The Elder Scrolls Online PvP Breakdown

The Prima Games website provides a brief breakdown of The Elder Scrolls Online’s Player versus Player gameplay, seemingly based on pre-release material. It’s a good refresher, even if probably won’t be news to people who have been following the title since its first announcement:

The PvP area in ESO is called Cyrodiil, and will feature three alliances battling it out. The large number of players is complimented by a large area to battle within. Cyrodiil takes approximately 30 minutes to traverse from one side to the other. With such a large area, it should make for some elaborate strategies.

In addition, the system is balanced by featuring a comeback mechanic of sorts. The alliance in the lead earns fewer Alliance Points, while the two trailing alliances earn bonuses. How this balances out once the game is out of beta will be interesting. There needs to be a reason to continue playing if one alliance has a significant lead, but at the same time you don’t want to make it too easy for the trailing alliances to make a comeback.

Players can communicate in their individual groups within each alliance, or speak to the entire alliance via a shout-like feature that allows communication across the entire zone. Communication will be key because while Cyrodiil is large, the developers have implemented choke points to encourage small fights to break out.

If you’re not looking to engage in all-out warfare, you can partake in normal PvE content within Cyrodiil as well. There will be PvE quests offered in the various towns of Cyrodiil, but be careful. Because you’re still in Cyrodiil, you can be attacked at any point in time. It won’t be surprising to see people on the lookout for adventurers doing PvE quests to ambush.

Almost everything you do in Cyrodiil will reward Alliance Points and experience points. There’s special armor and gear you can buy in Cyrodiil, or you can use the gear you’ve earned elsewhere in ESO. Anything you pick up in Cyrodiil will be unique to PvP and not found anywhere else in ESO. In addition, they may have unique perks and bonuses geared toward PvP.