Currently Damage over times are limited to 1 instance per enemy. so if 10 people all cast something like Skewer it only applies once.
this is noticeable even in 5 man groups with 3 dps. let alone 20 man groups with 16-18 DPS
lets go over the DOT’s in the game and what weapons suffer most from this cap.
Rapier.
- Tondo
Tondo’s 3stack max means bringing any more than 1 rapier heavily diminishes the damage done
by subsequent instances of the weapon
Spear
-
Skewer
Spear is more of an offhand weapon than a mainhand weapon. but having skewer capped to 1 instance means if you bring one mainhand for weaken. noone else can use it offhand. -
Bleeding Sweep
This DOT is very potent when spear is used as a mainhand weapon and can be kept up permanently. but again 1 instance max means brining 2 spears is wasting a considerable portion of spears potential dmg.
Greatsword
- Heavy Bleed
Greatsword is one of the least effected weapons by this DOT cap as while the DOT is rather potent. its still the strongest DPS weapon even without the Heavy Bleed damage.
Bow
-
Poison Shot
Poison shot applys a DOT effect that lasts 20ish seconds.
stack capped at 1. Bow’s already very mediocre pve dmg is lowered even further -
Explosive Arrow
Same as Poison shot. 1 stack -
Rain of Arrows
Same as Poison shot. 1 stack
Blunderbuss
- Net Shot
Blundy has decent PvE dmg. one of the higher ranged weapons. but 1 stack of net shot hurts - Splitting Grenades
3 stacks. can be 3x’d by 1 person
Fire staff
- Singe
5 stacks of a light attack DOT. similar to greatsword. but considering its very low dmg it needs all the help it can get - Fireball
Ground AOE’s are effected by this issue too.
A considerable amount of FS’s dmg comes from dots. probably the highest of all weapons. so stacking anymore than 1 severely negates the weapons potency. [ which is already horrible to begin with] - Burning / Watch it burn
5 stacks max. see Singe
Ice Gauntlet
- Ice Storm
Storm has low uptime and is less effected by the cap due to not the ability to not overlap - Deadly Frost
Ice Showers Armor perk applys a dot that is 1x stack max. - Ice Pylon
This is one of the very few skills that are not effected by the cap despite dealing dmg over x time. as its just a entity that shoots projectiles.
Void Gauntlet
- Desintegrate
This ability is capped at 3x stacks. the DOT and the Rend would need to be separated to allow this DOT to stack without breaking many things - Oblivion
the damage from this skill is limited to 1 instance.
There are some other Misc dots like Runeglass weapon ones that follow the same restrictions.
Along with Keenly Jagged
Bilebomb and Cannon heartrune also suffer from this.
These Limits Heavily Effect Mage and Ranged weapons. with the exception of Spear and Rapier.
even if you buff firestaff dots into oblivion noone is bringing more than 1 due to the DOT limit.
This also renders your 2nd weapon slot virtually irrelevent. as the only Scalable DOT is ice pylon. so you either run ice pylon with 5 int. or you ignore your offhand weapon entirely.
this heavily reduces the game to leftclick spamming then casting an ability when its up. instead of managing dots / buffs.
I entirely understand that uncapping dots would entirely break PvP. but the Healing changes that put taking healing from X ability once per second could be applied to DOT’s applied to players too. this would mitigate the change in PvP mostly while making PvE in this game 10x more enjoyable.
This is a snippet of an Example group comp.
Example Comp
| Mainhand | Offhand | Weight | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MT | SnS | Blundy | Heavy |
| 2 | OT | GS | SNS | Medium |
| 3 | GH | Lifestaff | VG | Light |
| 4 | GH2 / DD0 | VG | IG | Light |
| 5 | DD1 | Spear | Bow | Light |
| 6 | DD2 | GS | Rapier | Light |
| 7 | DD3 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 8 | DD4 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 9 | DD5 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 10 | DD6 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 11 | DD7 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 12 | DD8 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 13 | DD9 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 14 | DD10 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 15 | DD11 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 16 | DD12 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 17 | DD13 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 18 | DD14 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 19 | DD15 | GS | Flex | Light |
| 20 | DD16 | GS | Flex | Light |
This is a group comp that i would consider optimal for an Elite Trial. DPS wise based on this patch’s data. [this assumes 2 tanks are needed. if only 1 is required then i would drop it for a GS flex.
First Lets talk about the Healers and why i would bring what i bring.
Group heal is rather simple. Orb Sacred Beacon. All Focus. Keen beacon on weapon. Primary Healer.
GH2/DD0 VG in group for perfect oblivion uptime. tether for Weaken and Void blade for rend. [ also brings ice pylon and Weakening Gust from ice storm. Mostly a buffbot]
Now lets look the DPS.
You have 1 spear mainhand user for Enfeebling Skewer uptime and bow dots.
that is literally all they do. Rend is already capped via 1 Greatsword and 1 void gauntlet.
Then you just stack DPS with the highest DPS mainhand available to us. Greatsword
You bring one Greatsword that has Rapier offhand.
And every other GS user has no offhand. as all meaningful DOT skills are entirely covered by 3 people.
Even if Firestaff got super buffed. it would still suffer heavily from the fact you can only bring one.
The complete lack of ability to stack dots removes a large amount of meaningful decision making for all but 3-4 people in group.
Uncapping Making Stackmax cap per applier instead of cap per target. would bring some meaningful interactions into fights.
With the Shah-Nashen Elite Trial being New Worlds First steps into the hard PvE pool it would be really disappointing if A large amount of combat depth this game has was reduced to left click spamming for 14/20 group members.
Extra Random stuff that concerns me RE Trials.
-
Instancing. with the amount of Groups on Delos that want to put a 20 stack together and attempt sandworm. it would be a massive shame if it worked like the rest of the trials. and was 1 group per server at a time.
-
PTR. I would really enjoy if Sandworm didn’t hit ptr. and everyone got the opportunity to fight it on live for the first time. [this would require a few High end PvE groups put under NDA and thoroughly test it beforehand] OR if it must hit PTR. have a special PTR for each region. [only giving NA and EU the ability to learn the fight on low ping is highly unfair and would be a mess]
-
Difficulty. i am Optimistic your Content team’s can create an Elite Trial that isn’t killed with 24h of its launch.
-
Loot. After playing ESO for many years at a reasonably high level. i am firmly on the train of give ultra hard content Cosmetic loot as a primary. Ultra hard content is in its self a large incentive to play for many high end Players. the challenge makes the content. so giving loot that Effects PvP environments seems like a bad idea. i would highly rather Titles, and Weapon skins be the Primary loot for Elite Trials going forward. and even into the possibility of fully fledged Raids. [this also reduces the drama surrounding carry’s. as it is a controversial topic in every game]
This is most of what i have to say surrounding Elite Trials. I have A large amount of faith the AGS Team involved with new world are capable of making an Experience worth the wait.
@Luxendra @Kay @Aenwyn
i hope you take my Horribly spellchecked words into consideration.
Thanks for reading to the bottom 