lets be honest,

only bad sorcs are complaining it's not fotm anymore

If you compare the top stam sets to the top magicka sets, stam wins. If you compare the cost of stam abilities to the cost of magicka abilities, stam wins. If you compare the damage of stam abilities to the damage of magicka abilities, stam wins. If you compare the mobility of stam builds to the mobility of magicka builds, stam wins yet again.

The idea that magic has range so melee needs to be stronger is a fallacy, in this game at least. Most magicka builds are melee ranged anyway (magiblades/magiplars/magidks), and with the extremely powerful and wide variety of gap closers, all stam builds have no problems whatsoever remaining permanently glued to your face. The traditional advantages that ranged abilities have given in other games are greatly diminished under the combat mechanics of ESO.

That said I think stamina is generally in a good place, and magicka could use a slight buff across the board. I think Sypher said it best in his recent video. The gap between top end PvP damage and low end PvP damage is quite large. I think bringing the lower end of the damage spectrum up without nerfing the high end would go a long way towards balancing magicka vs stamina.

EDIT:
Posted this in wrong thread but still relevant. Reposting in mag vs stam thread.

Xeven wrote: »

If you compare the top stam sets to the top magicka sets, stam wins. If you compare the cost of stam abilities to the cost of magicka abilities, stam wins. If you compare the damage of stam abilities to the damage of magicka abilities, stam wins. If you compare the mobility of stam builds to the mobility of magicka builds, stam wins yet again.

The idea that magic has range so melee needs to be stronger is a fallacy, in this game at least. Most magicka builds are melee ranged anyway (magiblades/magiplars/magidks), and with the extremely powerful and wide variety of gap closers, all stam builds have no problems whatsoever remaining permanently glued to your face. The traditional advantages that ranged abilities have given in other games are greatly diminished under the combat mechanics of ESO.

Great post and absolutely agree on bolded statement. This game will always be STA focused with DK at the top of the food chain unless @Wrobel decides to move on to doing something else.

After the STA buffs I MUCH rather have a STA DPS group than magicka playing healer. STA does so much more damage.

ESO is too old now for balance changes imo. After over two years of the same four classes the devs ought to have got this figured out well before this time and let us, the paying players, get on with our play style.

Ongoing balances of classes is now looking like interference from the designers of this game since its inception almost a decade ago!

We don't all get things right first time and I am happy with any and all changes, good and bad, if it is in the best interest of the game as a whole for the long term future. But to make a career of nerfing and buffing as a matter of routine is to me, unsatisfactory.

My main is a pet mage and I do know how to play this class in most situations. I have spent lots of real money, game money real time and real effort (as most of you have) to try to as some of you put it, "git gud" I have tried to L2P ESO because I was not born with the ESO hand guide attached to my wrist. I play solo and learn my way.

So when I begin to understand a class it is annoying to have to adjust my play style in a way that is alien to me, I begin to lose the will to live.

Currently, I have gone from being a flashy wizard that has conquered in a completely solo career everything PvE with a pet mage (I don't use my back bar or a resto staff), to one that is playing very defensively, dodge rolling and healing, with the occasional spell thrown in. Rinse and repeat.

My class is useless in PvP and is easily one-shotted but then I don't play there (anymore).

So if I want to play with my pet mage in the gigantic land of Tamriel in doing the stuff that ESO throws at me every day and happy to do so, what's with the interference from the game makers? What is it to them? They would do well to fix ESO and play about with their Crown Store and leave all things classes be.

I played Skyrim for 3 1/2 years (right up to the eve of console launch) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Skyrim was buggy as hell but I could play this game without interference. I made adjustments to counter the bugs, but what I cannot do is play with a mage of my own creating, with much love, a labour of love, and then curse my luck when I see that changes to the class have been made after all this time the game has been in the public domain.

We were told last year that it was "time to let the game breathe" after drastic wholesale changes were made to ESO. That's fine then but us players need to play with our loved characters, for which we put so much effort into, we would just prefer that as paying customers, that we be left to enjoy ESO.

Fix the game but leave the classes.

Doncellius wrote: »

Jaronking wrote: »

The good Sorcs are still good and the bad Sorcs are no longer playing Sorcs.

You are half right.....

The (few) good Sorcs are still good.

The bad sorcs can no longer play that class half-decently anymore.

Both good and bad sorcs are often rerolling to the other three classes which were all buffed significantly, rather than nerfed. Vet rank removal also made this easy and gave people the ability to easily switch out of Sorcerer to try new classes. Many good Sorcs are playing other classes now too because they're good players who play by the meta.

Now Sorcerers are rare in Cyrodiil. If I had to realisticly lay this out, I'd say the general Cyrodiil population these days is around:
Dragonknights: 23%
Nightblades: 35%
Templars: 32%
Sorcerers: 10%

Shield duration nerf should not apply to PvE. Surge needs to be buffed. Pets need to get massive buffs. Bound Armaments needs a buff..... nothing's gonna happem though

Nbs seem to be 70% from what I've seen

Grao wrote: »

'Some classes are just better than others'

- Balance by @Wrobel - 2016

I kinda wonder now: if the meta shifts and either DK or NB become the worst classes, are they gonna quote that too?

I'm having fun in pvp with a sorc magic build, she's got mobility and hits hard. I use surge mainly for the 20% extra spell damage plus having it slotted gives you increase weap/spell damage. Shields only come into play when you need to escape or mitigate some damage.

Sorc are still fine, the good ones actually got a buff this patch, now they can stack their 25k-30k shields against stamina builds.

People complain about shield stacking, zos buff's it.

#ZosLogic.

Grao wrote: »

'Some classes are just better than others'

- Balance by @Wrobel - 2016

Did the lead class dev (or whatever his title is) really say that ?

His WHOLE JOB is that this quote DOESN'T HAPPEN.....

leepalmer95 wrote: »

Sorc are still fine, the good ones actually got a buff this patch, now they can stack their 25k-30k shields against stamina builds.

People complain about shield stacking, zos buff's it.

#ZosLogic.

I really don't have a problem with the shield nerf... I don't like it.... but have learnt to adapt.... but I really do have to say here that to describe it as a buff is horribly out of tune in reality rather than looking at it on paper.

Shield stacking is very much a PvP thing I'm sure we can agree....

If in the heat of a PvP battle you think it's a 'buff' to have to bar swap, cast two skills, and the swap to your attack bar... throughout the lag, and an opponent attacking you.... all in the knowledge that the shield you cast 3 or 4 seconds ago is about to expire in another 2-3 seconds (& requires you to swap bars & start all over again) then I think you are very much mistaken.

Its a nerf plain and simple.

Higher magicka cost due to constant recasting, far more attention required.... having to use a shield more as a reactive defense rather than pro active (Which is a HUGE problem in the current meta of high burst damage stamina builds, and low resistance light armor/magicka builds).