Oakensoul is ruining the PVP experience, and needs to be balanced ASAP.

  • DrSlaughtr
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    Ahk1lleez wrote: »
    Ahk1lleez wrote: »
    To be honest, this mythic and the Occult Overload buff have made it feasible to combat ball groups without needing one of your own.

    Are you insinuating that this ring has allowed you to 1v12 a comp group?

    What I meant there was that people ungrouped have a chance of dealing with them together. No, I am not at all insinuating that I can 1v12 any group by any means.

    So you're saying 12 solo players can now defeat 12 comped players?

    One, no. Ball groups have continually gotten stronger and no manner of lone rangers are going to change that.

    Two, maybe those 12 solo players should group up.
    I drink and I stream things.
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  • DrSlaughtr
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    I tell you what. Add major force, courage, heroism and berserk to inner light and hunter and we'll call it even.
    I drink and I stream things.
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  • buzzclops
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    buzzclops wrote: »
    It’s impossible to slot enough offense/defense/cc/healing/mobility to do pvp at the high level
    Oh it is, and when you put it that way, it sounds like Oakensoul ironically does take skill to use properly.

    No you cant. If you play on ps4 come show me in stonefalls thats it. Oakensoul is just a crutch for players that cant manage their bars. People just like to complain smh. Ill give you an example. Templars best 5 buttons+ult. Jabs toppling purge/bubble breath of life purifying light. That leaves you with no major breach whatsoever. No major expedition. (Q for a bg in high mmr without major expedition and tell me how it goes xD) No mending cause no resto back bar. No evasion. Major berserk without penetration isnt very good. So you have to get soem of these with sets cause your abilities dont give you much and you lose on a lot of decent class passives. 15% dot reduction from necro armor comes to mind. That leaves you with very little sustain so you have to go get some also. Ppl act like this rings give you EVERYTHING you need for pvp wich just isnt true. And btw templar is probably the best at this because of how overloaded their skills are to begin with. Also forgot to mention animation cancelling barswaps to get stuff done quicker. You also cant do that with oakensoul
    Edited by buzzclops on June 27, 2022 5:16PM
  • MEBengalsFan2001
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    geonsocal wrote: »
    I think player pvp playstyle makes a huge difference in the perspective people may have regarding the item...

    i'm a casual player, I have 17 toons set to fight across 2 servers, spend around 20 to 30 hours per week playing, mostly in grey host...

    I like joining in zone chat but rarely if ever group...my "playstyle" is random solo potato (bit of an AP leecher at that)...

    here's the deal - I don't miss constantly staying buffed or bar swapping, Oakensoul makes the game infinitely more relaxing and enjoyable to play...

    I think the ring should provide most the buffs it currently has with the following ones being removed.

    Major Heroism, Major Berserk, Minor endurance, minor intellect, and minor Fortitude.

    If the devs removed these buffs from the ring and added minor Aegis and minor Slayer would make the ring better for PVE players while still making it somewhat useful for PVP players but not over the top like it is right now.
  • Wolfpaw
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    React wrote: »
    Wolfpaw wrote: »
    auz wrote: »
    Wolfpaw wrote: »
    auz wrote: »
    Wolfpaw wrote: »
    React wrote: »
    Wolfpaw wrote: »
    Kalitas wrote: »
    Is it possible to get a comment on this from @ZOS_GinaBruno or @ZOS_Kevin or anyone from ZOS? This is clearly a large issue that is plaguing the game right now. Any sort of response would be very appreciated by the community.

    It's not that bad, do we constantly want nerfs after a release? If anything it has made me better in PvP, I am not so dismissive to core combat abilities, timing, los, etc...

    I hope no nerfs...but if a must, change Courage & Heroism to minor.

    my 2c

    Changing those two buffs to minor will do very little to alleviate the issues being caused by this mythic in PVP. Removing the heroism and the force entirely would be the bare minimum in order for this mythic to be somewhat balanced.

    I am glad that it has helped you in PVP. It seems like the main thing it has done for you is lower the APM (actions per minute) you need to do while playing by removing the need for you to maintain buffs. That is fine, and that is what the ring is designed to do. Even with the heroism and force removed from the ring, you will still retain all the accessibility functionality it is providing you currently - but the setups I mentioned in the original post will cease to function as they are currently, and the PVP experience will improve for the vast majority of players.

