Welcome back, mate!

Another thing from the past.
Back then, the strongest weapon was a shield (the bash), the best tank was a NB with healerstaff, and the best everything was DK.
Has this changed? i read a few times that ESO was called "The Elder Staffs Online", because the majority of players used Light Armor and Staffs, since Light armor gave you both offense and defense passive for magical, and all class-abilities where magical.
Physical was split into Medium and Heavy Armor there, and only weapon abilities used them - so totally useless.

1.6 will nerf dk a little. Also now you can find pretty strong stamuna builds.

The last time i was in a dungeon, it was horrible.
More based on luck and wipes than on skills. PVE overall was horrible through the balancing.
A few Guildies played Craglorn (i had quit at that time), and they mentioned that its all but fun. Running hours towards the boss, wiping three times to start all over again.
Any changes to that?

I can't say that dungeons so hard now, but it depends of group.

I was a Vampire, my friend was a WW.
Vampire got some pretty nasty nerfs back then because of some PVP issues (armor effect stacking, unlimited batswarm spamming)
Back then, they nerfed the Vampire instead of fixing the cost-reduction stacking.
Werewolf was pretty much useless in PVE, since you could use your ulti like ones every half an hour, and you were weaker than with it, since your equipment was not scaling towards it.
Any changes to that? is it viable now to play as a Vamp or WW besides the RP aspect?

WW was buffed and now they are pretty useful.

One thing that p****d me off pretty much. PVE balancing based on PVP flaws.
Still a thing, or finally seperated?

Still a thing.

Nothing to say about it...what can you do now once you reached max rank?
I read something about the champion point that will replace the veteran system.
Since i finished every single quest back then...would that mean i have to grind a lot, while a VR1 can still earn points through quests?

Daily quests, crafting writs, repeatable quests in Craglorn.

Also another question that i forgot:
Can you trade now? The old "Tradeguild" thing was just...no...
I was a crafter, had all the styles and nearly all the effects...but i could not trade them because there was no Auctionary System.

AshySamurai wrote: »

*snip*

Thanks for that.
Sounds interesting...maybe i can finally use my assassin then.
Hope they fixed the Armor-System too.
Also: can you tell me what they changed for the WW and Vamp exactly?

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

Also another question that i forgot:
Can you trade now? The old "Tradeguild" thing was just...no...
I was a crafter, had all the styles and nearly all the effects...but i could not trade them because there was no Auctionary System.

Trade system mostly the same. ZOS added guild kiosks, so anyone not from guild can buy from gold store.

Cuyler wrote: »

1. NBs are still buggy but have had improvements to the skills that were breaking.
2. Read the patch notes, they are always tweaking the balance. Still lots of skirts and sticks but update 1.6 will bring a big balance change to how weapons scale damage.
3. Dungeons now scale to group leader level. Increases repeatability. Undaunted Daily dungeons were added as well.
4. There are still bow wielding heavy armor mages and every other kind of hybrid build out there. Those who are maxing out and doing the "best in class" are sticking to the trinity though.
5. WW is actually worth a shot now due to changes. Vamp was nerfed to oblivion and imho no longer worth the increase fire damage.

1.
2. Yeah...thats why i asked, mostly i read about DK buffs^^
3. Daily Dungeons...that sounds interesting
4. Good to know, so playing a healer or a tank is a thing now?
5. yeah...thought so. Vamp was nice to play at the beginning, maybe a bit too strong though. Still i would keep it, since i was always a Vampire-Thief in Elder Scrolls.
Is it still possible to negate the fire-weakness through the fire-resi runes? Back then i had a few guildies who could stand in fire as a vampire without taking instakill damage.

AshySamurai wrote: »

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

Sounds interesting...maybe i can finally use my assassin then.
Hope they fixed the Armor-System too.
Also: can you tell me what they changed for the WW and Vamp exactly?

New skills for WW, such as self heal and attacks. Also you will get +15% stamina regen. ZOS currently looking on vamps.

