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Would you like to see Loadouts and Perks added to Gray Host?

Erickson9610
Erickson9610
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Loadouts are like Armory build slots, except each of these four options...
  1. Soldier
  2. Vanguard
  3. Battle Medic
  4. Scout
...each give you access to a unique skill line while you have one of these Loadouts equipped, and each Loadout weights your stats according to their intended role. You could double down on your Gray Host healer build by choosing Battle Medic, and maybe find use of one of the Battle Medic skills, for instance. You can swap between Loadouts at your Alliance base, so you could change both your Loadout and your Armory build in the same area.

Perks are additional passives that can boost your stats further, which function similarly to Champion Points and other miscellaneous passive abilities. Adding these to the mix would give you more customization, as you could choose to cover your weaknesses or boost your strengths further with additional passive effects.


Would you like to see these unique gameplay mechanics be introduced into the Gray Host ruleset? Why or why not?

Note that this is not asking for anything else from Vengeance to be added to Gray Host. You'll keep your normal builds with your normal skills, but have access to additional buffs and skills that you didn't have access to before.

What this is:
  • More passives to add on top of your existing builds
  • New skill lines that you can choose between depending on your desired role
  • 100% Gray Host gameplay, with new build options available
What this is not:
  • Replacing your skills with Vengeance skills
  • Implementing the target cap of Vengeance
  • Removing build diversity
Edited by Erickson9610 on July 17, 2026 6:15AM
PC/NA — Lone Werewolf

Werewolf Should be Allowed to Sneak Prowling added in Update 50!
Please give us Werewolf Skill Styles (for customizing our fur color) Added in Update 50!, Grimoires/Scribing skills (to fill in the holes in our builds), and Companions (to transform with).

Would you like to see Loadouts and Perks added to Gray Host? 32 votes

Yes to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
6%
Mattymoo92Usureki 2 votes
Yes to Loadouts, No to Perks in Gray Host
3%
Callosum 1 vote
No to Loadouts, Yes to Perks in Gray Host
6%
amiiegeeRadiate77 2 votes
No to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
81%
vailjohn_ESOSluggyrlindsey912nub18_ESOshadyjane62The UninvitedSylosiemilyhyoyeonheaven13Vonnegut2506ceruuleanOcelot9xAlienatedGoatStamickaIngramItsNotLivingtomofhyruleL_NiciArzyeLTaggundPeacefulAnarchy 26 votes
Other (please elaborate)
3%
BXR_Lonestar 1 vote
  • amiiegee
    amiiegee
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    No to Loadouts, Yes to Perks in Gray Host
    Accidently pressed the wrong one , meaned NO to both.

    How can these rage bait polls even be allowed 😂
  • Erickson9610
    Erickson9610
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    amiiegee wrote: »
    Accidently pressed the wrong one , meaned NO to both.

    How can these rage bait polls even be allowed 😂

    The purpose of this poll is not to rage bait anyone. It's to see if anything from the Vengeance campaign can be salvaged and incorporated into Gray Host. What I want to understand is why people dislike Vengeance, and if there's anything at all good about it that can be added onto Gray Host without detracting from the experience or changing how Gray Host works on a fundamental level. Do people just not like the Vengeance skills, or do they also dislike the Loadouts/Perks systems?

    I'm sorry you didn't read all of the poll options before answering. There's a reason this poll has 5 answers; it's to determine whether people take issue with Loadouts, Perks, both, or neither, and to also give an "Other" option for more nuanced opinions.
    PC/NA — Lone Werewolf

    Werewolf Should be Allowed to Sneak Prowling added in Update 50!
    Please give us Werewolf Skill Styles (for customizing our fur color) Added in Update 50!, Grimoires/Scribing skills (to fill in the holes in our builds), and Companions (to transform with).
  • L_Nici
    L_Nici
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    No to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
    Why? We do not need that because we have that fascinating thing called Sets and CP. They actually change your Stats to be useful for a DD, Healer or Tank. Also the overwhelming majority of those Vengeance Perks are garbage.
    PC|EU
  • Erickson9610
    Erickson9610
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    L_Nici wrote: »
    Why? We do not need that because we have that fascinating thing called Sets and CP. They actually change your Stats to be useful for a DD, Healer or Tank. Also the overwhelming majority of those Vengeance Perks are garbage.

