Eliahnus wrote: »

I also liked Crystal Blast !
And after the change, it was changed into a stamina skill and I had to pay 11,000 gold to respec into the other morph !

You could respec just the morphs, actually only one of them, not all the skills. It costs 1,300 only for all the morphs. There was an option on the respec shrine there.

But yeah I agree, they had better asked which morph you want and give an ability to choose one for free.

@Sarannah
The reason was to delete barely used magicka skill and give stamina builds an instant stamina spam class skill they lacked until now.

Looks like you did not read my post above. Things and build I've described do not involve rotation, it's just occasional swap to back panel depending on actual target for your best convenience. If you just want continue spamming aoe, Elemental Ring cast time is the same as that for Crystal Blast when spamming (if set to cast by single button pressing as described above), add Streak to stun all the enemies on your way (instead of only one per shot with crystal blast) and you're all set.
Or you can try Destructive Clench with Lightning Stuff equipped and heavy attacking with the staff for aoe damage and mana replenishment, and Streak to stun nearby enemies. You also have Rune Cage or Defensive Rune. And nothing of it involves rotation in its classic meaning.

Using what you like is ok but you also have to take into account the effect of what you are doing.

How did you fight public dungeon bosses with only Crystal Blast, anyway? You were definitely using some other skills or you would run out of mana very soon with having little damage, so hey, maybe just give it a try what I propose here? It's just 1-2 more buttons added to Crystal Blast spam.

If your point is that you just don't want to change your playstyle I partly agree with it, but we have what we have, so as for me it is not so heartbreaking to change my style a bit as there are plenty of abilities to make some damage. My problem was I didn't know that Ele Ring could be cast with single pressing and now I see it is well enough to take care of mob groups and now being deprived of Crystal Blast I develop more flexible and effective fight style depending on targets, not just bombarding all the cockroaches around. It was definitely fun though

Rowjoh wrote: »

for solo'ing world bosses/geysers etc.

How did you do that? Geysers ok, did it myself, but world bosses? I had difficulties even with public dungeon bosses having 1/4 of world bosses' health. Or you mean just throwing them occasionally to stun, not spamming? Anyway I'm confused, please explain.

Rowjoh wrote: »

I'm surprised no one seems to have spotted that Crystal Weapon is a copy of Imbue Weapon (Psiijic skill line).

Some people did noted that in another thread, but the argument was that class ability needed. As for me it's legit argument, cause me personally don't have a psijic skill line while I'm 300+ cp now.

markulrich1966 wrote: »

Here is an example.

Have you watched this video yourself? There are 4 Crystal Blasts in the very start and that's all

markulrich1966 wrote: »

Yes, it was me playing.

The blasts are required to reduce the health of the shadows instantly. Once their health is down, they do less harm, and you can allow them to follow you.

Why not use mentioned Elemental Ring for this? It is even better due to no start animation that moreover repeats if you miss or lag.

Here we were discussing spamming crystal blast and persons above said they don't want to use other skills instead of this only one skill, and on your video I see using several skills including buff so I don't think in your case it would be significantly harder playing with just other aoe skill like ring or shock clench instead of crystal blast. Also note how quickly you ran out of mana with crystal blasting, so anyway you need some other supportive skills when spamming crystal blast with boss and it's not the case like with 30k trash groups when you can quickly bombard them dead and then magicka replenishes after the fight.

So you anyway have to use more than one skill, you can't just spam the bosses with crystal blast, so what's the difference what specific skills it would be if you have to press some other skills anyway. That was my point.

Lord-Otto wrote: »

Mark, the problem with that bossfight aren't the shadows, but your dps. Slam down your Wall of Elements on the boss, try to keep the shadows in it, too. Put Daedric Prey on him and start using a spammable with Frag throws. Keep up Surge, use a shield every now and then, rolldodge sometimes to relieve pressure. You'll be three times as fast to kill him. Has nothing to do with shadows.

@markulrich1966, @Lord-Otto is spot on here.

No one is having a pop at how people play, i.e. if someone just wants to use blast and misses it we get it

But the case is being made that the change is a performance loss, and people are just saying there are better ways. So far no one has defended Blast for its use in vMA or Veg content, which is a sign. Of blast had something it would have been used on harder content.

It had a niche, as a gank tool but even that went a while back.

Overlapping AOE, spammables and keep buffs up will win out.

So I looted the Lightning Staff and Shock Clench seems much more easy for me than Elemental Ring because it is aimable on target not on the ground and is much more weavable with staff light attack. Impressions from spamming it are similar to those from crystal blast but you can weave additionally. Cons are that it has lesser distance and no stun.

Also heavy attacks with lightning staff give aoe effect but I don't see it useful though, it's more effective to just spam shock clench weaving light attacks under buffs and with aoe dots if necessary.

Just keeping up to date, anyway.

UPD: tested in delve, not so very useful, better results with fire ring, force pulse with weaving and frags. And the back panel for buffs and dots. Looks like I'm starting to weave correctly though, it's not so difficult as it seemed at first sight. Hooray for me

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Who says it was little used, especially compared to other skills? How do you know that?

They said they had statistics, that sounds legit, who else but not developers would know such things. And I've never seen this skill in any guide or recommendation at all, honestly. But the guides are mostly targeted to those willing to squeeze the maximal dps, that is an argument too.

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

This was a bad, needless change.

Giving stamsorc a class spammable is a legit argument, but forgetting the needs of Crystal Blasters is bad, I agree.

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

I don't want a complicated rotation to be required, especially since the PS4 seems to miss button presses far too frequently and ends up leaving me on the wrong bar!

It is not required, just 1-2 extra buttons and you are all set. And better keep buffs.

Regarding pets I don't know, maybe pros here will explain how to play effectively with pets and without hardcore, I decided to remove them due to lack of slots. I can live with that. For you it's another disappointment though. Really looks like much of them for you.

Speaking of lifting the lower threshold for playing, it is definitely it. Without any compensation to other skills or something. May be that was their goal too, who knows. Like people above saying it's MMO, like yes it's solo-friendly but not maximally casual like playing with one finger, see.

Yes, they did claim the game is soloable if no end-game content needed from the very start and that's why I joined because I adore the Scrolls universe and don't really like true MMO. And this was also my argument when fighting for Crystal Blast here. Actually it is still soloable but just a bit more complicated requiring to press 1-2 more buttons, no hardcore rotations, you still continue spamming 1-2 spells, add weaving and occasionally throw procced crystal frags, that's all. Yes, it is complication compared to CB spamming, you have to press more buttons, care about buff, do not miss the required bar, retrain and accustom, compared to just spamming one button. But it is not so complicated as it seems to be. Couple of evenings for practice and you will be weaving this and swapping that like a pro

I fully get your feelings, two weeks ago when I realized it was deleted I was literally enraged and frustrated, but even there I knew that this skill was never advised and was kind of bad taste when in groups. But playing solo I just didn't care, so you can say I ignored the recommendations and commons of the game right from the start and there went the reckoning day finally. It was much niche skill and like old players here say its removal was inevitable, and it was just a matter of time. The problem is they did not provide any equal replacement for those who developed this and only kind of play for some reasons and it fully fitted their purposes.

Or at least they should have strengthened the Elemental Ring or increased its radius or made Shock Clench more distant, anything to compensate solo casuals who are not willing to swap bars and stuff, that would be fair because when they came to the game they had such an ability and now they are deprived of it with no compensation at all.