WOHOO

magnusnet wrote: »

Don't play. Everything you do will be for nothing, game is basically rebooting at update 6. Come back at that point, game should be interesting.

that was the plan^^

Cuyler wrote: »

1. NBs are still buggy but have had improvements to the skills that were breaking.

But again to that:
Does the Armor Reduce work now in PVE, or is it still bugged? (Mark of Death or whatever it was called)

AshySamurai wrote: »

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

magnusnet wrote: »

Don't play. Everything you do will be for nothing, game is basically rebooting at update 6. Come back at that point, game should be interesting.

that was the plan^^

Cuyler wrote: »

1. NBs are still buggy but have had improvements to the skills that were breaking.

But again to that:
Does the Armor Reduce work now in PVE, or is it still bugged? (Mark of Death or whatever it was called)

I don't know for sure, but I think yes (if what I saw on youtube is true).

can you send me a link to that?

Most of the answers to your questions you get today, even when correct, will most likely be changed upside down as soon as we get our hands on the 1.6 patch notes

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

Also maybe the most important question that i have missed:

Is there even an active playerbase left?
Or just a few big guilds ruling everything?
The last thing i heard was, that a big french guild formed an alliance with some other guilds to rule PVP, where they just cycled through emperors. so only them could get that title, only the guy who was next in that cycle

In some zones yes

Guilds cant "rule" anything

I would not be worried about a french guild as soon as a bigger guild comes around they will run away with white flags.

My NB just hit V14 yesterday and I'm having a blast.

I never used Reaper's Mark and I don't use Shadowy disguise very often, so I can't tell you how well they are working.

I can relate, a bit. My main was a nightblade from early access through to about 4-5 months ago when I quit, and I just recently returned to ESO earlier this month.

Nightblades are definitely better off now, but it's more because of changes to medium armor and weapon skills than from changes to the class. The old buggy nightblade abilities are still old and buggy (cloak especially), but we can get around it now by simply using better abilities from weapon lines. My nightblade, for example, is running now with 4/5 hotbar slots occupied by weapon abilities and doing fine.

Medium armor gives equal boosts to stamina recovery and stamina cost reduction that light armor gives to magicka recovery and magicka cost reduction. It still gives good bonuses to weapon critical, and now the 5 piece bonus for medium armor provides a boost to weapon damage. The two handed line has been vastly improved, with buffs to momentum/rally and execute as well as the passives. Dual wield is about the same as it used to be, though the medium armor buffs help it perform better.

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

- Is Nightblade finally fixed?
Back when i played, nothing (i mean seriously nothing) worked.
The whole "Armor Reduce" system from NB didnt work, since PVE had no armor for the poor NPCs it seems.
"Stealth" didnt work with DoT effects, Archers in PVP could still hit you when you used the cloak, not to mention the "hivemind effect" (one guy sees you, everyone sees you)
There were probably more...but those are the ones i can still remember.

Mark Target and other armor penetration abilities do work in PVE.

DoTs, even your own can still pull you out of stealth last I checked.

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

- Any changes in balancing?
Another thing from the past.
Back then, the strongest weapon was a shield (the bash), the best tank was a NB with healerstaff, and the best everything was DK.
Has this changed? i read a few times that ESO was called "The Elder Staffs Online", because the majority of players used Light Armor and Staffs, since Light armor gave you both offense and defense passive for magical, and all class-abilities where magical.
Physical was split into Medium and Heavy Armor there, and only weapon abilities used them - so totally useless.

They have been trying to balance.
However:
Nightblades and DK's are by far the top DD classes, with sorcs and templars way behind.

For tanking I would put DK's and Templars nearly equal(DK's get the edge with chains and OH-POO armor.) Nightblades aren't far behind(this will most likely change with them possibly loosing their stam regen buff and ultimate generation changes.) Sorcs fall behind here because of a lack of tanking skills and passives.(Self-heal(they do have a gimmicky self-heal with a certain armor set), stam and or health regen, etc.)

For healing templars are the best burst and over-healers, nightblades and sorcs are good for overtime healing(nightblades get edge because of veil's group mitigation) with DK's bringing up the rear for raw healing, however they have some decent group mitigation tools that helps their healing potential.

Other things:
-Bash was nerfed hard, even with the passives it's not that great for damage anymore.
-Without passives a staff can still block just as well as a shield.
-Light armor is still the best armor for buffing and mitigating magic attacks.
-Heavy armor can hard cap both physical and magical mitigation.
-Medium armor got some buffs in regards to physical damage.
-Stamina builds are very viable now their only drawback being ultimate generation(this is being changed in 1.6 with nerfs to ultimate gen across the board.)

