Rapid gear decay

Anarchos404

I went away for a week on easter holiday and then I come back to sick repair bills for 20-30mins of gameplay without dying.
All my gear just melts after just 30 minutes of playing and that's a repair bill of 2-3k gold which my current economy can't support while trying to get those bagspaces.

Is this intended?
I mean... full repairs needed twice per hour?
Kinda defeating the purpose of getting some nice pieces of gear and using them for 30mins and then just deconstructing them since it's not worth the repair bill.
The next mini dungeon I enter, I will enter naked.
Thank god for the Cyrodiil health bonus

It would all be justified if I kept dying for the duration of my gear, but normal combat melting my gear that fast is just nuts.

Mod: This topic has been moved to General Discussion - English

ipkonfigcub18_ESO

You and me both, my friend. Gear repair in this game is WAY over the top! I understand we need to have something that makes us want to avoid dying, but dang just simply questing around my repair bills are insane, through the roof.

Someone at Zenimax hates Melee classes and decided to make us pay out the butt for repairs.

DDemon

Agreed, I think this is an attempt from ESO to stop people from grinding mobs, as the gear just wears down way too fast right now....

Anarchos404

I've found Zenimax's secret plan!
They added sick decay rates to ruin the gear the cheaters/dupers have accumulated these last weeks and then we normal players get to suffer!

Malediktus

Gear decays from gaining exp, death and probably also in combat time. Just play with zero armor in open world, works just fine.

Desdemonte

I stopped caring much about gear. Half the time I'm playing with everything run down to zero. Doesn't seem to make much difference it PvE difficulty anyway. Then I just swap it out. It degrades far too quickly and is far to expensive to repair for what it does for you. Once I hit VR levels and have rare/ difficult to acquire stuff, guess I'm just going to have to take it up the ........

The unimportance of gear is good and bad, I guess. Good in that player skill is far more important than gear. Bad in that you don't really care too much if you die and break your gear. Also, I like having rare and Best in Slot items when I play games.

ryanbraninub17_ESO

i think the most recent patch broke the decay rate. yesterday, i could go 3-4 deaths and still have my max armor rating, today, if i die once, my armor goes down to about half durability, costing me about 200 armor points, and armor losses increase exponentially from there. so one death is costing me about 800 gold in repairs.

saki

Yep. I just did questing with sorc light armor, didnt die once and when I checked gear it was at minimum and repair bill was, well as said above around 800 gold.

Pintobean

I just noticed the high repair fees. I will try to pay more attention to how this is happening. Do repair kits work differently? I thought they were rather expensive so have not tried them (only been using the merchants repair)

Did not see any mention in the patch notes about repair changes.

Does gear in your pack also wear out?

daim

odd thing is that sometimes when you die multiple times in a dungeon for example the equipment might not take that much damage as one would imagine but sometimes just questing a short period of time and not to get killed at all it goes down very rapidly

ryanbraninub17_ESO

This didn't start happening to me until today, before, armor repairs were expensive, but i actually had to die a lot for my armor to wear out. i think they broke something in the patch this morning.

starkerealm

Anyone know if this is still going on? I'm a little afraid to actually go out and do anything, particularly on my low level characters, if all it's going to do is eat my resources to nil.

deathly809_ESO

I have never had a repair bill over 600 gold. Even then I still break even when I visit the merchant to repair by selling all the junk I have picked up along the way.

Hadria

I don't understand how people can't afford repairs my highest had been just over 1k so far and that's level 16. I repair everyone I get back to town usually 300 to 600. Just sell whites, mats every now n then, kill mobs they drop crap specifically to sell to vendor.

deathly809_ESO

portallib14_ESO wrote: »

I don't understand how people can't afford repairs my highest had been just over 1k so far and that's level 16. I repair everyone I get back to town usually 300 to 600. Just sell whites, mats every now n then, kill mobs they drop crap specifically to sell to vendor.

I know how you feel. I don't understand what these players are doing. I have 60k in gold from just doing quests and killing things along the way. I don't even farm or grind.

Cernow

Gear wears down WAY too fast under normal usage. My Templar's gear is usually totally wrecked from about 1 hour of activity (currently level 38). This is without dying, without doing anything silly - just regular wear and tear from doing quests and fighting mobs around the same level as me. This doesn't feel right.

The size of the repair costs I don't mind so much, it's the frequency with which my gear wears down which seems totally out of whack. It discourages me from getting involved in excessive combat or taking any risks, which makes for boring gameplay.

