spartaxoxo wrote: »They also made wardens into the nature mages but ultimately you don't see people arguing that lightning should be the thing deleted and moved to warden. If you want to play a nature mage so bad, you could go play Warden.
Daedric pets are a staple of the Elder Scrolls franchise and a staple of the Sorceror in particular. It is by far one of the most popular setups for Sorcerer. I don't like how other people play the game is not a valid reason to delete 11 years of work of someone else. And that's what most of the arguments boil down towards because buffs fix competitive weakness, which has not always been the case.
spartaxoxo wrote: »They also made wardens into the nature mages but ultimately you don't see people arguing that lightning should be the thing deleted and moved to warden. If you want to play a nature mage so bad, you could go play Warden.
Daedric pets are a staple of the Elder Scrolls franchise and a staple of the Sorceror in particular. It is by far one of the most popular setups for Sorcerer. I don't like how other people play the game is not a valid reason to delete 11 years of work of someone else. And that's what most of the arguments boil down towards because buffs fix competitive weakness, which has not always been the case.
It’s not about “not liking how someone else plays the game”.
How someone else plays has no bearing on my view on Sorc pets. Comparative facts and stats are what are driving my view, mechanical flaws are what are driving my view.
A number of us have shown how Sorc pets have mechanical problems and nowhere has it been said that fundamental mechanics are being rewritten for Sorc or any other class so there’s no reason to assume that will happen.
The only reason anyone is giving for keeping Sorc pets is “well they’ve always been a staple”.
Yes, some Sorc pets heal, we’ve established that Sorc’s have access to strong healing within the class without pets, we’ve established that the AI behind the pets is poor and unreliable, we’ve established that the DPS isn’t good enough for much of the in game content.
It’s not just about turning up the numbers on Sorc per tool tips, that’s not going to fix their problems. That does nothing for the poor AI or clumsy controls.
We get it, people like them for nostalgia but there’s not much else of substance beyond that.
Keeping them is asking everyone who doesn’t lean on nostalgia to suffer with class skills that can’t keep up with the rest of the game.
So, again, moving pets to a world skill is a fair and good compromise. Sorcs who want to run pets can without having to subclass and the Sorc class doesn’t have to be stuck under performing just because of nostalgia.
spartaxoxo wrote: »spartaxoxo wrote: »They also made wardens into the nature mages but ultimately you don't see people arguing that lightning should be the thing deleted and moved to warden. If you want to play a nature mage so bad, you could go play Warden.
Daedric pets are a staple of the Elder Scrolls franchise and a staple of the Sorceror in particular. It is by far one of the most popular setups for Sorcerer. I don't like how other people play the game is not a valid reason to delete 11 years of work of someone else. And that's what most of the arguments boil down towards because buffs fix competitive weakness, which has not always been the case.
It’s not about “not liking how someone else plays the game”.
How someone else plays has no bearing on my view on Sorc pets. Comparative facts and stats are what are driving my view, mechanical flaws are what are driving my view.
A number of us have shown how Sorc pets have mechanical problems and nowhere has it been said that fundamental mechanics are being rewritten for Sorc or any other class so there’s no reason to assume that will happen.
The only reason anyone is giving for keeping Sorc pets is “well they’ve always been a staple”.
Yes, some Sorc pets heal, we’ve established that Sorc’s have access to strong healing within the class without pets, we’ve established that the AI behind the pets is poor and unreliable, we’ve established that the DPS isn’t good enough for much of the in game content.
It’s not just about turning up the numbers on Sorc per tool tips, that’s not going to fix their problems. That does nothing for the poor AI or clumsy controls.
We get it, people like them for nostalgia but there’s not much else of substance beyond that.
Keeping them is asking everyone who doesn’t lean on nostalgia to suffer with class skills that can’t keep up with the rest of the game.
So, again, moving pets to a world skill is a fair and good compromise. Sorcs who want to run pets can without having to subclass and the Sorc class doesn’t have to be stuck under performing just because of nostalgia.
