A Plea to Reconsider the Magicka Blastbones Rework — Class Identity Matters
PvXGamer
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As a long-time, highly active player and a dedicated Magicka Necromancer main, I was shocked upon returning to find that the Magicka version of Blastbones had been dramatically altered — and not for the better.
My ask is simple: Reconsider the direction this change has taken. Either revert the morph, or offer a Magicka morph that retains the functionality of the original. At minimum, give us back the option to deliver corpses to the target, not just our feet.
If the problem was the frequency of corpse creation or the burden of the 3-second cast loop, there were other solutions.
For example:
Corpses could expire faster.
Casting the skill again could overwrite the previous corpse.
What’s most frustrating isn’t just the change itself, but the lack of consistency and clarity in the reasoning behind it. While Magicka Blastbones was reworked entirely into a new form, the Stamina version — Blighted Blastbones — remains untouched. If this rework was truly about simplifying class mechanics and enhancing rotation accessibility, why is only one morph affected?
Before the change, Magicka Blastbones was a cornerstone skill for many Necromancer builds — particularly heavy attack builds with simplified rotations. It fit seamlessly into a range of PvE content, allowing players to deliver corpses to the target, where they were tactically needed for Siphon, Tether, and other corpse-related skills. That functionality supported both damage and support roles effectively.
Now, corpses are dropped at the player’s feet, which undermines the very tactical flexibility that made the class feel unique. In high-end PvE boss fights, this feels like a regression — we’re now forced to reposition unnecessarily just to interact with our own mechanics.
This doesn't feel like balance — it feels like a fundamental shift away from what made Magcro enjoyable and distinct. It’s also hard to ignore that this change landed well after the class had established its identity in the playerbase. This makes the rework feel like a retroactive design correction instead of a refinement.
Instead, the skill was redesigned in a way that disrupts the feel and flow of the class, and I am sure pushed many Magicka Necromancer players to abandon builds that they loved.
And yes, while I understand the official justification — to reduce complexity and reframe class identity — it doesn't explain why Blighted Blastbones was exempt, or why this rework targeted such a core mechanic. It also doesn’t seem to reflect feedback from other players like myself who primarily use heavy attack or casual DPS builds and had no complaints about the previous design.
Class identity matters. Player engagement matters. And when a change feels like it was made without listening to a large portion of your community, trust in that process erodes.
My ask is simple: Reconsider the direction this change has taken. Either revert the morph, or offer a Magicka morph that retains the functionality of the original. At minimum, give us back the option to deliver corpses to the target, not just our feet.
If the problem was the frequency of corpse creation or the burden of the 3-second cast loop, there were other solutions.
For example:
Corpses could expire faster.
Casting the skill again could overwrite the previous corpse.
What’s most frustrating isn’t just the change itself, but the lack of consistency and clarity in the reasoning behind it. While Magicka Blastbones was reworked entirely into a new form, the Stamina version — Blighted Blastbones — remains untouched. If this rework was truly about simplifying class mechanics and enhancing rotation accessibility, why is only one morph affected?
Before the change, Magicka Blastbones was a cornerstone skill for many Necromancer builds — particularly heavy attack builds with simplified rotations. It fit seamlessly into a range of PvE content, allowing players to deliver corpses to the target, where they were tactically needed for Siphon, Tether, and other corpse-related skills. That functionality supported both damage and support roles effectively.
Now, corpses are dropped at the player’s feet, which undermines the very tactical flexibility that made the class feel unique. In high-end PvE boss fights, this feels like a regression — we’re now forced to reposition unnecessarily just to interact with our own mechanics.
This doesn't feel like balance — it feels like a fundamental shift away from what made Magcro enjoyable and distinct. It’s also hard to ignore that this change landed well after the class had established its identity in the playerbase. This makes the rework feel like a retroactive design correction instead of a refinement.
Instead, the skill was redesigned in a way that disrupts the feel and flow of the class, and I am sure pushed many Magicka Necromancer players to abandon builds that they loved.
And yes, while I understand the official justification — to reduce complexity and reframe class identity — it doesn't explain why Blighted Blastbones was exempt, or why this rework targeted such a core mechanic. It also doesn’t seem to reflect feedback from other players like myself who primarily use heavy attack or casual DPS builds and had no complaints about the previous design.
