Exploring Cyrodiil: is it possible?

myskyrim26

I’ve been to Cyrodiil for several times, mainly on Midyear Mayhem events. Not sure why I did that – just wanted to see what’s going on there, to get some motifs... It was not a frustrating experience; I even founded it to be fun of some sort.

Yet what I want in Cyrodiil is not PVP. I want only to explore it. Cities, Ayleid ruins, delves… I wonder if there are any Daedra Lord statues present - like we saw them in Oblivion, any wayshrines (not travelling points, but old shrines like we saw in Oblivion and ESO Gold Coast).

The question is: can I explore the enemy territory? I’m in AD now. What if the territory I’m interested in belongs to EP or DC? Can I enter it at all, or should it become AD controlled first? How hard is it to explore the enemy’s territory? I know that I should be as stealthy as possible, yet can I completely avoid any fights? Maybe I need several characters – one for each Alliance?

What I do know now is: I need to sneak all the time, I should not approach settlement controlled by other Alliances (those with PVE quests) because guards will attack me. Also, I know that all-impenetrable thing, yet I wish I could avoid any PVP interaction.

Cirantille

Go to a dead campaign for that and preferable at off-peak hours.

Still doesn't guarantee not to be ganked but at least if you are out there you may resurrect on place.

You can still go until their gates (they will usually be closed, unless their gate-keep is taken then you can walk until their base )

But even if you are in your alliance territory someone can sneak through for whatever reason they want.

Also for your question, yes, there are daedras, daedra worshippers and statues. Lots of broken and abandoned places.

myskyrim26

Cirantille wrote: »

Also for your question, yes, there are daedras, daedra worshippers and statues. Lots of broken and abandoned places.

Damn.......... I need to see them all ASAP!!! Thank you so much!

L_Nici

You can explore Cyrodiil pretty easily. You rarely meet players if you avoid the main routes between the castles that border the other alliance. Cyrodiil is a huge area. And most players wouldn't even attack you, if they meet you inside the delves since which PvPler would go there, besides taking the AP Bonus?
So i would say you are pretty save to try, but I can't say you wouldn't possibly die.

lagrue

You can but there's no guarantee you won't be ganked.

I 100% cyrodiils map, skyshards included (yes even the one's in enemy land) without ever trying to engage in PVP. I got ganked a few times, but really nothing is stopping you. I didn't sneak ever. I played as I normally would, and I did ALL of Cyrodiil on one character.

Most of the PVPers gravitate to Keeps, so luckily the places like delves and such are possible to get through without being assaulted. (No promises though).

Exploring enemy territory is actually pretty safe as long as you don't go near their keeps, milegates or their main bases.

I think the towns you do need to wait for them to flip, but they flip all the time so you'll have plenty of opportunities.

If you REALLY want to avoid fights, I suggest keeping the chat tab open as your alliance will generally call out where the PVP activity is going on.

Asardes

It's fine. Just pick a less crowded campaign, don't go at peak hours, avoid battles and sieges, and don't try to flip objectives to attract enemy players. For the latter, if you need to do quests in a town, just nuke the guards on the flag so you can interact with the quest giver NPCs nearby, but don't actually stand on it to flip it. Pretty much the same for IC. Another thing to watch for is open scroll gates from opposing factions, to get those shards too. That's likelier to happen at low population since a few players can flip the whole map. I did that PvE part on 10 characters, before I actually started PvP.

Commancho

I have done all delves and skyshards in cyro during peak times on popular EU campaign. What you afraid of? You lose nothing. This is not hardcore mmo when your character can be killed and robbed and you have to start all over again.

redlink1979

There's no problem with exploring the land if you avoid the areas where usually fighting takes place (areas near keeps/posts/bridges and/or routes between them).

When visiting delves and/or cities, you might find players from other alliances.

ruff

I've closed all dolmens in cyro and never saw a single person there (even in Bruma - some people are running arounf flags but no one seem to care about dolmen).
Similar in delves but there were couple of times I saw some other alliances people. But perhaps people which explore delves are not interested in PvP (like myself) so we just parted.

Cirantille

myskyrim26 wrote: »

Cirantille wrote: »

Also for your question, yes, there are daedras, daedra worshippers and statues. Lots of broken and abandoned places.

Damn.......... I need to see them all ASAP!!! Thank you so much!

Tatanko

Absolutely! Cyrodiil has plenty of solo/PvE content. I recommend tweaking your map filters once you're in the zone, so that you can see all of the markers and not just the red/blue/yellow locations specific to AvA.

