ESO Subclassing: Power Shifts and Player Concerns so far on the Test Server.

Class skill lines are being adjusted to prepare for the introduction of Subclassing in Update 46. Combat pets and beams have also been reworked. These changes impact all players, even those who do not use subclasses. This article outlines the major adjustments made to each of ESO's seven classes during the Public Test Server cycle. 

Update 46: Seasons of the Worm Cult Part 1 releases on June 2 for PC/Mac, and June 18 for consoles. Important links for ESO Subclassing:

Beam abilities classification change

Channeled "beam" abilities in ESO are now considered Direct Damage Channel Abilities, instead of Damage over Time. Champion Points and Passives that boosted damage over time effects will no longer work with these abilities. Conversely, these skills will now benefit from effects that boost Direct Damage and status effects will proc more often.

The popular Deadly Strike set affects channeled attacks, meaning it will continue to work with beams.

Combat Pet and summons have been reworked

Previously, hitting a cap of 10 summons or corpses prevented the summoning of further pets regardless of their source or type. With the introduction of subclassing, it was anticipated that hitting this cap would become "far more likely" and a hard cap was needed for PvP zones.

When you attempt to create a new summon while at the cap in either zone, the oldest active summon will now despawn itself to make room for the new one. Summoned corpses stay on the ground for a shorter time. Companions count towards the limit but cannot be replaced.

Arcanist

The Herald of the Tome skill line is considered very good for subclassing as it provides strong passive boosts to damage.

Fatecarver is now considered Direct Damage. While beam damage is buffed by 8%, the cost is increased by 40%. This skill now hits a maximum of 6 targets. Player reception has been mixed on these changes as some felt it was too much and hurt sustain, while others thought it was justified.

Splintered Secrets (Passive) got a nice buff increasing Offensive Penetration per Herald of the Tome ability slotted by 620/1240, up from 495/991.

Zenas' Empowering Disc now only applies to six players at a time, based on who entered the area first. 

Dragonknight

Noxious Breath applies the Poison status effect to all enemies hit by the initial hit and can possibly be used as a fairly solid AOE spammable.

Magma Armor and it's morph Magma Shell now disable ultimate generation while they are active. This is considered a huge nerf to "perma-magma" builds used in the Infinite Archive.

Combustion (Passive): The damage increase from Burning and Poisoned statuses was reduced to 16/33% (down from 20/40%). The Magicka and Stamina restored when these statuses are applied was significantly reduced to 211/423 (down from 500/1000). This is considered a pretty large nerf to sustain.

Battle Roar (Passive) now restores 18/37 Health, Magicka, and Stamina per Ultimate spent, down from 25/50. This is another nerf to sustain.

Warmth Passive got a nice buff to add 6% damage to your Damage Over Time abilities.

Necromancer

Necromancer's Grave Lord's Sacrifice and Rapid Rot passives will no longer boost abilities classified as "beams", such as Arcanist's Fatecarver or Templar's Radiant Destruction. This is a loss of 25% passive damage that the passives would've provided to beams.

Flame Skull (and morphs): can now create corpses on empowered third casts

Death Knell (Passive): This passive was changed from providing 10% critical chance against enemies under 25% health per slotted Grave Lord ability to a flat 20% critical chance against targets under 33% health. This change is a small nerf on pure necromancers who might have previously used four Grave Lord abilities to gain 40% critical chance, but a "much better version" for subclassing players using only one or two skills from the line,

Dismember (Passive) received a significant buff, increasing its offensive penetration provided to 3271 from 1500.

Nightblade

Master Assassin (Passive): This passive now increases your Critical Chance by 3.3/6.6% against enemies you flank, rather than increasing your Offensive Penetration by 1487/2974 against enemies you flank. This passive no longer extends the duration of stun from Sneak.

Grim Focus and morphs core mechanic got a nice buff. Grim Focus now stacks up to 10 times, rather than the previous 5. Firing the Spectral Arrow simply reduce your stack count by 5, making the skill easier to use.

Catalyst (Passive) now grants 30 Ultimate when you drink a potion, increased from 20.

Magicka Flood (Passive) now increases your Max Magicka and Stamina by 3/6% when you have a Siphoning ability slotted, rather than increasing your Max Magicka by 4/8% when you have a Siphoning ability slotted.

Sorcerer

The developers stated they were removing the separation between pet and no-pet builds in the Daedric Summoning skill line, suggesting that players who didn't want pets could now replace the skill line via subclassing.

Conjured Ward / Hardened Ward no longer provide a heal if you do not have any pets active. Regenerative Ward morph now provides a 5% heal if you do have a pet active.

Daedric Prey damage increase provided by this ability was buffed from 45% to 50%, but now only affects Sorcerer pets. 

Expert Summoner (Passive): Now increases your Max Magicka, Stamina and health by 2/5%. The Stamina and Magicka bonuses do not require a permanent pet to be active. However, the Max Health bonus still requires a permanent pet. Developers stated this change was a response to feedback regarding non-pet builds.

Crystal Fragments and morphs: The passive slot function of this ability now persists through bar swap, allowing casts from both bars to potentially trigger the instant cast version. This is a nice change that will result in more frag procs.

Lightning Splash (and Morphs): The synergy from this ability and its morphs can now be self-synergized.

Mages' Fury (and Morphs): This ability and its morphs now last for 2 seconds, reduced from 4 seconds. Developers explained this change was to "tune down the grace period" of the ability and "tone down the Sorcerer's ability to easily secure kills," especially in anticipation of subclassing.

Templar

Piercing Spear (Passive): The Critical Damage granted by this passive was increased to 12%, up from 10%.

Spear Shards (and Morphs): These abilities received a cool rework. The synergy from the Luminous Shards morph now allows you to self-synergise. Blazing Spear Morph initial hit was reduced but the damage over time was increased, gaining about 10% more damage overall.

Balanced Warrior (Passive): This passive was changed to provide 6% Weapon and Spell Damage and 6% Armor, rather than a fixed value.

Radiant Oppression aka "The Jesus Beam" is now considered Direct Damage. Its base damage was buffed by 4% and now lasts 3.8 seconds, costing 1080 per tick. Execute scaling now starts at 33% and status effects have a 6% chance to proc per tick. For PvP, the ability was made dodgeable.

Warden

Arctic Wind (and Morph Polar Wind) self-healing over time portion of this ability was increased by 11.1%. The healing done to allies was reduced by approximately 33.3% and no longer applies a heal over time. This is considered a big nerf for group play.

Piercing Cold (Passive) provides flat 4/8% block mitigation and increases frost damage by 7/15%.

Player Concerns on ESO Subclassing

Three major concerns have been voiced by the ESO Community:

There's a fear of significant power creep resulting from subclassing. While some classes/lines like Nightblade Assassination and Necromancer Grave Lord became very strong, others like Dragonknight, Sorcerer, and Warden felt left behind or even weaker. This creates a large gap between pure classes and optimal subclassed builds, potentially forcing players to subclass to "keep up" in endgame content. Some felt there should have been some advantage for staying pure class.

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