Warden's new Class Masteries: Glacial Cold and Hypothermia

ESO_Nightingale · February 21

Hey Everyone, an amazing announcement yesterday with the new class masteries.

I was really happy to see that there is finally a new system in place for strong class related passives that you must pick between rather than gaining access to all of them. This is an idea i've been expressing would be good for a while now after playing world of warcraft and experiencing their talent system.

Seeing that you must be pureclassed in order to gain access to these makes sense although i feel it is a bit too punishing towards subclassed players. perhaps if you only subclass once for 1 single line, you can still get one passive, but lose one as a cost. But i'm probably getting ahead of myself. it's more important to see these in action first and worry about these types of quality of life later.

I wanted to discuss Hypothermia and Glacial Cold as revealed yesterday.

Obviously, these are probably not implemented yet in a practical form and all we have to go off is the names and icons which are likely temporary anyway.

Seeing 2 frost related masteries has given me hope that at least one of them has to do with frost damage and perhaps buffing winter's embrace in some way. Though i must admit that it is very difficult to design when there is no existing class mechanic or focus.

Here are some ideas i designed for the fun of it, but they're likely extremely unbalanced or not even close to what the development team has in mind.

I'm very excited either way for update 50.

Soarora · February 21

I wonder if Hypothermia will be a way for warden DPS to proc major brittle? Ey? Ey???

ESO_Nightingale · February 21

Soarora wrote: »

I wonder if Hypothermia will be a way for warden DPS to proc major brittle? Ey? Ey???

personally i think major brittle might not be a great idea. especially not if applied to northern storm. i wouldn't want to be forced to sacrifice 1 of my 2 mastery passives or be forced to hold ult just to apply major brittle at specific times for the group.

CatalinaWineMixer2 · February 21

Nothing is too punishing towards subclass since most of the pure class enthusiasts have been kicked out of dungeons, prohibited from trials, removed from prog groups, forced to become arcanists (even after 3 awful years of the beam), forced to create a new character for base class or simply left the game entirely.
And anyone with a Warden main will have waited more than a year, just to have it back where it was last summer, in end game and on leaderboards and only if we are lucky and they do it right and on time.

That aside, I am excited at the thought of being able to use my main character again. For all things. And especially as a frost dps that I loved very much. I miss seeing varieties of dps out in the world and in groups.

This is a good post Nightingale, it is cool to see another Warden enthusiast as well.

I think they made a mistake reducing ultimate generation in the game in general (Pillager Gear nerf, magma shell, ect). Not to mention the nerf to the Warden's ultimate (though everyone talks about burst damage for the new Warden). And I agree with you, I wouldn't want to be forced to hold ultimate for any reason.

Im interested so see how this will affect the support aspect of the class. I dearly miss seeing Warden tanks and healers around the realm. Though I have a feeling we will get a taste of this with the DK rework since it'll be around first.

CalamityCat · February 21

I'm really happy to see class masteries coming in. I'll be happy if pure classes are equal to subclassed, or a bit stronger. It makes sense that specialists are a bit stronger, and it takes away any pressure for players to subclass.

I get the impression that balance will be tweaked as the classes are being revamped, so I don't think subclassers will be that hard done by. Especially when classes like the arcanist and nightblade won't get revamped for a good while. I'm sure there will still be some strong subclass builds for some time.

On the other hand, I'm curious/concerned about the future emphasis on frost stuff, but it maybe isn't changing. I don't want to jump to conclusions purely based on mastery names

It would be interesting if they give warden tanks a boost, given they were at one point talking about the frost line as a tank one.

BasP · February 21

Yeah, I really like the idea behind the Class Mastery system as well. Your ideas for those two Warden passives sound cool too.

Since the devs mentioned that the number of Class Mastery passives might change in the future, a part of me already hopes that they'll eventually add more than five. I think it would be nice to have multiple passives for each role that play into different themes/ skill lines of a class, allowing us to further specialise each character.

