Introductions (Hello!)

stamina & magicka damaging abilities & Armor sets

stamina and magicka regeneration debuffs

increased armor mitigation & improve Heavy armor in PVP

elemental & spell affinity shifts on class abilities

changing abilities effects in PVE & PVP

The Issues We’re Addressing

Narrow progression & power creep in each DLC

DPS gates in PVE content that require min/maxing builds rather than relying doing fight mechanics.

Nerfing down our PVP damage and heals since it exceeds our mitigation.

Stagnant end level builds that rely on only a few sets

Little difference with a PVE and a PVP gear to differentiate the two

Each DLC armor set, to be viable, will need to increase the DPS/HPS output of the player

And, if we continue with this we may fall into a Guild Wars 2 or World of Warcraft progression at some point. This would mean Special stats to affect only a certain set of dungeons (GW2 agony system)

Special stats that only affect PVP attacks (WoW)

We ignore both and return to the one shot kills we lowered the damage in PVP and raise the PVE DPS Gate

We continue to nerf damage in PVP for the current sets and increase the power in the next DLC & still raise the DPS gate requirements. ESO can be a complex game at lower levels in PVE, looking for the right combination of health, mitigation, avoidance, CC, and other factors. But when we look at PVP and caps to armor mitigation, CC cool down timers, diminishing returns for dodge rolling/bolt escape; things start to focus on DPS & HPS. This leads toAnd, if we continue with this we may fall into a Guild Wars 2 or World of Warcraft progression at some point. This would mean

We have major class balance issues.

1vX DragonKnights prior to 1.5 that took a group to kill

Templars when radiant destruction would super tick and kill people in a few seconds

Bow when folks could fire off 2-3 shots and be back in stealth when the body dropped

The current NB meta build with fast burst stamina or life syphoning magicka builds

The blinking sorcerers that has been tried to be nerfed, but still hyper burst with dawn breaker and other abilities.

We’ve gone from builds that stood up a long time and would only die due to poor reaction time down to burst builds that kill you quickly, and the fastest killers right now are the NightBlade and Sorcerer.



Part of this isn’t just an issue with the classes, but the way the champion points are structured. For example: Stamina DragonKnight use stamina morphs of your abilities you’ll likely want to put points into the Ritual Champion Line. But, your stamina abilities are flame based, which are improved by using elemental expert under the Apprentice Champion Line.

The NightBlade’s stamina abilities, in comparison, does magical damage, boosted by Thaumaturge in the ritual line.

Now this isn’t to say there are some nasty builds out there some skilled players have made despite these limitations. These represent an upper epsilon of players that have the resources for a lot of good gear, ground their way to have a lot of champion points, and skilled enough for their classes. Even these players though are Pidgeon holed into a specific style of build, and would do better than most using the Meta builds that have become the norm. In each class restructuring we seem to run into issues with Class balancing. This seems to go while we even damage amounts in PVP and then restructure the Meta roles in PVE. Since DPC burst builds in PVP are so closely tied to the burst ganking in PVP, we constantly see the two step on each other’s toes. This is only highlighted by folks grinding characters up to the new Meta each patchWe’ve gone from builds that stood up a long time and would only die due to poor reaction time down to burst builds that kill you quickly, and the fastest killers right now are the NightBlade and Sorcerer.Part of this isn’t just an issue with the classes, but the way the champion points are structured. For example:Now this isn’t to say there are some nasty builds out there some skilled players have made despite these limitations. These represent an upper epsilon of players that have the resources for a lot of good gear, ground their way to have a lot of champion points, and skilled enough for their classes. Even these players though are Pidgeon holed into a specific style of build, and would do better than most using the Meta builds that have become the norm.

The gearing and gear synergy issue

Poison damage increase with Morag Tong is nice but doesn't do much when bow and arrow does most of the poison abilities and it has no bow, instead we get two daggers that cannot poison unless we have poison glyphs.

The winter born set is nice ice damage, but locks players into an ice staff to use it. Some of these sets don’t make sense for end level gear builds, and it seems a lot of them affect PVP gear the most.

