I was asked to post this discussion over on the PTS section of the forum so that those who did not have access to the beta could read this post.
This post has taken me a little while to compose. I freely admit that I am biased, frustrated, and a little pissed off at the changes that have been included in the PTS and the recent ESO Live. I have taken my time in composing this post in order to provide actual constructive feedback instead of an expletive laden rant. As much as I do not like the changes, it would not help the situation to rant about the changes without providing a rational argument against the changes or propose changes that I believe could improve the upcoming Morrowind chapter. This post is not meant to bash the developers. This post will include both positives and negatives regarding the patch and the implications of the upcoming patch. This post will be centered around PvE and not PvP because I am the guildmaster for a top raiding guild on PC-NA and I do not PvP on a regular basis. I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I do care about this game and I would not take the time to write this out if I did not care about the game.
The first matter I would like to discuss is the current state of PvE on the current live server. The main reason why I am bringing up the live server is to create a baseline for us to contrast the changes made on the Morrowind PTS. Currently on the live server, PvE is flourishing. This is due to Homestead patch allowing greater access to veteran trials and dungeons. This was accomplished by making it easier for newer players to reach the dps requirement for veteran content. This allowed more players to complete and experience the content that is currently within ESO. This also allowed raid groups on the cusp of completing vMoL or vMoL HM to complete the content. This has expanded the number of people within the PvE community and has created an environment where more people are progressing to the "elite" level. There has been an increase in the number of raiding guilds and an increase in the number of guilds interested in "pushing" scores for raids. This has been healthy for the game because it pushes players to improve and makes the content enjoyable for those who run the content repeatedly. There has been an increase of "middle tier" PvE guilds as well. These guilds help players clear their first vet trials and give them an environment that encourages them to progress towards clearing vMoL and other difficult content. These guilds allow players to make mistakes and learn mechanics and rotations. For healers and tanks, they learn how to manage resources, buffs, and positioning. The increase in the number of these guilds points to an increase of interest in Trials and PvE Content.
Sustain on the live server is highly dependent upon group cohesiveness and buff uptimes. The current top groups are able to sustain indefinitely on the live server because they have learned that the individual is not greater than the sum of the group's parts. This means that dps will pop orbs even when they do not need the resources because it gives sustain to the other members of the groups. The healers has spent countless hours learning how to maintain ele drain, send out orbs, combat prayer, and keep heals up while following mechanics. These players have learned how to act and move as a group. You can not remove any of these players from these groups and place them into a group of new players without them having sustain issues. Sustain on the live server is dependent upon a high uptime of ele drain and orbs being popped regardless of ones need for magicka. You can not simply sustain on the live server with the current meta builds without those two things. Currently the system does work well because it rewards the experienced players for working as a team and allows newer support players to have something to improve upon. It allows progression to be made and players to improve. Another side effect of this method of sustain is that the top players put out builds and videos meant for the more experienced groups that can sustain. This is a double edged sword because it allows people to have a roadmap towards posting the top level numbers but does not explain to them the reason why they are able to sustain enough to pull those numbers.
