Trying out changes. I can get same DPS, sustain is ok.

Survivability severely reduced with nerf to shields and self-heal
Actual fun playing the game as sorc severely reduced. Placing dots and watching target health pool drain is the meta - really - where is the fun in that?

Removing of ranged stun with both Crystal Frags and Destro Reach along with reducing survivability is what really gets me as I spend 70% of the time in PVP.


Quote from PTS section

Shields are gone to useless
it lost its own stun
Not enough self Heal

Class identity near demolished.

Taking away liquid lighting was not enough. lost stun crystal frags for years was not enough. Slamming a -69% nerf on our pets was not enough.

Now you took off the staple of any magsorc solo / vMA / 4 men / casual trial, ability, that is power surge.

Now, for some unfathomable reason, Sorcers lost Sorcery. But hey, we can slot the stamina morph and melee smash that staff for 1300 damage instead of 1000!

Aurelle1 wrote: »

Nefas wrote: »

malistorr wrote: »

Absolutely hate the change/nerf to Power Surge. Using this skill is mostly what kept me alive in PVE as a mag sorc. Now its ability to do so is gone.

Many PvE Magsorcs have opted for Crit Surge (long before Scalebreaker/Update 23) including for hard solo instances such as vMA. For PvP Magsorcs, it's a different story.

Which would be fine if Crit Surge gave Major Sorcery. So now Sorcs are forced to slot Entropy with inferior healing, or rely on hugely expensive Spell Pots which don’t provide a heal at all.

Jeez.

Degeneration is a must slot skill, v good single target dot (around 20-25k in 10 seconds, depending on build), gives 100 mag every time you attack with LAs during its duration, and gives Major Sorcery. Can´t understand why a Sorc shouldnt cast this every 10 seconds.
Structured Entrophy isnt bad either, around 5k less damage, doesnt give mag back but heals you for 2k each 2 seconds, nice hot on a dot. Isnt enough selfhealing standalone, but both Critical Surge and SE will give great selfhealing, although not on demand.

To be honest, shields cost increase (around 800 magicka) and matriarch damage nerf are much more serious things than the surge one.

Aurelle1 wrote: »

Nefas wrote: »

malistorr wrote: »

Absolutely hate the change/nerf to Power Surge. Using this skill is mostly what kept me alive in PVE as a mag sorc. Now its ability to do so is gone.

Many PvE Magsorcs have opted for Crit Surge (long before Scalebreaker/Update 23) including for hard solo instances such as vMA. For PvP Magsorcs, it's a different story.

Which would be fine if Crit Surge gave Major Sorcery. So now Sorcs are forced to slot Entropy with inferior healing, or rely on hugely expensive Spell Pots which don’t provide a heal at all.

Jeez.

Exactly! You could still choose between healing and dmg as a trigger, but both should give weapon and spell dmg buff!

The change to Power Surge was huge. Now I have to slot a skill I don't want to use (SE). I'd much rather use Lightning Flood like I was doing, because even with the nerf, it does much more DPS than the damage from (SE) and kills mobs father, which helps me stay alive. The damage done by (SE) is almost useless so sorc dies much more often because mobs stay alive much longer now. DPS is way down and so is our ability to not die every 10-seconds.
I have to slot (SE), a skill I don't want to use, to get Major Sorcery, which is basically mandatory for mag sorc. Then I have to slot Crit Surge to get decent self heals. So an already cramped bar is even more so now.

The alternative is changing a whole gear set to Rattlecage to get Major Sorcery, which is heavy and not designed for our class at all. We are forced to use a skill for heals that buffs something our class doesn't use (weapon damage). I wonder if the people at Zenimax/Bethesda (whoever works on this) are just perma-high because none of this makes any sense and their stupid choices are ruining people's enjoyment of the game.

Got my first Flawless on My Altmer magsorc this patch, and had some good BGS on my Argonian Magsorc so so far feels good. Just too a bit of getting used to. Gotta get my Orcy stam boy into some tussles and see how he feels though.

ku5h wrote: »

marius_buys wrote: »

OMG there is SOOO much in a SORCERER CLASS that is STAM WHY?

Well, not that much. Reason is, ZoS wants each class to be playable in both stam and magicka versions.
What i find funny is that stam Sorc is now better in every single way then magicka SORCERER. Only possible in ESO, to twist in such a way a sorcerer class concept as old as fantasy genre itself.

