Oakensoul nerf

PvXGamer · July 2022

Remathilis wrote: »

Oakensoul: This set now grants the Minor versions of Courage, Berserk, Force, Protection, and Heroism, rather than the Major versions. This set now also grants Minor Mending.

Is that good enough for the PvP crowd or do we need to drag it down to Adept Rider status?

What needs to happen is Battle Spirit added to every piece of gear and every skill/passive in the game. They can then create PvE items and then add different effects specifically for PvP when Battle Spirit is active. That is how they solve the issue permanently.

olsborg · July 2022

Everyone using oakensoul while it was broken op should be forced to use it now after nerf for 6 months longer. Punished.

ccfeeling · July 2022

When everyone bragging in youtube, how OP it is.

We know Oakensoul must be nerfed.

DrSlaughtr · July 2022

BlueRaven wrote: »

ninjagank wrote: »

BlueRaven wrote: »

Just to add;

In pvp you get gear and currency, even if your faction gets completely destroyed. You can lose all your keeps, scrolls, etc. and pvp players still have access to get all pvp gear regardless of rank. Pvp players even receive currency to get monster helms and shoulders. And pvp players can go solo or be in a group to get these rewards.

There is no equivalent in pve, there is no “well you were completely ineffectual but here is a participation prize” waiting for them in the dungeon. There is no “well you failed but here is some currency for a fancy monster helm”. There is maybe a few sets, amoung the myriad of dud sets, that can be crafted to help, but pvp players have the same resources.

Look at these forums, how many threads complaint of sub 10k dps, meanwhile some pvp player who loses a 1vx complains about gear being op while they refuse to upgrade their own. They would rather suck the life out of some commonly acquired gear then just adapt and get it for themselves.

Hold up.

You're only getting purple gear for getting tier 1, which still requires you to earn AP. It's also only pvp gear jewelry, most pieces of which are not useful.

99% of the monster sets in the game are useless for PVP which means 99% of the time the golden is useless.

It's absolutely more efficient to run a vet dungeon for a helm than wait months+ for it to be available in golden. They should allow normal dungeons to drop blue helms though, and keys should let you buy the exact shoulder you want.

As far as the golden gold gear you can buy, the lineup is also 99% of you time useless but when it's a good set that's bind on equip, it actually helps people who don't pvp or can't farm gold jewelry, because you can buy in traders.

Any time a single set completely overtakes the game, that is the perfect indicated that it is overperforming. You've already bullied people who didn't want to abandon 2 bars to switch to oak in order to compete. Most of the people being honest about it's power level actually are using the ring because if you don't, you are severely behind the competition on most builds.

Well you can't just change other aspects of the game, and you can't just assume a low end player has access to vet dungeon rewards. There is no avenue for it other then the golden vendor for 100k(?) in gold, and even then they may not be able to redo the trait as there access to the gear change currency is severely limited. There has been many threads pointing out that cyrodiil gives out that currency much faster then pve sources.

Saying that the pvp gear is bad... Are you saying ALL pvp gear is bad? If not they pvp players have access to it. I don't even think it is bind to account right? So they can buy it from a guild vendor? Unlike dungeon sets which are locked behind the dungeons themselves. The self same dungeons the player may not have the dps for.

And we are not talking about a set here, it is one item that does not require any type of group content to get.

If everyone gets the ring, that levels the playing field in pvp right? Is this a bad thing? Is pvp dependent on gear inequality? A new player is already thrown in with the sharks to learn how to swim. Will a nerw player even know the difference if they don't have the ring yet?

I get steam rolled all the time in pvp, I have never wrote a thread asking for nerfs. I could not tell if they had the ring or not, and quite frankly I don't care. It's just the way pvp is. In a fight, one side will most likely get killed. But as a poster up above puts it:

"the rest sounds like 'I used to be able to curb stomp casuals with my leet skills (a large part of which was my gear & such, but let's not talk about that), and now those casuals can put up a fight because of this item, which isn't fair.'"

My personal view of pvp complaints is like seeing scissors saying "Nerf rock, paper is fine."

Most of the pvp sourced gear is actually not useful in pvp. Of what you can get right now? Plague, convergence and rallying. Outside of those you'll see some niche builds running some of the other sets but nothing on large scale. For example I have a knight slayer NB build but it's no where near as effective as Caluurions, a PvE set.