The controls aren't clumsy. Pressing a button to heal is natural and intuitive. The AI is not an issue either. They aren't supposed to be competiting with another player, they're supposed to be competiting with other dots and they do that just fine. Numbers tweaks would help to do that better.
People are blowing up minor issues because pets are "tacked on," or "weird," which are entirely matters of taste. It is transparent that there is no interest in making pet sorc experience better. The agenda is to delete pet sorc from existence entirely.
"The damage over time skill doesn't compete with another human being," is not a mechanical failure. This line of logic would never be applied to something like liquid lightning. It is only being trotted out against pets because of a distaste for them. So they're being compared to things they were never designed to compete with instead of things that they are.
When compared to other dots, pets compete just fine. They are a bit weaker in damage but offer more utility. A perfectly normal trade off.
It reads like you're talking entirely about pvp. Mobs aren't deterred by anything. They will stand in conduit and get tanked by a clannfear just fine.
You're also arguing a logical fallacy - you say: "I have crunched the numbers and looked at the mechanical use and it's subpar, therefore scrap it. Also I don't like pets and don't use them"
We say "just buff it, it works fine, we run with it, we know"
You say "that wouldn't work" why? Because you say so. That's the only reason you give. It would work. There was a time people were getting Godslayer on HA two pets sorcs with daedroths, and popping accidental IRs in vAS. Oblivion, I bet it could be done now if were were bothered enough to try. Pets are fine. They just need to be something where you can slot it on one bar. Merciless resolve and similar can be slotted on either bar and still buff on both. Doing that immediately gives an extra skill slot and is probably all the buff needed. Same with warden bear tbh. He's a slightly more powerful dot with an aoe and an execute so he takes an ultimate slote but that's fine.
Also, necro summoning lore is not summoning daedra lore. It is necromancy. They pull the dead bodies from the earth and souls from aetherius or the local environments. Sorcs barter with daedric planes like Moonshadow and the Coloured Rooms. Necros have an awful class mechanic in corpses, daedric pets do not. They do not belong on the same class
spartaxoxo wrote: »Pet Sorcs are hardly the only AOE losing out to Arcanist Beam in vet trials. In all other PvE content, Pet Sorcs hold up just fine. And Pet Sorcs have also went in and out of keeping up prior to the Arcanist Beam jail of the past 3 years.
Vet trials overly favoring Beam is not a design flaw with Pets. What's happening is that Beam Jail + Class Refresh is being used as an opportunity to delete a skill line that's plain not liked by a handful of people. Which completely ignores Pet Sorcs status as one of the most popular accessibility builds in the game because it's actually great in all other PvE content besides vet trials.
ETA
And a skill line not being to someone's personal tastes isn't a reason to delete many people's characters core identity for the past 11 years, especially when subclassing was created precisely so people could ditch skill lines they simply don't like.
People, generally, don’t use Sorc pets because they don’t like them, they don’t like them because they don’t perform well. That’s the broader consensus. It’s not just a “feeling”, that’s facts.
If Sorc pets were good they’d be more abundant and that’s just the truth.
“Sorc pets hold up just fine” … based on what? I haven’t seen any evidence that’s true. I have seen zero evidence showing where Sorc pets bring or contribute something that’s at or above other skills in the game. .. Where’s the DPS rankings? Where’s the player utilization metrics? Where is anything showing where Sorc pets hold up?

spartaxoxo wrote: »
Citation needed.
Again.Look for ESO-LOG and will know Sorc is in a weak position, partly because the pet is dragging down the class.[/quote]They are abundant.
The trial DPS rankings where pretty much every single person is using Arcanist skills? We should use the fact that Arc is greatly overrepresented to delete a skill line you don't like? We're really going to sit there and pretend those metrics aren't at all heavily biased towards Arcanists? Where even the "mag sorcs" were running arc skills? That ranking? The dominance of arc says that arc is busted, not that sorc pets need to be deleted. You keep trying to use vet trials player metrics as an excuse to delete a class skill line you don't like.
Meanwhile in Vet Black Gem Foundry.....3 of the 4 magsorcs that had their skills were captured were pet sorcs.
