EDIT 1 1:44am EST, 2/5/2019: @JobooAGS has pointed out that I've overlooked the Recovery % bonuses that will scale all the flat Recovery values up by a significant amount. From that, I've rebalanced the numbers a little.
EDIT 2 12:11pm EST, 2/5/2019: Forgot to tweak Khajiiti numbers in EDIT 1. Now fixed. Also clarified that the numbers above come from data collected during PTS 4.3.1.
UPDATE 1 2/10/2019: I have completed the exact same Magplar parsing regimen on PTS v4.3.2, and have updated all of the numbers according to my findings. The alleged new CP scaling was also non-existent on the PTS, so I am not able to comment on what the changes would actually be like. None of my suggestions and opinions have changed; my testing data only reinforced them.
Intro
Just earlier today, ZOS released the patch notes for the upcoming 4.3.2 Wrathstone patch on the PTS. Unfortunately, the PTS is currently still offline, so I am unable to collect real data as of this hour. However, I believe I am still qualified to offer a reliable opinion based on my experience as an end-game raider and also from
the loads of data from all of my testing done on previous PTS patches.UPDATE 1: I have the 4.3.2 parsing DATAAAAAA.
As a disclaimer, I am going to cover these changes from the perspective of a Magicka DPS and Tank main; my experience with Healing is limited, and it has been a long time since I've used my Stamina DPS in trials, so my opinions on those roles should be taken with a grain of salt.
Previous Testing
Before I start, I am going to post these charts here
of my testing done on PTS 4.3.2.
Done on the exact same rotations (with a script) save for a cast of Spell Symmetry or two on Magicka Templars on the 6mil Target Skeleton, as well as normalizing all the lucky and unlucky Critical Hits to the proper Critical Chance those builds should have, these are currently the most accurate numbers I have on the performance that Magicka DPS have.
I understand that Magicka Templars have 10% extra Critical Damage. For your consideration, here I have calculated the parses with 10% lower Critical Damage.
The rest of the relevant data can be found in my PTS testing documentation thread that I've linked above.
Onwards.
Opinions, Rants, and Suggested Changes
Real quick, let's talk about the Shadow Mundus.
Mundus Stones
- Shadow Mundus: Increased the Critical Hit Damage bonus to 13% from 9%. Note that this still will not affect critical healing.
The Shadow Mundus should not be buffed, at least, either not this much, or not until Khajiits get a nerf in their Crit.
Let's take the numbers up top. I've taken those parses and converted the numbers to use the Shadow Stone rather than the Thief stone. With 3 Infused body pieces, the Critical Chance is lowered by 9.1% and the Critical Damage is increased by 16.9%.
Here are the parses for Shadow Mundus change.
Just to clarify, these are purely calculated as if I had the exact same parsing gear on; the numbers would evidently be a bit more different if I had put on different gear, such as Mother's Sorrow.
However, I am confident that the buff to the Shadow Mundus tips the balance too far in favor of Khajiiti.
Altmer
- High Elf
- Spell Recharge: The return for this passive will now restore your lowest maximum resource, rather than your highest. We also increased the value to 645 from 525.
First of all, Altmer are already really powerful on live when it comes to Magicka DPS, and probably deserve a nerf. However, I feel that Spell Recharge was a really good passive for what it does; it was essentially 75 Magicka per second in all of my testing, and works really well for their Magicka kit without being overbearingly sustainable like Bretons are.
This change
does not make sense. Not only is a restoration to your lowest maximum resource counter-intuitive to what, well, everything is supposed to be in here, it is also entirely useless. If something is draining their Magicka, they don't want Stamina regen, and if you actually do want the Stamina regen, you're probably playing the Altmer on Stamina and you'd get the Magicka regen instead. The
only situation I think this passive could be useful in any stretch of the imagination is for tanking, where you want high Stamina pools and high Magicka regen, and even then that is a stretch.
How I would change Altmer at this point:
- Spell Recharge: Restore 575 Magicka or and Stamina , based on whichever is higher, after activating a Class Ability. This effect can occur once every 6 seconds. Reduces damage taken by 5% while you are using an ability with a cast or channel time.
