PTS Update 38 - Feedback Thread for the Arcanist

onyxorb

I've seen several comments about people getting migraines and having other issues from the flashiness of the new class and skills.

Will there be way to turn off those effects for people who have migraine and other issues? Or even for people who want to turn those off for immersion purposes?

Alchimiste1

My initial impressions

DPS

The damage of the whole class feels a bit low. There really isn't a standout good arcanist dps ability. The beam is exceptionally fun to use but the damage is lower than it should be imo. I think it could really benefit from a slight buff to the overall tooltip or a small amount of execute potential. The stun+ beam combo works well.

The main spamable is okay but I think as a whole, considering there is no delayed burst ability, its not enough. Either increase the damage, or give it something like major savagery/prophecy as arcanist really struggles with bar space. I would also like to see a stam(not ranged version of the spammable.)

The ult looks good but has a few problems. I think the tracking is bit too slow, its extremely easy to roll dodge out of it or sprint away. I would also like to see the visual offset to the side a bit so the person casting it can see the front of their screen and who they are hitting.

The tentacle ability should not have any cast time. especially not the execute morph. An execute with a cast time doesn't work well. On top of that even below 50% health it really doesn't hit hard.

The class could really use some delayed burst ability or just an overall dps boost to abilities.

Defense
Defensively its toolkit is fine. If there is one thing, I found slightly disappointing is the portal. In the trailer we could see that you could move vertical distance but on pts thats not true. As it stands, I see no reason to use it considering it has a cast time and mist or rats works better.

Conclusion
I think overall the class has potential. The visual are good. the beam is great fun. The heal beam might be overpowered in group pvp. But overall the tooltips are too low for it really compete with other classes.

Marto

I'm personally a bit disappointed with the color scheme of some Arcanist abilities.I was hoping they'd be monochromatic, or at least stick to the color green more closely.

Healing skills like Reconstructive Domain and Evolving Runemeld have a noticeably yellow color to them, to the point they look kinda out of place.



There's also the very strong and very bright purple seen on offensive skills like Escalating Runeblades, Unbreakable Fate,



I'd personally like to see some of the hues adjusted to lean closer to green. Particularly on the healing skills. I love how recognizable and clear skills look in ESO, compared to other MMOs, and I'd love to see that clear direction and identity continue with the Arcanist.

Granted, this is just my opinion. And I can be a bit of a stickler when it comes to the color schemes of my characters, so maybe I'm the only one that has an issue with the colors.

FrancisCrawford

I have 18 characters, including at least 2 of every class. But I don't think I'll be making any arcanists. The reason is strictly visual:

Constant swirling, as in the crux triangles, makes me a little nauseous. (That's not a metaphor; I mean it in the most physically literal sense of the word.)

XellJarmar

Straight to the point, the class is too HEAVILY built around the beam. With three stacks of crux, it hits like a truck, but outside of it, the class lacks damage from its own toolkit in general.

Even for the beam, it has one crucial problem: the channel time. Trust me, I've been a templar main over five years and even the jabs' 0.8s~1.2s channel time is enough for some occasional interrupts (from humanoid mobs and crushing shocks).

For an ability that locks you in one motion for 4~5s, the downs outweighs the ups. I'd rather have one of the beam morphs to shorten the channel time with crux spent, but with lower damage bonus from it.

Faulgor

How did it feel to use and aim the beam abilities (Fatecarver and Remedy Cascade)?
Using the beam was easier than I feared (I'm using a controller). It works surprisingly well!

How do the passive abilities of the class compare to other current passives abilities?
The passives are great, conceptually. I like how they tie into the same system (Crux) no matter the skill line, which gives the class a great cohesiveness (although that becomes a problem in other areas - more on that later). I'd like to see the lessons learned here applied to the other 6 classes.

Did you have a favorite base ability or morph?
I really like Cepheliarch's Flail, as well as Tome-Bearer's Inspiration. But I'll have to use the class in more diverse content before I can name a clear favorite.

How did it feel to have the cost of some abilities change based on your Max Magicka or Stamina?
It is convenient, but also a bit ... game-y? We have been grappling with this from the beginning, that obviously magical looking abilities do not really make sense in spending Stamina. This does not only pertain to the Arcanist class, it is merely hightened here by being attribute-agnostic. I expect some more thought will be put into the hybridization aspects of ESO, as this feels like a mere stepping stone to something else.