I am extremely upset about that as well. Only in eso you would see some foul play like that. Mag sorc is a joke really at this point I'm waiting for TES6. After my eso+ runs out im done with this game until mag sorc has identity and we dont run around looking like a confused npc. I feel like the entire class (Mag) just died in one patch. This being the only class i play it feels really low of a blow from ZoS because it isnt enough that people trash talk the class already. If there was ever a time i was actually done with the poor decision making from ZoS its now. Hell im not even a mag sorc and i feel bad for those people who are now they've ruined the class.

malistorr wrote: »

The change to Power Surge was huge. Now I have to slot a skill I don't want to use (SE). (...)
I have to slot (SE), a skill I don't want to use, to get Major Sorcery, which is basically mandatory for mag sorc. Then I have to slot Crit Surge to get decent self heals. So an already cramped bar is even more so now. (...)
We are forced to use a skill for heals that buffs something our class doesn't use (weapon damage).(...)

Amen to this.
It is absolutely ludicrous that magicka SORCERER just lost major SORCERY (in the DD/tank roles at least).

Using entropy, a single-target DoT, makes even less sense when you consider that magicka sorcerer is a heavily AoE-oriented class (in PvE).
The majority of Sorc class skills are either AoEs, or at least have an AoE component to them. That's part of the class identity, which is rapidly being eroded now.

Instead of entropy, I'd much rather slot another AoE spammable or AoE DoT (for example, Impulse with Blackrose destro). At least for all non-bossfights. I play on PC where you can switch gear/skill sets with a single keypress, so using separate builds for bosses (single-target) and trashmobs (AoE) is a non-issue for me.

The solution is simple... ZOS should add the Major Sorcery buff to Crit Surge, and probably also to Surge (unmorphed skill).
Alternatively, make Surge into what the old Power Surge was, and keep the current form of Crit Surge (therefore sacrificing Major Sorcery for a stronger heal), so then magsorcs would run the unmorphed skill instead. Either way would solve the problem just fine.

Ok, after doing a bit of everything...

Trials- more or less fine. Didnt notice much DPS loss; it´s noticeable on trash (AOE) but its better on ST. Using Empowered Shield to improve players mag regen. Not real healing. Still it´s very painful to be pressing EVERY key of the skill keys, as not using spammable.

Dungeons - a bit more bursty than my petsorc so in some phases is better, but much worse overall survability and now cant heal other players - i admit it was too good and could join as healer on most vet dungeons, but the nerf now simply puts Matriarch on the bank.

VMA - total disaster. Could finish it np but dying more and having more issues. Went from 550k to 420k. Before patch, i went there with 21k health, 51k mag, bad regen but using HAs (AOE) had zero mag issues. Monster offensive set (Maw of the Guardian). Now, i go with 17k health, 34k mag, good sustain due using Witchmother drink instead of blue food, False God instead of Necropotence. DPS is worse as need to spend more time using shields (empowered, couldnt sustain Hardened) and having one less pet is also noticeable. Oh! And dont have any way of healing volatile so he always end up dying, he doesnt get out of combat ever, i need to recast it. Still using Purge but now Critical. Much harder to follow tactics having to apply dots on every mob. Using defensive monster set (first Chudan, also used Iceheart).

All gold gear. All maxed skills.

So conclussion: despite having fun on choosing new gear/skills/testing, sorc gameplay is now for me much less enjoyable. Playing most classes and now sorc is the one which gives oneself more effort on waving/selection of skills. There is no rest at all, its not compared with any other class. I dont think my Sorc was better at all before patch than most DD classes, specially stamina ones, but at least it was very pleasant to play with. Now, its not.

Will keep playing Sorc but way less than my other toons. My stam sorc is really promising! And if cloak and dots stay this way, planning to build a magblade, they´re invincible now in PvP doing dots at 28 meters then Cloak at that distance (no real counter and such distance, once they notice you start to move to them, one-two dots then Cloak. They change position and start again. Ive put dots on them too but Cloak eats them. As i said, on a good player, they´re top.)

So I have tried to play my MagSorc DD for a while now, and I have two big pains due to the Scalebreaker update

1) Unlike other classes, there is nothing left to increase sustain other than buff-potions: Shields have lost much of their power. The only good self-heal I had was from Power Surge. But that is now procing only on critical heals, but then there is nothing to actually do critical heals, except with a healing staff. So it is not for DDs.
Critical Surge could do, but has a bonus for weapon damage only (not magic damage). So that ability has "not for scorcerers" written all over it.

2) The update seems to favour DoT instead of AoE. But that move got no support for the sorcerer class. AoE got nerf'ed, but there is no help with DoT.