BlueRaven wrote: »

Saying that the pvp gear is bad... Are you saying ALL pvp gear is bad? If not they pvp players have access to it. I don't even think it is bind to account right? So they can buy it from a guild vendor? Unlike dungeon sets which are locked behind the dungeons themselves. The self same dungeons the player may not have the dps for.

It doesn't matter if you can buy it in a trader if it is garbage. Plenty of dungeon sets are also garbage but they are very easy to farm on normal. Please don't give me the "oh it's not easy for everyone" routine. Every game has a learning curve and the dungeons are practically in order of difficulty.

On top of that, there are many useful craftable sets that anyone can access. "Well how is a new player supposed to..." This is an MMO. You can't just expect to create your first character and have everything handed to you, because that means everything is handed to everyone, which means there is no progression.

Join any active guild and someone will craft you purple gear for free.

BlueRaven wrote: »

If everyone gets the ring, that levels the playing field in pvp right? Is this a bad thing? Is pvp dependent on gear inequality? A new player is already thrown in with the sharks to learn how to swim. Will a nerw player even know the difference if they don't have the ring yet?

No. It doesn't. I'm going to be blunt. They didn't wake up one day and delete your backbar and in return throw you a brunch if free buffs as a sorry not sorry. They introduced an item that was SUPPOSED to help players who struggle with bar swapping and buff management due to physical/mental limitations.

The issue is that they so overpowered the ring that it became WAY more useful for an experienced player like me with no limitations to run it and put out obscene damage. It also allows 80% uptime of game breaking ultimates.

Because the defense and offensive capabilities are so overturned, if you do not buy high isle and you do not run the ring, you are at a noticable disadvantage. Thus players are forced to adopt the ring against their wishes.

Surely you can understand why this is an issue.

Look at BGs. You either have a templar on your team spamming Rite of Passage every 10 seconds or you're going to lose.

BlueRaven wrote: »

"the rest sounds like 'I used to be able to curb stomp casuals with my leet skills (a large part of which was my gear & such, but let's not talk about that), and now those casuals can put up a fight because of this item, which isn't fair.'"

My personal view of pvp complaints is like seeing scissors saying "Nerf rock, paper is fine."

Actually, no. "Casuals" die faster than everyone. That's as true today as 6 months ago. The ring didn't do anything for you except give you a damage boost. A casual player who has not yet learned how to play their class and/or thinks oakensoul will make them a world beater is going to drop dead more than anyone.

The issue isn't casuals running oakensoul. It's 2500 CP sweats with grand overlord on every class. ZOS has to lower the damage enough that elite players find it less useful so it can be used primarily by the people it was designed for.

Toxic_Hemlock · July 2022

ccfeeling wrote: »

When everyone bragging in youtube, how OP it is.

We know Oakensoul must be nerfed.

Sure for PvP. In PvE leave my helpful ring alone...

I'm not hurting anyone by being powerful enough with it to try an arena or vet dungeon occasionally. Why should I continue to only do the easier overland content because it is OP in PvP?

Just separate the two game modes already!

DrSlaughtr · July 2022

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

ccfeeling wrote: »

When everyone bragging in youtube, how OP it is.

We know Oakensoul must be nerfed.

Sure for PvP. In PvE leave my helpful ring alone...

I'm not hurting anyone by being powerful enough with it to try an arena or vet dungeon occasionally. Why should I continue to only do the easier overland content because it is OP in PvP?

Just separate the two game modes already!

They're never going to separate the game modes. I'm all for adding major or minor slayer to the ring.

Cheyenne · July 2022

I didn't read all the responses because I don't have time, but I have 2 accounts. I won't focus on my 2nd account because it has nothing to do with this thread, but for my main account that I've had for a long time, I've spent tons of money and have crafting maxed and tons of houses and a stupid amount of collectibles, etc. All of my alts were deleted after the AWA thing. I kept one main. She is pure casual. She has never entered a dungeon, trial, or done PVP. She wears Julianos and one of the overland sets that I can't remember without being in game because I don't pay that much attention. She does not parse. She has deleted any housing dummies she has earned because she feels that's just a waste of time. She does not chase any new set and has no idea how proc sets work. She has no idea what kind of damage she does. She can do public dungeon group events. That's how she measures her ability. If she can do that, I the player, am happy.