    So it would be redundant to have Sets, CP, Loadouts, and Perks all at the same time?
    PC/NA — Lone Werewolf

    Werewolf Should be Allowed to Sneak Prowling added in Update 50!
    Please give us Werewolf Skill Styles (for customizing our fur color) Added in Update 50!, Grimoires/Scribing skills (to fill in the holes in our builds), and Companions (to transform with).
  • Usureki
    Usureki
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    Yes to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
    I like this idea. Adds further customization options and brings in new flavor.
  • Sluggy
    Sluggy
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    No to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
    Loadouts and perks are essentially just hard-coded sets and very boring ones at that.

    They exist to fill the gap in Vengeance where we can't customize our characters with gear while also remaining lightweight for the server to handle and as such they literally would have zero purpose in Greyhost as it is.

    Frankly, I'd rather see them expanded much more for vengeance. If they actually provided real statistical value and truly were able to support different styles of play rather than slight number changes then maybe Vengeance would be a little more... varied shall we say?
  • CptTekashi
    CptTekashi
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    No to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
    I would put my life on the people saying yes are people who are barely ever in there or are never in there ….

    NO NO NO …. Defeats the whole point of why us the pvpers love cyro
    Edited by CptTekashi on July 17, 2026 9:14AM
    XBOX NA - Cpt Tekashi

    ~ 3600CP
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    ~ Been around since launch ~
  • Stamicka
    Stamicka
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    No to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
    The purpose of this poll is not to rage bait anyone. It's to see if anything from the Vengeance campaign can be salvaged and incorporated into Gray Host. What I want to understand is why people dislike Vengeance, and if there's anything at all good about it that can be added onto Gray Host without detracting from the experience or changing how Gray Host works on a fundamental level. Do people just not like the Vengeance skills, or do they also dislike the Loadouts/Perks systems?

    I think asking directly why people don't like Vengeance would be interesting, though it would likely devolve into a mess.

    I think you'll find that a lot of these people haven't actually tried Vengeance, they just don't like it cause they've bought into a false narrative that ZOS wants to get rid of normal PvP with builds and all of that.

    To actually answer your broader question though, I'll speak for myself. Despite the fact that I defend the idea of Vengeance, when I do log on, I actually go to Grey Host.

    What I dislike about Vengeance is the time to kill, the healing to damage ratio, the lack of good mobility options, how oversimplified the skills are, the AOE caps, and the class balance. I only do solo or small scale PvP, so I imagine other players like me who at least gave it a shot would have similar complaints. I did get some old friends on the game to play Vengeance with me and they also had complaints about the time to kill and AOE caps.

    I don't like effortless survival and I don't like low skill ceilings. Vengeance unfortunately suffers from both. The environment is kind of a slog as implemented right now. It feels like none of your actions matter and even if someone isn't blocking or rolling, they can just survive if someone with a restoration staff is nearby.

    Movement in Vengeance is rough cause there's not much that can be done about snares and roots and speed buffs are limited. If you find yourself outnumbered in Vengeance, your AOE ultimate won't even hit everybody which is pretty frustrating to deal with.

    Lastly, the abilities are very bland, which I get is intentional, but I would've liked to see a test with more interesting abilities. Nightblade was the only class in Vengeance that felt complete, and even then I don't like that you just simply have your spectral bow every 5 seconds. I think that's a skill that should award light attacks and I also think it was far more interesting and balanced when the bow expired if you didn't use it in time. That small thing added a whole new layer to how the class had to be played.

    When it comes to Sorc in Vengeance, they don't get a frag proc which kind of flattens the entire magsorc play style. I could go on and on about what I want to see from Vengeance skills, but the bottom line is that I don't like how much their simplicity totally flattens classes and destroys playstyles.

    Out of all the people I've argued with about Vengeance, the only person that I actually saw in there who actually gave it a shot was React. For that reason, I can at least respect his opinion even though we disagree. I 100% understand why he doesn't like the environment, because I won't lie, it just wasn't fun to play. I think a lot of people who actually enjoy fighting other players would come to the same conclusion due to everything I just mentioned.

