Cyrodiil Champions Live Test – Community Q&A

Below is part one of a two-part written PVP Q&A, based on questions from the official ESO forums and ESO Reddit communities. We’re starting with a full Q&A about the Cyrodiil Champions tests, with a more general PVP Q&A to follow later in February. We also encourage everyone to check out the VOD of our Cyrodiil Champions Q&A stream here, if you haven’t yet! Q. What are the next steps after the Cyrodiil Champions testing? For example, if maxing player population is the performance goal, and it's met, will the next step be adding additional skills to the character template and seeing where it breaks? How would that be done? E.g., adding a few weapon skills or adding a few sets. – kiheikat A. The whole goal of the test is to prove out if the complexity of abilities is a core problem performance-wise. We've run a number of tests looking at various other things over the last few years on live, (CP/No-CP, Proc sets, group healing, population caps, target caps, hardware...etc.) and this is the next step in that progression. The results of the test will determine our next steps - either way, though, what is on PTS today is not even close to a full feature. Anything we move forward with will need loads of work to flesh out. Q. Which servers will the Cyrodiil Champions test campaign be available for the 1-week performance testing at the end of March? PC/NA only? Or all servers, PC/NA, PC/EU, XB/NA, XB/EU, PS/NA, PS/EU? – Ingenon A. The Cyrodiil Champions test will take place on the live PC EU and PC NA servers, but we will be running a Golden Pursuits campaign on all servers so everyone can participate in Cyrodiil and get the rewards. Q. How long do you plan to test Vengeance on live servers? – katemedina666 A. The Cyrodiil Champions test will run for one week (7 days) total on the PC EU and PC NA servers. Q. Will we also see simplified versions of non-class skill lines in the Vengeance campaign? Like weapons, guild, and alliance war skill lines? Either during the first week of the test or in later stages? – KappaccinoNation A. For this test, we only have the current abilities that are on PTS. As a reminder, this is a test and isn't a fully fleshed out feature. If things go well during the test, that will inform our plans going forward with Cyrodiil in the future. Any changes to Cyrodiil that follow this test will require A LOT of work to get to a full feature, though. Q. If the Vengeance campaign proves successful and positively received, will you start adding the weapon skill lines and the alliance war skill lines to future iterations? Perhaps even make it a permanent campaign? – RokuTheRed A. Similar to the answer above, we want to stress that this is only a test and isn’t close to a full feature. Whatever we move forward with, based on the results of this test, there will be a ton of work required to flesh it out into something more complete. Q. If the Vengeance campaign is successful, what steps will be taken to ensure our characters still feel like ours and not copy/paste templates? How much customizability would still be available in PvP? Class skills are great, but what about weapon skills, guild skills, and the like? – IaminfactAToaster A. This is a great question, and we’ve seen many like it, wanting to know what comes after the test. While we understand that everyone is eager to know what comes next, please remember that this is just a test. It is not a full feature. We turned off a ton of stuff (inventory, progression, cosmetics, skill lines outside of classes, armor sets, shifted to flat player stats instead of derived, turned off quests...etc.) to get this done quickly and in order to see the results as soon as possible. The results of the test will help inform us on the next steps. Stay tuned! Q. Will these Cyrodiil tests, whether they go well or poorly, have any implications for other PvP content such as Imperial City or Battlegrounds? – ParalyzerT9 A. In terms of the test, the team working on Cyrodiil Champions is the same team that would be working on other PVP content, so their focus is on the test for the time being. Anything beyond that, we need to see how the test goes. Q. What are the goals behind this test? As in, what does a successful test look like to you as developers? I will participate in this because I love Cyrodiil, and it is the only reason I play and invest my time and money into the game. But what are you wanting from us as the test participants to report back from this test? – RepresentativeOk8793 A. To reiterate the goals noted in the first answer in this Q&A, the primary goal of Cyrodiil Champions test is to prove out if the complexity of abilities is a core problem performance-wise. During the initial functionality test on the PTS, we were looking for things like:

• If players experienced any character corruptions
• If any skills were missing VFX/audio or not doing what they said on the tooltip
• If there was any strange behavior with infinite potions or siege weaponry

For the live test, we’ll be looking to get feedback on things such as:

• If players can successfully get into large-scale battles
• If large-scale battles feel better latency-wise and how combat feels
(responsive or not, fun or not, etc.)
