Gear Cap

Vangy · July 2016

So,

Ive heard rumors that gear cap is never going to increase. And ive heard people saying that it will be raised in 2 or 3 dlcs. Im pretty sure ZOS has said nothing about gear caps so far? Thoughts?

Personally im a little split on this matter. For no gear cap increase: YAY! I NEVER have to farm that SPC set all over again. All my dozen gold monster helms are safe to use FOREVAH. I never have to re-craft gear sets for my 6 of my cp 160 toons already in gold gear.

On the flip side... How many new sets can ZOS come up with to keep things interesting? Eventually they need to put us back on the hamster wheel to buy themselves some breathing time no?

Forestd16b14_ESO · July 2016

Me I have to say ....... no cause I do not wanna waste 300 ruby ingots to make 1 piece of heavy armor. Even now I don't wanna waste 130 ingots on 1 piece of gear the whole "crafted gear is the best in the game so it has to cost alot" story died off faster than arrow to the knee and VR16 crafted gear just needs to cost 1 or 2 more than VR15 already casue crafted gear is no way nor ever be as powerful or more powerful than dropped sets.

NBrookus · July 2016

I vote for never.

We are getting a whole bunch of updated old armor sets. They are releasing new and updated content every few months, which is in line with what Firor was saying about appealing to the intermittent gamer. These guys don't want to grind. (We do have a grind in the form of new motifs.)

So resources that could be spent on new materials, updating writs, etc. can instead be spent on art and content for new zones, updating Craglorn, bug fixes and so forth. New mechanics for new bosses and dungeons is far more interesting than just making them harder so you have to grind better gear to finish them.

disintegr8 · July 2016

I'd suggest the gear cap will go up at some point but it will probably be some new type of material that is not yet in the game anyway. Considering the impact the vet removal has had on material availability and cost, I doubt it will happen soon.

DannyLV702 · July 2016

Eternal hunt is the last thing I've made gold. The rest of my gold mats I'm gonna save until the cap goes up. I hate that it will, but it will

AzraelKrieg · July 2016

Gear caps will go up. There is already data in the game for CP170/180 materials that we found in the Imperial City PTS. Chances are it will be sometime next year and they would realign the current crafting setup accordingly, i.e. CP180 will be 10x the cost of 170, 160 will cost 1 more than 150 and 1 less than 170.

Shadesofkin · July 2016

They have said that part of what moved them towards the Champion system was the ability to detach Gear from Level after 50, being able to raise gear cap separately from the Champion Cap itself.

This is not a bad thing (thought it would require some pretty inventive ideas on their part since they've covered so many of the bases already).

Vaoh · July 2016

CP170 - CP180:
• Chromite Ingots
• Wrothskin Leather
• Tundra Cotton
• Sanded Bristlecone

These are the mats. The level cap is 100% guaranteed to increase again, and I'm pretty sure dataminers have spotted some other materials that may point to a CP190 - CP200 as well.

I hope that it never increases, because it'll ruin all of my gear including extraordinarily rare stuff like Briarheart, Maelstrom's/Master's weapons, IC sets like Spell Power Cure, Divines Monster helm drops, and much more.

Vangy · July 2016

Doncellius wrote: »

CP170 - CP180:
• Chromite Ingots
• Wrothskin Leather
• Tundra Cotton
• Sanded Bristlecone

These are the mats. The level cap is 100% guaranteed to increase again, and I'm pretty sure dataminers have spotted some other materials that may point to a CP190 - CP200 as well.

I hope that it never increases, because it'll ruin all of my gear including extraordinarily rare stuff like Briarheart, Maelstrom's/Master's weapons, IC sets like Spell Power Cure, Divines Monster helm drops, and much more.

=(

TT.TT

X.X

Vaoh · July 2016

Vangy wrote: »

Doncellius wrote: »

CP170 - CP180:
• Chromite Ingots
• Wrothskin Leather
• Tundra Cotton
• Sanded Bristlecone

These are the mats. The level cap is 100% guaranteed to increase again, and I'm pretty sure dataminers have spotted some other materials that may point to a CP190 - CP200 as well.

I hope that it never increases, because it'll ruin all of my gear including extraordinarily rare stuff like Briarheart, Maelstrom's/Master's weapons, IC sets like Spell Power Cure, Divines Monster helm drops, and much more.

=(

TT.TT

X.X

AzraelKrieg · July 2016

Doncellius wrote: »

CP170 - CP180:
• Chromite Ingots
• Wrothskin Leather
• Tundra Cotton
• Sanded Bristlecone

These are the mats. The level cap is 100% guaranteed to increase again, and I'm pretty sure dataminers have spotted some other materials that may point to a CP190 - CP200 as well.

