I have to say ZOS has dropped the ball when it comes to Crafted Sets. Now all they do is introduce Dropped Sets in keeping with their game of farming.

FearlessOne_2014 wrote: »

Palidon wrote: »

I have to say ZOS has dropped the ball when it comes to Crafted Sets. Now all they do is introduce Dropped Sets in keeping with their game of farming.

ZOS enjoy having ESO grinding surpass the grind requirements of a Asian MMO. ZOS can't have people getting what the want in vMA with under 200 runs. Decent, competitive crafting sets, goes against that mind set from ZOS. ZOS ain't got time for that. Nah make the end game leader board chaser spend hundreds of runs in a single dungeon or trial. In order of trying to get the gear pieces they want.

Big reason I stopped being competitive in ESO. Been playing casually since DB dlc. Have no drive to even go into that daunting gear treadmill again. And been enjoying ESO much much more since. The grind in ESO these days for the end game user, would put the grinding in that notorious grindy MMO, BnS to shame. But since ZOS is happy with hard content being very unrewarding, I simply just can't be asked.

One reason I never set out to be competitive in this game. In the early days, Crafted really was the best. However, after the impact of the B2P transition and the "why run end-game content without gear grind" crowd started to be felt.... it just really wasn't worth it.

Some people enjoy the ongoing pressure of making it to, and remaining on, the cutting edge of the competitivity knife. Good luck to them. I get considerable enjoyment from just middling my way through it all thanks.

The_Duke wrote: »

Any thoughts on sets to rejuvenate?

Do I?

Death's Wind
When you take melee damage while you are under 35% Health, you knockback and stun all enemies within 8 meters of you for 4 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 30 seconds.

I've never seen anyone use this set or even ask for it. What is the possible application? I suppose newbies might want to try it if they are struggling with solo content, but the dropped Draugr's Heritage set has a similar effect but also heals you, which would be a better option this case.
I'd suggest to keep the concept but make it a more reliable crowd control option, so either remove the health threshold (It's not fun to have to almost die to see your crafted set trigger) or decrease the cooldown.

Ashen Grip
When you deal diret melee damage, you have a 10% chance to breath fire to all enemies in front of you for 1544 Flame Damage. This effect can occur once every 4 seconds.

This set is too similar to Red Mountain and Way of Fire. Due to the fact that fire damage is magic and the other set bonuses are geared for stamina builds, these sets are confused to begin with, but only Red Mountain is a worthwhile investment. I'd suggest to turn the damage effect into a DoT (so it is at least affected by Thaumaturge), and loosen the conditions so it is more reliable to proc.

Torug's Pact
Increases the potency of your weapon's enchantment by by 30% and reduces the cooldown on the enchantment's proc by 1 second.

Believe me, I tried to make dedicated enchanter builds. It doesn't work. First, enchantments only work single target when most content requires AoE, and second, if you go all-in and make your weapon infused, you lose your sharpened trait, which is a huge damage loss across the board.
So this set should either remove all cooldowns, so enchantments can be procced reliably with every single target weave, or apply the enchantment to all enemies in a x meter radius when it procs.

Trial by Fire
When you take elemental damage, gain 7727 Resistance to that element for 4 seconds. You can only be resistant to one element at a time.

I actually like the idea, but the trouble is that this set has to compete with other tanking gear. Even Pariah might be a better choice. I think this set deserves a simple buff, both in resistances and duration. Add a nice visual effect while you're at it (unless it has one and I missed it?).

Whitestrake's Retribution
When you take damage while you are under 30% Health, you gain a damage shield that absorbs 10320 damage for 8 seconds. This effect can occur once every 15 seconds.

It's a really nice idea, but tanks don't really want damage shields, because they don't have any resistances and damage overflow might harm them more than help (unless that has changed since). As there are several dropped sets that behave similarly (Brands of the Imperium, Undaunted Bastion, etc) this is not really a crafting issue, although Brands of the Imperium is miles better. If I had a suggestion, drop the shield and allow to dodge all attacks for 2-3 seconds.
Also, again, having to fall in health to proc your set isn't fun.