How did it feel to gain and spend Crux?
So far I haven't been in a pressing situation where I had to use a skill without the maximum number of Crux. Meaning, I'm not sure what I lost or gained, besides having to "ramp up" to my skill use by using Crux-gainers first - which does feel fine, and especially new and different to other classes. Overall I quite like it.

Did you feel like you had enough options for Crux builders and spenders?
I'm not sure I have explored the skills enough yet, but most times I only spent Crux on Fatecarver. Which might make sense in questing/overland content where you aren't pressed to spend your Crux defensively, but in the Herald of the Tome skill line, it would be nice to have another Crux spender, e.g. in The Imperfect Ring.

What are your thoughts on the Arcanist’s visuals overall?
Overall, I like that visual theme is quite consistent, but that also makes it difficult to differentiate and learn the new skills (this is the part where the class' cohesiveness brings some problems).
With other classes, each skill line is quite distinct, and thus comes with somewhat distinct visuals, both in the skill itself as well as the skill icons in your ability bar. I wonder if something more could be done to make the different skill lines look a bit more distinct from each other?

Do you feel as if any of the visuals negatively impacted your ability to participate effectively in PvP or PvE scenarios?
As has been mentioned several times, the color and brightness of the skill effects are a bit too much, compared to the rest of the game. Not a lot, but noticably so.
My suggestion would be to lower the brightness and saturation just a bit, somewhere between 10 and 15%. I'd also prefer to shift the hue slightly towards the yellows, which seemed more fitting for Hermaeus Mora's realm and helps to draw the visuals a bit back into the environment, so important visual cues can stand out better (i.e., most people use highly distinct colors for friendly/enemy effects, and the garish green is a bit too close to those).
I have made the mentioned adjustments in some quick comparative mock-ups:

I think this is the maximum adjustment I would do; The shift doesn't have to be as pronounced to make a huge difference.

Smaller effects become less obtrusive. It's also easier to see our own characters, which is always a plus for Fashion Scrolls!

Here I have also elected to adjust the ability icons.

What did you think of the audio for the Arcanist’s abilities?
I really liked the deeper sounds, but not so much the higher pitch sound effects. Much like the color, they stand out just a bit too much. Which is fine on occasion for a stand-out skill, but it seems to occur too often.
Further, much like the skill icons, the cohesiveness makes it difficult to learn the different skills by audio cue. Naturally I'm not sure yet if this will pass with time, but I thought it important to bring up.

RemoryAzure

/delete, should be in bug report thread

Zezin

I have feedback on two skills specifically:

1. Runecarver feels terrible to use, the duration is just so long that it messes up everything else shortening it up to 2 seconds would be my suggestion, also making the initial animation a bit faster would greatly help.
2. Please add a damage stacking mechanic to Tentacular Dread like with Runecarver so that those of us that don't like the beam can use this instead as a way to consume crux, something along the lines of 33% per crux spent would be appropriate.

hashii

Hi, For the Arcanist class, I can only speak about the visuals and the sound design, as I'm not suited to give advice about balancing and combat related metrics.

As a PvE player, I really like how unique and animated the class is. The visuals and audio are really nice, and it has been something I have been wanting in this game for a long time. The skills are very flashy, and I personally like very flashy skills. I hope older classes get some animation upgrades to be more modern and flashy like the Arcanist. Here are my thoughts about the skill lines:

HERALD OF THE TOME:

• I really like the bright green colors, and the way the crux triangles float around your character, and how ruleblades fly towards the enemy. I also appreciate that the morphs are visually distinct.
• Fatecarver: Holy wow... this skill looks super epic. As I said before, I love fancy animated effects, and this skill looks amazing. Having a slightly different animation/color between the two morphs would be nice.
• Tentacular Dread: Looks amazing once again, it's a bit creepy, but I like it. I also like the animation difference between the two morphs.
• Tome Bearer's Inspiration: This skill is very cool, and love the animation effect on the staff. However, only thing I would say is, somehow the staff looks 2D with the animation. Somehow looks a bit flat.
• Rune of Displacement: No major comments about this one.
• The Unblinking Eye: ABSOLUTELY. PHENOMENAL! It's an ultimate ability that actually makes you feel powerful while using it. Can't complain, these are the type of animation upgrades I was hoping to see in this game.