    A lot of these other people have admitted to not even trying Vengeance and they don't even argue about the many valid criticisms of Vengeance at all. You'll just find talks about hidden agendas and conspiracies which is what annoys me so much about this. So you can expect lots of replies that don't answer your question at all.

    All this being said, I do think there are good parts of Vengeance and that's why I defend it and hope for its improvement. The issues I mentioned are easily fixable. I don't think that the perks and loadouts are one of the good parts. However, on a broad level, I absolutely support more fair PvP and more accessible/easy to understand PvP. I just think there're ways that would be much more popular with PvPers other than perks and loadouts to bring this about. I would get into it, but this post is already way too long.
    PC NA and Xbox NA
  • Erickson9610
    Erickson9610
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    Sluggy wrote: »
    Loadouts and perks are essentially just hard-coded sets and very boring ones at that.

    They exist to fill the gap in Vengeance where we can't customize our characters with gear while also remaining lightweight for the server to handle and as such they literally would have zero purpose in Greyhost as it is.

    Frankly, I'd rather see them expanded much more for vengeance. If they actually provided real statistical value and truly were able to support different styles of play rather than slight number changes then maybe Vengeance would be a little more... varied shall we say?

    I haven't used the Vengeance skill lines myself, but wouldn't the addition of 4 more Alliance War skill lines (of which only one may be active at a time, similar to how Vampire and Werewolf are mutually exclusive) add more build diversity?

    I definitely see your point about the stat adjustments of Loadouts and Perks being made redundant with gear. If Gray Host were to implement Loadouts, I imagine it would only be the skill lines, rather than the stat adjustments that come with it.
    PC/NA — Lone Werewolf

    Werewolf Should be Allowed to Sneak Prowling added in Update 50!
    Please give us Werewolf Skill Styles (for customizing our fur color) Added in Update 50!, Grimoires/Scribing skills (to fill in the holes in our builds), and Companions (to transform with).
  • Erickson9610
    Erickson9610
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    CptTekashi wrote: »
    I would put my life on the people saying yes are people who are barely ever in there or are never in there ….

    NO NO NO …. Defeats the whole point of why us the pvpers love cyro

    Please elaborate on why the addition of Loadouts and Perks on top of the existing Gray Host build system would defeat the purpose of why PvPers love Cyrodiil.

    If it's literally just Gray Host, but you have access to additional skills and passives not found anywhere else in the game, then how does this detract from what players love about Cyrodiil?
    PC/NA — Lone Werewolf

    Werewolf Should be Allowed to Sneak Prowling added in Update 50!
    Please give us Werewolf Skill Styles (for customizing our fur color) Added in Update 50!, Grimoires/Scribing skills (to fill in the holes in our builds), and Companions (to transform with).
  • BXR_Lonestar
    BXR_Lonestar
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    Other (please elaborate)
    Color me as being on the fence on this one. Here is the real reason why:

    What I really think needs to be added to this game to force a semblance of balance is some way to force people to fall into one of three categories - the holy trinity of RPG's: Tank, healer, or DD. The problems with PVP is that you can have characters that fit into more than one of these roles, which makes it problematic. Tanks can have really powerful heals. Damage dealers can be super tanky AND still do massive damage. And Tanky players can still turn and burn and obliterate you if your not careful. This really shouldn't be a thing if you want a "balanced" game. Each role should have its own pros and cons and fit a specific role in Cyrodil.

    If perks and was an underhanded way to enforce these roles and give them a way to subsequently enforce balance changes such as players who take tanky perks incur an inhibitive damage penalty or healing done penalty, then I would be for it. But if this is not the intent of the perk system, then I think this would just be layering on another system that will eventually become problematic.
  • Usureki
    Usureki
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    Yes to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
    CptTekashi wrote: »
    I would put my life on the people saying yes are people who are barely ever in there or are never in there ….

    NO NO NO …. Defeats the whole point of why us the pvpers love cyro

    You're lucky you said it in the conditional.
  • tomofhyrule
    tomofhyrule
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    No to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
    The point of the Loadouts/Perks system is to replace the CP/set/food/passives bonuses from standard play. Adding them in is just redundant - you already get the CP/set/food/passives, so why do you then also need a system designed to mimic them?

