Black-Glove Grounding: Small improvement = Big for popular niche

verminjerky · February 15

Black-Glove Grounding (Heavy, Bedlam Veil)
(2 items) Adds 4% Healing Taken
(3 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(4 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(5 items) After taking direct damage three times within 5 seconds, you create a 5 meter area for 10 seconds that grants Grounding to you and group members, reducing the cost of roll dodging by 20% and increasing block mitigation by 12% for 15 seconds. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.

One small change could make this a popular set: Change reduce the cost of roll dodging to reduce the cost of block.

I was watching SkinnyCheeks' video about sets and he said he wasn't sure where this set fit into ESO. My immediate assumption was that it's for PVP tanks in spite of its PVE souce, or if it's not then it could be very good for PVP tanks. (Maybe it's aimed at solo and IA? Not sure.)

For my use, reducing the cost of roll dodging is underwhelming at best. From the wording, it sounds like the AOE grants an effect which stays on the target, which makes this effect okay for support. If it only works while in the small AOE, though, it really doesn't have any utility.

However, if the 20% reduction reduced the cost of block, instead, then Sturdy-maxed (permanent block) PVP tanks (like mine) would have a reason to be interested in this set. Getting that blocking utility - already excellent - and sharing it with allies would be one of those special selfish but not too selfish sets that's great to have as a tank in Cyrodiil or BGs.

I get that 20% reduced cost is a lot but even if that number got nerfed a bit - say 13% to match the 13% block mitigation - it would still be a set with a lot of potential.

Personally speaking, I'd be farming it on day one.

MashmalloMan · February 16

Unfortunately, it feels like ZOS is too scared to make sets that shake up the meta anymore and refuse to update obviously dead sets from the past or OP ones everyone is using now.

I can't think of a single set I was really excited for in the past 2 years. Class sets were such a gigantic missed opportunity, you would think their endless feedback and data from launch would show that no one is using them, so why weren't they buffed this patch?

Can we maybe stop getting 5 piece sets and start getting more 2 and 3 piece sets to shake things up? Really feels like the creativity is lacking here.

If a class set can't be better than a generic dungeon set, then why would a class ever bother farming IA for it. Sorcs class set for example, terrible and way too complex of a proc condition. Every sorc just sticks with Pillar for the same effect, works way better.

This is to say, sometimes you read the idea of a set and it sounds great, it's when I actually the scaling in game where I instantly think "why would anyone want to use or farm for that?"

Tarnished Nightmare - physical damage proc, does like 4k damage every 8s. It's terrible.

The Blind - Has a small tooltip and minor force is common, but it sounds like the shield procs infinitely. Nope, it has a 6s cd. New mythic. The set you brought up. All terrible. So many sets like Frostbite or Storm Cursed Revenge, cool concepts, but dead on arrival.

Yet... They continue to let sets like Rallying Cry or Vat Destro be overloaded months, to years after launch, despite being objectively overloaded on their set budget.

verminjerky · February 16

MashmalloMan wrote: »

This is to say, sometimes you read the idea of a set and it sounds great, it's when I actually the scaling in game where I instantly think "why would anyone want to use or farm for that?"

Yeah it's pretty whelming. I understand the devs don't want to swing the pendulum wildly - and that's fair, sometimes that grates on the nerves, too. But we're on the umpteenth patch where it looks like I'll be running, sigh, Relequen and Pillar with Zaan or Kilt on my Templar DPS because that's what I have to run.

I mean there's some build diversity - that's not at all what I have on my Warden, for example - but the combat team had to know this set would be great with block cost reduction. It almost feels like they switched it to roll dodge to nerf it preemptively.