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:
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.
- 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
- 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