SOLDIER OF APOCRYPHA:

• Runic Jolt: No major comments. Looks decent.
• Runespite Ward: I appreciate the slight animation differences between the morphs, looks good. Could it be possible to have the armor somewhat "wrap" around your character by having slightly curved edges? The wards seem to float just flatly above your character. Having the edges of the ward slightly curved, would make it feel as if it's wrapping around your body.
• Fatewoven Armor: No major complaints. I like that the armor curves/ wraps around your character, and that it has visually distinct colors between the morphs.
• Runic Defense: The AoE animation looks really amazing, and huge. Although the residual body animation makes it look like the character is poisoned, which I kind of find it funny.
• Rune of Eldritch Horror: No comments.
• Gibbering Shield: Looks good. Reminds me of the templar Eclipse orb, but I like the different colors between the two morphs.

CURATIVE RUNEFORMS:

• Runemend: Looks fancy and enchanting, I like it. No complaints here.
• Remedy Cascade: Once again, just like the DPS beam, this skill looks amazing. I love that it's a healing beam too. It is a skill that makes you feel powerful, even as a healer.
• Chakram Shields: Another cool looking skill. The destiny morph animation looks better than the tidal morph animation.
• Arcanist Domain: Another amazing skill. The two morphs look the same somewhat, but the overall animation looks very appealing. Would be nice if there is more of a visual distinction between the two morphs. Perhaps some blue/purple particle effects clashing against the green?
• Apocryphal Gate: No comments here. Looks nice.
• Vitalizing Glyphic: Absolutely splendid. I love the pulsating animations for this one. It's also unique that you heal/attack the glyph rather than just summon and forget it. This is the first time where we actually interact with the ultimate it seems. I also love that the morphs look visually distinct. The purple colors on the resonating glyphic look cool.

This is the first time I have been very excited for a new class to this degree, and I really like what the team has done with it. Once again, I sincerely hope that older classes get animation upgrades to be visually on-par.

This is another topic of discussion, but I hope the team can think about skill morph's animation differences between stamina dps vs magicka dps vs support. More than just a color change. For example, Sorcs have flying daggers for their stamina morph that is functionally different than the shield morph. It drastically changes the feel of that skill. Something like that where the morphs look and function differently would be amazing. An introduction to a third-morph to account for this would be welcome as well.

Kaurie

Further feedback after more testing.

The mag DPS options feel like they should be used at range. The visuals are way too flashy in melee range and you can't even see your cruxes. The way the beam works seems perfect for ranged gameplay.

I tried to make a ranged option work and no matter what I do, I'm getting ~20% less DPS than in melee.

This feels weird, as I feel incentivezed to play range and melee and when I do either I'm disappointed.

Neugeniko

Healers wont use the remedy cascade in the healing tree and the crux system. The channel is too narrow to heal even a tight stack. The duration is too long, resulting in other buff downtime and canceling it feels clunky. Channels should proc pearls every sec otherwise pearls is weak using this unique arcanist heal.

As such the arcanist will lose a lot of its unique feel as healers stick to traditional skills.

Vonkarolinas

Fatecarver, no changes needed. Not sure what others are experiencing or why, but having tested for several hours, the aiming is spot on. I've not missed a single target yet. This thing is a "street sweeper" if ever there was one. Up, down, left, right, it gets them all. Honestly, I am confused by all the posts saying they can't hit targets.

I second the sentiment that the color scheme is odd. This "Cosmic Horror" but the bright green reminds me of something from an 80s cyberpunk movie. Darker greens. Also, as someone who is on 2 separate medications and has to be seen twice a year by a neuro for migraines, I can attest that I have NOT gotten so much as a headache from the colors. Maybe people are just confusing eye strain for "migraines".

Quethrosar

Very underwhelming experience. I logged in to try the class. My sorcerer feels much stronger. The beam skill is stupid, I should be able to stop the cast by pressing the button again.

Vulkunne

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official feedback thread for new Arcanist class. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

• Abilities
  • How did it feel to use and aim the beam abilities (Fatecarver and Remedy Cascade)?
  • How do the passive abilities of the class compare to other current passives abilities?
  • Did you have a favorite base ability or morph?
  • Did you have a least favorite base ability or morph?
  • How did it feel to have the cost of some abilities change based on your Max Magicka or Stamina?
• Crux System
  • How did it feel to gain and spend Crux?
  • How did it feel to have some morphs generate or spend Crux?
  • Did you feel like you had enough options for Crux builders and spenders?
• Visuals (Animation and VFX)
  • What are your thoughts on the Arcanist’s visuals overall?
  • Do you feel as if any of the visuals negatively impacted your ability to participate effectively in PvP or PvE scenarios?
• Audio
  • What did you think of the audio for the Arcanist’s abilities?
• Do you have any other general feedback?