• What you think of the simplified abilities

If you run into any latency-related issues, we’ll want details on what you were doing, what addons you were running at the time, when the lag happened, etc. Q. Do you have a way of filtering comments out from people who did not participate at all/very little in the test? And only receiving feedback from people who actually use the PVP portion of the game, not just PVE players who have never and will never play in Cyrodiil because it's not why they play the game? Can you distinguish between those people and the ones that these tests directly effect? – RepresentativeOk8793 A. Great question and it is something we’re considering. Cyrodiil is intended for everyone, across all playstyles and experience levels, so we do want to hear from everyone who participates in the Cyrodiil Champions test. We’re working with our BI and Research teams to create a survey for the test. We plan to send it out to everyone who participates in the Cyrodiil Champions test, based on in-game data, shortly after the test ends on PC EU and PC NA. Q. Will my characters still have Racial Passives active in the Vengeance Campaign test? – DontTreadonMe4 A. No, racial passives will not be active during the Cyrodiil Champions test (Vengeance campaign.) Q. Many of us don’t have the very best internet connection available, and sets like Vicious Death and Plaguebreak encourage players to all cast Ultimates, all at once (particularly in ball groups), causing high-server load and often resulting in dashboarding/crashing. What is the process for addressing this performance? – TenebraeUmrosus A. Higher population and better game performance are the goals of the Cyrodiil Champions test. The specific scenario you’re describing here is one of the many reasons why we've disabled certain things during the test and are limiting all player characters to simplified test-specific templates. The fewer the variables, the better we can see if it’s possible to hit our goals, and if we can, build back on from there. Q. In the Vengeance campaign specifically, there are no alliance and weapon skill lines. The Nightblade is the only class right now with access to Major Evasion. With no siege shields and the majority of people without access to Major Evasion, siege will be super oppressive. Do you have any ideas to balance siege damage as defenders will have a clear advantage being able to run multiple 600ap oils each doing 30k+ damage with little to no mitigation? Same question for cleansing also, as there won’t be access to it as it currently stands outside the Templar ritual. – Asleep_Masterpiece_6 A. This is a test, not a full feature. We are aware of balance concerns and are ok with what is on the PTS and what will be present during the upcoming 7-day test on the PC EU and PC NA live servers. The data we get from this test will help inform the future of Cyrodiil, and we’ll evaluate the work needed from there. Q. Will character stats (magicka/stamina/health points) remain player-selectable or does everyone get the same? – decairn A. For this test, every character is templated and there are no choices in terms of stat allocations. Q. Will character mundus be enabled or disabled during the Cyrodiil Champions test? – decairn A. Mundus Stone buffs will be disabled during the Cyrodiil Champions test, when you enter the Vengeance campaign. Q. Will character CP remain player-selectable during the Cyrodiil Champions test, or does everyone get the same? – decairn A. The Champion system, including Champion passive and active perks, will be disabled during the Cyrodiil Champions test, when you enter the Vengeance campaign. Q. Will food and potions be enabled and unusable during the Cyrodiil Champions test, or disabled and not usable? – decairn A. Since all character templates have the exact same stat values in the Vengeance campaign, food is not necessary. Your inventory does not go with you into Cyrodiil during the test, so you won't have access to food/drinks. Everyone will have access to a bottomless tri-stat potion – the usual potion cooldown applies. Q. Is the ability to apply poison to weapons enabled or disabled during the test? – decairn A. Poisons are disabled in the Vengeance campaign. We are not giving test participants any poisons (like food), and you cannot access your inventory during the Cyrodiil Champions test. Q. Can the Cyrodiil Champion test PVP gear be modified by players at all (traits, enchants, transmute, quality upgrades)? In particular, can we modify weapon enchants, which drive status effect choice? – decairn A. No, the Cyrodiil Champions test does not support changing of traits, enchants, or transmutes. Everyone gets access to the same weapons and items as part of the template when entering the Vengeance campaign. Q. During the Cyrodiil Champion test, can we swap specific slots to our liking such as sword-and-board back bar instead of resto staff? – decairn A. Yes, everyone will be given basic weapon types, and players can swap out as much as they like. Q. Do the item sets we get access to for the Cyrodiil Champions test follow the heavy, medium, light basis and provide