Since you can still play your class as is and be viable for the most part i question the whole "identity" thing. I mean there will be way more classes to choose from. Im sure the popular ones will gain names one way or another at some point.
identity is having two high cp templars playing one of them as a healer with a healers name and one as damage dealer with a more tougher name rather than using the armoury to change roles and spending absolute years developing them as a character for that class and just that class. just as one example
There’s certainly a vocal amount of people who don’t like anything but a pure class system
Personally i would prefer that - but it involves balancing the game, which the team have conclusively proved time and again they can’t do
Therefore we are left with this “soup” of a system - which I suspect will cause more problems than it will solve
That all said - I’m excited to try it and I’ll have fun experimenting - so I’m not going to throw away 10
Or so years of game time because of this
No, there's a vocal amount of people who would've been just fine with a system where people could mix-and-match skill lines and end up just as good as the existing seven classes. What we're getting instead is a system where players can do that and end up flat-out better than the classes those skill lines come from—and because they end up better, they'll still be in the same relatively superior position regardless of what eventual nerfs get applied. And as evinced by responses in this very thread, when we raise objections we get told "adapt or die" or "if you don't like it, leave," while also being told we're over-reacting to nothing and it'll be fine.licenturion wrote: »the origial question and a couple of replies confirm there is no specualation here on this topic, this is what is coming and friends and acquaintances are the ones already going or gone. how it actually performs once its out is not a question here. for me personally this is the fastest i have ever seen anyone actually truly quit playing even before the end of PTS, i swear i tried to water it all down but i cant
Sorry but if people already bail out before such a big system is out without even trying it in final form (or with a few early hotfixes), they are not really fans of the game at all.
It’s like walking out of a restaurant because you saw the ingredients being prepped and assumed you wouldn’t like the dish — without even tasting the final meal. You don’t know how it’s seasoned, how it’s presented, or how all the elements come together. Real fans at least stay to try the finished plate before deciding it’s not for them.
The restaurant analogy doesn’t really hold here. This isn’t about someone being fussy about seasoning or spice levels. It’s closer to being a vegetarian who walks into a kitchen and sees their dish being prepared with beef tallow, bone marrow, and pork lardons. At that point, no matter how well it’s plated, they already know it’s incompatible with their values and preferences.
Subclassing isn’t just cosmetic for many players. It reshapes how classes function, how roles interact, and how identity is expressed in group play. If someone built their playstyle and investment around a particular class concept, and that concept is structurally altered, then they don’t need to wait for the garnish to know it’s not for them.
Since you can still play your class as is and be viable for the most part i question the whole "identity" thing. I mean there will be way more classes to choose from. Im sure the popular ones will gain names one way or another at some point.
identity is having two high cp templars playing one of them as a healer with a healers name and one as damage dealer with a more tougher name rather than using the armoury to change roles and spending absolute years developing them as a character for that class and just that class. just as one example
I wonder what Tamriel calls the "Ship of Theseus."
There’s certainly a vocal amount of people who don’t like anything but a pure class system
Personally i would prefer that - but it involves balancing the game, which the team have conclusively proved time and again they can’t do
Therefore we are left with this “soup” of a system - which I suspect will cause more problems than it will solve
That all said - I’m excited to try it and I’ll have fun experimenting - so I’m not going to throw away 10
Or so years of game time because of this
No, there's a vocal amount of people who would've been just fine with a system where people could mix-and-match skill lines and end up just as good as the existing seven classes. What we're getting instead is a system where players can do that and end up flat-out better than the classes those skill lines come from—and because they end up better, they'll still be in the same relatively superior position regardless of what eventual nerfs get applied. And as evinced by responses in this very thread, when we raise objections we get told "adapt or die" or "if you don't like it, leave," while also being told we're over-reacting to nothing and it'll be fine.licenturion wrote: »the origial question and a couple of replies confirm there is no specualation here on this topic, this is what is coming and friends and acquaintances are the ones already going or gone. how it actually performs once its out is not a question here. for me personally this is the fastest i have ever seen anyone actually truly quit playing even before the end of PTS, i swear i tried to water it all down but i cant
Sorry but if people already bail out before such a big system is out without even trying it in final form (or with a few early hotfixes), they are not really fans of the game at all.
It’s like walking out of a restaurant because you saw the ingredients being prepped and assumed you wouldn’t like the dish — without even tasting the final meal. You don’t know how it’s seasoned, how it’s presented, or how all the elements come together. Real fans at least stay to try the finished plate before deciding it’s not for them.