    Again it is fine for the mythic to provide accessibility for those who struggle with their actions per minute, but it is not fine for it to grant your average PVP player more damage than an entire 5/5/2 build, significant mitigation & sustain, and emperor tier ult gen in PVP.

    My APM is not what I said makes me better, It's the ttk from enemies that has made me more aware due to increased damage output. Prior I would just keep BB buffs/hots and ignore most damage...in a damage build, not anymore.

    My apm went from face tanking dmg w/buffs & hot uptime BB, to more of a focus on core combat abilities. Actually takes more skill w/one-bar.

    Everyone running it ttk is more lethal & it's great.

    The ring as is, is fine, & PvP feels great.

    Having to press less buttons and manage less buffs is more skillfull and your proof is your performance has improved? Interesting conclusion.

    Not managing less buttons, different buttons.

    Let me slow this down...I traded (what some think is skillful play, including me til recently) keeping bb buffs/hots up to counter the majority of incoming damage over core combat skill play.

    Since many players are running Oakensoul, enemy vs enemy with the same Oakensoul buffs are equals, in that context.

    This leaves a focus on your 1bar and managing skillful play of core combat skills. With the higher damage output mistakes come at a higher cost.

    Well... it is less buttons. Half as many. Half as many bars to manage. Zero buffs to keep up. That allowing you to " manage skilfull play of core combat skills" while negating a large portion of game combat mechanics is literally what is wrong with it. You might feel the same if you could " manage skillfull play of core combat skills" with 2 bars.

    No, with that back bar of 5 more skills you're spending more time in combat on that bar pressing those buttons instead of using core combat skills.

    Yes before of course you would use 10 skills plus core combat skills, but it looked more like 80% skills 20% core combat skills, & now it's more like 50/50.

    Lets be honest, is it really skill play face tanking damage? Backbar Major Resolve, Flare, 2-3 Healing skills, and ult from S&B, Resto staff, Temp Guard, etc...not nearly as skillful as core combat skills.

    For the record, "core combat skills" are things like block, dodge roll, sprint, bash, and break free, per zenimax's wording in game on multiple sets and the survival instincts red CP. You still perform the exact same number of core combat abilities if you're playing with two bars, but you have far more buffs to manage and abilities to rotate.
    divnyi wrote: »
    React wrote: »
    The 8.0.3 version is in fact significantly stronger than the original version that had flat stats, due to the heroism/force/berserk/protection that were added, far outweighing what was removed from the original version.

    Initial version was giving a lot of raw stats that could be boosted higher. If it gone live, we would be in even more unhealthier meta.

    Nope. Despite the original version giving raw stats, you were still limited to 5 barslots. This meant that for most classes, getting things like ward/resolve, savagery, and brutality, you would actually have to sacrifice barslots. You're suggesting that people would be able to double up on the 5280 with their own ward/resolve, or the crit chance with their own savagery, or the weapon damage with their own (major courage?), but when you consider the 5 bar slot limitation this is not at all realistic.

    The current version providing the named buffs removes the need for all of those abilities on your bar, allowing you to optimize the 5 slots much better. Additionally, when you consider what the new version gives, it is significantly more stat dense than the original version damage wise. Savagery, 20% crit damage, 10% flat damage modifier, and 450 WD/SD vs 450 WD/SD + 3.8k mag/stam + 2k crit chance.

    Defensively, major protection is much more valuable than 5.2k resistances as the protection cannot be inversely mitigated by penetration like resistances can. The major heroism is also disgustingly strong for a plethora of reasons, both offensive and defensive depending on the ult of choice. Near emperor tier ulti regen does not belong in PVP outside of emperor itself.

    Thanks for the lesson on core combat skills lol, no you're not performing the same amount core combat skills while face tanking damage due to the perks of a bb buff and multiple heals, and pressing 5 additional skills.

    Maybe we do different types of pvp, I play largscale, and don't waste my time dueling or bg's.

