In the fantasy MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online, a small detail of patch 1.1, which has now been deployed on the test server, has caused another shitstorm. AE skills are now only supposed to affect 6 players. Elite PvPers see their enjoyment of the game threatened.
For some, it is a bug fix; for others, it is the downfall of the game. Within hours after the new patch was deployed on the test server, there were already two threads bursting at the seams in the English forum Reddit. In both, especially PvPers complained that a now secretly introduced AE cap was the worst decision of all time. After all, it had already turned Guild Wars 2 into a pure zerg fest and ruined it. Now it would surely also lead to the imminent end of The Elder Scrolls Online.
To provide an example of what exactly the problem is:
Four beats Fifty
In this video, a raid of likely uncoordinated players has taken down the second gate after a siege and is around the unguarded flag of the enemy keep. In the video, a handful of players sneak into the flag room, simultaneously activate their AE skills, and wipe out 10 times the number of enemies in seconds. Had the players’ AE skills been capped, they would have only hit 6 people, and the rest would have likely finished them off in a 44:6 fight.
Zebras or Lions – which side are you on?
If you follow the argument of the loud complainers on Reddit, the 50 players standing there deserve to die, as they are uncoordinated and standing around in a herd-like manner. The nerf would provide them protection from herd behavior – just like fleeing in the wild, which cannot be condoned.
Other forum members argue that it is not very difficult to sneak in there and wipe everything out within 2 seconds. Such a triumph must be earned differently.
ZeniMax evades the question
From ZeniMax’s side, it seems they want to avoid the debate. They say that this is not a problem and not a significant intervention in the balance, as all AE skills are limited to 6 targets, only some “buggy” skills will now be adjusted. A list of which skills this specifically affects will be provided later.
A side aspect of the nerf also affects PvE. Players mainly see the possibility threatened to defeat as many mobs as possible with AE effects, known as bombs. Healers fear that with AE spells they will no longer reach all players, especially since the new patch will also introduce 12-man raids. AE healing that only hits 6 players, of course, worries the healers.
[intense_testimonies]
[intense_testimony]
[intense_testimony_text]Mein-mmo says:
The problem is that the “few” effects that are not affected by the AE cap, which ZeniMax refers to, are crucial. Because those will be utilized by elite PvPers to create such zerg explosions as seen in the video. Whether 99 other abilities are capped doesn’t matter as long as there is the one that can cause such devastating damage.
Each individual’s position on the fix will depend on how one stands on the players’ actions in the video: Should they be able to do that or should they not be able to do that?
That is a question ZeniMax ultimately has to answer. In game design, it is intended that such action can be performed through siege weapons – keyword: burning oil. But just 4 people sneaking in and then launching atomic bombs to end everything in 2 seconds?
This is a general problem in balancing a PvP game. If you want long and balanced battles, in which players also have the opportunity to react to the actions of the opponent, you make such ambush actions impossible. Yet only with such ambushes can small groups blow up larger enemy numbers.
It would definitely now be important to hear a precise statement from ZeniMax regarding the problem: Is this a conscious design decision or not intended?
What do you think? Lions or Zebras?
[/intense_testimony_text][intense_testimony_author image=”https://images.mein-mmo.de/magazin/medien/2014/01/Logo-022.png”][/intense_testimony_author][/intense_testimony][/intense_testimonies]