I think I strongly disagree with the move to make all classes similar. Scorcerers almost feel like a melee char now. The "magic" is gone in every sense of the word. But of course there is the option to ditch a class - maybe changing to a Magplar will avoid the missing love of the developers for Magsorcs. Less classes will definitely make chars more comparable, but I am afraid will also make ESO less interesting.

Saril_Durzam wrote: »

Ok, after doing a bit of everything...

Trials- more or less fine. Didnt notice much DPS loss; it´s noticeable on trash (AOE) but its better on ST. Using Empowered Shield to improve players mag regen. Not real healing. Still it´s very painful to be pressing EVERY key of the skill keys, as not using spammable.

Dungeons - a bit more bursty than my petsorc so in some phases is better, but much worse overall survability and now cant heal other players - i admit it was too good and could join as healer on most vet dungeons, but the nerf now simply puts Matriarch on the bank.

VMA - total disaster. Could finish it np but dying more and having more issues. Went from 550k to 420k. Before patch, i went there with 21k health, 51k mag, bad regen but using HAs (AOE) had zero mag issues. Monster offensive set (Maw of the Guardian). Now, i go with 17k health, 34k mag, good sustain due using Witchmother drink instead of blue food, False God instead of Necropotence. DPS is worse as need to spend more time using shields (empowered, couldnt sustain Hardened) and having one less pet is also noticeable. Oh! And dont have any way of healing volatile so he always end up dying, he doesnt get out of combat ever, i need to recast it. Still using Purge but now Critical. Much harder to follow tactics having to apply dots on every mob. Using defensive monster set (first Chudan, also used Iceheart).

All gold gear. All maxed skills.

So conclussion: despite having fun on choosing new gear/skills/testing, sorc gameplay is now for me much less enjoyable. Playing most classes and now sorc is the one which gives oneself more effort on waving/selection of skills. There is no rest at all, its not compared with any other class. I dont think my Sorc was better at all before patch than most DD classes, specially stamina ones, but at least it was very pleasant to play with. Now, its not.

Will keep playing Sorc but way less than my other toons. My stam sorc is really promising! And if cloak and dots stay this way, planning to build a magblade, they´re invincible now in PvP doing dots at 28 meters then Cloak at that distance (no real counter and such distance, once they notice you start to move to them, one-two dots then Cloak. They change position and start again. Ive put dots on them too but Cloak eats them. As i said, on a good player, they´re top.)

well I don’t feel as bad about my sorc 420k run yesterday reading that haha. That was 10 deaths and 1 d/c which included a death to get that score for me

Almost maxed out level and can't pass vMA as a mag sorc. Keep having to use Structured Entropy which is basically useless for damage and healing, but even more so in vMA, just to get Major Sorcery. The damage and healing it does are too weak, and takes so long to happen, that I'm dead before even killing a small mob of adds. Nevermind the stronger enemies. Can't slot a shield as there's no room since I need the space for Crit. Surge also just to stay alive and Boundless Storm for the AOE, speed, and resists. That leaves just the ult skill and 2 dps skills whether they're AOE or single-target. It's just not enough. And that's without slotting something like Inner Light which can buff me and I need because Mag Sorc is just so under-powered now. It's more difficult to get buffs now, It's more difficult to heal, and therefore stay alive or pass any difficult solo content. Just trying to stay alive long enough to do a little bit of damage takes up the whole time in vMA. I can't really do much damage at all. HATE the latest changes.

malistorr wrote: »

Almost maxed out level and can't pass vMA as a mag sorc. Keep having to use Structured Entropy which is basically useless for damage and healing, but even more so in vMA, just to get Major Sorcery. The damage and healing it does are too weak, and takes so long to happen, that I'm dead before even killing a small mob of adds. Nevermind the stronger enemies. Can't slot a shield as there's no room since I need the space for Crit. Surge also just to stay alive and Boundless Storm for the AOE, speed, and resists. That leaves just the ult skill and 2 dps skills whether they're AOE or single-target. It's just not enough. And that's without slotting something like Inner Light which can buff me and I need because Mag Sorc is just so under-powered now. It's more difficult to get buffs now, It's more difficult to heal, and therefore stay alive or pass any difficult solo content. Just trying to stay alive long enough to do a little bit of damage takes up the whole time in vMA. I can't really do much damage at all. HATE the latest changes.

