@ZOS_BrianWheeler you asked for feedback on this matter following your announcement on the ESO Live stream and so here is my feedback.
Before I begin, I would like to address the 'elephant in the room', that being the farming of noobs with oil. Yes it happens and yes, if this change is not implemented it will continue to happen. But I absolutely
do not believe that warrants the change and here is why.
Firstly I want to address the point on the current ESO meta game in PvP which consists of a large amount of the so called 'bomb groups' or 'zerg balls'. These have been discussed to death on these forums and will no doubt continue to be discussed to death, and so I will not go into too much detail about how they are having a significant impact on the game. What I can say is that they are very seriously detracting from the enjoyment of the game for a large number of players and this can very clearly be seen by discussions both on this forum and in game. I have seen some dedicated and capable PvPers leave the game entirely because of this. It
is undoubtedly one of the most serious problems this game faces at this current time.
In principle, I do not have a problem with this play style. I find it lacks true skill but if people choose to play that way, then so be it. However for me (and indeed others) to accept it as a valid play style in game, three key things have to be addressed:
- Server lag and game instability (resulting from the spamming of skills over and over).
- The AOE cap.
- The availability of skills and play styles that can effectively counter this type of play.
It is the third point on which I will focus, as this is relevant to the 'oil' issue.
Oil is, without question, one of the most effective ways of dealing with the zergballs (and their followers) at breaches and in flag rooms. By introducing this change, you will virtually eliminate any competition over keeps and completely sideline those of us that enjoy participating in fighting that does not consist of stacking as a 'blob' and spamming fire ring, barrier and purge (plus the occasional ulti drop). A properly coordinated oil defence in a flag room (twinned with the timely drop of ultis and CC etc) can wipe a blob or at the very least put a considerable dent in their numbers, occasionally making time for reinforcements to arrive.
Without oil in its current format a decent flag defence becomes impossible. Sheer numbers will win the day simply because the vast majority of their group is immune to damage.
So ZOS my first question to you is this - why, why, WHY are you making changes that seem to strengthen the bomb groups while weakening the effectiveness of small scale PvPers? You have nerfed several other things that were useful in combating these play styles previously and there are precious few things left to us (there are skills other than oil, but I am not going to list them here because that will just encourage the QQ). Is it your intention to encourage this play style? Should we, the few of us that elect to play differently, simply give up? If this is not your intention I would be pleased if you could come out and say it, so that we can have a discussion as to what can be done to balance the game and move people away from the *ahem* skill trains.
Secondly I want to address the reasons why I believe this change has been suggested. Please do not try and tell me that oil is not being used as intended. If that were the case, they would never have been designed in the way they have been designed, and / or we would be having this discussion far sooner than we are currently. This is a knee jerk response to people complaining here on the forums and possibly in /feedback also. In respect to this, I would urge you in the strongest possible terms not to overreact to the vocal minority.
I am spending my time writing this lengthy thread not simply because I don't want this change to happen but because I am so very tired of things getting nerfed or "fixed" - and I use that word lightly - because people complain. I understand that you are trying to please people, and keep them in the game, but by now you
must see that by pandering to the few you are hurting the majority. People are leaving - particularly those most vociferous PvPers - I have seen myself, from the guilds I am. PvP is a wounded beast, and your attempted cure is poison to it. I ask you to reconsider this change because I do not believe the foundations on which it is based are valid.
To be clear, I was once one of those noobs running again and again into a well established oil room with delusions of heroism. But I
learned. I learned that if I run into that room, I die. So instead I sat outside and I sieged them, meatbagged them. Or I simply left them alone. The same as I simply ignore the bridge fights now (where we are outnumbered), I move away from the bomb groups who run around the walls of a keep over and over and over (it's fun, honestly!) farming players who attempt to run into them.
What's my point? My point is that you must stop responding to threads on this forum complaining about problems with nerf, after nerf. On the flip side, your automatic response to people complaining about things being under powered (NBs spring to mind...) is to buff and buff again. I can say for a certainty that in a lot of instances where your response to something is unwarranted and if you took a step back and looked at it impartially, you would see that the problem is entirely a learn to play one.
There should always be skills, abilities, items etc in the game that are difficult to deal with on first encounter. That's what makes the game enjoyable. People should encounter difficult things and sometimes this will frustrate them. But in response to that frustration they will try and figure out how to conquer it and when they do, the feeling of achievement is great. You seem to have figured this out in PvE with the introduction of Sanctum Ophidia and Arena, can you please consult with the PvE team and discuss with them their reasoning behind their approach to the new content and apply this to PvP? I recognise that when you see a lot of people complaining here you might feel inclined to do something in an attempt to make things better for them, but lets be clear - you will never make everyone happy. Don't ruin the game because some people demand the game be tailored to their own mediocre standards.
If people want to counter oil, they can. Either through the use of the equipment available to them (siege weapons) or through the skills available to them (a good healer and purge). Let them learn this rather than nerfing the game into Oblivion.
I would welcome your thoughts on the matter.
NB - I do not want this thread to derail into conversations about the merits of or problems with bomb groups. I have added the detail because it is relevant to my argument for oil. I would appreciate it if you could keep that discussion out of this thread.