When you are talking about DK's and Tanking vs DPS = Attributes/CP Points/and gear are all crucial to what role they are playing.

Gear: Britta has a huge health line = even naked; but while she is in her DPS gear that blue crab World Boss can kill her instantly with his AoE = but when she puts on her Tanking gear; she can go toe-to-toe with him till he dies without her health even flickering. In the same respect; gear designed for Tanking does NOT make good DPS gear. It takes Britta forever to take down an enemy in her Tanking gear; but if I put her in DPS gear she can clear a room in short order. In DPS gear she is still under 6000 DPS, though. (because her CP points and Attributes are set up for Tanking).

CP points: can make or break your build. For Tanking they are sunk heavily into defense; with almost nothing in damage at all. (A really good Tank's DPS is usually under 2000). They have a ton of sustain, but no attack whatsoever. They are made to play in a group where two DPS handle all that for them; and a Healer keeps them up. If you solo a lot, you won't want a Tank build because they are only fun to play when they are doing what they were built for.

Better to play a hybrid build if you solo play a lot. (High stam for decent DPS; but split that out with high health to sustain you in solo play. My NightBlade is a hybrid because she goes everywhere solo 99% of the time. She can do decent DPS for her needs = still under 22,000; but I'm not trying to solo Vet dungeons with her. If I went for straight DPS and used just stam; she could do over 38,000; but she'd spend all her time dead if she was solo = no fun.

A hybrid doesn't make a really good Tank or DPS; (either one) but they are really fun to play because they can kick just enough ass and live through it. She can do baby Trials like AA or Dragonstar Arena; but I can't take her into the Veteran mode dungeons or Asylum or anything = (places my Tank excels in) = but you will survive in solo play.

Attributes: Tanks = you have a choice of playing them either as high health or high stam (or even high mag if you want) = but either way you will have to mitigate lack in your other attributes. If you go high health; then sink high CP Points into things that will mitigate your stam usage (like Warlord and Shadow Ward) - etc. (and then drink Magicka potions when needed to replenish your mag, etc.

I have only played a health Tank because the man who built my Britta had always played only a health Tank. That (high health) is the old fashioned one that has been around forever. The current trend is toward stam Tanks; which I haven't a clue how to do. I have heard a lot of people who do use them referring to Alcast (who does some amazing builds to use as foundations for your characters = but then tweak them to your own specifications and play styles).

Acadian is absolutely right; don't go into a respec on the spur of the moment. Plan it out on paper first; and like he said = build up the skills by keeping your back bar full of raw skills you want to raise up = do quests and then make sure to flip to your back bar right before turning in the quests. (or bring her to Dolmen with the items you want to raise up = but with training traits on them; and use some of those XP scrolls the game keeps giving us. That will give you plenty of assistance while you are still at base level on those skills; but raise you up quickly.

The guy that built Britta had her train up all her skills; not just S&B. She has two handed/bow/dual/and destruction staff at 50 too. She doesn't use them; but the skill points are sunk there just in case she needs to one day. (which is why she doesn't have any skill points left for crafting, lol). She did all her training up in the other skills while in DPS gear; not Tanking gear.





This post has been edited by mALX: Nov 30 2018, 02:17 AM

Oh, one thing I always do before actually respec'ing my characters = respec them on the PTS server; test them out first before making the changes on the Live server. That way; if you don't like the changes (it is fine, because you never really spent all that money or actually did any of it).

But if you do like the changes; then you can go ahead on the Live server and do them.

Also = before ever touching my character on either server; I LOG all my character's stats completely (Attributes/CP Points/Skills/etc = including armor and weapons along with each piece's set/traits/and enchantments; (and I usually make a Test 1, 2, etc sheet for each change to compare stats later and see what worked and didn't).

That way if a Test respec doesn't work at all; I can always reset them back to normal and try something else the next Test. (I have tried out several builds I found online that way; most of them were sheer crap).








