Heyodude wrote: »

Im going to throw my 2 cents in, and its going to be bitter.

If ZOS really has any idea how to address class identity within the framework of an MMO; then, there are some solid rules they have to outline and never break. It starts with DPS roles, because no one is clambering over one another to make their class as viable as a Dragon Knight tank or as strong of a healer as Templar. It all comes back to the DPS side of things and how this whole MMO has gone off the rails.

Because it has, as a gaming experience, gone far and to the left in its scope. Are you ready for it? okay, "Your main shouldn't be able to do everything." You don't deserve that as a gamer. If you pick a Sorcerer, and expect it to be better at wielding swords, you shouldn't be catered to. If you pick a nightblade and want to be the best healer you should regret your decision. If you wear light armor and run two ice staffs to tank DLC content, you should be kicked from your group.

That's the problem with this game. The developers, cannot and never will be able to make you, as a player viable, in every weapon, every piece of armor and every role. If they continue that pipe dream they will continue to hemorrhage subs. The game needs an actual outline of what class does what the best, and then you can balance the game.

Templar, Healer or 2nd rate dps. Predominant healers should have a hybrid tax put on their dps output due to the unfair advantage big heals give them
Dragonknight, Tank or 2h warrior<--- tanks should have a gnarly dps option otherwise leveling is quite the sh*t sandwich
Sorcerer, Ranged magic DD <---in the name and lore
Necromancer, Pet magic DD <---in the name and lore
Night Blade, stamina melee fighter<--- its in the lore, none of the elder scrolls lore has these guys flinging magic
Warden, ranged stamina fighter<--- Bows are entirely underutilized in this game which isnt good optics for an elder scrolls title

thats exactly how it should be, you would be able to balance your game and inform your players on what to expect when picking a class. The added bonus is that if lines are drawn around these characters you can actually make content around these play styles, Instead of making content and trying to buff or nerf things to shove players into content.

Canned_Apples wrote: »

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

craybest wrote: »

Also, to me, class identity also should include some more things in this game, like more lore, special chainquests for each class, make us feel like it matters and it's an important part on how we play

It's nice but it's also A LOT of work. SWTOR started out like that -- first three story chapters were ALL by which class/faction you were. After that, they dropped it and reduced it to which faction, and there was a period where faction didn't even matter much. I'm not surprised -- doing all the permutations and making a separate story for each is a lot of planning and then resources to execute.

But if you play SWTOR, those first 3 chapters definitely made you feel like class was important and class-identity and lore came up all the time.
They don't have a class identity problem because you don't have the same breadth of choices you have in ESO. All your skills came with your class and you didn't get to pick and choose anything from optional skill lines or whatever. All you could do was optimize how you play your class.

Swtor is a good example... not only are classes unique, their advance classes alter the play style as does each discipline.
A Plasmatech Vanguard is distinctly different from an Assault Vanguard. -balance is garbage and they butchered the classes and disciplines but each one still looks and feels like it's own unique class.

They did destroy companion identity, and nerfed over world content drastically.. it's just as bad as this game now.