The sun set is great for DKs & Templars, but leave little option but the fire destruction staff for NBs and Sorcerer, which is part of the reason why it’s not been upgraded to v16

The Elemental Succession set is good for DKs with a lightning and frost staff, Sorcerer with fire and ice, or Templar with lightning and frost, but leaves a NightBlade with at least one element they can’t really follow through with

Currently the sets are limited to a few sets of min/max builds and then the rest, most others unused for various reasons, most lacking good abilities that work well with certain builds. As discussed with the current requirements for damage, many gear focuses on DPS or HPS. This has led to some powerful min/max builds that have been nerfed by attrition since there was no counterpart to it. It also has made it so a lot of gear that PVPers want is in PVE, and a lot of gear PVErs want they buy from PVP players. We also have sets that make little sense in the way their weapon or styles are implemented. For example:Currently the sets are limited to a few sets of min/max builds and then the rest, most others unused for various reasons, most lacking good abilities that work well with certain builds.

Armor mitigation is horrible in PVP and many PVE challenges

Inside PVP and PVE there is little reason to go with heavy armor or watch mitigation. In PVP, with the amount of gear that has improved armor pierce, a guy in heavy armor (at hard cap) can take maybe 2-3 more hits than a guy in medium from a fully decked out player. Stack on animation canceling that means a whole 1-2 seconds more to do nothing. On the PVE side, groups are giving up tanks on a lot of challenges in favor of a DPS build to take on some of the hard challenges.



Heavy armor builds can block more, but that’s limited. In PVP if you’re blocking you’re not assaulting, and if you’re not attacking you’re likely dead in no time. Not to mention there is a general hatred for block builds, and we’ve had nerfs like 0% stamina regen while blocking. In PVE, you have some fights that require blocking, but you’ll find yourself out of stamina fast unless you run a high magicka regen DK pumping out earthen heart abilities quickly to keep their stamina up or relying on Templar spears during certain fights.



I get the reason though; back in 1.5 & 1.6 there were folks that would block build with an insane amount of armor, stamina pumping abilities, and dynamic ultimate generation. At this point though damage shields and roll dodging can give you more survivability, and where one avoids all damage and the other can reduce any critical chance to 0.

Ideas and Solutions for the Future

Attacking a players Stamina & Magicka, damaging resources and Debuffing Regeneration

Minor/major Resource Debuff, reducing resource regeneration by 5% (minor) or 10% (Major)

Resource damaging based on a fixed number

Resource Damaging based on a % of the enemy’s max resource

Examples of PVP armor sets changes 5 piece Shieldbreaker takes away of a player’s 10% of max Magicka if they have a shield up, 4 second cool down.

5 piece Morag Tong to give minor debuff stamina regeneration by 15%

5 piece Light of Cyrodiil to give minor debuff magicka Regeneration by 15%

5 piece twin sisters damages X stamina of enemy attacks blocked while in melee range

5 piece Beckoning Steel Set giving a minor debuff of both Magicka and Stamina for any projectiles summoned to the target More can be added, modified to this list, this is just an initial example of how sets can be changed to have a base impact in Cyrodiil





Examples of Skill changes Assault skill lines – some could be added or modified to add in more utility to players Anti-Cavalry Caltrops – Deals x stamina damage every second while in the field, in addition to its damage and anti-mount ability

Support skill lines – Scorching Flare – Deals x Magicka damage while in the field, in addition to its reveal and damage

Weapon Skill lines Ice staff – focuses on damaging stamina of targets Destructive Clench damages x stamina Elemental Blockade damages x stamina while in its field Lightning staff – focuses on damaging magicka of targets Destructive Clench damages x Magicka Elemental Blockade damages x Magicka while in its field Fire staff – focus on damaging the targets, no effected changes Restoration staff – focus on healing and buffing, no effected changes, but a purge ability should be added Bow – Focus on debuffing and reducing the regenerations of targets Venom Arrow gives major Magicka regen debuff when target is interrupted Draining Shot damages x stamina Acid Spray gives Minor Stamina regen debuff Lethal Arrow gives a major Stamina regen debuff Dual wield – focus on damage, though giving stamina regen debuff minor with axes 2 hander - focus on stamina and magicka damaging abilities, alternative to its DPS builds Dizzying Swing damages x stamina on target in addition to reducing damage Cleave builds ultimate and takes x magicka for targets. Reverse slice damages x magicka in addition to hitting multiple targets Weapon and shield - focus on mitigation, no effected changes?

