I have taken notes, and also I tip my hat to Merpins and Nightingale as they have a good amount of foreknowledge regarding the warden.
So heres what I have been jumbling down below in my spare time.
Also if anyone has a way of improving upon the warden, feel free to mention them in the comments here for yourselves as I am not the only one who cares for the warden as a class.
Natures Gift II Suggestion:
When you overheal yourself or an ally, you gain 250 Magicka or 250 Stamina, whichever resource pool is lower.
You restore both 250 Magicka and Stamina when healing an injured ally* with a green balance ability.
This effect can occur once every 1.5 seconds.
(*this includes healing yourself with a green balance ability if any damage was taken.)
Comment: natures gift can now restore whichever resource pool is low with any overheal outside of the wardens toolkit, but to encourage the use of the wardens green balance class skills, the passive will now restore both magicka and stamina to the user whenever an injured ally is healed with a green balance sourced ability effect on top of the initial effect but with a slightly altered cooldown to match.
Maturation II: changed to
Graht-Oaks Maturation.
You and up to 11 group members are granted Minor Toughness at all times, increasing Maximum Health by 10%.
While in combat: Overhealing yourself or group members with a green balance ability while they are affected by minor toughness grants 20 stacks of a non-refreshable warden exclusive buff "Graht-Oaks Maturity" for 20 seconds. This can only occur once every 20 seconds per target.
While Graht-Oaks Maturity remains, increases Damage Done with Class Abilities by 3% & Limits all incoming non-oblivion damage to 10% of Max Health, taking Direct Damage* Removes a Stack of Graht-Oaks Maturity and is lost upon all 20 stacks being removed.
(Note*: This includes direct damage caused by status effects like chilled, concussed, diseased, overcharged and sundered.)
Comment: the current availability of Minor Toughness as a buff is undoubtedly rare, only being available through the current iteration of Maturation and a morrowind set that is Warrior-poet prior to writing this, warrants a complete rework into a proper class exclusive, just as arcanists have a unique abyssal ink debuff on an ability, so too will wardens have a passive class exclusive buff.
Namely, Graht-oaks Maturity only increases class ability damage by a small amount for the user and affected players with Minor Toughness, while also providing a somewhat unique form of tanking through its ability to limit incoming damage.
Unlike the Dragonknights Magma Armor which lasts the whole duration, Graht-Oaks Maturity can last the full duration, but if you take direct damage a certain amount of times, you lose the buff entirely and have to wait for the cooldown to finish before gaining it again.
The thing with this incoming damage cap is it has a weakness (besides oblivion damage). in a 1v1 scenario, it would take a well built/optimised vestige to remove their opponents Graht-oak maturity buff well before the cooldown is finished, but in a 1vX situation, the weakness becomes more apparent as more sources of direct damage will contribute to the quick depletion/removal of graht-oaks maturity. Think of it as "Using an Axe to chop a Tree for lumber." chop a notch big enough in the right place and even the mightiest trees can fall. (Provided they don't fall on you and take the proverbial lumberjack with them.)
Dive & Morphs: needs a instant close range function in addition to its original function.
- Command a cliff racer to dive bomb an enemy, dealing [X] Magic Damage. If you are more than 7 meters away from the target, you set them Off Balance for 7 seconds.
- This ability changes to Spirit Claw against targets within 7 meters, instantly dealing [X] Magic Damage.
Cutting Dive:
- Command a cliff racer to dive bomb an enemy, dealing [X] Bleed Damage immediately and then causing them to bleed for [Y] Bleed Damage over 10 seconds. If you are more than 7 meters away from the target, you set them Off Balance for 7 seconds.
- This ability changes to Senche Render against targets within 7 meters, instantly dealing [X] Bleed Damage and then causing them to bleed for [Y] Bleed Damage over 10 seconds. The bleed from Senche Render Stacks with the Bleed from the cliff racer and refreshes both. Cannot be refreshed until both active bleeds from cutting dive expire on the target.
Screaming Cliff Racer:
- Command a cliff racer to dive bomb an enemy, dealing [X] Magic Damage. If you are more than 7 meters away from the target, you set them Off Balance for 7 seconds. After dealing damage you increase your Weapon and Spell Damage by 100 for 10 seconds, which doubles in duration when damaging overcharged targets.
- This ability changes to Overcharged Spirit Claw against targets within 7 meters, instantly dealing [X] Magic Damage that applies guaranteed overcharged status effect. After dealing damage you increase your Weapon and Spell Damage by 100 for 10 seconds which doubles to 200 when damaging overcharged targets.
