Fellow PVE toggle mancer here. I've fed back numerous times about how sorc feel in PTS..to be honest,I didn't think that they could get worse in PVE than they were on live. Surprise!
A few people said sorcs were qq'ing over nothing and those complaining are just crap players.I may not be an elite player,but when people from Hodor are saying sorcerers are not viable in PVE what hope do I have ?
Crit surge nerfed, bound armour nerfed,negate nerfed,crushing shock nerfed,magelight nerfed,light armour nerfed into oblivion. Thats HALF the skills my sorc used on their bar and THE ONLY class skills I had on my bar.Combined with all the other stat scaling...meh.
I get the feeling that ZOS have an idea of what skills they want sorcerers to use, and are now nerfing in anything else that may be viable,so we have no choice but to use pets. I'm not even sure that pets are a viable option in PVE..Honestly I can't see how I'm supposed to stay alive and DPS loads of trash mobs,quickly and efficiently in dungeons(as the role demands) with pets ,no armour and no AOE because toggles have taken up all skills on my bar.A few very skilled players might find it possible,however there shouldn't only be one super-hard-to-master build for an entire class.Let alone try to compete with other classes and try being a good tank or healer. It's just as well I enjoy dps(even if I'm at the bottom of the damage meter) because its rare if anyone wants sorc healers/tanks in groups.
Even the most patient and tolerant people get frustrated when they aren't listened to.Perhaps my build might be better when I get to 200 champion points.However it's a sh#t class indeed that only becomes PVE viable once you have levelled 1-50, then VR1-14, and then beyond into CP. Where is the incentive and enjoyment in levelling a sorcerer? Actually how would anyone level one if they are so bad no groups want them? (Excluding pvp).
I have a sneaking suspicion that devs test any balance changes only in PVP or on a single PVE target. Hence why they said in ESO live that pet build was giving massive DPS but "not king of DPS", and why no one considered how sorc dps is supposed to AOE trash mobs with no armour,no AOE skill as no space on bar due to toggles, and no block casting as our stamina drains to 0 in like a few seconds when blocking.
This would also explain why Paul Sage/Chris Strasz said in the recent Q&A that basically some people will always complain, when the subject of sorcerers was raised.Perhaps he's only thinking of how amazing sorcs are in PVP. Also I've yet to hear a dev say that sorc is their favourite class,when I've heard numerous times how much dk is fav class. (I'm not shouting for nerf of other classes). Maybe they just need to roll a sorcerer and see if they can dps an ENTIRE dungeon/trial successfully, with our only viable build-the toggle mancer,that relies on a set that only goes up to VR12,has sturdy on each piece and has just taken a nerf (Necropotence).
If my opinion doesn't count for much then look here or this thread , both have legitimate feedback from players better than me, regarding either sorcerer specifically or for instance how light armour/stamina drain(both implemented due to PVP) is affecting PVE etc.
As I've said elsewhere,I'm aware of the problems in PVP. There must be a way to address PVP without hobbling my entire class in PVE.
EDIT: Here is what Paul Sage/Chris Strasz said in this Q&A session at 49:14 basically ZOS inferring that either sorcs complaining are crap players or that people will always complain that their class is underpowered. Note that when they talk about sorcs they only seem to give PVP examples,which supports my theory that they mainly only test balance changes in PVP or perhaps on single target PVE.
Question:"With the non stop thread on the forums regarding sorcs are now being underpowered, are there any plans to buff up the class?I know that you touched on surge a bit ago but is there any other aspect of the sorcerer you can touch on?"
Answer: "Sure, so, um, ok. How to say this ah as politicaly as possible?Ah I think that there are always going to be people who say x class is underpowered, and they will have video proof showing you why x,y class is underpowered,um and then you are gonna have somebody else who comes in and says, ""Now watch me play"",now,ah, so we have been watching this very carefully. I've seen some great videos,ah showing a guy doing some 1 vs 1 duelling on a sorc and nobody can touch him, and then I have definitely seen the complaints where people say ""yes, but that has to be the pet build"", and then some other people saying, ""no, it doesn't"" and then they have video proof.
And then I've seen good video proof of other things, so I think what we're doing and the philosophy we're taking, is we're taking this ability by ability, and really looking at ahh, what they have from ability by ability, and then after we do that, then we start to look at some of the cohesive builds and see what we have,um I certainly know that each class,um or if you're playing a class, um each time, you'll think that your class tends to be underpowered, and I'm sorry I know that sounds a bit insulting, I don't mean it to be, um, I know there's some good analysis out there and I mean that sincerely, I really do, I know there's good analysis out there, but there's" Technical difficulties and sound cuts out. Continued answer "And that's all I have to say about that"..
Your point about crushing shock gives something to think about. Mainly Sorcs use it because they have nothing else and no one else uses it because they have better skills in their own class.And as you say it isn't just 10% when you add other changes as well. I have the feeling that many changes to sorcs are implemented due to PVP. I'll quote what I said in this thread. As you can see I only use 2-3 class skills. All of them have been nerfed and half the skills I used to slot have been nerfed:
a sorcerer in pvp will not be able to kill more than three trash mobs at the same time, and will die with a few shoot, so it will be useless as a tank or a healer.
I'm excited that there is some hope once I have however many champion points but I'll just quote from my original postkkampaseb17_ESO wrote: »a sorcerer in pvp will not be able to kill more than three trash mobs at the same time, and will die with a few shoot, so it will be useless as a tank or a healer.
You obviously mean PvE and not PvP. Also, there is an interesting post about the Sorc Hardened Ward on a CP3600 profile. Even though I do not agree with the poster, it is interesting to watch these values before saying some things.
Perhaps my build might be better when I get to 200 champion points.However it's a sh#t class indeed that only becomes PVE viable once you have levelled 1-50, then VR1-14, and then beyond into CP. Where is the incentive and enjoyment in levelling a sorcerer? Actually how would anyone level one if they are so bad no groups want them? (Excluding pvp).
Yes, I'm expecting a shield nerf that will affect PVE too due to PVP issues.Oh yes, it's a typo ^^'
Thanks for correcting me.
Actually, I can survive with hardened ward against a large amount of monsters (even two pack in Raidelorn if I only refresh my shield), but if we follow the nerf-for-pvp path ZOF have followed these time, Ward should be severely nerfed in 1.6.3...