Midyear Mayhem in the Elder Scrolls Online is the biggest pvp event in ESO I wanted to give you my take on the State of PvP in ESO.
With the launch of the Blackwood chapter I’ve decided to dive head first into all things PvP
- I’ve dueled
- I’ve soloed
- I’ve zerged
- I’ve experienced all Battlegrounds
- And I’ve roamed around in Imperial City collecting the new monster helms
With all this information, a lot has changed in PvP since last update and I want to give you my opinion on the macro level picture of PvP in the Elder Scrolls Online and tips on trying PvP during Midyear Mayhem
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The Biggest Change
The first and most obvious change to discuss since the launch of Blackwood is the return of proc sets to Cyrodiil. Initially ZOS did a test to see if performance could be improve, specifically lag in Cyrodiil and it did not have significant impact on performance. The developers decided to change the scaling (see previous video on proc scaling) and re-introduce them back into Cyrodiil.
For those that don’t know proc stands for “programmed random occurrence”
- Essentially, this condition is met, something happens:
- Best instance of this is something like Unleash Terror gear set, you use a charge or a gap closer, you do damage with a cool-down
There are countless examples that include healing, armor, ultimate…etc. I was originally skeptical about the return of proc sets and negative towards them, but now that they are back, I love it
Before you get salty with me, let me explain WHY.
During the no-proc pvp campaigns I didn’t enjoy Cyrodiil PvP nearly as much, I wasn’t really sure why I wasn’t loving it.
I did appreciate not getting ganked, stream sniped, blown up by proxy det Magblade running one shot builds, but it felt “off”.
Cyrodiil had lost something. it had lost the unpredictability that had made it so fun. It had lost the true organic PvP That I had loved so much. Quick Story-time explanation: I was in the military before gaming and if you’ve ever been in the military 99% of the time, your experience is extremely boring. But that 1%, is anything but boring, it’s unpredictable, challenging and invigorating.
This is Cyrodiil in a nutshell, you’re riding your horse from keep to keep, you’re sitting on a flag waiting for it to flip or sieging a keep (with nobody there to stop you).
Without procs Cyro felt like a snooze fest. With “Proc Sets” however, magic happens!
Now all of a sudden that afk flag flip is a gank waiting to happen. Now your entire team gets melted by a bomb blade and you have to defend your flag, your team… your honor.
Now you want to ram the front door of a keep and your attack is an oil and a proxy det away from a wipe and restart.
THIS is the element that was missing, the threat that any time not only you but you’re entire team could get wiped if you weren’t paying attention and it’s back
Keep in mind, I’ve been on the receiving end of ganks, proxy bombed, nuked, dunked on, you name it. I’m not mad about it, in fact it’s great because I have to pay attention, even during the not so exciting times.
Build Diversity
You know what else was missing from Cyrodiil? Build diversity, without procs, you had a very limited set of gear and items you could equip and essentially pigeon holed people into 1 to 2 relevant builds per playstyle
Doesn’t that sound a lot like ESO PvE? ESO PvE is a math game, so if you’re not running x critical rating, x trait on your weapon, x mundus stone you’re considered an idiot
Yawn
PvP on the other hand is all about the proof in the pudding, if you have a weird and wild build but it works, no one gives a crap what your mundus stone is, it works.
Take for instances my two Stamplar Friends Emac and Essa, back in 2017-2018 they both were running heavy attack stamplar builds, dual wield and restoration staff.
If I would have posted this build on my website people would have laughed me off the internet, but these two were absolute killers and wrecked everything they were in front of and had me healing them we were a hell of team in Cyrodiil.
No one questioned their mundus stone, their weapon trait, their 5 heavy/2medium crit bonus, you know why because it works?
With the return of proc sets you can again think outside the box.
If you’re wacky build idea works, great any player can literally change the meta because you thought outside the norm and proved it
This change allows me a new sense of excitement going through all the new and old gear trying different combos and failing 99% of the time, only to hit that 1% and make people think
I LOVE IT
Battlegrounds?
Okay Deltia we get it you’re a proc set fanboy, what about Battlegrounds?
Largely they remain the same. When you start with a low MMR or your rating of how good you are in comparison to other players, you face largely unskilled and newer PvPers,
Nothing against these players or their skill, but when I have 1700+ champion points vs someone with 100, it’s likely I’ve spent 10 to 100x more time in game then them and it’s an absolute slaughter.
After a few days and weeks of winning, there come a point where it drastically changes. Now EACH players is running 3-4x proc sets and every encounter is a stamped, dizzying swing Dawnbreaker 4x proc set explosion. It’s like the MMO equivalent of Call of Duty.