You see pet sorcs everywhere in PvE outside of vet trials. And they're shutout of vet trials for the same reason a lot of other setups are: Arcanist is hard meta. Vet trials are not the only PvE that matters. And it's preposterous to use Arcanist being overrepresented as proof that one of the many class setups that are shutout by Arcanist needs to be deleted.
spartaxoxo wrote: »
Citation needed.
On ESO-LOG and more professional strategy websites like skinnycheeks and eso-pvp-builds.com, you'll rarely see anyone using or recommending Sorc pets, and you'll rarely even see Sorc itself.
Again.Look for ESO-LOG and will know Sorc is in a weak position, partly because the pet is dragging down the class.
Vet Black Gem?GoD! Are we really going to lower our standards for discussion to this extent? Shouldn't it at least be HM Black Gem?
Even by veteran standards, pet usage lags behind Elemental Wall, a general skill, and even behind Concealed Weapon, a NB skill . Isn't this the biggest irony? A skill from another class has a higher usage rate than a Sorc's pet—doesn't that illustrate how ineffective pets are? In all Vet Black Gem data, only Stam-Templars and All-Sorc have a higher usage rate for other-class skills than for their own class.
And let's not deceive ourselves; you only chose MagicSorc, not All-Sorc.



spartaxoxo wrote: »spartaxoxo wrote: »
Citation needed.
On ESO-LOG and more professional strategy websites like skinnycheeks and eso-pvp-builds.com, you'll rarely see anyone using or recommending Sorc pets, and you'll rarely even see Sorc itself.
That doesn't prove that people dislike pets. It proves that Arcanist has completely taken over the meta.Again.Look for ESO-LOG and will know Sorc is in a weak position, partly because the pet is dragging down the class.
No. It's because of Arcanist. Literally the entire logs is dominated by Arcanist.Vet Black Gem?GoD! Are we really going to lower our standards for discussion to this extent? Shouldn't it at least be HM Black Gem?
Even by veteran standards, pet usage lags behind Elemental Wall, a general skill, and even behind Concealed Weapon, a NB skill . Isn't this the biggest irony? A skill from another class has a higher usage rate than a Sorc's pet—doesn't that illustrate how ineffective pets are? In all Vet Black Gem data, only Stam-Templars and All-Sorc have a higher usage rate for other-class skills than for their own class.
And let's not deceive ourselves; you only chose MagicSorc, not All-Sorc.
How are dungeons a problem or "lower," in discussion. Do you think only trials count? Pet Sorcs have always been primiarly a mag sorc DPS build. They aren't tanks or healers. This whole discussion is about dps so why would I have included them? But sure, we can include stam dps and see that they too have swapped out for the beam.
The lack of diversity in meta has nothing to do with pets. It is that Arcanist skills are clearly better than everything else. Here's some more sorcs for another vet dungeon.
Most aren't running Sorcs at all because Arcanist outclasses everything in the game. They are hard meta. Putting Arcanist dominance on sorc pets when it's happening to a bunch of other setups too doesn't mesh with the constant presence of Arc skills in ESO Logs. We don't need to completely destroy class identity because the trial meta is overly strict due to the overperformance of Arcanist.
Arc is the dominant base class but even the lions share of those Arcanist builds are subclassed.
Look at the skills used, not necessarily the base class. You see ALOT of DK skills, you see a good amount of Templar skills, some Warden skills .. each of those classes shows consistency among the ability bars when you look at list after list.
Not everyone is going to run the meta and when we look at the data that’s true. Just because a lot of players are running Arc as their base class doesn’t mean that they aren’t subclassing.
YandereGirlfriend wrote: »The reality of pet builds is that they sit at the nexus of several factors: they are typically easy-to-play builds (due to one-bar/HA and a small number of active abilities) that are recommended by a casual SEO ecosystem of influencers (we all know the ones) that unfortunately are largely uninformed about the realities of the modern game.
Said build guides tend to contain either ancient/outdated or outright incorrect information on game mechanics, etc. but they serve their purpose in funneling large numbers of casual players into the playstyle. Even when they would be better served by different builds that are no more demanding to play and that produce superior results (see Hyperioxes HA builds).
