I respect all my fellow human beings, but c'mon. Eric Wrobel is a grown man, he can handle it. It's not like a few well worded frustrations is going to make him put his head in the sand.
Of course it should stay constructive and respectful. But he's the head of a team, not a toddler. Let's at least treat him like an adult. Anything less is actually more disrespectful.

Class:
1. NB Catalyst passive: With the consolidation of the Major/Minor buff system in 1.6, potion effectiveness boosts were removed from both Argonians and NBs. While the Argonian replacement, Amphibious, has been the subject of much critique and a recent buff, the corollary NB passive Catalyst remains an even less valuable/useful passive. Before 1.6, the NB Catalyst passive, combined with the lower potion cooldown (as low as 15 seconds) gave NBs their only reliable form of burst self-healing through frequent and more powerful potions. While other abilities have helped with this since this change (Vigor and Rally, thanks to 2h's popularity), Catalyst was nonetheless replaced by a passive that (1) doesn't stack with the new version of Amphibious, thereby undercutting the one unique class/race synergy for Argonians (imagine Dunmers losing their bonus to fire damage and thus their synergy with DK abilities), (2) provides a bonus who value is far too low given the longer potion cooldown, and (3) does not fulfill a 'need' of the class as it did before, because NBs already have many ways to generate Ultimate. There are many ways Catalyst could be made more useful and still tied to potion use. Whatever is done, however, I would argue that it should stack or directly complement the Argonian Amphibious passive. Options would be to simply replicate Amphibious passive (stacking multiplicatively), reduce potion cooldown (making Amphibious passive more valuable due to potential increased use), increase power of healing from potions (stacking with Nourish constellation), or, at a minimum and least preferable for the reasons outlined above, restore a much larger chunk of Ultimate.
2. Agony: Just scrap it and create a new skill, maybe some kind of AoE group utility. Even after the latest iteration of the skill it is still not worth a single skill point.
3. Siphoning Attacks timer still too short. NB tanks, the main build that uses the ability, have to manage an inordinate amount of buff timers (see below), and this is a bad part of it.

Broader combat:
1. PvP AoE caps (remove)
2. Continue buffing Fire and Lightning staves so they offer damage and utility comparable to Inferno.
3. Make tanking more interesting and dynamic. Right now, tanking is virtually a buff timer watching mini-game (especially for NBs), and many players have devised strategies for completing most endgame content without tanks (they are now only needed for a handful of bosses across vet dungeons and trials). Part of this could be making Heavy Armor more meaningful (think pre-1.6), and tying in new defensive combat mechanics, such as a block radius that increases with each piece of Heavy Armor worn (or are tied to 5pc Heavy Armor passives) and adding a passive to 1h/shield that increases stamina regen by some amount while blocking. Another option, perhaps in lieu of some of those already mentioned, could be lowering the base amount of mitigation done while blocking, and adding passives in 1h/shield and 5pc Heavy Armor that increases the amount of damage blocking mitigates.

Wow, this thread is a bold move!

Short and to the point,

I am a Templar exclusively, and have been since launch. We need:

1. Ability fixes - Focused charge etc. bugs out making abilities useless about half the time & elevation differences cause it to lock your character (still), Radiant Destruction etc. is dodgeable(?), Puncturing strikes etc. provides constant CC immunity (intended?)
2. Bring back Blinding flashes, to a lesser extent, add it to Sun shield etc, Eclipse etc., or Rune focus etc, we need a "stand and fight" buff since we cannot escape in PvP
3. Change Eclipse, either make it useable on multiple targets again, make the CC unbreakable except with a Purge, or add a Blinding flashes component to make it useful for melee targets, some combination that makes me want to use it again

Thank you!

@Armitas let out that rage! Don't hold back!

How about not changing PVE abilities for PVP. Balance them separately please.

Cuyler wrote: »

Welcome to the Forums @Wrobel, I'm sure we're all looking forward to hearing more of your ideas!

Here's some skills that come to mind:
DK
1. Chains - no more too high too low; should not cause CC immunity;
2. Dragon's Blood - needs moar heals;
3. Molten weapons - need an execute that doesn't require heavy attacks.

Thank you!

This. Amen. I'm sure @Jules @Ishammael @Armitas @Etaniel all would agree to this.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Thanks for staying constructive, guys. These responses are awesome.

Gina, please see my post about this thread on the ESO subreddit. Many over there are unable to access the forums, and have been posting their ideas over there.

EDIT: @ZOS_GinaBruno

Reflective Scale
The changes that were made to this skill only benefitted the zergs and mindless spamming. It is still basically endless in small scale battles, and when there's a zerg around it's the complete opposite. This is an expensive skill for a melee class with no escape. Right now the class can't escape, and it is not any more tanky than any other Nightblade or Sorcerer in heavy armor.