This post has been edited by mALX: Nov 30 2018, 02:20 AM

I still have some things to do before taking that step. Laurie made her a decent Hunding's bow, and she's building up some skills. We got her Caltrops as a backup/supplement. She may just go 2H/bow and follow Alcast from here, with some concession to her 2H skills. His suggested rotation doesn't use any!

She wore pants for the Battlegrounds runs, because she wasn't using her bear, but didn't feel comfortable that way. I'm still trying to work out how that increased her weapon critical a bit. They were the sixth item of Sword Singer, so shouldn't have affected that set's bonus, and there was no enchant or trait on them for that. She already had the five pieces for any armour passive, so it must just be a general equipment consistency thing. I hate hidden factors like that.

Blossom's already using a bow with her twin axes, but she could use Vigor/Caltrops too. She'll be doing some BG's soon, as they seem like a better alternative to Cyrodiil. You get 7k AP just for queuing up, more if you get carried.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Nov 30 2018, 03:35 PM

Wow, I didn't realize you could get so much AP from the Battlegrounds! (Or that the BG helped your Alliance War skill lines!) Do you get rankings doing that too?

Thanks for the info on that; I might want to use that to get some of my lower skilled characters some of the great Alliance War skills!

As far as I can tell, it's exactly the same as going to Cyrodiil, except for the guaranteed AP. There are also smaller AP rewards for challenges, one of which is just "participate in 5 games". Four-person teams, but no tank/healer/dps profiling, so unlike random dungeons.

Seems to be a faster way to get the skills, too.

Wow, that sounds great! I hated the Battlegrounds because I couldn't do anything but die in them; even with Britta = didn't realize they paid out so much AP or that it could be used for AW skills! I'm really glad you brought this up, it will help me a lot! I haven't done as well in Cyrodiil since their patch changed everything down there a year and a half ago; but I really want Vigor for my NightBlades. Thanks for the info; Ghastley!!!

FWIW, we've been doing the flag ones, Capture the Relic, and Chaosball. They appeared to be the easiest to blunder through. Your mileage may vary, depending on PvP skills.

And of course, I should have mentioned the endless cycle of queuing, getting the "someone has declined" message, and queuing again. ZOS are supposedly fixing that tomorrow. It was much worse for the random dungeons, apparently.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Nov 30 2018, 10:13 PM

There would be a lot declining to play with me on their team when they see my useless crafters coming,


Thanks for your help on this!

New Life Festival is ongoing. A couple tips that have helped me:

For the Betnik quest (get honey + mystery meat), the quest circles are irrelevant. You can get honey from any wasp on the island. Same for mystery meat - any wolf/mudcrab/rabbit, etc on the island. Mudcrabs on almost any beach seems perhaps the easiest.

For the Shadowfen fishing quest, the two special fishing areas don't care a bit what kind of bait you use. Any bait at all works equally well.

To add to the above, during the Bergama torch lighting quest, you don't have to wait for the animation to complete for the torch to be lit. You can run off as soon as the quest updates (earlier, if you already know the timing)

Can anyone confirm that the XP awarded when turning in quests gets allotted only to the skills on the current bar? I've noticed that Unna's back bar skills are levelling slower than the others, which may be because I keep her on front bar to react better to the unexpected. (And that may be the wrong thing to do, too).

In particular, caltrops is hardly moving. I tried exchanging the sequence of caltrops and endless hail, to see if that had any effect, but caltrops remains slow to level. I'm sure the DW characters aren't having the same issue, so it has to relate to play mechanics for 2H front.

In contrast, Floozie's Sun fire levelled to morph in the span of a single quest, without actually using it. Just being on the bar was enough. That's a low-level skill, on a low-level character, so the comparison doesn't mean much.

Yup, confirmed.

When I am turning in a quest, I very often back out of the dialogue and check my bars. Only skills on the selected bar will level up when you turn the quest in. Buffy the Healer leveled up the undaunted orbs that way - just slot it on the selected bar when turning in quests.

