Allow shields to be critically damaged.

Biro123 · January 2017

Mojomonkeyman wrote: »

Biro123 wrote: »

Mojomonkeyman wrote: »

I mean, do me a favor, try putting yourself in the shoes of the opposition. Ask the best mag sorc you know to just shield and breakfree with a cookie cutter lich build against your highest damage stamina non gank build that uses no direct damage procs and see what you can achieve. I`m pretty sure you will understand my position a little better afterwards.

The sorc can stand there and tank it as long as no CC is attempted and as long as he has resources. The sorc needs to shield every single cooldown to stay alive and cannot attack back. TO break the stalemate, he will need to do something to avoid dmg to his shields for a sec (stun opponent or rolldodge - risking no stam for breakfree later).. But regardless sorc is not hurting stam-dude, just as stam-dude is not hurting sorc. Is that so bad?

Yes, it is really bad for a solo player in open world environment, if every build out there can stall their death for ages even in builds that are non-tank builds. If a solo player cannot kill before reinforcements come even if dominating the fight, then solo play becomes non-viable.

So its not enough to be dominating the fight, you want more? Regardless, I've said it again and again - its a scaling issue. Nerf shields and sorcs cannot survive AT ALL in open world. The game isn't balanced around 1v1 - its balanced around open world. and shields are VERY bad vs numbers. The only way Zos could reasonably nerf shields for 1v1 is to also strengthen them for many vs many - which means a total change in shield mechanics.
Simply making them easier to take down isn't the answer. Sorcs would just go hvy armour/frost-staff blocking and pet heals instead for survivability - rip light armour and rip diversity.

Mojomonkeyman · January 2017

Biro123 wrote: »

Mojomonkeyman wrote: »

Biro123 wrote: »

Mojomonkeyman wrote: »

I mean, do me a favor, try putting yourself in the shoes of the opposition. Ask the best mag sorc you know to just shield and breakfree with a cookie cutter lich build against your highest damage stamina non gank build that uses no direct damage procs and see what you can achieve. I`m pretty sure you will understand my position a little better afterwards.

The sorc can stand there and tank it as long as no CC is attempted and as long as he has resources. The sorc needs to shield every single cooldown to stay alive and cannot attack back. TO break the stalemate, he will need to do something to avoid dmg to his shields for a sec (stun opponent or rolldodge - risking no stam for breakfree later).. But regardless sorc is not hurting stam-dude, just as stam-dude is not hurting sorc. Is that so bad?

Yes, it is really bad for a solo player in open world environment, if every build out there can stall their death for ages even in builds that are non-tank builds. If a solo player cannot kill before reinforcements come even if dominating the fight, then solo play becomes non-viable.

So its not enough to be dominating the fight, you want more? Regardless, I've said it again and again - its a scaling issue. Nerf shields and sorcs cannot survive AT ALL in open world. The game isn't balanced around 1v1 - its balanced around open world. and shields are VERY bad vs numbers. The only way Zos could reasonably nerf shields for 1v1 is to also strengthen them for many vs many - which means a total change in shield mechanics.
Simply making them easier to take down isn't the answer. Sorcs would just go hvy armour/frost-staff blocking and pet heals instead for survivability - rip light armour and rip diversity.

I am very much aware of the scaling issues, but that doesnt mean that I am satisfied with the current state of the more beneficial end (for mag sorcs) of the scaling. Since a solo player rarely outnumbers magsorcs its the only end I get to see.

Are you really asking if I want to finish a fight I am already dominating? Its not about what I want - I HAVE to, if I dont want to get outnumbered because I cant kill a single target in time. As I said, if any setup has the possibility to nullify a single players offensive measures for prolonged periods of time, then solo play becomes non-viable.

OOJIMMY · January 2017

When fighting some one shield stacking you more or less fight their timer. Shields last like 8 second washout to cc them right before the shields go down and start your burst.

aLi3nZ wrote: »

What stam players forget is that sorc has no 20% dodge chance and can't dodge roll and has to use light armour.

