Whats up with the surge of Night Blades & Dragon Knights

jerj6925 · January 2018

What is up with the surge of Night Blades now days? On the PS4 server there is the massive surge of sooooo many people paying them now. when fighting AD if I have the kill night blades quest, its almost completed faster than kill enemy players quest, followed closely by dragon knights. When fighting EP it seems to be an almost even mix of Night Blades and dragon nights but still EP army is mostly night blades followed by dragon knights. DC seemed to be the most balanced with a some what even mixe but even now I am more often the calls for NB only groups and dragon knights are on the rise.

Recently playing in imperial city... night blades and Dragon knights are everywhere with a few Sorc's and Templar here and there. Hell a group of night blades and dragon knights almost refused me to the group because I was playing a Templar. They even were bragging about how they don't need a healer and for the most part healers are worthless in pvp now, the only time they get taken down is if they are getting beat on by 15+ players and even then they boost how often they survive that when the attackers get board and just give up. Night blades just keep going to stealth and with reveal options as broke as they are (half the time mage light wont revel a night blades) its a free get away.

it seems ESO combat has lost its way, I thought a well balanced group is what was needed to be the most effective, but I am hearing more and more players saying its really dumb to play anything but Night Blades and Dragon Knights right now.

I only have a Templar and with my busy life I really don't want to make another class as I enjoy him a lot, but Templar's are really wanted less and less now days. sure needed for those really hard Vet trials and some dungeons but those are so few and far between when looking at the whole scope of the game or even if you just focus on PVP like I do now days.

coop500 · January 2018

Nightblades is a easy answer, because people are edgy and like the assassin feel, also NB is a pretty powerful class overall in PVP, because they can just run away and negate damage if they get into trouble.

And of course gankers are a thing unfortunately.

As for Dragonknights, gonna go with people liking to tank damage and perma block, this is easiest on a DK

Uriel_Nocturne · January 2018

I have only Magicka Templars and Sorcerers.

So I reject your "surge". lol :P

Oreyn_Bearclaw · January 2018

NB is the most well rounded class in the game. From the standpoint of skill design and access to major/minor buffs, it is tough to beat a nightblade. They also have a very appealing "rogue" playstyle. My first toon way back was your classic Legolas style character, and NB seems to fit that bill better than most classes.

Even though this is primarily PVP related, they have become the dominate PVE damage class in the last few patches. Good raids are running as many as 7/8 magic nightblades in the new trial. In other trials, 3/4 of your range being mNBs and virtually all your melee being stamblades decked in war machine is not uncommon. That certainly will spill over into PVP to some degree.

DK is more of a mixed bag. Magic DKs are in a pretty bad spot in PVE (stam are still killing it) but both are very powerful in the right hands in PVP (despite what the forums say). If your goal is to make an extremely tanky build, DK is hard to beat. I dont see nearly as many DKs in cyro as I do NBs, but i suppose every experience is different.

NyassaV · January 2018

Nightblade has been a *** tier class for awhile but now it's actually getting good so more play it. As for DK, stam DK has the best PvE DPS and requires almost no effort to do the rotation

Marginis · January 2018

Dragonknights are arguably the best when it comes to straight up tanking and staying alive with the current meta. They also have some abilities useful for pvp.

As for nightblades, they have arguably the best utility, and on top of that are the best gankers because of stealth, and on top of that they have top tier dps capability.

Wardens don't have the same utility, templars best roles aren't that great in the current meta, and sorcerers don't specialize like DK or NB, generally.

It's not that anything not DK or NB is bad, it's more that pvp is full of metagame-huggers. Kinda like that group that wouldn't group with you just because of a class you're running. That kind of classism is just stupid.

Apache_Kid · January 2018

What's up with surge in 50% of the available classes that you have access to without Morrowind? Gee idk. Was it all Templars and sorcs and wardens before this?

VaranisArano · January 2018

IDK about everyone else, but I'm leveling a magblade bomber in anticipation of the ZOE cap removal...

Toast_STS · January 2018

Sampling error, you are in the sewers. Although nightblade is definitely the most popular class you just usually can't see them.

Thogard · January 2018

Dunno about DKs

But nightblades are really strong right now, and getting stronger.

Kode · January 2018

I'm not sure. What are the streamers pushing these days?
People are naturally followers, it is easier.

Pink_Violinz · January 2018

Toast_STS wrote: »

Sampling error, you are in the sewers. Although nightblade is definitely the most popular class you just usually can't see them.