So I actually found some time yesterday to login to PTS and go over the new Class. Which that in and of itself was pretty impressive lulz. However I also was pleased with what I saw from the new Class as well. Overall, it really has like a Warden kind of feel to it. Def not quite like a DK experience, similar to a Sorc or Templar but more than anything it felt like I was playing something similar to a Warden which is fine and isn't a bad thing.

Note just for the lulz, you heard it first from me back on April 12th when I said the class "screamed Support" maybe more than anything else. I'm sure many others said the same but just want to point that out, you never know it may be important later.

Anyways, let me answer the survey thusly:

So I think the abilities are fine. A bit different in some instances, which I like. Its good to have something kind of exotic because its really its own thing and every other class can still be different from it. But again, that's not a bad thing at all.

The abilities seemed to work very smooth, I didn't notice any stuttering or clunkiness, however my concern is this sucker might be somewhat hard on the servers, especially being new, so I'm sure the Devs will keep an eye on that. Note that I also had issues logging into PTS and kept getting kicked back to lobby.

I think the laser ability seemed to work ok, again I'm not sure how something like that being manually aimed is going to work vs the server. Like Soul Assault is soft lock and it works reliably, but having this laser ability fire like a mini-gun is great and all but might want to watch out performance wise, especially multiple players shooting these things off at ball groups which among many things bring lag themselves.

Also enjoyed using the portal, I think that will be lots of fun in PvP and could be useful to help reposition players in a stressful situation. I also like how the portal is like an instant escalator kind of but not a guaranteed escape. Like I can't do something silly like keep spamming portals. Its fine how it is now.

Passives to me felt kind of like how the Necromancer is setup. I think the passives were appropriate and their effects were in line with what is important, least what I care about.

I've got to be honest in that I don't care for the Crux system or similar things like stacking and all that. I'd prefer the ability either work, maybe work a little better over time, but I hate the stacking concept. Sorry. Its just I've spent the resources now so more PEW PEW and less of this hurry up and wait business.

So visuals. Lets talk about this. I do like how you guys chose Green for the color, Green is a neutral color and its not overbearing so that was good. However, I'm concerned that you might want to dial back the brightness and some of visual effects a bit. This is not saying to gut them but maybe reduce them somewhat. Because when players try to use Arcanist under lag conditions you know the first thing thats going to get called out is the Arcanist special effects. Its coming. I would think about making the effects sharper, less bright and not over the top. Still I can see alot of creativity there and we want to keep that but maybe just sharpen it up a bit.

Considering certain buffs, similar to the Warden when it was first released, in a few weeks you may want to sit around a kitchen table and just make sure that the Arcanist is fit and well balanced with other class abilities. However I know there are other players who run with certain roles consistently, so they could probably advise better in regard to each specific role than I could from the here and now.

Thanks

tsaescishoeshiner

How did it feel to use and aim the beam abilities (Fatecarver and Remedy Cascade)?

Fatecarver: Very bad in 3rd person! Most players use an over-the-shoulder camera angle where you can see in front of your character, but that makes Fatecarver aim into the ground, shortening its range. That means you have to move your camera behind your character, so that your character is blocking your view.

Otherwise, aiming it side-to-side is a matter of skill and preparation, which I like. If it had a fixed range, it would be more usable and feel a jillion times better.

How do the passive abilities of the class compare to other current passives abilities?

They seem strong, and felt very dependent on the Crux mechanic. This could make it harder to pull in skills from other skill lines, like weapons and guilds, since you lose out on crux. My PTS build focused on mainly Arcanist abilities. It's nice that they have some non-Arcanist-skill-dependent passives as well.

Did you have a favorite base ability or morph?

I love Runic Defense! Fatecarver FEELS cool, but like I said above it's compromised in 3rd person view.

Cephaliarch's Flail is also very satisfying in AoE execute situations. It's a little bit expensive due to also being a snare and debuff, but pretty smooth even with the 0.3 second cast time.

Did you have a least favorite base ability or morph?

I wanted The Unblinking Eye to be a bit easier to hit enemies with in mobile environments. The "retarget" feature only helps so much with a skill with such a short duration. I don't want to spend crucial time retargeting it when I need to be spending that global cooldown dealing damage instead.

