PTS Update 38 - Feedback Thread for the Arcanist

Malkosha

Abilities
How did it feel to use and aim the beam abilities (Fatecarver and Remedy Cascade)?
It's fun playstyle. I have no issues using beam and it's a fun little "mini-game" to line everything up

How do the passive abilities of the class compare to other current passives abilities?
I'm still trying to figure out the fire passives since we have no ability that uses fire.

Did you have a favorite base ability or morph?
Tide Kings Gazze is fantastic but when it goes off you can no longer see the MOB and can't tell if a heavy attack is coming or not.

Did you have a least favorite base ability or morph?
So far no.

How did it feel to have the cost of some abilities change based on your Max Magicka or Stamina?
Seems the next logical step in hybridization which I love for the options.

Crux System
How did it feel to gain and spend Crux?
At first I thought it was broken because my Crux indicators wouldn't work unless I'm in combat. Because of this there is no way to pre build Crux. I assume this was intended?

How did it feel to have some morphs generate or spend Crux?
To me, it's all about options and balancing those options with your intentions and this achieves that.

Did you feel like you had enough options for Crux builders and spenders?
Within the limits of the class ... yes.

Visuals (Animation and VFX)
Love the visuals but Tide Kings Gaze for instance, covers up what the MOB is doing so you really can't tell what;s going on. Are they doing a heavy attack? No way to tell unless you step back hoping the MOB follows you which places the Eye(?) behind them. Maybe change the initial position of the eye(?)

What are your thoughts on the Arcanist’s visuals overall?
Flashy! I love them!

Do you feel as if any of the visuals negatively impacted your ability to participate effectively in PvP or PvE scenarios?
As stated above, Tide Kings Gaze covers the MOB's so you don't know what's coming next from them.

Audio
What did you think of the audio for the Arcanist’s abilities?
Great sound effects. Maybe the best class audio in the game.

Do you have any other general feedback?
Fix the visuals ... or initial position ... for skills like Tide Kings Gaze and unless it's intended, allow us to generate Crux outside of combat. I do love the idea that Crux, once gained, doesn't time out like most other games. Also, it would have been a great time to introduce another weapon style ... THE BOOK ... but while I don't understand the work involved in this and whether it would only apply to the Arcanist in general with little to no value to any other class, I understand why we didn't go there. Great job!

BasP

Regarding the PTS patch v9.0.3

I really like the balance changes you've made. While the healing from Cephaliarch's Flail isn't that impressive and I would've probably preferred it if a HOT was added to the base skill instead, the damage shield from Pragmatic Fatecarver definitely helps.

The fact that The Watcher is summoned above the target now is also a good change. Before this patch I felt that it was sometimes hard to see if a boss was (for example) channeling a heavy attack when both Tide-King's Gaze and Pragmatic Fatecarver were up. I just did vVH again and with the new position from the Watcher I could actually see everything clearly all the time, which was nice.

All in all, I definitely like the class at the moment and hope it won't get changed too much over the course of the PTS (unless it simply gets buffed, of course ).

chessalavakia_ESO

Early feedback for the .3 PTS changes:

It feels like Pragmatic Fatecarver at first glance outshines it's rival morph by quite a bit.

The survivability changes have a definite impact. But, it feels like it might be little disproportionate as it may be a bit too effective in easier content. You can literally just go around hitting Pragmatic Fatecarver over and over in a fair bit of the content.

YandereGirlfriend

While I respect the attempt to buff Vitalizing Glyphic and its morphs - this is NOT moving the needle.

200 Weapon/Spell Damage is worse than basic Minor Courage and is MILES BEHIND the Major Force and +10% to Max Stats granted by War Horn. And War Horn grants those buffs without any weird provisos about healing or damaging the glyph - IT JUST WORKS. This Weapon/Spell Damage needs to be greatly increased or else give it something genuinely interesting like AOE Major Brittle or something.

Barring that, I cannot foresee ANY POSSIBLE SCENARIO where I would run this ultimate in either PvE or PvP. It is completely dead-on-arrival.

Additionally, the Major Protection provided by the Glyph of the Tides is actually a nerf to the ability in PvP, where everyone has easy access to Major Protection from any of a vast number of sources. Appending such a ubiquitous buff to the ultimate really actually makes the comparison to Bolstering Darkness (another useless class ultimate) even closer - and that is a VERY, VERY BAD thing. How about making this morph interesting for PvP at least by giving it 25% Critical Resistance for allies in the area of effect?