Dragon Blood
The heal from this ability is crazy low. 1 tick from Resolving Vigor will heal me for more than a Dragon Blood cast. I guess this one is a little tricky as people are able to buff it to heal for over 100% of their missing health in PvE, but in PvP even if you sacrifice everything (all your set pieces, your mundus stone, your champion points.. everything) to build for this, at 5K health with 20K maximum health you will only be healed for 7,5K. That is two and a half Vigor ticks...

Ash Cloud
Again, as a class with no means of escape, you NEED to be tanky. This is not the case currently with the Dragonknight as a class. Giving this ability back the 30% miss chance for enemies standing inside it will help immensely on bringing the DK back on the level of the other classes. It should also be reverted to be applied under where you stomp your feet and not a ranged circle.

Some DK changes I would suggest

Stonefist/stone giant/Obsidian shard

Damage & cost made on par with 'lava whip' and 'crushing shock', damage is then reduced by 10% but adds a dot increasing magicka/stamina cost of abilities for the opponent for 10 seconds.

Morphs :

1.Morph one removes the magicka/stamina cost debuff and turns it into a dot that deals damage for 10 seconds, this should result in +20% damage over crushing shock / lava whip.
2.Morph two also makes the enemy lose 5% of it's magicka/stamina on hit but not more often then every 3 seconds.

Would make this a great pvp ability but with pve uses when the first morph is used.

Dragon leap/ferocious leap/take flight

Keep the ability intact but make it morph depending on used weapon, the changes would result in the following

1.Resto staff -> Heal everyone to full on impact and also increases everyone's damage done by 15% for 10 seconds.
2.Destro staff -> Same as now but increased knock back
3.Dual wield -> Same as now but adds a bleed on hit.
4.Bow -> No longer jumps, instead you shoot one fire bomb dealing 75% of the original damage and 2 sec later a poison bomb doing 75% of the original damage to all enemies hit. Increased damage because it can be avoided the second time
5.Shield -> Still jumps and interrupts enemies, grants a strong shield and reduces damage dealt by 20% for 15 seconds.
6.Two hand -> Turns this in a charge, knocking everyone back that gets hit and silences them for 2 seconds. Still deals the original damage.

This change would make this a very fun "what to expect" kind of ability, has some great PVP uses and will give Dk's a healing ultimate.

Petrify/shattering rocks/fossilise


Remove this ability all together. Change this for a new ability which I call

"Aura of destruction", this is a toggle-on ability that increases fire damage dealt by 30%, but also increases magicka/stamina cost of abilities.

The morphs would include :

1."Adds a 20% shield on healed enemies when healed by an ability and this ability is active"
2."Turns all fire damage into frost damage that reduces movement speed on impact"

Overall I think this is an ability that could be a lot of fun with interesting trade offs, I tried to create an interesting pvp angle that might be a lot of fun.

And now before people start complaining, I never do pvp but I do have some pvp ability ideas. Next to that these numbers aren't balanced ofcourse.

1. Killers blade should be physical damage.
2. Bow pve dps (and probably pvp) is awful.
3. In general, melee dps risk reward is way off in pve. I can get almost just as good of dps at range with FAR less risk. For a stam character this is particularly troubling because many of the new fights are not melee friendly (warden, kena, Inhibitor, flesh sculptor, vma) and going to the bow is a major gimp to the team. These fights can be done as melee but require a lot more team coordination. Whereas if I roll a magic range dps then the team/tank can do whatever they please and I will continue to stay on target.

Topic 1

While not class specific,
Wrecking Blow in its current state is overpowered. In pre-1.6 Uppercut and morphs were either highly effective or useless (in PvP) depending on what the skills of each player were. Against an attentive, calm and up-close player, Uppercut would be consistently interrupted (from personal experience). Getting around this required using other skills to catch the player unawares or using the distance difference between bash and Uppercut to stay in that 2m wide ring where Uppercut can reach while bash cannot.

If it is possible, the uninterruptible change should be altered. Venom Arrow and Crushing Shock were the primary issues, I am assuming, when considering the change in 1.6. If it is possible to make Uppercut and morphs uninterruptible to ranged interrupts like Venom Arrow and Crushing Shock while leaving it interruptible to the standard bash, Wrecking Blow would be brought to balance.

Alternatively, and preferably, the buff Empower should be adjusted. It was two changes in Update 6 that made Wrecking Blow overpowered but only one change is needed to rebalance it: Uninterruptible (as above) and changing the "Increase Damage for next attack by [#]. Does not apply to [ability] or morphs," buff on several abilities to the "Next attack deals 20% more damage" of Empower.