    We will have to agree to disagree.
    Edited by Wolfpaw on June 27, 2022 5:38PM
  • Ahk1lleez
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    As a user of Oaken you're almost certainly giving up a good amount of utility and the ability to swap cancel for permanent uptime of major buffs and by extension AN ultimate. To me that's a fair tradeoff. There is more counterplay to Corrosive than there is a Leap + Whip combo or for that matter Collossus with Dark Convergence and Vicious Death. Simply move away, dodge roll and/or LOS then burst them when it falls off. If we're going to call for nerfs to Oakensoul due to major heroism, well there are far more egregious things that are currently in game that need to be toned down first. As someone that uses it and goes up against it frequently, I can say that I don't consider this set a bigger offender than other sets and abilities that have been (ab)used for months now.
    Edited by Ahk1lleez on June 27, 2022 5:45PM
  • jaws343
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    buzzclops wrote: »
    buzzclops wrote: »
    It’s impossible to slot enough offense/defense/cc/healing/mobility to do pvp at the high level
    Oh it is, and when you put it that way, it sounds like Oakensoul ironically does take skill to use properly.

    No you cant. If you play on ps4 come show me in stonefalls thats it. Oakensoul is just a crutch for players that cant manage their bars. People just like to complain smh. Ill give you an example. Templars best 5 buttons+ult. Jabs toppling purge/bubble breath of life purifying light. That leaves you with no major breach whatsoever. No major expedition. (Q for a bg in high mmr without major expedition and tell me how it goes xD) No mending cause no resto back bar. No evasion. Major berserk without penetration isnt very good. So you have to get soem of these with sets cause your abilities dont give you much and you lose on a lot of decent class passives. 15% dot reduction from necro armor comes to mind. That leaves you with very little sustain so you have to go get some also. Ppl act like this rings give you EVERYTHING you need for pvp wich just isnt true. And btw templar is probably the best at this because of how overloaded their skills are to begin with. Also forgot to mention animation cancelling barswaps to get stuff done quicker. You also cant do that with oakensoul

    A couple of things here. Major mending isn't really necessary, plenty of pvp builds and classes barely have access to it. Major breach is the same way. Rarely actually used. Major evasion.. also rarely used. Bar space is already so stuffed that most builds make these types of sacrifices already. Saying this is unique to Oakensoul is forgetting that.

    I haven't tried to do a Oaken Templar yet, but just off the top of my head, I would do something like this for a Magplar:

    5 Stuhns, 5 Kynmarch, Oaken, 1 Baron Thirsk (Or domi depending on sustain)

    Skill bar would be:
    Crescent Sweep (Ult)
    Puncturing Sweeps
    Toppling Charge
    Honor the Dead
    Power of the Light
    Race against Time

    You don't really need a cleanse, might even be more harmful than good with Plaguebreak. Honor the dead gives you a solid burst heal plus the healing from Sweeps. Toppling your stun and gap closer, pairs perfectly with Stuhns. Stuhns gives you a ton of penetration. Kynmarch gives you major debuffs on enemies and will proc immediately off your gap closer. PotL acts as a burst and execute. Crescent is cheap and will pretty much be spammed in rotation with Major Heroism. RaT gives you expedition AND minor force and a damage shield through passives.
  • DaisyRay
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    DaisyRay wrote: »
    Ganking Before OakenSoul ...29k one shot (4+ months ago)

    https://youtu.be/KSUd5HXYIxc?t=334

    Everyone already knew this was an issue before oakensoul and I agree it should've been addressed. DKs ability to buff heavies is especially problematic.

    But it had unquestionably become easier with oak.

    My point is that if people are doing the same damage with and without the ring, how is the ring the problem?
    ⭑・゚゚・*:༅。.。༅:*゚:*:✼✿ DaisyRay ✿✼:*゚:༅。.。༅:*・゚゚・⭑
  • ZOS_Icy
    ZOS_Icy
    mod
    Greetings,

    We have recently removed some unnecessary back and forth from this thread. This is a reminder to keep the discussion civil and constructive. Please keep our Community Rules in mind moving forward.

    Thank you for your understanding.
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  • Holycannoli
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    jaws343 wrote: »
    The uptime on Corrosive pre-oaken was wildly different in functionality and mechanics.

    Pre-oaken, you would have to run multiple 5 piece sets, and juggle buff uptimes alongside ult management to get the most damage you could out of skills. But you still had a significant drawback to your build when corrosive wasn't up. And when it is ready, you have to pre-buff to effectively take advantage of it.