- If both effects are active when damaging overcharged targets with this ability, remove both buffs to gain the "Striders Wrath" buff for 20 seconds. Striders Wrath prevents the buffs from screaming cliff racer and overcharged spirit claw from occurring while active, increases weapon and spell damage by 400 and can be refreshed once every 15 seconds when damaging overcharged targets.
Subterranean assault: needs rework (this was already suggested in two seperate thread comments a while back.)
Assassin Beetle Barrage:
- Mark the target enemy, after a 3 second delay, an assassin beetle surfaces to attack the target and enemies within 7 meters of the target, Dealing bleed damage. After the beetle completes the attack, 2 more assassin beetles follow up to attack the target, occurring once every 2 seconds after the first attack for 4 seconds.
- The first beetle applies guaranteed sundered status to the affected targets, the second beetle applies guaranteed haemorrhaging status and the third beetle deals 200% more damage to targets below <50% Health while also applying the effects of the first two assassin beetles.
Notes:
- the assassin beetle barrage retains the full damage of its predecessor subterranean assault ability, but is instead divided by 3 (the damage is spread out by the number of assassin beetles.
- The assassin beetle barrage ability requires a target to activate.
Falcons Swiftness & morphs: needs a significant change.
- While slotted on either bar: Summons a Falcon that fights for you until killed or unsummoned, The Falcon deals [X] Physical damage to the closest enemy every 2 seconds. The Falcon also returns when killed after 15 seconds or can be cast at a cost to return early.
- While active: The ability can be cast while active to gain major expedition for 6 seconds, increasing your movement speed by 30%. While in combat: the Falcon passively prevents one cleansable snare once every 10 seconds, snares removed this way grants 12 seconds of major expedition.
Falcons Eye
- While slotted on either bar: Summons a Falcon that fights for you until killed or unsummoned, The Falcon deals [X] Physical damage to the closest enemy every 2 seconds with a heightened chance to apply the sundered status effect. The Falcon also returns when killed after 15 seconds or can be cast at a cost to return early.
- While active: The ability can be cast while active to gain major expedition and reveal stealthed and invisible enemies around you for 6 seconds, increasing your movement speed by 30% and preventing exposed enemies from returning to stealth or invisibility for 4 seconds. While in combat: the Falcon passively prevents one cleansable snare once every 10 seconds, snares removed this way grants 12 seconds of major expedition?
- New: Has a higher chance to apply it's own independent sundered status effect, activating falcons eye while the falcon is active also reveals nearby stealthed enemies.
- Note: the sundered effect applied by this morph is, much like the wild guardian, independent of the caster, thusly opening up the possibility of having boosted weapon and spell damage twice rather than just one.
Frost Eagles Glare
- While slotted on either bar: Summons a Frost Eagle imbued with frost magic that fights for you until killed or unsummoned, The Frost Eagle deals [X] Frost damage to the closest enemy every 2 seconds with a heightened chance to apply the chilled status effect*. The Frost Eagle also returns when killed after 10 seconds or can be cast at a cost to return early. (*Note: the frost eagle is affected by the glacial presence passive but might not be reflected in it.)
- While active: The ability can be cast while active to gain major expedition for 6 seconds, increasing your movement speed by 30%. While in combat: the Frost Eagle prevents one cleansable snare once every 10 seconds, snares removed this way apply the same cleansable snare to the target that cast it and grants 12 seconds of major expedition. (*note: this particular effect is cancelled out if snares were applied by a warden with the exact same ability slotted on either bar.)
- New: summons a frost eagle that deals frost damage instead of physical damage with a greater chance to apply chilled, passively returns quicker from death and snares passively prevented are applied to the enemy that cast it.
Newest addition:
Savage Beast II:
Gain 657 Critical Chance (3%), for each Damage Over Time effect you have on an enemy, increase your Critical Chance by an additional 328.5 (1.5%) against them.
When you cast an Animal Companions ability while you are in combat, you generate 4 Ultimate. This effect can occur once every 8 seconds.
Comment: on top of ulti generation, Wardens should get a slight bonus to critical chance (to note natures savagery in the right situations.) while also granting them slightly more critical chance against that target for each Damage Over Time effect the warden has put on the target, and yes, it does draw some inspiration from dro'zakars claws in terms of mechanics, but also, the intention behind this is also to allow the Savage Beast passive to have Some synergy with the advanced species passive which of course grants 4% critical hit damage for each animal companion ability slotted.
If you see me anywhere. Know that I am sitting back with a bag of popcorn, watching as ESO burns the goodwill of its player base with practices that only disrespects the players time like it did to me and many others...
If a game does not respect your time, best thing to do is move on from it and find something else.