Another trick is you can actually slot a weapon skill without having the weapon slotted and level up that weapon line and the selected skill that way. Buffy the Stormsorc has the full resto line maxed and has never touched a resto staff. Similarly, Buffy the bow/bow stamsorc has DW fully leveled up but has never touched a (eww) melee weapon.

Yeah, you can be creative when turning in quests. Just remember to reset things after you turn in the quest.

I wasn't certain, because of the skills that operate even when they're slotted on the other bar. And there are ones you slot on both bars, but may never use, because you just want a buff from them.

@ghastley, honestly I have no idea how that works, as I’ve never paid much attention LOL

I have a question of my own - just downloaded the PTS and set it up. I thought my characters and achievements, etc shouldn’t be available on the PTS, and yet I can see my existing 7 toons and log into them; when I created a new toon just for the PTS, she has access to all the accountwide achievements and mementos, etc in my collections. How does this work?

When the PTS is on the NA server, you can see your toons. They take a snapshot of all the accounts right before change over from the European server to the NA, and vice versa. (so it will be a little bit behind what you see on your Live server account).





The PTS is best for practicing build changes; practicing decorating your houses to perfect stuff without messing up what you have in the live game.

What is on there is NOT locked in; one day you will get on there and all your changes there will be gone; so take screens if you want to keep a memory of the decorating; of your character's stats with the changes; etc.




Also; when they change to the European server and your characters aren't showing = you can play with a "Template Character." Start a new character; but then look up on the upper left of the screen = there is a tiny drop down list. It isn't easy to see it. Choose what you want from there; then make the changes you want to the character.

Those Templates come with 10 million in gold; all available CP points; and you can just add the skills you want without raising them up first.

Oh = and anything you do on the PTS server cannot be transferred to the Live server; none of the Guild stores work on the PTS; etc.

Okay, that makes sense, because I’m seeing guild MOTD from November!

One more question - how can my PTS toon learn furnishing recipes?

No need to learn furnishing plans. All items can be bought for 1 crown, and you get 5500. With no home having >700 slots, you won't use them all. The house will cost the same.

I haven't tried installing EHT on the PTS, but I'm wondering if the save feature would let you resume a house project after a PTS reset. It might be worth experimenting (or just asking).

This post has been edited by ghastley: Jan 11 2019, 03:22 PM

On the bar-swapping topic, I'm now trying to make Unna adopt a habit of swapping to her bow bar when idle. She took up bow rather late, and needs to ramp up all those skills faster than normal. But she's resisting me, feeling uncomfortable without her greatsword on her back.

I fear that I may have similar issues with the DW characters, but their situation isn't quite the same. They tend to roll/dodge out of harm, and re-apply dots before leaping back in. Unna's habit is to stay close, as more of her offensive skills are weapon ones, rather than class spells, and she's reluctant to swap back to bow. I'll have to do some more dummy practice to change that.

Another one to throw out there. What levels of training equipment provide the best bang for the buck? I've seen some making a set at every ten levels, while others suggest a wider gap, and so fewer sets. ZOS seem to be suggesting 24, 34, 44, as those are the top levels of each material rank. Maybe in blue, purple, purple?

We have five pieces of L34 Training purple Hunding's saved away that each of the stamina DPS characters have used, (but didn't do the same for mage gear, or tank). That got Taminwe and Minx through their last levels before 50 fairly well, but I'm thinking a slightly higher level might have worked even better.

I'll probably have Laurie or Blossom make Floozie a set of Julianos L24 Training, and improved to blue only. The remaining question is when to replace it. Twice at 34/44 or once around 38-40?

I just change up the training gear with the next update in materials; and the armor is blue/weapons purple. The only reason to change up sooner would be if your character is dying too easily between times; and with the "Under Level 50 Buffing" in ESO; you shouldn't have any problems with that.