The trinity setup doesn't have to happen if they simply make the bonuses more generic. Remember Daggerfall spellcrafting?
For example: +Magnitude, +Duration, -Cost, +Speed, etc. Stats could apply to both offense and defense, or either, while eliminating the direct link between magnitude and magicka/stamina.

I don't mind that focused builds get a benefit for going all in on one stat. I think the benefit that is being received is to great. Also there needs to be some sort of benefit added to use health, as of right now, it doesn't add much to a character.

Power creep is the cause of the one stat meta and that power creep has multiple sources. Collectively, the difference between base and maximum possible values for all stats is too large, resulting in any builds that attempt to spread stats are significantly less effective. Causes for the large power gap include percentage modifiers (Major Brutality/Sorcery, CP) and numerous ways to stack a single stat (Molag Kena, Clever Alchemist, Briarheart). The Armor line passives also play a role in conjunction with CP, allowing a focused resource pool to be pseudo infinite by achieving a great cost:recovery ratio (21% + 16% cost reduction and 28% + 25% recovery).

Reducing the power gap and thereby checking power creep is one way to resolve the current imbalance. Adding more character stats to separate offense from defense is another method. But jack-of-all-trades is not viable under a large power gap.

notimetocare wrote: »

No matter the system, there will always be generally better saetups, no new systme will change that.

This.
Also, it doesnt make sense to be a master of everything and punish characters for concentrating on 1 thing.

KoshkaMurka wrote: »

notimetocare wrote: »

No matter the system, there will always be generally better saetups, no new systme will change that.

This.
Also, it doesnt make sense to be a master of everything and punish characters for concentrating on 1 thing.

Jack-of-all-trades is someone who is good at everything but great at nothing. Someone with a lot of tools at their disposal but a mastery of none. In general game design, focusing on one stat, being a pure, should be punished because a certain degree of versatility is expected from players for handling various situations. Content becomes either too easy or too hard for pure players because either it demands of them something they do not have or demands of them the one stat they invested everything into.

Focusing one stat is more acceptable in party based games where there are always others to make up for the shortcomings of one and abilities are designed around party based combat.

ESO is a mix of party and single player gameplay.


Let us look to a few examples:

RuneScape 2's dueling population had the (in)famous Strength build. It was a character that increased Strength to 99, leaving all other stats at 1. The result was a character that hit hard and hardly hit (accuracy is tied to Attack). The idea was that the power of what hits did land would outweigh the lack of accuracy and defense. And it did succeed moderately. In fighting and watching Strength builds, what few hits did land were for half or more of the opponent's HP. Fights between Strength builds were decided by who hit first since both had low HP and defense.

Strength builds were incredibly effective when RNG allowed for consecutive hits, and frustrating when that same RNG led to consistent misses. Strength builds became a mainstream build but eventually died away because of the reliance on RNG and general frailness.

In Dark Souls 2 pure builds are also rare because survivability is such a big concern. A pure Strength build is showcased below.

Strength increases the damage Strength based weaponry deals. Stamina, HP, physical and magical defense are tied to separate stats. Pure Intelligence builds fair better because spells have more offensive variety, but are still frail and sitting ducks during cast times.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim heavily promotes versatility as physical and magical defense are separate. As a pure warrior, there is a weakness to ranged attackers, archers and mages both; as a mage there is a weakness to physical attacks, archers and warriors; as an archer there are weaknesses to melee attackers, warriors and conjured minions. Succeeding as a pure requires knowing intimately the strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your opponent and playing to them. Investing in enchanting or armor to increase defense against magical or physical attacks disqualifies the build from being pure.


Pure builds have clear strengths and weaknesses, making them the best in their chosen stat and worst in all others. When a pure build is out of its element or countered, there are no other tools available to recover or succeed.

The issue present in ESO's current balancing is Stamina and Magicka provide both offensive and defensive benefits. Becoming a pure in either yields high offense and high active defense (evasive maneuvers, healing and damage negation). The sacrifice is low Health and passive defense, which are both covered by the high active defense.

ESO and respect do not belong in the same sentence