The pet system as a whole feels like THE most ancient and fossilized relic left in all of ESO. The skills feel straight out of 2013 and are not remotely in harmony with how the modern game is played.
And while we cannot abolish pets at the same time it is objectively unfair that the playstyle has colonized the very identity of the class. For lack of other ideas, it was basically canonized by the devs as "the accessibility class" whether actual Sorcerer players wanted that for themselves or not. However, in 2026, there are many other avenues to accessibility, and forcing one class to mechanically carry that entire project no longer makes sense (if it ever did).
Two bar slots, low-poly visual clutter, beyond weak active abilities, and tragic "AI" are simply not it. What they bring to the table is never worth that towering cost. If players are using those skills then they are doing it for the vibes rather than because it is actually the best choice for their role. And I say this as a Clannfear tank user who fully admits that it's about the vibes rather than because it's a good decision.
Make these things one bar slot. Update their active abilities to be actually worthwhile as well as mandatory to use in order to extract benefit from the creature. Undo all of the Frankenstein kludge passives (and sets) with the checks for permanent pets and make them into things that every Sorcerer using Summoning gets equal value from. Carve out more space in the line for non-pet users to make use of.
Give me some Bound Weapons that thematically do what Molten Armaments just did for DKs - replace my weapon with a spectral model (you know, like the classic actual Bound Weapons found in literally every mainline TES game!) and have it deal ticks of whatever damage type makes thematic sense on every weapon strike. Let me use this WITH Bound Armor as a separate skill rather than making me choose between the two, just as any self-respecting mainline TES Sorcerer can.
It will also continue to feel wild that in 2026 we cannot summon something so basic as a Flame Atronach, which, I would wager, if you administered a poll to all ESO players, would be the #1 top result for, "Which summon would you most like to see next?" It remains bizarre that we got the unpopular/annoying Clannfear, Twilight, and Scamp rather than the most iconic summons in the entire franchise.
Also, for the love of Talos, an Air Atronach morph!
spartaxoxo wrote: »Arc is the dominant base class but even the lions share of those Arcanist builds are subclassed.
Look at the skills used, not necessarily the base class. You see ALOT of DK skills, you see a good amount of Templar skills, some Warden skills .. each of those classes shows consistency among the ability bars when you look at list after list.
And little of that is being picked for its aoe. Arcanist AOE >>>>>>>> Everything else. I didn't say it competed with beam. I said it does fine competing against other similar skills from other classes outside of that.Not everyone is going to run the meta and when we look at the data that’s true. Just because a lot of players are running Arc as their base class doesn’t mean that they aren’t subclassing.
I never said they weren't. But, we're comparing like skills to like skills here. Or least we're supposed to be. Yes, Arc has completely shut them out of the meta. Outside of the meta, they still see plenty of use. The top scores are measuring meta. That's why you specifically filter for what sorcs are doing. The top scores are dominated by Arcanist because it's overpowered when compared to other AOES. Those AOES need buffs. But if you compare the pet to something like "Flames of Oblivion," then the Pet is not so much weaker than that skill. The DK is being picked for its passives, not flames of oblivion.
BTW the fight you picked has zero base class sorcerers at all.

spartaxoxo wrote: »
That doesn't prove that people dislike pets. It proves that Arcanist has completely taken over the meta.
How are dungeons a problem or "lower," in discussion. Do you think only trials count?
No, they aren't. Logs prior to version U46 show that both Endurance Warlocks and Mana Warlocks were forced to use pets.Pet Sorcs have always been primiarly a mag sorc DPS build.
Most aren't running Sorcs at all because Arcanist outclasses everything in the game. They are hard meta. Putting Arcanist dominance on sorc pets when it's happening to a bunch of other setups too doesn't mesh with the constant presence of Arc skills in ESO Logs. We don't need to completely destroy class identity because the trial meta is overly strict due to the overperformance of Arcanist.
spartaxoxo wrote: »Arc is the dominant base class but even the lions share of those Arcanist builds are subclassed.