Zyaneth_Bal

Arcanist has many issues at a very fundamental level most of which have yet to be addressed. I will focus on a pvp perspective here since it receives close to no publicity despite even being in a worse state compared to pve. Firstly, fatecarver. The buff to pragmatic fatecarver is indeed on point, however, it was never the main issue as no buffs to a skill matter if it can’t even perform it’s most basic function, in this case deal damage. Fatecarver has to be manually aimed which is, although an interesting approach, very impractical. Desynchronization is always present and in pvp it gets even worse, therefore fatecarver can never actually hit it’s target always lagging somewhere behind even when seemingly aimed directly at it. Considering how fatecarver comprises arcanist’s whole damage kit, this single issue leaves the class with no damage at all in pvp and forces to once again fully rely on proc sets for damage. Abyssal impact suffers the same fate. Although short the cast time of 0.3 seconds makes it extremely hard to land in pvp, once again because of desync and it being a free aim skill with a very narrow aoe. And something so unreliable cannot be used because it mostly only results in waste of precious resources and gcd.

Apocryphal gate has received no changes and fixes despite being plagued by a great amount of issues. Firstly, it does not always work as intended. Quite often both portals appear at the targeted location (at the exit point) due to the way the portal interacts with uneven (or insufficient amount of) terrain similar to my next point. Another issue is the entry point portal appearing behind of from the sides of the caster and is caused by uneven terrain. Exit portal can also get moved in a similar way resulting into it appearing in unintended locations which leaves the player with no choice but to wait another 7 seconds and attempt to recast it. Additionally, the delay between entering a portal and actual teleportation is quite big, sometimes I almost managed to reach the exit point by foot without any speed buffs before being teleported. Lastly, it is not practical. To solve the first and last issues I have presented the portal should be made possible to cast regardless of whether the terrain is flat or not and for greater height altitudes as well as have range increased significantly up to 30m at the very least or more, duration could be increased slightly for about a couple of seconds to help reinforce the skill’s identity. Such traverse is this skill’s only potential benefit. As it is right now it is nothing more than a far inferior form of bolt escape and mist form.

Resolving these issues is absolutely crucial for the class to somehow perform at all and until it is done even mentioning balancing is irrelevant

Connor_1250987

I've only really had the opportunity to run the class as a DPS so far, after trying a number of parses in different gear setups and while I do like some of what it offers, I also have some concerns about it. To give a little bit of background on what type of player I am, I currently play all classes and all roles. I primarily tank on a necro, but also have some experience on a DK. I mostly heal on a templar or a warden, but am also considering trying nightblade for ultigen. I have at least one dps character for every class and run both parse and support dps setups. I wouldn't yet consider myself an endgame player, more mid-late game, as I have completed some but not all trial hardmodes and have yet to move onto trifectas. Most hardmodes I've done have been as dps or support dps, but I have also healed and tanked many vet trials. As it can be difficult to find a group on the PTS to test out healing and tanking with the arcanist, I have mostly just focused on it's dps capabilities for the time being. The main reasons I play ESO are for the combat system (high apm and active), the community (people I've met in guilds etc... that I play with regularly) and the challenge that the higher levels of difficulty provide (as soon as something becomes too easy, I get bored and find something else to play). I do also play some pvp, but at the moment I'm more focused on pve, so I haven't really considered the pvp implications of the class; Personally, I'm of the opinion that it's totally fine to completely split the way abilities and even passives function between pve and pvp, if it improves balancing. PvP builds already have to be built and spec'd completely differently to pve setups, so to be honest it wouldn't even really make a difference in terms creating builds; I already have to have not just a separate gear load out, but a separate armoury slot for pvp, to adjust morphs and attributes, so the additional complexity would be minimal.


Abilities
How did it feel to use and aim the beam abilities (Fatecarver and Remedy Cascade)?
It will take some getting used to, but I have no issues with having to learn to aim channelled abilities; Generally speaking, I prefer more gameplay variety. The duration of fatecarver however, is too long in my opinion and a morph option with a halved duration would be greatly appreciated, for those who prefer more active gameplay. This would also make more sets and builds viable for the class.

How do the passive abilities of the class compare to other current passives abilities?
In general, I do not like class passives which provide penetration. The reason for this is that penetration is usually calibrated to a group rather than an individual in organized trial groups. The implementation on necro is somewhat passable as the bonus is smaller and is not reliant on skills slotted, with the skills slotted bonus instead providing a passive execute; However, having penetration be the major passive bonus for slotting herald of the tome abilities, is a big let down in my opinion, as it essentially provides no benefit in organized PvE groups (my main area of interest); Unless all of the dps in a group are arcanists &/or necros (reducing class diversity), allowing the group to run less armour decreasing sets. This means that in most organized trial scenarios, the arcanist will just end up massively over penetrating, as the dps meta favours medium armour. I would rather see basically any other damage related stat buff in it's place, but uncapped stats are always preferred for passives as they restrict build options less.


