Why is Deadly Cloak being nerfed?

Aztlan · May 2018

Deadly Cloak (Blade Cloak morph): Reduced the damage done by this morph by approximately 15%.

I'm baffled by this. To me, this is a key skill for melee stamina dps players. We're at more risk standing close, so the AoE mitigation provided by this skill is important. What's more, as a stamDK a lot of my skills are single target, so the damage from this skill helps because it hits mobs I'm not necessarily focusing on. Was this skill over-performing? How so?

It is also a nice skill in PvP for the relatively small number of stamina players that prefer DW.

Vapirko · May 2018

Because magicka dps have been crying loudly the whole year that stamina has better single target dps. No one can accept that certain classes or styles have their uses and want their class to be the best at everything. So ZOS is slowly homogenizing. Magicka has better protection, can continue dps from range and has better aoe dps so I’m actuality and some boss fights their single target dps is undoubtably higher, but that’s not enough they have to be better all the time. It’s fine, the stamina people will probably turn up the volume soon enough and next year magicka will get nerfed again. We went through a time when literally no stamina builds were being brought into competitive trials, and now that it’s ratively even, mag users aren’t happy.

VaranisArano · May 2018

Because ZOS likes to nerf the skills that everyone uses to give us reasons to change up our builds and keep up grinding. If something is a "key skill", BIS, or used by everyone, you can guess that it will eventually get a nerf.

This update, its Blade Cloak's turn, among other things.

Narvuntien · May 2018

Should put the AoE damage reduction into the medium armor skill line (instead of/as well as the useless in PVE stealth damage buffs ).

Might be trying to my 2h better in PVE.

Ladislao · May 2018

Because the difference in the damage between Quick Cloak and Deadly Cloak is extremely high. Almost twice.
Now the choice between them will be a bit more complicated.

ak_pvp · May 2018

My honest guess is to make it more comparable to shields. Deadly cloak has a 100% passive uptime nearly on AoE defense, which is generally the main cause of oneshots whilst also dealing DPS, so not losing a slot outright.

ZOS probably feels that it was too strong, being passive, constant, and less sacrificial. But I personally thought it was fine, since while it was better from a trials "keep damage up" area, it was less potent for something like emergency tanking if you has aggro.

Septimus_Magna · May 2018

*Name is accordingly changed to Slightly Harmful Cloak because its not Deadly anymore.

Enslaved · May 2018

I use this skill to mitigate AOE damage. I guess someone decided it deals too great damage on DW sSorcs so they decided to nerf it for all other stamina users as well.

lassitershawn · May 2018

Vapirko wrote: »

Because magicka dps have been crying loudly the whole year that stamina has better single target dps. No one can accept that certain classes or styles have their uses and want their class to be the best at everything. So ZOS is slowly homogenizing. Magicka has better protection, can continue dps from range and has better aoe dps so I’m actuality and some boss fights their single target dps is undoubtably higher, but that’s not enough they have to be better all the time. It’s fine, the stamina people will probably turn up the volume soon enough and next year magicka will get nerfed again. We went through a time when literally no stamina builds were being brought into competitive trials, and now that it’s ratively even, mag users aren’t happy.

Don't blame this on mag users lol. Nobody in the endgame raiding community (including mag mains like myself) wants to see no stamina in trials. Many are already upset that stamina is weak in general in vAS HM. Also, 2h stamina sorc has the best AoE DPS afaik, not magicka (just swap between DW/2h for bosses/trash). I fully support undoing this nerf.

Vapirko · May 2018

lassitershawn wrote: »

Vapirko wrote: »

Because magicka dps have been crying loudly the whole year that stamina has better single target dps. No one can accept that certain classes or styles have their uses and want their class to be the best at everything. So ZOS is slowly homogenizing. Magicka has better protection, can continue dps from range and has better aoe dps so I’m actuality and some boss fights their single target dps is undoubtably higher, but that’s not enough they have to be better all the time. It’s fine, the stamina people will probably turn up the volume soon enough and next year magicka will get nerfed again. We went through a time when literally no stamina builds were being brought into competitive trials, and now that it’s ratively even, mag users aren’t happy.

Don't blame this on mag users lol. Nobody in the endgame raiding community (including mag mains like myself) wants to see no stamina in trials. Many are already upset that stamina is weak in general in vAS HM. Also, 2h stamina sorc has the best AoE DPS afaik, not magicka (just swap between DW/2h for bosses/trash). I fully support undoing this nerf.

Well the level headed people like yourself may not be to blame, but if you've been on the forums this year you know how much crying there has been about Stamina single target DPS numbers. I don't even care about endgame PvE and even I found it annoying.

WuffyCerulei · May 2018

Mainly because stamina dps were pulling a lot more dps, by like 10k more on solo parses and almost double in trials. Not just single target, but also aoe. They aren't nerfing the utility of the skill though. They're keeping the enemy aoe damage reduction the same, so stamina builds aren't necessarily being made squishier.

lassitershawn · May 2018

Vapirko wrote: »

lassitershawn wrote: »

Vapirko wrote: »

Because magicka dps have been crying loudly the whole year that stamina has better single target dps. No one can accept that certain classes or styles have their uses and want their class to be the best at everything. So ZOS is slowly homogenizing. Magicka has better protection, can continue dps from range and has better aoe dps so I’m actuality and some boss fights their single target dps is undoubtably higher, but that’s not enough they have to be better all the time. It’s fine, the stamina people will probably turn up the volume soon enough and next year magicka will get nerfed again. We went through a time when literally no stamina builds were being brought into competitive trials, and now that it’s ratively even, mag users aren’t happy.

Don't blame this on mag users lol. Nobody in the endgame raiding community (including mag mains like myself) wants to see no stamina in trials. Many are already upset that stamina is weak in general in vAS HM. Also, 2h stamina sorc has the best AoE DPS afaik, not magicka (just swap between DW/2h for bosses/trash). I fully support undoing this nerf.

Well the level headed people like yourself may not be to blame, but if you've been on the forums this year you know how much crying there has been about Stamina single target DPS numbers. I don't even care about endgame PvE and even I found it annoying.

I would hope Zeni wouldn't put so much stake into random forum posts but clearly the changes prove that they do...

But seriously, it is pretty obvious that melee stamina needs more DPS than ranged magicka. Magicka has an easier time doing mechanics due to survivability and skills like CS, and typically provides more group support/utility with heals in the case of mageblade or sorc synergies etc.

Imo a good hierarchy of DPS would be the following:
Stam Melee (with utility and DPS being inversely related but all fairly close together)
Mag Melee (very slightly less, DK should have more than templar)
Mag Ranged (NB being highest by a 5-10% margin or so followed by sorc/magden).

lassitershawn · May 2018

WuffyCerulei wrote: »

Mainly because stamina dps were pulling a lot more dps, by like 10k more on solo parses and almost double in trials. Not just single target, but also aoe. They aren't nerfing the utility of the skill though. They're keeping the enemy aoe damage reduction the same, so stamina builds aren't necessarily being made squishier.

"Almost double" is an exaggeration. The biggest differences in DPS are usually on the easiest/most meaningless fights and magicka is still 100% necessary (at least sorc/NB) for mechanics and various forms of support. Stamina is all but excluded from vAS HM with groups having at max 1 stamina toon (and almost always a stamplar at that).

Minyassa · May 2018

Short answer: So monsters will kill me.

SosRuvaak · May 2018

this is a key ability for any good nightblade class really.

Morgul667 · May 2018

I use the other morph anyway

But yeah not cool for PVE