ESO PvP Version of Tyrian Campaign

I was browsing through the Development FAQ at Tamriel Foundry and came across a very interesting prospect for future Gaiscioch organised events.

• Because of the megaserver technology, Cyrodiil needs to be separated into multiple instances. However, instead of random assignment of players, ZeniMax recognizes the importance of having static PvP communities for the sake of rivalry and investment in the state of the realm war. Therefore, players are assigned (or may select) a “campaign”, which is a permanent parallel version of Cyrodiil’s realm war to which they belong. Campaigns will be named after the major cities in the region. ^(TF1)

Additionally, we could do this from character level 10 onwards due to a scaling system just like Guild Wars 2 World vs World has. 

• Players may begin participating in Cyrodiil from level 10 onwards. Players who are below level 50 recieve “battle-leveling” which enhances their attributes so they may participate and contribute to the alliance war. Battle-leveled players do not recieve the full complement of abilities, perks, or gear that a naturally leveled player would have, therefore a strong incentive to level and optimize your character remains present. ^(TF1)

Obviously it would be fun as well to go against others but this could be a good way to train within the family while having a good time in a competative atmosphere.

The interesting part too that I am wondering that others may be able to answer: Is the Cyrodill PvP area the size of Oblivion?

• The focal point of PvP in TES:O is the war between the three player factions in the central province of Cyrodiil. This entire province is the stage for endgame PvP, and its geographic map is inspired directly from that used in TES4: Oblivion. The full size of the playable area of Cyrodiil is even (slightly) larger than the landmass portrayed in Oblivion, all Cyrodiil’s major geographic landmarks and points of interest are present and will be immediately recognizable to fans of Oblivion. ^(GI1),(TF1)

The dev told me the Warzone or "Campaign" is a little larger than the world of oblivion and a lot of those towers caves, ruins etc you see in oblivion are in their original form in their full glory.

Ooo, very nice. Thanks for that Fog.

So Fog, are the campaigns the entire zone of Cyrodiil? If I have read correctly from current dev statements there is a 200 person cap per campaign. Seems like a large amount of ground to cover for that amount of people.

The Elder Scrolls Online will feature large scale, massive player vs player combat in the form of Keep Sieges in the province of Cyrodiil.  Three factions will go to war throughout the land, representing large scale combat of up to 220 combined players in Cyrodiil.  (Multiple campaigns of Cyrodiil will run, pending player demand.)

Source

The way I read it somewhere was the battles are segmented into smaller regions that fight over certain areas? Again, Fog will be able to clear it up :P

I dont know what their final plan entitles. I just know what ive been told and what I was told is 3 months ago. As with any pre launch game things are subject to change. We wont know for sure till we gets hands on time.

Ah, thanks anyway, Fog. With my research into the Developer FAQ just now, I found one very interesting tidbit. The Alliance War trailer that came out just recently, we all saw the High Elf climbing the wall? I thought "How many tweens are going to rage if we can't do that ingame?" and lo and behold.. ZeniMax Online is working on a way to allow players to infiltrate a keep by scaling the walls. The brave (or foolish) can attempt such an assault to catch the enemies unawares. That is it, I am both going to roleplay my Bosmer Archer and have a LOT of fun doing it :P

I think they stated in an interview that they would want the wall climbing system to be available to all players versus just rogueish types like it was in DAoC.

Without having played DAoC (I know, really should have!) the way I visualise this mechanic with Elder Scroll-like mechanics, it would be that depending on skill, there would be endurance used per distance travelled (taller the wall/keep, harder it is on you) and I would say that a heavy armoured character would have an onlooking crowd laughing at them trying to get up ;) I really love our siege moments in Guild Wars 2 but Elder Scrolls Online sounds like it is going to be some awesome fun.

Arthearius, Regarding the Acoylates comment. I was at the same session they were. They didn't say 220 people total. They said their engine was being built with the benchmark of having 200-400 people on screen at any given time. I never heard them mention a cap on the Campaign, but 220 for 3 realms seems really silly being the amount of space they are going to have. This is even worse than Guild Wars 2. You don't recruit the team from EVE online to build a game weaker than the competition. Matt wanted "MASSSIVE" battles in the 400+ range. If anything maybe 220 per side. I have seen nothing on a hard number as of yet from the mouth of Zenimax so I wouldn't throw much weight on this quote.

@Fog So right, I am glad to hear that. I found it to be illogical that they would have such an expanse with such a low cap. Especially with Firor at the helm, he ought to know how silly that would be. Knowing who is in the kitchen on this game I ought to just trust them and ignore silliness like that, especially until/if I get a chance at beta.

LOL <3 Matt. Go MASSSIVE or go home. I absolutely love the chaos as several armies clash out on the battlefield. Small group is fun, but zerg versus zerg versus zerg is just over the top thrilling. Hey, maybe I just coined a new phrase: ZvZvZ :D (nah, looks too much like sleeping and snoring)

Last report I saw in an interview was 2000 players in a Cyrodiil campaign, it was ambiguous to whether that was per faction or not, and the 200+ on screen sounds about right for hardware limitations. I think that is where dungeon entrances, wall climbing and rooe bridges will really diversify the sieges, giving multiple paths to take should work at breaking up that zerg mentality. Much like in Warhammer where we would have a backdoor group as well as blockers and siegers.

Honestly, I am actually looking forward to leading a small infiltration group in sieges to get behind enemy lines and open their doors or take out key objectives ;)

The preview shots of the castle battle were quite impressive to me. I hope that in the end we will be able to field a large group however limited. The fact you can specify where you want to be aligned would help to limit the battle size I imagine. My poor graphic card couldn't possibly handle 2000 characters at a time in a battle. That would be a bit too many. Jayvenpup the small infiltration group sounds very interesting, count my rogue in if you would, smile.

Yes one of the interviews stated 2000 players in a campaign but they would limit displaying to 200 or so. The video of the siege they show was an actual game play video with a 115 players on each side.

@Jayvenpup: You and me both.