Another misunderstanding is that the top tier groups are able to pull these high numbers due to having unlimited resources. This is false. The reason why the top tier groups are able to pull higher dps parses and complete content quickly is multifaceted and complex. Yes sustain does factor into this but it is not the sole contributing factor to it. These groups have mastered the mechanics, understand positioning, maintain buff uptimes, and are composed to maximize efficiency. These groups have put in enough effort to learn the timing of certain attacks, spawns time and locations of adds, positioning and timing of movements, and how to direct and time their attacks in the most efficient method possible. For instance in vMoL HM, melee dps know where to stand so that their Wall of Elements hits Rakkhat and assassins at the same time. They also know exactly how long to stay at a pad and dps before moving to the next pad. These groups have also taken the time to learn how to position things in the most optimal way. An example of this is vHRC HM. When the fight first starts, the goal is to destroy the gargoyle statues with shield throws so that the gargoyles do not spawn in. Most tanks face the gargoyles in towards the group so that the shield throw is guaranteed to hit the gargoyles. The downside to this strategy is that melee dps have to stand further back so that they do not die to the Warrior's channeled swipes. In my groups, I have learned the timing of the channeled swipes and only turn the boss into the group for shield throws when the boss will not do a channeled swipes. This allows the melee dps to parse normally without fear of dying. Another reason why dps numbers are higher in top groups is the group's ability to maintain buffs and debuffs. Healers are able to maintain a wide variety of buffs and synergies. Healers are able to keep up combat prayer for 8% more damage for the dps, ele drain not only for the sustain but the major breech on certain adds, mini mages in vAA, orbs, shards, and cleansing rituals are used for sustain and for tanks to keep up Alkosh on the bosses and mobs. Specific classes also bring certain buffs for the rest of the group as well. Templars give minor sorcery and DKs use engulfing flames because it is a decent dot and also it increases flame damage for the entire groups as well. Individuals have also spent countless hours perfecting their rotations so that they hit them flawlessly and do not miss weaves as well.
Now for my thoughts on the changes that are included on the PTS. There are some wonderful changes and some horrible changes. The CP system has been reworked beautifully. It will allow some diversity in CP setups for builds and forces people to use their brains for CP allocations in the red tree for trials. Cost reduction did need to leave the CP system and I am glad that it is gone. The reaction to the CP rework has been extremely positive. Halls of Fabrication is designed extremely well and is a nice change of pace because it is a different style of trial than the Craglorn trials. Unfortunately there have been some less than stellar changes as well. The change in block cost timing was needed for PvP but will make it harder on newer tanks learning content in PvE. New tanks notoriously struggle with the Warrior in vHRC because they struggle to tell the difference between his channeled sweeps and his light attacks. Currently on live, new tanks are told just to hold block to observe and then you can start branching out. With the new changes, they will probably die more frequently because they make a mistake and confuse his attacks. Yes this will force tanks to "learn to play" but there is another issue that may present itself. New tanks may not get many opportunities to learn because most groups will want experienced tanks because they may not want to wipe repeatedly until the tanks figures things out. Yes there will be groups willing to let them learn but there might be less of them than what is currently on live. The Ele drain nerf was unnecessary. A 25% nerf was not needed because groups can not sustain the current live meta builds on ele drain alone. Ele drain is a great sustain tool for newer groups to rely on and to grow with. With the changes to Ele drain, newer groups will have a more difficult time sustaining builds. The changes to orbs and shards also seem to be contradictory. ZOS stated that they did not want one class to be mandatory for certain roles in raids but the shard changes made it even worse this patch. There WILL be at least one templar healer in each group because they will have access to the one skill that can restore both stamina AND magicka for tanks. A templar dps will not take the Luminous Shard morph because it is a loss of dps. This means that is will fall on a healer to run the skill because a tank uses both resource pools.
For the top groups they will find out ways to get around the sustain changes but it will have impacts throughout the PvE community. The top groups will figure out the most efficient method to pull high dps numbers. So far the highest numbers have come from heavy attack builds and the "elite" will transition to the builds with the highest dps output. ZOS has stated numerous times that they want fun and fast paced content. The issue is that the "elite" dps feel like heavy attack builds lead to slow and boring content. This has had a profound impact on the current "elite" players and their feelings towards Morrowind. Many people within the top "1%' of PvE feel like the developers are out of touch and are not listening. I have had numerous players state that they will not play Morrowind if they changes go live and others state that they will not raid and will only PvP. So far, 6 out of the 50 or so "raiders" that I have spoken with have stated that they will continue to raid at the same pace that they currently raid. Another 30 have either started looking for another game or have stated that they have no desire to play ESO if they changes go live. Yes, it is natural for there to be some turnover within the PvE ranks but there is an issue if there is a mass exodus of the top players. Newer players look for the "elite" on Youtube to learn what builds they should run, what the hard content looks like, and advice on how to improve. With substantially less "elite" raiders around less Youtube content gets created, there is less interest in PvE, and the skill of players is lowered.