Much of the questing is repeatable and meant to feed into the Alliance War, so if you're interested in actual story, you'll want to check out the Wilderness Quests specifically. There is not a larger quest chain unfortunately, but there are some fun and interesting one-off stories told here.

Cerotonin

If you want to avoid trouble, I’d consider playing a Magicka Nightblade. Getting all skyshards felt pretty easy for me on mine since I could just cloak if I saw someone. Maintain your magicka and you can practically sustain invisibility completely.

To get past a gate, I believe your faction or another faction has to take control of two keeps: the one closest to the gate and the one connected to it. This allows the gate to open, but getting past the guards could be difficult.

Don’t get near any players. I’d carry unstoppable/immovable potions with the stealth detection. Sorcerers streak a lot when you cloak, other Nightblades will quickly cut you down.

Inaya

I don't care about getting ganked lol. I tried it once and never saw another person, just avoided the areas people were fighting. I just find it near impossible to explore the whole map. I imagine it's because I don't understand how all the gates work or how PVP works in general in the game. Not even sure which campaign to join to be able to explore

dem0n1k

I have done it on a character of all 3 alliances to farm the treasure chests for alliance motifs. Most treasure chests better than simple will drop alliance motifs in Cyrodiil.

There is plenty of weird broken stuff all over the map. The broken dolmen between Dragon & Ales is awesome. There is a strange one sided bridge thing right near the edge of the map east of Drake.

Asardes

NPC guards will most likely get you even if you cloak, since they have an AoE skill that breaks stealth and puts a debuff on you so you can't re-enter sneak for about 30s. The best way is to rush the gate on your horse with full stamina. Be sure you have stamina fully trained at 60/60 for this. I usually approach at full mount speed, but w/o sprinting, than only start sprinting when I reach their aggro area, then past the gate. Then I go behind some obstacle, unmount and sneak/cloak to the shard. To activate it you'll need to be out of sneak though. Keep a hard hitting ultimate ready for that in case enemy players are prowling there.

NBrookus

There are generally only two reasons PvP happens way off the beaten track. 1) a planned GvG, duel or private event or 2) getting attacked by a nervous PVE'er who is also exploring. In the case of #1 they'll probably ignore you if you aren't hostile. #2 may be resolved by knowing how to whisper someone on an opposing alliance: their name followed by a comma, or use an addon like P chat.

The last may also help in delves near keeps where players may be getting their AP buff. Many players aren't interested in killing non-combatants but the its-red-its-dead twitches may take over.

Bring invis pots, keep an eye on the map for crossed swords, and go forth. If you die (to a player) nothing happens except your rez location options are more limited than in PVE. A buddy can still rez you in place with a soul gem.

Note: if you are behind enemy gates and the gates close, you will insta-die if either you touch an enemy scroll or when you leave the gates.

Melilotta

NBrookus wrote: »

Note: if you are behind enemy gates and the gates close, you will insta-die if either you touch an enemy scroll or when you leave the gates.

Not quite so, actually. Happened to me a few times, when I was behind the gates (to collect the skyshard) and the gates closed. I just sneaked up the stairs by the gate, drank an invis potion, jumped down and ran! When invisibility ended and the guards noticed me, I ran faster and got away ok.

Edited for typo.

The_Old_Goat

If you play the theme music from Mission Impossible, it increases the enjoyment of being behind enemy lines.

lagrue

NBrookus wrote: »

#2 may be resolved by knowing how to whisper someone on an opposing alliance: their name followed by a comma, or use an addon like P chat.

Emotes generally help this as well, I used to emote as a sign of good faith and if they attacked only then I would fight back. whispering takes too long, you will be dead by then.

nafensoriel

myskyrim26 wrote: »

I’ve been to Cyrodiil for several times, mainly on Midyear Mayhem events. Not sure why I did that – just wanted to see what’s going on there, to get some motifs... It was not a frustrating experience; I even founded it to be fun of some sort.

Yet what I want in Cyrodiil is not PVP. I want only to explore it. Cities, Ayleid ruins, delves… I wonder if there are any Daedra Lord statues present - like we saw them in Oblivion, any wayshrines (not travelling points, but old shrines like we saw in Oblivion and ESO Gold Coast).

The question is: can I explore the enemy territory? I’m in AD now. What if the territory I’m interested in belongs to EP or DC? Can I enter it at all, or should it become AD controlled first? How hard is it to explore the enemy’s territory? I know that I should be as stealthy as possible, yet can I completely avoid any fights? Maybe I need several characters – one for each Alliance?