Class Line Skills DragonKnight – Currently one of the most hurting class in PVP, and can probably use the biggest boost Flame Lash damage x Magicka on target Burning Embers damages x stamina when effect ends Choking Talons gives Major stamina regen debuff while in the talons Deep Breath damages x Magicka on all targets interrupted Draw Essence gives Minor Magicka regen debuff on the hit Stone Giant damages x Stamina on Target Eruption - gives minor stamina regen debuff while in the cloud NightBlade – being the meta damage dealers, I don’t feel they need major buffs with this, but we could offer alternatives to their high damage abilities Sorcerer – being our runner up with burst damage in Cryodill I feel they should be given the least buff from these abilities, but alternatives could be given Templar – the purge abilities will be more important with several of these debuffs

More can be added, modified to this list, this is just an initial example of how sets can be changed to have a base impact in Cyrodiil

Increased armor mitigation & give Heavy armor natural critical reduction

Grant the Juggernaut passive a natural impenetrable passive to reduce the damage from incoming hits

Allow bracing to delay the stamina regen buff by .5 seconds and 1 second (per rank)with a 3 second cooldown to promote smart blocking

Increase the amount of armor granted by armor in PVP 1x light 1.25x medium 1.5x Heavy

Reduce the amount of damage based on the armor It shouldn’t be reduced to 0, but a person at softcap shouldn’t be hit with abilities half their health



Elemental & spell affinity shifts on class abilities

Method A: change any elemental damage on a stamina to magic or poison damage. This is a simple fix, but will help multiple builds that are using the ritual lines and possibly give certain armor sets a better use



Method B: Offer specific elemental changes on a few morphed abilities

A little more complex, but offering different elements each class can go into will help give more complexity into builds



Method C: a base switch of all elemental damage to another element

A bit more complex, but offering a full shift of elements for all class abilities. This would require a skill reset to change back. The basics of each would be: Fire – high damage, lingering effect damage

Ice – moderate damage, focus on snares and stamina damage

Lightning – moderate to high damage, focus on CC and magicka damage Possible Additions, for further complexity. Poison – moderate damage in dots, focus on debuffing magicka and stamina

Magic - high damage straight damage. This is a simple fix, but will help multiple builds that are using the ritual lines and possibly give certain armor sets a better useA little more complex, but offering different elements each class can go into will help give more complexity into buildsA bit more complex, but offering a full shift of elements for all class abilities. This would require a skill reset to change back. The basics of each would be:Possible Additions, for further complexity.

Changing ability's effects in PVE & PVP

Change most player targeting AOE abilities to ground target. Example: Meteor & Dawn Breaker

AOE cap on support spells to those in your group

Uncap AOE damage to enemy players, if possible. This is to help battle zergs but won’t make power grinding excessive.

If we're going to give all gap closers a snare, then giving all a minimum cast distance should come as a penalty. Teleporting strike has no cast restriction though, and is typically used for high DPS builds in PVE. Either get this consistent with other gap closers in PVP with a cast distance or remove it's snare, that affects mainly PVP.

How this changes things and How do we get there

Intended Effect of these changes

To change the PVP game from a 5 - 6 second fight or and endless resource fight and change it to a war by inches, where you have time to react and fight back but won't necessarily win if you don't time out your abilities and watch your resources. We saw a good start to this with global damage, healing, & shield reduction. This was short lived though. And while the healing and mitigation remains low, min/maxers found ways to keep the fights under a few seconds. With this, we can bind back that survivability but give a way to get around it.



Build wise we should see sustain builds like the 1.5 DK 1vX builds but with clear counters so a single player doesn't requires a warband to kill. Being versatile with a hybrid build may finally catch on, able to either work as a resource sapping build or being able to counter others draining your resources be swapping to the other. Burst builds will still be a thing, but spamming an attack, not weaving in a heavy attack, and not watching if your target is block casting abilities to drain your resources could rob you of your damage and your escape.



More avenues for growth and class balance. When DPS/HPS is the focus, there is little wiggle room for balance since you want all classes to be able to do the same. With these changes however you can have lower DPS builds that maximize mitigation, or others that maximize taking out resources. This gives each class a unique role and ways to balance each class.