In the case of the Warden, I'd personally like it if my Magden could use two Class Mastery passives for Frost DPS and my Stamden could use two passives that buffed Animal Companions/ Bleed Damage or something, for example.

Zodiarkslayer · February 21

I think it is clear from what was shown in the video that most class masteries will modify an existing class passive. These worked and were worded like: "Rank 2 of class passive X now does this as well."

Based on that, I expect Glacial Cold to be related to Piercing Cold and Hypothermia to (ironically) Glacial Presence.

Glacial Cold sounds like it will directly buff frost damage. Just how? That's the interesting part. I think the class has always been a little low on crit chance, so a flat buff to base crit chance would be nice. It would also synergize with animal companion skills in the front bar. As long as they still get 5% crit damage per slotting. Who knows, we'll see.

Hypothermia sounds like something to apply to the enemy, so it will most likely extend the functionality of Chilled or add another debuff at the same time. Maybe Major Breach is the best choice, because Wall of Frost already applies minor Breach and it'll fit really well.

ESO_Nightingale · February 21

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

I think it is clear from what was shown in the video that every class mastery will modify an existing class passive. They all worked and were worded like: "Rank 2 of class passive X now does this as well."

Based on that, I expect Glacial Cold to be related to Piercing Cold and Hypothermia to (ironically) Glacial Presence.

Glacial Cold sounds like it will directly buff frost damage. Just how? That's the interesting part. I think the class has always been a little low on crit chance, so a flat buff to base crit chance would be nice. It would also synergize with animal companion skills in the front bar. As long as they still get 5% crit damage per slotting. Who knows, we'll see.

Hypothermia sounds like something to apply to the enemy, so it will most likely extend the functionality of Chilled or add another debuff at the same time. Maybe Major Breach is the best choice, because Wall of Frost already applies minor Breach and it'll fit really well.

They didnt all buff rank 2s but many of them did. Recursive flame and pound of flesh didnt.

ESO_Nightingale · February 21

BasP wrote: »

Yeah, I really like the idea behind the Class Mastery system as well. Your ideas for those two Warden passives sound cool too.

Since the devs mentioned that the number of Class Mastery passives might change in the future, a part of me already hopes that they'll eventually add more than five. I think it would be nice to have multiple passives for each role that play into different themes/ skill lines of a class, allowing us to further specialise each character.

In the case of the Warden, I'd personally like it if my Magden could use two Class Mastery passives for Frost DPS and my Stamden could use two passives that buffed Animal Companions/ Bleed Damage or something, for example.

I agree. 5 is a nice starting point but it definitely doesnt feel like enough. If we had at least 2 per role and dps build type it would probably feel pretty good. But 5 to start with feels fine.

ESO_Nightingale · February 22

Hey everyone, just working on a video for this topic. Its gonna go into a lot more detail.

ESO_Nightingale · February 28

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Hey everyone, just working on a video for this topic. Its gonna go into a lot more detail.

Here's the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjGLoMbL8Bs

Nser · March 5

For the Warden rework and the new Class Mastery passives, I suggest improving the Hypothermia / Glacial Cold passive so that any damage skill slotted on the bar is converted to Frost Damage.

This change would allow the Warden to fully embrace the fantasy of being a true ice-based warrior, similar to how the new Dragon knight right now

its direction supports stronger class identity. With this system, Wardens could combine their frost abilities with ice auras and other skills while still keeping their entire build thematically consistent.

Right now, Warden has great frost visuals and concepts, but it cannot fully function as a pure frost class because many abilities remain non-frost damage. Allowing Hypothermia or Glacial Cold to convert slotted skills into Frost Damage would solve this and give the class a much clearer identity.

With this change its make

• Enables true frost Warden builds
• Makes the class feel unique and cohesive
• Encourages new build creativity with frost synergies
• Strengthens Warden’s identity as the ice class

With just this one adjustment, Warden could become a much stronger and more distinctive class.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Erin

ESO_Nightingale · March 6

Nser wrote: »

For the Warden rework and the new Class Mastery passives, I suggest improving the Hypothermia / Glacial Cold passive so that any damage skill slotted on the bar is converted to Frost Damage.