Did you have a favorite base ability or morph?
I quite like a couple of the abilities; Runeblades feel satisfying to use, although I'm not sure the morphs are different enough; The tentacular ability, which applies a damage increasing dot, is interesting and adds another thing for the player to keep track of during a fight; The bar buffer, which can be slotted on either bar is also much appreciated and is something I would love to see also brought to some other classes, as it gives a bit more flexibility to the player. The current top performing setups are often require a fairly inflexible bar setup and end up limiting the use of a wider variety of abilities, in my opinion. It is also can be a point of confusion for new players, so simplifying it to work on either bar makes sense

Did you have a least favourite base ability or morph?
Fatecarver, I'm not a big fan of it's current implementation, I'm not opposed to channel or beam abilities in general, but 4.5 seconds simply feels far to long... It ends up feeling disengaging, when you're used to performing several actions per second (LA, Ability, Bar Swap, synergy, potion etc...) and I've caught myself spacing out waiting for the channel to end. In my opinion an easy way to address this would be for the morphs to have different durations, keeping one as is and halving the duration of the other; I think that this would also make more people receptive to playing the class as a dd, as it's current implementation is likely to be polarizing for many players. Additionally, given the upfront crux cost, intentionally cancelling the beam early, is just a dps loss.


How did it feel to have the cost of some abilities change based on your Max Magicka or Stamina?
I think it's a cool idea, but that it has some issues in it's current implementation. As it stands, I felt like my only option in PvE as a dd would be to run a stamina setup; As having all abilities cost the same resource, as you would need to do, to pull decent numbers with the mag spec, is not really viable sustain wise. Perhaps allowing the player to select if certain abilities cost stam or mag, on an ability by ability basis would aid with this, if it's something that could be implemented? The reason stam was more viable than mag is simply a result of the stronger morphs of the abilities which did not flex based on max stats being the mag ones; So running stam allowed a more even split of resource costs between the two pools. Ultimately, it's not the biggest issue as I can just ignore mag and run stam, but if the development team wants to see more build diversity from players it's worth considering.

Damage type side-note: some Arcanist abilities deal frost damage, it would be nice if there was something available which ticked frequently enough to keep up frost weakness on elemental catalyst. Although, necro is a bit weak in terms of raw dps compared to other classes at the moment, so cutting into it's EC niche, may result in other balance adjustments being needed


Crux System
How did it feel to gain and spend Crux? & How did it feel to have some morphs generate or spend Crux?
I like the overall idea and it is a neat mechanic, however I feel that with the limited number of generators and spenders for a given role (dps, healer, tank), it maybe isn't as prominent as I had hoped. You can kinda just figure out the best (or only) uses for your crux and then rinse repeat, without thinking about it. I understand that there are likely concerns around making it too complex for newer players, but a bit of additional depth would be appreciated, if possible. At the moment, crux can quickly become an afterthought, once you have a bit of experience, rather than being a main focus while playing the class.

Did you feel like you had enough options for Crux builders and spenders?
I would have liked to have seen a bit more complexity from the crux system, it feels pretty simple as it is at the moment. Rather than trade-offs, added burst potential, or reactionary adjustments, it tends to just fall into a fairly repetitive rotation, for dps at least. When I was parsing I would just do the following: build crux (mostly from runeblades), proc ability 1 (tentacular), build crux, proc ability 2 (beam) and repeat, recasting my my other dots when necessary. I understand that this simplicity may have been intentional to make the class more approachable, but if it is possible to add in a little more complexity for those who do want to dive deeper, it would be much appreciated.


Visuals (Animation and VFX) & Audio
no major complaints to be honest, I like it overall and it seems to be unique enough to well differentiate it from other classes.

Other thoughts about the Arcanist as a DPS
I would also like to bring up that as it currently sits, there are essentially zero of abilities from the other two trees, which have any morphs which would make them viable to run as a dps. Most other classes have at least a couple of skills from the tank &/or healing trees, which can be morphed into something that is useful for a dps build, as it stands arcanist does not. Examples of dps skills from trees aside from the dps tree include:
- DK - talons, stone giant (support dps), eruption, deep breath (situational)
- Sorc - too many to list, the class is overwhelmingly stacked with dps abilities, perhaps resulting in a lack of support abilities
- NB - main dps abilites are pretty spread out across the trees, mostly assassination and shadow though. Twisting path is a great example of a dual purpose support or dps ability though depending on the morph
- Plar - while the aedric spear tree has the most obvious dps abilites, the dawn's wrath tree also has a fair number of options and even the healing tree has ritual of retribution
- Warden - both the animal companion and winter's embrace trees offer morphs are worth running as a dps
- Necro - necrotic potency (ultigen), scythe (if your group needs off-balance), colossus & reanimate (support dps ults)
- Arcanist - apocryphal gate maybe?
- there are zero abilities that do any damage in the curative runeforms tree, so running any of them will be a large dps loss
- no abilities in the soldier of apocrypha tree do any damage with exception of the taunt
- colourless pool could be useful on a support dps, but it does zero damage, so it's a pretty big dps loss
- runic sunder could also be pretty useful on a support dps, but because it also taunts, it isn't possible to run

