Hybrid classes are fun and most likely I will be one, BUT I also think a pure class can do as well in any giving dungeon.

Take my char in RIFT for example:

I am playing a Warlock class (In RIFT talk, it is called a role or spec) {Also, RIFT do have a Hybrid classes as well}

In a five man dungeon, sometimes people complain that my char is not doing enough DPS. The Warlock is a DOT based class, so I do not have hard hitting spells like the fire mage has. I do however can stack a lot of DOTS on a target and do A LOT of damage, just one does not see the BIG numbers as some other classes have. Some people tried to be helpful (and others are just rude) and tell me to play a fire mage for higher DPS. No, I want to learn to play a pure Warlock.

In ESO, I can see the same type of debate going on.

1) How does one handle this debate?

2) I wonder how effective a pure blooded class vs a hybrid class?

3) I need to do the 5 man dungeon to get enough right type of money to but better gear, but some people say that you can not play with us because of low DPS / lack of gear. Do they even understand about a DOT build?

4) Does ESO have a DOT (not DPS) builds?

Well, if there's any justice in this world, damage meters won't catch on in this game.

But since there isn't any justice in this world, the best solution is to find a guild of people who actually like to play games instead of compare numbers. Hopefully, that will be easier in ESO than it has been in past MMOs.

I do have such a guild, but sometimes they are not around, thus I have to play with strangers.

Recruit more members? Or make friends in the game with people who don't think that accounting is an in-game profession?

I think it won't be too hard to find good people to play with, and it's the only way to avoid the issue you're talking about. People who fixate on numbers aren't going to care about hybrid specs or anything like that.

Well fact is most tanks simply won't be able to hold all the aggro of mobs, this means some DPS players will be forced to tank some mobs themselves, if a player just focuses on pure damage and aggros a ton of enemies, then they're going to get a pounding, so a smart player will have some survivability and utility spells, as well as crowd controlling spells, hopefully it will be more about teamwork and coordination, rather than spamming a button until a boss is dead. So for that a pure blood class is maybe not as useful as a hybrid class, as a hybrid would bring more to the table, depending on their build.

The Nightblade Siphoning skill line has a lot of DoT skills, and there's a couple on the Sorcerer skill line,

I only care about numbers under two circumstances:

1) We're doing progression and you had best keep up your DPS or get kicked. It's not personal, progression is math in action.

2) You're doing less than 50% of top DPS in normal circumstances. That just means you svck and aren't tying to help.

So, what is the difference between "damage over time" vs "damage per sec?"

In RIFT, some people can hit with 10k worth of damage for one hit then their cool down time. I can do about 4 - 12k over 10 secs. So my DPS might seem to be low, I am doing more damage. It just takes longer to get the effect.

In ESO, it is a different type of game: RIFT is spam button game while ESO is more like a FPS -- active block, dodge and almost pushing skill icons. Also, it far easy in ESO to go from a tank to mage type builds. One is not lock in to a role type only builds like RIFT (One can change type of mage builds really easy in RIFT)

How people treat other people just frustrates me. I know this will happen in ESO, but I am hoping does not happen as often or as bad as in other MMO games.

A DoT is something like posion. You apply it and then it does damage every tick without you doing anything else.

Damage over time is like poison damage. once you use the attack it does damage over a period of time without any input. Damage per sec is how much damage you do per sec from any source related to you. Dots are useful because they do damage even when no one else is doing damage, while DPS is important because it is the bulk of the damage done to the enemy from most sources

I don't think you'll have to worry about this in ESO.

Anyone that plays non-FotM cookie cutter builds or especially hybrid builds has always taken flak for not doing insane amounts of DPS. Spending an extra ten or fifteen seconds to kill a boss mob or something is outrageous to some people. But IMO, the hybrid classes can ensure that the boss mob goes down in just ten extra seconds rather than ten extra minutes due to not everyone in the group being perfect, resulting in wipes. Also, doing so much DPS that you're constantly pulling aggro off the tank is a bad thing. I know a lot of people out there blame the tank in that case, but personally if I'm pulling aggro as a DPS, I back down a little bit to give the tank some breathing room. Like I said, better to spend a little extra time killing something than have to start over again and again.

Killing the monster is the goal, not how big your [censored] damage meter number is. Too many people have forgotten that.

So, If my DOT is really BIG and I still have low DPS?

Dots are never really big, they tend to deal a low-decent amount of damage over a long period of time and if you keep using the spell then forever, which means low Damage every second, but constant damage every second. Depending on the situation, it can be useful, and most times it is better to deal with the boss quickly.

There are a lot of dot options in some core powers for classes but many more through morph options. The closest in theme likely to a warlock would be a caster nightblade (but only has one pet option within the core abilities). The factors making dots effective are dot duration and dot stacking limits. I have no idea how many dots are allowed to stack but the good news is that many of the dot options are around 10 seconds or less (one is 18 but morphed from a cc ability). Short durations really help to ensure the full duration of the dot goes off. There are a few dots abilities one can take outside of classes too.

Due to many dot durations being quite short I have less worry about losing out on total damage but dot and even hot stacking limits may worry me. The latest vid mentioned hots over-writing each other which I hope is either wrong or less limiting than they perhaps described.

I mention this because a caster nightblade is the first build I am going for and it will have many dots including aoe dots. Stack limits could decimate the build if too low. Overall this is less limiting in pvp if you can spread out your attacks. Healing in this game is very positionally dependent which should actually help dot users as healers can't simply UI target anyone they want instantly from any facing.

@PKMN12

Thanks for explaining that to me

@Demane

Sorry, I am still a noob in a lot ways in MMO terms.

What is "hot stacking?"

What is "HOTS?"

I like a battle mage type builds and large AOE for trash mobs are just fun to watch. That is one of the reasons I like Warlocks in RIFT. I will look into the nightblade as the starting template for my build idea.

Hots = heal over time

Hot/dot stacking is putting a bunch of hots/dots on a single target at once, it tends to be the way DOT-based classes work and some healing classes work if they do not use instant-heals.

One thing to point out, thanks to the way Dots work, they tend to not be very useful in many PVE situations, and are best in PVP, where even when you are dead, the dots are still going on until the timer runs out on them. It is also one of teh hardest play-styles to play, thanks to the constant need to pay attention to what Dot's are active and keeping them up at all times.

K9 I know exactly the type of character you want to play. And I want to play one as well. But I don't really see much like that in ESO. The Sorcerer's Daedric Summoning line has Curse. But I'm not sure it does much of a DoT. The Night Blade's Siphoning line is that only one that has what ZOS is calling a "DoT". And one is a Stun. Another is a heal. And the last is a buff / debuff. So I think its fair to say that No regular Damage Over Time spell is even in ESO.

Still what I might try, just because I want to, is to mix the Shadow line with Siphoning, and equip a staff as my primary weapon. But its a gamble cause those skill lines might not work without a melee weapon.