Chasing the Crown Part IV Zero Day

After spending nearly 24 hours in Cyrodiil, I’m sitting in fourth position in Haderus campaign with an Emperor already crowned.  It’s a long week and I’m not giving up, but wow have I realized just how little I know about PvP in Elder Scrolls Online.  Don’t get me wrong, I can fight and press buttons 1-5 better than most, but I underestimated the complexity and desire to achieve Emperor .  With one day in, I’m climbing the ranks fast and learning so much so here’s the blog on my first day in Chasing the Crown Part IV Zero Day.

Alloryn likes to use his Emperor crown for free potions
Alloryn likes to use his Emperor crown for free potions

The day started off with an epic fail on my part.  Somehow, we started fighting in Chillrend campaign (prior to campaign rest).  I was screaming at people to come help me on the server, then when they watched the stream, “your map doesn’t look like mine.”  Well it had to be their fault right? Wow, we laughed for two hours over that move, but it started the day with a great story and many more followed.

Our second story started shortly after, with an epic fight against the reds (Ebonheart Pact) on Sejanus Outpost (Sej).  They pushed us to the bridge in a stale mate of colossal forces.  I felt like I was in the Lord of the Rings “you shall not pass” type of situation.  After realizing neither of us had the man power (red) or the numbers (yellow) to progress, someone had to make a move.  We gathered our 24 player strike force and snuck around to Sejanus and started sieging.  Eventually, one of the larger guilds had to peel away from the bridge to defend it.  This gave our bridge force the edge they needed to push past and reinforce the outpost.  So many battles, so many stories, and this was just one night!

Sieging Like a BossAnother thing that reminded me of my competitive PvP days is witnessing some of the high end PvP guilds at work.  Even if you absolutely hate the “stack and whack” clump up in a ball and spam Impulse, being able to lead a group of 24 simultaneously while everyone is within two meters of the crown is awe-inspiring to behold.  I felt like I was watching synchronized swimming.  Then of course there was the usual “this guild sucks” type of discussions.  Nothing better than a good ol’ rivalry to spark your emotions in PvP.  The thing I dislike about PvE, NPC’s don’t talk trash.  By the end of the night, if I wasn’t getting t-bagged or stream sniped, I felt I wasn’t doing my job.  So much fun (everyone was honestly respectful).

I’m also not afraid to admit when I’m wrong, probably because I do it frequently.  Here’s another time where (arrogantly) I thought I could stroll into Haderus PvP, wipe the map single-handedly and be the only one smart enough to walk away with Emperor.  Yep, another time I was wrong.  You really have to earn it, fighting and clawing for every last bit of Alliance Points while flipping the map back to yellow.  Sure there’s exploits in doing this, but some of the tactics I had never thought of.  Like, completing all of your quests just prior to the campaign reset and turning them in seconds later.  And using Igneous Shields on yourself to get more points for repairing walls.

Running the Scroll in ESOThat brings me to the other point about the Emperor chase.  The weird part about it is, you’re truly not fighting against the other alliance for it, but your allies. We were all joking about not resurrecting players ahead of us on the leader board and I even caught myself doing this.  You get Emperor by being number one, not number two.  There’s little incentive for the top player to give it up or stop playing, so essentially you’re waiting for that person to stop for the week or log off.  Most just quit after the 50,000 AP race.  I didn’t know that, but I’m continuing on and seeing how this unfolds.  Just another example of my limited knowledge on the complexity of Cyrodiil and it’s many layers of strategies.

With that being said, wow community.  I really appreciate your support.  From mails in game to coming and helping the fight.  It’s been awesome.  This is what PvP is about.  Fighting for or against each other and having fun.  I think we lose sight of the most important thing in games, that’s Fun Per Second.  I about fell asleep at my keyboard because it was so fun.  As I finish up this article, it’s almost prime time, so time to get back in the fight and hold down our keeps.  If you haven’t tried PvP in ESO, or ESO at all, seriously pick it up.  No matter your level, experience, or issues with PvP, come at it with an open mind and you won’t be disappointed.

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