So, appartently, if this news post is to be believed, the new emphasis is placed on returning "play the way you want' to the game. Not that it should make everything optimal, but it should be viable. Allright, on paper it sounds like a good idea. I'm a huge fan of the idea. Now, after reading the patch notes, and keeping that news post in mind, it seems to me that Update 24 contradicts that philosophy on many aspects.

I haven't read the whole thing, I admit. I stopped reading after one too many "WTF are they thinking" moment.

- Nightblade assassination skill line gets another nerf. A minor one, I'll admit, but overall and updates after updates, this skill like no longer fits its name. Its top skill is now a defense skill, and now teleport strike will deal less damage. To quote that news post, the "power fantasy" aspect of that skill line has nothing to do with its actual effect. A skill line called "assassination" should provide powerful tools for spike damage, not defense tools and even weaker than before DoT. What happens to Soul Shred in the Siphoning line is actually a very good idea, but the whole Assassination skill line is a mess now, and this is making it even slightly worse.

- Sorcerer Bound Armaments : What the actual heck ? In that news post, it's mentionend as a very good exemple of "Successful ability design [with] a healthy relationship between the triggering method and effect behavior". So, if I read that correctly, this is the future of class skills. Now how does it work ? It is "unnecessarily complex compared to abilities with similar effect behaviors, or misaligned with the power fantasy of the character"... Yep, quoting again. They're doing exactly what they're trying to avoid.

But what made me stop reading and almost gave the urge to uninstall the game right away :

Summon Unstable Clannfear (morph):

This morph’s damage now scales off your Max Stamina, rather than Magicka.

Now, dear ZOS, tell me, how exactly does that fit the "play the way you want" bill ? That's the exact opposite of "play the way you want". For exemple, I have a magicka sorcerer that uses the clannfear. Now you're telling me that, after all the nerfs the pets recieved, I'll simply have to remove that power who perfectly fits the sorcerer's "power fantasy" because suddenly it's a stamina ability ? That's not "play the way you want" at all. You know what would make it "play the way you want" ? Make ALL summons scale from magicka or stamina, whichever is highest. It's simple, and it's exactly what a poster child for "play the way you want"' could be. What you're doing there in update 24 is "play the way WE want".

So, anyway, if you fine folks have similar moments where you were thinking "that contradictst he idea of playing the way we want", feel free to share.