stat and passive modifiers, or is that all static? And will it cost any currency to get or change sets around? If so, what is that currency? – decairn A. No, armor will not provide any stats during the Cyrodiil Champions test so there’s no need to change sets around either. Everyone’s armor stat will be the same regardless of their armor, item set, or armor type. Armor is also not provided as part of the test “kit” during the Cyrodiil Champions test. You will go into the test wearing what you have on – the stats just won’t apply. (You could take off all your armor and still have the same armor value and character stats we’ve set for the test.) Q. Many non-class skills are key to player builds today and provide easier access to abilities such as major evasion, major expedition, siege shield, group major expedition, group heals (EV, RR, healing springs, BoR), etc. What is the plan to include or exclude access to these buffs, not all classes have same access to these within class abilities so there's an imbalance to address as well as potential any access at all? – decairn A. As noted above - for this test, we focused on getting a small set of abilities to be as simple and performant as possible. We chose the class lines for this and understand it's not perfectly balanced. That is ok for this short test. After the test and depending on the results, we’ll determine the next steps and share those with everyone. Regardless, there will be a lot more work involved before any more full-fledged changes to Cyrodiil. Q. Is siege weaponry damage output being changed to compensate for lack of access to player survivability skills? – decairn A. We made no special accommodations to siege weaponry damage, but expect them to hit harder because characters in the Vengeance campaign don't have the modifiers they have to incoming damage that exist elsewhere. Q. Are there any new items to purchase at the PVP zone vendors? Or any changes to purchase/use/decay for anything from vendors such as repair kits, siege weaponry, potions, soul gems, and sets? – decairn A. All players who participate in the Cyrodiil Champions test will have access to infinite siege, soul gems, and tri-pots while in the Vengeance campaign. The applicable cool-downs still apply. Cyrodiil stores/merchants will be disabled during the test. Q. Will addons be allowed to be used within the campaign during the Cyrodiil Champions test? – decairn A. Yes, addons will be allowed during the Cyrodiil Champions test. If you choose to use them, we ask that you just be aware that this is a test and addons may not function the way they normally do. They could also impair your test experience, and it will be important to note in any test feedback if you are using addons and list which ones. Q. Will the ESO API for addons change be made to make new data elements available so as not to break existing addons that rely on data such as ability id and names? – decairn A. There will be no API or base UI changes during the Cyrodiil Champions test. Q. For non-Cyrodiil PVP such as duels, Battlegrounds, and Imperial City, is the intention to carry any changes that result from the Cyrodiil Champions test into any other PVP game types? – decairn A. This test is isolated to only Cyrodiil, and only this specific campaign. Once the Vengeance campaign is turned off, everything goes back to normal. All future plans for Cyrodiil depend on the results of the test. Q. Is saving a build to the armory going to be supported during the Cyrodiil Champions test? Is your last build used saved on exit from Cyrodiil and reloaded upon the next entry? Or does a build need to be remade for each entry into Cyrodiil during the test? – decairn A. No, armory builds will be disabled during the Cyrodiil Champions test. You will not be able to access the armory while in the Vengeance campaign. Q. For guild traders in claimed keeps, has the PVP zone gear been disabled from this feature during the test? – decairn A. Players will not be able to claim keeps in the Vengeance campaign during the Cyrodiil Champions test, so there will be no guild traders in keeps. Q. For the Cyrodiil Champions test, are there any changes to Sneak? – Avran_Sylt A. We are not making any changes to Sneak during the Cyrodiil Champions test. All the core combat actions (dodge, roll, jump, weapon swap, sneak, shield, bash, etc.) will work as they normally do. Q. For the Cyrodiil Champions test, will Cloak be part of the Nightblades kit? – Avran_Sylt A. Yes, Nightblades will have access to Cloak during the Cyrodiil Champions test, but it is a test-specific version of the skill that has a heal component plus a cooldown. (See below.) Q. For the Cyrodiil Champions test, will Invisibility Potions and Detection Potions be added to the selection of usable infinite potions? If we have access to Detection Potions, will they retain their current 45m radius? – Avran_Sylt A. No, Invisibility Potions and Detection Potions will not be available or usable in the Vengeance campaign. The only potion players will have access to during the Cyrodiil Champions test is an unlimited-use tri-potion. Q. Are you going to use this test