    With Oaken, you not only can run those sets, many of which provide zero offensive buffs outside of ultimate gain, as well as permanent uptime on offensive buffs. And you get major heroism, so you get to your ult even faster. You don't have to manage buffs to keep yourself effective. When corrosive is ready, you are immediately able to go offensive, no prep work required at all.

    [edited to remove quote]

    The issue is Corrosive, not Oakensoul.

    We cannot go balancing items because of how it affects an OP skill, and yes Corrosive is OP. The solution is to change that skill. Is it a defensive ultimate or an offensive ultimate? Is it Corrosive Armor or Corrosive Weapon?

    IMO no skill should ever completely negate all resistances. It is an armor skill that reduces incoming damage and should remain that way but lose that ridiculously OP enemy resistance negation. My DK may cry with the change but it's needed.

    There are other ultimates with incredibly high uptimes or can be spammed with Oakensoul, like Shooting Star. But that one can be countered a lot easier.

    I also think Crystal Weapon and Occult Overload need nerfing, but Oakensoul is laying bare just how OP Corrosive Armor is. That one needs it the most.

  • buzzclops
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    You will have a really hard time facing anything that has defile and you can you can use that same gear with markyn and slot a purge/bubble a dot maybe and so on. Agree to disagree i guess.
    Edited by buzzclops on June 27, 2022 5:45PM
  • jaws343
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    DaisyRay wrote: »
    DaisyRay wrote: »
    Ganking Before OakenSoul ...29k one shot (4+ months ago)

    https://youtu.be/KSUd5HXYIxc?t=334

    Everyone already knew this was an issue before oakensoul and I agree it should've been addressed. DKs ability to buff heavies is especially problematic.

    But it had unquestionably become easier with oak.

    My point is that if people are doing the same damage with and without the ring, how is the ring the problem?

    The ring becomes the problem exactly for that. Someone "sacrificing" 5 bar slots and an ultimate is doing the same amount of damage as someone having to use all 10 skills and bar swap mechanics.

    With your argument, a mythic that shut down all but 1 bar slot, but allowed that 1 skill you slotted to do the same effective damage as an Oaken player or even a Two Bar player, would clearly be incredibly overtuned. It's the same principle here.
  • Holycannoli
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    jaws343 wrote: »
    The ring becomes the problem exactly for that. Someone "sacrificing" 5 bar slots and an ultimate is doing the same amount of damage as someone having to use all 10 skills and bar swap mechanics.

    With your argument, a mythic that shut down all but 1 bar slot, but allowed that 1 skill you slotted to do the same effective damage as an Oaken player or even a Two Bar player, would clearly be incredibly overtuned. It's the same principle here.

    But that 10 slot player also has the option of using that ring and sacrificing his slots down to 5.

    It is a choice: 10 skills and 2 ultimates, or 5 skills and 1 ultimate? And with that ring you're also sacrificing something like a monster set or losing the 5th bonus on a 5-piece set.

    I don't see how someone doing the same damage with the ring and only 5 skills is a problem? Unless it's a question of "fair"?
  • MetallicMonk
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    Please don't take the ring away I'm very bad at the game I need it. Even though 90% of the pvp population is using a mythic originally intended for casual pve'rs it's surely not a problem. It's totally normal for the entire game to be using one mythic and having 1 bar.
  • jaws343
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    buzzclops wrote: »

    You will have a really hard time facing anything that has defile and you can you can use that same gear with markyn and slot a purge/bubble a dot maybe and so on. Agree to disagree i guess.

    But, doing that you don't get 100% uptime on:
    Major Courage (Not in Templar toolkit)
    Major Force (Not in Templar toolkit)
    Major Resistances (without recasting an expensive skill)
    Minor recoveries (without recasting an expensive skill)
    Major Prophecy
    Major Berserk (Not in Templar Toolkit)
    Major Heroism (Not in Templar Toolkit)
    Major Sorcery (Not in Templar Toolkit)

    So, you lose Minor Mending (As DKs, Wardens, and 1 set has major mending, as well as having to do a restro heavy attack). The buffs you get that you otherwise would not, and the 100% uptime on them that would otherwise be far less uptime, more than makes up for facing defile, or not having a dot or a purge, and also not having to worry about bar swap, or casting expensive utility skills.
  • divnyi
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    React wrote: »
    divnyi wrote: »
    React wrote: »
    The 8.0.3 version is in fact significantly stronger than the original version that had flat stats, due to the heroism/force/berserk/protection that were added, far outweighing what was removed from the original version.