The key is the secondary condition on the buff pre-1.6. This made spamming the attack pointless as the extra damage was not applied - at least one other attack had to be utilized. Adding a flag to Empower to track which ability granted it and preventing Empower from applying to the reported ability will reinstate the secondary condition. When Empower is granted the ability that granted it is tracked; when the next attack fires, Empower compares the attack with the tracked ability, if they match then Empower does not apply and the duration is renewed (the ability re-grants Empower); if the attack does not match the tracked ability then Empower applies as normal.

If adjusting Empower like this is technically infeasible then a separate instance/version of Empower can be made for each ability that grants it, each one with the check to see if a different attack than the ability is made.

The new tooltips could read:
"Grants Empower, which increases the damage of the next attack by 20% unless it is the same attack."
If a version is made for each ability:
"Grants Empower, which increases the damage of the next attack by 20%. Does not apply to Dark Flare and morphs."
"Grants Empower, which increases the damage of the next attack by 20%. Does not apply to Mages Guild abilities."

Adjusting Empower in the way described is greatly prefered to making Wrecking Blow interruptible or partially interruptible as it also addresses the "one-button spam" that has arisen since Update 6. However, if re-coding Empower is too difficult or impossible, the first solution to rebalancing Wrecking Blow should be implemented as the ability is still above the power curve and should be brought down into balance.


Topic 2

Restoring Focus is not as appealing as Channeled Focus (Rune Focus morphs under Restoring Light of Templars). Offering Minor Vitality versus restoring Magicka over time, even for Stamina Templars there is not much choice. The additional Magicka management of Channeled Focus allows Stamina Templars to use Magicka abilities with frequency similar to Magicka Templars, minus the potency. Minor Vitality is of primary use to tanks and as a long-time tank, Channeled Focus is better - more Blazing Shield casts or Breath of Lifes or Total Darks - more casts out of support abilities.

To buff Restoring Focus, I propose the return of a defensive buff some Templars dearly want back. While more an overhaul than buff, Minor Vitality should be replaced with Major Evasion. Granting Major Evasion, Major Ward and Major Resolve all in one ability, while limited by the positionary conditions of Rune Focus, should warrant a cost increase to stay balanced. Given Rune Focus (or at least Channeled Focus) is so cheap, the percentage increase in cost is going to be big: somewhere from 50% to 200% cost increase.

This ought hit two birds with one stone: bringing back Blinding Light in some form and making Restoring Ward a competitive morph. On second thought, Restoring Ward would need to be renamed. Illusionary Ward? Blinding Ward, in homage?


Topic 3

Flame Cloaks.
This came up in considering ways to buff Sun Fire under Dawn's Wrath, as a replacement ability. But Sun Fire is pretty decent, for Magicka Templars.
Rather, I would like to see a flame cloak for Dragonknights by altering a pre-existing ability:

Volatile Armor

Buffing the damage a bit and altering the DoT to pulse every second would create an effective cloak spell.
Volatile Armor, for me in-game, deals 2.2k Flame Damage over 10 seconds to nearby enemies upon activation. It could instead deal 50% more damage for 3.3k Flame Damage over 10 seconds and instead of upon activation, pulse every second for 300 Flame Damage (11 ticks for 3.3k total). The tooltip should change to say it pulses every second so passives that increase duration do not reduce the damage per tick by spreading it out (As Enduring Rays does for Vampire's Bane).

Given that enemies can move in and out of Volatile Armor's range as it pulses, each pulse should deal more damage to compensate. A 50% increase on the total damage is just speculation. The flame cloak should feel somewhat substantial if the enemy stays within range for the full duration. A 100% increase on total damage may be better to that end, though I play a Stamina Dragonknight and acknowledge Volatile Armor's damage likely scales off Maximum Magicka and Spell Damage.



Those are the three topics at the top of my list. I would like to discuss making Dual Wield more competitive with Two-Handed for PvP outside of Steel Tornado trains but that is not class related.

Eric, I'm so glad to hear you will be a part of the community now!

My 3 submissions regard the Magicka DK, and includes 1 skill problem, and 2 conceptual problems which I believe are the root of the magicka DK problems and grand dissatisfaction right now.

#1 Chains. The Z axis change has made the skill extraordinarily unreliable. When it fails once it seems to get stuck and fails for all targets in the area until you move a good distance away. Because of this very few DKs use this skill in Cyrodiil. As one of the few who does use this skill I can say that the push/pull nature of the skill makes it absolutely amazing. I have seen it be the essential skill in a successful keep defense of 5v24. It allows me to ignore roots and master the battlefield much like a sorc using Bolt escape. Please fix the Z axis check on this skill so we can all see how great it is.