What she could NOT do was solo world bosses (old content, not DLCs, which she never bothered to try). She went out and spent time getting this ring because she hates bar swapping. Suddenly she was able to start slowly clearing out the world bosses on her own. It was exhilarating. It was so exciting because she couldn't do it before. She started to go through all the zones she wasn't able to do a complete clear on because of those world bosses left undone. She's not even 1/4 of the way through the zones because there are 6 bosses per zone and she doesn't have a ton of time to spend playing this game because of real life, but she's been slowly working at it.

Now on PTS using the exact same everything with this ring, she is back to not being able to solo the world bosses.

Back to me, the player. I'm now desperately trying to complete all of the world bosses for completionist sake (is that a word?) for my main character. I don't have all the time in the world, so I'm trying to do a few per day, working my way alphabetically down the list of zones. I hate that I'm feeling rushed. I'm no longer even enjoying the experience of beating these things (and it takes me a good 5 minutes to bring them down even with this ring, so I'm not one-shotting anything). I'm not even sure why I'm bothering because the abilities I enjoy playing with just suck on PTS, so I'm not even sure I want to play after these changes go live. I figure this is my only chance to clear these world bosses, though.

I'm just sad. Not mad or anything because I know this is how ZOS works. It's just part of the reason why I'm a casual to begin with (I mean, who really wants to chase a new something every few months? - not putting down those who do, but I don't have the time - wish I did).

Anyway, sorry, no spreadsheets to share my data, just my anecdotal experience.

Edited to say: I have no idea what it is that makes me now unable to solo the world bosses like I can on live. I'm literally using all the same gear and all the same abilities because this is what I enjoy. Like I said earlier, I don't waste time shooting various skills at dummies. If I need to change things, skills or chasing new gear, just to do what I'm doing now on live, I just won't bother because that's not fun to me. I chose the things I chose because I enjoy them, especially skills. I don't want to change skills to something I don't enjoy just to do something. Game = fun. Game I pay money for (ESO+ or crowns or store) = I better be able to do whatever I want that I find fun. You force me into skills I don't enjoy or sets I have to farm just to do what I do now while I pay you money = I no longer play this game. Sorry. Fact of life.

DrSlaughtr · July 2022

Cheyenne wrote: »

I didn't read all the responses because I don't have time, but I have 2 accounts. I won't focus on my 2nd account because it has nothing to do with this thread, but for my main account that I've had for a long time, I've spent tons of money and have crafting maxed and tons of houses and a stupid amount of collectibles, etc. All of my alts were deleted after the AWA thing. I kept one main. She is pure casual. She has never entered a dungeon, trial, or done PVP. She wears Julianos and one of the overland sets that I can't remember without being in game because I don't pay that much attention. She does not parse. She has deleted any housing dummies she has earned because she feels that's just a waste of time. She does not chase any new set and has no idea how proc sets work. She has no idea what kind of damage she does. She can do public dungeon group events. That's how she measures her ability. If she can do that, I the player, am happy.

What she could NOT do was solo world bosses (old content, not DLCs, which she never bothered to try). She went out and spent time getting this ring because she hates bar swapping. Suddenly she was able to start slowly clearing out the world bosses on her own. It was exhilarating. It was so exciting because she couldn't do it before. She started to go through all the zones she wasn't able to do a complete clear on because of those world bosses left undone. She's not even 1/4 of the way through the zones because there are 6 bosses per zone and she doesn't have a ton of time to spend playing this game because of real life, but she's been slowly working at it.

Now on PTS using the exact same everything with this ring, she is back to not being able to solo the world bosses.

Back to me, the player. I'm now desperately trying to complete all of the world bosses for completionist sake (is that a word?) for my main character. I don't have all the time in the world, so I'm trying to do a few per day, working my way alphabetically down the list of zones. I hate that I'm feeling rushed. I'm no longer even enjoying the experience of beating these things (and it takes me a good 5 minutes to bring them down even with this ring, so I'm not one-shotting anything). I'm not even sure why I'm bothering because the abilities I enjoy playing with just suck on PTS, so I'm not even sure I want to play after these changes go live. I figure this is my only chance to clear these world bosses, though.

I'm just sad. Not mad or anything because I know this is how ZOS works. It's just part of the reason why I'm a casual to begin with (I mean, who really wants to chase a new something every few months? - not putting down those who do, but I don't have the time - wish I did).

Anyway, sorry, no spreadsheets to share my data, just my anecdotal experience.