I hope that it never increases, because it'll ruin all of my gear including extraordinarily rare stuff like Briarheart, Maelstrom's/Master's weapons, IC sets like Spell Power Cure, Divines Monster helm drops, and much more.

The naming indicates that the Orsinium DLC was supposed to carry a level cap increase that was ditched after backlash on the increase from vet14 to vet16 with IC

Vaoh · July 2016

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

Doncellius wrote: »

CP170 - CP180:
• Chromite Ingots
• Wrothskin Leather
• Tundra Cotton
• Sanded Bristlecone

These are the mats. The level cap is 100% guaranteed to increase again, and I'm pretty sure dataminers have spotted some other materials that may point to a CP190 - CP200 as well.

I hope that it never increases, because it'll ruin all of my gear including extraordinarily rare stuff like Briarheart, Maelstrom's/Master's weapons, IC sets like Spell Power Cure, Divines Monster helm drops, and much more.

The naming indicates that the Orsinium DLC was supposed to carry a level cap increase that was ditched after backlash on the increase from vet14 to vet16 with IC

I hope you are correct..... though ZOS does not need to stick to that. They can quite easily release Murkmire, and increase the cap with it. All depends on if ZOS wants to create a massive grind or not.

Considering some of the severe issues on console right now, and players getting really fed up about stuff like their month of ESO+ being spent on the game in a broken state and no refund, it would not be wise to do something like this. The outrage will be far worse than it was when V16 was introduced, and many would absolutely quit ESO based on the grind+performance.

IcyDeadPeople · July 2016

Of course it's going to continue increasing. That's how new sets get introduced over time, etc. The point of the champion system is that this progression is account wide, so you don't have to grind all your alts anymore.

AzraelKrieg · July 2016

Doncellius wrote: »

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

Doncellius wrote: »

CP170 - CP180:
• Chromite Ingots
• Wrothskin Leather
• Tundra Cotton
• Sanded Bristlecone

These are the mats. The level cap is 100% guaranteed to increase again, and I'm pretty sure dataminers have spotted some other materials that may point to a CP190 - CP200 as well.

I hope that it never increases, because it'll ruin all of my gear including extraordinarily rare stuff like Briarheart, Maelstrom's/Master's weapons, IC sets like Spell Power Cure, Divines Monster helm drops, and much more.

The naming indicates that the Orsinium DLC was supposed to carry a level cap increase that was ditched after backlash on the increase from vet14 to vet16 with IC

I hope you are correct..... though ZOS does not need to stick to that. They can quite easily release Murkmire, and increase the cap with it. All depends on if ZOS wants to create a massive grind or not.

Considering some of the severe issues on console right now, and players getting really fed up about stuff like their month of ESO+ being spent on the game in a broken state and no refund, it would not be wise to do something like this. The outrage will be far worse than it was when V16 was introduced, and many would absolutely quit ESO based on the grind+performance.

At least the grind to get to a level that you can use the gear wouldn't exist for most players as they would already be beyond 180 by that point. The gear and material grind though would be frustrating though. Especially to me as someone who uses primarily crafted sets and as my guild's lead crafter.

nine9six · July 2016

It'll increase, but I'm not really in a hurry for it to.

Would be sweet if they could cook-up some way to upgrade old ***.

That's an MMO, though...

Vaoh · July 2016

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

Doncellius wrote: »

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

Doncellius wrote: »

CP170 - CP180:
• Chromite Ingots
• Wrothskin Leather
• Tundra Cotton
• Sanded Bristlecone

These are the mats. The level cap is 100% guaranteed to increase again, and I'm pretty sure dataminers have spotted some other materials that may point to a CP190 - CP200 as well.

I hope that it never increases, because it'll ruin all of my gear including extraordinarily rare stuff like Briarheart, Maelstrom's/Master's weapons, IC sets like Spell Power Cure, Divines Monster helm drops, and much more.

The naming indicates that the Orsinium DLC was supposed to carry a level cap increase that was ditched after backlash on the increase from vet14 to vet16 with IC

I hope you are correct..... though ZOS does not need to stick to that. They can quite easily release Murkmire, and increase the cap with it. All depends on if ZOS wants to create a massive grind or not.

Considering some of the severe issues on console right now, and players getting really fed up about stuff like their month of ESO+ being spent on the game in a broken state and no refund, it would not be wise to do something like this. The outrage will be far worse than it was when V16 was introduced, and many would absolutely quit ESO based on the grind+performance.

