Game director of Elder Scrolls Online, Matt Firor, has shared the studio’s plans for improving the game’s PvP, seemingly after the latest player outcry on the issue. ESO has always been perhaps more focused on its PvE content as well as its world and lore building, even adding an ESO companion system last year to help out solo players. This has unfortunately led to a lackluster PvP experience, with players facing both lag and technical issues, which developer ZeniMax Online Studios has attributed to limitations of the game’s server. Despite numerous attempts to fix the problems with PvP, they unfortunately still persist.
ZeniMax is set to reveal the next chapter of Elder Scrolls Online later this month with the announcement of the game’s next expansion. While details on what the studio has in store for players this year have been sparse, a new ESO 2022 cinematic teaser trailer, released earlier this month, gave players a very small glimpse of what the new expansion will bring. While the teaser did not reveal much, it does hint at a new Elder Scrolls Online island location that players may be exploring in the new expansion.
Firor has released an official statement on the ElderScrollsOnline forums (via GameSpot) which reveals what ZeniMax is planning to do to fix the Elder Scrolls Onlines' PvP experience. Firor reveals in the announcement that the studio will need to “re-architect” the game’s server to improve its performance enough to better handle resource-intensive content such as PvP and Trials. Unfortunately, given that the studio would need to rework some of the server’s foundational code, Firor states that the entire process may take a while as it will also require the whole game to be re-tested. While this is going on behind the scenes, the studio will try to find ways to keep Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds interesting, although no new PvP features are planned until the server work is done.
Watch the video on YouTube here.
The statement from Firor is seemingly in response to player backlash rooted from statements by ESO creative director Rich Lambert’s wife, Terri, during a recent stream by the couple on Rich’s personal Twitch channel. A clip from the stream, shared to YouTube by King Bahamut and available above, shows Terri responding to a commenter on Twitch asking about accessibility in PvP during a discussion about accessibility in video games. Terri, who is not a ZeniMax employee or representative, reacted to the comment with a “crying” gesture, telling viewers that they have “no sympathy” for PvP as they know the developers are working on it. Fan reactions to the clip have been as expected, which may have led to the announcement by Firor.
ESO includes different types of PvP modes, including Battlegrounds and Alliance versus Alliance in Cyrodiil. In Battlegrounds, players can take part in the typical online multiplayer modes seen in a host of games in the competitive genre, including Capture the Flag and Deathmatch. Cyrodiil typically sees large-scale combat. Both types of PvP have their issues, and many players are eagerly awaiting updates and fixes for ESO.
Regardless of how it came about, the official statement from Firor addresses what ESO players have been asking for a long time. At least now, those who have been longing for a good PvP experience in Elder Scrolls Online have something to look forward to. While it may take a while before the mentioned changes are actually implemented, knowing that it’s now being worked on should help appease those unhappy with the game.
The Elder Scrolls Online is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Elder Scrolls Online, King Bahamut/YouTube (via GameSpot)