I think I've figured it out!

Tornaad · April 2023

I've been pondering on what the long-term vision ZoS might have for the combat of ESO and I think I have figured it out. I think they are trying to get it to a place where it is easy to pick and be able to do most anything you want, but also keep a powerful depth to the combat that can take significant effort to truly master.
If that is where they are going, then I hope they can get it there, because that would let people easily pick up the game and do most any kind of content they want, but still leave room to find a wonderful depth to the combat to explore.
What are your thoughts?
Where do you think they are trying to go with the combat?

ZOS_Icy · April 2023

Greetings,

This thread has been moved to the Combat & Character Mechanics section, as it is better suited there.

Thank you for your understanding.

colossalvoids · April 2023

I honestly think they have no major plan nor road map. They're doing reactive changes a lot, those that seems fine and couple patches later actually becoming a problem as it wasn't really planned beforehand.

We were surprised by the lack of depth in their "in depth" combat posts, but I guess their plan isn't that deep overall as many of us though so it's still mostly reaction based changes coming out way most of the time.

Personally I stayed with the game precisely because it was pretty hard to master back then, especially for someone new to MMOs, kinda glad I'm not starting it now.

Necrotech_Master · May 2023

i still feel like being good in eso combat is one of those "easy to learn, hard to master" type of things

i dont necessarily feel like the combat flow has changed too much in the past 9 years

it still takes knowledge of the sets to understand how a build works (a reason i never copy a build and experiment with my own)

it also takes knowledge of slotting the right skills and keeping track of your timers so your not overcasting too much, when to start execute abilities

being good at combat also is about knowing mechanics of the content your doing, when to dodge, when to block, when to burst, etc

so while at a high level it might seem simple, it still has a lot of subtle nuances that most newer players need time to learn

this feels like a thinly veiled stab at HA builds, but i dont want to get into that

i will say though that if you are only doing good with a HA build and havent really learned combat, then your pigeonholing yourself for the next time zos wants to play wack-a-mole with a nerfhammer (and to clarify, im only talking about this in regards to people who are not using a HA build due to a physical difficulty/disability and just because "its easy")