AND the results of past tests, or is this starting completely over? I see people suggesting tests of things that have already been looked at. – Soraka A. While the Cyrodiil Champions test is new, it takes into account everything we have already tested. Data from past tests has helped inform the Cyrodiil Champions test – they are all connected. We will likely not be testing things we already did. Q. What is your actual intent with templates? Is it just to test with limitations or is it testing a future rework of how PVP works in this game? (Testing only vs preview of things to come.) – Soraka A. As a reminder, this is a test and only a test. What we have on the PTS is the minimum viable to prove out the test. There is a lot of work remaining after the test concludes and we see the results – the test results will inform how we move forward. Q. Which skill lines will be available during the test period? Class skill lines are a given, but can we expect to see weapon, armor, and world skills? – Marto A. For this test, we are only doing a subset of class skills. We did this so that we could get the test out quickly and to reduce the amount of potentially wasted work if the test isn't successful. Q. Has the team considered that the hundreds of motif styles and their combinations, character skins, and polymorphs may possibly be responsible for the poor performance in PvP? I mean, I'm no coder but all those different combinations must have some measurable impact on the server. I wonder if it might be worth testing a campaign where all polymorphs and skins were disabled, and characters can only use their alliance styles, or a few costume options that have to do with their alliance. – Finedaible A. Yes, we have looked at the impact of the cosmetics - they tend to have a greater impact on the client and almost no impact on the server in relation to combat. (They don't generally change often and when they do, it's a pretty small message.) The sole focus of this test is abilities and their impact on the server. Q. Will you turn off the passive abilities of the Emperor in the upcoming tests? – Noreno A. The Emperor passive will be disabled in the Cyrodiil Champions test. Players cannot enter the Vengeance campaign as an Emperor (Emperor passives will be disabled), cannot be crowned Emperor during the test, etc. Q. Will the Ayleid Wells be available in the upcoming tests? – Noreno A. Yes, the Ayleid Wells will be available during the Cyrodiil Champions test, and their functionality is unchanged. Q. What will happen to the Cyrodiil dungeons during the Cyrodiil Champions test? Will they still not follow the general campaign rules? – Noreno A. Delves will still be active, but they follow the same rules as overland Cyrodiil. When you enter them, you will remain as your Vengeance campaign Cyrodiil Champions test templated character. Imperial City and its dungeons are not a part of the Cyrodiil Champions test. Q. Are you considering changing the “scaling to max resource” tooltip on sets and skills during the Cyrodiil Champions test? – argonian37 A. No, this does not apply or matter for the sake of the Cyrodiil Champions test since item sets and all skills except the template class skills are disabled in the Vengeance campaign. Q. Are you planning to rework/modify siege mechs and DPS during the Cyrodiil Champions test, such as enabling them to destroy every building? – argonian37 A. We are not making any changes to siege weapon functionality or DPS for this test. We are also not changing what is or is not destroyable any time soon, for this test or otherwise. Destructible physics have an impact on game performance, so as much as we’d love to add more to Cyrodiil, it’s not something we’ll consider until game performance in Cyrodiil is where we want. Q. Are you keeping the same quests in the alliance bases? – argonian37 A. No, quests will be disabled during the Cyrodiil Champions test in the Vengeance campaign. Q. The simplified class skills in the new Vengeance campaign don't appear to have morphs. In developing these skill lines, how did the team account for stamina and magicka builds? And how did they decide what functionality to incorporate into each streamlined skill? (For example, Nightblades' cloak can be morphed to give either invisibility or a heal; how did you approach designing a single "cloak" skill?) – Ilsabet A. There are no skill morphs in the Cyrodiil Champions test, that’s correct. We focused less on what kind of build you had and more on what the primary focus of the ability was once we stripped it down to the core idea. Stonefist for example is now just a ranged attack, and instead of a stun after three hits we gave it the ability to interrupt to keep with its disruptive nature. Likewise with Piercing Javelin, the ability no longer does damage but causes a huge knock back. We made this decision due to the focus of the test being game performance, and in an effort to simplify or disable many aspects of Cyrodiil to see what is possible performance-wise. Once we understand that base-line of what is possible, and within acceptable performance metrics, we can build onto that foundation.

Below is part one of a two-part written PVP Q&A, based on questions from the official ESO forums and ESO Reddit communities. We’re starting with a full Q&A about the Cyrodiil Champions tests, with a more general PVP Q&A to follow later in February. We also encourage everyone to check out the VOD of our Cyrodiil Champions Q&A stream here, if you haven’t yet! Q. What are the next steps after the Cyrodiil Champions testing? For example, if maxing player population is the performance goal, and it's met, will the next step be adding additional skills to the character template and seeing where it breaks? How would that be done? E.g., adding a few weapon skills or adding a few sets. – kiheikat A. The whole goal of the test is to prove out if the complexity of abilities is a core problem performance-wise. We've run a number of tests looking at various other things over the last few years on live, (CP/No-CP, Proc sets, group healing, population caps, target caps, hardware...etc.) and this is the next step in that progression. The results of the test will determine our next steps - either way, though, what is on PTS today is not even close to a full feature. Anything we move forward with will need loads of work to flesh out. Q. Which servers will the Cyrodiil Champions test campaign be available for the 1-week performance testing at the end of March? PC/NA only? Or all servers, PC/NA, PC/EU, XB/NA, XB/EU, PS/NA, PS/EU? – Ingenon A. The Cyrodiil Champions test will take place on the live PC EU and PC NA servers, but we will be running a Golden Pursuits campaign on all servers so everyone can participate in Cyrodiil and get the rewards. Q. How long do you plan to test Vengeance on live servers? – katemedina666 A. The Cyrodiil Champions test will run for one week (7 days) total on the PC EU and PC NA servers. Q. Will we also see simplified versions of non-class skill lines in the Vengeance campaign? Like weapons, guild, and alliance war skill lines? Either during the first week of the test or in later stages? – KappaccinoNation A. For this test, we only have the current abilities that are on PTS. As a reminder, this is a test and isn't a fully fleshed out feature. If things go well during the test, that will inform our plans going forward with Cyrodiil in the future. Any changes to Cyrodiil that follow this test will require A LOT of work to get to a full feature, though. Q. If the Vengeance campaign proves successful and positively received, will you start adding the weapon skill lines and the alliance war skill lines to future iterations? Perhaps even make it a permanent campaign? – RokuTheRed A. Similar to the answer above, we want to stress that this is only a test and isn’t close to a full feature. Whatever we move forward with, based on the results of this test, there will be a ton of work required to flesh it out into something more complete. Q. If the Vengeance campaign is successful, what steps will be taken to ensure our characters still feel like ours and not copy/paste templates? How much customizability would still be available in PvP? Class skills are great, but what about weapon skills, guild skills, and the like? – IaminfactAToaster A. This is a great question, and we’ve seen many like it, wanting to know what comes after the test. While we understand that everyone is eager to know what comes next, please remember that this is just a test. It is not a full feature. We turned off a ton of stuff (inventory, progression, cosmetics, skill lines outside of classes, armor sets, shifted to flat player stats instead of derived, turned off quests...etc.) to get this done quickly and in order to see the results as soon as possible. The results of the test will help inform us on the next steps. Stay tuned! Q. Will these Cyrodiil tests, whether they go well or poorly, have any implications for other PvP content such as Imperial City or Battlegrounds? – ParalyzerT9 A. In terms of the test, the team working on Cyrodiil Champions is the same team that would be working on other PVP content, so their focus is on the test for the time being. Anything beyond that, we need to see how the test goes. Q. What are the goals behind this test? As in, what does a successful test look like to you as developers? I will participate in this because I love Cyrodiil, and it is the only reason I play and invest my time and money into the game. But what are you wanting from us as the test participants to report back from this test? – RepresentativeOk8793 A. To reiterate the goals noted in the first answer in this Q&A, the primary goal of Cyrodiil Champions test is to prove out if the complexity of abilities is a core problem performance-wise. During the initial functionality test on the PTS, we were looking for things like:

• If players experienced any character corruptions
• If any skills were missing VFX/audio or not doing what they said on the tooltip
• If there was any strange behavior with infinite potions or siege weaponry

For the live test, we’ll be looking to get feedback on things such as:

• If players can successfully get into large-scale battles
• If large-scale battles feel better latency-wise and how combat feels
(responsive or not, fun or not, etc.)
