Background (Skippable)

Out of curiosity, I tried out a few resource hybrid builds recently that I figured could be quite a fun attempt for solo content. I quickly realised the game was EXTREMELY tuned towards archtypes in resources with damage specifically being focused around using one resource primarily, and following it up with a minimum investment in health as a secondary.

Tanks seem to be the exception due to their specific job being focused purely on resource sustaining, where damage stats mean near nothing to the builds. Damage dealer hybrids are extremely limited by sacrificing resource sustain vs damage to a much larger extent than archtype builds that focus on either magicka or stamina.

By far the biggest dilemma I had was deciding which weapon to use. I could either go with a staff to make magic sustain easier, or use a physical weapon to make stamina easier to manage. However: Using staves places the build a stone's throw away from a magicka archtype with a wasteful use of stamina abilities thrown in the mix; and using physical weapons makes it difficult to consistently use magicka abilities with enough of a sustain/damage ratio to be of any use.

This is somewhat of an annoying issue for me because there are several sets in the game designed to cater toward hybrid builds, but they're considered useless sets because the actual builds themselves are flawed right from the start in that one can't select an ideal weapon option for such a build.

At this point, I was starting to brainstorm what kinda weapon/ability setup I could use, writing down all sorts of scrap notes on a notepad. Conveniently, my game crashed and the Summerset art that came up with the game starting up again reminded me that the elven cinematic hero uses a single sword along with a free hand for spells. For some reason, this defining weapon type that introduced the game right from the start in the trailer hasn't been available within the game itself.

Now I have no idea if this post will do anything to get such a weapon type available, and I have no clue about who I'd have to contact to get the suggestion known. Either way, I'm just putting it out here for someone to do something with it.

If you know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy, feel free to share the idea. If you know a place where devs regularly check for suggestions to improve the game, feel free to send this concept over there.

Concept

The basic idea is to make a new weapon skill line (e.g. 2H, Destro, Bow, etc.) that could be used as an alternative specifically designed for hybrid builds. One that is meant to push hybrid builds forward and help to create more build diversity without compromising performance.

The idea would be to equip a one handed weapon in your main hand, and no weapon in the off hand. Currently, doing that will increase the 1H+S skill line, regardless of whether you have a shield equipped. The defining switch to dual wield that changes the skill line is equipping a second weapon in the off hand. I propose a similar system be put in place where the defining option for 1H+S is equipping a shield, and otherwise leaving your off hand free would level up your 'spellsword' skill line instead.

Now ideally you want this skill line to cater to both magicka and stamina, thus heavy attacks will need to be adjusted for this weapon setup. Instead of giving stamina back on a heavy attack (or magicka alternatively), this weapon's heavy attack should return both resources. Now I figure it would be overkill to give the same amounts as other weapons, so I suggest half of each resource instead (e.g. 5000 stam for DW HA, 5000 mag for Destro HA, 2500 stam + 2500 mag for spellsword HA). However, due to the nature of how sustaining two resources will split the effort compared to focusing on making one resource sustainable, I suggest instead of a 50% returm on both, a 65%-75% return might be more viable (e.g. 3750 stam + 3750 mag).

This addition won't make the weapon type effective for hybrids on it's own, thus the skills will be where it really gets defined. Active skills should cater to both stamina and magicka, and passives should bring the weapon more in line with other weapon types. All of the following is just a suggestion, and I fully encourage alternatives if you think they could be improved.

Active Skills

1. Slash: A basic swing of the 1H weapon of your choice that should deal a standard amount of damage compared to other weapon types, and this should be based off stamina as it's costed resource. Morphs could include two of these options: one that slightly increments damage, or one that heals a small amount based on damage dealt, or one that may include a stun, or perhaps something as simple as empower to increase light or heavy attack damage.

2. Bolt: This should be a simple magic damage projectile that scales off magicka as it's costed resource. There won't be a reliable method in this setup to dictate what kind of magic damage (as opposed to simply equiping a different staff type), so in this case it could either simply be magic damage as is, or it could follow force shock's example (destro) by being a projectile of flame, shock, and cold damage all at once. Morphs of this could include perhaps a small blast radius at the target location to affect multiple targets, an increased chance of applying status effects from one of the elemental damages caused, or perhaps an option that shys away from projectiles to counter deflection abilities.

3. Spinning Strike: I imagine this to be a stamina based attack in which the caster spins the sword away from the target and strikes from the opposite side with more force (damage) and more fatigue (stamina cost) than the first skill. I figure it would be meant as a more powerful alternative to the first skill if you can manage the higher cost. This one could perhaps have morphs that include a stun or knockback, or perhaps simply one that decreases cost slightly or increases damage slightly.