    Initial version was giving a lot of raw stats that could be boosted higher. If it gone live, we would be in even more unhealthier meta.

    Nope. Despite the original version giving raw stats, you were still limited to 5 barslots. This meant that for most classes, getting things like ward/resolve, savagery, and brutality, you would actually have to sacrifice barslots. You're suggesting that people would be able to double up on the 5280 with their own ward/resolve, or the crit chance with their own savagery, or the weapon damage with their own (major courage?), but when you consider the 5 bar slot limitation this is not at all realistic.

    I drinked PvP vendor blue/green pots before and I would if it gone live.
    React wrote: »
    The current version providing the named buffs removes the need for all of those abilities on your bar

    But also removes the possibility. And what if other buffs were provided by the group?
    React wrote: »
    Defensively, major protection is much more valuable than 5.2k resistances as the protection cannot be inversely mitigated by penetration like resistances can.

    Armor is more effective the more armor you stack. It would actually reduce more. In CP, major protection is one of the stars. If you really wanted in in noCP, could spend a slot too. Meaning it would go into extremes.
  • IZZEFlameLash
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    Ahk1lleez wrote: »
    As a user of Oaken you're almost certainly giving up a good amount of utility and the ability to swap cancel for permanent uptime of major buffs and by extension AN ultimate. To me that's a fair tradeoff. There is more counterplay to Corrosive than there is a Leap + Whip combo or for that matter Collossus with Dark Convergence and Vicious Death. Simply move away, dodge roll and/or LOS then burst them when it falls off. If we're going to call for nerfs to Oakensoul due to major heroism, well there are far more egregious things that are currently in game that need to be toned down first. As someone that uses it and goes up against it frequently, I can say that I don't consider this set a bigger offender than other sets and abilities that have been (ab)used for months now.

    This. A lot of people will be disappointed to find that they are not gonna be sudden PvE/PvP gods with the ring unlike what is told in these posts.
    Imperials, the one and true masters of all mortal races of Tamriel
  • DaisyRay
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    jaws343 wrote: »
    DaisyRay wrote: »
    DaisyRay wrote: »
    Ganking Before OakenSoul ...29k one shot (4+ months ago)

    https://youtu.be/KSUd5HXYIxc?t=334

    Everyone already knew this was an issue before oakensoul and I agree it should've been addressed. DKs ability to buff heavies is especially problematic.

    But it had unquestionably become easier with oak.

    My point is that if people are doing the same damage with and without the ring, how is the ring the problem?

    The ring becomes the problem exactly for that. Someone "sacrificing" 5 bar slots and an ultimate is doing the same amount of damage as someone having to use all 10 skills and bar swap mechanics.

    With your argument, a mythic that shut down all but 1 bar slot, but allowed that 1 skill you slotted to do the same effective damage as an Oaken player or even a Two Bar player, would clearly be incredibly overtuned. It's the same principle here.

    I still fail to see the issue, I could just be slow. I never was the brightest, but if everyone is still doing the same damage then there is no issue with the ring itself. So is it really just that you think it's unfair that you have to do more work to achieve the same outcome? If so, that's silly since you all seemingly prefer doing it the other way. There are a lot of mythics that add so much more to the game. Yet no one is complaining about mythics as a whole. Anywho, I'll stop arguing the point and just agree to disagree. No matter what happens, I like that we have a place to chat about it. No hate to anyone who disagrees with me at all.

    P.S I know nothing I write will make a difference on if the ring is nerfed or not. I just don't like when people make claims like this on just about every set just because they died and that makes them angry.
    Edited by DaisyRay on June 27, 2022 7:17PM
    ⭑・゚゚・*:༅。.。༅:*゚:*:✼✿ DaisyRay ✿✼:*゚:༅。.。༅:*・゚゚・⭑
  • buzzclops
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    Templars armor buff gives a LOT of sustain.
    But My point is even with really high tooltips, you will not kill a good 2 bar setup that can turtle up on the back bar without pressure outside of your jabs/light. Good players will pressure you and when you’ll need to play defensively, even ou a super simplified bar, they will just heal up to full. You need more pressure from more sources of damage to make good builds run out of gas. You could use procs but then you’ll be too squishy with poor sustain.

