After a few days playing Imperial City (inside and out) I wanted to offer up my opinions on it.  These will mainly be bullet points so I can do some more talking and show off footage in the video. So for more in depth explain, please watch the video below.

 

Video Link

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ESO Imperial City First Impressions

PvE

I’ve spent the majority of my time playing both dungeons (vet and non vet) and love them.  I can tell ZOS has constantly improved their dungeon diving experience and I’m really enjoying the atmosphere and polish.  The new mechanics are interesting and I don’t want to spoil anything, but the PvE meta will change from all out damage to sustained and survivability (yep even DPS).  The cries for different type of encounters have been answered, some needing 4 DPS, some 2 healers, all in the same dungeon.

That’s the good, the bad part of PvE is the feeling my DPS has been cut in half (probably exaggerated).  We did some DPS test and I was struggling to pull 12,000 single target damage (same gear, same boss, same CP, etc) whereas my Templar Omega could hit the 24,000 mark.  While I think DPS needs to be limited as not only rewarding strong DPS character, the clear cut in half seems a bit too strong.  This could be wrong, could be tuned in the later weeks, but I really don’t like the overall feel of “slower combat.”

Another positive is the attention needed to complete these dungeons.  No longer can you smash Spears 1,000x on a group of mobs while eating a sandwich.  If you miss one cast, one block, one heal, you and your team are dead (in vet mode).  Additionally, the changes to tanking (no stamina recovery while blocking) and healing (harder to kill mobs) makes those two roles 10,000x more rewarding for me personally.  Now tanks are back BEING TANKS.  Monster mitigation, control and armor.  Healers are back to massive heals, group utility and synergy.  Love PvE so far.

PvP

The state of PvP is in flux, but what I can tell you Imperial City combat/PvP at its current state is nothing short of an adrenaline ride straight through Daedric hell.  It is an utterly amazing experience. You are constantly in the fight, FINALLY.  Something I can click, pick up and 10 minutes later be face smashing other players.  It’s close quarters in your face action that Cyrodiil hasn’t given me.  However, it comes with a steep cost of lowering damage/shields/healing by 50%.  I don’t know if that amount will stick but it’s changed a lot of things.

Mostly, players have more time to react and counter an opponents attacks.  I’m not the super elite PvPer like Sypher and it’s been interesting to see his take on the changes.  In my opinion, it seems too much, players should die because of poor builds, reaction time and unpreparedness.  It seems now you can yolo into the fray and not feel punished the same way for making a mistake (me Invasion without Reflective Scales up).  For my play-style, I think a 25% change would be much better overall, but we need more testing and more players testing.

Itemization and Reply ability

This is probably my most disappointed part of the update.  The new items feel a bit “meh” and the lengths needed to get them are extraordinary.  We haven’t discovered them all, but most are on my site and I’m not that impressed.  With only two new dungeons to master, It’ll be no time until those items have been farmed out and only one helm is relevant to DPS builds.

I love this new update, but that might be because it’s new.  I constantly ask myself, “besides having fun, what’s the point to go into Imperial City?”  I haven’t really found one.  Yes it’s great, but it doesn’t have that long term factor needed to keep me coming back.  Especially since there’s no skill line, Alliance Rank or Tel Var rank to accumulate.  It feels like an uncontrolled chaotic frenzy that fun at first, might not have the rewards to keep me coming back.  But I could be wrong, I have been before many of times 🙂

Balance

I’ve been receiving the same 10 questions over and over now which is, “is X class better than X class?”  The answer is, almost of the same builds, classes, combination work.  Stamina Nightblade bow users, are just that, still powerful stamina Nightblade bow users.  Don’t panic, it’s still the same game.

• NB – Magicka NB has seen a major boost and I like their added utility and DPS.  Still enjoy stamina NB and the change to Vigor gives them some much needed self healing.
• DK – I don’t see much change in them at all.  If you like your DK, you’ll like it fine in Update 7.
• Templar – Mine has seen a big DPS drop due to Radiant Destruction nerf, but I still enjoy it and love healing with it now. Heavy armor PvP Templar was a blast and it will be my main.
• Sorcs – Honestly haven’t played much, but I image sorc pet builds might be the new flavor for some players.  They are still PvP powerhouses.

Overall

I think IC or Imperial City is a great edition to the game that needs a new skill line or some other type of incentive for me to keep coming back. It’s enough for me to make many and many guides for months to come, but without a trial or a PvP arena I’m a little disappointed.  HOWEVER, ZOS did a great job with balance and the environment.  I don’t remember the last time I paused my stream, turned off my music and just sat back and watched NPCs.  It’s that cool.

7/10 for me if I was a ratings dude…