Personally, I vote for returning that skill. Because it gave choice of how to play, you want go trials and arena and stuff you go weaving and rotating, you want sip beer while spamming Crystal Blast - here you go, if I wanted go trials I'd retrain but for now let me bombard them, and now its users are forced to change their play style. And I hear Mark here with arthitis, this and age are both heavy arguments regarding players with sorts of disabilities, aged players and those who want maximal possible ease of play. And Mark is right that average age of players is constantly increasing along with aging of nations, that is confirmed by statistics. Personally, I can adjust my gameplay (can't say I wanted though, they did not give me a choice here), but what about those who really can not because it is phyically/mentally difficult for them? What if in 10 years I had a condition or something? I'm close to 40 myself, by the way, not so young as used to be

So when discussing it here I agree that those who have difficulties with other playstyle than spamming Crystal Blast and who were happy with it because it fitted their need of simplicity and were attracted by this possibility into the game were actually betrayed by lifting lower threshold of requirements for the player. No one cared for them when making this decision. That is true. But reaction-wise we don't have much choice, for now either retrain or quit, actually. And fuss on forum, of course

Also you can pick another class, actually I've heard that Templar can be even one-button. Here's it on video, looks like it will require cool clothes and stuff for arena, but it could be effective against regular trash mobs even with simple equip, I suppose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1jbadZZwBI

Here's another one with single bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYg01zddxZw

May be try that for now, if adding couple buttons and weaving/ swapping is really not an option? Actually when I asked people which class is easier everyone said Templar. But I went into Sorc because I like daedric pets too.

Anyway even changing class is much better than quit as for me.

Here's one more video about best classes for solo pve for info including world bosses, you can go straight to the best ones on 11:35:

https://youtu.be/L9IaijV3830

Funny that stam sorc is in top tier there and the author thinks it's best solo class in the game even before giving it a class spammable since it's May 2020 video, but considering simplicity the magicka Templar is obviously the best anyway. Our magsorc is also in top tier though, and as you can see he uses no Crystal Blast and has Lightning Staff (hmm maybe I should better stick with that, he apparently plays better then me ) but yes, it involves more effort compared to Templar. But with only CB you can not efficiently solo the fat guys like bosses anyway though as was proven above.

Personally I choose adapting and developing my skill on magsorc, I can live with that since I'm playing on PC and have no problems with swapping and stuff and it opens an option to finally play some trials and stuff. But you can just pick Templar and keep having fun with no effort since champion points are given to all your characters and taking 50 lvl is not so difficult, anyway content-wise it does not even matter which level you are.

Or respec to stamina sorc since it's given such huge bonus as they say

So apparently you do have a choice. It's just not each class is perfectly and easily soloable, that's all. The devil is in the details, they never claimed you could solo the game with any class by pressing one button, actually

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

I am not sure why the skill was bad in groups though. Can anyone explain that?

When in group for trials you are expected to give good results. Spamming CB you weren't even satisfactory dps-wise. That's it. For fun walking around questing together may be ok, but no more than that.

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

I also fail to see how the replacement is spammable, since it only pairs with a normal attack, making for a very odd playstyle in my experience. (I briefly tried it, but I do not like pressing it between each attack.)

Replacement can be Elemental Ring or Destructive (Shock) Clench (it has lesser distance though) if Lightning Stuff equipped, in latter case you can also hard attack with it for aoe damage and no weaving light attacks needed.

See, the thing that you did not use your staff at all is also not normal in this game, you have a weapon and you don't use it. I also played the same way but honestly I agree with those claiming this is bad and ignorant way of playing, it's like you've got a laser rifle and you throw stones from your pocket to your enemies, not even bashing their heads with that rifle at least, it is just hanging on your back because you can't stop pulling these stones out of your pocket because in that case you stop even this mean fire and lose much time. You could not even use your staff with crystal blast because of start animation, the same reason why you couldn't honestly use ANY other skills with it because of that start animation. For that particular case it did the trick though, but globally speaking it was a way to nowhere actually.