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

- What about Dungeons?
The last time i was in a dungeon, it was horrible.
More based on luck and wipes than on skills. PVE overall was horrible through the balancing.
A few Guildies played Craglorn (i had quit at that time), and they mentioned that its all but fun. Running hours towards the boss, wiping three times to start all over again.
Any changes to that?

I'm not sure what to say here, dungeons in this game have never been hard if you were in a group that understood the mechanics of the fights.

They did change dungeons to a scaling system so that they are always the same level as the group's leader. Some people claim this made the dungeons harder but again I point to the fact that once you know the mechanics most of the encounters are a joke.

Craglorn- if you are refering to trials then they haven't changed much except adding more lives. But both AA and HRC can be finished in around 15-20 minutes in a bad group so I'm not sure why it was taking them hours... The serpent trial is more difficult mechanic wise and a bad group won't make it past the first boss, however once you get that down the rest isn't too bad once mechanics are learned.

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

- What about the "holy trinity"
I know, we never had the classical "Tank, Healer, DD" and yeah...i have seen what happened, as mentioned above.
The strongest Tank i have ever seen was a Lightarmored NB with Healerstaff, the best DD was a guy with a shield, Stealth was completely useless and DK could do everything.

A lot of the content can still be tanked in light armor, however this may change with 1.6 and champion system. The best DD is destro staff(crushing spam), duel wield(rapid strikes spam), and both bow and two-hand(usually a mixture of the two) are viable.

Stealth is still pretty useless for group content.

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

- Vampire and Werewolves
I was a Vampire, my friend was a WW.
Vampire got some pretty nasty nerfs back then because of some PVP issues (armor effect stacking, unlimited batswarm spamming)
Back then, they nerfed the Vampire instead of fixing the cost-reduction stacking.
Werewolf was pretty much useless in PVE, since you could use your ulti like ones every half an hour, and you were weaker than with it, since your equipment was not scaling towards it.
Any changes to that? is it viable now to play as a Vamp or WW besides the RP aspect?

Sorc Vampires can still get bat-swarm down to around 100 ultimate, however the healing from the ability was nerfed. Right now the 15% magicka and stamina regen buff and the stealth speed increase are about the only reasons to go vamp.

Werewolf got some pretty good buffs and abilities, however its still not that great. The only real reason to go WW is as a tank for the 15% stam regen and the slotted ultimate regen.

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

- Balancing based on PVP - Still a thing?
One thing that p****d me off pretty much. PVE balancing based on PVP flaws.
Still a thing, or finally seperated?

Still a thing and will always be a thing.

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

- What about the endgame?
Nothing to say about it...what can you do now once you reached max rank?
I read something about the champion point that will replace the veteran system.
Since i finished every single quest back then...would that mean i have to grind a lot, while a VR1 can still earn points through quests?

Craglorn has repeatable quests, crafting writs can be done once a day(per craft), undaunted pledges(1 regular and 1 vet per day), trials, pvp.

As it looks right now, yes you will be grinding a lot to earn the champion points. Depends on ZoS idea of XP balance.

I honestly don't think you should base your decision about renewing a sub on "is my class stronger now, is the game easier now, will I have this or that". MMOs change all the time, what´s overpowered now can be weak a few weeks later.

But if we talk about weak and strong, then those are just a few %, nothing dramatic anyways. The things you mentioned were never a big deal, I was able to play just fine with a Templar for instance. This is a RP after all, not a shooter where everything must be equally strong.

You need to ask yourself this, do you want to play a game with lovely graphics, good lore and differences in class & faction design? Then give ESO a chance.

If you however only want to play ESO if your class or spec is the best, then there are other games out there that offer this, like CS or TF2.

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

AshySamurai wrote: »

lazeruskib16_ESO wrote: »

magnusnet wrote: »

Don't play. Everything you do will be for nothing, game is basically rebooting at update 6. Come back at that point, game should be interesting.

that was the plan^^

Cuyler wrote: »

1. NBs are still buggy but have had improvements to the skills that were breaking.

But again to that:
Does the Armor Reduce work now in PVE, or is it still bugged? (Mark of Death or whatever it was called)

I don't know for sure, but I think yes (if what I saw on youtube is true).

can you send me a link to that?

Well, last time I saw it in this stamina guide video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWhVHvyLSes