Its so true and it takes the joy out of theorycrafting and playing off meta builds. Coming back to this game after a break and meta feels so incredibly stale. Theres literally 1 build for pvp regardless of class. It used to be such a varied and interesting class ecosystem of rock paper scissors.
Really great video. You speak about what plagues PvP especially. PvEr dont mind having to not farm gear over and over again. The satisfaction in PvE comes from mastering the game mechanics and getting the rotation down perfectly. PvP need diversity to keep battles challenging and fun. Its the chasing the most optimal over and over thats interesting. Having the same build evefyone has to run for ages takes away a lot of fun.
Whatever zenimax do, I strongly believe the game should return to a burst meta, where your survivability required skill and intuition of when to dodge, block or ward… not stack resistance + HoTs to counter the countless DoTs. There is no skill or fun in this DoT meta. For example, I miss the days where you were actually concerned about a DK landing a big dizzy swing, into a leap + execute, so you’d block and dodge, etc… now there is no skill as DKs just rending slash with Master DW, Vateshran Destro, Dragons Appetite, stack their DoTs, etc. and the only ‘counter’ is run and heal.
EXACTLY! I played bow 2h dk from 2015 to 2018 and for 3 years I could 1vX without issue, crit rush, dswing, leap, dead it was an effective combo but easy af to counter with some game sense but now you just die to dots and have to stack massive mitigation with hots. The tank meta with the 40k, the amount of armor and dr you can stack ON TOP OF VAMP also means that unless you do run the dot cheese you can’t kill anyone with burst bc the only class that has burst left is nb bc bow is broken. You nerf the dots and you can’t kill anyone anymore bc of the tank meta. So they need to nerf the proc dots, while also capping max hp and nerfing vampire. These 3 simple fixes would fix eso. Oh that and nerf cross healing, which cross healing needs to be removed healing in eso is the most unskillful playstyle ever to exist in a video game it’s so cringy. But with everything I said above they’ll just milk to poor souls that buy crown crates bc that’s all they give af about. Putting together garbage cosmetics to sell instead of making them rewards for skillful players. The game is going on maintenance once tes 6 launchers so it’s basically dead anyways just slugging along while the devs try to milk a malnutrition cow that has no more milk left to offer
I am so glad you made this video. I have been complaining about this for a year now and I quit the game a few months ago for that reason. Not only build diversity is at an all time low but devs don't reward builds that dive deep in an archetype (For example a shock mage). Look how long it took them to hear the demands for decent frost dmg. That is cause players want to be able to dive deep in one archetype like the frost mage. And it became very popular because the demand was high! Dark convergence is an amazing set as it allows you to build around dark magic. We need more sets like these that encourage players to dive deep in their class even in pvp. The problem in eso class design is that trees are vey limited (5 skills only) and the morphs have little difference most of the time. Even skills within a tree have little difference (look at warden healing tree, all HOTS and the frost ultimate is similar as the destro staff one). All in all, you end up with very low diversity and flavour.
I know the feeling man. I am a DK and I have a health recovery build. Played to my strength of being a brawler outlasting others through high heath recovery and what does ZoS do? Completely destroy health recovery cause they added a totally busted CP perk in CP 2.0. Like I don't want to be another DK spamming whip and armor but it sure as hell feel like I have to just to even make a dent in other players health in pvp. So much for "play how you want".
Thanks for the video, for some time now I’ve been trying to explain why Hybridization never met it’s intended goal of increasing diversity by including new skills in build design, and this summarized it perfectly. While the meta is clear and concise, there becomes only ONE option for everyone, where at least with Stamina and Magicka builds, there were two options.
Probably tough for developers to hear, but absolutely the truth. The level of combat updates is basically zero now and has been for quite some time. When things get stale, experimentation lowers and testing hones in on a specific optimized setup, the dreaded “meta” setup. It’s really tough to see PvP headed toward meta builds, but with a lack of changes, this happens naturally. Couple the above with class sets and the problem gets worse. We need more options, not less. We are headed in the wrong direction with ESO, and I hope someone at ZOS takes note of the several PVP content creators that have left the game. It is for a reason. 😢
Yes!!!, This is exactly what I've been telling my friends and Family for months when they ask me why I don't play this game very much anymore, It really does make it feel bland, and I don't find myself having fun anymore :(
While hybridization itself is not a bad concept, the half-arsed and unfinished implementation that they have done in ESO is exactly what has caused it to have such a negative effect on the game. Things such as: - Sorc/NB and DK/Plar should not be sharing the same "unique" minor buffs that they provide groups. All 4 of these classes should bring a unique buff of their own that is different from the other classes. - Stuff still not being fully hybridized such as mundus stones and potions doesn't help either. These things definitely combine with the current stale meta with seemingly no real change in the future has driven a lot of players away from the game. The other reason is the current power gap between the top and bottom classes being the largest it has ever been. Technically, yes, all classes can perform well enough with the "meta" proc builds, but for the bottom classes, they have nothing outside of that 1 build. This adds to the staleness of the meta since that's already the most common build, but where as in the past you would still see random other builds pop up on the weaker classes because those classes had the option to try those, now you don't see that because the gap between the bottom 3 classes without that specific build and the top 4 classes is just that much and has been left this way for far too long.
Part of hybridization was nerfing class skills and making the skills from the weapon and guild skill lines (the ones available to every class) the better skills, generally speaking. Look at the many, many nerfs that Warden trees got until resto ulti is now just an objectively better skill in the vast majority of PvP healing scenarios.
I have a vampire heavy attack build and i freakin love it and i'm never giving it up for the sake of dps efficiency. What's the point of playing if it's not for fun?
Yep its reality , over 900h playing decided not to follow meta build , bg was fun until a point ,cyrodiil i was expecting ,,ok its gona be hard very hard but not like this... cant have fun cant train cause death instant xd onli when I meet a person like me i kill it and then i fell bad cause maybe hes a pve player questing or idk , i hope things may go better in future atm im gona be more on pve try to enjoy the game and my awsome guild members, they may be onli thing keeping me in eso .. thx for the video and making me not be the onli one thinking of eso like in the video what you said.
I don't think hybridization is the problem. The real problem are: 1. Skill pools for class are stale. Non new skill on ages. 2. Element weakness is non-existent except with dungeon and trial big bosses. No way José! How the hell can you run a fire dungeon like City of Ash using FIRE STAFF, or run a lightning trial like Kynes Aegis using LIGHT STAFF? That's ilogical! If TESO was a really well designed game u should change ur whole set up to run a fire, lightning, ice, venom/disease, melee or oblivion/dark magic dungeon or trial. ALL THINGS THERE from mobs to bosses should get zero damage from their own elemental. But run all with the same meta set up is A JOKE! 3. Majority of sets are just the same set with differente numbers [spell damage, crit, recovery, plain mag/stam]. And the few set with special qualities or habilities inmediatly get nerferd like Unfatomable Darkness, Thunderbug Capparace, Sheer Venom or Snake in the Stars for example. Sorry but Mara's non was a special set it was a cheater set with a bad design from the beggining, it nerf was right. 4. The fucking TESO hate for bows. My gosh. That 20% of chance to apply a poison with a bow shoot is for kindegarten games. That's a bow from ancient times: the way to kill somebody with poison or magik arrows. If u don´t want one shoot kills avoid archer get invisiblity, make the bows heavier or stamina demanding, make bowmen weaker to elements, etc, but no cripple the whole weapon. 5. Spell crafting is oudated. If all the sets are the same copycat from each other the way to give personality to each class is free glyph crafting for each class: mages, arcanist and wardens more power magik glyphs; templar, dragonknight and nightblade more meele/stam glyphs; necromancer more powerful oblivion damage and poison/vemon glyphs. If you promote hybridization PROMOTE A REAL HYBRIDIZATION. Non a crippled hybridization like today. But the Hyrbidization must be inside each class. Today all mages are the same, all templars are the same, all arcanist ─the last class realeased─ are the same thing in just six months. When you can make a tier list just separating clases between magika or stamina that mean HYBRIDIZATION is not real. Except for unkillable TANKS or One shoot Bombers on Cyrodill 99% gamers play the same set up really. The actual TESO hybridization IS JUST A HUGE SCAM.
tbf vigor and race against time i don't really have a problem with. the issue is the lack of set variety. Also metas like these create so many issues, think back YEARS ago to the fury bone pirate meta, that wasn't bad because the build was pretty much just all damage focused, you could still gank, you could still run different sets for different results that might be better in some departments. Whereas rn its like when one tamriel first dropped and we had viper tremor black rose, this wotf maarselok master dw vate meta is just a king of all trades build, there is absolutely 0 incentive whatsoever to even try anything different because this build heals for so much, does SO much damage in comparison to any other setup, is WAY more tanky, has WAY better sustain. whats the point in theorycrafting a fun build when it gets completely outperformed in every aspect by a setup that takes very minimal skill to run it also KILLED class identity. i fell in love with magblade and magsorc because of their playstyles, OG magblade destro/resto with heal cloak using its healing as a means to stay alive rather than it's mobility like stamblade with invis cloak. it played entirely differently offensively too, where stamnb would be short burst fights magblade would apply ele drain, swallow souls etc and pressure until a burst opportunity appeared which also impacted it's state in the meta, it was horrendous for open world but dominant in duels same as mag sorc, it went from shield stacking glass cannon that got annihilated the second their shields dropped to just a copy paste stack 30 hots and an absurdly high health pool with power creep the 2 highest skill ceiling classes in the game gutted from a gameplay perspective, design perspective and identity perspective. there isn't a single playstyle like those 2 in this game anymore and there wont be for the foreseeable future. But hey at least now i can log onto my "mag nb" with way of the fire and master dw vate backbar, or i could log onto my "stam necro" with way of the fire and master dw vate backbar, or my "mag sorc" with way of the fire and master dw vate backbar...im sensing a pattern here
I was so confused when I returned to ESO from a 3 year break. I had no idea about the hybridization of skills and gear. I went into a battlegrounds and got one shot by an arcanist with almost 44k health. I had to do research to figure out how you could build a character for high health but still dish out enough damage to compete with full Magicka attribute point builds. Once again ZoS has made a change that is the exact opposite of balance.
I remember the good old days when playing a hybrid build was a sign of true skill . Understanding the game nowadays , it just feels like you play hybrid, or your damage sucks😅
in my opinion class matters more than sets in PVP. I only got 3 class DK, templar, and necro..with the same setup I got avarage 10-15 kills and 0-2 deaths on my DK and templar on BG. but with necro I got 0-2 kills and 0-10 death.
the hybrid style is what kills my interest in ESO next to a few other factors, like limited skill bar on top of class diversity feeling more like a skin difference than actual ability difference.
Whats annoying me now is everyone is running these high health builds and still being able to kill me with high burst dmg and the worst part is I can't seem to mimick the builds I have no clue what they r using..
When I came back years ago I was surprised what happened to the game especially with skills and initially I even thought it was cool. Then I got to the part where it became stale because every build both pve and pvp has become the same, it just became one size fits all type of thing, there is no more creativity. I used to run sets long ago that actually altered to a hybrid setup of a class because of how badly it needs some of the other skills, the set was called Pelinals Aptitude, then sets like Shacklebreaker was sorta standard for pvp because of how simple it was and just gave you an overall boost, it was meta for sure but it wasn't the one size for everyone, it was more like, if you don't have any idea this could fit in temporarily until you find a better alternative. This hybridization just killed the idea of having multiple character for the same class because there is no longer stamina or Magicka variants then they even made it even more convenient by adding a wardrobe system to make it easier to swap builds. Whatever it is they are cooking at ZOS they should stop because the game is just going linearly and class sets won't separate each class when hybridization made everyone into one class.
ya ive felt this way for a long time now. And im not alone. Idk what it is but for me and a lot of people i know eso just doesnt feel the same. I wish i could pin point when it happened, the game has gone through many phases for sure. One tamriel-ish was probably when the game felt the most alive to me. Even morrowind, but the last few years have felt lame. Arcanist was new but it was boring. Chapters have been boring. Blackwood, high isle, and even necrom despite some good changes a long the way, and EA being a overall positive imo. I guess id say update 35 is when things took a turn, but the problems have been piling up over time. Performance is a big one, and an extreme lack of good rewards, earnable in game, and incentive, across the board, is another massive glaring issue, especially for a lot of would be players. I am a solo pvper first but i do everything in the game, so i see all of these issues. Zos does a lot of good things but they do a lot of bad things as well, and the bad seem to outweigh the good these last few years. They also let issues drag on, and take years to improve (if ever like performance). They would do well to mimic some things other similar mmos do, like guild wars 2, especially with class identity. But as a pvper that likes to theory craft and play solo the hybridization change hit hard. It just makes things feel a lot more boring and stale. Zos has been trying to dumb things down for a looooong time. Removing animation canceling from many skills, messing with cast times on ults, messing with combat in general, stupid proc sets, oakensoul, aracnist, and hyrbrid changes. Its not what makes a good game. Eso was already one of the most casual friendly main stream mmos out, next to GW2. A good game can be casual friendly while also rewarding players for trying hard or putting in time/effort, and giving incentive for players to do so, but THAT is where eso fails most. Incentive to improve, proper rewards, and performance.
I’ve been playing where I can go pure magicka (aside from vigor). Works out easily for most classes with 9/10 skills costing magicka. Hybridization only really ruined Stamina identity by forcing them to lean into more magicka skills. Which in turn, makes magicka characters feel less unique
That’s why I quit the game. All the reasons are in your video. Once the hybridisation process started I got bored with the game and was forced to run build I don’t enjoy. I can’t bring myself to run vigor on every class…
I think the best solution to make things fresh again is to 1. Buff all these old sets, some of the early sets even from launch, example make sets like galerions revenge maybe proc on 3 or 4 LA or a set like ysgramors birthright increase frost damage by 450, and increase chill duration by x seconds ect....2. If you're gonna hybridize everything, I think what they need to do is give each class something they all excel at. Most classes do have something they do better than others, but I think they really need to emphasize the STRENGTHS of classes and the WEAKNESSES of classes. 3. Buff some of the other areas sets. The vatstran duel wields are ass, do something better.
Big changes =/= a lot of changes. They just do these big swing changes where they adjust all things within a certain category (all procs, all dots, etc) and then they may or may not ping pong back. Instead of looking at everything individually they have this lazy approach to apply their "balance" to the whole column (insert spreadsheet meme). They need to tweak skills and sets in small increments over multiple patches so we don't get the situation where Necromancer finds itself in. Now we actually need complete overhauls.
I was saying this for ages and people I played with disagreed with me or thought I was overreacting to the changes. But I thought both pvp and pve would suffer this fate. To me it was like halving the amount of classes there were in the game. no more stam and mag, you just are a dk or you are a necro etc..... no change really.
ZOS should probably work on the scaling again so the attributes actually matter again. Not completely return to the old format but maybe one atribute has worse scaling than the other. And they should probably reduce the amount of heals you can stack so that the players aren't so tanky and maybereduce resistances with battle spirit. And finaly after that they should nerf the current meta maybe These are just my thoughts on the game meta as a non pro player who doesn't have a great idea about what he is talking about so what do you think? Btw you are one of the most real eso ytbers out there
I'd choose no combat changes at all over the "balancing" that we were given within the last 2 years. I don't particularly enjoy stale game, but I honestly cannot name one combat change since u35 that was even remotely good...
before the hybridization things happened, I was already not playing eso as much. this whole weird ass meta put the nail in the coffin for me. even when my main class magdk is very strong (if you can even call it magdk) it still feels extremely unrewarding to pvp in this game and boring cuz of the amount of copy paste builds
@@randconfig8626 while I am very glad that you are enjoying this game, last time I played the game (pvp wise) playing anything thats off meta will put you at a huge disadvantage because of how strong the current meta sets are and how many people are using them, which makes playing the game extremely unfun at an average level. I dont really think the problem here is people wanting to chase meta. like what was discussed in this vid, people want to FEEL their class again. hybridization completely removed that feeling of class identity. even when its a general thing like magicka vs stamina. those 2 semi-subclasses had advantages and disadvantages over the other subclass. but now you can just play a "magdk" and just slap vigor on it. or play a "stamdk" and run coagulating blood with 0 drawbacks. It's simply too late for the game to have such a strong switch in builds and combat considering they had the same magicka/stamina subclass system for years.
This is frustrating. I was immediately suspicious when they proposed this a year ago. Haven't touched the game since, and it seems that was the right choice.
I started at launch and quit after 3 years and around 3000 hours playing because the game became stale. At least back then there were 3 styles (stamina, magic, and high health) to choose from. Now it seems there's only 1 style that is an optimized hybrid setup. I was thinking about playing again but not if the meta is this boring 😡
One of the most fun things to do in endgame was creating „new“ different builds, but putting effort, time and thoughts into something just being still weaker then a combo of proc sets is disappointing.
How tanky the meta is also doesn't help the build diversity. Making so many sets redundant and resorting to cheesy proc sets like ashen grip, red mountain, scaveging demise etc. Though your Magsorc doesn't need these cheesy proc sets and many nightblades run sets like shattered fate and wretched vitality, which is a breath of fresh air. I do miss the days where build without any proc sets at all were more than viable. But while the tank meta stays, im afraid the proc sets are needed.
I personally don't think ZOS hybridized everything to make the game 'better". If you listen to the "between" sentences from ZOS this whole time, they basically didn't have room in game to add the Arcanist Class. So they asked thier engineers to figure out room in game and that was same year game got majorly hybridized. Then a second year later after developing it we finally get Arcanist. This is all in thier assorted interviews on the topic of Hybrid + Arcanist. So I ask.... Was it worth it? Is the Arcanist better than having identity?
So fucking true. Hybrid gameplay is why I left the game. I understand why they thought it would be good and it did simplify many things. However it destroyed over half of the build diversity in the game. True hybrid builds are not a thing and only a meme that casual landscape andy's enjoy. Now everyone both mag and stam use the same fucking sets, and also sustain is a joke! Since you just need to take a opposite morph of an ability or two for your off resource pool and boom no resource issues on any class except MAYBE mag dk.
As a solution to your problem with proc sets and hybrid builds - why not gear yourself towards playing more in no cp IC / cyrodiil? Experiment with no proc no cp builds - with your following/influence you might even breathe new life into those underpopulated areas. Currently no cp ic on the EU server is dominated by a certain guild farming gold, if it was more diverse like cp IC they wouldn't be able to operate there so easily and it would bring balance back to the game. Happy new year and thank you for the amazing videos and channel:)
this is sad af but what would be the solution to that? Simply nerfing Wrath of Elements or Stinging Slashes etc isnt rly the solution to anything, Imo they should add the new ways of "competing with" and countering that particular way of builds, like okay let them have their dots and mindless pressure but at the same time they should be more vulnerable to something else and every class and playstyle should have weakness, unfortunetly tho now we have fast tanks with powerfull sustain and even more powerfull damage potency the only diffrence is that diffrent classes have diffrent coloured and animated skills xD but almost everyone does the same thing
Nerfing those sets is indeed not the solution, but it just adds up to the homogenization when you don't need a class toolkit to deal damage (look at arcanist proc builds for example). The solutions in my opinion are reversing the hybridization & homogenization, reducing the amount of HoTs, health scaling heals and cross healing and giving classes more identity through their skills and passives.
Sadge. And then you add balance issues on top and now its beyond playing at a disadvantage nowadays. Certain shitty classes require certain broken things just to make it even somewhat viable.
Hey schön dich man in cyro zu sehen (gestern im AD) machst echt gut schaden ☺️ aber ich mach mit denn selben Gear kaum schaden obwohl ich alles gleich wie du hast 😢
I wish I could have told the devs personally that this boring, stale, everything the same meta will be the result, when they announced hybridization. Oh wait…I did tell them.
I cant agree with you more, on every single point made. That's another part of this broken heal/ tank meta as well. The fact that max stat is useless as well also is an issue. A cool idea is to make the heals scale off their respected stat. So vigor will still heal on a mag class but not nearly as much as soemone whos stacking max stam. This also makes the players have choice, do you want max hp and wep dmg well then your healing is going to be bad, so it makes max stat viable. Also proc sets should scale exclusively off max stack. They need to take this hybridization and dial it back. But they need do nerf the tank heal meta carefully. bc damage is so high that if they take out vamp then nerf healing but leave the hp at 40k and proc sets as is then people will turn into paper. But I think the community as a whole wants to return to the 1.6-1.8 days when people died if they didn't time their roll dodges and kept buffs up. The game right now is on its last leg with regards to pvp unless they do something, but to be honest I think they want pvp to die off because it's one less thing they have to work on, and we all know once TES 6 comes out ESO is going on maintance bc the game right now is just a giant cash grab.
to add to my own comment a perfect example of ZoS not giving af is with the arcanist, that class is solely built around this garbage meta. Rewards high HP stacking, and relies on vate and master dw to get kills, otherwise, it would have no kill potential. its gross
ZoS gutted my Bow 2h dk. I use to be able to 1vX easily against players rocking the old hundings blood spawn, now I barely can win a 1v1 in a full meta-speced out class. If i even try to go bow and 2h on dk I get killed before I even log into pvp lol. The pvp in this game is a battle of procs, not class or skill. The devs don't care though, they'll make their money off crown crates and that's all they care about.
@@liekosdawn bow is only good if you spam snipe, as a back bar destro and dw are just leave above it. Bow as a back bar has 1 purpose and thats to get major expo, but most classes will run rat bc it’s just a broken skill. Dw gives you access the arguably the best & ult blade cloak, ice staff with ele succ gives you the best fracture and tankiness. Now you get injection if you want to slot a bad dot😂 I played bow 2h dk since the launch of this game and I can say bow has one use and that’s to snipe spam outside of that you gimp yourself if you go bow. It’s fun af to play with that classic style but you get rolled over by anyone rocking the proc cheese bc you have zero defense or utility with a bow back bar.
Seeing how some of the strongest sets in the game are purely stat- and/or utility based sets (especially in small-scale or medium scale settings for pvp) , I´d kinda disagree that we´re in a proc-meta at the moment. Yes the game is stale and nothing has really changed in over 2+ years and with hybridization that´s why everyone runs the same stuff. Compared to earlier proc-metas (markarth for example) we´re nowhere near a "proc-meta".
This is so true. The hybidization is terrible. It killed all class identidy, and everyone cheeses the same three builds regardless of class, be it PVP or PVE. The game has never been this stale, and never this empty. :(
Everything is standartized. Skills costs, dot timers and dps, set bonuses etc. Everything is different colour of each other. It kills the role playing as there are no roles.
Like many others in these comments, you misunderstand the meaning of RP. YOU give the character their "role", not the game. Want to be a paladin? Okay, RP as a paladin. Don't expect the game to give it to you. Make the role.
Hybridization means everyone runs the same crap on every class mag or stam no more uniqueness zos has killed a lot i used to like about eso i hardly log in anymore.eso is just boring and the only espouser it gets is the 1vX pvp streamers which zos haste pvp. eso is in maintenance mode the lack of class updates item updates nerfs ect. has been alarming.
Seriously ZoS just straight up goofed with hybridization. "Play how you want like a traditional Elder Scrolls game" is what the sold us but in reality you are playing like Skyrim. You have the option of all these builds but you eventually end up playing the META. Like we all know the meme of Skyrim sneak archer you are gonna try something new and before you know it you made another sneak archer. That is what ESO is at and no ZoS and all of the ZoS defenders this is not like a "traditional Elder Scrolls game" cause you go back to just one game from Skyrim to Oblivion and you see Oblivion had stats that effected one specific thing. Yes in Oblivion you could be a heavily armored knight that uses spells but you wouldn't be good at it only able to cast low level spells and having to wait forever to recover your magicka and vise versa you could be a mage who sues a giant warhammer but you wouldn't have the strength to deal much damage nor the stamina to use it often cause back then even regular attacks cost stamina and you couldn't make up the difference with enchanting cause Oblivion's enchanting is no where near as OP as it is in Skyrim. Yes I know Oblivion's leveling system is jank and you could cheese it to get 90 to 100 in all stats but my point stands that the further you go back the more limited you where in build choices which lead to more creative ways to make builds cause you had to factor in strengths and weaknesses which also lead to MORE RE-PLAYABILITY. In Oblivion I had multiple save files each one a totally different build, in Skyrim I just had one for the longest time cause I didn't see the point of making another save for a build that was gonna play the same then I got ordinator mod that overhauls the entire perk system in Skyrim making it more like a RPG system and oh boy that made me wanna play Skyrim again with different builds. I am just ranting at this point and gonna end it with a saying..... "Limitation breeds creativity". ESO needs to have limitation again not just for the sake of build diversity but also for the sake of balance.
"Eventually playing the meta" is a personal issue. Playing the meta is ENTIRELY up to you. That decision is COMPLETELY up to you. Play a build because you think it's fun. If you think being the most effective is fun, then get used to the meta; That's what the meta IS, FFS.
@@spankyjeffro5320 No not really. Wanna pvp gotta play the meta, wanna do trials gotta play the meta, wanna do arenas gotta play the meta, wanna do vet dlc dungeons gotta play the meta. The only part of the game that is "play how you want" is the solo questing part everything asides from that is play the meta or get frustrated cause your build is no where near as competent as the meta cause hybridization has throw balance out the window. Hybridization has destroyed build diversity and overall balance.
It's why I quit after playing for six years day in, day out. When I can't play a role in a role-playing game, there's no point.
Well said
Its so true and it takes the joy out of theorycrafting and playing off meta builds. Coming back to this game after a break and meta feels so incredibly stale. Theres literally 1 build for pvp regardless of class. It used to be such a varied and interesting class ecosystem of rock paper scissors.
Yes like one set give a weakness against a element and anotherone another weakness
Really great video. You speak about what plagues PvP especially. PvEr dont mind having to not farm gear over and over again. The satisfaction in PvE comes from mastering the game mechanics and getting the rotation down perfectly. PvP need diversity to keep battles challenging and fun. Its the chasing the most optimal over and over thats interesting. Having the same build evefyone has to run for ages takes away a lot of fun.
Always agreed with the sentiments you presented in this video.
Whatever zenimax do, I strongly believe the game should return to a burst meta, where your survivability required skill and intuition of when to dodge, block or ward… not stack resistance + HoTs to counter the countless DoTs. There is no skill or fun in this DoT meta.
For example, I miss the days where you were actually concerned about a DK landing a big dizzy swing, into a leap + execute, so you’d block and dodge, etc… now there is no skill as DKs just rending slash with Master DW, Vateshran Destro, Dragons Appetite, stack their DoTs, etc. and the only ‘counter’ is run and heal.
EXACTLY! I played bow 2h dk from 2015 to 2018 and for 3 years I could 1vX without issue, crit rush, dswing, leap, dead it was an effective combo but easy af to counter with some game sense but now you just die to dots and have to stack massive mitigation with hots. The tank meta with the 40k, the amount of armor and dr you can stack ON TOP OF VAMP also means that unless you do run the dot cheese you can’t kill anyone with burst bc the only class that has burst left is nb bc bow is broken. You nerf the dots and you can’t kill anyone anymore bc of the tank meta. So they need to nerf the proc dots, while also capping max hp and nerfing vampire. These 3 simple fixes would fix eso. Oh that and nerf cross healing, which cross healing needs to be removed healing in eso is the most unskillful playstyle ever to exist in a video game it’s so cringy.
But with everything I said above they’ll just milk to poor souls that buy crown crates bc that’s all they give af about. Putting together garbage cosmetics to sell instead of making them rewards for skillful players. The game is going on maintenance once tes 6 launchers so it’s basically dead anyways just slugging along while the devs try to milk a malnutrition cow that has no more milk left to offer
I am so glad you made this video. I have been complaining about this for a year now and I quit the game a few months ago for that reason. Not only build diversity is at an all time low but devs don't reward builds that dive deep in an archetype (For example a shock mage). Look how long it took them to hear the demands for decent frost dmg. That is cause players want to be able to dive deep in one archetype like the frost mage. And it became very popular because the demand was high! Dark convergence is an amazing set as it allows you to build around dark magic. We need more sets like these that encourage players to dive deep in their class even in pvp. The problem in eso class design is that trees are vey limited (5 skills only) and the morphs have little difference most of the time. Even skills within a tree have little difference (look at warden healing tree, all HOTS and the frost ultimate is similar as the destro staff one). All in all, you end up with very low diversity and flavour.
I know the feeling man. I am a DK and I have a health recovery build. Played to my strength of being a brawler outlasting others through high heath recovery and what does ZoS do? Completely destroy health recovery cause they added a totally busted CP perk in CP 2.0.
Like I don't want to be another DK spamming whip and armor but it sure as hell feel like I have to just to even make a dent in other players health in pvp. So much for "play how you want".
Thanks for the video, for some time now I’ve been trying to explain why Hybridization never met it’s intended goal of increasing diversity by including new skills in build design, and this summarized it perfectly.
While the meta is clear and concise, there becomes only ONE option for everyone, where at least with Stamina and Magicka builds, there were two options.
I'm happy i don't have to change my build every week
Probably tough for developers to hear, but absolutely the truth. The level of combat updates is basically zero now and has been for quite some time. When things get stale, experimentation lowers and testing hones in on a specific optimized setup, the dreaded “meta” setup. It’s really tough to see PvP headed toward meta builds, but with a lack of changes, this happens naturally.
Couple the above with class sets and the problem gets worse. We need more options, not less.
We are headed in the wrong direction with ESO, and I hope someone at ZOS takes note of the several PVP content creators that have left the game. It is for a reason. 😢
Yes!!!, This is exactly what I've been telling my friends and Family for months when they ask me why I don't play this game very much anymore, It really does make it feel bland, and I don't find myself having fun anymore :(
Thank you for making a video about this. Agree 1000%
While hybridization itself is not a bad concept, the half-arsed and unfinished implementation that they have done in ESO is exactly what has caused it to have such a negative effect on the game.
Things such as:
- Sorc/NB and DK/Plar should not be sharing the same "unique" minor buffs that they provide groups. All 4 of these classes should bring a unique buff of their own that is different from the other classes.
- Stuff still not being fully hybridized such as mundus stones and potions doesn't help either.
These things definitely combine with the current stale meta with seemingly no real change in the future has driven a lot of players away from the game.
The other reason is the current power gap between the top and bottom classes being the largest it has ever been. Technically, yes, all classes can perform well enough with the "meta" proc builds, but for the bottom classes, they have nothing outside of that 1 build. This adds to the staleness of the meta since that's already the most common build, but where as in the past you would still see random other builds pop up on the weaker classes because those classes had the option to try those, now you don't see that because the gap between the bottom 3 classes without that specific build and the top 4 classes is just that much and has been left this way for far too long.
Game is just mindless pressure spam now, most fights just boil down to who's build can output the most pressure most consistently
Could not have said it better, the class identity has gone out and proc identity has come in.
Part of hybridization was nerfing class skills and making the skills from the weapon and guild skill lines (the ones available to every class) the better skills, generally speaking. Look at the many, many nerfs that Warden trees got until resto ulti is now just an objectively better skill in the vast majority of PvP healing scenarios.
I have a vampire heavy attack build and i freakin love it and i'm never giving it up for the sake of dps efficiency. What's the point of playing if it's not for fun?
Yep its reality , over 900h playing decided not to follow meta build , bg was fun until a point ,cyrodiil i was expecting ,,ok its gona be hard very hard but not like this... cant have fun cant train cause death instant xd onli when I meet a person like me i kill it and then i fell bad cause maybe hes a pve player questing or idk , i hope things may go better in future atm im gona be more on pve try to enjoy the game and my awsome guild members, they may be onli thing keeping me in eso .. thx for the video and making me not be the onli one thinking of eso like in the video what you said.
Sad to see this happen to my precious eso. 😢
I don't think hybridization is the problem. The real problem are:
1. Skill pools for class are stale. Non new skill on ages.
2. Element weakness is non-existent except with dungeon and trial big bosses. No way José! How the hell can you run a fire dungeon like City of Ash using FIRE STAFF, or run a lightning trial like Kynes Aegis using LIGHT STAFF? That's ilogical! If TESO was a really well designed game u should change ur whole set up to run a fire, lightning, ice, venom/disease, melee or oblivion/dark magic dungeon or trial. ALL THINGS THERE from mobs to bosses should get zero damage from their own elemental. But run all with the same meta set up is A JOKE!
3. Majority of sets are just the same set with differente numbers [spell damage, crit, recovery, plain mag/stam]. And the few set with special qualities or habilities inmediatly get nerferd like Unfatomable Darkness, Thunderbug Capparace, Sheer Venom or Snake in the Stars for example. Sorry but Mara's non was a special set it was a cheater set with a bad design from the beggining, it nerf was right.
4. The fucking TESO hate for bows. My gosh. That 20% of chance to apply a poison with a bow shoot is for kindegarten games. That's a bow from ancient times: the way to kill somebody with poison or magik arrows. If u don´t want one shoot kills avoid archer get invisiblity, make the bows heavier or stamina demanding, make bowmen weaker to elements, etc, but no cripple the whole weapon.
5. Spell crafting is oudated. If all the sets are the same copycat from each other the way to give personality to each class is free glyph crafting for each class: mages, arcanist and wardens more power magik glyphs; templar, dragonknight and nightblade more meele/stam glyphs; necromancer more powerful oblivion damage and poison/vemon glyphs.
If you promote hybridization PROMOTE A REAL HYBRIDIZATION. Non a crippled hybridization like today. But the Hyrbidization must be inside each class. Today all mages are the same, all templars are the same, all arcanist ─the last class realeased─ are the same thing in just six months. When you can make a tier list just separating clases between magika or stamina that mean HYBRIDIZATION is not real. Except for unkillable TANKS or One shoot Bombers on Cyrodill 99% gamers play the same set up really.
The actual TESO hybridization IS JUST A HUGE SCAM.
tbf vigor and race against time i don't really have a problem with. the issue is the lack of set variety. Also metas like these create so many issues, think back YEARS ago to the fury bone pirate meta, that wasn't bad because the build was pretty much just all damage focused, you could still gank, you could still run different sets for different results that might be better in some departments. Whereas rn its like when one tamriel first dropped and we had viper tremor black rose, this wotf maarselok master dw vate meta is just a king of all trades build, there is absolutely 0 incentive whatsoever to even try anything different because this build heals for so much, does SO much damage in comparison to any other setup, is WAY more tanky, has WAY better sustain. whats the point in theorycrafting a fun build when it gets completely outperformed in every aspect by a setup that takes very minimal skill to run
it also KILLED class identity. i fell in love with magblade and magsorc because of their playstyles, OG magblade destro/resto with heal cloak using its healing as a means to stay alive rather than it's mobility like stamblade with invis cloak. it played entirely differently offensively too, where stamnb would be short burst fights magblade would apply ele drain, swallow souls etc and pressure until a burst opportunity appeared which also impacted it's state in the meta, it was horrendous for open world but dominant in duels
same as mag sorc, it went from shield stacking glass cannon that got annihilated the second their shields dropped to just a copy paste stack 30 hots and an absurdly high health pool with power creep
the 2 highest skill ceiling classes in the game gutted from a gameplay perspective, design perspective and identity perspective. there isn't a single playstyle like those 2 in this game anymore and there wont be for the foreseeable future. But hey at least now i can log onto my "mag nb" with way of the fire and master dw vate backbar, or i could log onto my "stam necro" with way of the fire and master dw vate backbar, or my "mag sorc" with way of the fire and master dw vate backbar...im sensing a pattern here
It's not about continous meta changing, it's 100% about classes not playing unique anymore. Hybridization like you said destroyed unique playstyles.
Thank Gilliam for hybridizations and homogenization it’s something he wanted before he even became a dev.
I was so confused when I returned to ESO from a 3 year break. I had no idea about the hybridization of skills and gear. I went into a battlegrounds and got one shot by an arcanist with almost 44k health. I had to do research to figure out how you could build a character for high health but still dish out enough damage to compete with full Magicka attribute point builds. Once again ZoS has made a change that is the exact opposite of balance.
I remember the good old days when playing a hybrid build was a sign of true skill . Understanding the game nowadays , it just feels like you play hybrid, or your damage sucks😅
Excellent points.
in my opinion class matters more than sets in PVP. I only got 3 class DK, templar, and necro..with the same setup I got avarage 10-15 kills and 0-2 deaths on my DK and templar on BG. but with necro I got 0-2 kills and 0-10 death.
the hybrid style is what kills my interest in ESO next to a few other factors, like limited skill bar on top of class diversity feeling more like a skin difference than actual ability difference.
omg so nice, thank you malcom =)
Whats annoying me now is everyone is running these high health builds and still being able to kill me with high burst dmg and the worst part is I can't seem to mimick the builds I have no clue what they r using..
When I came back years ago I was surprised what happened to the game especially with skills and initially I even thought it was cool. Then I got to the part where it became stale because every build both pve and pvp has become the same, it just became one size fits all type of thing, there is no more creativity. I used to run sets long ago that actually altered to a hybrid setup of a class because of how badly it needs some of the other skills, the set was called Pelinals Aptitude, then sets like Shacklebreaker was sorta standard for pvp because of how simple it was and just gave you an overall boost, it was meta for sure but it wasn't the one size for everyone, it was more like, if you don't have any idea this could fit in temporarily until you find a better alternative. This hybridization just killed the idea of having multiple character for the same class because there is no longer stamina or Magicka variants then they even made it even more convenient by adding a wardrobe system to make it easier to swap builds. Whatever it is they are cooking at ZOS they should stop because the game is just going linearly and class sets won't separate each class when hybridization made everyone into one class.
ya ive felt this way for a long time now. And im not alone. Idk what it is but for me and a lot of people i know eso just doesnt feel the same. I wish i could pin point when it happened, the game has gone through many phases for sure. One tamriel-ish was probably when the game felt the most alive to me. Even morrowind, but the last few years have felt lame. Arcanist was new but it was boring. Chapters have been boring. Blackwood, high isle, and even necrom despite some good changes a long the way, and EA being a overall positive imo. I guess id say update 35 is when things took a turn, but the problems have been piling up over time. Performance is a big one, and an extreme lack of good rewards, earnable in game, and incentive, across the board, is another massive glaring issue, especially for a lot of would be players.
I am a solo pvper first but i do everything in the game, so i see all of these issues. Zos does a lot of good things but they do a lot of bad things as well, and the bad seem to outweigh the good these last few years. They also let issues drag on, and take years to improve (if ever like performance). They would do well to mimic some things other similar mmos do, like guild wars 2, especially with class identity.
But as a pvper that likes to theory craft and play solo the hybridization change hit hard. It just makes things feel a lot more boring and stale. Zos has been trying to dumb things down for a looooong time. Removing animation canceling from many skills, messing with cast times on ults, messing with combat in general, stupid proc sets, oakensoul, aracnist, and hyrbrid changes. Its not what makes a good game. Eso was already one of the most casual friendly main stream mmos out, next to GW2. A good game can be casual friendly while also rewarding players for trying hard or putting in time/effort, and giving incentive for players to do so, but THAT is where eso fails most. Incentive to improve, proper rewards, and performance.
When will ZOS nerf undeath passive so I don't have to be Vamp 3?
I’ve been playing where I can go pure magicka (aside from vigor). Works out easily for most classes with 9/10 skills costing magicka. Hybridization only really ruined Stamina identity by forcing them to lean into more magicka skills. Which in turn, makes magicka characters feel less unique
Completely agree. Well said.