When it is better to deconstruct a nice piece of armour that is worn out and instead throw on any old junk you've picked up, even if the stats are wrong, then you know something is wrong with the way the system is currently tuned.

Mauzi

I don't think that repair itself bills are out of bounds, afterall it'd be okay to pay a lot for utterly worn down gear. What bugs me instead is that they have utterly misbalanced the time it takes to get one's gear ruined, since as people said above already, it is unbearable that after 30-60mins of melee your gear is utterly destroyed.

Like that you can never go into a real dungeon without reaching the boss naked. And please, don't tell me there's repair kits... their prices are even more silly than the vendor repairs - at least considering the little durability of gear. Obviously, the durability needs to get drastically improved.

In contrast to this, wapons don't wear off at all - doesn't ZOS see the idiocy in that ? If these intended repair bill really are ment to counter botters, it'd be much more efficient to have their weapons worn down than their armor - afterall, they dont take damage anyways from insta-killing the dungeon bosses.

And lastly, for the sake of balance... make sure that all armor types have somewhat equal repair bills. This could e.g. be done by using the current repair prices for a 100% repair bill, but giving heavy armor a major boos in durability, medium armor some boost only, while cloth is ment to be fragile - which we have right now.

This combined with weapons wearing down would not only solve a portion of the botting problem at it's base (bots using repair kits doesn't seem feasable, considering the costs), but also allow to keep repair costs at bay while at the same time having a proper repair cost and durability balance between light, medium and heavy armor.

*makes puppy eyes*

Can we have this, pretty please ?

P.S.:
On another note, why can't crafties repair stuff ? It would finally give an incentive to not only have separate crafting characters but rather e.g. a versatile and self-sufficient in-the-field repair crafter warrior.

Cernow

Here's an example of how crazy the decay rate currently is:

My Templar is level 38, 1h+shield, gear is all level 36-38 range, mostly greens. Fully repaired in town, I went out questing in Eastmarch.

First fight is three level 37 mobs, quickly dealt with but two points of armour durability lost.

Next fight is two level 37 mobs - very quick fight but a further three points of durability lost.

Next fight is a lone 37 mob that dies without even landing a hit on me - but another point of durability lost.

Next fight, same as above.

Now two more packs of three mobs. After this I've lost another 5 points of durability.

And so it continues. It appears to be just approximately one point of durability per mob killed. That's ridiculous wear and tear.

starkerealm

If you're right, and the increased deterioration is intended behavior, to counter the goldsellers, I'm done. When it was a soft penalty for death, I was fine with that. But, as a penalty for going out and doing quests? If I'm just going to get punished for playing the game, why am I playing it?

Jeremy

I'll agree. The repair costs on this game are pretty extreme.

It's punishing enough that I often content myself to run around with damaged armor and just wait for the next upgrade.

I like the idea to let crafters repair their own armor/weapons.

Mauzi

Cernow wrote: »

Next fight is a lone 37 mob that dies without even landing a hit on me - but another point of durability lost.

I seem to have had this too and was really puzzled about it, maybe it was a barely visible instant spell or something.

Nevertheless, my only way out of this crazyness was to switch my big bad orc from using a 2-hander axe in to a bow wielder at about level 25 to save repair costs. This clearly doesn't match "play the way you like" and feels utterly wrong for an orc brute, but... I have to admit that since then I can at least almost ignore repair costs, they range from 50-250 instead of 500-1500 now at level 35, depending on how much I got mauled despite trying to stay out of range.

This obviously works since we can block with a staff or bow just like with a 2-hander (which I consider most questionable!). Way to play ? Dunno... at least PvE is affordable again and I don't need to go naked to save on repair costs.

SaibotLiu

This is when MMO's start to suck, if players get listened to when it comes to obstacles being too hard. Im the opposite, if I see a trend develop and they start making the game easier, I know I'll be a couple of steps closer to quitting this game. The repair bill serves a valuable purpose as a gold sink. If you diminish this significantly, suddenly everyone is available to save large quantities of gold, and your economy goes to crap. Im already able to save plenty of cash to do whatever I want, now when not so savvy players are able to save, it only amplifies what the more industrious players are able to do, then you have a problem because now those players whinging about repair costs before cant afford the elevated prices due to inflation. So really, bad players are just bad, if you balance the game around them, your game will be bad. Dont do that.

