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Item Improvements & Contentent Revitalisation.

Turelus
Turelus
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Not going to waste time with fluff here, just raw numbers and ideas. FAO @ZOS_RichLambert @Wrobel @ZOS_BrianWheeler
Feel free to debate or pick flaw with anything below.

Formatting Information.
I have tried to emulate how developers on another MMO show changes to items here to help players see what I have done. When looking at stat blocks for existing items I have put any changes in bold and notations in italic.

Traits

Armour
Armour traits have needed some love for a long time, there are those which see high demand in use because they offer direct benefits to power and resources whilst others fall into the pointless category because they don't offer anything which is considered useful by a player. The general idea for my improvements is to give back players options which were taken away in balance changes. The ability to perma-block, roll-dodge etc. would become more viable again but at the costs of the more powerful trait bonuses.
  • Exploration - Increase exploration experience by: 6%/7%/8%/9%/10%
    I'm somewhat at a loss on what would work as an added bonus for this one. On the theme of exploration I was thinking passive movement speed increase, elemental damage resistance.
  • Sturdy - Item takes [x] less durability damage: 22%/24%/26%/28%/30% and reduce the cost of blocking by 6%/7%/8%/9%/10%
    The idea here is to add something on which would give players the chance to regain the perma-block ability. I don't feel the block cost reduction alone will really be enough to make this trait desirable however, there might be a need to add more effects here for blocking mitigation or stamina regeneration while blocking.
  • Well-Fitted - Reduces the cost of Roll-Dodge, Sneaking and Sprinting by: 6%/7%/8%/9%/10%
    The idea here is to add more options/effects to this trait which follow the same theme, depending on stacking mechanics this value may be too high for roll-dodge. Offering such a large increase in sneak reduction would invalidate some skills such as Improved Hiding, however this could be part of the benefit of this trait in that you can save investing skillpoints in those skills.

Item Set Levels
Please consider bringing all sets up to the highest levels.
I understand the want (and need) to have new DLC packs offer better items and exclusive materials so people will purchase it and chase them, however it's really sad that so many interesting builds are limited by the fact these items are simply not available at the best level (which in competitive gameplay does matter).

This could be done by having chests function like they do in Cyrodiil and always drop an item of your level as well as zone level.
For example a VR16 EP player in Stonefalls opening chests would get 1x VR16 item (set item if RNG allows) and the rest as zone level loot/gold.
The pros of this would be making chest hunting worth while again, make treasure maps desirable, bring life back to old zones

Zone Boss Sets
Bring in new sets tied to the world bosses of each zone. Boss loot would have to function in a way where's if you qualify for loot then named set items always drop at your character level. This would mean that max level items would only be available in VR zones and would need to be BoE in order to let players access max level sets from their own zones.
For example an EP player farming in a VR4 DC zone would kill a world boss and get a VR16 set item, they could then sell this to DC players as they wouldn't have access to their own boss sets at max level.
This like the chests brings some life back into the older zones and gives old content a new lease of life, it might also be a good time to look at how difficulty the world bosses are and buff them a little to once again require either very high player skill or a group to complete.

Item Set Bonuses
Within the current build of the game we don't have hard or soft caps on most numbers, this has lead to the current meta being to stack as much damage as possible in order to empower skills to the highest levels. Due to this item sets are only considered desirable (in most cases) if they include a damage bonus pushing everyone into using four or five armour sets only.

Going on the assumption that ZOS doesn't want to change the game to bring in softcaps, stacking penalties or any other kind of mitigation, I would propose changes to item sets to make them more in line with one another and giving all armour sets a damage type bonus at five parts and five parts only.
Then we could have all sets function like Kagranac's Hope where's you have you damage bonus and an interesting effect to augment it as well.
There will obviously still be "best" sets however it would at least give players the chance to play competitive damage dealing whilst making five set bonus effects return to use.

Item Drop Rates & Binds
Take the time to look over the items in the game and how they're obtained.
Generally it seems most of the community here are fine with sets which come as final rewards from dungeons or trials being bound rewards, these are items such as boss helms, shoulders, master weapons, maelstrom weapons etc.
However consider having all other sets (such as those in WGT, ICP, Orsinium chests etc.) become BoE and let the community trade and sell these with one another, this gives players who have bad luck with RNG the chance to get items from friends or buy them, gives players who might be poor gold wise but have stacks of gear they don't want the chance to sell them and make gold.

Additionally the rates of some items such as Warlock Ring's are so low and so exclusive it really doesn't make it a used item. These items might become more common if changes to gear level suggested above with chests was to happen however.
@Turelus - EU PC Megaserver
"Don't count on others for help. In the end each of us is in this alone. The survivors are those who know how to look out for themselves."
  • Birdovic
    Birdovic
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    Exploration change:
    - Sure, a nice idea to add movement speed. This trait would become the way to go for people who just want to rush trough content/questing etc, when they want to lvlup their next vet character or something (high speed + big exp at same time).
    - Disagree on elemental resistance tho, absolutely not needed, would feel like a cheap replace "just to have something new here".
    - No suggestion from me since I like the movement speed idea

    Sturdy Change:
    - 100% cost reduction/too high reduction is the result -> hell no, also stam reg wasn't taken out to be implemented again.