Look at the skills used, not necessarily the base class. You see ALOT of DK skills, you see a good amount of Templar skills, some Warden skills .. each of those classes shows consistency among the ability bars when you look at list after list.
And little of that is being picked for its aoe. Arcanist AOE >>>>>>>> Everything else. I didn't say it competed with beam. I said it does fine competing against other similar skills from other classes outside of that.Not everyone is going to run the meta and when we look at the data that’s true. Just because a lot of players are running Arc as their base class doesn’t mean that they aren’t subclassing.
I never said they weren't. But, we're comparing like skills to like skills here. Or least we're supposed to be. Yes, Arc has completely shut them out of the meta. Outside of the meta, they still see plenty of use. The top scores are measuring meta. That's why you specifically filter for what sorcs are doing. The top scores are dominated by Arcanist because it's overpowered when compared to other AOES. Those AOES need buffs. But if you compare the pet to something like "Flames of Oblivion," then the Pet is not so much weaker than that skill. The DK is being picked for its passives, not flames of oblivion.
BTW the fight you picked has zero base class sorcerers at all.
There are so many different Daedra in the TES world that I want to summon, but you are so attached to the two that are assigned to one class and one branch, instead of thinking about expanding this system by adding the Conjuration line to the mage guild or expanding it through Grimoires.
I'm not against pets, I want to run around with them, oh Mephala, I've fallen so in love with Benekins and really want to summon them and fire atronachs (but for solo playthroughs).
BretonMage wrote: »The petsorc playstyle is popular with players, no one can have missed that they're everywhere, ruffling people's feathers in towns. If they're not recommended by endgamers due to having fallen behind, all it means is that they need to be updated to the same level of effectiveness as the meta combinations. Ditto for any other line that's falling behind. In fact, is this not the reason for the class refresh?There are so many different Daedra in the TES world that I want to summon, but you are so attached to the two that are assigned to one class and one branch, instead of thinking about expanding this system by adding the Conjuration line to the mage guild or expanding it through Grimoires.
I'm not against pets, I want to run around with them, oh Mephala, I've fallen so in love with Benekins and really want to summon them and fire atronachs (but for solo playthroughs).
People have suggested in previous threads that skill styles for the daedric summoning line expand to include other types of daedra, and I think that's a good idea. Perhaps we can also change some morphs to this end. There's no need for two separate daedric conjuring lines if we can use skill styles/morphs to customise our preferred conjurations within the sorc class.
Eg. how about replacing the Twilight Tormentor with a different type of daedra? I don't know if they are or have ever been as popular as the Matriarch, but it would make sense for a pure DPS morph to take a different form altogether.
BretonMage wrote: »The petsorc playstyle is popular with players, no one can have missed that they're everywhere, ruffling people's feathers in towns. If they're not recommended by endgamers due to having fallen behind, all it means is that they need to be updated to the same level of effectiveness as the meta combinations. Ditto for any other line that's falling behind. In fact, is this not the reason for the class refresh?There are so many different Daedra in the TES world that I want to summon, but you are so attached to the two that are assigned to one class and one branch, instead of thinking about expanding this system by adding the Conjuration line to the mage guild or expanding it through Grimoires.
I'm not against pets, I want to run around with them, oh Mephala, I've fallen so in love with Benekins and really want to summon them and fire atronachs (but for solo playthroughs).
People have suggested in previous threads that skill styles for the daedric summoning line expand to include other types of daedra, and I think that's a good idea. Perhaps we can also change some morphs to this end. There's no need for two separate daedric conjuring lines if we can use skill styles/morphs to customise our preferred conjurations within the sorc class.
Eg. how about replacing the Twilight Tormentor with a different type of daedra? I don't know if they are or have ever been as popular as the Matriarch, but it would make sense for a pure DPS morph to take a different form altogether.
Moving Sorc pets to an independent Conjuring line would enable more Daedric types to summon as well as more creative mechanics to go with them.
