[Megathread] The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited

[Ashana Darkmoon]

that companion grind seemed rough. I leveled the dark elf gal for a bit but it seemed like outside of specific farming it would be a long haul.

which is fine I guess, she died all the time anyway

[Edge-]

that companion grind seemed rough. I leveled the dark elf gal for a bit but it seemed like outside of specific farming it would be a long haul.

which is fine I guess, she died all the time anyway

Eh, I don't view it as a "grind". They're nice to have and all and I just finished leveling Miri (dark elf), but simply having the companion alone is enough. It helps immensely with soloing the overworld and world bosses, even if you don't put too much focus on them. I have a mix of random-ass gear on my companion as a DPS character with some limited healing abilities and she's just fine (along with my bear pet as a warden). Requires a bit of babysitting at times (standing in fire sucks) with heals to keep them up if the boss is focusing them.

I'm just gonna be happy to have more options. I prefer Miri to the other guy, but her whole "HOW DARE YOU ACCIDENTALLY HARVEST A BUG" schtick is annoying. Gimme the damned catgirl.

[Koriani]

Have there been any major shakeups with the new xpack stuff coming? Have been kinda waiting to see if they made combat more fun somehow

No major 'shakeups' with the Xpack. The only 'new' system coming is a card game. (yup you read that right - that's the 'new shiny' system - mini-card-game).

As Edge mentioned, there are a few new companions, and the regular 'new' stuff of new zone/new dungeons etc. typical stuff that's in every xpac.

There have been major shakeups in the game the past year since the last Xpack - but none of them making the combat more fun. They finally put in 'account wide' achievement/tracking- and totally screwed the system (now there's no way to track alt-progress through the game - this is somehow by (bad) design) They also continue to change/nerf set bonuses and skills in the name of 'balance' between pvp/pve parts of the game and only succeed in pissing off everyone more as they continue to do it 'wrong'.

But nothing that significantly changes how the combat itself works or 'feels'.

[Fencers]

I keep wanting to get back into the game, haven't played in months, but I find the act of playing somewhat dull. I just don't like the combat all that much. It's fine but not enough to really keep me playing beyond the subsystems.

[Fkiolaris]

No major 'shakeups' with the Xpack. The only 'new' system coming is a card game. (yup you read that right - that's the 'new shiny' system - mini-card-game).

As Edge mentioned, there are a few new companions, and the regular 'new' stuff of new zone/new dungeons etc. typical stuff that's in every xpac.

There have been major shakeups in the game the past year since the last Xpack - but none of them making the combat more fun. They finally put in 'account wide' achievement/tracking- and totally screwed the system (now there's no way to track alt-progress through the game - this is somehow by (bad) design) They also continue to change/nerf set bonuses and skills in the name of 'balance' between pvp/pve parts of the game and only succeed in pissing off everyone more as they continue to do it 'wrong'.

But nothing that significantly changes how the combat itself works or 'feels'.

One of the things I can't stand in general in life is bullshit changes for the sake of it, especially when they are frequent, and it was the main reason I left ESO at the end of Summerset. "Great" to see that ZOS is still at it

[Kathandira]

They also continue to change/nerf set bonuses and skills in the name of 'balance' between pvp/pve parts of the game and only succeed in pissing off everyone more as they continue to do it 'wrong'.

One of the major reasons I stopped playing. That and the uninteresting Raid Boss encounters which simply turned into, "Forget mechanics, kill it faster than it kills you"

[Witchblade77]

see this is why I haven't changed my gear on any of my characters in years, and stopped doing group content beyond occasional shenanigans with my guild. been mostly playing for, basically guild shenanigans, stories (yes, for all the issues, I enjoy it and the character), housing/fashion end game and just cause i just enjoy spending time in the setting. it just... works for me. but I also only play at most an hour a day. if that (unless there is a more lengthy guild shenanigan happening). its just casual visits, and I kinda like it that way. but yeah, if that's not what you are looking for from an MMO, then it will not work, cause its basically same old ESO and things that bothered you - will still bother you.

[Witchblade77]

so combat changes are coming with upcoming dungeon DLC. weaving is staying but they seem to be genuinely trying to adjust it so that it doesn't create as much of a gap between players. we'll see how THAT goes, but here is the official writeup for anyone interested.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.co...combat-preview

[Koriani]

so combat changes are coming with upcoming dungeon DLC. weaving is staying but they seem to be genuinely trying to adjust it so that it doesn't create as much of a gap between players. we'll see how THAT goes, but here is the official writeup for anyone interested.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.co...combat-preview

Thanks for the update shout out - I'd not been by the main forums in the last month so I hadn't seen it. Though I've not actively played the last year I am a 'follower hoping to get back to it' one day so I still keep mostly up to date. I'll have to see how the players respond on the forums though to really know if they "fix" anything with this updating or just create more problems. I'm hopeful, but the way they've 'fixed' or 'overhauled' mechanics in the past only to make things less player friendly (or just break them) I'm also limiting that hope =D.

