Is ESO REALLY "Play How You Want?" 

I often hear that "healing is thankless" or "tanking is thankless." I think this largely comes from players not knowing all of the group services that the "support" roles provide My Necro healer buffs DD damage output and resource regen. My Arcanist healer is dropping shields that give 10k+ resistance so you can usually "stand in stupid" and not drop below 90% health because I'm shielding and repairing you (please don't do that, it's a massive drain on my resources) Tanks and often healers are reducing enemy AC (resistance), meaning that DD attacks hit harder. They're also lowering enemy damage output It's not that the roles are thankless, it's that when the support roles are on point, DDs begin to reach their full potential (probably without knowing why because a lot of players don't have all their buffs listed on screen)

If I didn't do 60-80% of group damage as a tank in vBDV in yesterday's finder pug we'd still be there now.. -Long live play how you want!!

It is play how you like… up to a certain point, once you get into vet trials and trifecta content it’s you better have the right gear

Your audio seems off at some points. Example, I’ll hear you talking but then hear your recorded voice in the background.

"Play the way you want to play as long as it's the meta or close enough" - ZoS

As much as I love ESO's freedom to play format, I don't think it's truly play how you want. The existence of Classes, in particular, slightly restricts the freedom to play as you want. The new Scribing system would have been a great way to have true freedom to play had it been in the game from the start, essentially being Spellcrafting. Allowing us to pick and choose our spells and abilites, and customize them to our liking to create our own "class" so to speak, would have been much better. It'd allow players to create their own built, and truly play as they wanted. I realize it's probably way too late to change that now, which is sad, but I for one wouldn't be upset if they decided to do away with classes and just allow us to built our own classes via Scribing/Spellcrafting.

Imma be real with everyone …. Get a heavy attack sorc not only can that clear any 4 man content in the game (every single 4 man achievement) It can also do all trial HMs BUT if you wanna get trial trifectas starting with Dawnbringer & onwards you want to be hitting harder so HA sorc covers everything in the game apart from like 5 trial trifectas *This is for the homies who struggle hitting big numbers*

I agree and disagree. The game IS play it your way... solo. Group not so much, but groups are groups and to work within one well, you have to all have some compromise. I disagree with the main cause of 'fake' Tanks and Healers. I DO think that getting rid of Transmutes in group content would do away with a lot of the sprinters doing RN's for the XP and Transmutes. Yeah, it's one of my biggest pet pev's, new players can't learn dungeon ( and then trial ) roles if they can't do the dungeons AS the role.. not sprinting through it as fast as possible. Then they get to vet content and get booted for being 'fake'.. it's not *always* that they are queing as a fake.. they truly want to learn. I spend a lot of time helping new players, especially when they get left behind in dungeons because they want to do quests or as I found out quickly with my Necro Healer, not enough Stam at low levels to keep up on a purely mag character. You see, I don't always add CP to my lowbies, why? Because new players have none, it reminds me what it's like to be a new player. No clue, no skill, no CP and little sympathy from vet players that just want to sprint through that low level dungeon to get their Transmute Crystals. And please people don't say 'join a guild', I belong to 8.. 5 on NA, 3 on EU and then 2 discord guilds ( both have in game guilds, I belong to one, but not the other). Not everyone wants to join a guild, they shouldn't have to just to learn gorup.... Yes if they want to do 'end game' vet HM speed run Trifecta stuff.. then yes.. but some people just want to do vet for the better chance of getting a motif.

as a recent healer main for dungeon trifectas, i sweat my b*tt off so much and have so much fun. its not slightly boring to me at all. and i want to get into that just so maybe some people read this and think they might like to give it a try. i use ozezan with Spell power cure and Master architect backbar. masters resto front. and switch to arkasis + spaulder on trash -Ozezan buffs the healing taken of the group members when they are missing health, and gives them armor when they don't need healing -Spc gives the best damage stat buff in the game kind of a must -Master architect gives the best damage% buff in the game. the duration scales with the ult spent so using arkasis on trash makes me have 500 ulti for every boss, this gives the whole group 10% more damage for 50 seconds. and horn ulti gives %resources for 30 seconds, which increases our damage and survivability as well, plus major force so 20% crit damage done for 10 seconds as well. -for skills you have mushrooms that buffs the recoveries of the group by 15% and busrt heals them. this you need to land on the group every 20 seconds. -you have expansive frost cloak which gives the group 6k armor for 20 seconds -you have combat prayer which gives 3k armor and 5% damage done to the group and its your main aoe burst heal. needs to be reapplied every 10 seconds. -you have radiating regen which applies heal over time to 3 targets for 10 secs. but you are 4 people so you need to double cast this every 10 seconds. -healing springs, main aoe heal over time, needs to cast, and especially landed on tank every 10 seconds at least. this gives recoveries to people because of the masters resto. -you have orb that you need to keep up, cast every 10 seconds. this increases your recoveries as well which is important. and gives a synergy to the group that they can use to gain resources. -you have budding seeds, which is again a good aoe ranged ability than you sometimes need for its heal, but its mostly there for the synergy it provides. -you also have your betty netch, which gives you spell power and mag recovery. then depending on the content you might need to run more raw heal over times like yellow vigor, or maybe you need to run purge or fountain. or important one, range interrupt. maybe you run fetcher infection. or ele susceptability and wall for offbalance. the amount of thought and knowledge goes into this, it makes gameplay so rewarding and so much fun. obviously i would never take a build like this into random dungeons, trying to buff up the damage of people who has no idea how to do damage in difficult content. this was just to response for the "i find healing boring" people. thanks if you read it this far. much love

I've been saying for 10 years that the "play how you want" philosophy has been degrading the game, patch after patch. Balancing is impossible, design becomes homogenous, etc etc. Classes must have identity, and play how you want severely cripples that identity for all of them. Prime example has been the last year or two of pvp meta builds.

