Just going to throw out some ideas and criticism regarding the current itemization process and options. It's kind of a long post, so bear with me.

Soft cap removal has devolved the meta from a diverse build/gear oriented meta to a stale cookie-cutter meta. Many of the most competitive players run the same builds. For stamina builds, it’s a variation of 5 Hunding’s Rage, 1 Bloodspawn, 1 Molag Kena, 3 Agility jewelry, and a Maelstrom weapon. For magicka builds, I’m not quite as informed, but I’m told it’s a variation of 5 crafted (Julianos, Twice-born, Kag) 1 Kena, 3 Willpower, 2 Torug. Players are being pigeon-holed into certain builds because they’re simply too effective when compared to any alternatives.

Players simply stack a comfortable level of health and regen through attributes + jewelry glyphs and then build for this unparalleled efficiency. The actual combat ramifications of this current model result in a ridiculous playstyle where competent players are constantly trying to burst each other from ~100% health – 0% in a few seconds (sometimes only 1), and upon failure, have enough sustain (regen) and raw stats to heal to full health within seconds (Rally, Vigor, Breath of Life, Healing Ward, Hardened Ward). Some of these burst patterns include combos like: Wrecking Blow into Take Flight, Toppling Charge into Proxy Det + Dawnbreaker of Smiting, etc. This results in a more or less predictable kill/burst & survival pattern, meaning players fall into a routine rather than an engaging playstyle that features intelligible play and counterplay. I don’t want this post to be about 1v1 scenarios, I just wanted to detail a situation that best shows how silly the cookie-cutter meta is when resources are relatively inconsequential.

When soft caps & hard caps were still in place, players were less inclined to stack raw stats. I’m going to try to offer some suggestions to remedy this situation.

Firstly, the Agility, Endurance, and Willpower pieces are too efficient in terms of stats. The set bonuses have 50% more value than the standard bonus from any other level/rarity equivalent set. I understand the initial motive of this strategic decision: to get people to buy and play Imperial City, which is also why crafting mats went from 15/piece to upwards of 150/piece. Guess what? The grind is over. People generally don’t play Imperial City anymore. Reduce the amount of crafting materials it takes to make a new piece of VR16 gear. It’s an unnecessary entry-barrier to endgame. Severe entry-barriers to competitive environments are not fun. People don’t view crafting a piece of gear nowadays as an achievement – it’s a laborious chore.

The stats that the Imperial City jewelry give so much value compared to any equivalent piece that any player that it has resulted in a duality between Agility and Willpower for stamina and magicka builds respectively. You cannot have diversity if one choice is so obviously better than any alternative. My suggestion: reduce the stats to the standard value but add a 4th set bonus that does not include raw stats. For example, reduces cost of Ultimates by 10-15%, or just something, anything, that’s unique but desirable.

That brings me to my next point. There needs to be some set overhauls. Stop adding new sets (that almost no one uses) into the game while leaving older sets untouched. This game doesn’t need new content when the old content is left to rot. I’ll go over some quick examples of the many possible implementations of older set restoration to desirability, functionality, and accessibility.

Whitestrakes 5 Piece:
(5 items) If wearers Health is below 30%, gain a ~11-12k Damage Shield (@VR16) for 8 seconds. This effect can occur no more than once per 15 seconds.
Due to the battle spirit nerfs and how much the shield scales from VR14 (when it was 1.6 and less impacted by battle spirit) to VR16, the 5 piece bonus has lost a ridiculous amount of value in PVP. It needs to be adjusted, and the set may see use again.

Vestments of the Warlock
Make this set somehow accessible at max level. There are so many sets with potential that simply cannot be obtained at max level (Shadow Walker is another).


Winterborn 5 Piece:
(5 items) 5% chance when you deal Cold Damage to summon an ice pillar for 2 seconds that damage nearby enemies for 4893 Cold Damage. Snare enemies while active by 60%.
Increase the proc chance to 15-30% and maybe reduce the snare. It needs to feel more impactful and reliable as a MAIN part of the build rather than a 1/20 chance to do 2k damage in PVP. There are numerous sets with interesting damage mechanics as a part of the 5 piece, but very few are actually used.

Willow’s Path 5 Piece:
Fix your coding; it’s been broken for 5 months now.

There are so many changes you can make to your existing sets to bring variety to the game. You can change the set bonus itself of the cripplingly weak 2/3/4 set bonuses of sets that have a strong 5 piece. You can change the predetermined traits on some of the gear. You can tune the effects of unique 5 pieces to be more impactful: increasing damage, proc chance, reducing internal cooldown of activation, increasing stats, etc. Have you ever seen anyone using 5 piece Ashen Grip? No, because it’s trash. Why not make incremental adjustments to your old sets? Just give people enough incentive to break free from the cookie-cutter meta.

The last thing that I want to touch on may be somewhat controversial. The way a lot of people are using monster sets at the moment, in my opinion, completely defeats the fundamental purpose and idea of the monster sets. Not only do I think that most of the current 1 set bonuses of monster sets should see a rework (6/10 are +max health), but I also think that the 1 set bonus should be completely attached to the 2 set bonus & that most of the current 2 set bonuses need a rework or retuning. For example, the current Bloodspawn set bonuses would be rehauled from 1) stam recovery 2) effect into --> 2) stam recovery + effect, potentially with the stam recovery at increased value. If the set bonuses aren't combined, then the 2 piece has to be that much more compelling. Too many people are skating by using just the 1 piece bonus of the monster set. I understand that players need to feel rewarded when getting an item and that a monster set without it’s potentially difficult-to-acquire counterpart may seem unfulfilling, but the current iteration of the monster sets is being abused too heavily and is contributing to the stagnant meta.


Sorry if this post seems biased or exaggerated, but I do think that this is a problem that needs to be addressed. Looking forward to any feedback.