Edited to say: I have no idea what it is that makes me now unable to solo the world bosses like I can on live. I'm literally using all the same gear and all the same abilities because this is what I enjoy. Like I said earlier, I don't waste time shooting various skills at dummies. If I need to change things, skills or chasing new gear, just to do what I'm doing now on live, I just won't bother because that's not fun to me. I chose the things I chose because I enjoy them, especially skills. I don't want to change skills to something I don't enjoy just to do something. Game = fun. Game I pay money for (ESO+ or crowns or store) = I better be able to do whatever I want that I find fun. You force me into skills I don't enjoy or sets I have to farm just to do what I do now while I pay you money = I no longer play this game. Sorry. Fact of life.

I appreciate your points but let me say that the world bosses in any zone were ever designed to be soloed. The reason why I can go on any character and head to Daggerfall and solo the world bosses is because of power creep. Our characters are vastly more powerful than any of the base game zones were ever designed for.

So your character that is strictly casual that has no desire but to enjoy the world and run around (I don't blame her) isn't failing because she can't solo X World Boss from X Zone. She's failing because the boss is stronger than her current skill set, and that's okay. This is called progression. You keep working on it, and eventually your character will get it done. Yes, that sucks if you don't have a lot of time. I don't either anymore. I have to get all my gaming done in a few hours. But here's the issue we ran into.

They so overpowered this ring that people like me, who have no accessibility issues, who have no physical or mental limitations, who have been playing a very long time, are using it en mass because it allows us to get buffs we have no reliable way of getting, and pushes our damage significantly higher than the game is designed for, whether that's PVP or PVE.

Switching to minor versions of courage/heroism/etc really shouldn't be a black and white difference in fighting the same world boss. I'm not saying it's harder. I'm sure it is. And maybe you just need to work at it a little bit more. But it's clearly still helping you based on your description.

99% of fighting world bosses solo is knowing their mechanics. Just a helpful thought.

MidniteOwl1913 · July 2022

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

ccfeeling wrote: »

When everyone bragging in youtube, how OP it is.

We know Oakensoul must be nerfed.

Sure for PvP. In PvE leave my helpful ring alone...

I'm not hurting anyone by being powerful enough with it to try an arena or vet dungeon occasionally. Why should I continue to only do the easier overland content because it is OP in PvP?

Just separate the two game modes already!

Yes! This is exactly how I feel!

MacCait · July 2022

kuldar1994 wrote: »

Atm its not just pvp that its OP in. I cleared vateshran arena way faster with oaken than with 2 bar setup. So it also includes solo arenas. And imo thats an issue aswell

Why is that an issue?

Say for example a player has some type of physical or neurological disability, do you think they will be able to clear the Arena as quick as you did with the live version of Oakensoul? Or woud they still struggle? Could it be that such a player may still find it a challenge, but for once it may be an actual possibility that they could make it through?

They said the intention was to help such players, so does it make sense that more experienced players with no dissabilities are saying its an issue because it means solo content is now too easy?

kuldar1994 · August 2022

MacCait wrote: »

kuldar1994 wrote: »

Atm its not just pvp that its OP in. I cleared vateshran arena way faster with oaken than with 2 bar setup. So it also includes solo arenas. And imo thats an issue aswell

Why is that an issue?

Say for example a player has some type of physical or neurological disability, do you think they will be able to clear the Arena as quick as you did with the live version of Oakensoul? Or woud they still struggle? Could it be that such a player may still find it a challenge, but for once it may be an actual possibility that they could make it through?

They said the intention was to help such players, so does it make sense that more experienced players with no dissabilities are saying its an issue because it means solo content is now too easy?

Imo its and issue because 1 bar build shouldnt be stronger than 2 bar build (if its the same result or slightly weaker then it would be okay since theres already way less actions needed). I mentioned solo arenas but can add 4 man content too. This ring makes healers or actual tanks even less useful. Healers are already often not used there... and ofc yes, for some people it would make content too easy aswell (may or may not be a problem...depends.)

kuldar1994 · August 2022

kuldar1994 wrote: »

MacCait wrote: »

kuldar1994 wrote: »

Atm its not just pvp that its OP in. I cleared vateshran arena way faster with oaken than with 2 bar setup. So it also includes solo arenas. And imo thats an issue aswell

Why is that an issue?

Say for example a player has some type of physical or neurological disability, do you think they will be able to clear the Arena as quick as you did with the live version of Oakensoul? Or woud they still struggle? Could it be that such a player may still find it a challenge, but for once it may be an actual possibility that they could make it through?