Fortified Brass + Lich + Bone Pirate (1 Heavy, 1 Medium) - food: Solitude Salmon Filet more (+5395 Health and +4936 Magika) or similar. This leaves space for 2 slots extra so you can use master staff or malestrom staf Ez mode for most levels. Still hits plenty hard enough. I am going to run a couple more times, I rotate sets to 1 with a higher DPS for some levels so might not be the best for all levels. You don't need so much resistance for first 2 levels at least

I don't bother with AOE but could be worth it with malestrom staff and wall of elements. I sacrificed that so I could put streak on my back bar which I only use rarely in 2 of the levels.

Prob best to run maelstrom staff and you can use abilities like below.

Regen isn't the best since max stat food being used but its good for added damage and means its a lot harder to get a quick death to something like the boss bite on one of the levels.

Front Bar:
Crystal Frag
Hardned Ward
Crushing shock
Structured Entropy
Mage light (higher crit + max magika)

Back Bar:
Wall of elements
Critical Surge or Defensive rune.
Healing ward
Boundless Storm
Rapid Regen

Healing ultimate

malistorr wrote: »

Almost maxed out level and can't pass vMA as a mag sorc. Keep having to use Structured Entropy which is basically useless for damage and healing, but even more so in vMA, just to get Major Sorcery. The damage and healing it does are too weak, and takes so long to happen, that I'm dead before even killing a small mob of adds. Nevermind the stronger enemies. Can't slot a shield as there's no room since I need the space for Crit. Surge also just to stay alive and Boundless Storm for the AOE, speed, and resists. That leaves just the ult skill and 2 dps skills whether they're AOE or single-target. It's just not enough. And that's without slotting something like Inner Light which can buff me and I need because Mag Sorc is just so under-powered now. It's more difficult to get buffs now, It's more difficult to heal, and therefore stay alive or pass any difficult solo content. Just trying to stay alive long enough to do a little bit of damage takes up the whole time in vMA. I can't really do much damage at all. HATE the latest changes.

I felt that after the patch vMA became harder for me. I got to the last boss and could not beat him (did two vet runs already).

There are two approaches: you can go for max dps and kill stuff before it kills you, or you can go for a lot of survivability by using the 1 bar build, or using very strong defensive sets, like Chudan, Armor Master, F. Brass, etc.

But obviously you need to adapt. I got annoyed with the changes and gave up on finishing the last arena after the patch. I have one vMA staff, 2 pairs of flurry.. I am fine with that. I really felt the pet was doing almost no damage...

aLi3nZ wrote: »

malistorr wrote: »

Almost maxed out level and can't pass vMA as a mag sorc. Keep having to use Structured Entropy which is basically useless for damage and healing, but even more so in vMA, just to get Major Sorcery. The damage and healing it does are too weak, and takes so long to happen, that I'm dead before even killing a small mob of adds. Nevermind the stronger enemies. Can't slot a shield as there's no room since I need the space for Crit. Surge also just to stay alive and Boundless Storm for the AOE, speed, and resists. That leaves just the ult skill and 2 dps skills whether they're AOE or single-target. It's just not enough. And that's without slotting something like Inner Light which can buff me and I need because Mag Sorc is just so under-powered now. It's more difficult to get buffs now, It's more difficult to heal, and therefore stay alive or pass any difficult solo content. Just trying to stay alive long enough to do a little bit of damage takes up the whole time in vMA. I can't really do much damage at all. HATE the latest changes.

Fortified Brass + Lich + Bone Pirate (1 Heavy, 1 Medium) - food: Solitude Salmon Filet more (+5395 Health and +4936 Magika) or similar. This leaves space for 2 slots extra so you can use master staff or malestrom staf Ez mode for most levels. Still hits plenty hard enough. I am going to run a couple more times, I rotate sets to 1 with a higher DPS for some levels so might not be the best for all levels. You don't need so much resistance for first 2 levels at least

I don't bother with AOE but could be worth it with malestrom staff and wall of elements. I sacrificed that so I could put streak on my back bar which I only use rarely in 2 of the levels.

Prob best to run maelstrom staff and you can use abilities like below.

Regen isn't the best since max stat food being used but its good for added damage and means its a lot harder to get a quick death to something like the boss bite on one of the levels.

Front Bar:
Crystal Frag
Hardned Ward
Crushing shock
Structured Entropy
Mage light (higher crit + max magika)

Back Bar:
Wall of elements
Critical Surge or Defensive rune.
Healing ward
Boundless Storm
Rapid Regen

Healing ultimate

Doesnt work. You cant put Wall of Elements of Rapid Regen on the same bar - one owns to Destro Staff skill line and the other owns to Resto Staff skill line - hence you must slot one of either.

I doubt Resto staff was good for magsorc MA tbh. But up to any one...