The point I'm trying to make is that every ability seems to either do damage or provide a buff/debuff to the group, but there are virtually no abilities, which do a bit of both in the arcanist trees. Additionally, the damage abilities that the arcanist does have, don't provide any group buffs, only selfish ones. It would have been nice to have seen some choices to support group play as a dps with the arcanist, especially since it also doesn't have a support dps set it is particularly well suited to running. This problem is compounded by the fact that the arcanist feels generally less powerful and damaging than most existing classes, which means it's not great as a parse dps, nor is it great as a support dps, so as it stands I don't really see a reason why you would run any arcanist dps' in a organized group comp. My own experience with the arcanist was that it was one of the harder classes to get to parse over 100k, I did manage, but it felt like there was much less room for further growth as I became more skilled compared to other classes; Some of this may be due to the channel reducing the amount of LA weaves possible. However, from what I've seen the only way to really get it up to dps values comparable with many other classes, will be to run the new velothi mythic, which is not ideal imo. I will say that the class does seem more promising in tank or healer support roles, but dps-wise it's not exactly what I was hoping for.

I do want to clarify that I don't mean to come off too negative, the class is interesting and looks like it will probably have a role to play for tanking &/or healing in organized groups; In terms of more advanced dps setups though, it just seems like a bit of a missed opportunity to me, there's a lot of cool and unique stuff in there, but it doesn't quite come together in a package that I think would be beneficial to overall group play, in it's current form; At the end of the day, group play is what is most important to me in this game and what keeps me coming back, so if changes to better support group utility, are still a possibility at this point in the development cycle, that would be awesome to see

Narvuntien

Okay, so the changes say to me three things.

"you must use the laser", "You should play with in 15 m range" and "play arcanist as a hybrid"

It is the runeblades that need cost reduction to allow them to keep up with the laser damage for those that don't want to use it.

WrathOfInnos

Runeblades are currently underperforming. DPS builds do better if they remove the main spammable from their skill bar. I was surprised to see this, as I initially thought it was an important tool for building crux, but it turns out that Scholarship + Flail do the job just fine.

This is in part because there is not much time for spammables in the rotation with Fatecarver lasting a (much too long) 5.4 seconds. On average Runeblades get cast about once every 8s, and their mediocre damage means this bar slot is better used for something like Shadow Silk, Scalding Rune, or even Camo Hunter.

Please improve Runeblades' damage, or give them some useful effect. It looks and feels great, but I can't justify losing damage to use a fun skill.

OtarTheMad

Overall today was a good step for Arcanist but it has some ways to go.

Also, found out today that you can go through the portal spell while casting the beam heal. I can only assume it’s the same with the damage one but I didn’t test that.

I like that it doesn’t follow the warden/necro blueprint of spammable-burst ability-dot ability etc. It tries to be unique which is great but you shouldn’t need proc sets to make damage viable and working the crux system should be an optional reward not a necessity (I’ve said this too many times I know). Overall, Arcanist has a unique feel to it, a good foundation but just needs a few things.

- Rune spammable needs more damage
- Rune dot, last ability needs more damage
- Tentacle execute needs to be higher than 100%
- Fate carver is buggy and doesn’t cast sometimes or seems to miss when targets are right there. Aim feels weird but I see this ability as a kiss-curse though which is fine. When it hits it’ll hit hard but that’s the curse… when it hits.
- Portal is still buggy and sometimes only puts down one portal
- Maybe I’m one of the few but I like the new damage ult animation, kind of like raining down hell on someone but targeting is still off and even the morph that follows does not follow.
- Arcanist still needs a HoT but if you don’t provide one that’s fine with me. Springs and rapid regen or some other stuff work fine.

Ecgberht_confused

I would just like to say I'm very pleased with the direction of the arcanist balance changes of week 4. Particularly the pragmatic fatecarver shields and the heal on the stamina tentciles morph. I'm not able to downöoad PTS atm so I couldn't see the tooltips on these two (would anyone here be so kind as to quote the tooltip values pretty please?), but the direction clearly reflects the feedback given on the forum. Most of my contributions here are normall providing (hopefully constructive) criticism, but on this occasion I would like to say well done devs/balance team!

HackTheMinotaur

Regarding Week 4 PTS:

Putting a heal onto Cephaliarc was a nice change! HOWEVER, this new version only heals once per cast for a small amount (1800 ish?) regardless of how many enemies are hit. Since this is an AOE skill, players should be rewarded for each enemy hit with additional healing. Look at Necromancer Scythe for an example of a more effective and useful healing/damage skill:

Hungry Scythe (Magicka)

You heal for 2400 Health for the first enemy hit, and an additional 800 for each additional enemy, up to five times. After dealing damage, you heal for 991 Health every 2 seconds over 10 seconds.

Ruinous Scythe (Stamina)

Slice into your enemy's life force, dealing 1799 Bleed Damage, applying the Hemorrhaging status effect, and setting them Off Balance for 7 seconds. You heal for 2400 Health for the first enemy hit, and an additional 800 for each additional enemy, up to five times.