At least the grind to get to a level that you can use the gear wouldn't exist for most players as they would already be beyond 180 by that point. The gear and material grind though would be frustrating though. Especially to me as someone who uses primarily crafted sets and as my guild's lead crafter.

Crafted would be the easy part my friend

Obtaining good Maelstrom weapons, among other heavily RNG-intensive gear would be a nightmare. I would only ever play two characters anymore. The others would become totally forgotten if this happened.

AzraelKrieg · July 2016

Doncellius wrote: »

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

Doncellius wrote: »

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

Doncellius wrote: »

CP170 - CP180:
• Chromite Ingots
• Wrothskin Leather
• Tundra Cotton
• Sanded Bristlecone

These are the mats. The level cap is 100% guaranteed to increase again, and I'm pretty sure dataminers have spotted some other materials that may point to a CP190 - CP200 as well.

I hope that it never increases, because it'll ruin all of my gear including extraordinarily rare stuff like Briarheart, Maelstrom's/Master's weapons, IC sets like Spell Power Cure, Divines Monster helm drops, and much more.

The naming indicates that the Orsinium DLC was supposed to carry a level cap increase that was ditched after backlash on the increase from vet14 to vet16 with IC

I hope you are correct..... though ZOS does not need to stick to that. They can quite easily release Murkmire, and increase the cap with it. All depends on if ZOS wants to create a massive grind or not.

Considering some of the severe issues on console right now, and players getting really fed up about stuff like their month of ESO+ being spent on the game in a broken state and no refund, it would not be wise to do something like this. The outrage will be far worse than it was when V16 was introduced, and many would absolutely quit ESO based on the grind+performance.

At least the grind to get to a level that you can use the gear wouldn't exist for most players as they would already be beyond 180 by that point. The gear and material grind though would be frustrating though. Especially to me as someone who uses primarily crafted sets and as my guild's lead crafter.

Crafted would be the easy part my friend

Obtaining good Maelstrom weapons, among other heavily RNG-intensive gear would be a nightmare. I would only ever play two characters anymore. The others would become totally forgotten if this happened.

True. But if they do the same thing they did with the current top level mats I'm going to be doing farm runs through every zone imaginable just to get enough to fit out one character. Most of the drop sets don't interest too much as I don't min-max to the highest level. I refuse to use legendary equipment or put in what little time I have now to repeatedly run something like vMaelstrom for a chance to get something good for skills I wouldn't use

starkerealm · July 2016

The impression I get is, the original plan was to put out a new tier of gear with each DLC. Which is somewhat supported by that datamined materials list.

Then, as players advanced through the ranks, you would have seen two groups emerge. "Gearchase" players, who were primarily concerned with having the best possible items at any moment (and were grinding up the 1k materials necessary for the new best in slot crafting within a week of the DLC launching. And mainstream players who were working up the materials to produce the next tier down.

So, even ranks of gear would have been, and remained, prohibitively expensive, while odd tiered players would have been somewhere behind that curve, but still able to participate.

Then, everything blew up in their faces with the IC. The Tier 10 items weren't more powerful than the Tier 9 ones, those had just been nerfed. Suggesting to players that the game was going to turn into a treadmill, where all your top tier gear was ground down over time into irrelevance. For non-PvPers, getting Tier 10 mats was neigh impossible. And, after a long content drought, the new stuff was all gated behind a more punishing PvP variant.

Which lead us into Worthgar. No level cap increase, though that was probably planned originally. VR15 gear was far more likely to drop, or be awarded than VR16 gear. Supporting the idea that VR16 was some special gearchase item.

And then, Thieves Guild. Suddenly, V16 gear was instantly available if you were of level.

I think it looks like ZOS got the message that this wasn't really what players wanted. Motifs, drop sets. Gating motifs behind drop sets only to open them up to crafters at a later date? That's all fine. But saying, "no, you can't participate if you don't grind," did not fly.

I wouldn't mind seeing those wrothgar mats as a cosmetic parallel tier 10. Which is something that ZOS could do if they wanted. Alternately if new materials had different intrinsic values. (Not vertical advancement, horizontal), that could prove interesting.

I do hope ZOS got the message and won't be increasing the gear cap for awhile though.

Anhedonie · July 2016

I don't want it. We have champion points, no need to mess with gear. But it's Zenimax we're talking about...

AzraelKrieg · July 2016

Anhedonie wrote: »

I don't want it. We have champion points, no need to mess with gear. But it's Zenimax we're talking about...

Champion points are one thing. They amplify power slightly. But if the gear power doesn't increase as well what's the point of playing. People get bored with doing the same thing to get the same level gear with no real progression. Though at the same time, they hate having to get new gear because the cap changed. Go figure.

