One shotting in PvP and PvP in general

Overamera · July 13

Since subclass I've seen many run the same one shotting combos. Mostly being with contingency+incap and or deep fissure + riposte cp into spectral bow if the person isn't dead yet. These types of combinations which allow killing someone in just one or two hits isn't healthy for PvP imo. The worst part is that they are not even gankers. Only a ganker should be able to do that in exchange for being squisy (not even gankers imo should be able to one shot people). I miss when you had to pressure players into killing them with combos not killing them with one combo.

I enjoy that we have a damage meta for once, with many strong combos with subclassing. But some combos needs to be balanced and not allow to kill within a second. Changing riposte CP would be good start. Assassination skill line is way to strong and everyone uses it now. Specially spectral bow.

Critical damage have become way to high since hybridization. Forcing everyone to run rallying cry so you dont get hit with 20k spectral bows.

Sadly I don't think subclassing and hybridization was good for PvP. Before we used to have a stamina and a magicka version of every class and everyone had their their favorite versions. Now that was taken away from us, our favorite classes. I understand every game needs to develop somehow but I would've rather wanted a new map, a new class etc.

PvP population is so low now compared to what it used to. Perhaps working towards crossplay within the same regions. Having a main campaign and a vengence one? Vengence still needs work though, specially when it comes to sustain. Not fun when you use your spammable a few times and you're already out of sustain.

Also idk how much it costs, but updating your server hardware literally fixed the lag in Cyrodiil even though it deteriorated slowly after every patch/update. Perhaps updating it more often is an option?

React · July 13

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

L_Nici · July 13

Actually the opposite is true. The raise in damage was a very good change for PvP. Way to long tankmeta ruled, healing is overtuned, now we finally deal damage against that stuff.

Overamera · July 13

React wrote: »

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

I know it's blockable and I also much prefer dying to direct damage than to dot/proc metas 100%. What I'm trying to get at it I've seen people get one shot by good timed incap from 100% health to zero among good players. It feels much different from the dwing > incap > bow where you get hit by 3 differently timed skills rather than just one incap timed with other skills/cp.

Overamera · July 13

L_Nici wrote: »

Actually the opposite is true. The raise in damage was a very good change for PvP. Way to long tankmeta ruled, healing is overtuned, now we finally deal damage against that stuff.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear, I'm not complaining about damage being to high. I'm complaining about specifically being able to kill someone with just a good timed incap combo.

When it comes to critical damage, I mean making critical damage specifically higher these last years forces everyone to run rallying cry. I would have much rather they increase base damage so people can run other sets without having to worry about so much critical damage going around the game making you forced to run rallying.

React · July 13

Overamera wrote: »

React wrote: »

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

I know it's blockable and I also much prefer dying to direct damage than to dot/proc metas 100%. What I'm trying to get at it I've seen people get one shot by good timed incap from 100% health to zero among good players. It feels much different from the dwing > incap > bow where you get hit by 3 differently timed skills rather than just one incap timed with other skills/cp.

They aren't one shotting you with just an incap, though. They're doing deep fissure -> ulfsilds -> incap, three abilities stacked into one GCD. Good burst combos have always consisted of this sort of thing.

The counterplay, especially if they're doing the riposte thing you're referring to, is to just pay attention to when they ulfsilds. Anything they're going to try to hit you with after that ulfsilds is blockable and dodgeable, outside of maybe a javelin.

Overamera · July 13

React wrote: »

Overamera wrote: »

React wrote: »

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

I know it's blockable and I also much prefer dying to direct damage than to dot/proc metas 100%. What I'm trying to get at it I've seen people get one shot by good timed incap from 100% health to zero among good players. It feels much different from the dwing > incap > bow where you get hit by 3 differently timed skills rather than just one incap timed with other skills/cp.

They aren't one shotting you with just an incap, though. They're doing deep fissure -> ulfsilds -> incap, three abilities stacked into one GCD. Good burst combos have always consisted of this sort of thing.

The counterplay, especially if they're doing the riposte thing you're referring to, is to just pay attention to when they ulfsilds. Anything they're going to try to hit you with after that ulfsilds is blockable and dodgeable, outside of maybe a javelin.

I literally mentioned the combination so I know how it works. I use it myself xD. I just mean you shouldn't be able to do it in just one GCD. And that's my opinion.

