My Problem w/ ESO BDF <> BDF (help w/ build)

So yesterday I was grouping up with a regular group (who are slowly joining Gaiscioch).

And was saying is I was building a big Melee character and I find I can't get past certain points in the game without being an archer.

Then my good friend laughed at me and said well your problem is you are doing archery with a BDF. At which point the discussion was no longer intelligent just me being defensive and him saying I'm not playing the game they made.

. . . and I realized he had a point. 

The build passes muster in all games thus far including Elder Scrolls Single player. Heavy Armor, Two-Handed spread only when you can't level those, I can survive and charge casters to shut them down and follow attacks on beefy guys with a little magic support I can take on necromancer parties etc.

I can't seem to do this in ESO and I'm wondering what I'm missing.

Where I lost focus

I started with Bow b/c of AVA and when I charged and started swinging I died = all the time so bow was stamina based (b/c I'm all health and stamina) and I could do big area damage with volley and feel I was contributing a little to AVA

I started w fighters guild b/c Silver Bolts hurt/killed vampires (was really for Alacrity) also incredibly rewarding during dolmen drops.

Picked up Circle of Protection/Turn Undead because I died repeatedly during fight rescuing Abner Tharn against Manimarcos Skeletons (This was clearly a discussion and issue on the boards b/c it was easy to find)

When I look at power gamey builds (how to beat ESO) like Reese it makes me cringe and basically want to walk away. I'm sure this is not the intention of the Devs but I don't know.

So ESO is the first game where the simplest fantasy gaming concept just doesn't work.

I used to always say can't go wrong with heavy armor brute strength and a big weapon (axe sword maul) but in ESO you can and it's frustrating. Can you make a BDF in an MMO, is it a Tank or a DPS (still trying to figure out roll and what to target)

BTW: Seems I'm not the only one that thinks this and this post is very articulate with the current issues I have

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/is-eso-dying-how-can-we-save-it/page/40/#post-515016

The problem is is how every thing reacts to every thing else. Racial passives and weapon passives armor passives and class passives. Right now Stamina are in a really bad spot because of this. There are more and stronger passives to magicka build than their are for Stamina. On top of that Stamina attacks hit for less than Magicka counter part abilities that do the same thing.

So like for my leveling build on my Templar. I use to use a Puncturing Sweep/ Bash build. Now that that has been nerfed I have to come up with another build that can level when Templar's are in a really bad spot for DPS builds right now.

My Bash build still works, you just don't get the heavy damage shield attack any more. Also, going all Heavy is normally more of a hindrance out side of tanking group content than a help. I do use a couple pieces to boost my armor, but that's it. I'll either run 2 piece heavy the rest light or 3 piece heavy the rest light depending on what I'm doing. if I'm going full heals I just run full light then except in AvA.

While bow is actually a decent weapon the attacks are more CC oriented. So it helps with adding some AOE (there there are better options for the AOE department) and CC. If I where you I'd use 2-3 pieces of Heavy (chest, legs, and head for best armor increase) and then either the rest in medium for crit and stamina regen bonuses or just break down and go with  a full magicka build and run the rest light armor.

Sorry you build you used in ES games isn't working. It's a shame that it's not as effective as otehr builds in the game. So I hope all this helps you out. If you want I can look at what you are doing and link a build that might be inline of what you want that might give you better survivability as well as slightly more DPS and make the game easier. But in the long run, you need to find a build that works with your play style. One of the great things I love about this game. You can go with a SUPER BUILD OF DOOM, but if it doesn't fit your play style you won't get much out of it, or you'll be really unhappy.

When you say that you are using a 2hander and Heavy Armor, are you primarily slotting the weapon skills on your hotbar or the class specific skills?  I ran around for a pretty long time in Heavy Armor and a big 2hander but I didn't put any points in the weapon skills lol.  As Aunyrae already mentioned, Stamina (ie Weapon Skill) based builds aren't on par with the Magicka (ie Class Skill) based builds at the moment.  So you can run around with a 2hander just fine, but you will kill mobs much faster spamming your class skills instead of your weapon skills.

Also, don't be discouraged by the difficulty of specific encounters.  Many have mentioned this before, but ESO does not seem to scale in difficulty in a linear matter.  What I mean is, you'll be cruising along soloing quests and beating the crap out of multiple mobs at a time, and suddenly some boss at the end of a quest will be much much harder than anything around it.  I'm not sure if this is intended as some sort of wake up call to players or if it's just laziness on the designer's part, but it can really throw you for a loop.  Luckily you are a Templar so you can always use the tried and true method of kiting a mob with your resto staff until it dies from sheer boredom of chasing you around lol. 