But yes, thanks for the post!

[Witchblade77]

Thanks for the update shout out - I'd not been by the main forums in the last month so I hadn't seen it. Though I've not actively played the last year I am a 'follower hoping to get back to it' one day so I still keep mostly up to date. I'll have to see how the players respond on the forums though to really know if they "fix" anything with this updating or just create more problems. I'm hopeful, but the way they've 'fixed' or 'overhauled' mechanics in the past only to make things less player friendly (or just break them) I'm also limiting that hope =D.

But yes, thanks for the post!

I'm leaning on a side of "just break them" since from how I understood the changes, they have done something similar before and the results were that it widened the gap, rather then closing it. coupled with closure of class representative program, I'm genuinely NOT holding my breath. but who knows maybe they have learned from prior experience and this time will be different? and I'm saying it with mostly straight face.

I do like it that they are extending duration of buffs/debuffs so that they don't have to be juggled as much. which means I can have all the buffs/debuffs on backbar and not worry about constant swapping as much... then again, I could be understanding it wrong. /shrug

[Koriani]

I'm leaning on a side of "just break them" since from how I understood the changes, they have done something similar before and the results were that it widened the gap, rather then closing it. coupled with closure of class representative program, I'm genuinely NOT holding my breath. but who knows maybe they have learned from prior experience and this time will be different? and I'm saying it with mostly straight face.

I do like it that they are extending duration of buffs/debuffs so that they don't have to be juggled as much. which means I can have all the buffs/debuffs on backbar and not worry about constant swapping as much... then again, I could be understanding it wrong. /shrug

Yeah until its more fully "live" on the PTS and we see just what these actual changes "mean" in terms of numbers - its anyone's guess how close or far off to "good improvement" (vs. crap bad) the practical changes will be. As well as acknowledging how those changes variably may effect PVE, End game, and PVP separately - I hate to jump on the "negative poster/player" bandwagon and say they are "Killing PVP" in the game, but its hard not to jump on that wagon since its most of the feedback I ever see about the last few major game changes. (And I don't even play PVP but I still know to take lessons on what to expect from the devs based on how they treat with all aspects of their game.)

As you said - I too am leaning to 'this is going to break it' because of that same history, but the bitter-cynical-gamer brain still has that little corner of "Maybe this time it will end up being more good than bad!" =D

[Aliven]

so combat changes are coming with upcoming dungeon DLC. weaving is staying but they seem to be genuinely trying to adjust it so that it doesn't create as much of a gap between players. we'll see how THAT goes, but here is the official writeup for anyone interested.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.co...combat-preview

Oooo then maybe i would find me new home mmo

[Nymrohd]

The hardcore players absolutely hate it so it must be good.

And no, I am not being sarcastic. Completely literal here. The hardcore players' desire to keep ESO their playground and devs caving to them is the main reason that kept this game from being as popular as it could be.

[Katchii]

The hardcore players absolutely hate it so it must be good.

And no, I am not being sarcastic. Completely literal here. The hardcore players' desire to keep ESO their playground and devs caving to them is the main reason that kept this game from being as popular as it could be.

Agreed.

Weaving is a terrible mechanic as far as how it feels, and building your content and overall combat balance around it was a horrible decision. The combat in ESO isn't great to begin with, but coupling it with what amounts to semi-coordinated button mashing made it even worse. It's why I focused almost entirely on 1-bar builds with pretty OP spammable attacks like MagPlar.

This looks like it's going in the right direction and will hopefully expand and make combat feel better overall for everybody.

[Ashana Darkmoon]

Seems like a step in the right direction. The combat in this game is so frustratingly awful it always turns me away!

The constant buff refreshing crap (and spamming potions) is so degenerate I can't believe it was allowed to linger this long.

Kinda sad but playing this game pretty much always make me appreciate wow lol

[Kathandira]

I was pretty middle of the pack when I played last. For example, if High tier DPS was around 100k/s, and low tier DPS was around 20k/s, I was at around 60k/s. I played on PS4 with a controller, so I wasn't able to use Macros to get to that 100k/s. For a console player, I was close to their high tier.

It was exhausting. Weaving for long durations would give me hand cramps to where I had to switch which fingers I was hitting the trigger with. If they got rid of it, I may actually consider returning.

[Fkiolaris]

All I got from that post is "We are making two massive changes soon and then we will have multiple rounds of extra changes to deal with the chaos this will create"

I mean seriously, after all these years they still treat the live game as an ongoing beta for their combat changes, it's absolutely baffling.