Finally, this gives PVPers another set of tools specific to them, armor specifically to make them stronger, with little to no impact on the PVE side of things. with addition stamina and magicka damage, it's not going to make monster fights in PVE any weaker. it's going to instead buff up PVP players that know how to use it and weave it into battle.



More importantly new builds with older armor sets, new armor sets, and unused abilities should see a resurgence if done properly. Min/maxing will always be a thing with damage, but with the ability to pull in other ways to attack will offer different min/max builds or ideas. This also means we can see an expansion of this in DLC with the possibility that each new DLC won’t require us to buy it to have THE strongest build out there, but to have a possibility of ONE OF the strongest builds out there.

Possible Implementation

Stamina & Magicka Damage

Phase 0 – Stamina & Magicka damage added to Cyrodill siege. This is expected in either a weekly patch or the next DLC

Phase 1 – Armor set bonuses added or changed. This would be expected in a DLC

Phase 2 – PVP skill lines altered to a add in stamina/Magicka damage. This would be expected as patch change to test the new damaging effect.

Phase 3 – Class and weapon skills changed to include damage. This would require a major restructuring of the abilities and thus would likely be tied with another DLC



Heavy armor changes

Phase 1 – grant critical reduction on juggernaut passive. Can be done during any patch

Phase 2 – give bracing the ability to delay stamina regen debuff with smart blocking ability. May be done with any patch or a class balancing update

Phase 3 – increase the armor and mitigation given in PVP per the numbers, expected with a DLC patch corresponding with magicka/stamina damaging abilities



Elemental shifting Class abilites

Phase 1 – introduce magic damage on stamina mophs to all classes. Can be done during any patch

Phase 2 – Introduce morph alternatives to certain Player abilities. This could be done with a class balancing update

Phase 3 – Allow full shifts of abilities as part of a DLC, Spell crafting is the prime candidate.



Changing ability effects in PVE and PVP

No phase, do it as needed. This should keep going on as part of the regular maintenance to balance and fix PVP

The End (And what players can do)

Hello folks,Happy end of the year! I'm here to discuss a few major ideas and concepts that I believe will help the game for both the PVE and PVP players. These sort of interconnect, so I'm making this as one major post. These ideas are not "fix over night" ideas, and developers may already be working towards these goals. Here is a list, to get us started:Got you interested, concerned, excited, angry? Continue on for more about the problem we're facing and how some of this will help.There are several issues we will need to face in ESO as it ages. We're already seeing some of them as systems like the veteran system is removed and the champion point system replaces it. Others come from the continued growth as new patches and DLC comes out.Now not all is doom and Gloom, there are several things we can do to change things.Up till now, most player abilities have always targeted health. There are a few ways to take away someone’s stamina, but each time it required them to block or dodge roll to avoid attacks. Recently however ZOS has been exploring adding magicka damage from lightning ballista and stamina damage from oil catapults . Based on this change there are new ways to offer growth to characters:As stated above, there aren’t many good reasons to use heavy armor in PVP given the amount of armor penetration and reduction effects out there. This should be turned around in a few waysA lot of classes are currently stuck in one affinity or another, which has caused issues with champion point spreads, armor sets, and more. Giving players the ability to change sets would add another layer of customization for your character. While there will be more complexity that could lead to balance issues, given the above changes we can see the builds scale out much more evenly across the classes.This is intended to change some of the targeting and mechanics to abilities in PVP particular. We’re seeing certain abilities changing now to only affect people in your party in Cyrodiil. This needs to continue, use it to reduce the lag, add skill to abilities, and reduce the easy mode abilitiesMost of these are suggestions that I don't expect to be implemented as I've laid out. ZOS takes in a lot of suggestions and add on a lot more or chop out others to fit with their current development. With that in mind here is where I envision these ideas as they are currently laid out.This has been an open letter to ZOS on feedback. If you like these ideas, or even one of them, post a reply, this helps ZOS know where to place their priorities. If you hated all of this post as well, more than happy to debate.If you want to reuse or modify any of the ideas above, go ahead. I don't stake claim in any of it and can certainly be schooled more about what other class skills need modification.As for ZOS, thank you for another year of a great game so far and I hope to see continued improvements and growth in the game. Happy New Year.