Class identity matters. Player engagement matters. And when a change feels like it was made without listening to a large portion of your community, trust in that process erodes.
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CameraBeardThePirate✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I hate to break it to you, but almost every necro main in existence asked ZOS to reconsider this change back when it was introduced on PTS. Instead, they decided to push forward and ignore concerns.
In fact, they stated in their own patch notes that they believed the ability wasn't quite where they wanted it to be, and yet they haven't made any adjustments to it since.
It's not getting changed.Edited by CameraBeardThePirate on August 7, 2025 9:25PM2 -
Araneae6537✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Yeah, getting jumped by your own summoned skele is just… weird… And not at all like the NPC necromancers who call forth skeletal warriors and bone goliaths… Alas, I fear I shall always be disappointed by necro as well as vampires in that regard. At least now with subclassing I can transform my necros into daedric cultists, ice mages, and assassins.3 -
PvXGamer✭✭✭CameraBeardThePirate wrote: »I hate to break it to you, but almost every necro main in existence asked ZOS to reconsider this change back when it was introduced on PTS. Instead, they decided to push forward and ignore concerns.
I would point out the most recent proposed changes that were reversed due to player feedback.0 -
JinKC98✭✭✭Not a Necro main, but yea I agree with OP. That skill line is supposed to be Necromancer DPS line, the fact that Blastbones having 2.5 seconds activation delay and CAN be destroyed while it tries to reach the player is just weird and nonsensical. There's also other instance where the Blastbones is stuck and unable to reach the caster (lol).
In short, magicka version of Blastbones should really be changed back to a damage skill and un-targetable skill like Skeletal Arcanist minion. The delay is already a major downside in my honest opinion.2 -
Wup_sa✭✭They could have swap their places and give us the old magicka morph back. While turning the blighted blastbones to gravelords sacrifice, considering it was already the weaker of the two.2 -
Oblivion_Protocol✭✭✭✭✭I would point out the most recent proposed changes that were reversed due to player feedback.
This change was made about two years ago, and has stuck around ever since. Yes, some changes have been reversed over the years. But I get the sense that it was because ZoS wanted to make the change, not because we complained hard enough.
Considering the way Necro has been treated (including a bug that makes Blastbones useless in PvP that might still be around), I wouldn’t rely on any feedback to act as a catalyst for change.3 -
randconfig✭✭✭✭✭Oblivion_Protocol wrote: »
Considering the way Necro has been treated (including a bug that makes Blastbones useless in PvP that might still be around), I wouldn’t rely on any feedback to act as a catalyst for change.I would point out the most recent proposed changes that were reversed due to player feedback.
Bugged Necromancer summons are still in the game, and that's for both PVP and PVE. I have complained about it repeatedly for months now, but everyone else seems to have given up. If you want it fixed go to these threads and tell ZOS to make it a priority, if you don't complain about, they'll just put it on the back-burner and it'll be a year or more before they fix it:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/681375/necromancer-summons-are-still-bugged-in-pts-11-1-3-despite-the-flame-skull-bug-fix#latest
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/680276/pts-update-47-bug-reports-for-combat-balance-abilities-changes#latest
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/678437/surprise-surprise-blastbones-and-animate-blastbones-ulti-are-unusable-in-pvp-now#latest
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CameraBeardThePirate✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭CameraBeardThePirate wrote: »I hate to break it to you, but almost every necro main in existence asked ZOS to reconsider this change back when it was introduced on PTS. Instead, they decided to push forward and ignore concerns.
I would point out the most recent proposed changes that were reversed due to player feedback.
And it's like one of 2 or 3 changes ever that got reverted? I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.
The vast majority of changes they make on PTS get pushed to live without any reversion, even if the player feedback is overwhelmingly negative.
The only two times I can think of off the top of my head that they fully reverted a change are the latest patch with Hurricane, and the weird mid-cycle PTS changes to lights and heavies resource return years ago. And I'm not even sure that second one should count because it wasn't a normal PTS since they knew the changes were going to be extremely unpopular.2 -
BXR_Lonestar✭✭✭✭✭
✭This is the age of subclassing.... Class identity no longer matters.
Character identity hasn't mattered really since hybridization, and its only gotten worse from there.0