Patch notes state, “Reduced the amount of Health, Magicka, and Stamina rewarded on a Veteran Rank gain by 35% to compensate for the new Attribute Points rewarded.” This means the normal 10/15/10 Magicka/Health/Stamina gain for a VR Rank will now be 6.5/9.75/6.5. Let’s see how that works out.

Note that you start at Level 1 so you never got an Attribute Point for that. And you jump directly from Level 49 to VR1, but it acts like a normal Level Up and gives an Attribute Point. So only VR2-VR14 did not give Attribute Points. Thus, current max Attribute Points are 49 and Update 5 max Attribute Points are 49 + 13 = 62.

Initial Conditions:
Magicka = 100
Health = 150
Stamina = 100

Current, Level 2-VR1:
Magicka = 20 per Level + 10 per Attribute Point
Health = 20 per Level + 15 per Attribute Point
Stamina = 20 per Level + 10 per Attribute Point

Current, Level VR2-VR14:
Magicka = 10 per VR Rank
Health = 15 per VR Rank
Stamina = 10 per VR Rank

Update 5, Level 2-VR1:
Magicka = 20 per Level + 10 per Attribute Point
Health = 20 per Level + 15 per Attribute Point
Stamina = 20 per Level + 10 per Attribute Point

Update 5, Level VR2-VR14:
Magicka = 6.5 per VR Rank + 10 per Attribute Point
Health = 9.75 per VR Rank + 15 per Attribute Point
Stamina = 6.5 per VR Rank + 10 per Attribute Point

Now, let’s compare a VR14 with Current versus Update 5, with the typical distribution of Magicka/Health/Stamina (i.e., 0/49/0 current, 0/62/0 in Update 5).

(Current Attribute = Starting value + Normal Level-Up + VR Level-Up + Attribute Points)
Current Magicka = 100 + (49 * 20) + (10 * 13) + (0 * 10) = 1210 Base Magicka at VR14
Current Health = 150 + (49 * 20) + (15 * 13) + (49 * 15) = 2060 Base Health at VR14
Current Stamina = 100 + (49 * 20) + (10 * 13) + (0 * 10) = 1210 Base Stamina at VR14

(Update 5 Attribute = Starting value + Normal Level-Up + VR Level-Up + Attribute Points)
Update 5 Magicka = 100 + (49 * 20) + (6.5 * 13) + (0 * 10) = 1165 Base Magicka at VR14
Update 5 Health = 150 + (49 * 20) + (9.75 * 13) + (62 * 15) = 2187 Base Health at VR14
Update 5 Stamina = 100 + (49 * 20) + (6.5 * 13) + (0 * 10) = 1165 Base Stamina at VR14

So, my Health has gone up 127 points, about 6.2%. That is pretty good! But my Magicka and Stamina have each gone down 45 points, about 3.7% each. I did not expect this to nerf my Magicka and Stamina! Let me reallocate to get Magicka and Stamina back to where they were. I lost 45 in each, so 5 attribute points is the smallest amount needed in each to not end up below where I was with the current system. So now we have a 5/52/5 distribution:

(Update 5 Attribute = Starting value + Normal Level-Up + VR Level-Up + Attribute Points)
Update 5 Magicka = 100 + (49 * 20) + (6.5 * 13) + (5 * 10) = 1215 Base Magicka at VR14
Update 5 Health = 150 + (49 * 20) + (9.75 * 13) + (52 * 15) = 2037 Base Health at VR14
Update 5 Stamina = 100 + (49 * 20) + (6.5 * 13) + (5 * 10) = 1215 Base Stamina at VR14

Great. Now I have my Magicka and Stamina back where they were, plus a tiny bonus of about 0.4%. Let’s see what my Health has gone up to with the extra Attribute Points. Uh oh. Health has now gone down 23 points, or about 1.1%.

I guess I need to rethink this whole thing and go for a more balanced allocation. Maybe 15/32/15. Nope, that does not work either. No matter the combination or permutation, you always end slightly worse than a similar distribution in the current system. It is a minor difference. It is not game-breaking. An extra 5 resource here or a missing 23 health there is not the difference between facerolling and constant wipes.

But it still raises the question of what the point was? The formulas are now more complicated, the cost to respec attributes is now higher, but we are not gaining anything from it as best as I can tell. Why jump through all these hoops if we are just going to end up back where we started?

I will take the 13 free skill points, though! Wait. Do 3 Skyshards still give you a skill point? Or does it now take like 3.3 Skyshards to compensate for the 13 new Skill Points we are getting? ;-)