAttack

Last night I pugged vet non-HM Lair of Maarselok with the group finder, 1/2 the group didn’t know mechanics but we got through with little pain, even as the tank and other dps kept dying and letting the the corruption spawn the lurcher and chase me around a while. I was the only one attacking the cancroid boss, DPS is a little less, but wasn’t enough to effect anything badly since I came prepared with a build to adapt (basically just running my old nightblade that got buffed with the concealed weapon / twisting path combo). As expected the AOE dps was down, but not so bad when I used an AOE spammable in conjunction with the typical ground DOTs

I mained warden last patch, but won’t even log into it anymore unless I’m looking for gear to pass off to my nightblade. ZOS pretty much killed warden this patch for no reason, it’s not as if they were filling raid rosters as part of some meta, they were just fun to play before but not anymore

Tomorrow I’ll find out how vet trials have changed as my group ventures back into VDSR

Agenericname

We tend to run dungeons and arenas with premades and PUGs. My feedback will differ a little depending on which, but I also think that 2-3 days into the patch isnt enough time to gauge the PUG experience well, especially since many will be running the new dungeons. Rightfully so, that team typically does a great job with the content.

With premades in vet DLC HMs the loss in damage and healing is noticeable, but manageable. They didn't nerf group buffs, in fact, this patch seems to lean into them, so I suspect that optimized groups will be among the least effected here. Overall it felt a little more sluggish.

With PUGs its a little sketchy, but its also not far into it to really tell at this point. The absence of players opting to try out the new dungeons that might normally be there doing random vets or pledges could easily skew it. The couple that we were able to try were okay. vLoM HM with a healer that had only ran vet 3 times and never the HM was one of them. The bigger hurdle was communicating the mechanics in the HM, the rest of the dungeon was fine. The loss in damage was of course noticeable, but not to the point we struggled. Vet DLCs are notorious for their mechanics. My hope is that the damage and healing nerfs don't bring us back to a place where we as a community need, or want, to overly scrutinize parses/builds and allow the players to continue to focus on the mechanics. Again, lets have this conversation in a couple of weeks.

The change to Wall I'm okay with. I think if they're going to divest from light attacks, that's the way to do it, but its broken.

We havent tried any group arenas or trials. vBRP is already pretty healing intensive for groups learning, so I expect that to be harder than it was, but I don't think that vDSA will be effected. Those are guesses of course. vBRP will be our first stop though.

Solo arenas, I haven't personally run them. I have all the shinnies and achievements, so I can afford to wait, or simply abstain. A couple of close friends have. Unfortunately they're not going to post here and I think that their feedback would be more valuable than mine. "This is disheartening. It feels like all of the work I've put in was wiped out." These are folks that don't have SS or FC. We had a long conversation about this. These are my friends, actual friends. I am typically the "git gud" voice, in a polite manner. I think the question that they have is this; Is it worth putting in the effort to adapt to the changes, continue the learning process (They weren't proficient, they were learning, and that was disrupted), and possibly go this process again in 3 months? There's some frustration in hitting a wall in this content, that's natural, but I feel like that's a valid question.

We are probably just as skeptical. I think what matters more to us, perhaps you as well, is where this is all going? The combat right now doesn't feel like its going to make or break the game, (provided that they make the adjustments necessary) but the prospect of having progression disrupted every 3 months isn't appetizing either. So that same internal conversation is being had, unfortunately.

MudcrabAttack

A prog group went into VDSR, we’re usually lower than average parses in that trial according to ESO logs

Lylanar & Turlassil took 3 seconds longer to kill than the previous run on update 34

Reef guardian died 43 seconds faster than the last run on update 34

We’re closer to finishing Tideborn Taleria

Few of us made changes to our builds (I might be the only one who bothered), improvement seemed more related to experience gained over the last run.

CE_Nex

An endgamer's perspective: from my own experiences, as well as what I'm hearing anecdotally from others in PC-NA's endgame community, veteran trials have essentially remained the same in terms of difficulty and effort needed to clear them. Though there seems to be unanimous agreement that the trash mobs seem to be dying faster. So that's nice.

As for HMs, vCR HM remains relatively the same. Even with the healing and damage nerfs of U35, output still far outstrips what we were doing back in 2018's Summerset meta. Haven't tested vHoF HM, and I know of no TTT progs currently running so I doubt we'll see any data coming in for that soon. vAS HM have not tested, but from the logs I've seen of other trials and just the overall feel, it shouldn't honestly be a huge difference. No one will be breaking world record's this patch, but since vAS is basically a single target fight, sub three minute clears should be more than doable.

vSS HM and vKA HM should also be clearable and quite accomplishable. I'm starting a GS prog next week so will have concrete logs for that soon. I know of one team that is still getting sub four minute Yoln fight times, so again, it's more than doable.

vRG HM and vDSR HM are another story altogether. In terms of mechanics, these two trials are far above the others when it comes to difficulty and there's a lot more damage received. The healing nerfs are monstrously apparent on fights like Oax HM, Bahsei HM and Taleria HM. In my opinion, players with significant PB prog and SBS prog experience will be able to adapt and adjust within the week. For everyone else, it will be quite the painful prog. Especially for healers and tanks who looking to learn or are in the process of learning these fights.

TL;DR: Vet trials and most HMs remain the same, RG HM and DSR HM hurt like hell. No trial seems to have been made more accessible. GG.