-How Medium Armor and Damage Shields should be changed



This is my opinion and what I think things should be based on when responding should be noted that this is how I think about how these 2 problems should be solved.

With the recent shield changes sorcs are absolutely dead in the water if next patch goes live as is. Most of the changes target the shield stackers as a whole but also want to change it to be a more useful tool for a tank.

So with this new change people have two options to let ZOS have their way or to make a deal with me.
I feel I have come up with a balanced method to shields and how they should have counter-play.

The Current Changes to shields ->

Right now I feel that shields with resistance and able to take critical damage is fine and okay as a whole as it means being more tanky as a magicka sorcerer or a tank or anything that wants to use shields to keep a good survival rate in the game. However with that being said a 1 second cast time in my opinion was a lazy way to add counter-play.
What I will suggest isnt a debuff to shields by buffing defile or anything like that but I want to change shields to not be such a carry but also be able to be used effectively.

My suggested Changes to shields ->

So without a doubt shields will under go some kind of nerf this patch as ZOS has already stated, so I feel that I will chip in how I feel shields should be changed for the better.

Elemental Damage Shields -

I feel that each shield should be able to absorb a SPECIFIC type of damage. Many of you might not remember but their was a time when Annulment and its morphs ONLY absorbed magic damage and not anything else. My suggestion is to go back to this, as shields for both PvP and PvE are kinda over powered and Im not just favoring PvP here. I was able to clear out a veteran level dungeon with just myself and buddy on magicka nightblades with a dps build on. Now I dont know about you but when that is allowed to happen... when you are able to clear veteran level dungeons with just 2 people no healer or tank something is a miss. So let me explain.

How does it work -

Well with only certain damage being able to be absorbed these are how changes should go

Conjure ward and morphs will ONLY absorb Physical damage.

Annulment and morphs will ONLY absorb all forms of Magic and Element damage.

Healing ward and morphs will absorb BOTH Physical and Magic Damage.

Igneous and morphs will absorb BOTH Physical and Magic Damage.

Bone Shield and morphs will ONLY absorb Physical Damage.

Now with this setup like this you can see that larger damage shields absorb 1 type of damage and lesser damage shields that offer little to no shields offer both damage resistances. Igneous shield for instance is a 4k ward on 25k health person that is pretty small so it will absorb both, this makes it a great tanking tool for tanks with 50k health as it will grant a 12k shield that absorbs both, and the counter play in PvP is with that much health they deal no damage, just a tank.

This is a rough map of what it would look like, now I know what people are going to say "Zelos you are a idiot shields arent over powered and dont need this change" Well shields only allow you to protect your HP with a damage shield which can be refreshed whenever the caster wants to with resistance and can be stacked ontop of each other to absorb more and more damage... Whats so broken about that! "Come on Zelos what are you doing, you Zelos my friend are a idiot" now for those of you who cant tell Im joking I know none of you think that .

Now lets start with how this change would function in game.

PvE -

With this change PvE mechanics would be more of a hit on magicka players just like stamina players, If players want to slot Annulment they will be protected from Magic damage but vulnerable to all physical damage mechanics making the healers job more vital to the team and dps. However with a competent raid group someone can run Bone Shield which will ONLY absorb physical damage and make dps able to survive all types of damage, the key here is teamwork to make it work and not just 1 button on a DPSes bar to survive everything. Tanks can have their shield meaning Igneous absorb both types of damage allowing them to still be able to use wards.

PvP -

In PvP things change a little. Keeping in mind the same PvE changes lets start with Magicka Sorcerers, well for these guys they will have to think a little bit more to know which shield to use against what attacker if they have both slotted. If they are fighting a Physical damage player(or Stamina) they will only use lets say conjured as Annulment wont be much use and will serve as a waste of magicka. Same thing in reverse between fighting magicka or stamina.

Isnt that a nerf to the total size of shields?!?!?

Yes this is and thats the nerf for the patch however when facing multiple opponents like 1 Stamina and 1 Magicka as a magicka sorc you will have to cast both shields. Now here is where almost a buff comes in. Their attacks only hurt there respective shield. Here is a example

My magicka Sorcerer has a 10k Harness and a 10k Conjured. instead of both taking damage from both players they each take damage from different players. This means that lets say the stamina player is attacking me and applying heavy pressures and the magicka player isnt... Well then I dont have to recast the Annulment as much as the conjured. Or lets say the stamina is applying the pressure still and I line of sight... well now I dont have to cast Annulment at all for a little bit. Again same in reverse. This to some extent saves sustain.

Now healing ward is again small but can absorb both types of damages making it good at lower health on top of your regular damage shields so really nothing needs to be said about it. Its about a 3k shield at 100% health following the same previous rule that low shields get to absorb both damage types and its usefulness comes in at low health, just like Igneous is useful to people at higher health.

This is my stated change for shields I may update more thoughts and implement more changes as I had a lot but as I write this its 4am and I just want to get the thought out there.
On to the last topic

Medium Armor ->

Medium armor is still suffering a little this patch and the new one. The Shuffle or Evasion changes is actually quite good however its not enough at the moment. Time to kill in medium armor is still through the roof as we dont have the mitigation of heavy or the damage absorbing of light. While the Evasion change will help in PvP I believe that medium armor still needs a better passive to reduce damage taken for certain aspects, and the Improved Sneak is a obvious candidate for it. It needs more to it like even a 10% Damage reduction would help medium armor greatly as nothing has really helped medium armor in PvE at all. Blade Cloak hasnt changed its still a 25% Mitigation to AoEs and as helpful as it is stamina still dies very fast in Dungeons and Trials.

Shuffle still needs more on it as the 0.5 seconds per medium armor for snare immunity and cleanse is GARBAGE it should at least be 1 second per medium armor piece. I am recasting shuffle faster then my 2 second regen because of snares, while Forward Momentum gets 8 seconds at a lower cost and grants major brutality and a heal over time for 2700 stamina and Shuffle is 3800 with the new Evasion and a max of 2.5 second snare immunity?!?! Something isnt quite right there.

Medium armor still requires a buff and NO a 3% weapon damage increase will not do it. We need a damage reduction or resistances attached to medium armor. Im not asking for God Mode.
This is the change I wanted on Improved Sneak

"Improved Evasion"

Reduces the cost of Sneak by 7% and detection radius by 5% per medium armor piece.

Also it increases your Spell and Physical Resistances by 3,000 and Critical Resistance by 1,000 while roll dodging and up to 5 seconds afterwards depending on the amount of medium armor pieces equipped.

Now I think this can help medium armor become more survivable its not free resistance you have to actively roll dodge to gain the buff but I think that it could really improve medium armor in both PvE and PvP.



DISCLAIMER -

these are my thoughts on changes that should happen... im not saying they are the end all be all but my personal views on it.

Keep in mind when responding to keep both PvE and PvP in mind as I did not just focus on one or the other in this thread. Do not bash any feedback please as these changes are crucial to the games health. Thank you