Meanwhile there is heavy armour meta going on these days while the stam users just dodge roll and shuffle dodge chance half the attacks a sorc try's to throw at them while spamming vigor and rally.

Shields were already nerfed into the ground. But I will admit that I started shield stacking again. I found Harness magika is just too good for sustain so have it on my defensive bar along with healing ward while hardened ward is on my fromt bar. And yes if I feel like it I will stack em together so I can actually get off a burst rotation.

Shields were not nerfed into the ground. They only had one nerf that lowered the time because shield stacking was over preforming.

Biro123 · January 2017

Mojomonkeyman wrote: »

Biro123 wrote: »

Mojomonkeyman wrote: »

Biro123 wrote: »

Mojomonkeyman wrote: »

I mean, do me a favor, try putting yourself in the shoes of the opposition. Ask the best mag sorc you know to just shield and breakfree with a cookie cutter lich build against your highest damage stamina non gank build that uses no direct damage procs and see what you can achieve. I`m pretty sure you will understand my position a little better afterwards.

The sorc can stand there and tank it as long as no CC is attempted and as long as he has resources. The sorc needs to shield every single cooldown to stay alive and cannot attack back. TO break the stalemate, he will need to do something to avoid dmg to his shields for a sec (stun opponent or rolldodge - risking no stam for breakfree later).. But regardless sorc is not hurting stam-dude, just as stam-dude is not hurting sorc. Is that so bad?

Yes, it is really bad for a solo player in open world environment, if every build out there can stall their death for ages even in builds that are non-tank builds. If a solo player cannot kill before reinforcements come even if dominating the fight, then solo play becomes non-viable.

So its not enough to be dominating the fight, you want more? Regardless, I've said it again and again - its a scaling issue. Nerf shields and sorcs cannot survive AT ALL in open world. The game isn't balanced around 1v1 - its balanced around open world. and shields are VERY bad vs numbers. The only way Zos could reasonably nerf shields for 1v1 is to also strengthen them for many vs many - which means a total change in shield mechanics.
Simply making them easier to take down isn't the answer. Sorcs would just go hvy armour/frost-staff blocking and pet heals instead for survivability - rip light armour and rip diversity.

I am very much aware of the scaling issues, but that doesnt mean that I am satisfied with the current state of the more beneficial end (for mag sorcs) of the scaling. Since a solo player rarely outnumbers magsorcs its the only end I get to see.

Are you really asking if I want to finish a fight I am already dominating? Its not about what I want - I HAVE to, if I dont want to get outnumbered because I cant kill a single target in time. As I said, if any setup has the possibility to nullify a single players offensive measures for prolonged periods of time, then solo play becomes non-viable.

I understand what you're saying - but as a solo player myself, you have to see it from the other side too. I HAVE to finish the fight too - but when the burst rotation takes 3 seconds of constant casting, you just can't do it when having to constantly shield. At best I can hold off a strong stam player - but then I get outnumbered and shields aren't worth a damn then.. If anything I'd say that I'd be in a worse state than you in that case. And don't forget we havn't mentioned proc sets or dots which have a massive impact on shield up-time.

I kind of agree with you though. I think most sorcs HATE having to shield-stack to survive. ALL sorcs really struggle with bar-space - needing 3 abilities for their burst, 3 for shields, then there's the toggles, anytime and a bit of utility if you're lucky.. I think most would love for a single shield to be viable, and would love for it to be viable in larger-scale encounters too. I've been experimenting with this a bit lately (Only one shield with heavy armour and heals behind it) - but the hit the sorc takes to both sustain AND damage is massive - and they don't gain a lot in defence either. Again, you can't kill your opponent - you can only hold him off. I think I'm coming to the conclusion that Sorc is balanced around using shields as its only defence cos I'm struggling to see how to do it another way without becoming a full-on tank - and there are enough of those out there already.