Did you know some of us have a genetic mutation that makes cilantro taste awful? Perhaps not the greatest analogy.
am i the only person in eso to feel cheated out of all the cash i spent on eso for 10 years now a simple hammer has been added to the toolbox of never ending tweaks, system of class identity crashing not landing ? and losing friends in-game to quitting or losing heart because of this terrible update ?
am i the only person in eso to feel cheated out of all the cash i spent on eso for 10 years now a simple hammer has been added to the toolbox of never ending tweaks, system of class identity crashing not landing ? and losing friends in-game to quitting or losing heart because of this terrible update ?
No. This is generally how some players feel every time there's a major update.
I would guess there have been updates you may have loved, but others felt as you do now.
I've had a lot of 'la fin du monde' moments in ESO myself. Do you remember Malefic Wreath? And actually, I feel the same as you about subclassing. I don't like it.
But I don't feel cheated. All the fun moments I've had in ESO still happened, even if I walk away forever today. We're not building anything in ESO long-term except, possibly, relationships.
There’s certainly a vocal amount of people who don’t like anything but a pure class system
Personally i would prefer that - but it involves balancing the game, which the team have conclusively proved time and again they can’t do
Therefore we are left with this “soup” of a system - which I suspect will cause more problems than it will solve
That all said - I’m excited to try it and I’ll have fun experimenting - so I’m not going to throw away 10
Or so years of game time because of this
No, there's a vocal amount of people who would've been just fine with a system where people could mix-and-match skill lines and end up just as good as the existing seven classes. What we're getting instead is a system where players can do that and end up flat-out better than the classes those skill lines come from—and because they end up better, they'll still be in the same relatively superior position regardless of what eventual nerfs get applied. And as evinced by responses in this very thread, when we raise objections we get told "adapt or die" or "if you don't like it, leave," while also being told we're over-reacting to nothing and it'll be fine.licenturion wrote: »the origial question and a couple of replies confirm there is no specualation here on this topic, this is what is coming and friends and acquaintances are the ones already going or gone. how it actually performs once its out is not a question here. for me personally this is the fastest i have ever seen anyone actually truly quit playing even before the end of PTS, i swear i tried to water it all down but i cant
Sorry but if people already bail out before such a big system is out without even trying it in final form (or with a few early hotfixes), they are not really fans of the game at all.
It’s like walking out of a restaurant because you saw the ingredients being prepped and assumed you wouldn’t like the dish — without even tasting the final meal. You don’t know how it’s seasoned, how it’s presented, or how all the elements come together. Real fans at least stay to try the finished plate before deciding it’s not for them.
Did you know some of us have a genetic mutation that makes cilantro taste awful? Perhaps not the greatest analogy.
Well you say no - I say yes. . What has Happened here has split the fanbase. Not everyone is happy. Not everyone is unhappy - that’s the point
licenturion wrote: »It is wild to me how some people are in full drama mode over an update with an OPTIONAL system that is currently in testing and only had the chance to receive 1 small hotfix on the beta server. It is still 5 weeks away.
If it's optional, great. But reports from PTS say that unless you subclass, you'll be left behind. Also, skills are being changed/nerfed to accommodate subclassing, so it's not optional if the skills you like to use are being gutted for a system you're not interested in.
But to be fair, maybe they'll manage to balance 3000+ combinations in a way that doesn't involve gutting anything. After all, they did manage to balance the pure classes and...oh, wait.
Did you know some of us have a genetic mutation that makes cilantro taste awful? Perhaps not the greatest analogy.
am i the only person in eso to feel cheated out of all the cash i spent on eso for 10 years now a simple hammer has been added to the toolbox of never ending tweaks, system of class identity crashing not landing ? and losing friends in-game to quitting or losing heart because of this terrible update ?
one of the elephants in the room though is we paid real cash for something eso does not offer anymore, our classes, through good and bad we played them except those of us who subbed along the way did not know we were the ones paying for the hammer to smash them up when tweaking obviously was going nowhere. people i guess paid for classes and thats what they expect to get
licenturion wrote: »Did you know some of us have a genetic mutation that makes cilantro taste awful? Perhaps not the greatest analogy.
Yes 4 to 10 percent of the population apparently. But they still sell it and 90 percent doesn't have the problem with it. You can find an outer case for anything in life.
Which is exactly the case here. If you look at it realistically, we heavy forum users are probably not even 1 percent of the ESO player base. So ZOS is not going to cancel or delay a big feature announced in a showcase and hyping up a lot of people.
So shouting for the feature to be cancelled like some do is totally unrealistic and unproductive. The best way here is to either help testing the PTS, find new problems or examples and post feedback about them so they can be looked at. Those 'I quit' posts are technically forbidden by the official forum rules anyway.
Did you know some of us have a genetic mutation that makes cilantro taste awful? Perhaps not the greatest analogy.