Sometimes it seems like it's just aiming off to the wrong side no matter which way I turn. Maybe that's a player skill issue?

How did it feel to gain and spend Crux?

Gaining it was easy with good options, although it was hard to tell when some of the skills that "passively" grant it every few seconds (or on taking damage) actually procced. Maybe we could get an audio cue the moment we reach 3 crux!

How did it feel to have some morphs generate or spend Crux?

Fairly straightforward and it was helpful for build choice.

Did you feel like you had enough options for Crux builders and spenders?

As far as spending crux, I like how Fatecarver and Runespite Ward give you a choice in PvP of choosing between damage or health.

However, more spending choices for DPS would be nice, as the main one is Fatecarver. I suppose Tentacular Dread works pretty well as a second option. Maybe one of the runeblade morphs could have a "if cast with 3 crux already available, consume them all to do X".

Visuals (Animation and VFX)

The crux icon in the top left of crux-generating skills is pretty hard to see. It's really nice how skills that consume crux get a nice visual effect when crux is ready. Maybe we could get a sound that plays when we acquire our 3rd crux?

What are your thoughts on the Arcanist’s visuals overall?

Generally cool! I think the crux look a bit too plain, just a bright green shape that sticks out a lot. Overall, it almost makes me wish the older classes got a visual upgrade because the new ones are so good.

Not sure how many players it applies to, but it's hard to count your crux in first-person mode.

Do you feel as if any of the visuals negatively impacted your ability to participate effectively in PvP or PvE scenarios?

Not being able to tell which Arcanist's Domain is yours is confusing. I'm not sure if it gives you the buff for standing in your opponent's Domain. Arcanist's Domain could probably have a reduced visual for enemies, as they only need to see the area, not the whole visual effect.

Even in duels, the visual effects and beams from Arcanist skills can be very visually overwhelming, especially with the aiming issues of Fatecarver.

What did you think of the audio for the Arcanist’s abilities?

Great! I can still hear it even after quitting the game. Fatecarver go brrr

Do you have any other general feedback?

Arcanist's AoE DoT damage is a bit low overall. Maybe Arcanist's Domain could get a DoT morph.

ADarklore

Deltia just posted his critical review of Arcanist, hopefully the devs watch it.

EramTheLiar

XellJarmar wrote: »

For an ability that locks you in one motion for 4~5s, the downs outweighs the ups. I'd rather have one of the beam morphs to shorten the channel time with crux spent, but with lower damage bonus from it.

I need to know what everyone means when they say this -- I've seen it multiple times -- because I don't see you being locked in a motion when you use fatecarver.

First, you can move while you use it quite easily. Second, if you need to end the beam to do something else all you need to do is either block, jump, or dodge roll. Yes, you have to build up crux again if you want to fire it again at full power, but it's not like you're committed to the attack for the full 4.5 seconds. You can break out and do something else.

Granted, it's easy to forget this... and I have died on test because I did.

But based on all that, I gotta believe people mean something else when they talk about being locked into fatecarver.

YandereGirlfriend

• Abilities
  • How did it feel to use and aim the beam abilities (Fatecarver and Remedy Cascade)?
    
    These are fine to use, particularly in PvE where things don't move around much. For PvP (and I primarily PvP), it feels like people want this to be the "I Win Button" that instantly ends fights, like the Templar beam. Personally, I think it is fine that it can be interrupted and that it is not particularly easy to hit a moving target with - as this is what Stuns are for in PvP. It IS also AOE, which some are missing - whereas Templar beam is not. Given that, it stands to reason that Fatecarver deal less damage than the single target Templar beam. That said, I wouldn't object to adding a ramping damage aspect to the skill that rewards players who ARE able to keep a target in the beam for longer durations. The healing beam already has this feature, so it is not as if the concept is foreign to the class.
    
  • How do the passive abilities of the class compare to other current passives abilities?
    