Theignson · July 13

Most of the fights with the high skill sweatlords are not one GCD though. If you watch their stream it’s 3-4 GCD. In fact they laugh if they one shot someone and comment that their Crit resist must have been zero.

It is interesting to compare this to the streams of Vengeance, where the high skill players complained, even when they were winning100 fights in a row. They complained because their own personal skill levels were capped by the limited builds and options.

Often these short TTK builds are due to proc sets. Now Mechanical Acuity would be a good example . They can build with 12% Crit damage because it goes to 100% with the proc set. Really Rallying cry is also a proc set that also makes many builds possible. Null arca and other proc sets add to the combo damage.

Of course the biggest proc set crutches are still RoA and VD. They can build 45k health with all defensive l blue CP and still do insane damage in the group with essentially unkillable healing and shields. I am much more concerned about the vastly OP group meta than about a high skilled player outplaying me in a few GCD. After all they earned that skill level by hard work and study of the game. The high skilled players as mentioned could still dominate in Vengeance. However you may have noticed that ball groups vanished in Vengeance because they had no advantage. They all reappeared,like a plague, immediately after Vengeance ended.

Thumbless_Bot · July 13

There might be a few outliers that are overperforming but damage is fine right now. People camt be everything at all times and have to make decisions to either be tankier or be made of glass. Or mobile or something.. I think direct damage in melee range could still be buffed.

They'll nerf that new mythic once they've made their money.

Agree that dot/procs are a problem.

warm_blanket · July 14

The current high burst pvp meta is emphasizing correct timing of your blocks and dodges, and that's fantastic. These are the core basics of pvp.

All players can use block/dodge to deny fat crits and burst combos, they just have to get better at using them now.

You really don't want to have the previous environment where players can afford to make multiple mistakes in a row against their opponent and live. This is what causes pointless fights where nobody dies and everybody gets bored. The loss condition becomes trivial to passively avoid.

Merely "not dying" shouldn't go back to being so easy. Any player who fails to mitigate their opponents burst setup should have a very hard time surviving regardless of how well put together their own build is.

The return of pressing buttons is refreshing.

Prionyx · July 23

React wrote: »

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

Blastbones+colossus/overload+kjalnar+shattering rocks/streak+spammable can't be countered
Make so that kjalnar only deals damage to monsters and it will solve almost everything

xylena_lazarow · July 23

warm_blanket wrote: »

The return of pressing buttons is refreshing.

Turtle until timers line up. Take turns doing PvE rotations. Winner determined by RNG crit luck.

To each their own, to me it's like 40 seconds of doing nothing, then you flip a weighted coin.

hoangdz · July 24

The problem isn't burst damage. The problem is burst damage + unavoidable stuns. Sub classing has allowed players to pick from several strong unavoidable stuns (Streak, Javelin, Fossilize), guaranteeing that their delayed bursts will land.

Take this combo for example:

Fissure > SA > Off Balanced medium weave > Spectral Bow

The off-balanced medium weave stuns your opponent, setting him up for a Spectral Bow + Fissure 1-shot combo. However, your opponent can partially or completely counter it by blocking the medium weave or roll dodging it.

Now take the second combo:

Fissure > Javelin > Spectral Bow

This combo functionally achieves the same goal. You stun your opponent with Javelin, then time the Spectral Bow with Fissure to 1 shot him.

What's different is the second combo is unblockable. If your opponent attempts to block, you are guaranteed to land your stun. This means your opponent now only has 1 way to counter your combo instead of 2. In terms of efficiency, the 2nd combo is much better.

How do you solve this without upsetting everyone? I'm not really sure, but people are dying faster and I guess that is a necessary evil in the current meta lol.

colossalvoids · July 24

It's a double edged sword. It's good for PvP when PvP is healthy but when it's not it's just another barrier that makes people not stick around as you barely learn anything with it when those one shots aren't well telegraphed and bound by classes so you don't know what's coming from visual clues. All this still accompanied with ability to easily turtle up and heal to full in one GCD, or having someone around to do this for you while you're on offensive making solo play a massive disadvantage with no way around it. Also skill ceiling isn't there for the satisfaction of both sides, it's a building thing rather than a skill as it was years ago so you just do the same or quit all together, not something you aspire for.

Avran_Sylt · July 24

React wrote: »

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

Explain to me how Shalks->Contingency->Fossilize->Merciless is blockable or dodgeable?