Uh, no. NA PS4 is infested with magblades running destro ults atm.

I was in overland Cyro just yesterday, and it was probably the worst pvp experience I've ever had. They bulldozed over anything and everything, and we lost all of our ground in about 2 days. They only recently appeared and theres at least a full 24 man group running around.

jerj6925 · January 2018

Toast_STS wrote: »

Sampling error, you are in the sewers. Although nightblade is definitely the most popular class you just usually can't see them.

Ohhh so because I played in imperial city two times in the last few months that must be my only sampling??? Move on already.

NyassaV · January 2018

Marginis wrote: »

Dragonknights are arguably the best when it comes to straight up tanking and staying alive with the current meta. They also have some abilities useful for pvp.

As for nightblades, they have arguably the best utility, and on top of that are the best gankers because of stealth, and on top of that they have top tier dps capability.

Wardens don't have the same utility, templars best roles aren't that great in the current meta, and sorcerers don't specialize like DK or NB, generally.

It's not that anything not DK or NB is bad, it's more that pvp is full of metagame-huggers. Kinda like that group that wouldn't group with you just because of a class you're running. That kind of classism is just stupid.

I've always played a nightblade. Even when it was pretty bad

Waffennacht · January 2018

You already know the answer

_Salty_ · January 2018

People play what works. Stamblades are in a good place right now. Sure you could play another class that's underachieving but people get sick of slamming their *** in a car door after a while.

Ragnarock41 · January 2018

Templars are total game changers in PvP. Especially magplars that actually help teammates. I stopped using dots entirely because it does nothing to groups with templar healers.

Stamblades are second best stamina class in the game, and they have the strongest defensive ability in the game, ability to disappear.

For PvE, people run whatever pulls bigger numbers, which happens to be stamDks.

Marginis · February 2018

Hollery wrote: »

I've always played a nightblade. Even when it was pretty bad

In the beta I played around with different classes and setups. I didn't get very far, but I was able to see, if nothing else, the theme behind the classes. Trying to have foresight, before the game even officially launched, I made my first character. He was a nightblade, because I could see that nightblades have utility that other classes just don't have easy access to. I mean, invisibility without consumables; health sapping; moving around, stunning and slowing. Other classes have other benefits, definitely, but for my playstyle and being generally effective no matter the meta (because the meta will always change), nightblade would still be an decent choice, even if they sucked in PVP, because they had general utility in PVE. I still main my nightblade today, years later, even with Warden being supposedly OP right now and people telling me nightblades can't tank (they can - quite well too).

Long story short, internet high five to anyone who plays the class they want regardless of whatever the metagame says is "good".

Vaoh · February 2018

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

NB is the most well rounded class in the game. From the standpoint of skill design and access to major/minor buffs, it is tough to beat a nightblade. They also have a very appealing "rogue" playstyle. My first toon way back was your classic Legolas style character, and NB seems to fit that bill better than most classes.

Even though this is primarily PVP related, they have become the dominate PVE damage class in the last few patches. Good raids are running as many as 7/8 magic nightblades in the new trial. In other trials, 3/4 of your range being mNBs and virtually all your melee being stamblades decked in war machine is not uncommon. That certainly will spill over into PVP to some degree.

DK is more of a mixed bag. Magic DKs are in a pretty bad spot in PVE (stam are still killing it) but both are very powerful in the right hands in PVP (despite what the forums say). If your goal is to make an extremely tanky build, DK is hard to beat. I dont see nearly as many DKs in cyro as I do NBs, but i suppose every experience is different.

^^

LeagueTroll · February 2018

All i see is less sorc in pvp.

Ragnarock41 · February 2018

LeagueTroll wrote: »

All i see is less sorc in pvp.

maybe because they are no longer the godmode class?

ak_pvp · February 2018

Depends. People like the fire and fury/sneaky and stabby feel of both classes. Pyromancers/dragons and assassins are always big draws.

From personal viewership last patch. (not played enough OW as of CWC) it was NBs>Sorc=templars>DK>Warden. But since the playstyle nerfs has apparently dropped to DK level. In BGs its wardens/templars as the MVP, then DKs>sorc=NB. CP really brought up the tank playstyle.

JamuThatsWho · February 2018

Got a NB sitting at level 1 ready to go when Update 17 goes live.

I know I don't need them, but I kinda wanna collect those leveling rewards.

Looks like I'm going MagNB!