    Passives are fairly strong compared to several other classes but they aren't overpowered. I notice that the Arcanist straight-up stole the Warden Penetration passive, which I am not particularly happy about. But it is what it is. The only passive that is a dud is the status effect passive, for reasons that others have mentioned. Perhaps consider allowing that passive to buff you in a unique way while you have a shield applied, since that seems to be a theme of the class. The passive that is unique and that I like the most is the Minor Evasion passive.
  • Did you have a favorite base ability or morph?
    Definitely the tentacle arm. It feels very Resident Evil and I am here for that.
  • Did you have a least favorite base ability or morph?
    I like the IDEA of the shielding skill from the Curative Runeforms line. But the shields are very small in PvP and cost of the skill is very large, basically the same as an AOE burst heal. For that cost, I would like to see 6 players given shields rather than 4, so that you can at least reduce the number of casts that it takes to shield a whole group. And even then, the shield size could use a buff as it will get burned through quickly in both PvE and PvP, in which case you're better off just sticking with a traditional burst heal.
  • How did it feel to have the cost of some abilities change based on your Max Magicka or Stamina?
• Crux System
  • How did it feel to gain and spend Crux?
  • How did it feel to have some morphs generate or spend Crux?
  • Did you feel like you had enough options for Crux builders and spenders?
  Some of the spenders felt quite underwhelming - such as reducing the cost of an ability. Passives like this (and that increase durations) should simply be the base behavior of an ability, not a morph. Morphs are scarce and they should provide something genuinely unique in terms of play, and reduced cost just does not move the needle.
• Visuals (Animation and VFX)
  • What are your thoughts on the Arcanist’s visuals overall?
    I love the vibe and visual fluidity of the animations. The sounds are also quite nice.
  • Do you feel as if any of the visuals negatively impacted your ability to participate effectively in PvP or PvE scenarios?
• Audio
  • What did you think of the audio for the Arcanist’s abilities?
  Love the sound effects for the class!
• Do you have any other general feedback?
  I LOVE the concept that you have for allowing a class to basically be feature-complete within its own toolkit. I very much hope that you bring this approach to the other 6 classes as well.

SundarahFr3akinrican

How did it feel to use and aim the beam abilities (Fatecarver and Remedy Cascade)?

There is latency with the tracking in pvp. I was dueling with a friend and, while on his screen, his targeting reticle and beam were directly on me, on my screen he was about 3-4 meters away from actually hitting me and fatecarver was not doing any damage.

My friend had to literally aim his reticle and beam off my body and aim it 3-4 meters ahead of me for the damage to begin ticking.

ilawana

Some portal tests....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZajSyNA-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avu2EwuA9IM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpUqKfQKrO8

Definitely not working very well.

LadyLavender3

Just started a baby arcanist because I wanted to see how it feels to level it. First impressions:
***Visuals are too bright! What are these sharp bright triangles? They feel very different from anything else in ESO. I agree that toning down the brightness would help immensely. I would also prefer less sharpness, either actual rune shapes (as I was expecting) or at least some fuzziness as if it is writing in the air. The rotating around me is a little distracting but I will probably get used to it.
*WHY do the triangles not vanish when combat ends? Uggggh. Could we at least tone them done or mute them until we reenter combat? Also had my partially color-blind partner take a peek at them and he was guessing the color was yellow or green, but it at least didn't look like red so acceptable.
**First skill I took (as someone familiar with both healers and tanks and knowing I will need a dps skill in order to survive solo play anyway) was the spammable dps. It is indeed very spammable and easy to use. Just point and click. But what am I supposed to do with this crux I have generated and have no skill to use? Figuring out the purpose of crux right away was not obvious.
*First healing skill...is this directable? What is even happening here? Am I using crux or not? (Didn't need it enough to really get a feel for it, though I hit it on accident more than once).
***2nd dps skill...WHAAAAAAT am I even doing with this? Why is it not pointing at the enemy I was hitting? WAIT, can I DIRECT this? This could either be an absolute game-changer or really really annoying, depending on how enemies move in combat and how well my mouse reacts (I played on a wireless mouse once. I had regrets). Also, it is EXTREMELY bright and you completely lose enemies' red auras behind the beam. Colorblind partner had major complaints.

alia_veras

Something I haven't seen mentioned is how tedious buff management is on a tank Arcanist. There are no less than 5 skills (fatewoven armor, runic defense, rune of eldtrich horror, tome-bearer's inspiration, arcanist's domain) which you need to keep up to play optimally. For reference, other tank classes have 2-3. The arcanist skills have a duration of 20-30 seconds each and it takes 8+ seconds to cycle through them, which means you're spending upwards of half your time just mindlessly micromanaging buff durations.

It's not fun. It's also made even worse by the taunt morph being a debuff that must be cycled every 15 seconds, and by the survivability skill being a shield that can be cycled every 6.