Do I like that playstyle? Actually, kinda.
But what I don’t care for is people taking it way way to seriously. The toxicity level raises very quickly and then you get 4v1 teabags, taunting and hate whispers. Strange, last time I checked we were all playing a video game for fun, when did it get so serious?
Nothing wrong with trying to improve your performance and get better at something, but when I go for a bike ride and I beat someone on the trail, I don’t knock them over their bike, teabag them and say you should never ride a bike again, you suck at life
Welcome to high MMR battlegrounds….just gotta be honest, it’s kinda crap
What other games did was separate the average player and what we call “sweatys” by having a ranked/non ranked system but I don’t think ESO population could support that but I’m totally speculating
Either way, I love battlegrounds, but there comes a point after a certain amount of winning where it because much more than a game to people and some personal quest for acknowledgment and validation,
ya’ll can have that
Imperial City
One awesome change that I give the developers a lot of credit is the introduction of Monster helms to Imperial City
We’ve been zerging and small group swarming the sewers and having good organic fights
Even when the population is says 1 bar, it’s still pretty populated
The downside of this is however, when you kill an enemy player and take their tel var, there’s almost zero disincentive for them to come infinitely re-spawn and grief you,
They try to grief you at each door, entrance and exit, they try to grief you at boss pulls etc
I don’t mind someone ganking me, tactically blowing me up after I open a door, its organic that’s what makes IC great, but I wish there was some distance between you nuking down a player or a group and them immediately re-spawning and attacking you
Now what everyone does is cheese que for a campaign not even use the retreat stones and leaves the instance without the threat of needing to return to base
Imperial city is my favorite zone in the entire game of the elder scrolls online and I think the incentives are their, the disincentives and punishment for death and infinite respawns might need to be adjusted
Does Cyrodiil Still lag?
Let me get the inevitable question out of the way.
Does Cyrodiil still lag?
Yep sure does hasn’t improved since launch. However, it seems there’s a sweat spot for Cyrodiil on the North American Server, it’s right about 2 PM EST to 6 PM EST.
During this time, you have a healthy population of seasoned and casual players. You’ll have some organized small and large groups, sieging keeps and massive open field action. And you won’t have the annoying input lag, crashes and desyncs. Beyond that, during prime time, it’s the same old thing. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I have no idea how to solve the lag in Cyrodiil. I’m not a server expert I’m just a dude with a mic a webcam and next to no ability to tan.
But I will tell you this, you as a customer of the game have to decide, if this bothers me and limits my fun factor why am I still playing? Me, I’m very fortune and lucky that I get to play during normal work hours, well because this is my work now. Other folks, not so much.
Not defending the lag issues in Cyrodiil, but I don’t see it getting solved and I suggest if this really bothers you, I would stick to Battlegrounds, private dueling or maybe switch games. I’m just being 100% honest with you on that.
Midyear Mayhem Advice
What do you expect to happen during midyear mayhem and what should I do as a newer PvPer?
I suspect a lot of people will come out of the woodwork and try PvP for first time or again
My recommendation for you the average or new PvPer is this, do not find a “god tier” pvp build from someone who’s spent 3000 hours on their build, Grand Overlord with 1vX insane skill, because you probably can’t pull that off, just like I couldn’t. Instead, go simpler, not harder, spec as a 40,000 health tank with tons of self-healing and armor.
If you walk into Midyear PvP with a 1 second 100% to 0 health nightblade gank experience you’ll hate it and quit.
Slow down, put the training wheels on, high hp, high armor, high regen, high healing, as you get comfortable start taking the training wheels off, lower the regen for damage, lower hp for more damage, lower healing and learn to line of sight, etc.
PvP is a blast, but if you go in there expecting to 1vX everyone and you’re rocking the Tyro title, you’ll be extremely disappointed.
I still rock training wheels on my builds, weird skills and gear combinations and people every day in stream tell me what I should change and how I should play.
Do I listen to them? Sure, but if it doesn’t help my playstyle and I get frustrated, go back to the basics, put training wheels on and have fun.
In Closing:
PvP in ESO is a lot of fun for me right now, is it perfect? Nope
Is there balancing issue, lag, zergs, toxic people, etc? Yep
But this is a video game, let’s not forget that. We play video games for fun, entertainment, socializing, we don’t have to treat each other like toxic enemies. Healthy competition is good for us and it’s fun.
If someone beats you in a duel, GG, and ask yourself what did I learn from this?
I hope you got something out of this video and I’m just one player with an opinion, so regardless if you agree or disagree please leave me a comment as I’m interested in you’re opinion.
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