No offense to anyone intended, Ive just seen this happen dozen of times in an MMO, this post is nothing if not right on cue. For once lets just try to play smarter instead of begging for things to be easier. Its better for everyone.

starkerealm

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom‌ @ZOS_AlexD‌

Can we please get some confirmation on if this was an intended change that didn't make the patch notes or some kind of bug?

traigusb14_ESO2

I'm not seeing this.

The 2 things i need to repair the most are my staff(for my sorc) and my 1 H and shield (for temp). My other gear is pretty cheap to repair unless I die a lot. 35 temp & 27 sorc.

My armor takes very few hits unless I don't block / dodge. (Say stand in a pile of baddies and AOE spam them with temp spear attacks). I do normally block normal attacks a lot too, not just specials.

Power attacks (gold lightning) seem to do a lot of damage to armor if not blocked. (crits? I have -crit damage on my sheild... not sure if that helps) The red lines ones not so much... but more than normal hits. I can say I've see any decay on fights when I haven't been hit at all.

Bosses seem to do more damage, especially if you die.

Only weirdness I have had (on 4/22):
I had a staff break while not really using it. It got down to ~7 /35 Sanguine's dungeon... and it kept taking hits while I was walking back to town for repairs after dying a bunch trying to solo to skyshard non-primetime (no fighting). Lost a point every min or so (I got notice up in rt corner of screen it was being damaged) until it broke. Switched to my backup and it didn't take damage from walking around. I fixed it (it was a handcrafted blue) and it was fine after that. It was the lowest I have ever had any piece of gear go (even before it hit 0).

Mauzi

SaibotLiu wrote: »

This is when MMO's start to suck, if players get listened to when it comes to obstacles being too hard. Im the opposite, if I see a trend develop and they start making the game easier, ...
... cant afford the elevated prices due to inflation. So really, bad players are just bad, if you balance the game around them, your game will be bad. Dont do that.

No offense to anyone intended, Ive just seen this happen dozen of times in an MMO, this post is nothing if not right on cue. For once lets just try to play smarter instead of begging for things to be easier. Its better for everyone.

Big words for someone who obviously doesn't notice that if things were right, cloth wouldn't be as low in durability than steel, while in fact a robes should be destroyed by a blade in no time.

From your words I take it that you are either a gold-buyer so that repair bills don't bother you, or one of those ranged combatants who let others pay the bill - which I'd consider a bad player, just in a different way than you think. Anyone who actually tries melee will suffer heavily from repair costs, which is quite unlike for other playstyles and thus totally out of balance. You really should try them all and compare...

To take your own words, "So really, bad players are just bad, if you balance the game around them, your game will be bad. Dont do that." Yes, I can agree to that - but under different terms, obviously.

Jeremy

SaibotLiu wrote: »

The repair bill serves a valuable purpose as a gold sink. If you diminish this significantly, suddenly everyone is available to save large quantities of gold, and your economy goes to crap. .

This game's economy is already crap ^^

And to be honest - at least in respect to players who have not yet reached level 50 - it would probably be a more effective gold sink if they made it more affordable. Because in its current state, many players just neglect to repair at all and just wait it out until they get new armor.

SaibotLiu

Mauzi wrote: »

SaibotLiu wrote: »

This is when MMO's start to suck, if players get listened to when it comes to obstacles being too hard. Im the opposite, if I see a trend develop and they start making the game easier, I know I'll be a couple of steps closer to quitting this game. The repair bill serves a valuable purpose as a gold sink. If you diminish this significantly, suddenly everyone is available to save large quantities of gold, and your economy goes to crap. Im already able to save plenty of cash to do whatever I want, now when not so savvy players are able to save, it only amplifies what the more industrious players are able to do, then you have a problem because now those players whinging about repair costs before cant afford the elevated prices due to inflation. So really, bad players are just bad, if you balance the game around them, your game will be bad. Dont do that.

No offense to anyone intended, Ive just seen this happen dozen of times in an MMO, this post is nothing if not right on cue. For once lets just try to play smarter instead of begging for things to be easier. Its better for everyone.

Big words for someone who obviously doesn't notice that if things were right, cloth wouldn't be as low in durability than steel, while in fact a robes should be destroyed by a blade in no time. From your words I take it that you are either a gold-buyer or one of those ranged combatants who let others pay the bill without chipping in even - which I'd consider a bad player, just in a different way than you think. Anyone who actually tries melee will suffer heavily from repair costs, which is quite unlike for other playstyles and thus totally out of balance. You really should try them all and compare...