Anyway, what do you mean by odd? It's not pressing it "between" each attack, it is also an attack with possibility to skip its animation so you do more damage in less time, that's it. If you have Critical Surge active, each crit heals you for 3300 health, so more attacks = more crits = more damage = more heal per unit of time in this case, huge win actually. If you use Force Pulse (instead of its another Crushing Shock morph) you have a chance to damage up to 2 enemies adjacent to that one you attack with Force Pulse with somewhat 5k damage "if they were already afflicted with burning, chilled or concussed", kinda aoe damage too. And when you throw procced Frag you make even more damage while still making crits and healing yourself if Critical Surge buff is active, this buff also increases your damage done by 30% by the way.

So you buff Critical Surge, cast one or two Elemental Rings for aoe damage and to apply burning effect on them, then pew pew them with your staff and Force Pulse and Crystal Frags when the latter procs.

If you don't want to weave it's also ok, when spamming Elemental Ring (better under Critical Surge buff anyway) you don't even need light attacks, you can just press it along. You can add the Lightning Storm buff and aoe dots like Unstable Wall of Elements (or Elemental Blockade) around you or Lightning Flood in set point and you are definitely fine. See, you can even use any other skills with Elemental Ring either before or after or in between, because there is no start animation like Crystal Blast had. And you can try different ways to make your damage, with weaving or without it.

Regarding pets. you can also have Twilight Matriarch for some damage, enemies distraction and healing on you panel also, in this respect it is more multifunctional than Familiar. I feel ok without pets but it is personal thing anyway. Maybe I'll add one for distraction when soloing the bosses by the way, because single-attacking them looks like bad idea. But for now I don't do it so no need in pet.

Ofcourse you can say whatever, cut your crap and just give me back my precious that's all I want, and it would be fair a bit, but I can't do it, I can just adapt myself and advise you the same. Or pick Templar, here people confirm it's very simple to play even after it has been slightly nerfed in regard of auto-healing, one guy even complains it is too simply and dull for him. Your choice anyway.

Coming from playing WOW for ten years I immediately thought that Crystal Blast was overpowered and was a bit annoyed by it. A spammable stun and the same AOE damage as main target? This would have been nerfed in WOW in a heartbeat. Add to this the cast time made it feel clunky and awkward and being stuck in that animation. It didn't flow. Just constantly spamming one clunky, slow attack because it's easy aoe damage and crowd control is not engaging gameplay for me. It felt boring. Yes it was easy to clear packs or trash but after doing it the hundredth time it felt completely unrewarding. And then depending on it so much meant that as soon as I was out of magicka things went to ***. It didn't challenge me to get better and more creative with my gameplay and made me feel a bit cringy in dungeons as I knew it wasn't good gameplay for contributing to the group DPS wise.

As soon as the change went through I was delighted. Now the shorter cast time and instant procs mean I can more deftly weave it in with heavy and light attacks from my lightning staff and the whole thing feels more fluid and exciting. Combining that with elemental blockade, daedric mines and streak for a stun gives me plenty of AOE and crowd control. I actually feel like I'm more active and engaged now with mnore varied gameplay instead of being a crystal blast turret all day.

I don't care about the stamina morph gain although I think that's great if it was needed. For me this change has made playing my sorceror far more interesting and fun.

Yet again ZOS kills another magicka morph to give something to stamina completely ignoring its own lore.

I always play one-bar builds, as I like to relax when playing a game. Crystal blast in combination with pets is(was) very important to me. The stun allowed my pets to engage, and kept the monster in my aoe.

After trying the other here suggested AOE's, I'm getting more and more frustrated by it, as the monsters keep running out of them towards my pets.

My clannfear now has no time to grab aggro. My flying pet(forgot the name) is usually the first to attack, since it is ranged, pulling the mob to it while it itself is far behind me. Making me lose LOS, while making the monster run out of my ground AOE, and while at the same time making the clannfear dps/aggro void, since it just runs after the mob(without catching up to it until it stops moving).
Not to mention, when up against multiple enemies, the crystal blast AOE worked like a charm, since all monsters are usually grouped up when you pull them.

I don't really care about DPS, it was just an extremely usefull and fun skill all-around. And with the cast time, I don't see why it got nerfed. Just add the AOE and stun back to the magicka morph.