Sorc pts impressions

Houshiki · January 30

Purely my initial impressions to the sorc changes from the pts patch notes.

I am intrigued. Wards get to be an on demand self-heal, which gives it something to distinguish itself from every other available ward, which more often than not has a secondary effect. An attempt to diversify between running pet or no-pet. Some fixes or bringing abilities more in line with other abilities. And some options for sorc healers and supports. Still not seeing the arrival of a unique buff or utility that sorcs bring to groups though.

Overall, this is intriguing and will require testing if these changes are good or bad, buffs or nerfs, etc. For now I will withhold judgement and remain neutral. Or optimistic leaning neutral.

Thoughts?

SmellyUnlimited · January 30

They bring Major Maim now as a utility debuff. Also the shield + heal might actually make the skill viable on stam sorc, which didn’t get much love this patch for sorcs

Houshiki · January 30

SmellyUnlimited wrote: »

They bring Major Maim now as a utility debuff. Also the shield + heal might actually make the skill viable on stam sorc, which didn’t get much love this patch for sorcs

Admittedly, I missed that and thought another class provided the debuff more easily and readily. But yes, the change to encase would give sorcs an easy and ready access to an aoe major main. So, yeah, we've got nice utility to bring to the group.

ZOS_Hadeostry · January 30

Greetings,

After further review we have decided to move this thread to a category we think is more appropriate for this topic, as it's about the PTS.

Thank you for your understanding

SkaraMinoc · January 30

Mag Sorc is already very strong in PvP when played by an experienced player. Adding a heal to Hardened Ward and then giving them more % magicka is actually a massive buff. I don't even need to check PTS.

MashmalloMan · January 30

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

Mag Sorc is already very strong in PvP when played by an experienced player. Adding a heal to Hardened Ward and then giving them more % magicka is actually a massive buff. I don't even need to check PTS.

It's not exactly the buff everyone asked for either so I hope this doesn't result in an inevitable nerf like they did for Crystal Weapon and Bound Armaments.

For PVE, 10% mag/stam isn't going to do enough to replace using pets because they simply do too much with Daedric Prey and non pet Sorc abilities can't compare. For pvp, the issue is bar space and fitting mandatory debuffs/buffs to the point where not running an Armor skill for a largely redundant monster set is still useful to us..

I wanted better access to named buffs/debuffs to help with bar space.
I wanted hybridization to complete so Minor Prophecy was easier to use for Stam.
I wanted Bound Armaments to be hybridized so Mag Sorc gets better use out of it.

Quick fixes:

Remove 8% stam/mag from Bound Armor morphs. Add Major Savagery/Prophecy for slotting. For BA, add Crit Chance per dagger.
Very weird decision to stack even more % resources when Sorc has Bound Aegis/Armaments, but all the more reason that the 8% stam/mag should be reworked completely. You want to improve no pet sorc, make the skills better for them like BA. Doesn't make any sense for a mag sorc to slot Bound Aegis in pve, a tank skill. Even less sense for pvp where block mitigation does nothing for shields and minor resolve is covered by Resolving Vigor.
Add Major Breach to Haunting Curse.
Update magic damage types to physical/shock.

Houshiki · January 30

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

Mag Sorc is already very strong in PvP when played by an experienced player. Adding a heal to Hardened Ward and then giving them more % magicka is actually a massive buff. I don't even need to check PTS.

I see how that can be a big buff, seeing as magsorcs more often than not stack mag and rely heavily on wards. I can't say I'm likely to see any shifts in class pops(?) towards magsorcs though.

Zabagad · January 30

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

Mag Sorc is already very strong in PvP when played by an experienced player.

That's true for all classes - even for necros if the player is an expert

Very good players can beat you with every class and most of the real good main magSorcs can do it easier/better on NBs or DKs then on their sorcs....

Decimus · January 30

Zabagad wrote: »

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

Mag Sorc is already very strong in PvP when played by an experienced player.

That's true for all classes - even for necros if the player is an expert
Very good players can beat you with every class and most of the real good main magSorcs can do it easier/better on NBs or DKs then on their sorcs....

There are people running around spamming Hardened Wards with 40k+ health stam sorcs & stacking Relequen, Jerall etc on people... trust me, anyone experienced at the game would rather fight those NBs with their avoidable and counterable offense than that. DK is its own thing for sure, but also harder to play well than a 40k health sorc with single target 1v1/Xv1 procs.