    The real key to this is this statement:
    amiiegee wrote: »
    How can these rage bait polls even be allowed 😂

    The purpose of this poll is not to rage bait anyone. It's to see if anything from the Vengeance campaign can be salvaged and incorporated into Gray Host. What I want to understand is why people dislike Vengeance, and if there's anything at all good about it that can be added onto Gray Host without detracting from the experience or changing how Gray Host works on a fundamental level. Do people just not like the Vengeance skills, or do they also dislike the Loadouts/Perks systems?

    This alone is meaning that you're thinking about this on a way the Combat Team isn't - you are trying to see what people don't like about Vengeance and why people are so adamantly refusing to use it.

    I can assure you, it's not the Loadouts/Perks. It's the skills and sets.

    Vengeance skills are extremely pared down versions of the Live skills (also they don't have morphs) that max target caps at 3. Using them is therefore extremely different to being able to combo specific things like you would be able to on Live. There are even some that work completely differently, for example the Sorcerer Pets being permanent on Live allows players to also use them defensively since other players may accidentally target the pet for a single target attack, thus not getting hit by that Grim Focus at all.

    The set bonuses is another thing, and that's the idea that Vengeance is going to try to use. A lot of standard PvP bases around comboing with sets so the idea is that making sets useable in Vengeance would make GH players feel more at home, but the problem there is that the population who enjoys Vengeance as Vengeance enjoys it specifically because it doesn't have the sets.

    In essence, the current plan is "we're going to push out the audience we did build in order to try to entice the other audience in, which won't work because that one doesn't like the limitations." They're throwing away what they do have because they think that the easy solution of "just add sets!" is going to mix the populations and not repel both.
  • Gabriel_H
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    The purpose of this poll is not to rage bait anyone. It's to see if anything from the Vengeance campaign can be salvaged and incorporated into Gray Host.

    Your premise seems to be that Vengeance as is is the finished product. It's not. The loadouts and perks may well vanish from Vengeance as they add more back in, and allow some buildcrafting. They may stay so that level becomes unimportant. It may be a mix of both.

    From the way ZOS are going about it, it seems clear to me that the goal is to strip GH to the bones, then add things back in, and try to get it as close to GH as possible without tanking performance. I think they need to take bigger swings and speed it up.

    PC EU
    Never get involved in a land war in Asia - it's one of the classic blunders!
  • MorallyBipolar
    MorallyBipolar
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    No to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
    Enough of this.

    You already have your vengeance. Now you're trying to chip away even more at GH than ZOS does all on their own.

    This suggestion is like the neighbors dog who refuses to stay in their own yard.
  • Erickson9610
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    Enough of this.

    You already have your vengeance. Now you're trying to chip away even more at GH than ZOS does all on their own.

    This suggestion is like the neighbors dog who refuses to stay in their own yard.

    You aren't losing anything about Gray Host if you get additional passives and skills added to the experience. This isn't Vengeance.
    PC/NA — Lone Werewolf

    Werewolf Should be Allowed to Sneak Prowling added in Update 50!
    Please give us Werewolf Skill Styles (for customizing our fur color) Added in Update 50!, Grimoires/Scribing skills (to fill in the holes in our builds), and Companions (to transform with).
  • MorallyBipolar
    MorallyBipolar
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    No to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
    Enough of this.

    You already have your vengeance. Now you're trying to chip away even more at GH than ZOS does all on their own.

    This suggestion is like the neighbors dog who refuses to stay in their own yard.

    You aren't losing anything about Gray Host if you get additional passives and skills added to the experience. This isn't Vengeance.

    They are shutting down GH for a week again. That's a loss.
  • Erickson9610
    Erickson9610
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    Gabriel_H wrote: »
    The purpose of this poll is not to rage bait anyone. It's to see if anything from the Vengeance campaign can be salvaged and incorporated into Gray Host.

    Your premise seems to be that Vengeance as is is the finished product. It's not. The loadouts and perks may well vanish from Vengeance as they add more back in, and allow some buildcrafting. They may stay so that level becomes unimportant. It may be a mix of both.

    From the way ZOS are going about it, it seems clear to me that the goal is to strip GH to the bones, then add things back in, and try to get it as close to GH as possible without tanking performance. I think they need to take bigger swings and speed it up.

    Vengeance may no longer need Loadouts and Perks once it can support Item Sets and passive abilities.

    However, I see some merit to the system, and I wonder if it would enhance the Gray Host experience if it was layered on top of existing gameplay. In particular, the Loadouts system seems the most enticing, as each Loadout gives you an associated skill line that you can only use while in is active — additional skills that players have to pick between sounds like it could shake up the Gray Host experience in a positive way.
    PC/NA — Lone Werewolf

    Werewolf Should be Allowed to Sneak Prowling added in Update 50!
    Please give us Werewolf Skill Styles (for customizing our fur color) Added in Update 50!, Grimoires/Scribing skills (to fill in the holes in our builds), and Companions (to transform with).
  • Erickson9610
    Erickson9610
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    Enough of this.

    You already have your vengeance. Now you're trying to chip away even more at GH than ZOS does all on their own.

    This suggestion is like the neighbors dog who refuses to stay in their own yard.

    You aren't losing anything about Gray Host if you get additional passives and skills added to the experience. This isn't Vengeance.

    They are shutting down GH for a week again. That's a loss.

    This has nothing to do with the suggestion in the original post.

    Again, what I'm asking people is if they'd like to see regular Gray Host get Loadouts and Perks. I'm not asking for Gray Host to become Vengeance, and this suggestion has nothing to do with the mandated Vengeance tests. This could be implemented into Gray Host without a mandatory 1 week test.

    Once again, this is literally just salvaging the systems that Vengeance introduced but without replacing Gray Host with Vengeance.
    PC/NA — Lone Werewolf

    Werewolf Should be Allowed to Sneak Prowling added in Update 50!
    Please give us Werewolf Skill Styles (for customizing our fur color) Added in Update 50!, Grimoires/Scribing skills (to fill in the holes in our builds), and Companions (to transform with).
  • Stamicka
    Stamicka
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    No to Loadouts and Perks in Gray Host
    Alright I actually logged in today to give you a better answer cause I think it's a good question.

    Basically if you look at this screenshot:

    ibnt6rsxgmxp.jpg

    If I switched from Scout to Soldier I'd lose a bunch of penetration, crit chance, and stam recovery in exchange for some max mag, armor, and healing taken.

    In my opinion this is a very blunt tool and I don't think the tradeoffs are very interesting or well designed. You get much finer control over stats with sets/builds and enchants and it makes this system pretty unnecessary. For example, if I wanted more stamina recovery at the expense of damage, I just swap a jewelry enchant or another part of my build.

    If I want more of a max stat I adjust my attributes or food. Then there's mundus stones to swap out too. I think people would prefer more precise control over their stats rather than to be subjected to a system that gives and takes away stats in bulk. Four options is really not enough to cover what someone is going for with their PvP build.

    In terms of the skills in these loadout skill lines, I find that a lot of them would be a bit redundant in the Grey Host environment, even if adapted for it. For example, Burst of Speed in the Scout skill line has a similar animation to race against time. It also grants movement speed that gradually slows down the longer it's active. In the Grey Host environment, I think it would be better to just use Race Against Time, making Burst of Speed unnecessary bloat.

    In general a lot of the Perk and Loadout system seems like an attempt to make up for the lack of build choice, which makes sense, but it just wouldn't add much to Grey Host.

    I want more fair and accessible PvP, but I'm not anti build. I actually think a purely stat based build system in Cyrodiil with tradeoffs (similar to early ESO) provides a nice balance between player choice and fairness. The problem I have with Grey Host is the sheer number of sets, the amount of moving parts builds now have, the lack of tradeoffs with many sets, and procs. The worst part is that build choice and variety is as restrictive as I have EVER seen it in ESO PvP, so all of the "build choices" aren't real choices.

    I think there should be many more built in restrictions that keep PvP theorycrafting from getting out of control and creating a power gap. This would actually create more playstyles and open up build variety a lot more. Though it sounds crazy, just look at how hybridization and subclassing added more options (on paper), but actually massively reduced the amount of real/viable options.

    However, the loadout system is NOT the way to impose those restrictions. There's better ways to handle it.
    PC NA and Xbox NA
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