http://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/1y5x97/sorcerers_check_it_out_soft_caps_on_magicka_and/

Threads like these really confuse me. I'm really thinking about not allocating any of my attribute points until level 50 (exaggeration)... Or at least until I understand this soft cap information.

That sorcerer put all his points into health. I thought deciding where to put your attribute points was going to be one of the more important commitments... There's nothing tactical about putting all your points into health. What's the point of having to make the decision?

I'm looking over more threads to see if I can understand soft caps and what not. Feel free to post here if you can explain it. Thanks in advance.

Soft cap means that after the soft cap is reached the resources needed to increase the thing in question are substantially increased by each new level.

Say that a combat skill have soft cap at 100 and each level cost 100 exp + 5%. After the soft cap is reached each level cost 100 + 20% and increase with 50% each level.

How the soft cap is coded varies from game to game and from skill to skill in the same game too.

PS. that means that if soft cap is lv 5 we would see lv 1 cost 100 exp, lv 2 205, lv 3 315, lv 4 430, lv 5 590, lv 6 808, lv 7 1373, and so on...

That was a very interesting quote, within that link. Somewhat disheartening, if I must say.

So basically just like Skyrim, where -100% spell cost through enchanting allowed for everything into health.

Even without the softcaps, it was apparent that our "choice" each level-up was largely pointless with how much we get just for the level-up. Translated all this means is it is nearly impossible to screw up a character, since we will all have roughly the same stats.

That said, I still plan on making at least one of my casters go full magicka. Because #YOLO. No really, because there are no difficulty sliders with TESO, so less health should provide for a more challenging experience.

Note that there is respec if you are worried about mistakes.

Well the guy enchanted all his armor with +Magica and used the +Magica mundus stone, makes sense he hit the soft cap.

You might as well enchant all your armor with +Health and use whatever stone gives health and hit the health cap.

Or you might use enchantments that incfrease armor or something else and never hit the soft cap on either health or magica.

To each their own. there is no one "right" way to set your attributes.

I'd love to know more too about the specific math but it appears many are thinking that soft caps are where one should stop when allocating points. It seems apparent to me that ESO wants you to easily hit soft caps. The side effect being it limits power curves to provide better balance. In other games the soft cap was effectively a hard cap because stat points are hard to come by. Going beyond a soft cap is simply too costly.

ESO obviously wants everyone to be jack of all trades with specializing only offering small gains in power.

I think that was the point of the thread, no? That apparently the enchants gave an equal ratio of health or magicka, but on level-ups you get twice as much health as magicka. Thus, you get more overall stats by using enchants for magicka and putting everything into health.

From what I've read, going up in Veteran Rank (post-50 progression system) raises the soft caps slightly... so they are softer than they look

But yeah, seems this game is designed to favor hybrids, which personally I think is great.

Note though that the recommendation in the linked thread assumes you are a sorc with Breton or Altmer racials and wearing cloth... does NOT apply across the board.

So the guy who made the sorcerer had the argument that once you hit soft cap there was no point in putting points elsewhere (him having hit the soft cap without putting points anywhere but health)? Hopefully it's just his ignorance and not how the game will work.

What others mentioned was how the soft caps affect this. There may possibly be a mathematical advantage early on. It's hard to tell not know the math better. I'd love to know if and where "hard caps" exist. As another mentioned, vet ranks offer completely different soft caps. I believe I read elsewhere that this changes again throughout different vet ranks (i.e. 1-4 having different soft caps than 5-9 and perhaps 10 it's own. Also evidence exists in game that higher ranks up to 12 are already noted but not implemented).

The soft caps seem to primarily be in place to balance players against content difficulty. Sadly this appears to affect pve where true level capped players obliterate levelers.

Oh, and thanks for explaining soft cap. I understood the mechanic but didn't realize that is was called 'soft cap'.

Maybe there won't be hard cap? Possibly because the soft cap could get so strict that it would be impossible to reach such a number. If I just explained hard cap with that last sentence please slap me. I am a noob when it comes to such things.

something that i noticed as i lvld past 20 was the soft cap that i hit on magicka was lifted. So i'm guessing that the cap is raised every so often.

Out of interest, does anyone actually know what attribute points do besides increasing magicka/health/stamina points?

I didn′t find any reference ingame about it and didn′t notice any other stats (like regeneration, damage with spells, etc,) changing when I allocated the points.

It's very easy to hit the soft cap and also pretty easy to push through it for a good while. I don't understand why people seem to go "oh this stat is overcharged ABANDON SHIP" and stop investing, it's a soft cap, not a hard cap. Sure there is a point when it gets too much, but abandoning a stat the moment it hits the soft cap is madness.

Magicka increases regeneration and magic damage, Stamina increases regeneration and weapon damage.

Its called min/max. There are groups of people that only play games to find out the most optimal distribution, just because that is what they find fun.

For the rest of us, it is as Demane said: "ESO obviously wants everyone to be jack of all trades with specializing only offering small gains in power."

Magicka and Stamina regen are stats shown in the character tab though and I didn′t notice them change. Do you need to hit a certain treshold for that?

This is why the soft cap appears to be simply a content balancing mechanic. It would be too easy to simply dump everything into one stat and face roll things.

I imagine some day soon there will be websites showing exactly when and where the soft cap is at any given level. The only time knowing the exact math will be truly important is at the highest vet rank. Even then it sounds like vet ranks may be raised often through patches.

I've been told by someone who started very early in the beta process that the return after you hit soft cap was 60%. So, the returns diminish a good bit but we don't know how stats will look come level 50. This could change before release though. It also seems like regen will be where it's at in terms of build.

I noticed them change myself. Once you're some way into the soft cap you may need more than one attribute point to increase regeneration by one.

This may be entirely wrong but if you're in danger of hitting the soft caps at higher levels would it make more sense to put your points into magicka or stamina while you're lower level where you're not being punished by the soft cap? I think this is mainly if you're a high elf or breton.

This is how I deciphered it and I may be 100% wrong (probably).

Ah, I will pay more attention next time then.

Thanks for the info.

This threads making my head hurt what ever happened to playing for fun, doesn't have to be a race for perfection does it?

I'm sorry, brother. The link I posted made mine hurt, A LOT. Turns out I am using the wrong phraseology as well. Didn't know soft cap meant diminishing returns. I have always used 'diminishing returns'.