The current trials will also suffer from these changes. Halls of Fabrication is designed so that there are burn phases and regeneration phases. The current trials on live do not have these phases and are designed differently. They are designed for consistent dps and most have hard or soft dps checks in them. In vMoL, Zhaj'hassa has a few different dps checks. The first dps check is dependent upon a group being able to burn through his shields. The second dps check is a hard dps check where you MUST kill him in a certain time period or there will no longer be any pillars that spawn in. In Hel Ra, there are no hard dps checks but there are numerous soft dps checks. Yokeda Rok’dun keeps spawning in welwas until he dies. The more welwas that spawn in, the harder it is for the tank to survive and the more the healer ignores the group to keep the tank alive. As the fight goes on, there is less time for the tank and healer to regenerate resources until they either kill the boss or are unable to sustain any longer. The Warrior has a soft enrage mechanic that spawns in numerous adds that usually results in a group wipe. AA has Valeriel that requires a certain dps level to burn the adds or the group will wipe and the Mage requires a certain amount of dps to keep up with the mini mages and to make it through execute. Sanctum has soft enrages on the Manti and Stonebreaker. Those enrages must be burned through before they wipe the group. The concern is that new groups will be unable to clear the older content because they will be unable to put up enough sustained dps to clear the content and there will be less groups clearing content.
To summarize, I am concerned that the changes will cause a decrease in the population for PvE trials content. Also I am concerned about a mass exodus of players from the "elite" level. I want ESO to succeed and for this game to continue to grow. I would like to invite @ZOS_RichLambert , Eric Wrobel, and any other developers to raid with myself and What Mechanics so that they can explain their thought process to us regarding the changes. I can stream it, if you would like, and the community can have an opportunity to ask questions that are not preselected for ESO Live. I feel like this would be a fantastic opportunity for the developers to interact with the community in a way that builds trust and shows a willingness to work with the community to improve the game.
This post has taken me a little while to compose. I freely admit that I am biased, frustrated, and a little pissed off at the changes that have been included in the PTS and the recent ESO Live. I have taken my time in composing this post in order to provide actual constructive feedback instead of an expletive laden rant. As much as I do not like the changes, it would not help the situation to rant about the changes without providing a rational argument against the changes or propose changes that I believe could improve the upcoming Morrowind chapter. This post is not meant to bash the developers. This post will include both positives and negatives regarding the patch and the implications of the upcoming patch. This post will be centered around PvE and not PvP because I am the guildmaster for a top raiding guild on PC-NA and I do not PvP on a regular basis. I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I do care about this game and I would not take the time to write this out if I did not care about the game.
The first matter I would like to discuss is the current state of PvE on the current live server. The main reason why I am bringing up the live server is to create a baseline for us to contrast the changes made on the Morrowind PTS. Currently on the live server, PvE is flourishing. This is due to Homestead patch allowing greater access to veteran trials and dungeons. This was accomplished by making it easier for newer players to reach the dps requirement for veteran content. This allowed more players to complete and experience the content that is currently within ESO. This also allowed raid groups on the cusp of completing vMoL or vMoL HM to complete the content. This has expanded the number of people within the PvE community and has created an environment where more people are progressing to the "elite" level. There has been an increase in the number of raiding guilds and an increase in the number of guilds interested in "pushing" scores for raids. This has been healthy for the game because it pushes players to improve and makes the content enjoyable for those who run the content repeatedly. There has been an increase of "middle tier" PvE guilds as well. These guilds help players clear their first vet trials and give them an environment that encourages them to progress towards clearing vMoL and other difficult content. These guilds allow players to make mistakes and learn mechanics and rotations. For healers and tanks, they learn how to manage resources, buffs, and positioning. The increase in the number of these guilds points to an increase of interest in Trials and PvE Content.