The devs said they wanted arcanist tanking style to be more reactive, but it's actually less interactive than any other class because of all the on-rails skills.

Soarora

From a PvE tank perspective Runic Jolt and Rune of Uncanny Adoration felt like their ranges were way too short compared to inner rage and silver leash.

RaptorRodeoGod

Abilities:

• How did it feel to use and aim the beam abilities (Fatecarver and Remedy Cascade)?
  Not bad, however, I've only been dummy testing.
  
• How do the passive abilities of the class compare to other current passives abilities?
  Pretty good, except the Status Effect passive. The class has no innate sources of Bleeding, Poison, or Flame, so this passive feel pretty meh. Perhaps if it modified a status effect, like Overcharged, as the Warden does to Chilled, it'd be more interesting.
  
• Did you have a favorite base ability or morph?
  Favorite ability: Fatecarver. Favorite morph: Cephaliarch's Flail
  
• Did you have a least favorite base ability or morph?
  Morph: Tentacular Dread
  
• How did it feel to have the cost of some abilities change based on your Max Magicka or Stamina?
  Pretty good, I wish the other classes had something similar.

Crux System:

• How did it feel to gain and spend Crux?
  The fact that I could gain and spend crux? Pretty good.
  
• How did it feel to have some morphs generate or spend Crux?
  Thoroughly enjoyed, it adds variety in gameplay.
  
• Did you feel like you had enough options for Crux builders and spenders?
  As a damage spec, not really. Fatecarver is the only Crux dump, so if you're not interested in using the skill for whatever reason, it's basically pointless to play the class as a damage spec. Tentacular Dread, while being a good long term damage buff, feels a little useless in the short term to be spending Crux on. With Fatecarver being the only Crux dump for a damage boost on the skill, it makes the class feel a little one dimensional in the DPS department. If Tentacular Dread was made to be an alternative to Fatecarver, it could provide variety in gameplay. Going along with that, I think both morphs of The Imperfect Ring should interact with Crux. Personally, I would suggest having Rune of Displacement cause the user to gain Crux in some way, while having Fulminating Rune spend Crux to increase the Frost damage portion. It would also be interesting if some Ultimate morphs would interact with Crux.

Visuals (Animation and VFX):

• What are your thoughts on the Arcanist’s visuals overall?
  Really good, although a little distracting personally. It would be nice if the other classes were brought up to par in relation to the Arcanist.
  
• Do you feel as if any of the visuals negatively impacted your ability to participate effectively in PvP or PvE scenarios?
  Not sure about PvP, but slightly distracting for what I was doing (dummy parsing). There was a little too much going on, but I liked that it wasn't as simple as previous classes.

Audio:

• What did you think of the audio for the Arcanist’s abilities?
  Phenomenal.
  
• Do you have any other general feedback?
  Mentioned above.

IARTOI

As a PvP player I will make my comments based on PvP. @ZOS_GinaBruno

[*] Abilities

• How did it feel to use and aim the beam abilities (Fatecarver and Remedy Cascade)?
  -For PvE aimin wont be a big problem but for PvP its easily avoidable with mobility skill or even major expedition.
  
• How do the passive abilities of the class compare to other current passives abilities?
  -Passives are a bit strong than other classes. Especially there are too many resource gain skills or passives. Which makes the class unbalanced.
• Did you have a favorite base ability or morph?
  -Runic Jolt and Runic Defence skills are really good.
  
• Did you have a least favorite base ability or morph?
  -Runeblades are so weak. As a main spamable its too slow than other compares.
  
• How did it feel to have the cost of some abilities change based on your Max Magicka or Stamina?

-Magicka costs are a bit high but resource gain passives balancing them.

[*] Crux System

-Completely unneccesarry. Class already doesnt have strong burst damage ability and with crux system you need to stack all 3 for deal extra damage but even that damage is not close to other class burst abilities.
• How did it feel to gain and spend Crux?
  -Makes the class complex. Instead of focusing the enemy movement you also focus to crux.
  
• How did it feel to have some morphs generate or spend Crux?
  -Generating/spending crux is about timing. Waiting for this gives enemy opportunity for heal himself.
  
• Visuals (Animation and VFX)
  -So much GREEN.
  • What are your thoughts on the Arcanist’s visuals overall?
    -Can be smoother.
    
