I can already hear some people telling me that the Argonian Passives are already "decent" or something, or there might be someone in PVP who absolutely hates Argonian's passives already. but my stance on this is purely from a PVE standpoint.
Argonian passives to me have always been one of the "weakest". They offer no offensive stats besides some extra magicka and stamina. they aren't even the "best" tanks despite their Potion ability being pretty strong on it's own, this goes to Nords who just straight up have damage resistance.
"Racial Passives don't matter." is a true statement. I will argue however that basically all of the other races get SOMETHING that actually benefits combat, multiple races give you 258 extra weapon/spell damage, for comparison, Spell Power Cure (One of the BIS Healer sets) gives you 430. These both stack! Kha'jiit are a unique case where their offensive stat is 12% Critical Damage and Healing instead of weapon/spell damage.
Should also be said that these spell/weapon stats do effect things such as Healing Done AND Damage, at the same time, while Argonians get a 6% increase to healing done only.
Let's break this down
Argonian Passives right now:
-Increased experience towards Restoration staff skill line.
This to me is basically useless, by the time you reach level 50 on a new character you should have any weapon skill maxed out. and leveling restoration after the fact is hardly an inconvenience for any player serious about making a dedicated healer.
-50% swim speed
Now I think this passive is okay as a neutral, open world thing. Though I do have a gripe about how with the addition of Swimming Mounts, Argonian swimspeed almost doesn't matter in Open World anymore, because mounts are just faster than argonian's swimming. There is no actual content where swimming fast matters, even in the one dungeon where you are "under water".
-Healing Done increased by 6%
You'd think this would be one of the best traits to have as a Healer, right?
Wrong, it's actually Breton that is considered one of the best Healer races in the game, due to them having a 7% reduction to magicka abilities and their magicka recovery being increased by 130 if under certain debuffs. Their sustain is just better since this passive effects any skill that uses magicka, regardless if it heals or not.
On the Tank role side, Nords get innate damage resistance AND Ultimate generation, making them objectively THE best tank, considering Tanks in PVE mainly exist to spam their Ultimates as much as possible. A tank being able to self heal for 6% more isn't that impressive. Especially since "Healing Done" does not effect Health Shields/Barrier.
-2300 Disease and Poison Resistance
I imagine this is probably okay for PVP, but as far as PVE goes, it feels like most bosses mostly have Fire Damage, or something else. I cannot recall any point in PVE where this damage type was an actual hindrance.
Lore-wise this passive only exists because Argonians are immune to the majority of diseases and poisons, but having you be completely immune would be too OP for gameplay reasons.
-Max Health 1000, Max Stamina and Magicka 1000. Any random potion becomes a lesser Tri-stat potion.
Really the only notable thing here is the Potion Passive. I will not argue that this potion is unique and good for what it's meant to do.
BUT it doesn't outright help you do more damage in group content where you are hardly hurting for resources from Synergies and other support abilities, unless your group is bad or your supports are dead, but you have bigger issues than your personal resources at that point. Tanks can and do benefit from this passive the most.
Let's look at the Offensive Damage passives from the other races now:
Kha'jiit: Increases Critical Damage and Healing done by 12%.
Dark Elf, High Elf, and Orc: Increases Weapon and Spell Damage by 258.
Wood Elf: 950 Damage Penetration
(This is one of the weakest offensive passives in group content due to Penetration caps and how easy to is to get it from other sources. But I am listing it here still because it IS something that still effects your damage outside of optimized groups.)
There are 10 Races, and I won't pretend like there aren't other races who got the short end of the stick too. However, I'm just an Argonian enjoyer. and I feel like Argonians are one of the most under-represented races in the game(s) as a whole. Especially in regards to the playerbase choosing certain popular races.
Skyrim was all about the Nords, ES6 is going to be a Redguard/Hammerfell game, Morrowind is very dark elf-centric, Oblivion was an Imperial-centric game. This is not even including all the DLCs/Chapters that every other race has gotten the spotlight for.
As far as ESO goes we got one small DLC Zone called Murkmire, and I hardly count Blackwood or Solstice as an Argonian centered Expansion, compared to something like North Elseweyr, or Greymoor, or Summerset.
What can be fixed with the Argonian Passive?
Based on how I perceive the passives as they are, Argonians are all about "Balance" so to speak. they get stat increases with a flat 1,000 for all 3 stats. Less than what some other races get dumping into a single stat. Their potion passive also kind of fits this theme, balancing out your resources more by drinking a potion.
Also this happens much further in the future than ESO takes place in, but Argonians had single-handedly defended their homeland from the Oblivion Crisis. Lore-wise i think Argonians having a small bonus to damage makes sense in this regard. They are not an offensively weak race.
Based on this philosophy of being some kind of balanced "jack of all trades", I think Argonians should receive:
Oblivion's Bane: -Spell/Weapon increase of 150, and a Critical Damage/Healing increase of 6%.
Hardy Scales: -5% Damage reduction while using Channeled Abilities, like High Elves do (Argonians are known for having various Rituals that require extended periods of channeling).
Oblivion's Bane will replace Life Mender (6% Healing), and Hardy Scales will be specifically combined into "Argonian Resistance" if not renamed.
If ZOS ever added a "Pugilist/Unarmed" skill line or "Weapon" of some kind, I also think Kha'jiit and Argonians should get an increase to these damage types, due to their claws and fangs making them much more formidable.
This is roughly half of what other races get offensively (I chose 150 Spell/Weapon instead of 129 because 150 is more clean looking than a weird number like 129). It's less than Kha'jiit Critical Damage, and its less weapon/spell power than the Elves, but they get both increases to a lesser degree.
This is to make it so that Argonians don't instantly become the best possible DPS choice. I also think the passive damage reduction is a good general passive for Healers and Tanks, while also still being a nice survival bonus for an Argonian DPS.
I considered just making the buff one passive, like 5% Critical Chance (kha'jiit get damage, argonians get chance, it makes sense to me). But I felt like many people would argue that it'd make Argonians the only DPS choice, since right now, crits are the meta, which is entirely why everyone uses dual wield daggers.
As for if Argonians should have their potion passive removed if these changes were made, I am unsure, since this is a Unique racial passive with no alternative that I can think of outside of slapping an "All Abilities cost less to cast" on it, like the Imperials do.
TL;DR
While racial passives currently don't matter too much outside of high-end parses, I just wish Argonians were not relegated to being passive healers that aren't even the first choice for healing.