Here is what I am using for AoE and for single target.

I roll with the 5-piece Hunding's Rage set and for now I have been using Song of Lamae for my other 3-piece. I could easily swap in Torug's Pact for a bit more armor, Ashen Grip for a bit more damage or Willow's Path for some spell crit. I enchant for soft capped Magicka and Stamina Regen, soft capped Stamina and as close to soft-capped Weapon Damage as I can. I also really suggest Imperial for melees as the chance to heal on every hit is huge.

Skills

Brawler: You get more Ultimate gain from Carve, but if you are expecting to take damage (why wouldn't you?) I like the damage shield you get from this one.

Solar Barrage: AoE damage and your next attack hits harder. Also the passive gives you Ultimate per cast.

Executioner: Your go-to skill for finishing off targets at 50% or less morale. Brawler hits harder when at more morale that. It also increases your damage the lower health the target is.

Rally: Increases your weapon damage  over the course of 25+ seconds. Rally gives a heal at the end. Forward Momentum and the snare removal may be better for PvP.

Degeneration: Weak DoT and heal, but it gives every single melee attack you make a chance to heal you. Important for single target.

Repentance: Heals you and allies, and recovers stamina, for each dead enemy. Very good for Dungeons when you have dropped a few guys and can absorb them for recovery.

Honor the Dead: A strong self-heal. Costs a lot of Magicka so use sparingly. Restores some of the Magicka cost when you are low health.

Crescent Sweep: Really cheap Ultimate that does great damage to targets in front of you. You should be able to pop this on every single group. Try to pop before the targets are low health so you don't kill them with this skill. That way you get ultimate back for killing them.

Flawless Dawnbreaker: Ultimate generation will be slower against strong solos so the guaranteed, always-on damage is better.

Rotation

Pre-battle: Pop Rally, and if single-target, Degeneration, and run in.

AoE: Hit as many as you can with Solar Barrage and follow up with Crescent Sweep. Then continue with Brawler->Light Attack->Solar Barrage->Brawler until enemies are less than half health. Finish with Executioners. Use Repentance if you get low on health or stamina.

Single: Alternate clipping* heavy attacks with Brawler and Executioner. If you don't need much healing, consider leaving out Honor the Dead and getting more DPS from Solar Barrage. With hard-hitting enemies use pots and heals to keep yourself up.

*Clipping: Your bar skills with override light and heavy attack animations, but will not cancel the animation. Try this by starting to charge up a heavy attack and pop a skill before the swing animation completes. You will do both the damage for the heavy attack and the skill used at basically the same time. Use Foundry Tactical Combat addon to see the damage for attacks.

Thanks all, not walking away from eso, I'm more interested in the setting than the game. (Like I am with Pathfinder vs DnD)

Once I hit 50 I'll start playing DC and AD storylines and join events with the vets.

BTW I'm a DK not a templar (I love my templar and I also have a much easier time with my sorc too)

The glue for combat mechanics in ESO, is the synergy between skills, for character and for groups.  Its like the Force, its what binds a good build together and creates a harmony of team-work within a group or raid.

Unfortunately, it also has a Dark Side, because it allows for some incredibly overpowered builds to be created and when those builds are placed in a group, the power is far beyond intended design.

I like it, its different, it requires some though and a little changing of how we think about builds, but unfortunately, in its current design, it creates these god-mode builds that you're almost forced into accepting, just to perform on a level that's par.

I'm hoping they can get it sorted, sooner rather than later.

Thanks for that link, it supports statements that I've been trying to get across in other threads here.  Just to quote a part of his post here:

I have played many, many MMO games and have stopped playing them all for different reasons.  This is the first game that went from being fun to an insta-face smack.  I am not going to un-sub but I also don’t have the heart to logon and play.  I will wait for a small change to make the game fun again even though all of you ‘hardcore’ players would rather ‘casuals’ like me piss of and leave your pure exciting game alone.  I suppose maybe I should – I am not ever going to be ‘hardcore’ enough to expect an enjoyable experience playing a game.

That's exactly how I am feeling too.  I actually haven't logged in for days, and was almost tempted to not bother fixing the billing problem that they emailed me about.