React · July 24

Avran_Sylt wrote: »

React wrote: »

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

Explain to me how Shalks->Contingency->Fossilize->Merciless is blockable or dodgeable?

Earthen heart, animals, assasination? Not a lot of people running that. No source of resolve so youd be forced into chudan, pretty awful sustain, not a single good heal anywhere in that entire toolkit. At least argue with a realistic example.

But you can break free and roll or block before the bow lands every single time. When fired at point blank range, the bow has a built in guaranteed delay of 200MS, to allow for counterplay up close. Think this was added in like 2019 or so. I do it all the time.

Avran_Sylt · July 24

React wrote: »

Avran_Sylt wrote: »

React wrote: »

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

Explain to me how Shalks->Contingency->Fossilize->Merciless is blockable or dodgeable?

Earthen heart, animals, assasination? Not a lot of people running that. No source of resolve so youd be forced into chudan, pretty awful sustain, not a single good heal anywhere in that entire toolkit. At least argue with a realistic example.

But you can break free and roll or block before the bow lands every single time. When fired at point blank range, the bow has a built in guaranteed delay of 200MS, to allow for counterplay up close. Think this was added in like 2019 or so. I do it all the time.

To be frank I don't like builds reliant on layering multiple proc effects at once to make up for a lack of damage output due to investment into multiple defensive layers, so I'm not well versed in such combos, I just get wrecked by them.

Which is ironic because I basically play a ganker playstyle sitting at around 16K resistances and 22k HP.

Except now tanks once again get to be tanky and have access to ganking levels of damage too.

Though the reality is more likely that I'm just not that good at PvP because I don't try to meta-chase being able to 1vX.

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO · July 24

Avran_Sylt wrote: »

React wrote: »

Avran_Sylt wrote: »

React wrote: »

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

Explain to me how Shalks->Contingency->Fossilize->Merciless is blockable or dodgeable?

Earthen heart, animals, assasination? Not a lot of people running that. No source of resolve so youd be forced into chudan, pretty awful sustain, not a single good heal anywhere in that entire toolkit. At least argue with a realistic example.

But you can break free and roll or block before the bow lands every single time. When fired at point blank range, the bow has a built in guaranteed delay of 200MS, to allow for counterplay up close. Think this was added in like 2019 or so. I do it all the time.

To be frank I don't like builds reliant on layering multiple proc effects at once to make up for a lack of damage output due to investment into multiple defensive layers, so I'm not well versed in such combos, I just get wrecked by them.

Which is ironic because I basically play a ganker playstyle sitting at around 16K resistances and 22k HP.

Except now tanks once again get to be tanky and have access to ganking levels of damage too.

Though the reality is more likely that I'm just not that good at PvP because I don't try to meta-chase being able to 1vX.

The issue is moreso due to hybridisation.

For example prior to hybridisation if you wanted to boost Merciless you would need to invest into magicka and max spell dmg but doing so you would trade off the potency of your survivability and so you would have both less hp and less powerful HoT's (vigor wouldn't really do much unless you focused on Stam/ Max weapon dmg) - also you wouldn't be able to dodge / block as much unless you focused more into stam.

These days its normal to see players with roughly equal (and considerably lower than what used to be normal) max stats and vastly inflated hp still doing high dmg due to spell and weapon dmg being equalised, so both their magical and physical dmg hits hard and all forms of healing scaling from the same values which inflate damage is also an issue.

IMO healing should only scale from Stam or Mag and never HP. Likewise Damage should scale only from Weapon / Spell dmg.

It would also be nice to better indicate buffs that enemies had on them so you would more easily know are they holding their Riposte / Contingency / Shalks countdown especially nice for those who don't live on top of the servers

Avran_Sylt · July 24

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO wrote: »

Avran_Sylt wrote: »

React wrote: »

Avran_Sylt wrote: »

React wrote: »

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

Explain to me how Shalks->Contingency->Fossilize->Merciless is blockable or dodgeable?

Earthen heart, animals, assasination? Not a lot of people running that. No source of resolve so youd be forced into chudan, pretty awful sustain, not a single good heal anywhere in that entire toolkit. At least argue with a realistic example.

But you can break free and roll or block before the bow lands every single time. When fired at point blank range, the bow has a built in guaranteed delay of 200MS, to allow for counterplay up close. Think this was added in like 2019 or so. I do it all the time.

