Please change fear mechanics/animation

Solariken · April 2016

I'll be upfront with my bias and state that fear is my least favorite type of crowd control. It is incredibly powerful as it is often very difficult or impossible to break, and the animation is far too subtle. Additionally, I still occasionally get feared into environmental assets and stuck, resulting in inevitable death.

I would like to ask that this mechanic be evaluated for the upcoming DLC. My suggestion is that fear would lock the target in place (no running around) and present with a very clear animation. I would personally like to see my character cower in place with a glowy, chattering skull or something similar over my head (which serves as the manifestation of the thing I am presumably afraid of). It would be even better if the glowy skulls appeared to shoot directly from the Nightblade toward the target(s), since part of the visibility issue stems from the fact that the Nightblade's animation is a very subtle red mist cloud. This would be a huge overall PvP quality-of-life improvement.

I appreciate community input on this.

@Wrobel @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert

Waffennacht · April 2016

I agree with the animation part, it's hard enough to notice most subtle glows etc... but fear really is the hardest to notice and break.

I wouldn't mind anything that would show clearly.

BurritoESO · April 2016

So a nightblade poofing out red smoke everywhere, having a very distinct sound, and you running away screaming and holding your head isn't enough for you to realise what's going on? I think it's more then enough, if you can break the cc, you have to be careful with your stam management. Fear is fine the way it is. If getting feared results in inevitable death to you then you should probably learn a little bit more about the game before you come on the forums and ask for nerfs/changes

EsoRecon · April 2016

QUIT NERFING MY STAMBLADE

Solariken · April 2016

BurritoESO wrote: »

So a nightblade poofing out red smoke everywhere, having a very distinct sound, and you running away screaming and holding your head isn't enough for you to realise what's going on? I think it's more then enough, if you can break the cc, you have to be careful with your stam management. Fear is fine the way it is. If getting feared results in inevitable death to you then you should probably learn a little bit more about the game before you come on the forums and ask for nerfs/changes

Sorry @BurritoESO, you sound like someone who doesn't do much PvP. When there are a large number of spell effects happening, not only is it difficult to see due to being subtle but it also often doesn't show up AT ALL likely due to animation prioritization. Additionally, if latency is at play, your character exhibits the CC portion before the animation begins.

Also, you should read the OP again, it sounds like you didn't understand what I said about "inevitable death" - fear occasionally paths your character into environmental assets and causes you to become stuck (for which the only remedy is death). This used to be much more of a problem but ZOS did implement some helpful fixes for it.

EsoRecon wrote: »

QUIT NERFING MY STAMBLADE

I didn't propose a single nerf to the skill - wtf are you talking about?

Waffennacht · April 2016

So you're saying, having WHAT PC HAS RIGHT NOW is a nerf?

You know those debuff timers? Yeah they kind of give it away for PC users.

Console, we have....your character holding his head (which occurs only after a second or two of you being feared...)

Sound? Are you talking 1v1, cuz then yeah everything is easy to see. But with a few other SCREAMS, EXPLOSIONS, AND MAGIC it's hard to hear anything than that SAME theme song over and over.

So go a head and say an ANIMATION or a debuff counter is a nerf or L2P issue... but you'd be wrong

Edit: Freaking 1 stars lmao (this is intended as a joke.. stupid text and no voice inflection)

BurritoESO · April 2016

If by inevitable death means that you are being stuck or falling through the map, then that's a problem with the bug not the skill.

Lynx7386 · April 2016

Even as a nightblade main, I always thought that fear should cause you to stand in place rather than running away. It can be very dangerous as a PvE crowd control ability because it sends enemies running off into other groups, and in pve it can actually make it harder to keep damage on your target while they're feared (at least as melee) because they're running away from you. The issue with getting locked into terrain is a problem as well.

I dont know about changing the animation much, I kinda like how my khajiit does this roar with glowing red light coming from his eyes to fear his enemies, but locking in place i'm in support of.

CP5 · April 2016

Lynx7386 wrote: »

Even as a nightblade main, I always thought that fear should cause you to stand in place rather than running away. It can be very dangerous as a PvE crowd control ability because it sends enemies running off into other groups, and in pve it can actually make it harder to keep damage on your target while they're feared (at least as melee) because they're running away from you. The issue with getting locked into terrain is a problem as well.

I dont know about changing the animation much, I kinda like how my khajiit does this roar with glowing red light coming from his eyes to fear his enemies, but locking in place i'm in support of.

Not the casting animation, the cc animation on the people hit.

Waffennacht · April 2016

CP5 wrote: »

Lynx7386 wrote: »

Even as a nightblade main, I always thought that fear should cause you to stand in place rather than running away. It can be very dangerous as a PvE crowd control ability because it sends enemies running off into other groups, and in pve it can actually make it harder to keep damage on your target while they're feared (at least as melee) because they're running away from you. The issue with getting locked into terrain is a problem as well.

I dont know about changing the animation much, I kinda like how my khajiit does this roar with glowing red light coming from his eyes to fear his enemies, but locking in place i'm in support of.

Not the casting animation, the cc animation on the people hit.

Exactly, like we should glow red, anything a bit more than the head holding. Keep in mind sound is a very poor indicator, being deaf, equipment, playing while others are sleeping etc (imo Obviously not anyone else's problem, im not saying anything should be changed on account of these, just something to keep in mind is all)

The animation and sound from the castor is fine.

Personally a buff/debuff counter is all I would need/want.

Birdovic · April 2016

The only annoying part of Fear is, when I suddenly stand there idle a second or two thanks to lag, before running off in some direction.
Thats when I know I was feared and immediately breakfree, (when controls suddenly stop working).
I learned to "adjust" to the lag, but in a bigger laggy fight I wont notice this fast enough..

acw37162 · April 2016

Fear needs better messaging in game.

I was recently told by Mr Wronke one of the reasons blinding flashes was removed from the game is the game messages dodging attacks.

Fear has terrible messaging and is the most buggy of all the CC effects and by the easiest one to exploit with a perma CC effect that hasn't been fixed in well a year plus

You are correct though fear needs better messaging regardless of if its a pvp fear or a PVE fear

Cryptical · April 2016

I like the running away. And I've been the recipient of the skill more than I've dished it out to others.

Does it suck to be cut down from behind as I run away from fear? Yes. But still at least I'm a moving target rather than a sitting duck. I'm sure that has contributed to me managing to last through a few of those fights.

Though, I like the idea of a biting skull appearing above/behind the person fleeing in fear.