That’s why I quit the game. All the reasons are in your video. Once the hybridisation process started I got bored with the game and was forced to run build I don’t enjoy. I can’t bring myself to run vigor on every class…
I think the best solution to make things fresh again is to 1. Buff all these old sets, some of the early sets even from launch, example make sets like galerions revenge maybe proc on 3 or 4 LA or a set like ysgramors birthright increase frost damage by 450, and increase chill duration by x seconds ect....2. If you're gonna hybridize everything, I think what they need to do is give each class something they all excel at. Most classes do have something they do better than others, but I think they really need to emphasize the STRENGTHS of classes and the WEAKNESSES of classes. 3. Buff some of the other areas sets. The vatstran duel wields are ass, do something better.
Big changes =/= a lot of changes.
They just do these big swing changes where they adjust all things within a certain category (all procs, all dots, etc) and then they may or may not ping pong back.
Instead of looking at everything individually they have this lazy approach to apply their "balance" to the whole column (insert spreadsheet meme). They need to tweak skills and sets in small increments over multiple patches so we don't get the situation where Necromancer finds itself in. Now we actually need complete overhauls.
True and sad words about this game!
I was saying this for ages and people I played with disagreed with me or thought I was overreacting to the changes. But I thought both pvp and pve would suffer this fate. To me it was like halving the amount of classes there were in the game. no more stam and mag, you just are a dk or you are a necro etc..... no change really.
ZOS should probably work on the scaling again so the attributes actually matter again. Not completely return to the old format but maybe one atribute has worse scaling than the other. And they should probably reduce the amount of heals you can stack so that the players aren't so tanky and maybereduce resistances with battle spirit. And finaly after that they should nerf the current meta maybe
These are just my thoughts on the game meta as a non pro player who doesn't have a great idea about what he is talking about so what do you think?
Btw you are one of the most real eso ytbers out there
I'd choose no combat changes at all over the "balancing" that we were given within the last 2 years. I don't particularly enjoy stale game, but I honestly cannot name one combat change since u35 that was even remotely good...
before the hybridization things happened, I was already not playing eso as much. this whole weird ass meta put the nail in the coffin for me. even when my main class magdk is very strong (if you can even call it magdk) it still feels extremely unrewarding to pvp in this game and boring cuz of the amount of copy paste builds
True words, and I understand you leaving it
@@randconfig8626 while I am very glad that you are enjoying this game, last time I played the game (pvp wise) playing anything thats off meta will put you at a huge disadvantage because of how strong the current meta sets are and how many people are using them, which makes playing the game extremely unfun at an average level.
I dont really think the problem here is people wanting to chase meta. like what was discussed in this vid, people want to FEEL their class again. hybridization completely removed that feeling of class identity. even when its a general thing like magicka vs stamina. those 2 semi-subclasses had advantages and disadvantages over the other subclass. but now you can just play a "magdk" and just slap vigor on it. or play a "stamdk" and run coagulating blood with 0 drawbacks.
It's simply too late for the game to have such a strong switch in builds and combat considering they had the same magicka/stamina subclass system for years.
This is frustrating. I was immediately suspicious when they proposed this a year ago. Haven't touched the game since, and it seems that was the right choice.
Totally agree. They ruined the game more
completely agree - PvP got boring this year.
i really miss my old build 😢
I started at launch and quit after 3 years and around 3000 hours playing because the game became stale. At least back then there were 3 styles (stamina, magic, and high health) to choose from. Now it seems there's only 1 style that is an optimized hybrid setup. I was thinking about playing again but not if the meta is this boring 😡
Why is everyone commenting like the game hasn’t been trash for 6 years. Bugs performance “updates” 😂
One of the most fun things to do in endgame was creating „new“ different builds, but putting effort, time and thoughts into something just being still weaker then a combo of proc sets is disappointing.
How tanky the meta is also doesn't help the build diversity. Making so many sets redundant and resorting to cheesy proc sets like ashen grip, red mountain, scaveging demise etc.
Though your Magsorc doesn't need these cheesy proc sets and many nightblades run sets like shattered fate and wretched vitality, which is a breath of fresh air.
I do miss the days where build without any proc sets at all were more than viable. But while the tank meta stays, im afraid the proc sets are needed.
It's sad to say but suddenly classic Mag stacking magsorc kinda stands out ... doesn't it XD
ok cool i finally watched it
I personally don't think ZOS hybridized everything to make the game 'better". If you listen to the "between" sentences from ZOS this whole time, they basically didn't have room in game to add the Arcanist Class. So they asked thier engineers to figure out room in game and that was same year game got majorly hybridized. Then a second year later after developing it we finally get Arcanist. This is all in thier assorted interviews on the topic of Hybrid + Arcanist.
So I ask.... Was it worth it? Is the Arcanist better than having identity?
So fucking true. Hybrid gameplay is why I left the game. I understand why they thought it would be good and it did simplify many things. However it destroyed over half of the build diversity in the game. True hybrid builds are not a thing and only a meme that casual landscape andy's enjoy. Now everyone both mag and stam use the same fucking sets, and also sustain is a joke! Since you just need to take a opposite morph of an ability or two for your off resource pool and boom no resource issues on any class except MAYBE mag dk.
As a solution to your problem with proc sets and hybrid builds - why not gear yourself towards playing more in no cp IC / cyrodiil? Experiment with no proc no cp builds - with your following/influence you might even breathe new life into those underpopulated areas. Currently no cp ic on the EU server is dominated by a certain guild farming gold, if it was more diverse like cp IC they wouldn't be able to operate there so easily and it would bring balance back to the game. Happy new year and thank you for the amazing videos and channel:)
Everything is hybrid now. Made many classes dump your points in stam and use all mag heals and vigor.
this is sad af but what would be the solution to that? Simply nerfing Wrath of Elements or Stinging Slashes etc isnt rly the solution to anything, Imo they should add the new ways of "competing with" and countering that particular way of builds, like okay let them have their dots and mindless pressure but at the same time they should be more vulnerable to something else and every class and playstyle should have weakness, unfortunetly tho now we have fast tanks with powerfull sustain and even more powerfull damage potency the only diffrence is that diffrent classes have diffrent coloured and animated skills xD but almost everyone does the same thing
Nerfing those sets is indeed not the solution, but it just adds up to the homogenization when you don't need a class toolkit to deal damage (look at arcanist proc builds for example). The solutions in my opinion are reversing the hybridization & homogenization, reducing the amount of HoTs, health scaling heals and cross healing and giving classes more identity through their skills and passives.
いつもながら驚異的な編集
Thanks!
It is really sad honestly
Very true.
Sadge. And then you add balance issues on top and now its beyond playing at a disadvantage nowadays. Certain shitty classes require certain broken things just to make it even somewhat viable.
Hey schön dich man in cyro zu sehen (gestern im AD) machst echt gut schaden ☺️ aber ich mach mit denn selben Gear kaum schaden obwohl ich alles gleich wie du hast 😢
Мне нравится его немецкий акцент)
It is a Belgian accent
@@ognevkafenella9741 близко)
I'm out too again. Pvp gone broken more and more and mad bugs since years.
