Kagukan wrote: »

Shields instant cast. 1 second cooldown.
Shields instant cast but lock entire skill bar for 1 second. This would be a true choice between surviving or doing damage.

Nox_Noir wrote: »

Assume that we all agreed that shields needed some changes, a cast time is without a doubt the single most unfun thing that could possibly happen.
I don't think the community will ever accept the cast time. So here's a compilation of 10 alternative changes that would do the job without resorting to a cast time, just to show that there are certainly other ways to go on about it.

1. Stacking shields and recasting too quickly costs extra magicka (similar to streak or roll dodge fatique)
2. Short delay between cast and shield popping up (1-2s) but still instant cast
3. Shields from different sources don't stack (strongest value overrides)
4. Shield doesn't pop to full strength instantly but builds up over short time frame (E.G. 20% of current amount every second for 5s)
5. Shields have a weakness to a certain element (E.G. Frost damage)
6. Small general cost increase
7. Short Cooldown
8. Reduce shield effectiveness (Size, Resistance etc)
9. Instant cast but 1s interruption window after which shield pops
10. Debuff to caster for duration

more ideas to extend this list are welcome, lets see how many good ones we can come up with.

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

As usual, ZOS is trying to do too many things at once. Allowing resitances to apply and making shields critable is already a monstrous change. It is going to take a while for the dust to settle and measure the impact of this. I do believe it will result in a net nerf, but it’s always hard to tell when they are pulling at both ends.

In isolation, it’s a PVE buff because NPCs don’t crit. In a PVP, hard to see how it ultimately doesn’t result in a nerf. There is too much pen and too many crit modifiers. A player relying on shields is going to have to make sacrifices elsewhere to get the same mitigation they are used to.

Before I go any further, I will say that a cast time is the worst possible approach here, especially on top of what was already discussed. Cast times in a dynamic game like this just feel terrible in the best of scenarios. In a place like cyro that is often subject to crippling lag, the idea of putting a cast time on a class’s main defense ability is simply ludicrous.

ZOS, your game simply doesn’t work that well.

ZOS also has demonstrated over the last 4 years that they don’t listen to constructive feedback. They listing to whining and often react inappropriately, but once their mind is made up, they are more likely to let a change crash and burn on live for 3-6 months than backpedal on the PTS. It seems they are set on cast times as a response to PVE and healers feeling sad and lonely. Of course they are missing the mark because it’s their own content design that is filled with unhealable one shots, and to this day I have never been in a trial group that said they didn’t want a healer, but I digress...

At this point what I want is for them to remove the cast time from Hardened ward. Here are a few points as to why.

We are not plagued with Sorcs over running PVE currently. They are mediocre at best for damage. Even If they are the only one with an instant cast shield, that is not going to radically shift group comp. Shields are barely needed in PVE by the best groups anyway outside of 2-3 pieces of content. You aren’t going to suddenly have class exlusion because Sorcs have it a bit easier on defense, especially considering that Sorcs give very little to their group (you really only need one).

The real problem here is PvP, not PVE where content is scripted. Adapting to a cast time on PVE is doable. It’s stupid that we have to, but it’s doable.

Removing the cast time from hardened ward would still allow Sorcs to react dynamically to an incoming threat in the same way that cloak, Breath of life, wings, shimmering shield, and roll dodging does (just to name a few).

On the other hand, this would still constitute a hefty nerf to shield stacking. Sorcs would not be able to do this reactively, they would have to pick and chose their moments if they want to stack shields, otherwise they would be stuck with just one. It would still be an effective move in some situations, but it would eliminate perpetual 20k additional health bars on Sorcs.

Sorcs are in a bad spot at the moment. They were an overturned one trick pony for a while there, but that ship has sailed. They have gone from a class of too many CCs to one that barely has the space for one. They have a choice between one that is clunky telegraphed and dodagble or one that is clunkier, blockable, expensive, and requires melee range.

Their damage can be strong, but it is the most predictable of any class, and is a shadow of its former self. It also takes an entire skill bar to accomplish.

Their access to major minor buffs is a joke compared to ANY other class. With this metric, they are in last place by a mile.

Their mobility is pitiful at this point. The swift stamina meta runs circles around a streaking Sorc at a fraction of the cost.

If something is not done, Sorcs are going to be a dead class in cyro. At first it will be dead Sorcs littered on the battlefield followed by a rise in the population in other more powerful classes as people jump ship.