One single heal is not enough for Cephaliarc. Include a smaller heal for each additional target hit (cap 6) or include a small heal over time and it would be perfect!

acastanza_ESO

HackTheMinotaur wrote: »

Regarding Week 4 PTS:

Putting a heal onto Cephaliarc was a nice change! HOWEVER, this new version only heals once per cast for a small amount (1800 ish?) regardless of how many enemies are hit. Since this is an AOE skill, players should be rewarded for each enemy hit with additional healing. Look at Necromancer Scythe for an example of a more effective and useful healing/damage skill:

Absolutely not. Heals on offensive abilities is already fundamentally bad game design, making them stronger is a terrible idea. Arcanist already gets a HOT on one of their shields now. We don't need another class with broken self healing.

And speaking of broken. The shield on Fatecarver CAN NOT be allowed to go to live. It is extremely problematic. The shield scales on offensive stats (you know, the feature that sorcs have repeatedly asked for on their shields only for it to be repeatedly shot down as "too strong"), it procs instantly on an ability that can be made literally free to cast, and it can be stacked with other shields. All of that adds up to an extremely broken ability.

I'm fine with certain channeled/cast time abilities being made uninterruptable while under the effects of a class shield - in fact, I think this is a really cool mechanic that is great game design and should be extended to Sorcerers (it would be a substantial fix to a core problem with the Sorcerer kit). The problem is with Fatecarver generating it's own shield, combined with how the ability cost works.
What should have happened is this: Fatecarver can not be interrupted while under the effects of an Arcanist shield. This would let their existing defensive abilities protect their offensive abilities and completely eliminates the extremely broken situation that the Fatecarver-created shield produces. @ZOS_Kevin please pass this feedback along, the problems with putting a shield like this on Fatecarver are extreme.

YandereGirlfriend

acastanza_ESO wrote: »

HackTheMinotaur wrote: »

Regarding Week 4 PTS:

Putting a heal onto Cephaliarc was a nice change! HOWEVER, this new version only heals once per cast for a small amount (1800 ish?) regardless of how many enemies are hit. Since this is an AOE skill, players should be rewarded for each enemy hit with additional healing. Look at Necromancer Scythe for an example of a more effective and useful healing/damage skill:

Absolutely not. Heals on offensive abilities is already fundamentally bad game design, making them stronger is a terrible idea. Arcanist already gets a HOT on one of their shields now. We don't need another class with broken self healing.

And speaking of broken. The shield on Fatecarver CAN NOT be allowed to go to live. It is extremely problematic. The shield scales on offensive stats (you know, the feature that sorcs have repeatedly asked for on their shields only for it to be repeatedly shot down as "too strong"), it procs instantly on an ability that can be made literally free to cast, and it can be stacked with other shields. All of that adds up to an extremely broken ability.

I'm fine with certain channeled/cast time abilities being made uninterruptable while under the effects of a class shield - in fact, I think this is a really cool mechanic that is great game design and should be extended to Sorcerers (it would be a substantial fix to a core problem with the Sorcerer kit). The problem is with Fatecarver generating it's own shield, combined with how the ability cost works.
What should have happened is this: Fatecarver can not be interrupted while under the effects of an Arcanist shield. This would let their existing defensive abilities protect their offensive abilities and completely eliminates the extremely broken situation that the Fatecarver-created shield produces. @ZOS_Kevin please pass this feedback along, the problems with putting a shield like this on Fatecarver are extreme.

Agreed.

(Though the HoT on Chakram Shield appears to be quite small.)

We don't need additional hand-holding in combat by loading up classes with random semi-passive healing sources.

If a player needs a self-heal - let them slot and use a self-heal.

Ecgberht_confused

acastanza_ESO wrote: »

HackTheMinotaur wrote: »

Regarding Week 4 PTS:

Putting a heal onto Cephaliarc was a nice change! HOWEVER, this new version only heals once per cast for a small amount (1800 ish?) regardless of how many enemies are hit. Since this is an AOE skill, players should be rewarded for each enemy hit with additional healing. Look at Necromancer Scythe for an example of a more effective and useful healing/damage skill:

Absolutely not. Heals on offensive abilities is already fundamentally bad game design, making them stronger is a terrible idea. Arcanist already gets a HOT on one of their shields now. We don't need another class with broken self healing.

And speaking of broken. The shield on Fatecarver CAN NOT be allowed to go to live. It is extremely problematic.

I disagree, passive healing through DPS is something EVERY class has (Sorc has 2). Without it, going through even easy and mid-level content is sluggish since you have to interrupt your rotation to heal, even through things like public dungeons. This is especially true for Arcanist that's designed to be locked in a channel for like 50% to 60% of its rotation.

The problem is the shields that heal (Arcanist has 2 now actually not just 1). These need to be looked at. Especially that shields that heal have always been denied to other classes. But DPS healing IMO is essential.

And yes Fatecarver shields look very overtuned and might be problematic in PVP. I'd be happy if it just provided interrupt immunity and a HoT but no shield.