Unfadingsilence wrote: »am i the only person in eso to feel cheated out of all the cash i spent on eso for 10 years now a simple hammer has been added to the toolbox of never ending tweaks, system of class identity crashing not landing ? and losing friends in-game to quitting or losing heart because of this terrible update ?
Let's be real.... no one said you had to spend real money on the game, that's your own choice and sure it sucks but still if the company decides one day to just shut the servers down altogether, then what? And yah I've spent well over 20k of real money on the game probably more since I play on all platforms and not just NA but even on EU as well... "just not Playstation EU" BUT it's still the choice that I made. It's just like it's your choice.If you want to spend money on this game
licenturion wrote: »Did you know some of us have a genetic mutation that makes cilantro taste awful? Perhaps not the greatest analogy.
Yes 4 to 10 percent of the population apparently. But they still sell it and 90 percent doesn't have the problem with it. You can find an outer case for anything in life.
Which is exactly the case here. If you look at it realistically, we heavy forum users are probably not even 1 percent of the ESO player base. So ZOS is not going to cancel or delay a big feature announced in a showcase and hyping up a lot of people.
So shouting for the feature to be cancelled like some do is totally unrealistic and unproductive. The best way here is to either help testing the PTS, find new problems or examples and post feedback about them so they can be looked at. Those 'I quit' posts are technically forbidden by the official forum rules anyway.
licenturion wrote: »It is wild to me how some people are in full drama mode over an update with an OPTIONAL system that is currently in testing and only had the chance to receive 1 small hotfix on the beta server. It is still 5 weeks away.
If you want to be dramatic, angry, upset etc at least wait until it is actually live and people have actually experience the final version of it. It is also optional if you don't want to use it. So don't use it if you are so against it. U are not forced to use scribing or companions either. And if people want to control how others look or play, online games are not the right genre.
This reminds me of the all the prerelease theatrics of Assassins Creed Shadows where people made it seem the world would end, but in the end it is the second most sold title of 2025, and it only is a month out yet. Pretty sure subclassing will be a hit among the general player base as well. ZOS has the data and marketing research to make decisions what to add.
Pixiepumpkin wrote: »You are missing a key point. This game was SOLD with classes with a GREAT sense of what it meant to be a dragonknight, or a sorcerer, templer, etc. What we paid for, was a game with classes. I bought this game because of in part, classes (I don't play classless games, I find them utterly boring).This argument works both ways, if you do not like build diversity, there are other games like World of Warcraft, who has plenty of confined and structured classes and specs.In fact, you can only play 1 specific spec of a class at any given time. Doesn't get more class-centric than that. Also, where was it announced that classes are completely going away?
When did they announce that classes were going away? When they released sub-classing. It is impossible to tell what class a class is if they use 3 skill lines from 3 classes. Playing a game with classes is not just playing the class you want to play, its observing the other classes playing around you. With sub-classing, this has gone away.ESO has always been about player agency and we, the players, deciding how we play the game. Build diversity and how we choose to build our characters is just a part of that agency. Want to be a mage and use heavy armor and a bow? Go for it. Want to be a knight in light armor who casts fire spells with a staff? Go for it. etc. etc.
Adding the ability to bring in new skill lines only adds to the diversity and player agency which I greatly welcome.
Build diversity is a farse due to the meta. One can not simply play a "mage in heavy armor with a bow" and expect to do well in a group setting. This is first and foremost an online game designed to be played with other players at some point in your adventure. That alone strips away "player agency".
The lack of PVP balance also strips "player agency".
And brining "new skill lines" in the form of " sub classing" does not bring diversity, it actually forced homogonization, because in order to get any of the cool rewards (found in vet trials and dungeons), the player is going to be forced to run the meta, which for players who purchased the game to play a class, is the opposite of player agency.
thinkaboutit wrote: »Idk whats so hard about just make more content lol
Therefore we are left with this “soup” of a system - which I suspect will cause more problems than it will solve
Mainly quoting because "soup" is what I called it a few weeks ago, and I want it to be a thing :-) I don't mean to focus on word choice but if two of three class lines can be replaced that isn't sub-classing, it is something else. To me it is just refrigerator soup cause you toss everything into one pot. I get some people will like that, and it likely will be fun for a while but there have been problems with balance since I started playing years ago. And it removes the idea of class identity (which they have been kinda doing for some time) which makes you wonder why even have classes except the code gut would be more extensive, I would think.
I would say most of these problems over time are caused by certain gear matched with certain classes and their passives. Just it is just a math thing that take all the gear combos and add a x3000 multiplier and something will be a problem. And it may take time for someone to find that broken combo because there are so many.
