Xenon

Or maybe skill rank progression is just up to rank 5 where you can spend another skill point to morph the skill and then that skill is "done"... and all cost, duration and damage etc scale directly towards your character level. not your skill rank.

yeah (and morphing an ability only once is fine by me, by my calculations we will be thin on skill points as it is long before we hit level 50. Morphing a skill cost one skill point...). but what happen after you morph it. are you done level up the skill by then? There is still a progress bar on the morphed skills in the leaked videos.........

you level a skill to morph. then morph skill. In the videos we can see that the morphed skill get a progress bar as well. how far can you level a morphed skill. not at all? 5 ranks...? or if it only scale towards your character level - does it even matter??

There is no cooldown on bolt escape (but you will burn magicka fast if you spam it, then again - it is cheaper than shadow cloak and most sorceres probably have a bigger magicka pool and wear more light armor pieces than most nightblades to begin with). Mage can also wield a two hander as secondary weapon for Critical Charge once he bolt into range of whoever he is hunting ...or instantly encase his target for several seconds And most ranged abilities are instant cast and can be thrown while running behind someone anyway..... So even if they are not great at hunting I would not say they are bad at hunting targets that tries to run either. "Best" pursuer would probably be a Bow wielding Dawn's Wrath sprinting Orc in full medium armor. First ability they get is a relatively cheap (and thus spammable) 28m range instant snare.

The party in that video consist of: dual wield / bow dark elf dps templar (POV) dual wield dps dragon knight light armor restoration staff healer nord nightblade one hand and shield lizard nightblade Shadow Cloak rank I is a nightblade (Shadow) ability that give invisibility for 2.5 seconds Not sure if higher ranks give invisibility for a longer period of time (not at all unlikely) and if so, how long. It got no cooldown so you can re-cast it before it end to keep up invisibility. It is pretty expansive. At level 1 it cost 72% of your total magicka resource - and the caster does not regenerate magicka while invisible... The only other ability in the game that grant invisibility is the ultimate Consuming Darkness. This is a AoE that last for 12.3 seconds at rank 1. It snare enemies and grant invisibility to the caster. This invisibility is broken for 1 second each time the caster attack. The area also trigger the Slip Away synergy that let friends of the caster gain invisibility. This is a rather expansive ultimate.

I am talking about Eliza, the character level 16 dark elf templar using bow, dual wield and sneak that they showcased on Quakecon both in solo game and also later in the same clip in a dungeon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JWXjzLEGV9U#t=70 Please link to the video where they showcase a Nightblade using invisibility for a long period of time. (or are we talking about the Nightblade in the party played by someone else during the dungeon crawl...?)

I think the most specialized faction will be Daggerfall (you have a very solid tank race, a good caster/healer race and a a very solid stamina weapon DPS race). I like the balanced spread of three highly specialized races so this faction gets my vote. I think this faction will have a surplus of heavy melee tanks (for PvE it is a good faction if you plan on playing Healer). Ebonheart Pact get two good tank options (Nord and Argonian) and a good race for mixing stamina weapons with magicka abilities in Dunmer. No clear cut healer race (but the restoration staff XP bonus on Argonian will probably attract quite a few healers to this faction) and no clear cut stamina weapon DPS race either. I think Dragon knights and Templars will be common on this faction (so for PvE it is a good faction if you plan on playing Sorcerer or Nightblade). I think the Aldmeri Dominon faction will have a serious lack of heavy PvE tanks (but they have a very solid caster/healer race and two good stamina weapon races that also get sneak advantage). If I were to plan on rolling a Tank I would pick this faction and roll a flame based altmer draconic power + ardent flame one hand and shield heavy tank. I would be in great demand in this faction unlike both the other factions that will probably have a surplus of heavy melee players. I think Sorcerers and Nightblades will be common on this faction (so for PvE it is a good faction if you plan on playing Templar or Dragon knight).

"Best" race depend on the focus you have... Finesse and Weapon Specialist = Redguard Primary Heavy Tank and Sprint kiter = Orsimer Non-elemental Caster and Anti Sorcerer = Breton Destruction Staff Storm Caller ranged DPS = Altmer Long range sneaky Archer and Anti-Archer = Bosmer Close range sneaky backstabbing Nightblade = Khajiit 2H Aedric Spear Templar AoE Melee DPS = Nord Dragon knight and Anti-Dragon knight = Dunmer PBAoE close range Templar healer = Argonian

It was a templar in quakecon using sneak not a nightblade using invisibility. Invisibility only last a few seconds. To force a nightblade out of Invisibility you simply hit your pbaoe... shrug.

Magelight is an active ability in the mage guild skill line, but since it both take up 20% of your hot bar AND reduce magicka regeneration while you run it I don't think most people will slot it. Activate it *after* you been sneak attacked would be rather counter productive as it is pretty tricky to re-sneak mid-combat as it is. Against a non-nightblade it would pretty much only be useful if you spread thin and go solo in PvP (but in that case you would probably be sneaking yourself anyway....) Good counter to a night blade that depend on shadow cloak and veiled strikes.... but even here you would probably be better off with Immovable from the heavy armor line (no more stun and you take a lot less damage - if night blade follow up his veiled strike with a power attack you can block it and cause off balance to him instead which you can follow up with a power attack of your own).

Two hand have a passive which will double the chance of proccing status effects to compensate.

Fair enough

I can make well educated guesswork on my own, don't really need a forum for that. I've watched and analyzed over 5 hours of leaked in-game photo by now. I came here to share and discuss what we actually do *know*. A lot of other people on this site seem to *know* quite a lot. My question above was directed to one of them. I don't mind you posting. Not at all. Posting is what forums are all about after all Before I was simply not sure if the things you posted were actual leaked information or pure guesswork. I apologize if my posts came off rude.

Light armor and heavy armor active costing stamina was an assumption on my part. Make a lot of sense that Light armor cost magicka i guess... You know this for a fact or are you guessing (like I did? ) Personally I have not seen the magicka cost of the Light and Heavy ability in any of the leaked videos i've watch so far. I do know Evasion in medium armor cost stamina (and rather a lot at that, in the video I saw it cost 72 stamina for a 25% dodge chance that last 20 seconds). Yes. I am pretty sure I can confirm you need to wear at least one armor slot of the armor type to use the active skill. Can't recall from where right now. The Quakecon video maybe?

Yes, it would be better to have at least one spammable ability that is fueled by magicka (but at least early on that ability will be different depending on what class you pick). I was mostly just trying to prove a point that not only "casters" depend on magicka.... Resources drop pretty quick in ESO. ...but they also regenerate rather quick. Besides stamina, magicka and health there is a fourth resource. Time. I am not sure spending 20% of your active hot bar slots on abilities that only convert from one resource to another at a 1:1 ratio is the solution. You lose a lot of time. Time you are not doing DPS, healing, CC or whatnot.

Is this piece of information something you actually *know* - or is this yet another thing that you just have a feeling for?

I was aiming my question to someone that actually know. You seem to be answering by just going by feeling and looking for ways to exploit game mechanics

Evasion, being a medium armor active skill, will be grayed out on your hot bar if you don't wear at least one piece of medium armor. What make you think you will keep restoration buffs after you no longer wield the restoration staff....?

Not talking about exploiting anything (right now ) I just want to understand if the skill cost is tied to your character level (at all) or if it is only tied to your rating of the skill. In Cyrodiil you get CHARACTER level 50 and your skill LINES rank 50. But your individual SKILLS does not level up as well. (For example, you can very well have Arrow Spray I and Snipe rank I if you not previously leveled them). ...at least that was the case in the only level 50 pvp video i've seen so far (from the september build).

You start out with 100 in each attribute. Each level you gain 20 in each attribute. By level 50 you will have, at least, 1080 in each attribute. You also gain 1 attribute point each level that you can place in an attribute of your choose. This point will add 10 to the attribute of your choosing. By level 50 you will get 490 points to distribute from this. Simple math? There is also leaked videos that showcase your attribute ratings at level 50. Light armor is good for all builds that are fueled mainly by magicka abilities (which is ALL class abilities, not just long range "casters"). For example, you can build a perfectly viable backstabber by wearing medium armor and dual wielding. Spending stamina to sneak around. Sneak attack from behind. Channel Flurry while he is stunned from the sneak attack. Twin slashes for DD and a DoT. Trigger Evasion from medium armor to make you really hard to hit. Hidden blade if he tries to run. Spark if you need to get away. Your start class does not really matter for this build. You can be a templar, sorcerer or dragon knight. Doesn't matter. This particular build is only fueled by weapon and armor skills anyway. But you can ALSO build a perfectly viable backstabber (more of an illusionist assassin really) by rolling a night blade wearing light armor and wield whatever weapon you like. Spending Magicka to become invisible with Shadow Cloak (rather than using sneak). Mark target and trigger haste. Open up with veiled strike (rather than sneak attack). Follow up with a power attack to exploit the off balance (to knock him down). New Shadow Cloak to open up for a new cheap shot opening. This build depend abilities that are only fueled by magicka. Light armor and a focus on magicka is generally better for restoration staff healers and destruction staff long range users (better races for this would be altmer, breton, dunmer). Medium armor and a focus on stamina is generally better for archers and dual wield users (better races for thsi would be redguards, khajiit, bosmer). Heavy armor and a focus on health is generally better for One hand and Shield tanks and two handed melee range aoe builds (better races for this would be nord, argonian, orsimer). You can also build builds that mix both class abilities AND weapon/armor abilities (or plan to utilize a lot of stamina for block, sprint, sneak, dodge...) so you take advantage of and double dip into both resources. That will is probably the most successful recipe for success if you ask me.

