There are a few areas of the proposed racial passive changes that cause me some concern, but most of those can be addressed with the adjustment of numbers. The change to the Wood Elves (Bosmer) on the other hand is lore breaking in regards to stealth. I would argue that the only change that you could have made that would be more lore breaking than removing their natural affinity to stealth would be removing their affinity to archery.
The lore of the Elder Scrolls series (including ESO) has the Bosmer being one of the stealthier races in Tamriel and this has consistently been reflected in the racial bonuses. In Skyrim the only races to have a stealth bonus were the Bosmer, Dunmer, Argonian and Khajiit. It is true that in Skyrim the Khajiit's stealth bonus was double that of the Bosmer and it is fully acceptable to have discussion about which race is the stealthiest. It is also worth mentioning that that is both Morrowind and Oblivion that the only races with stealth bonuses were the Bosmer and Khajiit and the Bosmer's stealth bonus was double that of the Khajiit. So a good case could be made for both races.
I understand that before these two races shared the exact same passive and that you wanted to make them more unique. This is a good objective. When I first read through the changes I though it was the difference of the Khajiit going from 3 to 5 meters and the Bosmer remaining at 3 meters and I didn't think much of it, but then on closer inspection I realized it was the difference of 5 meters and 0 meters and that got me looking for my forum login details.
I like the addition of the speed bonus from roll dodge as in the lore the Bosmer have always been very fast as well as agile and acrobatic. Some might object to the 20%, but that is a number argument and I want to look mostly at the lore side of the discussion. The idea of having the Bosmer being accomplished hunters and therefore being able to detect stealthy creatures is a good one. After all the Bosmer don't eat plants so if they were not able to hunt animals they would starve. ESO also has some wonderful quests in Grahtwood regarding the Bosmer and their hunting ability and a special buff when in that zone, so the thought process was a sound one. However, a hunter who cannot mask his presence from his prey is not an expert hunter.
Replacing stealthiness with stealth detection is not a suitable trade given the lore. However it is worse given game play. Stealth is a play style, a viable play style for both PvE and PvP. Stealth detection on the other hand is not, as it has (almost) no practical purpose in PvE. A case can be argued for PvP as there is a need to detect stealthy players. The Bosmer could now be masters at hunting those sneaky Khajiit ready to pounce from the shadows to wreck their entire group. This could be a valid argument if it were not for the lore created for ESO, but the fact that the Bosmer and Khajiit are in the SAME FACTION renders this new ability quite worthless unless the ability to more easily see your own teammates has a much bigger practical purpose than I am imagining. Yes, with the any race any faction option, individual Bosmer and Khajiit could be in opposing factions, but they would most likely be few and unless these characters have compelling backstories as to why they would be fighting in a different faction, they can hardly been seen as cannon. Definitely not worth designing an entire passive around. Yes, other races can still be sneaky and therefore detected in PvP, but once again, given the lore and game play, trading away stealthiness for stealth detection is by far not a fair trade.
The Khajiit's stealth passive was both increased and moved to another passive, freeing up space for a completely new passive. Would it be wrong to suggest that the Bosmer could have stealthiness, stealth detection and the speed boost from dodge roll? I have a feeling that people are going to insist that 20% is too high and if that is lowered then I believe there is even more of a case to have all three be a part of this passive. I would suggest something like: 3 meter reduction to stealth radius, 2 meter stealth detection and the speed boost (even if it was a bit lower - 15%).
Hopefully this feedback is useful and that you will consider my lore-based arguments. Thank you for your time and consideration.
The lore of the Elder Scrolls series (including ESO) has the Bosmer being one of the stealthier races in Tamriel and this has consistently been reflected in the racial bonuses. In Skyrim the only races to have a stealth bonus were the Bosmer, Dunmer, Argonian and Khajiit. It is true that in Skyrim the Khajiit's stealth bonus was double that of the Bosmer and it is fully acceptable to have discussion about which race is the stealthiest. It is also worth mentioning that that is both Morrowind and Oblivion that the only races with stealth bonuses were the Bosmer and Khajiit and the Bosmer's stealth bonus was double that of the Khajiit. So a good case could be made for both races.
I understand that before these two races shared the exact same passive and that you wanted to make them more unique. This is a good objective. When I first read through the changes I though it was the difference of the Khajiit going from 3 to 5 meters and the Bosmer remaining at 3 meters and I didn't think much of it, but then on closer inspection I realized it was the difference of 5 meters and 0 meters and that got me looking for my forum login details.
I like the addition of the speed bonus from roll dodge as in the lore the Bosmer have always been very fast as well as agile and acrobatic. Some might object to the 20%, but that is a number argument and I want to look mostly at the lore side of the discussion. The idea of having the Bosmer being accomplished hunters and therefore being able to detect stealthy creatures is a good one. After all the Bosmer don't eat plants so if they were not able to hunt animals they would starve. ESO also has some wonderful quests in Grahtwood regarding the Bosmer and their hunting ability and a special buff when in that zone, so the thought process was a sound one. However, a hunter who cannot mask his presence from his prey is not an expert hunter.
Replacing stealthiness with stealth detection is not a suitable trade given the lore. However it is worse given game play. Stealth is a play style, a viable play style for both PvE and PvP. Stealth detection on the other hand is not, as it has (almost) no practical purpose in PvE. A case can be argued for PvP as there is a need to detect stealthy players. The Bosmer could now be masters at hunting those sneaky Khajiit ready to pounce from the shadows to wreck their entire group. This could be a valid argument if it were not for the lore created for ESO, but the fact that the Bosmer and Khajiit are in the SAME FACTION renders this new ability quite worthless unless the ability to more easily see your own teammates has a much bigger practical purpose than I am imagining. Yes, with the any race any faction option, individual Bosmer and Khajiit could be in opposing factions, but they would most likely be few and unless these characters have compelling backstories as to why they would be fighting in a different faction, they can hardly been seen as cannon. Definitely not worth designing an entire passive around. Yes, other races can still be sneaky and therefore detected in PvP, but once again, given the lore and game play, trading away stealthiness for stealth detection is by far not a fair trade.
The Khajiit's stealth passive was both increased and moved to another passive, freeing up space for a completely new passive. Would it be wrong to suggest that the Bosmer could have stealthiness, stealth detection and the speed boost from dodge roll? I have a feeling that people are going to insist that 20% is too high and if that is lowered then I believe there is even more of a case to have all three be a part of this passive. I would suggest something like: 3 meter reduction to stealth radius, 2 meter stealth detection and the speed boost (even if it was a bit lower - 15%).
Hopefully this feedback is useful and that you will consider my lore-based arguments. Thank you for your time and consideration.