This change would allow the Warden to fully embrace the fantasy of being a true ice-based warrior, similar to how the new Dragon knight[
direction supports stronger class identity. With this system, Wardens could combine their frost abilities with ice auras and other skills while still keeping their entire build thematically consistent.

Right now, Warden has great frost visuals and concepts, but it cannot fully function as a pure frost class because many abilities remain non-frost damage. Allowing Hypothermia or Glacial Cold to convert slotted skills into Frost Damage would solve this and give the class a much clearer identity.

Benefits of this change:
• Enables true frost-themed Warden builds
• Makes the class feel unique and cohesive
• Encourages new build creativity with frost synergies
• Strengthens Warden’s identity as the ice warrior class

With just this one adjustment, Warden could become a much stronger and more distinctive class.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Erin

Did you ask chat gpt to generate this?

Nser · March 7

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Nser wrote: »

For the Warden rework and the new Class Mastery passives, I suggest improving the Hypothermia / Glacial Cold passive so that any damage skill slotted on the bar is converted to Frost Damage.

This change would allow the Warden to fully embrace the fantasy of being a true ice-based warrior, similar to how the new Dragon knight[
direction supports stronger class identity. With this system, Wardens could combine their frost abilities with ice auras and other skills while still keeping their entire build thematically consistent.

Right now, Warden has great frost visuals and concepts, but it cannot fully function as a pure frost class because many abilities remain non-frost damage. Allowing Hypothermia or Glacial Cold to convert slotted skills into Frost Damage would solve this and give the class a much clearer identity.

Benefits of this change:
• Enables true frost-themed Warden builds
• Makes the class feel unique and cohesive
• Encourages new build creativity with frost synergies
• Strengthens Warden’s identity as the ice warrior class

With just this one adjustment, Warden could become a much stronger and more distinctive class.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Erin

Did you ask chat gpt to generate this?

well yes with little bit help XD
i just want to make sure the idea reached to the point
i really want this change to be done for the class to make it in line with the other classes in future.

ADarklore · March 7

So, let's consider what they did with DK. They made all their damage Flame damage. Is it not possible that they will make all Warden abilities Frost damage and all Sorc abilities Shock damage?

moderatelyfatman · March 7

Flame damage fits in with the DK being born from the dragon.

Ice damage with a defender of nature has never quite fit the Warden class identity IMHO. They should have gone with bleed damage for both Animal and Plant offensive skills.

As a stamwarden main, I'd have no reason to play the new Warden if ZOS turn them into an ICE wizard.

LunaFlora · March 7

ADarklore wrote: »

So, let's consider what they did with DK. They made all their damage Flame damage. Is it not possible that they will make all Warden abilities Frost damage and all Sorc abilities Shock damage?

it is technically possible, but then it is also possible they make Sorcerer completely Physical damage and Warden completely Bleed?

Dragonknight was already majority Flame damage, all 3 skill lines are named fittingly, and Ardent Flame has flame in its name.
Warden and Sorcerer have 1 skill line focused on their Frost and Shock damages, none of their other lines are focused on them.

- Animal Companions has Magic, Bleed, and Poison. it will likely get Frost instead of Magic so there is one less damage type.
- Green Balance has no damage, but surely Bleed or Poison make more sense for plants and mushrooms? Poison in eso is also green.
- Dark Magic has magic damage which is again in the name just like Winter's Embrace, Storm Calling, and Ardent Flame imply their damage types.
- Daedric Summoning, anything works.

ADarklore · March 7

LunaFlora wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

So, let's consider what they did with DK. They made all their damage Flame damage. Is it not possible that they will make all Warden abilities Frost damage and all Sorc abilities Shock damage?

it is technically possible, but then it is also possible they make Sorcerer completely Physical damage and Warden completely Bleed?