The line could be purely focused on pet summoning so rather than 2 or 3 we could have 4 or 5 plus an Ult and dedicated passives. Then skill styles could be applied to the pets as well.
BretonMage wrote: »The petsorc playstyle is popular with players, no one can have missed that they're everywhere, ruffling people's feathers in towns. If they're not recommended by endgamers due to having fallen behind, all it means is that they need to be updated to the same level of effectiveness as the meta combinations. Ditto for any other line that's falling behind. In fact, is this not the reason for the class refresh?There are so many different Daedra in the TES world that I want to summon, but you are so attached to the two that are assigned to one class and one branch, instead of thinking about expanding this system by adding the Conjuration line to the mage guild or expanding it through Grimoires.
I'm not against pets, I want to run around with them, oh Mephala, I've fallen so in love with Benekins and really want to summon them and fire atronachs (but for solo playthroughs).
People have suggested in previous threads that skill styles for the daedric summoning line expand to include other types of daedra, and I think that's a good idea. Perhaps we can also change some morphs to this end. There's no need for two separate daedric conjuring lines if we can use skill styles/morphs to customise our preferred conjurations within the sorc class.
Eg. how about replacing the Twilight Tormentor with a different type of daedra? I don't know if they are or have ever been as popular as the Matriarch, but it would make sense for a pure DPS morph to take a different form altogether.
Moving Sorc pets to an independent Conjuring line would enable more Daedric types to summon as well as more creative mechanics to go with them.
The line could be purely focused on pet summoning so rather than 2 or 3 we could have 4 or 5 plus an Ult and dedicated passives. Then skill styles could be applied to the pets as well.
When Scribing became a base-game feature, I was under the presumption that they would overhaul it and really do something impressive.
Like a conversion to Spellcrafting, which would open the door to a Conjuration line, but they have done nothing with the opportunity.
BretonMage wrote: »The petsorc playstyle is popular with players, no one can have missed that they're everywhere, ruffling people's feathers in towns. If they're not recommended by endgamers due to having fallen behind, all it means is that they need to be updated to the same level of effectiveness as the meta combinations. Ditto for any other line that's falling behind. In fact, is this not the reason for the class refresh?There are so many different Daedra in the TES world that I want to summon, but you are so attached to the two that are assigned to one class and one branch, instead of thinking about expanding this system by adding the Conjuration line to the mage guild or expanding it through Grimoires.
I'm not against pets, I want to run around with them, oh Mephala, I've fallen so in love with Benekins and really want to summon them and fire atronachs (but for solo playthroughs).
People have suggested in previous threads that skill styles for the daedric summoning line expand to include other types of daedra, and I think that's a good idea. Perhaps we can also change some morphs to this end. There's no need for two separate daedric conjuring lines if we can use skill styles/morphs to customise our preferred conjurations within the sorc class.
Eg. how about replacing the Twilight Tormentor with a different type of daedra? I don't know if they are or have ever been as popular as the Matriarch, but it would make sense for a pure DPS morph to take a different form altogether.
Moving Sorc pets to an independent Conjuring line would enable more Daedric types to summon as well as more creative mechanics to go with them.
But the topic of pets as a separate line of skills or through class grimoires is worth considering.
spartaxoxo wrote: »But the topic of pets as a separate line of skills or through class grimoires is worth considering.
You don't have to delete Daedric Summoning from sorcs to have Grimoires. That is not something any developer has ever stated nor does it make sense because the entire point of Grimoires is to increase access to stuff that your class or build may not have that some other class does. Grimoires are independent of class skills.
You don't just delete 11 years of player work because of personal taste.
The rigidity of the meta is being falsely blamed on pets rather than Arcanist and subclassing. And then used as an excuse to delete a class skill line some just don't like other people using even though it is already not a requirement for them to use. You don't actually have to use pets to be a sorc. You can subclass it out or use the pure class without the pets. Both are viable for the vast majority of content and the narrowness of the trials meta has nothing to do with pets.
The skill lines used to enhance Herald of the Tome are chosen for their passives not their aoes. No, Pets don't compare to Herald of the Tome. Nothing does.