Vangy · July 2016

I really wanna try out some new sets but Im now not sure when cap might increase. Maybe the DLC after hist if there is a cap increase I dont wanna farm everything now and then again all over~

Maybe ZOS can communicate when they are projecting an increase on gear cap lol.

Agalloch · July 2016

This is a mmo ..so yes ..they will raise the gear cap sometime . I prefer to grind for mats instead of motifs . The mats are obtainable more easier than the rare motifs anyway. And please ..I hope ESO to not become a Fashion Wars like Guild Wars 2 is. When they will increase the gear cap I hope we'll have something to upgrade old 160 CP gear too..especially for VMSA ( maybe another 5 stages from where we can get a rare scroll which can be used for upgrade?)
We must have a progression mix between horizontal and vertical and everyone will be fine.

English is not my native language.

Vaoh · July 2016

starkerealm wrote: »

The impression I get is, the original plan was to put out a new tier of gear with each DLC. Which is somewhat supported by that datamined materials list.

Then, as players advanced through the ranks, you would have seen two groups emerge. "Gearchase" players, who were primarily concerned with having the best possible items at any moment (and were grinding up the 1k materials necessary for the new best in slot crafting within a week of the DLC launching. And mainstream players who were working up the materials to produce the next tier down.

So, even ranks of gear would have been, and remained, prohibitively expensive, while odd tiered players would have been somewhere behind that curve, but still able to participate.

Then, everything blew up in their faces with the IC. The Tier 10 items weren't more powerful than the Tier 9 ones, those had just been nerfed. Suggesting to players that the game was going to turn into a treadmill, where all your top tier gear was ground down over time into irrelevance. For non-PvPers, getting Tier 10 mats was neigh impossible. And, after a long content drought, the new stuff was all gated behind a more punishing PvP variant.

Which lead us into Worthgar. No level cap increase, though that was probably planned originally. VR15 gear was far more likely to drop, or be awarded than VR16 gear. Supporting the idea that VR16 was some special gearchase item.

And then, Thieves Guild. Suddenly, V16 gear was instantly available if you were of level.

I think it looks like ZOS got the message that this wasn't really what players wanted. Motifs, drop sets. Gating motifs behind drop sets only to open them up to crafters at a later date? That's all fine. But saying, "no, you can't participate if you don't grind," did not fly.

I wouldn't mind seeing those wrothgar mats as a cosmetic parallel tier 10. Which is something that ZOS could do if they wanted. Alternately if new materials had different intrinsic values. (Not vertical advancement, horizontal), that could prove interesting.

I do hope ZOS got the message and won't be increasing the gear cap for awhile though.

Very good points. Hopefully the backlash was enough, but I'm scared now to spend any of my legendary mats.

Also, having both Rubedite and Chromite as CP160 mats but with slight differences could add something really cool to customization. Won't happen, but it's a fantastic idea.

@Vangy That's exactly what I'm worrying about.

juhasman · July 2016

The whole Idea of CP's was created also for doing things like increasing just gear cap not adding new levels.

Gargath · July 2016

Forestd16b14_ESO wrote: »

Me I have to say ....... no cause I do not wanna waste 300 ruby ingots to make 1 piece of heavy armor. Even now I don't wanna waste 130 ingots on 1 piece of gear the whole "crafted gear is the best in the game so it has to cost alot" story died off faster than arrow to the knee and VR16 crafted gear just needs to cost 1 or 2 more than VR15 already casue crafted gear is no way nor ever be as powerful or more powerful than dropped sets.

Imho vr16 should be made from the amount of mats as it is now, even if their stats aren't much better than vr15. Their huge amounts is a main reason for people like me, to push forward in end game without getting bored faster - basically need to earn a lot of gold to be able to buy these mats and - even more - tempers, for all the alts. But it's worth imho, not the overall stats, but fun from trading goods to achieve the master goal

.

elium85 · July 2016

IMHO we'll see a gear cap raise in Q1 2017 w/Vardenfell (or Q4 2016 if that's the release). If you noticed, ZOS is working to implement auto-scaling to all end game content and gear sets as well as potentially reduce the number of runs needed to complete sets (though RNG is still bad the ICP/WGT drop changes were welcomed and there are rumors something similar is happening with vMA in August).

ZOS has stated before they want to raise the gear cap every 6 months. While I have a feeling it will end up to be once a year, it definitely seems like they are putting many systems in place to facility this raise and reduce player burden to a manageable level.

Also, this is an MMO; every expansion it's expected there is a new shiny to go get. While regearing all 9 of my toons is a pain and hassle, if drop rates are improve in critical places (vMA) it is not unwelcome if it leads to CP cap increases, etc.