- Syrabane’s Boon: Increases your Max Magicka by 2000.
- Elemental Talent: Increases your Spell Damage by 258 129.
Altmer are already too powerful; this should bring that down a little. However, they would still be among the top for Magicka DPS. The slight buff to their utility in terms of dual stat restoration should still be a healthy amount to assist in utility roles without being overbearingly powerful.
Argonian
- Argonian
- Life Mender: Increased the Healing Done bonus to 6% from 4%.
- Resourceful: Increased the Health, Magicka, and Stamina restore from drinking a potion to 4000 from 3620.
Argonians have had a ton of utility before the PTS, and that was nerfed down by quite a lot. Personally, I feel those nerfs were justified; Argonian sustain at that point felt fair, and they still feel good to play without being overly powerful in terms of utility. Honestly, I felt they were close enough for the utility roles and PvP, so yes, the nerfs to Argonians were great. What I did not like, however, was the lack of buffs to them, especially in terms of their damage-dealing ability. They are close to rock-bottom when it comes to Magicka DPS, and is actually at the bottom for Stamina DPS. With the new changes as well, they are overshadowed by other races not only in terms of damage, but in other roles as well; Nords and Imperials become better at Tanking, and Breton sustain makes them far superior to Argonians for Healing.
Here is the issue:
Argonians do not need more utility; they have enough to keep them decent at utility roles. Not only is the Healing Done bonus actually useless, because one really does not need extra healing especially in raids, it is also a passive that shoehorns Argonians into a Healing role without giving them anything for other types of utility.
How I would change Argonians at this point:
- Resourceful: Increases your Max Magicka and Stamina by 1000. Restore 4000 3600 Health, Magicka, and Stamina when you drink a potion.
- Argonian Resistance: Increases your Max Health by 1000 and your Disease Resistance by 2310. You are immune to the Diseased status effect.
- Life Mender: Increases your Healing Done and Received by 6% 2.5%. Upon receiving Healing, gain 129 Weapon and Spell Damage for 5 seconds.
While some people will argue that Argonians shouldn't be a DPS race, I do not believe races should be shoehorned into completely separate roles without overlap either. These changes will make sure that Argonians are in a healthy middle ground with everything they do without being overly powerful in one single thing.
I've nerfed the Healing Done and given them a tiny bit of Healing Received back, because in reality, any Healer has more than enough healing for any group and are more focused on giving their groups damage and utility buffs, but Tanks also need something for themselves. Besides, and loss in Healing Done can be made back up with their additional Spell Damage.
There's also the part where they have to receive healing in order to gain the Weapon and Spell Damage; this way, they have to ensure that they are continuously receiving healing in order to get that damage buff. In the end, even with these damage-based buffs, their damage will still be lower than Dunmer, and their sustain will still pale in comparison to Bretons. Their overall utility would still be nerfed compared to Live, but a decent amount of it would still be there to make them feel good to play on.
Bosmer
- Wood Elf
- Hunter's Eye: Reduced the Movement Speed Bonus granted to 10% from 20%, but added a bonus to Physical and Spell Penetration of 1500 for the duration.
I don't feel I am qualified enough on Stamina now to make an educated opinion on this; however, based on what I know from my
past experience as an end-game Stamina DPS main, I think Bosmer are close to being in a healthy place right now in terms of Stamina DPS, though are very much lacking in other roles. I think the Physical and Spell Penetration for 3 seconds after using Roll Dodge is interesting, but it is too situational and the duration is too low to be useful in PvE. Rather, I think Bosmer deserve a bit more love when it comes to their effectiveness in other roles, especially when they are already overshadowed by Dunmer, Orcs, Khajiit, and Redguards when it comes to Stamina DPS.
EDIT 1: It has been brought to my attention that the Stamina Recovery Bosmer have is much more than it seems; typical Stamina Recovery % increases range between 72% (stamDK setup) up to even 92% (stamSorc setup) and perhaps higher. Taking that same stamSorc setup, they have about 87 Stamina per second recovered at the top-end on Live, and now on the PTS they can have up to 248 Stamina restored per second. That's actually kinda insane.