I think the DPS healing needs to be turned up while the active survivability needs to be turned down. This will make the class more viable as a dps PVE option and less of an immortal brawler in PVP

ADarklore

While I do thank ZOS for listening and providing a class DPS heal, typically a class DPS heal is placed on your SPAMMABLE ability, and I don't believe Abyssal Impact was designed to be our class spammable, Runeblades are IMO. Granted, at least the heal is on Cephaliarch's Flail, but it's also a Crux builder, debuff AND execute... so having the heal on this skill really doesn't make a ton of sense with everything else is has going on.

Then we have to consider that it's a TINY heal, so to make it worthwhile you literally HAVE TO spam it, which again, I don't believe this skill was intended to be our class spammable, perhaps I'm wrong, but with the added heal it will now become the class spammable. I was hoping the heal would be on Runeblades instead, as it's more ranged and doesn't have all the other stuff going on that Cephaliarch's Flail does.

ADarklore

So... having finally downloaded PTS and tried Arcanist for myself. The tooltip heal on Cephaliarch for me was roughly 3600 or so, not the dismal 1800 that others have claimed. So I retract the above 'tiny' heal comment.

At first I was disappointed with the class, but that was because I was trying to figure out how best to play it MY way along with Oakensoul. I tried the suggested Runeblade x3, Tentacular Dread x1, Runeblade x3, Fatecarver. What I found was that, in open world or delves, by the time I got to the third Runeblade, the mob was already upon me. So I swapped out Tentacular for Cephiliarch's, and that becomes my third crux generator. So Runeblade x2, Cephiliarch's x1, then Fatecarver. It seems to flow MUCH better, at least for easier content (which is what I mostly play).

I was annoyed by the persistent crux animation... looks a bit silly riding a mount with the swirling runes. I ended up slotting Tidal Chakram just so I can use up the crux and be rid of the persistent swirling runes when out of combat.

I also have slotted Fulminating Rune, but rarely ever use it. For one, the duration is FAR too long, it should compete with Unstable Wall, but in its current form, it's pretty bad IMO. What should happen is the duration shortened and the damage increased, otherwise most people won't bother to run this.

I think I'll swap out Fulminating Rune and slot Rune of the Colorless Pool instead, just for quest bosses and such. I'd considered Runeguard of Freedom, but I don't really need the extra protection in open world content. However, I'll probably slot it when I run more difficult content.

I was also surprised how, after hearing all the complaints about the skills being too 'bright' and 'flashy', that personally it's all much ado about nothing. I felt everything as fine- except for the persistent swirling crux runes.

I had absolutely NO problem aiming Fatecarver, at all, and I never used the aim assist. It was nice being able to just move it and track the enemies.

As far as complaints about sustain, I never had a single problem. Perhaps it's a PVP or harder content thing, but for what I played, and usually play, it was not even remotely a problem.

Overall, I honestly really like it so far and can't wait until it goes Live. Thanks again ZOS for listening to the feedback and at least trying to address some of our concerns.

BasP

ADarklore wrote: »

I tried the suggested Runeblade x3, Tentacular Dread x1, Runeblade x3, Fatecarver. What I found was that, in open world or delves, by the time I got to the third Runeblade, the mob was already upon me. So I swapped out Tentacular for Cephiliarch's, and that becomes my third crux generator. So Runeblade x2, Cephiliarch's x1, then Fatecarver. It seems to flow MUCH better, at least for easier content (which is what I mostly play).

You could also try using Cephaliarch's Flail as a spammable if you haven't already, so it's just 3x Cephiliarch's followed by Fatecarver. It saves a precious barslot on the Oakensoul build, you potentially get two extra heals and the damage output will roughly be the same I believe (it works well enough in veteran solo arena's at least).

ADarklore

BasP wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

I tried the suggested Runeblade x3, Tentacular Dread x1, Runeblade x3, Fatecarver. What I found was that, in open world or delves, by the time I got to the third Runeblade, the mob was already upon me. So I swapped out Tentacular for Cephiliarch's, and that becomes my third crux generator. So Runeblade x2, Cephiliarch's x1, then Fatecarver. It seems to flow MUCH better, at least for easier content (which is what I mostly play).

You could also try using Cephaliarch's Flail as a spammable if you haven't already, so it's just 3x Cephiliarch's followed by Fatecarver. It saves a precious barslot on the Oakensoul build, you potentially get two extra heals and the damage output will roughly be the same I believe (it works well enough in veteran solo arena's at least).

Problem is, it's a mid-range ability and I prefer to stay range as much as possible. Plus, given that I always run with a Companion, I have no need for extra heals- especially when running with the new Telvanni Efficiency set. I'm finding running open world/quest content, I really just need three abilities Runeblades, Cephaliarch's and Fatecarver... only TWO if I wanted to stay mid-range. I have other builds for more difficult content, but now that the Companions will be more self-sufficient, I don't have to worry about slotting heals for them as well.

LukosCreyden

What I find disappointing is that most of the animations magically make your weapon disappear. This looks really sloppy and jarring, but the thing that really bugs me is that many of these animations would look SO cool if your weapon was still there.
For example, runeblades. This would look really cool if you kept your right-hand weapon out. It'd look like you're casting them with your weapon, which would look great with a staff or ANY sort of glowy sword / dagger etc.

