The new “Subclass” system looks awesome. Maybe a way to play a “class-less/neutral” character?

Terin

I’ve always said, my biggest hurdle with getting into ESO was never really connecting with any specific class. I’m the type of player who really only likes to play a single character, but none of the choices ever quite felt like “yeah, this is the vibe I want to stick with”.

Well, I only just happened to heard about the new Subclass system coming to ESO today, and it REALLY got me interested!

I can’t speak for anyone else obviously, but that certainly addresses the major hurdle *I* had with the game!

But it does make me wonder… well, what if we could start a new character where *none* of their skill trees are locked?

I’d be perfectly fine playing purely with the weapon and armor skill trees, if it meant eventually having the flexibility to truly build the character that feels “right” for me.

I’m thinking maybe it would be something like an “Adventurer”, or maybe “Explorer”? Something agnostic where you could apply whatever “class” identity you wish to assign to them. Unsure if there’s a better, more Elder Scrolls-specific term for something like that?

Erickson9610

I would also enjoy making my character classless. I don't want to deal with the restrictions of being forced to be a class that I'll never use.

TX12001rwb17_ESO

Imagine you have access to every class ability in the game however you have access to no class passives.

Erickson9610

TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »

Imagine you have access to every class ability in the game however you have access to no class passives.

I'd like the inverse. All of the Class Passives (only the ones that don't require Class Abilities) and have none of the Class Abilities.

Arrodisia

I somewhat disagree. Of all the featured asked for in this game over 11 years, this isn't one that I'm excited about, at least not at this time and implemented in this way . I'm sure other players may see it differently in different situations. However, to me and my friends, we see imbalances worse than the current live status. Certain classes and roles will be pretty much left out of a lot more content as things stand now.

Players already had too much incentive to avoid using healers, tanks and weakers classes. It seems like it's simply another addition to the game which pushes tanks, healers and suboptimal classes further down since DDs can now slot abilities which taunt, heal, strongly shield and buff to run an all dd op classes only group for even more vet and vet hm content instead of returning to a balanced, fun gameplay which reflects the challenging content an MMO should have.

The challenge is mostly lost once again when 4 dps go in and circumvent almost everything more than what's already being done. Why design the mechanics at all if players can just spec certain ways to completely avoid them?

Also, I felt classes should've been buffed to reach the arcanist dd performance first. Then stam vs mag versions of each class should've been brought back in line with each other before any other outside class abilities are added into the mix. I'll stop here for now.

Have a wonderful day playing everyone.

Terin

I can totally get that. Just two different types of design. I feel like Elder Scrolls as a series always gravitated more towards "build your own character as you go", which is why I always felt like the choice of "classes" was kind of an odd fit for ESO. I do agree, players have a nasty habit of optimizing the fun out of any game, but I really do like the idea of a fully customizable character, instead of feeling like you're stuck in a certain "mold". Even with the Stam/Magicka build choices, your Necromancer would *always* be a Necromancer as their core, and I think it takes a little away from the fun of exploring your options over time.

Personally, I'm pretty stoked by the idea. At this point, I'm just kind of holding out a bit longer to see if a class-agnostic option is ever added. I really dig the idea of just being an "adventurer" who I can customize to "fit" whatever campaign I'm working on (maybe Necromancer skills if I'm working through the original story, or Arcanist skills if going through that expansion, etc.).

Lystrad

I've always been interested conceptually in the idea of a "Guild mage" or "guild fighter" type character that goes for the most grounded character flavor possible. I've tried it in the past by just not running class abilities but there were always holes in the system. Though with subclassing I think you could get very close to that "generic mage/fighter" flavor by running the skill lines Daedric summoning, shadows, and restoring light for conjuration, illusion, and restoration magic respectively and then using weapons and other neutral abilities to build around the kind of flavor you want and create a very grounded, in universe character that doesn't come with alot of the over the top flair alot of the more full fledged classes have that can make them feel out of place at times.

BXR_Lonestar

Arrodisia wrote: »

I somewhat disagree. Of all the featured asked for in this game over 11 years, this isn't one that I'm excited about, at least not at this time and implemented in this way . I'm sure other players may see it differently in different situations. However, to me and my friends, we see imbalances worse than the current live status. Certain classes and roles will be pretty much left out of a lot more content as things stand now.

Players already had too much incentive to avoid using healers, tanks and weakers classes. It seems like it's simply another addition to the game which pushes tanks, healers and suboptimal classes further down since DDs can now slot abilities which taunt, heal, strongly shield and buff to run an all dd op classes only group for even more vet and vet hm content instead of returning to a balanced, fun gameplay which reflects the challenging content an MMO should have.

The challenge is mostly lost once again when 4 dps go in and circumvent almost everything more than what's already being done. Why design the mechanics at all if players can just spec certain ways to completely avoid them?

Also, I felt classes should've been buffed to reach the arcanist dd performance first. Then stam vs mag versions of each class should've been brought back in line with each other before any other outside class abilities are added into the mix. I'll stop here for now.

Have a wonderful day playing everyone.

I'm with you on this one. With something as basic as a class system, it seems like your better off going all the way one way or the other. The other Elder Scrolls games are built from the ground up with a virtually "classless" character as you can use any ability in the game and level it up and be good at using it. This game was built from the ground up around a class system so it seems like a bad choice to change it this far into the game.

Also, it feels like they have just taken a look at game balance between the classes and decided "You know what, we can't make the classes equally attractive and good, so we're just going to burn down the class system." Since not every class can easily achieve 130k dps like the Arcanist - now every class can shoot beams out of a book, which means the top 10-20% of players are all going to be playing the same builds, doing the same thing.

Overall, this is going to kill game variety, not help it. At first it will seam like there is more variety, but the meta will get settled within 2-3 months, and it is going to stagnate, and IMO. And logging into alt characters won't give you that fresh feel because all your DPS are going to be roughly the same, all your tanks are going to be roughly the same, and all your healers are going to be roughly the same. The only difference in performance is going to be race.

And I'm guessing major changes to racial passives will be coming down the road...

freespirit

First a quick explanation, I don't chase the meta, I use Oakensoul pretty routinely and I tend to do my own thing solo most of the time.

I have been away since the update dropped and returned a couple of days ago, I did not go on PTS and have read very little about subclassing, prefering to try it myself. I main a Templar, next a HA Pet Sorc, Warden and finally an Arcanist.

Immediately I hit a problem with my Templar, my build always has two "floating" skill spots, so I had great hopes of solidifying skills for those spots..... unfortunately the stumbling block is the three skills that are hard baked into my build..... there is one from each class skill line, thus giving me a headache of having to pick one to drop if I wish to subclass!

I have already started leveling a skill line on my Sorc and intend to probably try others in the future, here I have easily available skill lines to drop and I suspect my Warden may be the same, I haven't even considered my Arcanist as yet.

I'm a bit sad about my Templar atm but I intend to have a close look at some point to see if I can find anything that will replace a skill and so give me options.

I really do think I'm going to have fun on the other characters though, as for me it's never been a "choice of class" more a "choice of skills that I like" so suddenly I have a whole world of choices to explore!!