How I would change Bosmer at this point:
- Y’ffre’s Endurance: Increases your Stamina Recovery by 258 129.
- Resist Affliction: Increases your Max Stamina by 2000 and your Poison Resistance by 2310. You are immune to the Poisoned status effect.
- Hunter’s Eye: Increases your Stealth detection radius by 3m. Increases Weapon and Spell Critical with Ranged Abilities by 3%. After you use Roll Dodge you gain 10% Movement Speed for 3 seconds , and increases Physical and Spell Penetration by 1500 for the duration.
I don't believe the Physical and Spell Penetration is useful at all. It's far too situational for PvE, and could prove to be too powerful in PvP (though I don't have enough experience in PvP to have much of a say here). Rather, I've decided to capitalize on the Bosmer's legacy of legendary marksmanship with the increase to Weapon and Spell Crit on Ranged Abilities, which can also include healing abilities.
Honestly, really, I don't know. I don't know enough about the current state of Stamina DPS to make proper judgement; you guys decide.
EDIT 1: Just to update with newer numbers, I've also nerfed their Stamina Recovery down; this will still keep them at among the top in terms of Sustain for all Stamina DDs.
Breton
- Breton
- Spell Attunement: The Spell Resistance granted by this effect will now be doubled if you are afflicted with Burning, Chilled, or Concussed.
This change is interesting, though I would need to see it in practice to give a proper opinion. However, I do have a very, very strong opinion about their sustain.
Right now, on PTS 4.3.2, the Magicka Mastery passive on Bretons means that they can replace a Clockwork Citrus Filet with a blue bi-stat Health+Magicka food in order to have the exact same sustain as Dunmer, which any and all Breton Magicka DPS would definitely do. After all, just replacing that food means a whopping additional 1.5k extra Magicka (before buffs) to play with, so in total 1.75 times as much Magicka as an Altmer. That, however, is not inherently an issue; with that much sustain, they become the ultimate Healers, because let's be real here, in proper play, Healers already have more than enough Healing to cover the group; it is being able to sustain that Healing that already make Bretons ever-so-slightly more desirable than Argonians for that role on Live, and
so much more desireable than Argonians for that role with these changes.
How I would change Bretons at this point:
- Gift of Magnus: Increases your Max Magicka by 2000 2250.
- Spell Resistance: Gain 2310 Spell Resistance and 100 Magicka Recovery. This effect is doubled if you are afflicted with Burning, Chilled, or Concussed.
- Magicka Mastery: Reduces the Magicka cost of your abilities by 7% 3%.
They already have 100 Magicka Recovery (
EDIT: really 164 - 179, depending on the class). They don't need an additional 320 from that 7% Magicka cost reduction (and that's just on a DPS role). Bringing that 7% down to 3% would make them still more sustainable than Altmer in a DPS role but not by an insane amount (Altmer have effectively 160 Magicka Recovery with their Spell Recharge, and Bretons would have 300 with these proposed changes), and also still more sustainable than Argonians to be better for sustained Healing.
EDIT 1: Just to balance out that sustain loss, I've also given them about 250 more Max Magicka to boost their damage slightly.
Dunmer
- Dark Elf
- Dynamic: Increased the Max Magicka and Stamina granted to 1875 from 1250.
- Resist Flame: Removed the Max Health bonus from this passive.
Okay, ZOS, you need to stop.
Dunmer absolutely
do not need both their Magicka and Stamina damage to be so close to the top. Pick one. Because right now, even on PTS 4.3.1, they are dealing very respectable Magicka damage, and from what I've read in other raiding Discords, Dunmer are on par with Orcs and Khajiit in terms of Stamina DPS.
UPDATE 1: Just so happens, they are now on par with Altmer with a difference of only 125 Magicka between them.
The thing is that I liked most of the Dunmer changes for 4.3.0; they nerfed their Magicka ability and gave them a buff to Stamina, which makes them a great hybrid race, good for either Stamina or Magicka, without being a master at both. However, those changes, while healthy for their Magicka Damage ability, also made them slightly too good for Stamina.