  • Do you feel as if any of the visuals negatively impacted your ability to participate effectively in PvP or PvE scenarios?
  -PvP for sure. Combining with other proc sets (like vateshrun destro staff, zaan etc.) makes your vision too limited.
  
• Do you have any other general feedback?
  -This is my overall though. Arcanist is not compatible for "SOLO PvP/DUELS". Absense of burst damage ability class doesnt have power. Ultimates are expensive 200 ulti each. DoT builds are not strong enaugh for defeat enemies. Especially Stamina Wardens or Stamina Necromancer. Arcanist have many utility skills to use so in combat using them one by one takes long time for preparation. Warden has Subterranian assault, Necromancer has Blastbone, Templar has Purifiying light+burning light passive, Sorcerer has Crystal Shards, Night Blade has Merciless Resolve, Dragon Knight has strong DoTs and Whip but ARCANIST HAS NOTHING!!!!!!
  
  Maybe before release you can change one skill as burst damage. Thanks.
  
  **Note**: Before PvE players gets angry to me I can say that this class can be a really good Healer/Support in dungeons and trials.
  
  

Jestir

Small bit of feedback

-Portals are awful. Basically doesn't work with a small bit of elevation or a break in the ground, while having a pathetically short range

-Triangles are awful in first person and would prefer if they disappeared or had heavily reduced visuals when not in combat as well

-While I absolutely love fate carver, the awkward length of it (4.5 seconds or higher) makes it rough for a middling player like me to properly use, maybe a more even, slightly shortened (like 4 seconds upto 4.9) channel time would make it easier to fit into a rotation for most players. not getting an even amount of casts destroys my rotation

Tommy_The_Gun

Red99 wrote: »

Apochryphal gate is an useless skill in pvp with 7 seconds cooldown, it should be spammable like streak and when u recast it removes the previous portals

When the enemy keep gates are open, cast it to by-pass / ignore killing zone. And if there is more than one Arcanist it can be pretty OP... at least in theory.

Cast_El

-The teleport ability is bugged, sometimes only one gate pop up.
-the major resolve armor buff skill timer start with 5 seconds on your bar when you cast it

YandereGirlfriend

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

Red99 wrote: »

Apochryphal gate is an useless skill in pvp with 7 seconds cooldown, it should be spammable like streak and when u recast it removes the previous portals

When the enemy keep gates are open, cast it to by-pass / ignore killing zone. And if there is more than one Arcanist it can be pretty OP... at least in theory.

Synergies have a 20-second cooldown so a group can only use a portal every 20 seconds.

YandereGirlfriend

Can we quickly take a moment to address just how underwhelming the Glyphic ultimate and its morphs are from the Curative Runeforms tree?

Both morphs are functionally identical in terms of buffs provided (which is NEVER a good design choice) and it is very much unclear what the ultimate is intended for.

Is it a damage amplification Support-type ultimate like Warhorn, Colossus or Atronach, meant to increase PvE group damage? If so, then we need SIGNIFICANTLY more than a measly +200 Weapon/Spell Damage for 15 seconds. That cannot compete AT ALL with the buffs provided by the previously mentioned Support ultimates. Try +1000 Weapon/Spell Damage for 15 seconds and this ultimate becomes more interesting for PvE content and trials.

Or is this ultimate supposed to be some sort of PvP super-heal like the Templar Incantation? If so, it costs WAY too many ultimate points and it doesn't heal for enough per tick, as it currently tuned to be about 2x of a basic Healing Springs. For 200 ultimate cost, this is simply not enough. Maybe if it hit all 12 potential targets in a group per tick, but, alas, it is capped at the standard 6 targets. Un-cap the healing ticks and increase the tick strength and perhaps this could see use in PvP.

Or you could say, "Por que no los dos?" and do both rather than having two functionally identical morphs. Give the offensive (damage to glyph) morph a hefty boost to group Weapon/Spell Damage and perhaps deal damage as an AoE DoT instead of healing. And then have the other morph (healing to glyph) provide a significantly more robust AoE HoT that is able to hit all 12 group members. Drop the Weapon/Spell Damage aspect if need be to balance it. The result is two morphs that are good at two different purposes - which is a vast improvement over the current situation.

TLDR; This Glyphic ultimate needs to be improved ASAP because right now it isn't attractive for any potential purpose. It is on-track to become Bolstering Darkness 2.0, the awful Nightblade Shadow ultimate that has been the consensus worst ultimate in the game.