Yes, we have choices, but the game was built a certain way. There are many discussions in several areas on what ways to play are valid. For example, I don't like how PvP has gone. But my options are to get destroyed, not play in PvP, or adapt accordingly. There are builds that are fine in some content and stink in others.
I remember a person who wanted advice on builds and they didn't want to take it because they didn't want to be like everyone else. But the problem with that was that my bear pet could out DPS them. This is the extreme, of course, but saying "you can do what you want" only applies to solo play. After that you need a build that matches the goals. A build that is fine for a normal trial may not work for a trifecta run.
There’s certainly a vocal amount of people who don’t like anything but a pure class system
Personally i would prefer that - but it involves balancing the game, which the team have conclusively proved time and again they can’t do
Therefore we are left with this “soup” of a system - which I suspect will cause more problems than it will solve
That all said - I’m excited to try it and I’ll have fun experimenting - so I’m not going to throw away 10
Or so years of game time because of this
No, there's a vocal amount of people who would've been just fine with a system where people could mix-and-match skill lines and end up just as good as the existing seven classes. What we're getting instead is a system where players can do that and end up flat-out better than the classes those skill lines come from—and because they end up better, they'll still be in the same relatively superior position regardless of what eventual nerfs get applied. And as evinced by responses in this very thread, when we raise objections we get told "adapt or die" or "if you don't like it, leave," while also being told we're over-reacting to nothing and it'll be fine.licenturion wrote: »the origial question and a couple of replies confirm there is no specualation here on this topic, this is what is coming and friends and acquaintances are the ones already going or gone. how it actually performs once its out is not a question here. for me personally this is the fastest i have ever seen anyone actually truly quit playing even before the end of PTS, i swear i tried to water it all down but i cant
Sorry but if people already bail out before such a big system is out without even trying it in final form (or with a few early hotfixes), they are not really fans of the game at all.
It’s like walking out of a restaurant because you saw the ingredients being prepped and assumed you wouldn’t like the dish — without even tasting the final meal. You don’t know how it’s seasoned, how it’s presented, or how all the elements come together. Real fans at least stay to try the finished plate before deciding it’s not for them.
Did you know some of us have a genetic mutation that makes cilantro taste awful? Perhaps not the greatest analogy.
Well you say no - I say yes. . What has Happened here has split the fanbase. Not everyone is happy. Not everyone is unhappy - that’s the point
Those of us who are unhappy about what's coming are aware that some people are hyped for this change. We can see that. It's not a mystery to us.
We're frustrated that our concerns are being summarily dismissed, belittled, or flat-out ignored—especially when some of those concerns are already being borne out by PTS testing.
wolfie1.0. wrote: »Pixiepumpkin wrote: »You are missing a key point. This game was SOLD with classes with a GREAT sense of what it meant to be a dragonknight, or a sorcerer, templer, etc. What we paid for, was a game with classes. I bought this game because of in part, classes (I don't play classless games, I find them utterly boring).This argument works both ways, if you do not like build diversity, there are other games like World of Warcraft, who has plenty of confined and structured classes and specs.In fact, you can only play 1 specific spec of a class at any given time. Doesn't get more class-centric than that. Also, where was it announced that classes are completely going away?
When did they announce that classes were going away? When they released sub-classing. It is impossible to tell what class a class is if they use 3 skill lines from 3 classes. Playing a game with classes is not just playing the class you want to play, its observing the other classes playing around you. With sub-classing, this has gone away.ESO has always been about player agency and we, the players, deciding how we play the game. Build diversity and how we choose to build our characters is just a part of that agency. Want to be a mage and use heavy armor and a bow? Go for it. Want to be a knight in light armor who casts fire spells with a staff? Go for it. etc. etc.
Adding the ability to bring in new skill lines only adds to the diversity and player agency which I greatly welcome.
Build diversity is a farse due to the meta. One can not simply play a "mage in heavy armor with a bow" and expect to do well in a group setting. This is first and foremost an online game designed to be played with other players at some point in your adventure. That alone strips away "player agency".
The lack of PVP balance also strips "player agency".
And brining "new skill lines" in the form of " sub classing" does not bring diversity, it actually forced homogonization, because in order to get any of the cool rewards (found in vet trials and dungeons), the player is going to be forced to run the meta, which for players who purchased the game to play a class, is the opposite of player agency.
If build diversity is a farse, and everyone runs the same build, then does it really matter if you can identify their class at that point? and wouldn't that balance PVP by default?
thinkaboutit wrote: »Idk whats so hard about just make more content lol
this made me chuckle for some reason lol
Pixiepumpkin wrote: »PVP is best balanced by having core classes that the devs curate their power in balance passes, such as Vengeance Cyrodiil.