i was held up so im just going to respond to everything all and once with what is the bigger issue pvp faces until we all step outside our own class and fun and to see it from all views and point out what zos can be doing with battle spirit that might actually help in more than one way

Look, fixing this isn't about nerfing one class into the dirt. If ZOS doesn't overhaul the baseline Battle Spirit system itself, the second Templar or Necro gets their refresh, we are just going to be right back on these forums crying about a new toxic meta.

To actually level the playing field so skill dictates who wins, Battle Spirit needs to ditch the percentage-based math that chokes the server and enforce flat, universal caps on every single stat the second you cross into a PvP zone. This is a solid starting point that targets the exact mechanical issues everyone is currently running into.

For core attributes, weapon and spell damage is hard-capped at a maximum of 6,500, while max magicka and max stamina are capped at 35,000. Critical damage is locked at a flat modifier ceiling of 1.15x base damage (meaning a 1,000 base hit can only ever crit for 1,150), completely ignoring any extra crit multipliers you stack on your gear. Offensive penetration is capped at 10,000, and Major and Minor Breach no longer use complex percentage math—they simply apply a flat, un-stackable +800 and +300 damage bonus to incoming attacks on that target. Status effect damage is locked to a flat 1,200 damage per tick maximum, and status debuffs like Minor Maim or Minor Vulnerability apply flat -150 Damage Done and +200 Damage Taken values instead of shifting percentages.

To fix healing and shield restraints, all heals scale strictly off Max Magicka or Max Stamina, whichever is highest. Pure damage stats no longer inflate healing power, forcing brawlers to actually choose between high burst or high recovery. Under the 1 unique HoT cap, a player can only be affected by 1 unique Heal-over-Time source per caster. Damage shields do not stack, and the highest value takes priority up to a hard maximum of 9,000 total damage absorbed.

To eliminate messy calculations on the armor side, armor types are stripped of percentages to keep it simple. Wearing 5 or more pieces of Light Armor grants a flat +3,000 Offensive Penetration, a flat +1,500 Raw Healing Done to all abilities, and a flat +300 Magicka Recovery, balanced by a flat -1,500 Armor Resistance penalty and an extra +400 Physical and Oblivion damage taken per hit. Wearing 5 or more pieces of Medium Armor grants a flat +300 Stamina Recovery and increases your flat stealth detection radius by +5 meters to crush sneaky Nightblade resets, balanced by a flat -1,500 Armor Resistance penalty and a flat +300 Stamina cost per block to kill the brawler infinite-turtle meta. Wearing 5 or more pieces of Heavy Armor grants a flat +3,000 Armor Resistance and reduces baseline block cost by a flat -300 Stamina, balanced by a flat -400 Weapon and Spell Damage penalty and a flat +1,500 Stamina cost to all dodge rolls.

To bring total systemic balance, the entire gear armory operates on a strict buff-and-penalty system. Running a full 2-piece Monster Set grants its unique mechanical combat effect, but applies a global flat -1,000 Armor Resistance penalty across the board. Running a Mythic item grants its signature bonus but inflicts a flat +300 resource cost penalty to all standard abilities. This forces players to choose if the raw power of special gear slots is actually worth sacrificing their baseline survival and sustain economy.

For ultimate, sustain, and mobility limits, ultimate gain from all passive sources, sets, and decisive traits is hard-capped at a maximum of 5 Ultimate per second in combat to stop infinite ultimate-dump synergy bombs. Combat Magicka and Stamina recovery are locked at a hard maximum of 2,500 baseline before armor bonuses are factored, and any mechanism that grants secondary resources is flatly cut in half. Base block cost increases by a flat +500 Stamina for every consecutive block within a 3-second window, and each consecutive dodge roll within 5 seconds increases the stamina cost by a flat +3,000 Stamina per roll. Maximum movement speed is hard-capped at 1.30x base sprinting speed, sticky CC immunity grants a flat 7 seconds of total immunity against hard CC, snares, and immobilizations upon breaking free, and the base detection radius for stealth is locked to a flat 15 meters baseline for every player.

Shifting to flat, static thresholds completely resolves the combat bottlenecks we're seeing on live servers. Right now, the engine lags out because every single player action forces the server to calculate a massive formula of multiplying percentages on the fly. With hard caps, the engine handles interactions instantly without running complex calculations during large brawls. This stabilizes performance, eliminates desynced player states, and keeps class power gaps tight enough that PvP can actually be about skill and enjoyment again.