General Discussion about most new DPS Item Sets

ESO_Nightingale

I'm just going to crosspost this from the new item set thread. I've been noticing for a long time that most of the newer dps sets that have been released have generally tended to be very boring, they've mostly been weapon and spell damage/resource increases for a very simple condition, obtainable on most builds, or a generic okay proc for damage. there's nothing inherently wrong about these sets, but i really feel as if the direction of sets should be going towards of trying to make more niche builds viable.

sets like frostbite(blackwood), storm-cursed's revenge(ascending tide) and deadlands demolisher(deadlands) in recent years are all sets that i think are a step in the right direction, regardless of their individual balance. sets for theme builds that aim to bring them up would be really exciting for a lot of people instead of these other common sets. i have yet to see an item set/mythic that really benefits you for brawling with your fists, i really want to see a good damage increasing item set that really helps to build a speed build. the only one existing being the woefully underpowered chaotic whirlwind set.

the problem i see with a lot of niche sets is their payoff is never good enough because it generally tries to conform to standards. the conditions almost always vary a lot. sets like ysgramor's birthright and netch's touch struggle to do anything because their payoff is so tiny, probably because the condition is balanced around the assumption that the player is going to have a build full of reasonble enough sources of that damage when that just isn't possible for those 2 damage types in comparison to the rest of the item sets that give a generic condition and solid numbers. these 2 specific sets are traps for newer players. i know i farmed a full set of ysgramors before i knew any better.

when we look at monster helmets that deal with, or do a specific type of damage, there is an absolutely huge disproportion



as you can see, bleeds, poison and frost are woefully underrepresented in this category.

I've personally been asking for a new frost dps monster helmet for 2 years, and when we got nunatak at the start of the year i was so excited until i read the bonuses. i was then so upset that the set really just spread itself so thin. it ended up not being a frost dps set, but rather, as the 1pc indicates, some sort of weird tank/support cc set that i won't be using. now i don't know how long i'll have to wait until a frost dps monster helmet that focuses purely on damage dealing rolls around.

personally i think there's a lot of potential going forward to look at build types that people have expressed they want to play, but aren't able to because there's either not enough support for the playstyle, or it's just so hilariously bad that they can't build that way. if we want build diversity, i really think we should just start to have sets that focus on specific build archetypes, and aim to make them a lot better through much better bonuses gated behind conditions that only those builds find easy to do. by making item sets that people really want, you'll find alot more people running those dungeons. black drake villa and frostvault have been farmed so much for their item sets because they all had some pretty good value, why not allow more players who make niche or thematic builds get really excited about the next new dungeon or dlc zone giving an item set that significantly helps out their more niche playstyle? not to mention all of the other players getting an itch to try a new theme build because they heard it's finally viable. i mean, i know so many people who would just kill to have a viable unnarmed mythic item. these are the things that can lead to more sales and subscriptions to ESO+. i'm sure people won't mind if we don't get another "when you light attack gain x crit chance/weapon/spell damage/crit damage for 4 seconds" set, i think the game is already too oversaturated with these generic sets. maybe you should also run set design competitions that make it into the game! hell, i might even do that to pass time on the forums.

and finally as i've said in other posts for frost mage builds, i think the way to really make an ice mage work in the current state of the weapon, is to implement a passive, or item set that specifically increases the damage done of chilled by a significant enough amount. as it's only on pure frost damage builds, where we apply that status effect at a really high rate, but the damage is still often beaten by the burning status effect with only like a 75% uptime.