    I speak from experience as ive been dueling a lot since the update. Like hours per day.
    Its always the same whenever i predict the 2 button burst i win theres nothing keeping pressure rolling on me and my healing just carries me. I stack 4 sources of healing over time that are constantly rolling cuz 2 bars (over 7k hps without resto heavies) When they use procs the dmg “can” get pretty overwhelming but they usually run out of gas pretty quick when they cant kill me or my burst just straight up one shots em.

    The tanky oakensoul dks well they are slow [snip] so i usually just kite em when they use corrosive armor. It’s usually a stalemate but thats all dks tbh.

    Im a really hardcore pvp player and i like the idea of that ring because it lowers the floor and after 6 years what i want is to fight against more players and for pvp to get some love because ppl actually do it. Idc about the rest tbh. I’ll adapt to whatever zos adds to the game

    [edited for profanity bypass]
    Edited by ZOS_Icy on July 2, 2022 6:14PM
  • FENGRUSH
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    The oaken defenders are in full force, lol. Gonna be a shame to push these half baked arguments only to see it nerfed, and then blame pvpers.

    Devs gave you a lil taste of $ juice, and you're hooked in.
  • jaws343
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    FENGRUSH wrote: »
    The oaken defenders are in full force, lol. Gonna be a shame to push these half baked arguments only to see it nerfed, and then blame pvpers.

    Devs gave you a lil taste of $ juice, and you're hooked in.

    It all seems like the same circular defense too.

    Oaken isn't that strong. You have to sacrifice a lot to use it. So what if it is as strong as a two bar setup. It really helps players be competitive. But it's not that strong.

    How something can help players perform on par with less skills as players with twice as many, and then also somehow not be strong, is completely at odds.
  • MetallicMonk
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    They're all just showing similar symptoms of oakenbrain.
  • buzzclops
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    jaws343 wrote: »
    How something can help players perform on par with less skills as players with twice as many, and then also somehow not be strong, is completely at odds.

    If there was real competitive pvp content with ranks and exclusive rewards based on pure skill at the game i would agree with you on that.
    Fact is there is none so it doesn’t matter. Ppl just get triggered when they die to stuff they consider take less skill is what this is. “You killed me but your setup takes less skill therefore I am better even though I died”

    Was the same with dark convergence/crimson/vateshran/proc meta/werewolves/range dots spamming meta in scalebreaker. Zzzzzzzz

    There was always players adapting and dominating in all these metas without using it.
    Edited by buzzclops on June 27, 2022 7:18PM
  • FENGRUSH
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    jaws343 wrote: »
    FENGRUSH wrote: »
    The oaken defenders are in full force, lol. Gonna be a shame to push these half baked arguments only to see it nerfed, and then blame pvpers.

    Devs gave you a lil taste of $ juice, and you're hooked in.

    It all seems like the same circular defense too.

    Oaken isn't that strong. You have to sacrifice a lot to use it. So what if it is as strong as a two bar setup. It really helps players be competitive. But it's not that strong.

    How something can help players perform on par with less skills as players with twice as many, and then also somehow not be strong, is completely at odds.

    The valid point being seen about this item is it allows people to complete by raising the floor. This is an ongoing issue the devs have struggled to solve. It's important too to get new faces into pvp.

    Giving a 1 bar with general buffs ( not major force, hero, protection, berserk) and then giving base stats would help for example, but it wouldn't be an item worth using for veteran players then.

    This item does create pretty problematic builds all over the place. General dks with corrosive landing 5 digit whips are very commonplace and otherwise wouldn't be possible by other players. It also forces me to retreat out of melee constantly.

    It's not realistic to assume this isn't widely used and extremely powerful in average to high end players. All in all, it is getting nerfed. And no, they probably won't solve other outliers like heavy attacks, stealth burst, insane healing etc.