The last thing these builds needed was a burst heal every time they cast their damage shields.

dinokstrunz · January 30

Sorc is now just Arcanist but with actual damage & mobility. Who thought it was a good idea to give them more burst heal options + a shield lmao

Sorc didn't need anything personally it was already up there with the best in the game currently. Crazy to think Sorc is lacking right now. Just honestly feels like there was zero thought put forward on this change.

katorga · January 30

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

Mag Sorc is already very strong in PvP when played by an experienced player. Adding a heal to Hardened Ward and then giving them more % magicka is actually a massive buff. I don't even need to check PTS.

Nah. Doesn't catch up to current, live, pvp NB . Not even close after the massive buff NB got this PTS.

Mag Sorc will remain in C tier. What it takes to reach S tier just went up.

I think, but not sure because I don't play the build, that Stam Sorc might drop to C as well now that Master's DW is nerfed. Remains to be seen.

silentxthreat · February 2

better access to important buffs on sorc abilities would help a lot. especially major crit/resolve

we have very little bar space and in pvp for example you are forced to play chudan just for resolve to help with bar space. you will have to make a choice to run crit pots or mage light/camo on fb which does nothing for the back bar.... pets taking up a lot on both bars feels bad as well

silentxthreat · February 2

dinokstrunz wrote: »

Sorc is now just Arcanist but with actual damage & mobility. Who thought it was a good idea to give them more burst heal options + a shield lmao

Sorc didn't need anything personally it was already up there with the best in the game currently. Crazy to think Sorc is lacking right now. Just honestly feels like there was zero thought put forward on this change.

youre funny. hows your nb main?

katorga · February 2

silentxthreat wrote: »

better access to important buffs on sorc abilities would help a lot. especially major crit/resolve

we have very little bar space and in pvp for example you are forced to play chudan just for resolve to help with bar space. you will have to make a choice to run crit pots or mage light/camo on fb which does nothing for the back bar.... pets taking up a lot on both bars feels bad as well

That is more valuable than it appears in pvp. I moved to NB for that reason....no buffing no wasted GCD, and I actually have 2-3 flex spots on my build compared to live sorc, where i have none, even if using oakensoul. This patch my NB gets free 1250-1800 hps, free ult regen, on top of all that?

MashmalloMan · February 2

katorga wrote: »

silentxthreat wrote: »

better access to important buffs on sorc abilities would help a lot. especially major crit/resolve

we have very little bar space and in pvp for example you are forced to play chudan just for resolve to help with bar space. you will have to make a choice to run crit pots or mage light/camo on fb which does nothing for the back bar.... pets taking up a lot on both bars feels bad as well

That is more valuable than it appears in pvp. I moved to NB for that reason....no buffing no wasted GCD, and I actually have 2-3 flex spots on my build compared to live sorc, where i have none, even if using oakensoul. This patch my NB gets free 1250-1800 hps, free ult regen, on top of all that?

You forgot.. free Major Resolve, free Major Prophecy/Savagery which works with their Minor Savagery for both Stam/Mag NBs alike, and free +700-800 weapon/spell damage for their most common burst combo.

silentxthreat · February 2

You forgot.. free Major Resolve, free Major Prophecy/Savagery which works with their Minor Savagery for both Stam/Mag NBs alike, and free +700-800 weapon/spell damage for their most common burst combo.[/quote]

what this feedback shows with the current state of the game is we need a major overhaul on the major/minor buff system. these buffs should be things that a class skill brings to a raid but not a press for buffs reducing gcd but passive as long as its on the bar. This would bring back class identity and make things a lot more easy for devs to balance like nightblades that are so stacked atm in pvp but suck in pve

Vaqual · February 2

silentxthreat wrote: »

what this feedback shows with the current state of the game is we need a major overhaul on the major/minor buff system. these buffs should be things that a class skill brings to a raid but not a press for buffs reducing gcd but passive as long as its on the bar. This would bring back class identity and make things a lot more easy for devs to balance like nightblades that are so stacked atm in pvp but suck in pve

I agree the inflationary availability of buffs/debuffs (and by consequence the ever increasing demand for them on each and every skill) is not good. But I would prefer to see more "fleshing out" and less "overhauling". It gets tiring to always start at 0 and to see that half of the sets and abilities have been forgotten or ignored during overhauls.