How I would change Dunmer at this point:
- Dynamic: Increases your Max Stamina and Magicka by 1875. Increases your Max Stamina by 750 and your Max Magicka by 1250.
- Resist Flame: Increases your Max Health by 600 and your Flame Resistance by 2310. You are immune to the Burning status effect.
- Ruination: Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 258.
I'm going to be honest here, Dunmer are already really healthy in terms of damage for PTS 4.3.1, and on top of that they get a boost to their Max Health. They are already very potent damage-dealers, and they don't need to be buffed further. With these changes here, all I did compared to PTS 4.3.1 was bring down their Max Stamina a bit to bring their Stamina DPS down slightly.
Imperial
- Imperial
- Red Diamond: Reworked this passive so when you deal Direct Damage now, you restore 333 Health, Magicka, and Stamina. This effect has a 5 second cooldown. It also will reduce the cost of Block and Bash by 5%.
Know what? This is a great change! Numbers can be tweaked, but I believe that this is a great direction to take the Red Diamond passive in; this will also make them somewhat decent at Stamina DPS as well with the additional Stamina sustain.
How I would change Imperials at this point:
None for now. Seriously, I like the direction they are going in.
Khajiit
- Khajiit
- Lunar Blessings: Increased the Max Health, Magicka, and Stamina bonuses to 825 from 750.
- Feline Ambush: Decreased the reduction of your Stealth radius to 3m from 5m.
- Robustness: Increased the Magicka and Stamina Recovery bonuses to 85 from 75.
The big issue here is that Khajiiti
do not need additional buffs to their damage. Right now, they are at the absolute top of the Magicka DPS stack, and is the same way for Stamina DPS. Again, just like it is for Dunmer, pick one.
UPDATE 1: Yup. Their damage has been unnecessarily buffed.
Khajiiti have hands down the best Magicka DPS on PTS 4.3.2, and even more so when Major Force is provided in raids. I honestly really like the idea of Khajiiti being able to crit more, but with the many different sources of additional Critical Damage and the way it is handled differently on different classes, it makes Khajiiti too strong.
How I would change Khajiiti at this point:
- Robustness: Increases your Health Recovery by 100 and your Stamina and Magicka recovery by 85 150 75.
- Lunar Blessings: Increases your Max Health, Magicka, and Stamina by 825 750.
- Feline Ambush: Increases your Weapon and Spell Critical Chance by 8% 6%. Reduces your detection radius in Stealth by 3m.
Not much to say here. They absolutely did not need the resource buff. They needed a slight nerf to their Magicka DPS capabilities enough to bring their damage-dealing capabilities down below Altmer, but still high enough to still be really potent at Magicka and Stamina DPS. I've given them some additional resource regen as well to counteract that slightly and make sure they have the Stamina sustain necessary to remain good at Stamina DPS.
EDIT 2: Forgot to tweak Khajiiti sustain numbers during my EDIT 1. I've brought it down to 75; it was actually almost on par with Argonians in terms of sustain at 85, and Argonians should definitely have more sustain than Khajiit.
Nord
No changes to Nords; color me surprised. Let's talk Nords, then.
The biggest thing to jump out at me about Nords is their new Ultimate regen. As a raider, you know how much I love those Warhorn damage buffs, and the raiders around me like them too. I've checked the raiding Discord servers I'm in, and the general opinion is that no race should have Ultimate regen as a thing. In fact, people have already theorized Nord healers simply because of that Ulti-gen (also says something about the Healer role; they're about keeping the team alive and buffs, not pumping out insane amounts of healing). Just checking the numbers on the current iteration of Nords, I am inclined to agree, because it is really useful for scorepushing.
Rather, I would like to see Nords have a bit more sustain to give them more of a slight edge in DPS as well as raw Tanking.
How I would change Nords at this point:
- Stalwart: Increases your Max Stamina by 1500 2000. When you take or deal damage, you gain 5 Ultimate restore 1000 Stamina. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.
