The Elder Scrolls Online Fans Are Worried That Subclassing Will Ruin The Game

Summary

• The Elder Scrolls Online is implementing a new feature that will drastically impact the meta: subclasses.
• While it addresses a long-requested feature, being able to change classes instead of having to start from scratch every time, the feature is proving divisive in the PTS so far.
• As Zenimax nerfs abilities to prevent subclasses from being overpowered, many feel that they are being punished for not engaging with the new mechanic, and that it’s stripping the game of its class identity.
• Others, however, say that it feels more like The Elder Scrolls than ever, as they are able to mix and match their classes to properly roleplay, rather than being boxed into a narrow playstyle.

During the Elder Scrolls Online Direct earlier this month, Zenimax revealed that it’s finally addressing the community’s long-awaited request to change classes with a unique new feature: subclasses.

Once you reach level 50, you will soon be able to replace two of your skill lines with those from other classes to create a completely new build. While it sounds like an interesting way to freshen up the meta after a decade, players testing the mechanic right now on the PTS are worried about how it’s being implemented.

“Subclassing is gonna be fun for the people who play this like a single-player game because balance is meaningless in that context, but subclassing could be a super fun feature for everyone IF it was properly balanced,” u/Versingtoraux posted. “But it’s not”.

Their main concern is that major class abilities are being nerfed to even the playing field, which means that a pure Dragon Knight is now weaker so that the the subclass (or rather, multiclass) won’t be ridiculously overpowered, pushing players to mix and match abilities to keep up with the meta. “This is going to be a forced feature for all end game players and is going to break the balancing for all end game content,” u/Versingtoraux argued. “It 100% didn’t have to be this way”.

Others, like u/cbareddit1998, have voiced similar frustration, posting to over 600 upvotes that “Choosing to be a pure class should not be punishable”, and that the entire update feels “unfair” to those who want to stick with their roles. “Class nerfs should only be applied IF you are subclassing,” they suggested. “Balancing all these subclassing combinations will be a big problem on its own, let us not create a new one by completely killing pure class choices.”

This update has gotten me really apprehensive about the future of ESO. Almost everything they’ve been doing the past 6 months has been pushing me away — u/WonderfulVanilla9676

This is a pretty common point of feedback across not only the game’s subreddit, but the dedicated Elder Scrolls Online forums.

“Subclass skills and passives need to be weaker,” Estin said, agreeing that additional skill lines should be nerfed, rather than the classes themselves. “I can foresee players getting gated in group content for not subclassing because they refused to do so. Why willing prevent yourself from having massive cleave and an extra 30k+ ST damage?”

A good middle ground would be to make subclassing-exclsuive balancing, separate from main trees […] But knowing ZOS they’ll probably end up butchering all classes to make them balanced for subclassing and call it a day — u/bmrtt

Granted, the update is only live on the PTS, which is a test server designed to squash bugs and collate feedback, so perhaps we’ll see some of these ideas taken on board, especially with concerns over the game losing ‘class identity’ and punishing those who don’t want to use the feature. That being said, not everyone is convinced it’s a bad idea in its current form, with some going as far as to say that subclassing will “SAVE this game, not ‘Break’ it”.

“Long Live Player Identity, ie Playing How You Want!”

You’ll find countless posts across the community right now decrying that subclasses are worse than Update 35, which infamously nerfed DPS and overhauled weaving, making it a less relevant mechanic. The general sentiment was, and still is, that ESO needed to stop rocking the boat with huge, sweeping changes to combat. Then came Scribing, a rudimentary form of spellcrafting, and now subclassing, shaking up the meta back-to-back within just two years. However, the driving mentality behind these updates from Zenimax has always been to make the game more approachable to newcomers, and there are plenty who are sold on that vision and believe subclasses to be a viable way of doing just that.

“Class identity isn’t dying,” u/Phaoryx posted. “It’s been dead for a LONG time, since hyridization. Class identity died when my mages had to use greatswords. Long live player identity, ie, playing how you want! If you say ‘oh but how I want to play isn’t the meta that can parse 170k’, well, lucky for you the game is balanced around monoclassing, so any custom build you make will probably outperform the balancing standards anyway. And if you’re someone who just doesn’t want power level to go up because you’re gatekeeping veteran content, weoll maybe ZOS wants the power level to go up so that more than 1% of the playerbase can experience what I consider the pinnacle of the game”.

While posts like this are rarer than the negativity spilling out across the playerbase, many in the comments were quick to echo their support for subclassing. “I like the idea of using any class for any character,” u/ChiefPrimo said. “You can finally make a character feel unique. You can have an actual mage that uses spells from any school of magic, a necro with daedra summons or a random warrior with a pet bear. It feels more like the single-player games”.

RPGs should be fully customisable as you want so we can express ourselves — u/Loud_Appointment7020

“Subclassing will be more in line with the Elder Scrolls series,” u/Langstrat said, sharing that sentiment. “In all of the Elder Scrolls games you could do more and I’ve always felt limited by my class’ skill lines. I’ve played most Elder Scrolls as a paladin/thief. So being able to sub nightblade skills will be fun.”

The feature isn’t live yet, so it’s hard to say what impact it will have on the wider meta right now, but already, it’s proving an incredibly divisive update.