What Does "Balance" Actually Mean in ESO?

Athory

We talk about balance in ESO all the time, but what does that actually mean in practice, especially when it comes to how ZoS approaches it?

Here are a few questions I’d like to get real opinions on:

1. What is balance in ESO?
Is it:

• All classes performing equally in PvE DPS (e.g., parsing ~100k under identical conditions)?
• Each class having different strengths but equal overall value?

2. Should all classes perform the same?
If every class used identical gear, buffs, and had equal player skill, should they all parse within a very small margin of each other?
Or is it healthier for the game if classes differ, where some excel in burst, others in sustain, cleave, or utility?
And how do item sets factor into this?
Should sets be balanced in a way that promotes real build diversity (multiple viable options), or is it acceptable to have clear “meta” sets that dominate purely because they produce the highest numbers?
At what point does a strong meta stop being efficient and start hurting overall balance?

3. How do we even measure balance?
What’s the best baseline?

• Target dummy parses?
• Trial performance?
• Real combat scenarios vs controlled environments?
• How do we even measure balance?

4. Where do item sets fit into balance?
Since sets heavily influence performance:

• Which sets should be considered the “standard” when comparing classes?
• Why do players gravitate toward certain meta sets over others?
• Should balance be measured with optimized meta builds, or more average setups?

5. What role should ZoS play?
Should ZoS aim for strict numerical equality, or focus on diversity and class identity even if that creates performance gaps?

CatalinaWineMixer2

1. A return to Classes for stability and a rules based order everyone must follow. Having strengths in certain areas but generally being equal. Example, the Warden is a better healer than Nightblades and Dragonknights. But the Dragonknight is a better tank than the Warden. And the Nightblade is a slightly better Dps. The Warden dps can hit within 2-3k of the Arcanist Beam (let's assume its the hardest hitting dps) because the margin is not far enough to keep people off of trial rosters for not wanting to be an Arcanist. Essentially people are not punished or put at a disadvantage for being their characters.

2. Unrestricted cherry picking with absolutely no rules and drawbacks introduced by Subclassing- Arcanist/Nightblade/Substitute anything category, is an example of this. Its everywhere. Everyone is a Beamer with Ansuuls/Tide-Born/Velothi. Any new Class will be instantly cherry picked and then steam rolled. Without Subclassing, new Classes can be introduced in a sane and responsible manner. Each Class should offer something unique and desirable for group content. Example, you WANT a necro in your trial because its the only way youre getting this unique Buff. A return to Class sets is a very small part of this and it should not be available to anyone not running a 100% pure character(not subclassed). The same is true of Class Mastery. Take the PvE sets out of Cyrodiil forever - And start by un nerfing things like Pillagers. Maybe things like an overall gear score (dps cap) would work. Maybe.
3. Balance - Zos needs to decide what the dps limit/cap is or at least what the target average dps is and start bringing every Class up or down to that level. Buffs - it should be impossible to put every buff on yourself without multiple support roles there (Oakensoul might be a gray area on this). Debuffs too. In this way, each Class could offer unique buffs. That also means you would have to be in a group to even be able to see it. These need to be measured in a closed real combat AND controlled environment.
4. Players are seeing it on YT and the internet. They simply look up the meta or take a calculator and build one because there are no rules involved with Subclassing. They just pick the best of anything and throw it in the blender. Additionally, everyone is always going to want what's new. New Character or gear comes out, probably all you're going to see.
5. Numerical Equality is what will create more diversity instead of what we have now, the same 3 builds, skill lines and gear. In everything. Start with the 7 original Classes (they are doing the reworks) and then add 2 new Classes per year. Slowly, in a responsible manner. @ZOS You guys have to be the ones to make the rules, establish the ceilings and level the playing field.

@Athory This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are mythics, monster sets and other special items that would have to again be studied and tested for balance. Probably tested against other gear sets as well. I do think its possible to rework some of the old progression gear, but none of these things can be reasonably done without very specific rules and outlines for combat. And having them enforced.

GloatingSwine

1. A reasonable variety of combinations of skill lines which are roughly competitive with each other in each game role. There should not be one clear "correct" answer because it does the job the best.
2. All classes should have at least one thing that justifies their presence in each role.
3. Prevalence in real content (I would measure maybe the top 75% of all scored runs of all content).
4. See 1. There should be a reasonable variety of item sets present, if not that is its own problem.
5. ZoS should make sure that the gap between the best and average performance is tolerably small across skill line combinations.

Rogue_Coyote

Balance = nerf everything into oblivion and only allow one meta build. That way, everyone runs the same setup. Balanced!