    My suggestion:
    - Since there is no "physical damage reduction" in the champion point system, add it with this trait, turning it into something super useful.
    Maybe 1,5%/2,0%/2,5% on legendary Small and maybe 3,0%/4,0%/5,0% on legendary big pieces (resulting in 15%, 20% or 25% reduction if used on all pieces)
    - less max stats/Mundus Buff for Magicka Players
    - less max stats/mundus/armor Buff Stam Players

    Bonus: Maybe New Tanking Possibilities (like combining with armor master + armor passive uptime, just a quick thought)


    Well-fitted Change:
    - Maybe interesting to LA players with less CP and missing med armor passives but on Stam Players too much of a benefit again.

    My suggestion:
    - Leave Sprint cost reduction as is, but add small benefits, like 1% crit/spell crit//Stan cost reduction/Magicka cost reduction/ on small pieces and 2% on big pieces(torso/helmet/legs)
    -> not completely useless, but not overpowered, too.



    Concerning the unused/underleveld item sets:

    Assuming we have ~100 unused item sets.
    Let's make different "RNG Pools" for different Content. I know RNG is something we got a lot (too much meanwhile) but I see this as easiest solution.

    RNG Pool Chest Hunting:
    Has 25/100 unused item sets

    RNG Pool Boss Hunting:
    Has 25/100 unused item sets

    RNG Pool TRIALS (Yep):
    Has 25/100 unused item sets

    RNG Pool PvP Rewards:
    Has 25/100 unused item sets

    For this to properly work, these unused sets MUST be BoE instead of bound on pickup.
    It opens up so many new possibilities. PvP players have new rewards to encourage to play and also gives a reason to run trials again for bored pve players + eliminates the "must" of playing content someone dislikes(pvp players in pve and the other way).


    Another simple but less creative and probably boring idea:
    Implement 4 or 5 unused item sets with updated and fitting stats every patch, if it's too much to do all at once
  • Turelus
    Turelus
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    Thanks for the feedback. Numbers were just off the top of my head of the current values on the items and I would expect an implementation of such a change to have several balance passes before release.

    In regards to the chest dropping set items I believe that some of these sets are limited to the standard zones already, and the same with Craglorn etc. so just having the sets already in chests for each zone drop at highest level is what I was going for not the implementation of all sets in any chest.

    As you said this would be a way to keep each zone relevant.

    Additionally the idea which has been kicked around for a long time.
    Trait Swapping
    Let players change the trait on an item for one they prefer.
    • Item binds when trait is changed.
    • Trait must be researched in order to be selected for change.
    • Costs a high number of trait gems (50x normal, 5x Nirnhoned), additional benefit of this is trait gems now have a value again and become worth looting/trading.
    @Turelus - EU PC Megaserver
    "Don't count on others for help. In the end each of us is in this alone. The survivors are those who know how to look out for themselves."
  • Birdovic
    Birdovic
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    Trait swapping? I Dont know...
    If traits are changed as suggested above, there Should be no Need to swap anymore. Maybe theyre not "Best/optimal" but still not useless.
    Not to mention many unused Sets have Unique and quiet interesting 5pc bonus and as soon they are availaible and upscaled on v16, there needs to be a tradeoff (like a fixed trait).

    On the other hand, I like the idea, but a free trait Choice shouldnt be possible tho. You have to Pay 200x the trait your item has. with well-fitted its 200x Almandine. Also I'd Limit it to 1 try a day.
    Maybe giving a random trait per try, while you wont get the Same trait twice( with 9 traits = Max 8 tries to get what you want).
    And this shouldnt include Monster Sets.
  • WarrioroftheWind_ESO
    WarrioroftheWind_ESO
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    I don't know who in their right mind slots exploration as max level...unless you're talking about times where the RNG gives you briarheart pants of exploration in that case it shouldn't even be in the trait table.

    But for the person starting out, what about a treasure-finding bonus? Say 1/2/3/4/5% and it stays static regardless of item upgrade. Something like that one star in Shadow tree that gives you increased chance of finding better items, instead for this give you a chance to find say materials in containers or some such. Like chunks of ore or herbs? I'm a lootaholic and it always bugs me that I get loaded down with so much trash white items.

    Why are trashy white items still trashy anywho? Why not make them have value, or allow them to be deconned like anything else?
  • Turelus
    Turelus
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    I don't know who in their right mind slots exploration as max level...unless you're talking about times where the RNG gives you briarheart pants of exploration in that case it shouldn't even be in the trait table.
    That's why we are discussing what would make that trait something desireable. The game needs to be in a place where every trait, even at max level has a reason to exist and make a drop valuable. There will always be "better" traits but the useless ones should focus on areas which are not already offered and allow new and niche builds to be developed from them.
    Why are trashy white items still trashy anywho? Why not make them have value, or allow them to be deconned like anything else?
    This is basically to limit the gold faucets for the game. We're already in a place where millions of gold is not uncommon and currently the only meaningful gold sink in the game is the NPC vendors rental costs each week.
    @Turelus - EU PC Megaserver
    "Don't count on others for help. In the end each of us is in this alone. The survivors are those who know how to look out for themselves."
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