- Resist Frost: Increases your Max Health by 1000 and your Cold Resistance by 2310. You are immune to the Chilled status effect.
- Rugged: Increases your Physical and Spell Resistance by 3960.
I think Nords deserve some love, I really do, but Ultimate regeneration is probably not the best idea. Rather, here, I've decided to give them a bit more capability as a Stamina damage-dealer that can also benefit them when tanking. That
is effectively 100 Stamina restored per second at the maximum, but it is not as good as Bosmer, yet still better Stamina sustain than what Argonians have.
Orc
- Orc
- Brawny: This passive now grants 2000 Max Stamina instead of 500 Health and 500 Stamina.
- Unflinching Rage: This passive now grants 1000 Max Health and heals you for up to 600 when you deal damage with a weapon, with a 4 second cooldown. Previously, it granted 4% Healing Taken, and 380 Stamina and Health when dealing damage with a weapon.
Let's be real here: they really
do not need the damage buff from that extra Stamina. They were already at the top, and they don't need any more of it. Besides, the Unflinching Rage passive here is basically just a weaker version of the old Red Diamond from Imperials, which, as we all know, has been the worst racial passive for a long time.
Honestly, I think Orcs were good enough for 4.3.1. They had a great amount of Weapon Damage to complement their Stamina DPS capabilities, and had a good amount of sustain to keep them on par with Dunmer for Stamina DPS.
How I would change Orcs at this point:
- Brawny: Increases your Max Stamina by 2000. Increases your Max Health and Stamina by 500.
- Unflinching: Increases your Max Health by 1000. When you deal damage with a weapon, you restore 600 Health. This effect can occur once every 4 seconds Increases your Healing Received by 4%. When you deal damage with a weapon ability you restore 380 320 Health and Stamina. This effect can occur once every 4 seconds.
- Swift Warrior: Increases your Weapon Damage by 258. Reduces the cost of your Sprint ability by 12% and increases your Movement Speed while Sprinting by 10%.
All in all, no big changes compared to 4.3.1; seriously, those changes were good. I'd say Orcs were even overperforming slightly in terms of their Stamina sustain from Unflinching, so I brought that down a bit, but otherwise, it was really good before 4.3.2.
Redguard
- Redguard
- Martial Training: Added a bonus that reduces the effectiveness of Snares applied to you by up to 15%.
I'm going to say that I'm fine with this one change. It looks pretty nice for PvP and doesn't seem to be stupidly overpowered. However, I have some things to say about Redguards as a whole.
Oh boy, Redguards. Let's be honest here, they've been kings of Stamina DPS for a really long time due to their insane sustain; seriously, Adrenaline Rush on Live is equivalent to chugging a crafted Stamina potion on cooldown. Here's the issue: they absolutely do not need more sustain, but that is what ZOS did for their PTS 4.3.0 changes: give Redguards more sustain. The thing is that I'm fine with the mechanics of how that sustain was achieved; the numbers are just off, way off.
Let's just take their Adrenaline Rush passive in its PTS form:
"When you deal Direct Damage, you restore 950 Stamina. This effect can occur once every 5 seconds." This is basically 190 Stamina restored per second, or 380 Stamina recovery, twice what Orcs have. In comparison, the Artaeum Takeaway Broth is 319 Stamina recovery, or 159.5 Stamina every second. Even if you replace the Artaeum Takeaway Broth that most other DDs would be using for blue bi-stat food, they would still have that additional 60 Stamina restored per second compared to no racial passives, which is more than what Khajiit have, and I still haven't even factored in their 8% cost reduction on Weapon Abilities.
EDIT 1: Turns out PTS Bosmer has more sustain. 248 Stamina per second, to be exact.
How I would change Redguards at this point:
- Martial Training: Reduces the cost of your Weapon abilities by 8%. Reduces the effectiveness of Snares applied to you by up to 15%.
- Conditioning: Increases your Max Stamina by 2000.
- Adrenaline Rush: When you deal Direct Damage, you restore 950 750 Stamina. This effect can occur once every 5 seconds.
They would still be Stamina sustain kings, but at least this time it's not as insane; they'd still have more sustain than Bosmer, but in turn Bosmer would have a tiny bit more damage.