Sustain on the live server is highly dependent upon group cohesiveness and buff uptimes. The current top groups are able to sustain indefinitely on the live server because they have learned that the individual is not greater than the sum of the group's parts. This means that dps will pop orbs even when they do not need the resources because it gives sustain to the other members of the groups. The healers has spent countless hours learning how to maintain ele drain, send out orbs, combat prayer, and keep heals up while following mechanics. These players have learned how to act and move as a group. You can not remove any of these players from these groups and place them into a group of new players without them having sustain issues. Sustain on the live server is dependent upon a high uptime of ele drain and orbs being popped regardless of ones need for magicka. You can not simply sustain on the live server with the current meta builds without those two things. Currently the system does work well because it rewards the experienced players for working as a team and allows newer support players to have something to improve upon. It allows progression to be made and players to improve. Another side effect of this method of sustain is that the top players put out builds and videos meant for the more experienced groups that can sustain. This is a double edged sword because it allows people to have a roadmap towards posting the top level numbers but does not explain to them the reason why they are able to sustain enough to pull those numbers.
Another misunderstanding is that the top tier groups are able to pull these high numbers due to having unlimited resources. This is false. The reason why the top tier groups are able to pull higher dps parses and complete content quickly is multifaceted and complex. Yes sustain does factor into this but it is not the sole contributing factor to it. These groups have mastered the mechanics, understand positioning, maintain buff uptimes, and are composed to maximize efficiency. These groups have put in enough effort to learn the timing of certain attacks, spawns time and locations of adds, positioning and timing of movements, and how to direct and time their attacks in the most efficient method possible. For instance in vMoL HM, melee dps know where to stand so that their Wall of Elements hits Rakkhat and assassins at the same time. They also know exactly how long to stay at a pad and dps before moving to the next pad. These groups have also taken the time to learn how to position things in the most optimal way. An example of this is vHRC HM. When the fight first starts, the goal is to destroy the gargoyle statues with shield throws so that the gargoyles do not spawn in. Most tanks face the gargoyles in towards the group so that the shield throw is guaranteed to hit the gargoyles. The downside to this strategy is that melee dps have to stand further back so that they do not die to the Warrior's channeled swipes. In my groups, I have learned the timing of the channeled swipes and only turn the boss into the group for shield throws when the boss will not do a channeled swipes. This allows the melee dps to parse normally without fear of dying. Another reason why dps numbers are higher in top groups is the group's ability to maintain buffs and debuffs. Healers are able to maintain a wide variety of buffs and synergies. Healers are able to keep up combat prayer for 8% more damage for the dps, ele drain not only for the sustain but the major breech on certain adds, mini mages in vAA, orbs, shards, and cleansing rituals are used for sustain and for tanks to keep up Alkosh on the bosses and mobs. Specific classes also bring certain buffs for the rest of the group as well. Templars give minor sorcery and DKs use engulfing flames because it is a decent dot and also it increases flame damage for the entire groups as well. Individuals have also spent countless hours perfecting their rotations so that they hit them flawlessly and do not miss weaves as well.
Now for my thoughts on the changes that are included on the PTS. There are some wonderful changes and some horrible changes. The CP system has been reworked beautifully. It will allow some diversity in CP setups for builds and forces people to use their brains for CP allocations in the red tree for trials. Cost reduction did need to leave the CP system and I am glad that it is gone. The reaction to the CP rework has been extremely positive. Halls of Fabrication is designed extremely well and is a nice change of pace because it is a different style of trial than the Craglorn trials. Unfortunately there have been some less than stellar changes as well. The change in block cost timing was needed for PvP but will make it harder on newer tanks learning content in PvE. New tanks notoriously struggle with the Warrior in vHRC because they struggle to tell the difference between his channeled sweeps and his light attacks. Currently on live, new tanks are told just to hold block to observe and then you can start branching out. With the new changes, they will probably die more frequently because they make a mistake and confuse his attacks. Yes this will force tanks to "learn to play" but there is another issue that may present itself. New tanks may not get many opportunities to learn because most groups will want experienced tanks because they may not want to wipe repeatedly until the tanks figures things out. Yes there will be groups willing to let them learn but there might be less of them than what is currently on live. The Ele drain nerf was unnecessary. A 25% nerf was not needed because groups can not sustain the current live meta builds on ele drain alone. Ele drain is a great sustain tool for newer groups to rely on and to grow with. With the changes to Ele drain, newer groups will have a more difficult time sustaining builds. The changes to orbs and shards also seem to be contradictory. ZOS stated that they did not want one class to be mandatory for certain roles in raids but the shard changes made it even worse this patch. There WILL be at least one templar healer in each group because they will have access to the one skill that can restore both stamina AND magicka for tanks. A templar dps will not take the Luminous Shard morph because it is a loss of dps. This means that is will fall on a healer to run the skill because a tank uses both resource pools.