• What you think of the simplified abilities

If you run into any latency-related issues, we’ll want details on what you were doing, what addons you were running at the time, when the lag happened, etc. Q. Do you have a way of filtering comments out from people who did not participate at all/very little in the test? And only receiving feedback from people who actually use the PVP portion of the game, not just PVE players who have never and will never play in Cyrodiil because it's not why they play the game? Can you distinguish between those people and the ones that these tests directly effect? – RepresentativeOk8793 A. Great question and it is something we’re considering. Cyrodiil is intended for everyone, across all playstyles and experience levels, so we do want to hear from everyone who participates in the Cyrodiil Champions test. We’re working with our BI and Research teams to create a survey for the test. We plan to send it out to everyone who participates in the Cyrodiil Champions test, based on in-game data, shortly after the test ends on PC EU and PC NA. Q. Will my characters still have Racial Passives active in the Vengeance Campaign test? – DontTreadonMe4 A. No, racial passives will not be active during the Cyrodiil Champions test (Vengeance campaign.) Q. Many of us don’t have the very best internet connection available, and sets like Vicious Death and Plaguebreak encourage players to all cast Ultimates, all at once (particularly in ball groups), causing high-server load and often resulting in dashboarding/crashing. What is the process for addressing this performance? – TenebraeUmrosus A. Higher population and better game performance are the goals of the Cyrodiil Champions test. The specific scenario you’re describing here is one of the many reasons why we've disabled certain things during the test and are limiting all player characters to simplified test-specific templates. The fewer the variables, the better we can see if it’s possible to hit our goals, and if we can, build back on from there. Q. In the Vengeance campaign specifically, there are no alliance and weapon skill lines. The Nightblade is the only class right now with access to Major Evasion. With no siege shields and the majority of people without access to Major Evasion, siege will be super oppressive. Do you have any ideas to balance siege damage as defenders will have a clear advantage being able to run multiple 600ap oils each doing 30k+ damage with little to no mitigation? Same question for cleansing also, as there won’t be access to it as it currently stands outside the Templar ritual. – Asleep_Masterpiece_6 A. This is a test, not a full feature. We are aware of balance concerns and are ok with what is on the PTS and what will be present during the upcoming 7-day test on the PC EU and PC NA live servers. The data we get from this test will help inform the future of Cyrodiil, and we’ll evaluate the work needed from there. Q. Will character stats (magicka/stamina/health points) remain player-selectable or does everyone get the same? – decairn A. For this test, every character is templated and there are no choices in terms of stat allocations. Q. Will character mundus be enabled or disabled during the Cyrodiil Champions test? – decairn A. Mundus Stone buffs will be disabled during the Cyrodiil Champions test, when you enter the Vengeance campaign. Q. Will character CP remain player-selectable during the Cyrodiil Champions test, or does everyone get the same? – decairn A. The Champion system, including Champion passive and active perks, will be disabled during the Cyrodiil Champions test, when you enter the Vengeance campaign. Q. Will food and potions be enabled and unusable during the Cyrodiil Champions test, or disabled and not usable? – decairn A. Since all character templates have the exact same stat values in the Vengeance campaign, food is not necessary. Your inventory does not go with you into Cyrodiil during the test, so you won't have access to food/drinks. Everyone will have access to a bottomless tri-stat potion – the usual potion cooldown applies. Q. Is the ability to apply poison to weapons enabled or disabled during the test? – decairn A. Poisons are disabled in the Vengeance campaign. We are not giving test participants any poisons (like food), and you cannot access your inventory during the Cyrodiil Champions test. Q. Can the Cyrodiil Champion test PVP gear be modified by players at all (traits, enchants, transmute, quality upgrades)? In particular, can we modify weapon enchants, which drive status effect choice? – decairn A. No, the Cyrodiil Champions test does not support changing of traits, enchants, or transmutes. Everyone gets access to the same weapons and items as part of the template when entering the Vengeance campaign. Q. During the Cyrodiil Champion test, can we swap specific slots to our liking such as sword-and-board back bar instead of resto staff? – decairn A. Yes, everyone will be given basic weapon types, and players can swap out as much as they like. Q. Do the item sets we get access to for the Cyrodiil Champions test follow the heavy, medium, light basis and provide