Forestd16b14_ESO · July 2016

Gargath wrote: »

Forestd16b14_ESO wrote: »

Me I have to say ....... no cause I do not wanna waste 300 ruby ingots to make 1 piece of heavy armor. Even now I don't wanna waste 130 ingots on 1 piece of gear the whole "crafted gear is the best in the game so it has to cost alot" story died off faster than arrow to the knee and VR16 crafted gear just needs to cost 1 or 2 more than VR15 already casue crafted gear is no way nor ever be as powerful or more powerful than dropped sets.

Imho vr16 should be made from the amount of mats as it is now, even if their stats aren't much better than vr15. Their huge amounts is a main reason for people like me, to push forward in end game without getting bored faster - basically need to earn a lot of gold to be able to buy these mats and - even more - tempers, for all the alts. But it's worth imho, not the overall stats, but fun from trading goods to achieve the master goal .

Not really it makes things frustrating wearing full 7 piece heavy needs 56 temper alloys and they are not only the rarest gold mat but the most expensive. All other gold mats 2-6 K temper 7 k period...... why is temper like that if barely any one wears heavy armor (and those who are part of the cheese build of the patch don't even say your heavy armor users cause once malubeth gets nerfed odds are you all are gonna go back to your leather pants.)

Sandman929 · July 2016

Forestd16b14_ESO wrote: »

Gargath wrote: »

Forestd16b14_ESO wrote: »

Me I have to say ....... no cause I do not wanna waste 300 ruby ingots to make 1 piece of heavy armor. Even now I don't wanna waste 130 ingots on 1 piece of gear the whole "crafted gear is the best in the game so it has to cost alot" story died off faster than arrow to the knee and VR16 crafted gear just needs to cost 1 or 2 more than VR15 already casue crafted gear is no way nor ever be as powerful or more powerful than dropped sets.

Imho vr16 should be made from the amount of mats as it is now, even if their stats aren't much better than vr15. Their huge amounts is a main reason for people like me, to push forward in end game without getting bored faster - basically need to earn a lot of gold to be able to buy these mats and - even more - tempers, for all the alts. But it's worth imho, not the overall stats, but fun from trading goods to achieve the master goal .

Not really it makes things frustrating wearing full 7 piece heavy needs 56 temper alloys and they are not only the rarest gold mat but the most expensive. All other gold mats 2-6 K temper 7 k period...... why is temper like that if barely any one wears heavy armor (and those who are part of the cheese build of the patch don't even say your heavy armor users cause once malubeth gets nerfed odds are you all are gonna go back to your leather pants.)

Tempering Alloy needs to be more easily farmed...I've got Draugh Wax for days and its ridiculous how fast I can pile that up.

starkerealm · July 2016

Forestd16b14_ESO wrote: »

Gargath wrote: »

Forestd16b14_ESO wrote: »

Me I have to say ....... no cause I do not wanna waste 300 ruby ingots to make 1 piece of heavy armor. Even now I don't wanna waste 130 ingots on 1 piece of gear the whole "crafted gear is the best in the game so it has to cost alot" story died off faster than arrow to the knee and VR16 crafted gear just needs to cost 1 or 2 more than VR15 already casue crafted gear is no way nor ever be as powerful or more powerful than dropped sets.

Imho vr16 should be made from the amount of mats as it is now, even if their stats aren't much better than vr15. Their huge amounts is a main reason for people like me, to push forward in end game without getting bored faster - basically need to earn a lot of gold to be able to buy these mats and - even more - tempers, for all the alts. But it's worth imho, not the overall stats, but fun from trading goods to achieve the master goal .

Not really it makes things frustrating wearing full 7 piece heavy needs 56 temper alloys and they are not only the rarest gold mat but the most expensive. All other gold mats 2-6 K temper 7 k period...... why is temper like that if barely any one wears heavy armor (and those who are part of the cheese build of the patch don't even say your heavy armor users cause once malubeth gets nerfed odds are you all are gonna go back to your leather pants.)

Because people actually do use heavy armor. It's not in vogue among some crowds, but there are still a lot of players who will go and say, "yeah, I want a character wrapped in half a Buick's worth of steel."

Shadesofkin · July 2016

Personally, while I'm very Pro-Gear Cap Increases, I would prefer it was higher than in increments of 10-20. I'd much rather see a gear cap of 200 introduced rather than 170 or 180.

That all being said, as I mentioned above, I'm pro-gear cap increases eventually.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour · July 2016

I hope it never increases. But since it will at some point it would be great to have a system in place where we can upgrade existing armor by adding new materials to it instead of crafting from scratch.