Zenimax Shares Ideas for Addressing Attacks in Elder Scrolls Online

Zenimax has shared some new info on how they’re planning to address combat issues for light and heavy attacks in Elder Scrolls Online.

As outlined in the forum, while players like the freedom the current model offers, the team recognizes issues,

“There are, however, several drawbacks to this model as well. First, it tends to reward players for pushing buttons as quickly and efficiently as possible. Players with high Actions Per Minute (APM) significantly outperform those with low APM, as they have better up-time of abilities, higher mitigation, much higher DPS, and can simply move around the battlefield better in both PVE and PVP.”

The team state they like having a skill gap, but that if that gap is too wide, players simply won’t find it satisfying. To that end, here are the changes they’re making for light and heavy attacks to the PTS during an off-cycle test period:

• Light attacks now restore resources, and resource restore is removed from Heavy attacks.
  • Successive Light attacks grant a stacking resource buff, up to 3 consecutive attacks maxing out the benefit (without weaving abilities).
• Light attack damage is reduced, and Heavy attack damage is increased.
  • Non-fully charged Heavy Attacks (also known as Medium Attacks) now have a scaling amount of damage based on how long you hold the attack (up to a full Heavy, then it counts as a Heavy attack).
• All types of attacks now interact with Off-Balance.
  • Light attacking an Off-Balance target results in even more resource return.
  • Medium attacking an Off-Balance target results in more damage.
  • Heavy attacking an Off-Balance target results in more damage and the stun you are used to.

The team stresses that these changes will never go into the game, and that they’re simply using this to test and gather feedback. You can learn more here.