To be frank I don't like builds reliant on layering multiple proc effects at once to make up for a lack of damage output due to investment into multiple defensive layers, so I'm not well versed in such combos, I just get wrecked by them.

Which is ironic because I basically play a ganker playstyle sitting at around 16K resistances and 22k HP.

Except now tanks once again get to be tanky and have access to ganking levels of damage too.

Though the reality is more likely that I'm just not that good at PvP because I don't try to meta-chase being able to 1vX.

The issue is moreso due to hybridisation.

For example prior to hybridisation if you wanted to boost Merciless you would need to invest into magicka and max spell dmg but doing so you would trade off the potency of your survivability and so you would have both less hp and less powerful HoT's (vigor wouldn't really do much unless you focused on Stam/ Max weapon dmg) - also you wouldn't be able to dodge / block as much unless you focused more into stam.

These days its normal to see players with roughly equal (and considerably lower than what used to be normal) max stats and vastly inflated hp still doing high dmg due to spell and weapon dmg being equalised, so both their magical and physical dmg hits hard and all forms of healing scaling from the same values which inflate damage is also an issue.

IMO healing should only scale from Stam or Mag and never HP. Likewise Damage should scale only from Weapon / Spell dmg.

It would also be nice to better indicate buffs that enemies had on them so you would more easily know are they holding their Riposte / Contingency especially nice for those who don't live on top of the servers

Hybridization (and subclassing and scribing) showcases is the various mechanical/numerical combinations of skills that can be obtained that otherwise were simply unavailable due to their absence with a given resource cost or sets that haven't been invented yet.

Eventually those types of resource cost skills/stat availability would have been added and you'd still have the same issue. And if that never happened you'd have stagnant gameplay progression.

These systems (most predominantly subclassing) just used a sledgehammer approach.

But yes, more visual clarity on buffs affecting players would be nice.

Erinyes_60 · July 30

Remove Tarnished Nightmare (honestly what were they even thinking) put a cap on how far ranged damage can scale, since that's the problem, and this meta would be the best. Spectral should receive increased benefits the closer you are to your target not the same damage regardless of proximity or not.

Thumbless_Bot · July 30

Damage is fine, as i said above, but I do think zos needs to revisit unblockable undodgable stuns.

Anything I am helpless to counter

+

Creative subclassing burst damage that I cant block or avoid because of the first point

=

Bad pvp

Its fun for about ten minutes until you realize you arent good at pvp, you are good at taking advantages of zos' lack of thoughtful, wholistically designed gameplay mechanics.

Elendir2am · July 30

Bad balancing broke stone , scissor, paper system of game. One build can have 1. high resist / high health, 2. high resource management and 3. high DMG.
If there are build combination, where player can have all of it without sacrifice, than it is hardly functional balancing.

Xarc · July 30

Well I don't want to be rude but, if you die on oneshot, the problem is you, nothing else...

Afterip · July 31

Thumbless_Bot wrote: »

Damage is fine, as i said above, but I do think zos needs to revisit unblockable undodgable stuns.

Anything I am helpless to counter

+

Creative subclassing burst damage that I cant block or avoid because of the first point

=

Bad pvp

Its fun for about ten minutes until you realize you arent good at pvp, you are good at taking advantages of zos' lack of thoughtful, wholistically designed gameplay mechanics.

Totally agreed. Subclassing made unblockable Streak and warden's Charm much worse. I dont know how many times i died bcs got unblockable stun and then deadly combo(like merc resolve+bugs and ult)

xFocused · August 1

I don't have a issue with being one shot in PvP, if it happens then I probably need to work on my build and be a little more tankier. However...I do have a problem with being one shotted when it's coming from someone who has 50k health, can take insane amounts of damage and is still able to one shot people. There definitely needs to be a compromise in my opinion. You can be a tank but still somehow one shot people at the same time? I don't know, just doesn't feel very balanced to me...

PureeEvil · August 1

I disagree about the critical damage. It's not much more damage through SPD.
i play from spd and penitration and only 71-81% of crit and
My BB hits 8-11k
Merciless Resolve - 10-12k
Concealed Weapon - 6-8k
Wield Soul - 5-7k
Sweep - to 7k on crit for hit.

I seen damage more then myne only 3 time. its sorc cristal on 12k in crit and its 11-12k crit from Concealed Weapon from cloak. So spd and crit damage is same. if you get 20k damage i dont know check resist and bufs.