I was never a huge fan of this whole hybridization. I mean yeah it’s cool that you can „play however you want” but it went too far imo
This is so true
accurate
I wish I could have told the devs personally that this boring, stale, everything the same meta will be the result, when they announced hybridization. Oh wait…I did tell them.
True, the game was good, but the system is just fucked. I guess I won't come back anymore.
I cant agree with you more, on every single point made. That's another part of this broken heal/ tank meta as well. The fact that max stat is useless as well also is an issue. A cool idea is to make the heals scale off their respected stat. So vigor will still heal on a mag class but not nearly as much as soemone whos stacking max stam. This also makes the players have choice, do you want max hp and wep dmg well then your healing is going to be bad, so it makes max stat viable. Also proc sets should scale exclusively off max stack. They need to take this hybridization and dial it back. But they need do nerf the tank heal meta carefully. bc damage is so high that if they take out vamp then nerf healing but leave the hp at 40k and proc sets as is then people will turn into paper. But I think the community as a whole wants to return to the 1.6-1.8 days when people died if they didn't time their roll dodges and kept buffs up. The game right now is on its last leg with regards to pvp unless they do something, but to be honest I think they want pvp to die off because it's one less thing they have to work on, and we all know once TES 6 comes out ESO is going on maintance bc the game right now is just a giant cash grab.
to add to my own comment a perfect example of ZoS not giving af is with the arcanist, that class is solely built around this garbage meta. Rewards high HP stacking, and relies on vate and master dw to get kills, otherwise, it would have no kill potential. its gross
ZoS gutted my Bow 2h dk. I use to be able to 1vX easily against players rocking the old hundings blood spawn, now I barely can win a 1v1 in a full meta-speced out class. If i even try to go bow and 2h on dk I get killed before I even log into pvp lol. The pvp in this game is a battle of procs, not class or skill. The devs don't care though, they'll make their money off crown crates and that's all they care about.
Bow 2h is still strong, it’s all I use... takes a bit more skill, but that’s why I like it
@@liekosdawn bow is only good if you spam snipe, as a back bar destro and dw are just leave above it. Bow as a back bar has 1 purpose and thats to get major expo, but most classes will run rat bc it’s just a broken skill. Dw gives you access the arguably the best & ult blade cloak, ice staff with ele succ gives you the best fracture and tankiness. Now you get injection if you want to slot a bad dot😂 I played bow 2h dk since the launch of this game and I can say bow has one use and that’s to snipe spam outside of that you gimp yourself if you go bow. It’s fun af to play with that classic style but you get rolled over by anyone rocking the proc cheese bc you have zero defense or utility with a bow back bar.
Seeing how some of the strongest sets in the game are purely stat- and/or utility based sets (especially in small-scale or medium scale settings for pvp) , I´d kinda disagree that we´re in a proc-meta at the moment. Yes the game is stale and nothing has really changed in over 2+ years and with hybridization that´s why everyone runs the same stuff. Compared to earlier proc-metas (markarth for example) we´re nowhere near a "proc-meta".
it's time to move on, Malcolm. let it go.
Skillplay in cyro is unfortunately at an all time low. Welcome to elder sets online.
So true
Easy fix add 4 morphs to all the fuckn skills
This is so true. The hybidization is terrible. It killed all class identidy, and everyone cheeses the same three builds regardless of class, be it PVP or PVE. The game has never been this stale, and never this empty. :(
Everything is standartized. Skills costs, dot timers and dps, set bonuses etc. Everything is different colour of each other. It kills the role playing as there are no roles.
Like many others in these comments, you misunderstand the meaning of RP. YOU give the character their "role", not the game. Want to be a paladin? Okay, RP as a paladin. Don't expect the game to give it to you. Make the role.
Real
Real comment
Use to be the player not the gear in this game, hybridization watered the game down to an unbelievable level.
they made this game even more shit
It became a very boring stale meta, it’s sad
Hybridization means everyone runs the same crap on every class mag or stam no more uniqueness zos has killed a lot i used to like about eso i hardly log in anymore.eso is just boring and the only espouser it gets is the 1vX pvp streamers which zos haste pvp.
eso is in maintenance mode the lack of class updates item updates nerfs ect. has been alarming.
🫡
Remove all proc sets and cross healing from pvp and it would be a much better experience
ESO is literally the most braindead "MMORPG" out there...and the playerbase embraces mediocrity like nothing ive ever seen in other real mmorpgs.
Seriously ZoS just straight up goofed with hybridization. "Play how you want like a traditional Elder Scrolls game" is what the sold us but in reality you are playing like Skyrim. You have the option of all these builds but you eventually end up playing the META. Like we all know the meme of Skyrim sneak archer you are gonna try something new and before you know it you made another sneak archer.
That is what ESO is at and no ZoS and all of the ZoS defenders this is not like a "traditional Elder Scrolls game" cause you go back to just one game from Skyrim to Oblivion and you see Oblivion had stats that effected one specific thing. Yes in Oblivion you could be a heavily armored knight that uses spells but you wouldn't be good at it only able to cast low level spells and having to wait forever to recover your magicka and vise versa you could be a mage who sues a giant warhammer but you wouldn't have the strength to deal much damage nor the stamina to use it often cause back then even regular attacks cost stamina and you couldn't make up the difference with enchanting cause Oblivion's enchanting is no where near as OP as it is in Skyrim.
Yes I know Oblivion's leveling system is jank and you could cheese it to get 90 to 100 in all stats but my point stands that the further you go back the more limited you where in build choices which lead to more creative ways to make builds cause you had to factor in strengths and weaknesses which also lead to MORE RE-PLAYABILITY. In Oblivion I had multiple save files each one a totally different build, in Skyrim I just had one for the longest time cause I didn't see the point of making another save for a build that was gonna play the same then I got ordinator mod that overhauls the entire perk system in Skyrim making it more like a RPG system and oh boy that made me wanna play Skyrim again with different builds.
I am just ranting at this point and gonna end it with a saying..... "Limitation breeds creativity". ESO needs to have limitation again not just for the sake of build diversity but also for the sake of balance.
"Eventually playing the meta" is a personal issue. Playing the meta is ENTIRELY up to you. That decision is COMPLETELY up to you.
Play a build because you think it's fun. If you think being the most effective is fun, then get used to the meta; That's what the meta IS, FFS.
@@spankyjeffro5320 No not really. Wanna pvp gotta play the meta, wanna do trials gotta play the meta, wanna do arenas gotta play the meta, wanna do vet dlc dungeons gotta play the meta. The only part of the game that is "play how you want" is the solo questing part everything asides from that is play the meta or get frustrated cause your build is no where near as competent as the meta cause hybridization has throw balance out the window.
Hybridization has destroyed build diversity and overall balance.