I can understand it happening for the beams, but why can't we at least have our weapons stowed for that animation? They just disappear. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't look very good.

SeaUnicorn

Arcanist Healing Beam is still lackluster. Yes it is slightly more HPS than casting 4x Combat Prayers instead, but it is way to narrow (half the width), you do not light attack, hence do not proc enchants for 4.5s, and it requires 7.5 GCDs to be fully primed with Crux. In PVE healers do not have this much spare GCDs lying around to utilize 1 skill.

Class ulti-gen passive is basically not designed for Healers to engage with. Since you have to slot 2 skills for it: 1 to gain crux, 1 to spend. Beam is out of the picture as stated before, so you have to cast ST heal to gain, and Chakram shields to spend. We do not use ST heals in 12man content, as it is just a waste of skill slot. And definitely do not use them every 6 GCDs.
Crux Economy for PVE 12man healer is just not working very well, all you do it get 3 crux and never spend it, because 9% healing done is way better than anything crux economy has to offer.

dhoward5b14_ESO

Cephaliarc is VERY weak...
Basically you lose Tentacular's extra 6% damage buff the entire fight, AND the big damage Tentacular does with 3 crux, but gain a weak execute !?!? Using Cephaliarc took me from 99k to 93k - kind of what I expected. To be fair, I also lost about 3.5% crit done because I was not using Fatecarver, so I was not getting the 12% crit done passive (CMX Effective Crit Done was 121.5 or so instead of the 124 I usually get on trial dummy).

All My Testing was without Fatecarver...
None of my builds were using Fatecarver because the more difficult content I do simply will not let you beam for 5 seconds. This leaves only Tentacular as a crux user, and you must spend crux if you want the 12% crit done passive.

MAG sustain is bad...
I had major sustain issues building a MAG toon. Tome's Recuperating morph is very weak and was barely noticable. Being locked into Tentacular was probably a factor in my MAG toon having bad sustain.

DPS and sustain was good on my STA builds...
Because MAG sustain was terrible I spent 90% of my time building a large variety of STA toons, with many build options doing around 100k - the same as I do on some current classes. I was pleased to see a bow/staff build also getting 100k - I really like the new 5 second Arrow Spray, and used it in my dummy parse.

MudcrabAttack

• Abilities
  • How did it feel to use and aim the beam abilities (Fatecarver and Remedy Cascade)?
    
    The feel of it was alright, aiming is very easy and I like the reach.
    
  • How do the passive abilities of the class compare to other current passives abilities?
    
    They seem reasonable now
    
  • How did it feel to have the cost of some abilities change based on your Max Magicka or Stamina
    
    This I liked more than the usual way skills get split apart
    
• Crux System
  • How did it feel to gain and spend Crux?
    Reminds me of a 3-step nightblade, but using skills to raise the count instead of light attacks is far better. however there were times when the floating icons stopped counting up in number after reaching 2 crux, which gave the impression it wasn’t working properly
    
  • How did it feel to have some morphs generate or spend Crux?
    I like the way it gives more options
    
  • Did you feel like you had enough options for Crux builders and spenders?
  Yes
  
• Audio
  • What did you think of the audio for the Arcanist’s abilities?
  
  the machine whirring sound of fatecarver gets kind of tiresome when it’s something you do repeatedly. It’s like getting stuck on a Haunted mansion ride at a theme park, where the same weird noises get played repeatedly and might drive some people a bit crazy.
  
  The sound itself is good in small quantities. I think if the first cast of it every minute or at the start of each fight could be the current sound, then subsequent casts are dialed down a bit or changed up somehow and less loud, it would be better

Zyaneth_Bal

Sustain passives are very underwhelming, basically arcanist’s sustain is. In pve it is manageable due to how cheap fatecarver is but in pvp fatecarver literally doesn’t work due to how poorly hits are registered and even if it did it would be impossible to cast it nearly as often as in pve. Therefore, sustain in pvp is a big issue. This is especially true for magicka sustain as most class skills cost magicka and are very costly.
To sum up, sustain is underwhelming due to an abundance of very expensive abilities, lackluster sustain passives, and the whole class being balanced around one single skill (fatecarver) without compromise.
Additionally, hideous clarity passive not working when at 3 crux only hurts the class even more.

Tessitura

The change to the Unblinking Eye Ultimate looks very ugly. I didn't agree with the idea that the class abilities looked arcadey until I saw the change in this ult. The eye being turned down at a 90 degree angle and hovering around to move the beam just look like a bad space invaders animation. Can you please root the eye in one place and just make the beam move? It wont get in the way of people's line of sight that way and it will not looks as stupid.

Or make it not a watcher so it's doesn't look so weird facing down like that. If it were a glyphic with no clear indicator of a proper upward facing direction it wouldn't look so bad. As it is now it looks glitched and like the animation broke. It just doesn't look right. Its a obvious patch job with little thought put into it.