For the top groups they will find out ways to get around the sustain changes but it will have impacts throughout the PvE community. The top groups will figure out the most efficient method to pull high dps numbers. So far the highest numbers have come from heavy attack builds and the "elite" will transition to the builds with the highest dps output. ZOS has stated numerous times that they want fun and fast paced content. The issue is that the "elite" dps feel like heavy attack builds lead to slow and boring content. This has had a profound impact on the current "elite" players and their feelings towards Morrowind. Many people within the top "1%' of PvE feel like the developers are out of touch and are not listening. I have had numerous players state that they will not play Morrowind if they changes go live and others state that they will not raid and will only PvP. So far, 6 out of the 50 or so "raiders" that I have spoken with have stated that they will continue to raid at the same pace that they currently raid. Another 30 have either started looking for another game or have stated that they have no desire to play ESO if they changes go live. Yes, it is natural for there to be some turnover within the PvE ranks but there is an issue if there is a mass exodus of the top players. Newer players look for the "elite" on Youtube to learn what builds they should run, what the hard content looks like, and advice on how to improve. With substantially less "elite" raiders around less Youtube content gets created, there is less interest in PvE, and the skill of players is lowered.
The current trials will also suffer from these changes. Halls of Fabrication is designed so that there are burn phases and regeneration phases. The current trials on live do not have these phases and are designed differently. They are designed for consistent dps and most have hard or soft dps checks in them. In vMoL, Zhaj'hassa has a few different dps checks. The first dps check is dependent upon a group being able to burn through his shields. The second dps check is a hard dps check where you MUST kill him in a certain time period or there will no longer be any pillars that spawn in. In Hel Ra, there are no hard dps checks but there are numerous soft dps checks. Yokeda Rok’dun keeps spawning in welwas until he dies. The more welwas that spawn in, the harder it is for the tank to survive and the more the healer ignores the group to keep the tank alive. As the fight goes on, there is less time for the tank and healer to regenerate resources until they either kill the boss or are unable to sustain any longer. The Warrior has a soft enrage mechanic that spawns in numerous adds that usually results in a group wipe. AA has Valeriel that requires a certain dps level to burn the adds or the group will wipe and the Mage requires a certain amount of dps to keep up with the mini mages and to make it through execute. Sanctum has soft enrages on the Manti and Stonebreaker. Those enrages must be burned through before they wipe the group. The concern is that new groups will be unable to clear the older content because they will be unable to put up enough sustained dps to clear the content and there will be less groups clearing content.
To summarize, I am concerned that the changes will cause a decrease in the population for PvE trials content. Also I am concerned about a mass exodus of players from the "elite" level. I want ESO to succeed and for this game to continue to grow. I would like to invite @ZOS_RichLambert , Eric Wrobel, and any other developers to raid with myself and What Mechanics so that they can explain their thought process to us regarding the changes. I can stream it, if you would like, and the community can have an opportunity to ask questions that are not preselected for ESO Live. I feel like this would be a fantastic opportunity for the developers to interact with the community in a way that builds trust and shows a willingness to work with the community to improve the game.