And you forget, for good damage now (3 dd line NB, necro, templar) we pay lack of class healing and resist buffs skills. and get healing and resist buffs from open skills not so easy and much more complicated in rotation. So i think subclasing balansing all. My necro now is absolutley fine in pvp now. i downed hp from 28-30 to 24-25 and im fine. go to Hissmir Fish-Eye Rye from Jewels of Misrule. all good i think.

i can tell more after subclassing i undress all prog sets. all time i play in buff set from overland and cfaft and i like it. i underess ROA, from monster set i play now only on chundan or 2 parts or difrent monster set and its realy cool.

Of the annoying ones, only dudes with Endless Fury and thats all. ZOS managed to fix a huge number of balances with a single update and thats werry good.

PureeEvil · August 1

for example in my bild i havent class resist buff. so for majore resist if it not chundan its rotatiof of 2 10sec buff scribing skills and in that case you lost spam attak from scribing with Breach and can use only shild on back panal or mostley funny
Balance from mage guild. can used only with healing ulfsilda. use with out it in focus - dei. made a mistake with the panel - dei in that sec. not get 2 roll dodjing after use in focus - die. its werry funny, try it.
or you can get now so many tank what you newer can before. or sustane. its funny.

MincMincMinc · August 1

React wrote: »

The damage is VERY healthy for PVP. The environment is far better when people actually die.

The thing about these combos is that they're all blockable and dodgeable. Outside of being ganked from stealth, you always have ample opportunity for counterplay to them. That is the exact kind of high damage we want to see - direct damage with good counterplay as opposed to dot/proc damage with no counterplay.

This game was at it's peak when anyone could one shot eachother with a dswing -> leap or incap -> bow style combo. It's nice to see we've made some progress back towards that meta.

Agreed, but back then the game wasn't a cluster of animations and procs. Over the years zos has 10x the output of effects and visuals of any given player to the point of being a soup of particles and animations. Combat and counterplay clarity used to be better, now it is like the current zos combat team has no grasp on this concept. Look how long it took them to adjust rush of agony to something somewhat close to being counterplayable.....and it still doesnt apply immunity.

PvE also taught people mechanics like how the mobs would have a longer dizzy swing CLEAR animation into the knockup as punishment. Thus when new players entered pvp they would know what that play/counterplay was like.

Look at offbalance as an example of bad design. The stun is completely detached from any given animation or gcd. Funny since the rework's intent was to get rid of the stun off dizzy because pairing it with a strong hit was too much......now it is used with merciless for 2x the damage guaranteed.

Van_Winkle · August 5

Guys, pvp is dead in this game. Subclasses were the last nail in the coffin.

P0m3k · August 5

Van_Winkle wrote: »

Guys, pvp is dead in this game. Subclasses were the last nail in the coffin.

The Whitestrake event is coming to an end, and I spent many hours in PvP during it. And I agree with you!

I also partially agree with those writing here about the benefits of high damage, but as I wrote recently in another post, literally over 90% of people play with the same skills, and if anyone thinks this is normal, then I salute you - probably don't see how the game has become undifferentiated. My friends and I are sick of seeing identical builds based on assassination, storm calling and animal companions. You can count the other players on one hand. Currently, it's not just one/two meta build per class, but one class

Digibrax · August 6

P0m3k wrote: »

Van_Winkle wrote: »

Guys, pvp is dead in this game. Subclasses were the last nail in the coffin.

The Whitestrake event is coming to an end, and I spent many hours in PvP during it. And I agree with you!

I also partially agree with those writing here about the benefits of high damage, but as I wrote recently in another post, literally over 90% of people play with the same skills, and if anyone thinks this is normal, then I salute you - probably don't see how the game has become undifferentiated. My friends and I are sick of seeing identical builds based on assassination, storm calling and animal companions. You can count the other players on one hand. Currently, it's not just one/two meta build per class, but one class

This!
I am thinking the same... I did a few test with subclassing, but I really didn't like the concept, and reverted to the original skills.

Also, concidering one-shotting in pvp. I like to play tanky and am usually hard to get one-shot killed.
But current meta is just not good at all. Experienced PVP-ers are just too good, have too much damage at their disposal and people on other side don't have enough resources to push back.

I would love if there is someone to give me advice how to counter (skill or damage-wise) PVP damage dealer. I play tanks, and like reflect builds which doesnt work at all in the current meta.