[Ignoring the post that forms the video's content to just talk about my own experiences] I've been learning healer lately (in part to move out of my comfort zone and experience more of the game, in part to farm gems and undaunted keys, and in part to instant queue for dungeons) Because I'm learning I wanted to run low-stakes content so I've farmed the everliving crap out of random normals. I chased the meta as a damage dealer for a few years and now I'm chasing the off-meta dream. In doing that, I completely lost contact with the "casual" players. I would blast through random normals on occasion but for the past couple years I've almost exclusively been running trials for my gem farm. I had my monster helms that I wanted and stopped running undaunted (queue for a DD takes like 15-30 minutes and I don't want to wait around) Healing randoms in random normals is an eye opener! I've got people running away from the healing spells, never casting spells/skills/attacks, just light attacking the wall. I'm wearing sets that give mad buffs to anyone standing close to me (healing, stam cost reduction, damage boost) and I put in chat "stand in my orange rings" and still have the damage dealers avoiding me at all costs But it is what it is, those players are "playing how they want." It makes healing more of a challenge and look, we gotta be real, if you can make a nFG1 more challenging, I'm here for it

I'm always a casual PvE soloer. I knew going in that, just like in other MMORPGs, that I wouldn't be able to ACCOMPLISH everything--I do like the fact that I can ATTEMPT most things. Do I go into dungeons/quests knowing they were meant for groups? Sure and I get creamed! I like that I can "play anyway I want"--but that doesn't relate to "group" content, in my opinion. I have no problem with groups not allowing/accepting players that do not conform to "group" play and are not "team players." And, yeah, things like transmutes are kept from soloers, I feel artificially. Even that odd auction house is anti soloer, causing many players to complain when I sell items in chat and tell me to join a trade guild. Nope--I'm playing as I want and if ZOS didn't want me selling in chat, there would be a separate trade channel. Yes, I'm poorer because of it--but also happier.

Play the way you want, if you're playing solo. And yes I've done the psyjiic quest line naked and barefisted punching because doing it for the 69th time, you really need to spice it up some how. Group content means you need to play way more responsibly, because you need to be able to do your share.

Simply put 95% of the game is sort-of play how you want, obviously you need a working build as difficulty goes up, OR you choose to literally play how you want and then you should solo. Exception being Vet Trials and up where you need a) meta builds b) learn and know the mechanics. Modify with game/build knowledge, mechanical skills and your mindset and social ability.

Just because a company says something like "play how you want" doesnt mean they are a good development company where thats true.

As others have said i agree that this game is not play as you want especially when it comes to group content. I also feel that the most when it comes to racial passives. Before anyone starts yes you can whatever race to end game content and yes its better to take the meta race for the top 1% trifecta/hm runs. But, that's the thing for me...I've always felt since the game launched and for any mmorpg really is that race should be for cosmetic purpose only. Sure ive been able to get damage close to each other when parse dummying but, its still very noticeable when you want to min/max and you have to be locked into that race. Take dunmer for example. ALL of my trial groups have people running dunmer for the dps because it's objectively the best dps race but, imo its boring seeing everyone run a dark elf. Even I'm running a dunmer which i hate but, i do it because i see and feel the difference using a dunmer for stamina compared to say an altmer. So what I would do is rework the racial passives where only the flavor passive remains a the racial passive (ie: ashlander, highborn etc) the other passives you get at level 5, 10 and 25 renamed to "talents" where at those levels you pick what "talent" you want. So you could take lets say a breton and give it ruination, dynamic, and spell recharge if you wanted to because that's what YOU want. Going to a trial with a lot of flames? slap resist flame on instead for more survivability. You get the point you can look how you want and min/max for you group without sacrificing who you want to be/look like. Best of all, it can be saved in the armory and reset with the skill shrine/blank armory slot if you pick a talent you dont like. I can't tell you how badly i want ZOS to do this man. tldr: rewrite racial passives to be "talents" so that you can min/max how you want and let your race choice be visual decision only.

As soon as you push the vet button.. that DK healer wipes the group lol.

I like the video but did you hear the sound bug at 8:44? Just a heads up so you might be able to fix it later 9:37-9:47 10:00 10:40 I wish I knew why it did that lmao

This is suits trying to attract more players to the game without understanding how the game works. It is a pure marketing statement. You can play how you want--as long as it is either just you, or if the people you are playing with are fine with it. Don't be that player.

Let's me real... Expecting empathy in a Western MMO is culturally clashing as empathy isn't a big thing in Western culture so saying things like "think about how you'll affect the group" probably goes right over most people's heads unfortunately

Hmmmmm 🤔

Is not

I think ZOS meant 'Play as badly as you want'.

No.