Beyond that, getting weaving out of the game (or at least the extend that was required for good dps) is great news for the game. Regarding buffs/dots/hots, I never had an issue with the durations when I was playing, but I am not sure if my class/playstyle had anything to do with it (Magplar). They should be careful though not to make them too long (I assume their CDs will follow the same way) because that would create all sorts of other scenarios to screw people not playing perfectly

[Edge-]

All I got from that post is "We are making two massive changes soon and then we will have multiple rounds of extra changes to deal with the chaos this will create"

I mean seriously, after all these years they still treat the live game as an ongoing beta for their combat changes, it's absolutely baffling.

Beyond that, getting weaving out of the game (or at least the extend that was required for good dps) is great news for the game. Regarding buffs/dots/hots, I never had an issue with the durations when I was playing, but I am not sure if my class/playstyle had anything to do with it (Magplar). They should be careful though not to make them too long (I assume their CDs will follow the same way) because that would create all sorts of other scenarios to screw people not playing perfectly

I mean, any big change to an online game is going to be a bit messy. No matter how much testing you do, there's no data like live data, and processing that data/feedback to tweak a system so it is better received is unarguably good.

Everyone kinda seems to agree combat sucks - though for different reasons - but does agree that weaving is one reason why. Personally I've never done it and have no interest in learning it, seems annoying and dumb and I'm mostly only doing overworld and normal dungeon content so it's totally unnecessary. But I am glad they're trying to address the huge gap between the floor/ceiling while still preserving a meaningful gap - that's better for players and for ZMO as designers since it makes it less challenging to design encounters around the expectation that everyone is weaving perfectly vs. a group that doesn't weave.

I hope they make buffs long as hell though, honestly it's a garbage part of the combat system to me. I get why they do it since otherwise combat can be a bit "stale", but needing to frequently babysit buffs/debuffs in addition to doing your core rotation and whatnot is just...eh. The less often I have to pop my offensive/defensive buffs the better, and I honestly wish most were purely passive/automated. On my Stamden, at least, the ones I roll with don't really "do" anything beyond activate the buff and are consequently boring as all hell. If the buff skills actually did something or interacted with other skills I'd be here for them, even with short durations, but instead they just kinda...exist to take up skill slots so you actually have something to do with both sets of weapon/class skills.

[Fkiolaris]

I mean, any big change to an online game is going to be a bit messy. No matter how much testing you do, there's no data like live data, and processing that data/feedback to tweak a system so it is better received is unarguably good.

Everyone kinda seems to agree combat sucks - though for different reasons - but does agree that weaving is one reason why. Personally I've never done it and have no interest in learning it, seems annoying and dumb and I'm mostly only doing overworld and normal dungeon content so it's totally unnecessary. But I am glad they're trying to address the huge gap between the floor/ceiling while still preserving a meaningful gap - that's better for players and for ZMO as designers since it makes it less challenging to design encounters around the expectation that everyone is weaving perfectly vs. a group that doesn't weave.

I hope they make buffs long as hell though, honestly it's a garbage part of the combat system to me. I get why they do it since otherwise combat can be a bit "stale", but needing to frequently babysit buffs/debuffs in addition to doing your core rotation and whatnot is just...eh. The less often I have to pop my offensive/defensive buffs the better, and I honestly wish most were purely passive/automated. On my Stamden, at least, the ones I roll with don't really "do" anything beyond activate the buff and are consequently boring as all hell. If the buff skills actually did something or interacted with other skills I'd be here for them, even with short durations, but instead they just kinda...exist to take up skill slots so you actually have something to do with both sets of weapon/class skills.

There is a difference between what you are saying and (at least by the looks of it, every time I check what's going on with the game) the devs making significant combat changes EVERY. THREE. MONTHS. What you say is what you usually see with the launch of expansions, not with every patch.

As for buffs, yes, make them long, just don't overdo it with hots and dots, especially if the CDs go up accordingly.

[Witchblade77]

they are not getting weaving out of the game they very specifically stated that they are keeping weaving in the game. they are just nerfing light attack damage. again. they tried it before. it did NOT go well, as high end players merely adjusted their rotations and low end players like me had much worse time.

also... that 100kdps people are getting? that's not macros. you cannot get that with macros. that's just extremely low latency and good reflexes as well as obcene amounts of practicing on a dummy while being able to see the nitty gritty of your rotation thanks to logs so you do not have to guess where to adjust. well.. that and only posting your best, luckiest parse on youtube etc

I'm honestly not expecting anything good from those changes at this point. Gilliam the rogue was a pvp player who most certainly did NOT have any trouble with weaving and I don't know whom they have it testing internally, but I don't think those people represent your average casual. I hope I'll be surprised, but I'm not holding my breath TBH.