stat and passive modifiers, or is that all static? And will it cost any currency to get or change sets around? If so, what is that currency? – decairn A. No, armor will not provide any stats during the Cyrodiil Champions test so there’s no need to change sets around either. Everyone’s armor stat will be the same regardless of their armor, item set, or armor type. Armor is also not provided as part of the test “kit” during the Cyrodiil Champions test. You will go into the test wearing what you have on – the stats just won’t apply. (You could take off all your armor and still have the same armor value and character stats we’ve set for the test.) Q. Many non-class skills are key to player builds today and provide easier access to abilities such as major evasion, major expedition, siege shield, group major expedition, group heals (EV, RR, healing springs, BoR), etc. What is the plan to include or exclude access to these buffs, not all classes have same access to these within class abilities so there's an imbalance to address as well as potential any access at all? – decairn A. As noted above - for this test, we focused on getting a small set of abilities to be as simple and performant as possible. We chose the class lines for this and understand it's not perfectly balanced. That is ok for this short test. After the test and depending on the results, we’ll determine the next steps and share those with everyone. Regardless, there will be a lot more work involved before any more full-fledged changes to Cyrodiil. Q. Is siege weaponry damage output being changed to compensate for lack of access to player survivability skills? – decairn A. We made no special accommodations to siege weaponry damage, but expect them to hit harder because characters in the Vengeance campaign don't have the modifiers they have to incoming damage that exist elsewhere. Q. Are there any new items to purchase at the PVP zone vendors? Or any changes to purchase/use/decay for anything from vendors such as repair kits, siege weaponry, potions, soul gems, and sets? – decairn A. All players who participate in the Cyrodiil Champions test will have access to infinite siege, soul gems, and tri-pots while in the Vengeance campaign. The applicable cool-downs still apply. Cyrodiil stores/merchants will be disabled during the test. Q. Will addons be allowed to be used within the campaign during the Cyrodiil Champions test? – decairn A. Yes, addons will be allowed during the Cyrodiil Champions test. If you choose to use them, we ask that you just be aware that this is a test and addons may not function the way they normally do. They could also impair your test experience, and it will be important to note in any test feedback if you are using addons and list which ones. Q. Will the ESO API for addons change be made to make new data elements available so as not to break existing addons that rely on data such as ability id and names? – decairn A. There will be no API or base UI changes during the Cyrodiil Champions test. Q. For non-Cyrodiil PVP such as duels, Battlegrounds, and Imperial City, is the intention to carry any changes that result from the Cyrodiil Champions test into any other PVP game types? – decairn A. This test is isolated to only Cyrodiil, and only this specific campaign. Once the Vengeance campaign is turned off, everything goes back to normal. All future plans for Cyrodiil depend on the results of the test. Q. Is saving a build to the armory going to be supported during the Cyrodiil Champions test? Is your last build used saved on exit from Cyrodiil and reloaded upon the next entry? Or does a build need to be remade for each entry into Cyrodiil during the test? – decairn A. No, armory builds will be disabled during the Cyrodiil Champions test. You will not be able to access the armory while in the Vengeance campaign. Q. For guild traders in claimed keeps, has the PVP zone gear been disabled from this feature during the test? – decairn A. Players will not be able to claim keeps in the Vengeance campaign during the Cyrodiil Champions test, so there will be no guild traders in keeps. Q. For the Cyrodiil Champions test, are there any changes to Sneak? – Avran_Sylt A. We are not making any changes to Sneak during the Cyrodiil Champions test. All the core combat actions (dodge, roll, jump, weapon swap, sneak, shield, bash, etc.) will work as they normally do. Q. For the Cyrodiil Champions test, will Cloak be part of the Nightblades kit? – Avran_Sylt A. Yes, Nightblades will have access to Cloak during the Cyrodiil Champions test, but it is a test-specific version of the skill that has a heal component plus a cooldown. (See below.) Q. For the Cyrodiil Champions test, will Invisibility Potions and Detection Potions be added to the selection of usable infinite potions? If we have access to Detection Potions, will they retain their current 45m radius? – Avran_Sylt A. No, Invisibility Potions and Detection Potions will not be available or usable in the Vengeance campaign. The only potion players will have access to during the Cyrodiil Champions test is an unlimited-use tri-potion. Q. Are you going to use this test