Vampire's Kiss
When you kill an enemy, you heal for 5160 Health over 6 seconds.

This might actually be really helpful for solo content. Problem is that the effect doesn't seem to stack, and the 2-4 set bonuses (health rec, health, healing taken) are geared towards tanking when this is not what you'd use this set for. I'd suggest to change these bonuses to magicka recovery/stamina recovery/healing taken or magicka/stamina/healing taken, as well as slightly increasing the heal or the duration, so it can be a more useful survival tool for non-tanking builds.

Song of Lamae
When you take damage while under 30% Health, you deal 3870 Magic Damage to the attacker and heal for 3870 Health. This can effect can occur once every 30 seconds.

Again with the below 30% health conditions. And again missing the point of what tanks need. In all environments where tanks are required, healing should usually be covered by the healer.
I'd probably replace the whole effect with something that procs when you are healed, instead of healing you, but I'm unsure what the best effect would be. AoE damage could contribute to group dps, but is usually not the first choice for tanks.

Alessia's Bulwark
When you take damage from a melee attack, you have a 15% chance to reduce attacker's Weapon Damage by 10% for 5 seconds

There might be a theme with tanking sets here.
Maim is too easy to come by to warrant using a 5set piece for it, and it's also 15% instead of 10%. Either make the effect AoE to support group members, or change it to Major Maim, which afaik doesn't exist yet.

Noble's Conquest
When you interrupt a casting enemy, you heal for 4300 Health and increase the enemy's damage taken by 8% for 5 seconds.

How often do you interrupt someone or something? I assume even if it insta-killed everything you interrupted, this set wouldn't see a whole lot of play. So I'm really not sure how to fix this.

Kvatch Gladiator
When your target is under 25% Health, add 1800 Weapon Damage to your Light and Heavy Attacks.

I actually used this set on a DK heavy attack build. Issue one is of course that you sacrifice too much, and issue two is that even if the conditions are met, spamming the 2h execute is usually better than charging heavy attacks.
So, this set needs a boost in every direction. Increase the threshold to <40% health, and flat out double light and heavy attack damage.

Redistributor
When you heal yourself while at full Health, you heal an ally within 15 meters of you for 2347 Health. This effect can occur once every 3 seconds.

The idea is not silly, but again, this set has to compete with so many better ones. 2347 health is really not a lot for a healer. Even applying Minor Vitality to everyone in range might be preferable.

Varen's Legacy
When you block an attack, you have a 10% chance to cause your next direct damage area of effect attack to deal an additional 3450 Damage.

I really don't see what ZOS was going for with this. But it's not useful. I'm inclined to say, just do something else entirely with this set.

Shalidor's Curse
While you are under 50% Health, dealing damage with a Light Attack heals you for 559 Health.

Terrible condition, meager heal, unfitting name. Even removing the health condition would make this set only marginally useful, certainly not good enough for an 8-trait set. Add +2 ultimate per light attack to that and see how it goes.

Oblivion's Foe
Increases the damage of your Soul Trap abilities by 100%.

Nobody uses Soul Trap for its damage. In fact, nobody but me uses Soul Trap, period. Given that Soul Assault was already buffed recently, I don't think extending the effect to the ultimate is a good idea though.
How about restoring 15 Ultimate when trapping a soul?

Way of the Arena
Reduces cost of Break Free by 40%.

This would be a good set if it didn't have to compete with others. I think it just needs another effect to sweeten the deal. Increased CC immunity duration? Speed boost after CC break? Something.

Morkuldin
When you deal damage with a Light or Heavy attack, you have a 10% chance to summon an animated weapon to attack your enemies for 15 seconds. The animated weapon's basic attack deals 4551 Physical Damage.

I think this used to be a good set, but for a 9 trait set, it's still lackluster. I'm not sure how to improve it without rewriting it , though.

Pelinal's Aptitude
Your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage both become the highest of the two values.

Hybrids are bad. But they might be better if this effect extended to weapon and spell crit.