The MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) has an action-packed combat system. A fundamental element of this are the light and heavy attacks. The game may now change this fundamentally, and we will reveal what is behind it.
What is the current situation with the attacks in ESO? In The Elder Scrolls Online, the current MMORPG favorite on Twitch, you have the choice between different attacks. You can execute skills and normal attacks with your equipped weapons. These differ into light and heavy attacks.
Light attacks are executed quickly, while heavy attacks need to be charged. In between, there are medium strikes, which are rather rarely used. The heavy attacks deal more damage and regenerate resources.
This system, however, could soon change. Currently, tests are being conducted on the public test server that completely overhaul light and heavy attacks.
The changes turn the attacks upside down
As the ESO team reports in the test server patch notes (via elderscrollsonline.com), they are currently testing a new system. This primarily concerns the light and heavy attacks.
These are the changes to the attacks:
- The light attacks will then deal less damage from now on. In the patch notes, it is mentioned that it could be up to 78%.
- However, they will be responsible for resource recovery.
- After three of these weaker attacks in a row, the effect should be greatest.
- The heavy attacks will no longer regenerate.
- However, they will be granted up to 62% more damage depending on the weapon type.
- Additionally, the “weaving” of heavy attacks should soon be more rewarding due to an additional buff than with light attacks.
What is “weaving” in ESO? In ESO, “weaving” refers to when a player cancels the animations of attacks. To maximize your damage, you should always alternate between light attacks and skills, generating more attacks per minute (APM). This also helps you if you want to solo through dungeons in ESO.
If the light attacks are nerfed and the heavy ones buffed, this could affect the rotation of many players. For some builds, light attacks account for between 15% and 25% of the damage.
On one hand, the damage would suffer, but on the other hand, resources would also be returned through light attacks. To what extent the changes will have an effect remains to be seen.
The ESO team wants to narrow the skill gap
The ESO team justifies the changes being tested by stating that they aim to narrow the skill gap. According to their statement, in ESO, the player who does the most damage is the one who outputs the most APM. This would limit the versatility of gameplay styles:
While we believe that having a skill gap is a good thing, we also fear that it is currently too large […]. We believe that the specification for a specific mechanic (weaving of light attacks) offers little room for individual playstyles, including options for rotations with less APM.
The ESO team via Forum
Now we have to wait and see if the change will be implemented at all. So far, it is only running on the test server. The adjustments we can definitely expect are those that will come with the new addon Greymoor. And that is soon about to be released:
