ZeniMax Online Studio’s Combat Team shares their core philosophies, goals, and planning surrounding the future of ESO’s classes.
As it stands, subclassing is objectively stronger than “pure” classing by a large margin for several reasons. This is mostly caused by the vast differences in individual skill line designs. ESO was not built from launch with subclassing in mind, and the system highlighted issues with the current class skill line design that were not previously a factor but are untenable going forward.
This is a major, comprehensive initiative that will span several updates. We are prioritizing classes that require the most modernization and balance work first. For some classes, this will be an exercise in refinement, for others it will mean a more thorough reconfiguring, and for some classes it may be a mix of both. …
Each class will be addressed one at a time and receive impactful mechanical and balance changes in addition to any needed updates to visuals and audio. … These class-by-class updates will run alongside ongoing support for the game, and timelines may shift as needed.
Source: Developer Deep Dive—ESO’s Class Identity Refresh – The Elder Scrolls Online
Well… wow!
I have many thousands of hours in both ESO and Fallout 76. Once again, I’m struck by how similarly they are being run, at a high level. Their monetization is exactly the same. Their stores sell the same sort of reskinned cosmetic items. The monthly memberships work the same way, with the craft bag and scrap bin. The way rewards are handled is also very similar, with weekly bonuses for expeditions (and now the raid) lining up with weekly bonuses for trials. There’s also a similarity with the way transmute gems work like legendary modules in crafting gear. There are others, but if you’re getting upset over the comparison, just bear with me.
My point is that the Bethesda devs just spent the last year completely revamping the skill perk cards in Fallout 76, re-engineering literally every type of weapon in the game, melee, heavy guns, shotguns, rifles, pistols, etc. I would dare to speak for the community here: These changes have been very welcome. Every style of play is more interesting and fun now.
In ESO, I have 10 characters, but I mainly played a sorc DPS, an arc DPS, a templar healer, and a DK tank. In 76, I have leveled up 4 characters, and I love playing all of them in their own ways: a bloodied heavy, a feral ghoul melee, a full-health stealth (bow), and a ghoul shotgunner.
It feels like someone deep in the bowels of Microsoft has been calling shots with overarching systems in both games, and it feels like today’s class rebalance announcement means that this person has directed the ESO team to do what the 76 team has done, and rework the whole thing. But I’m also saying that 76 got it right, and — if my hunch is correct, and the recent gutting of the studio has cleared the way for this mystery person to start calling gameplay-changing shots at ZOS — I’m betting ESO will also get this right, given the time to do so.
I quit playing ESO about a year ago. I briefly came back to look at subclassing, got tired of re-grinding skill lines, and re-quit. If these balance changes wind up being as well-received in ESO as the ones in 76 have been, I may have to give it another try.