4. Magic Blast or Magic Slash: I figure this could be one of two things, in which either you simply blast a conal area in front of you with magic from your free hand, or you slash magic through your sword into a conal area in front of you. Morphs of this skill could follow suit on destructive touch (destro), where one morph does something in addition to the strike itself such as immobilizing, concussing, or knocking the target back, as well as one that increases the conal area size. Due to the nature of how it will be difficult to determine magical elements in this weapon type however, I suppose the first morph option will need an alternative.

5. This could be a simple buff ability, or an additional damage or support ability. Where other weapon types have access to major brutality from a certain active skill, this one could perhaps grant access to MINOR brutality + MINOR sorcery, or something similar to that. Otherwise if those would be granted through passive skills instead, there could be a different support skill here that could function as a sort of charge up skill. Perhaps an activated skill with a 10s duration that requires 2-3 light attacks to charge the skill up, which can then be activated to release a surge of magic to damage enemies in an area, either conal or radial.

Ultimate: The ultimate for this skill line could be something along the lines of strikimg the ground with a magically charged weapon to create a powerful blast in front of you, similar to the Dawnbreaker, but perhaps with a once off burst of damage in the initial strike as ooposed to where the Dawnbreaker has an initial damage as well as secondary damage.

Passive Skills

1. Magically Enhanced Force: Right off the bat, there needs to be something that brings this weapon up to a fighting chance against other weapon types. Where dual wield adds up the damage from both weapons and 1H+S sacrifices one weapon's damage for the sake of having extra defense, this passive should be allowed an overall damage boost of this weapon setup by at least 60%-80% to bring it up to at least shy of par damage compared to other weapons. Perhaps a way to bring in a boost to both stamina based and magicka based damage, but to a smaller degree as to make it somewhat more of a trade-off of the fullest extent of damage in either archtype for the ability to have that damage boost in both archtypes.

2. Sustain Booster: Builds like this will likely suffer much more from sustain problems due to the typical investments in either being cut in half to make sustaining both resources at the same time possible. Thus I suggest a passive that boosts sustain for stamina and magicka, whether it's recoveries of both or cost reductions of both. Either way, it will have to help with the entirety of such a build, not just for this weapon's active skills. Thus recovery would probably be preferred.

3. A small booster to stam and mag based critical ratings. Similar to how the bow has a small weapon critical boost, this could perhaps be a way to affect both archtypes of their critical ratings.

4. Similarly to how dual wield and destro have specific effects that occur with each different weapon type, a similar system could probably be incorporated here, in which the 1H weapon you have equipped determines somethin special about the skill line. Perhaps a balance tipping agent of sorts where for example a dagger makes one less inclined to deal high stamina based damage but more inclined toward magicka based damage due to less focus on handling your weapon frees up extra focus on the strength of your magic damage; or a mace being a heavier weapon increasing your stamina based damage but decreasing your magicka based damage.

5. This effect should be unique to the weapon type that can't be achieved elsewhere. Perhaps something like a plus-minus 2% proc that can activate off any off the weapon abilities above, which could negate or rdeuce the cost of the next ability. Perhaps this could be indiscriminate, or perhaps it could rely on what procced the passive to determine what ability type gets the effect (e.g. magicka weapon ability negates next magicka based ability cast; stamina weapon ability reduces cost of next stamina based ability).

Closing Statement

None of the above is a concept set in stone and by no means is it a final version either. If you have any edits or suggestions on how this could be different, you're welcome to respond with your ideas. This whole thing is mainly just a concept I thought of in the past hour of brainstorming, and could probably use tons of fine tuning. It's perhaps even somewhat sloppy at the moment, but definitely has potential.

I honestly hope someone who can do something about this will actually notice it and start getting the concept into the game, but that will probably require lots of support.

Regardless, I believe this is a concept that should have been in the game right from the start, and should even now be considered seriously by the devs. There are so many armor sets that were designed for hybrid builds to excel, but they seem like wasted potential due to the crippling fact that you don't have a weapon option available dedicated to hybridization. I mean, just look at Pelinal's Aptitude: Such a beautiful set being marred by the fact you can't really do anything with the set if you can manage both resources in the slightest.

Either way, hybrid builds are exceptionally underwhelming at the moment, and most probably won't even qualify for any sort of end game content, even though a game that allows such build diversity should actually make it possible for hybrids to have a chance at taking on end game content.

Let me know what you guys think about this and how it could be implemented or changed. Meantime, I'm probably gonna stow my hybrid guinea pig characters away for a while, and get back to them whenever something useful to hybrids becomes an available option.