Dragonknight was already majority Flame damage, all 3 skill lines are named fittingly, and Ardent Flame has flame in its name.
Warden and Sorcerer have 1 skill line focused on their Frost and Shock damages, none of their other lines are focused on them.

- Animal Companions has Magic, Bleed, and Poison. it will likely get Frost instead of Magic so there is one less damage type.
- Green Balance has no damage, but surely Bleed or Poison make more sense for plants and mushrooms? Poison in eso is also green.
- Dark Magic has magic damage which is again in the name just like Winter's Embrace, Storm Calling, and Ardent Flame imply their damage types.
- Daedric Summoning, anything works.

Well, I just figured there seems to be a theme going with elemental damage. DK has Flame, Warden has Frost and Sorc has Shock... so it just seemed logical that Warden would go all-in on Frost and Sorc would go all-in on Shock. Many people for years have been asking for Warden to get more Frost damage abilities, and with these passives, it seemed like they were leaning in that direction.

ESO_Nightingale · March 7

All frost on warden doesnt make much sense to me, nor does all bleed/poison. I think its going to make a lot more sense if its a 50/50 split of frost and bleed or poison.

Nser · March 8

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

All frost on warden doesnt make much sense to me, nor does all bleed/poison. I think its going to make a lot more sense if its a 50/50 split of frost and bleed or poison.

This is one of the main reasons why Warden skills don’t work well with many other skills or builds.

The damage types are too mixed, which makes it harder for Warden abilities to synergize properly with other skill lines.

In comparison, Dragonknight works much better in combat because most of its passives and skills are built around the same damage type. This creates strong synergy and makes the class feel cohesive and smooth to play.

Dragonknight abilities connect together naturally, while Warden often feels split between different damage types.

If Warden had a way to convert more skills into Frost Damage, it would help the class synergy a lot and make frost-focused builds much more viable.

that what i think and dragon knight has alot of damage skills work around.

AllenaNightWood · March 8

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Hey Everyone, an amazing announcement yesterday with the new class masteries.

I was really happy to see that there is finally a new system in place for strong class related passives that you must pick between rather than gaining access to all of them. This is an idea i've been expressing would be good for a while now after playing world of warcraft and experiencing their talent system.

Seeing that you must be pureclassed in order to gain access to these makes sense although i feel it is a bit too punishing towards subclassed players. perhaps if you only subclass once for 1 single line, you can still get one passive, but lose one as a cost. But i'm probably getting ahead of myself. it's more important to see these in action first and worry about these types of quality of life later.

I wanted to discuss Hypothermia and Glacial Cold as revealed yesterday.

Obviously, these are probably not implemented yet in a practical form and all we have to go off is the names and icons which are likely temporary anyway.

Seeing 2 frost related masteries has given me hope that at least one of them has to do with frost damage and perhaps buffing winter's embrace in some way. Though i must admit that it is very difficult to design when there is no existing class mechanic or focus.

Here are some ideas i designed for the fun of it, but they're likely extremely unbalanced or not even close to what the development team has in mind.

I'm very excited either way for update 50.

being as you still have to have 1 skill line from your class you should be able to pick 1 class mastery passive

Nser · March 8

AllenaNightWood wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Hey Everyone, an amazing announcement yesterday with the new class masteries.

I was really happy to see that there is finally a new system in place for strong class related passives that you must pick between rather than gaining access to all of them. This is an idea i've been expressing would be good for a while now after playing world of warcraft and experiencing their talent system.

Seeing that you must be pureclassed in order to gain access to these makes sense although i feel it is a bit too punishing towards subclassed players. perhaps if you only subclass once for 1 single line, you can still get one passive, but lose one as a cost. But i'm probably getting ahead of myself. it's more important to see these in action first and worry about these types of quality of life later.

I wanted to discuss Hypothermia and Glacial Cold as revealed yesterday.

Obviously, these are probably not implemented yet in a practical form and all we have to go off is the names and icons which are likely temporary anyway.