While playing Skyrim i thought to myself "OK; pretty decent game for a single player sand box - but MAN if i could run around in here with my friends...!".

When you say x7 at level 50, do you mean character level 50 or individual skill level 50? If we assume that Encase I cost 50 magicka at level 1 (on a leaked video from the september build it cost 70 magicka) Would Encase I cost more than 50 magica when you are at character level 50 (hovering your mouse to check the tooltip of Encase I that you never put on your hot bar before)?

Only one ultimate. To slot Nova you first need to advance you Dawn's Wrath skill line rank to 12. You advance your Dawn's Wrath skill line rank by having Dawn's Wrath active skills on your hot bar (such as Sun Fire which is the first you unlock... and at Dawn's Wrath rank 4 you can buy and slot Solar Flare). Once you have Dawn's Wrath skill line rank 12 you can buy and slot Nova as you ultimate ability. Yes if you have at least one piece of an armor type then you can use the active skill (if you have it slotted) There are 7 armor pieces in total. You might want to wear at least 5 pieces of one armor type for the 5-piece passive. Just to be clear; The ability "Nova" is unlocked at Dawn's Wrath rank 12. Not character level 12. You need to spend at least one skill point in Sun Fire and slot it on your hot bar and let it stay on your hot bar long enough for your Dawn's Wrath to increase to 12 (and/or to rank 4 at which point you can spend a skill point to unlock Solar Flare and you can slot Solar Flare on your hotbar to keep level up your Dawn's Wrath rank). When you switch to destruction staff at character level 15 you will still have rank 1 in the Restoration Staff skill line. To level the Restoration Staff skill line you have to actually wield the Restoration Staff. The Restoration Staff skill line rank will not advance while you dual wield. No. But Force Siphon will be grayed out if you don't have a Restoraton Staff in your hands (so basically yes - you basically have to wield a Restoration Staff to have Focus Siphon slotted on your hot bar). Force Siphon also require rank 50 in Restoration Staff so you will have to wield Restoration Staff for a very long time before you unlock this active ability. No, you can have up to 5 active skills. There are active skills in the weapon skill lines, armor skill lines, class skill lines (3 of them), mage guild skill line, fighters guild skill line etc etc..... When you use the weapon switch you get a new hot bar. So you can slot 5 other (or same) skills more suited for this weapon. This mean you can have 5 abilities suited for long range combat while you wield a long range weapon and then 5 other abilities suited for melee combat when you weapon switch to a melee range weapon. You can have one ultimate skill (pretty sure it does not change when you weapon switch). You can also have one potion. There is no limit to the number of passives you can have, but most passives only benefit you if you wear the armor it give passives for or have class skills the passives are for. Some might benefit you though... like wielding a restoration staff give a templar bonus to his templar actives (but templar actives and passives does not benefit restoration staff actives). All class abilities cost magicka. All restoration staff abilities cost magicka. All destruction staff abilities cost magicka. light armor, medium armor, heavy armor, dual wield, two hand, bow and one hand and shield abilities all cost stamina. blocking, sprinting, moving while sneaking, dodging etc all cost stamina all 3 resources seem to deplete quite fast and regenerate fast as well. even at high levels.

Fair enough. i'll edit away the list in that other thread (most people will just get confused by the wall of text anyway). Better to have the information in one place (the database). I'll check back at a later time to see if the database still miss vital information... (for example; i got all nightblade active skills and the database have non or very few nightblade active skills right now)

You miss quite a lot of abilities in the list. I posted a HUGE list of leaked abilities (in the first spoiler). it was primary intended for the skill database...... sad panda