To take your own words, "So really, bad players are just bad, if you balance the game around them, your game will be bad. Dont do that." Yes, I can agree to that - but under different terms, obviously.

So you're comparing game mechanics to real life logic, and then accuse someone you have no knowledge about of being a gold buyer. Were you intentionally trying to cram as much idiocy and poor arguments into one post as possible? The only thing you missed was the "***" comparison to make the failure here complete.

I play melee and ranged, as you can weapon swap in this game, once you hit level 15 you'll get this ability too. I take it from the fact that you're speaking in absolutes you havent taken advantage of all the customization options available in this game and play it without any understanding of mechanics. So I can draw plenty of assumptions from your post as well, namely you being one of the bad players Im talking about obviously. I get similar repair costs regardless of which style Im using. Being in combat nets you a repair bill, period. Maybe YOU should try something else and educate yourself about other playstyles than just assuming the poor tank fits the bill and everyone else goes home and counts their coins.

Most of all, dont get mad because you cant save any money. Get better at the game and use any number of ways the game offers to work around it to your advantage. But I guess its easier to just come here and cry and attack people I suppose. Thats what forums are for.

Altheina

Honestly, the gear decay is fine. I am not sure why OP mentioned that his gears just 'melted' away after only 30 mins of gameplay. I could go for approx 2 hours before my gears could even reach 50% mark...

Mauzi

Actually it was you to call everyone else in this thread a bad player, so I guess you couldn't expect a nice answer really.

SaibotLiu wrote: »

Most of all, dont get mad because you cant save any money. Get better at the game and use any number of ways the game offers to work around it to your advantage. But I guess its easier to just come here and cry and attack people I suppose. Thats what forums are for.

I'll repeat this: I am fine earning money in the game myself, but it is more than obvious that people are forced to do things they don't want to or wouldn't need to if things were properly balanced. And that's what this thread is about: Some playstyles just don't get treated properly in regards to repair costs, while others earn much much more for no acceptable reason.

Knowing to make money or not doesn't change the fact that things are not fair here for everyone. Especially in a game that's marketed as "play the way you want".

gcalex5

I just noticed tonight it looks like the decay rate jumped ridiculously high when I switched zones from eastmarch to the rift....I'm okay with the rate but 10 mins out killing stuff and I haven't died and I've already racked up a 300g reapair bill made me go what the literal hell!?!? Now if that had been over say and hour or two I had to pay 300g okay that's fine but not that fast that's just stupid...

SaibotLiu

Mauzi wrote: »

Actually it was you to call everyone else in this thread a bad player, so I guess you couldn't expect a nice answer really.

SaibotLiu wrote: »

Most of all, dont get mad because you cant save any money. Get better at the game and use any number of ways the game offers to work around it to your advantage. But I guess its easier to just come here and cry and attack people I suppose. Thats what forums are for.

I'll repeat this: I am fine earning money in the game myself, but it is more than obvious that people are forced to do things they don't want to or wouldn't need to if things were properly balanced. And that's what this thread is about: Some playstyles just don't get treated properly in regards to repair costs, while others earn much much more for no acceptable reason.

Knowing to make money or not doesn't change the fact that things are not fair here for everyone. Especially in a game that's marketed as "play the way you want".

Everyone gets a repair bill, what weapon you use or if its melee or ranged is irrelevant. "Play the way you want" does not indicate all playstyles are created equal. I can not go into a group of 8 mobs and burn them down in 5 seconds like I see someone with a destro staff does, because that is not my build. They also can not do some things I can do. You make choices, balancing does not mean everyone can do everything equally and holds hands and signs camp fire songs. You really do want to make this game garbage like 99% of MMO's, well I dont.

And that was exactly my point, if the people in charge give into this kind of talk, this game goes the way so many of the ones before it has. Watered down, trivial, lacking all suitable challenge.

But the main point is the economy. Ive yet to see you address the fact that many players are having no difficulties saving money as it is. Yeah lets get even more gold in circulation, lets get rid of gold sinks. That always has great results in every MMO.

You havent brought any good arguments to the table, its just "wahhh playstyle isnt supported, you must be a gold farmer" nonsense. I assume you're just as good at the game as you are at debating an issue.

I will say though, the devs have shown restraint so far when it comes to matters like this, they seem to take a hard stance and expect everyone to conform to their game rather than trying to accommodate everyone, which is always going to end horribly. I just hope they dont start listening to the clueless entitlement generation.