Belhawk1

on the character sheet, under active effects, CRUX has no description.
could the CRUX circling the character be lower, stomach or waist high instead?
could CRUX not bounce up and down with the character, it is discomforting to to watch.

ADarklore

I have a BUG to report, at least it better be a bug. The Runeblades skill does NOT generate Crux on the first cast... it actually generates a Crux on the SECOND cast, then another on the THIRD cast, and another on the FOURTH cast... which means it takes four casts of Runeblades to generate three Crux... which should not be how it works. I tried both morphs and it was the same. From my understanding of the tool tips, it should generate a Crux with each cast, but that's not how it's working. Unless it's a visual thing, but I don't see three Crux appear until the fourth cast of Runeblades.

@ZOS_GinaBruno Is this a bug or working as intended??

Elvenheart

ADarklore wrote: »

I have a BUG to report, at least it better be a bug. The Runeblades skill does NOT generate Crux on the first cast... it actually generates a Crux on the SECOND cast, then another on the THIRD cast, and another on the FOURTH cast... which means it takes four casts of Runeblades to generate three Crux... which should not be how it works. I tried both morphs and it was the same. From my understanding of the tool tips, it should generate a Crux with each cast, but that's not how it's working. Unless it's a visual thing, but I don't see three Crux appear until the fourth cast of Runeblades.

@ZOS_GinaBruno Is this a bug or working as intended??

I may be totally wrong in this, but what may be happening is that if you are starting the combat by casting runeblades, the first cast might not be considered in combat until it hits the mob, and if crux is only generated when you are in combat, that first cast would not generate crux? I THINK I noticed this when I tried Arcanist the first couple of weeks it was on PTS.

ADarklore

Elvenheart wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

I have a BUG to report, at least it better be a bug. The Runeblades skill does NOT generate Crux on the first cast... it actually generates a Crux on the SECOND cast, then another on the THIRD cast, and another on the FOURTH cast... which means it takes four casts of Runeblades to generate three Crux... which should not be how it works. I tried both morphs and it was the same. From my understanding of the tool tips, it should generate a Crux with each cast, but that's not how it's working. Unless it's a visual thing, but I don't see three Crux appear until the fourth cast of Runeblades.

@ZOS_GinaBruno Is this a bug or working as intended??

I may be totally wrong in this, but what may be happening is that if you are starting the combat by casting runeblades, the first cast might not be considered in combat until it hits the mob, and if crux is only generated when you are in combat, that first cast would not generate crux? I THINK I noticed this when I tried Arcanist the first couple of weeks it was on PTS.

If that's true then it needs to be fixed, because there is nothing in the tool tips that state 'must be in combat to generate crux'; it should generate crux upon hitting a target.

UPDATE: Just checked, and YES, you have to be 'in combat' before crux will generate (which is dumb and hopefully gets fixed). If you initiate combat using your class spammable it should generate crux from initial cast, because it technically is putting you 'in combat'. So if you initiate combat using Runeblades (which makes sense) then you have to cast it FOUR TIMES to generate three crux.

Elvenheart

ADarklore wrote: »

Elvenheart wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

I have a BUG to report, at least it better be a bug. The Runeblades skill does NOT generate Crux on the first cast... it actually generates a Crux on the SECOND cast, then another on the THIRD cast, and another on the FOURTH cast... which means it takes four casts of Runeblades to generate three Crux... which should not be how it works. I tried both morphs and it was the same. From my understanding of the tool tips, it should generate a Crux with each cast, but that's not how it's working. Unless it's a visual thing, but I don't see three Crux appear until the fourth cast of Runeblades.

@ZOS_GinaBruno Is this a bug or working as intended??

I may be totally wrong in this, but what may be happening is that if you are starting the combat by casting runeblades, the first cast might not be considered in combat until it hits the mob, and if crux is only generated when you are in combat, that first cast would not generate crux? I THINK I noticed this when I tried Arcanist the first couple of weeks it was on PTS.

If that's true then it needs to be fixed, because there is nothing in the tool tips that state 'must be in combat to generate crux'; it should generate crux upon hitting a target.

UPDATE: Just checked, and YES, you have to be 'in combat' before crux will generate (which is dumb and hopefully gets fixed). If you initiate combat using your class spammable it should generate crux from initial cast, because it technically is putting you 'in combat'. So if you initiate combat using Runeblades (which makes sense) then you have to cast it FOUR TIMES to generate three crux.

I remember noticing that on the PTS and thought it is an unfortunate consequence of not being able to generate crux outside of combat. I actually think it should be ok to cast something to generate crux BEFORE we start combat so we can have 3 crux when we enter combat. Thanks for bringing attention to this, I hope they take your feedback into consideration!

Elvenheart

I’d like to jump on the bandwagon and say I think it would be nice if players were given the option to toggle whether the crux floats around the character OR appears as three empty triangles above the health bar that turn green when you have built up crux. If we could pick the option we like best then everyone would benefit.