They said the intention was to help such players, so does it make sense that more experienced players with no dissabilities are saying its an issue because it means solo content is now too easy?

Imo its and issue because 1 bar build shouldnt be stronger than 2 bar build (if its the same result or slightly weaker then it would be okay since theres already way less actions needed).

And that also forces experienced players into oakensoul build too.

maximusrex45 · August 2022

kuldar1994 wrote: »

Atm its not just pvp that its OP in. I cleared vateshran arena way faster with oaken than with 2 bar setup. So it also includes solo arenas. And imo thats an issue aswell

That you are bad at bar swapping doesn't make it OP. Players good at bar swapping do more than Oakensoul does.

IZZEFlameLash · August 2022

maximusrex45 wrote: »

kuldar1994 wrote: »

Atm its not just pvp that its OP in. I cleared vateshran arena way faster with oaken than with 2 bar setup. So it also includes solo arenas. And imo thats an issue aswell

That you are bad at bar swapping doesn't make it OP. Players good at bar swapping do more than Oakensoul does.

This. People really need to see optimized end game dps builds because almost all of them involve 2 bars. Oaken just ensures that I have buffs I would have had if I had a dedicated PvE group in PUG settings. PvE focused content creators weren't the ones to call it 'Broakensoul hurr hurr' or any Oakensoul users 'brainless' or 'sh**ters'. Most of those came from PvP focused ones.

Besides, arena weapons are mostly irrelevant to many builds these days, so I don't see problem people clearing arenas for whatever reason outside of 'muh ego' reasons. And the ring fits the 'accessibility' theme waaay more than this u35 mess.

Brrrofski · August 2022

For people who are blaming PvP players for the changes, yes, it changed because of how good it was in PvP.

It will impact people in pve a bit. But it doesn't mean the ring shouldn't be adjusted in some way, because it is a plague in PvP right now and it ruining all of their fun.

The vast majority of PvP players that I saw calling for a nerf were thinking about the impact in pve. Hence why most of the suggestion I saw were:

Change Beserk to Slayer
Change Protection to Aegis
Remove Heroism

So for pve, all it'd lose is heroism, which is not something that's easy to get anyway, especially solo.

And in PvP, some might still use it, but it isn't such an easy to choice, as it is now, with easily half of Cyro using the set. A lot of healers are even using it.

I saw those proposed changes over and over and over, here, on Reddit, and by content creators on YouTube.

ZOS decided to go with minor versions for some reason. As to why, nobody knows. Maybe because they want players to get Aegis and Slayer from somewhere else. Who knows.

But it needed to be adjusted for PvP. There were other adjustments that ZOS could have made that would've balanced it fine for PvP and not impacted pve that much.

silver1surfer69 · August 2022

As someone who uses it. For me it is dead next patch. Im a pvper. I mean its done its business, that is to sell the chapter and now they kill it. Reasons:

The most important thing in it (for me) is major force. Minor force and minor heroism i have already, so all it will bring me next patch is minor berserk and protection and thats not enough to loose 5 slots. With 5 more abilities i have far more options for sustain, so the sustain part of it can be neglected for me. If they kept major force or give some compensation for it like minor/major brittle or some i would consider using it but like this it is def dead.

silver1surfer69 · August 2022

IZZEFlameLash wrote: »

maximusrex45 wrote: »

kuldar1994 wrote: »

Atm its not just pvp that its OP in. I cleared vateshran arena way faster with oaken than with 2 bar setup. So it also includes solo arenas. And imo thats an issue aswell

That you are bad at bar swapping doesn't make it OP. Players good at bar swapping do more than Oakensoul does.

This. People really need to see optimized end game dps builds because almost all of them involve 2 bars. Oaken just ensures that I have buffs I would have had if I had a dedicated PvE group in PUG settings. PvE focused content creators weren't the ones to call it 'Broakensoul hurr hurr' or any Oakensoul users 'brainless' or 'sh**ters'. Most of those came from PvP focused ones.

Besides, arena weapons are mostly irrelevant to many builds these days, so I don't see problem people clearing arenas for whatever reason outside of 'muh ego' reasons. And the ring fits the 'accessibility' theme waaay more than this u35 mess.

Not for pvp. I a pvper for +7 years with an extreme amount of hours in pvp. I do say that only to tell that im used and expereinced in pvp. With oakensoul my build became like about 30% stronger...