AND the results of past tests, or is this starting completely over? I see people suggesting tests of things that have already been looked at. – Soraka A. While the Cyrodiil Champions test is new, it takes into account everything we have already tested. Data from past tests has helped inform the Cyrodiil Champions test – they are all connected. We will likely not be testing things we already did. Q. What is your actual intent with templates? Is it just to test with limitations or is it testing a future rework of how PVP works in this game? (Testing only vs preview of things to come.) – Soraka A. As a reminder, this is a test and only a test. What we have on the PTS is the minimum viable to prove out the test. There is a lot of work remaining after the test concludes and we see the results – the test results will inform how we move forward. Q. Which skill lines will be available during the test period? Class skill lines are a given, but can we expect to see weapon, armor, and world skills? – Marto A. For this test, we are only doing a subset of class skills. We did this so that we could get the test out quickly and to reduce the amount of potentially wasted work if the test isn't successful. Q. Has the team considered that the hundreds of motif styles and their combinations, character skins, and polymorphs may possibly be responsible for the poor performance in PvP? I mean, I'm no coder but all those different combinations must have some measurable impact on the server. I wonder if it might be worth testing a campaign where all polymorphs and skins were disabled, and characters can only use their alliance styles, or a few costume options that have to do with their alliance. – Finedaible A. Yes, we have looked at the impact of the cosmetics - they tend to have a greater impact on the client and almost no impact on the server in relation to combat. (They don't generally change often and when they do, it's a pretty small message.) The sole focus of this test is abilities and their impact on the server. Q. Will you turn off the passive abilities of the Emperor in the upcoming tests? – Noreno A. The Emperor passive will be disabled in the Cyrodiil Champions test. Players cannot enter the Vengeance campaign as an Emperor (Emperor passives will be disabled), cannot be crowned Emperor during the test, etc. Q. Will the Ayleid Wells be available in the upcoming tests? – Noreno A. Yes, the Ayleid Wells will be available during the Cyrodiil Champions test, and their functionality is unchanged. Q. What will happen to the Cyrodiil dungeons during the Cyrodiil Champions test? Will they still not follow the general campaign rules? – Noreno A. Delves will still be active, but they follow the same rules as overland Cyrodiil. When you enter them, you will remain as your Vengeance campaign Cyrodiil Champions test templated character. Imperial City and its dungeons are not a part of the Cyrodiil Champions test. Q. Are you considering changing the “scaling to max resource” tooltip on sets and skills during the Cyrodiil Champions test? – argonian37 A. No, this does not apply or matter for the sake of the Cyrodiil Champions test since item sets and all skills except the template class skills are disabled in the Vengeance campaign. Q. Are you planning to rework/modify siege mechs and DPS during the Cyrodiil Champions test, such as enabling them to destroy every building? – argonian37 A. We are not making any changes to siege weapon functionality or DPS for this test. We are also not changing what is or is not destroyable any time soon, for this test or otherwise. Destructible physics have an impact on game performance, so as much as we’d love to add more to Cyrodiil, it’s not something we’ll consider until game performance in Cyrodiil is where we want. Q. Are you keeping the same quests in the alliance bases? – argonian37 A. No, quests will be disabled during the Cyrodiil Champions test in the Vengeance campaign. Q. The simplified class skills in the new Vengeance campaign don't appear to have morphs. In developing these skill lines, how did the team account for stamina and magicka builds? And how did they decide what functionality to incorporate into each streamlined skill? (For example, Nightblades' cloak can be morphed to give either invisibility or a heal; how did you approach designing a single "cloak" skill?) – Ilsabet A. There are no skill morphs in the Cyrodiil Champions test, that’s correct. We focused less on what kind of build you had and more on what the primary focus of the ability was once we stripped it down to the core idea. Stonefist for example is now just a ranged attack, and instead of a stun after three hits we gave it the ability to interrupt to keep with its disruptive nature. Likewise with Piercing Javelin, the ability no longer does damage but causes a huge knock back. We made this decision due to the focus of the test being game performance, and in an effort to simplify or disable many aspects of Cyrodiil to see what is possible performance-wise. Once we understand that base-line of what is possible, and within acceptable performance metrics, we can build onto that foundation.