Seeing 2 frost related masteries has given me hope that at least one of them has to do with frost damage and perhaps buffing winter's embrace in some way. Though i must admit that it is very difficult to design when there is no existing class mechanic or focus.

Here are some ideas i designed for the fun of it, but they're likely extremely unbalanced or not even close to what the development team has in mind.

I'm very excited either way for update 50.

being as you still have to have 1 skill line from your class you should be able to pick 1 class mastery passive

agreed 2 passive to pick is not much should be 1 for each tree so total 3/5.

TBH its should all be unlock for PURE CLASS and it should be no limit as the subclass is tooo much powerful

ESO_Nightingale · March 11

hmm, should probs rename this title to One with Winter and Hypothermia lol

ESO_Nightingale · March 11

Soarora wrote: »

I wonder if Hypothermia will be a way for warden DPS to proc major brittle? Ey? Ey???

So you were correct here @Soarora

Tbh given the other 2 great passives and how oriented hypothermia is towards having a frost dps proc it, i kind of dont hate the idea anymore, especially since its related to chilled uptime, not northern storm. It will definitely get us into trial compositions. Yes, you do have to sacrifice a mastery slot to give everyone a group buff but you also dont have to use it if another group member or support is doing it already. Frost warden will enjoy taking wild adaptation AND one with winter.

Given shattered path signet's synergy with bear, glacial presence and now wild adaptation, frost warden is going to be absolutely crazy.

I think it might be fair to say that warden's masteries are definitely not set in stone and regardless of what happens with the warden refresh, these current masteries are indicative of how warden currently plays. "Pure" warden builds atm are mostly just frost wardens that use bear and winters embrace skills for really high overall status damage, otherwise you're removing both green balance AND winters embrace for bigger damage dealing lines.

AzuraFan · March 11

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

All frost on warden doesnt make much sense to me, nor does all bleed/poison. I think its going to make a lot more sense if its a 50/50 split of frost and bleed or poison.

Agreed. The class vision says master of the seasons. Winter is only one season, so I expect damage won't go all frost. A master of the seasons that can only do frost damage would be a pretty pathetic master of the seasons. I expect Animal Companions will do a different type of damage.

Soarora · March 11

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

I wonder if Hypothermia will be a way for warden DPS to proc major brittle? Ey? Ey???

So you were correct here @Soarora

Tbh given the other 2 great passives and how oriented hypothermia is towards having a frost dps proc it, i kind of dont hate the idea anymore, especially since its related to chilled uptime, not northern storm. It will definitely get us into trial compositions. Yes, you do have to sacrifice a mastery slot to give everyone a group buff but you also dont have to use it if another group member or support is doing it already. Frost warden will enjoy taking wild adaptation AND one with winter.

Given shattered path signet's synergy with bear, glacial presence and now wild adaptation, frost warden is going to be absolutely crazy.

Yes, imagine my surprise when I read it LOL. I was informed that a pure warden tank would still be able to do 100% uptime though, at least in the state we saw the passive in. And given the current state of minor toughness (dps probably having to slot budding) and frost cloak (no damage buff), it’d probably make more sense to just have a pure warden tank or a pure warden healer in a 2 tank 2 healer roster. Fingers crossed though, especially with warden refresh slowly approaching.

It was interesting to see the other one be so status effect focused knowing that shattered paths specifically works well on a warden. I guess the hint here is that we are the status effect class, but I suppose that makes sense.

ESO_Nightingale · March 11

AzuraFan wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

All frost on warden doesnt make much sense to me, nor does all bleed/poison. I think its going to make a lot more sense if its a 50/50 split of frost and bleed or poison.

Agreed. The class vision says master of the seasons. Winter is only one season, so I expect damage won't go all frost. A master of the seasons that can only do frost damage would be a pretty pathetic master of the seasons. I expect Animal Companions will do a different type of damage.

I think it would be for the best if winters embrace was all frost, green balance was all bleed or all poison and then animal companions having frost damage magicka morphs and all bleed or all poison stamina morphs.