Remathilis · August 2022

I must admit, I'm enjoying Whitestrake's mayhem this year and it's due to this ring. I put it on my Warden werewolf and was actually able to 1v1 kills rather than just be free AP for someone! Now, I still died A LOT, but I wasn't afraid to try just using the ww kit, the ring and some crafted gear.

Next WSM, I'll go back to slinking in the shadows to do my one Cyrodiil quest and turn in my one IC daily, but it was fun for one cycle.

James-Wayne · August 2022

jaws343 wrote: »

Major Protection to Minor Protection: 10% damage reduction to 5%. And, you can not easily slot a skill to get Major protection and have 15% reduction. Something you couldn't do before.

Technically you can just slot Blinding Flare for Major Protection passively so yes you can now get 15% reduction if your willing to lose a skill slot

silver1surfer69 · August 2022

When the next big thing/set is advertised to sell the next chapter, i will definitly wait and not buy it!

I, like i assume many others, bought high isle for oakensoul. I will not do something like that in the future. In my case i changed my complete rotation and button setup for this set and now, just 1 patch later, i have to change and learn back and automatize muscle memory new. I feel like betrayed here!

I totally back up the idea someone wrote, to contact customer support and request a refund for high isle due to the oakensoul changes!

jaws343 · August 2022

silver1surfer69 wrote: »

When the next big thing/set is advertised to sell the next chapter, i will definitly wait and not buy it!

I, like i assume many others, bought high isle for oakensoul. I will not do something like that in the future. In my case i changed my complete rotation and button setup for this set and now, just 1 patch later, i have to change and learn back and automatize muscle memory new. I feel like betrayed here!

I totally back up the idea someone wrote, to contact customer support and request a refund for high isle due to the oakensoul changes!

I bought high isle to buy the next expansion to the game I like to play.

If you are buying expansions and dlc due to sets/skills/classes added and not also expecting those things to be adjusted in a Live Service game, then you really are playing the wrong game.

silver1surfer69 · August 2022

jaws343 wrote: »

silver1surfer69 wrote: »

When the next big thing/set is advertised to sell the next chapter, i will definitly wait and not buy it!

I, like i assume many others, bought high isle for oakensoul. I will not do something like that in the future. In my case i changed my complete rotation and button setup for this set and now, just 1 patch later, i have to change and learn back and automatize muscle memory new. I feel like betrayed here!

I totally back up the idea someone wrote, to contact customer support and request a refund for high isle due to the oakensoul changes!

I bought high isle to buy the next expansion to the game I like to play.

If you are buying expansions and dlc due to sets/skills/classes added and not also expecting those things to be adjusted in a Live Service game, then you really are playing the wrong game.

Thank you for this positive and constructive answer. Im very sure the majority of ppl buy the chapter for the stes. Why else would there be every dlc/chapter insane new op sets? I expected oaken to be nerfed, but not this quick and not this hard. Btw its nice to hear that you know who sould play which game for which reason.

duckdown · August 2022

Just remove this ring already. Its [snip]

[Edited for Insulting Comments]

Kharnamantic · August 2022

Oakensoul ring should give major aegis/major slayer (damage vs pve trial mobs) instead of minor. The point of this ring is to even out elitist highly organized guilds with casual ones. Organized guilds can already keep up major aegis/slayer all the time, whereas it is tough for casual guilds to do this. Minor aegis/slayer is already too easy to get and will disincentivize farming trial gear that has it as a 2 set bonus.

merpins · August 2022

As I said on page 1; the ring still feels not great to use, and like the penalty is too much for what the ring gives (and it gives a lot, which is saying something). Compared to live, my stam sorc build (which doesn't use crystal weapons) went from 80k dps to 55k dps. Some of that is due to the 10% nerf to Bound Armaments (more like 11%), part due to the other nerfs to pets and such. But after doing some other parses to check what is and isn't caused by the oaken nerf--- by making 2-bar non oakensoul builds without changing the armor loadout other than the ring--- I'm able to confidently say I'm losing 19% damage as compared to live, just from the ring, and 12.25% from other nerfs on this non-optimal build that is built for Oakensoul.

Will this change once Empower is no longer broken on the ring? Maybe by 1 or 2%, once I start medium attack weaving. But that only results in 1 or 2k extra dps. It's a little bit, but it's not super significant. I think the nerf is a bit too hard. If they brought back Major Berserk instead of minor, I think it would be in a better place and would see use outside of just heavy attack builds.

... though we still can't really test heavy attack builds with the ring.