#2. Dots. We are stuck in a bad situation in cyrodiil due to how easily they are purged. Because our dps in PvE is tied to the combination of dots and whip we can't just buff the whip damage to compensate for purged dots in PvP without destabilizing PvE. One way to fix this problem would be to cause purges to release the remaining damage left on the dot, but at a reduced damage. For example lets say there is 5k damage remaining on a dot over 10 seconds. If it gets purged the player will take 70% of that remaining dot at once. This would allow a benefit to occur from both purges and dots, and it would make the person think about purging first. They may forgo an immediate purge so that all the damage doesn't come at once. There is also another way to add the damage we are missing from the inability to use dots by making Volatile armor return a % of the damage taken rather than flat damage. I have outlined that change, and this issue which I believe to be part of our core problem as a magicka DK here Fixing the Magicka DK in 1 move (mostly)

Also our dots are reduced 3 ways in the champion system; spell resistance, fire resistance, and dot resistance. On top of that the small damage amount per tick is further reduced by 50% due to the global nerfs in Cyrodiil. This assures that nearly everyone with some CP to spend is highly resistant to it. As the TTL and power creep from expansions was one of the primary reasons for the global nerf I would suggest having a separate damage reduction for dots as they were never responsible for the short TTL. Maybe have dot damage reduced by 35% rather than the full 50%. This would strengthen them without effecting PvE.

#3 Ability to Survive and do damage. Our innate ability to survive has been almost entirely removed. Our miss chance is gone, our health based shield can't even cover half a wrecking blow, our reflect is limited, our heal through GDB is awful right now due to healing nerfs and it's 33% mechanic. With all our innate survival abilities gone or nerfed significantly we have to rely on universal defense through armor and blocking. Blocking has been nerfed so hard it's off the table for any common use, and armor is trivially and entirely penetrated through weapon traits, weapon passives and breach skills. In addition to this problem we have no basic/direct h/m/s recovery or cost reduction in our class which means we have to derive that from our gear which is also where we derive spell damage. Let me put that last part into perspective...My whip, which has a base damage on par with Deep slash from the sword and board tanking line, costs more than Wrecking blow, a nuke with the second highest base damage in the game and even comes with a CC.

Our innate sustain has also been highly nerfed. Dynamic ultimate is gone making battle roar occur a lot slower and with it restoring based on individual resource amount rather than highest resource amount its return is a lot less so if you are in a magicka build you get little stamina and vice a versa. Our stamina return on earthen heart cast is very inefficient as well because if you can cast it easily you are in a magicka build which means it will return little stamina and if you are in a stamina build it will return a lot but the cast will be expensive.

Put this all together and you will see that we have to primarily derive our sustain, our defense and our damage levels from the shared and limited resource of gear. This means our damage, our defense, and sustain are all perpendicular to each other. This is not the case for the sorc or the nightblade. They have sustain in their passives, and their offense and defense are parallel. The sorcs offense and defense go up simultaneously with magicka due to their magicka based shields, and the Nightblade can dedicate his gear to damage while relying on cloak for defense. We don't have this mechanic, our survival, our sustain, and our offense are all perpendicular. With the exception of sustain, which needs to be added directly into the class we can add parallel damage and defense to the class by making volatile armor return a % of damage as mentioned before. This would be in keeping with the class concept as a melee furtherance of Reflective scales.

This needs to change if magicka DK's are to compete with the other classes. We should be able to derive our base defense/survival and sustain from the class itself and rely on gear for added defense or added damage or added sustain rather than as the primary source. We also need to have a parallel defense and offense mechanic to be competitive with the other two classes.

Thank you for your time and the opportunity.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Thanks for staying constructive, guys. These responses are awesome.

@Wrobel
Is any of this feedback something you are already working on by chance?

I am seeing many repeated suggestions, most of them not new.
We could move on to less glaringly obvious skill feedback if we knew any of this was already in the pipeline.

I know I posted earlier, but something else came to mind that I feel needs to be looked at.

Fighter's Guild skill:

Dawnbreaker, Flawless Dawnbreaker morph - Can we please remove the bonus weapon damage and put something else in it's place? I know this skill is pretty much required to be slotted main-bar for stamina dps, and because of that, we are forced to use it. It is the equivalent of slotting ~300 weapon damage (depending on your base and buffs), and personally, it would be nicer if we did not feel forced into only 1 ultimate for our PvE damage bar. It is powerful, and a great skill, but it is too much and funnels stamina dps into using it, which is unhealthy and bland.

Modifying or removing the bonus weapon damage would require some stamina re-balancing in PvE, but in my opinion worth it. (Most people in PvP run with other ultimates, like Soul Harvest for NB, Take Flight for DK, or Meteor for most everyone else. All great skills btw, so it would not impact PvP too much.)

I read somewhere the first morph of dark flare gives you less dmg, no healing debuff, BUT gives 0.9 less seconds in cast time.

Might be worth looking into for pvp.