    What happens in pvp in an afterthought once items are made, especially mythics that are tied to chapter sales. I enjoy the games pvp, and it's really diminished the enjoyment in the game. They knew it'd be too tuned up. Yelling at pvp/pve players on the forum has been happening for years. People doing this are acting poorly and it's all for naught.
  • chrisub17_ESO104
    chrisub17_ESO104
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    One thing I haven't seen talked about much is that the ring also levels the playing field gear wise. I'm a returning player I haven't played the game from launch to now consistently. I don't have the bulk of the best item sets farmed, or monster sets, or enough gold to improve weapons/jewels on a whim.

    The complexity of two bars isn't an issue for me. But the ring definitely levels the playing field gear wise. I wonder how many people are in this same boat.

    Also I think it's worth noting that people making games don't focus as much on balance as players do. That has almost become a player meme. Balance simply doesn't inherently equate to fun. It often actually hurts metrics like engagement/retention, it can just be flat boring. And this new meta as crazy as it is, seems to have a lot of people playing it and having fun. Why would ZOS nerf that?
  • Urzigurumash
    Urzigurumash
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    FENGRUSH wrote: »
    The valid point being seen about this item is it allows people to complete by raising the floor. This is an ongoing issue the devs have struggled to solve.

    What about the point that it's impossible for a player who has the option to turtle up on a defensive SnB/Resto bar to deal as much damage as somebody who can't - i.e. the player with 100% uptime on Force and Berserk?

    A few Ults are obvious outliers and a notable exception to this possibly newly struck balance, but nevermind them for the purpose of this particular question. I'm new to the patch so I haven't seen the range of possibilities with this ring yet, but it's an interesting point.

    All things considered, this "tanks can deal as much damage as DDs" thing is probably the most frequent and tenacious complaint about PvP in this game.
    Xbox NA AD / Day 1 ScrubDK / Wood Orc Cuisine Enthusiast
  • Stamicka
    Stamicka
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    I've been giving it some thought recently, and I think Oakensoul is ZOS' way of telling us that their philosophy for the game has changed. Most people here are arguing about how imbalanced the ring is and how it allows less skilled players to compete against players with more skill. I think that this was 100% intentional and aligned with ZOS' vision. At this point ZOS has made it clear that they will not be raising the difficulty of overland, they have not adjusted Vet content for power creep, and they are putting tons of focus into housing, mini games, and solo friendly activities. Additionally, PvP has not seen new content in years. The devs see this game as a very casual "relax and play with your friends" sort of game, very similar to Animal Crossing. Most of the competitive crowd has left, but to those remaining I'm sure we will see more things like Oakensoul get introduced into the game. At this point. ESO is not the game to play if you're looking for some sort of competitive and skilled PvP. It doesn't even seem like the Devs themselves want competitive players on the game anymore. If you're playing this game expecting it to be balanced and competitive, I think it's time to move on and let ESO become the completely casual game that it's trying to become. There are only very small glimmers of the game we once came to enjoy left.
  • Holycannoli
    Holycannoli
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    FENGRUSH wrote: »
    The oaken defenders are in full force, lol. Gonna be a shame to push these half baked arguments only to see it nerfed, and then blame pvpers.

    Devs gave you a lil taste of $ juice, and you're hooked in.

    The PvE population is significantly higher than the PvP population. If they nerf Oakensoul because of PvP there will be an uproar.

    They can maybe disable it with Battle Spirit.

    Any nerf to the ring will be blamed on PvPers, whether or not it's because of PvP.

    It would have been best if they never introduced the thing lol.
  • TechMaybeHic
    TechMaybeHic
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    FENGRUSH wrote: »
    The oaken defenders are in full force, lol. Gonna be a shame to push these half baked arguments only to see it nerfed, and then blame pvpers.

    Devs gave you a lil taste of $ juice, and you're hooked in.

    The PvE population is significantly higher than the PvP population. If they nerf Oakensoul because of PvP there will be an uproar.

    They can maybe disable it with Battle Spirit.

    Any nerf to the ring will be blamed on PvPers, whether or not it's because of PvP.

    It would have been best if they never introduced the thing lol.

    Change the record. That's all the usual hits right there.
  • Alchimiste1
    Alchimiste1
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    Oakensoul Defense Force Assemble !

    Hold the line !
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