Champion System
Champion System
- Updated the calculation with your Maximum Health, Magicka, and Stamina interacting with modifiers to better reflect the 20% increase to these stats from your first 100 points spent into each tree of the Champion Point system. Previously, this 20% only applied to your base stats, attributes, enchantments, and 2 through 4 piece bonuses on item sets. After this change, all sources of flat stat increases will be affected. Consumable food and drinks, 5 piece bonuses from item sets, and passives will now be properly affected by the 20% increase.
Not much to say here other than that it's going to increase the damage difference between races even more. I'm not going to say that this mechanic change is entirely a bad thing, though; any differences can be more easily fine-tuned through the individual racial passives.
What this also means is power creep. Not a good thing, but as long as racial passives are tuned to lower effectiveness, I'd say it balances out.
Closing Thoughts
I had high hopes for ZOS when it came to the new Racial Passive changes, and mostly they delivered; I was honestly happy with the direction ZOS was going in for their 4.3.0 changes. However, there were still some caveats to those changes, such as tipping the balance way too much with the Khajiiti buffs and not buffing Argonian damage.
The main issue I find with the 4.3.0 changes was that ZOS decided to balance them "mathematically", comparing them to set bonuses. The problem here is that the maths aren't right; the maths only apply to the overall changes regardless of roles, without regard for how they stack up when focusing on the stats for each role.
Another issue is this intense focus on shoehorning a certain race into certain roles, such as Argonians into the Healing role and Nords and Imperials into the Tanking role, without regard to the lack of overall effective ceiling both these utility-based roles have compared to the obvious effective ceilings in the Damage-Dealing role. To demonstrate this point, there are a lot of really effective end-game Tanks in non-meta races; I personally know a great Tank who runs a Bosmer, an amazing Healer who runs an Orc, and you all know Woeler, who runs a Khajiit Tank. This is because what determines a good Tank or Healer is mainly player skill, not racial passives, and in the end, an amazing player can Tank just as effectively on an Altmer as they can on an Argonian, with Alkosh and Engulfing uptimes and everything. On the contrary, there is a ceiling to Damage-Dealing that is affected by racial passives; whatever damage a player can pull off on an Argonian would always be higher if they switched to a Dunmer.
Unfortunately, it will always be this difference in damage-dealing, not utility, that ultimately affects players. I have been denied entry into groups, and even kicked out of certain
progression groups, simply because I play Argonian DDs, even though I have repeatedly demonstrated my ability to pull respectable DPS despite my racial choice, and even proven myself to be extremely capable at the trial's mechanics.
Fact of the matter is that this elitism bleeds out from the end-game community, especially with respected players (you know who) making racial recommendations in their guides saying "this is the best race for this build" that would eventually seep down through to the more casual community, resulting in people who don't know better
in dungeons flaming their peers for not running BiS race DDs and blaming them for the group's lacklustre DPS. And on the other end of the spectrum, I've seen end-game raiders being kicked out of groups simply because they run a
Khajiit rather than a
Redguard Stamplar.
To be quite honest here, these racial passives are forcing people to run something that is considered "BiS" for the tinest competitive edge rather than letting them run what they like, and ultimately it ruins the enjoyment of the game for the many of us who have built an identity on the races we love and are attached to in the Elder Scrolls franchise. I am of the opinion that racial passives actually need to be completely overhauled to provide anyone who wants them with the same bonuses, not because I want to break the Elder Scrolls lore or anything, but because the gameplay needs it. However, I do not believe such a system will be implemented any time soon in ESO.
So this is the best I can offer for now, something that will at least decrease the damage gap. Besides, ZOS has stated that one of the goals of these racial passive changes would be to "give multiple effective options for any given gameplay role" when selecting a race, and that "the combat power provided by each race should be more equalized", and while some of the changes did achieve that, there were certain shortcomings with what they had in PTS 4.3.1, and certain changes in PTS 4.3.2 completely nullify all of those goals.
I will continue to monitor future PTS changes and continue updating the data in my thread
here.