What I do know now is: I need to sneak all the time, I should not approach settlement controlled by other Alliances (those with PVE quests) because guards will attack me. Also, I know that all-impenetrable thing, yet I wish I could avoid any PVP interaction.

I've leveled characters entirely from 10 to 50 exclusively in the main campaign.
Don't play dumb. Don't build dumb. When you are low level and specced right you can do absurd things like have 50k hp with 50k stamina.

Youll get wrecked regularly but that is part of the fun.

fgoron2000

The problem is that in order to explore Cyrodiil as a non-PvP'er (like myself), you need to avoid the PvP aspects of the zone, which is based on PvP. So that means staying away from populated areas like forts, keeps, farms, mills, etc. Also getting into low-populated campaigns, and playing off-peak hours like others have mentioned. Outside of that, my impression of Cyrodiil is that there's lots of dead empty space between the areas you're trying to avoid. Otherwise, you're concentrating on constantly looking over your shoulder instead of exploration. So, to me, there's limited appeal to exploring the zone, other than farming skyshards & clearing content like dolmens & delves, & city quests...just my 2 cents...

protofeckless

Since faction lock 6 months ago. most of the player base bailed and haven't yet returned even with a no-lock option. The campaigns are virtually empty 20 hours of the day. Nothing to be afraid of. Cyro isn't really pvp anymore. Same for IC most of the time. Have at it.

BackAndAngry

After 5 years and to this day I’m still finding new stuff there...

The amount of lore stuff you find is amazing. As it’s basically untouched.... it’s also accurate for

myskyrim26

Guys,
Thank you all for advices and insights on the lore I will find. I will rush to Cyrodiil as soon as I'll return home!

zaria

L_Nici wrote: »

You can explore Cyrodiil pretty easily. You rarely meet players if you avoid the main routes between the castles that border the other alliance. Cyrodiil is a huge area. And most players wouldn't even attack you, if they meet you inside the delves since which PvPler would go there, besides taking the AP Bonus?
So i would say you are pretty save to try, but I can't say you wouldn't possibly die.

This, I have done all the quests and skyshards in Cyrodil, its quest hubs of standard one time quests in addition to the dailies in towns.

Yes you want an low pop campaign at least for the deep behind enemy lines parts, you can also often get campaigns dominated by your faction, this give access to the closed of part of the enemy territorium as other said, its also safer and if you get killed its not far from an keep.
However I was just killed once, saw another Khajitt at an quest hub and rode towards him, seeing just the tail and not the red marker, assume he thought I was attacking and burned me.

Also has has master angler
[img][/img]
Its few ocean spots in Cyrodil, most only marks only the ones north of the eastern Elsweyr base at the river mouth, deep into AD territorium
However my AD guild found some ocean fishing sports south of Cropford at the river mouth of the map border river there.

BackAndAngry

The nibenese little setting since the start of the game. Years later we got Linchal Manor

As the place is huge, set a plan to explore over a few months where you start at the faction gates and start wondering around. And start taking screenshots... maaaany screenshots.... many assets still not available in any other zone of Tamriel.

If possible go with a friend

Kagukan

I have found if you are off the beaten paths and run into an enemy player they will generally leave you alone. Go forth and explore!

January1171

Definitely possible! Just go to a low-pop campaign and it'll be fine Also having a high-mount speed and rapid maneuver equipped is super helpful- there is a lot of ground to ride over.

I'm AD too and have been able to get 100% map completion (all delves, all dolmens, all rare fish, all skyshards, visiting every location) while being killed maybe less than 10 times by enemy players (at least while I was actively avoiding pvp situations). I'm not sure about the actual death count, but it was very rare, and barely even an annoyance.

Right now I'm working on completing the quest achievements, and I was able to complete one city in about half an hour yesterday.

Honestly npc hostiles were more of a threat than enemy players, and those can be avoided with a little attention.

Also slaughterfish. Beware the slaughterfish. They'll kill you before you can even get out of the water, and it's not always super clear which bodies of water have slaughterfish (they're mainly used as a deterant to keep you from just swimming to other factions' areas.) Some places you can just dip a toe in and you're dead if you're not paying attention. So just be cautious about swimming

NBrookus

Melilotta wrote: »

NBrookus wrote: »

Note: if you are behind enemy gates and the gates close, you will insta-die if either you touch an enemy scroll or when you leave the gates.

Not quite so, actually. Happened to me a few times, when I was behind the gates (to collect the skyshard) and the gates closed. I just sneaked up the stairs by the gate, drank an invis potion, jumped down and ran! When invisibility ended and the guards noticed me, I ran faster and got away ok.

Edited for typo.

Last time I was behind the gates when they closed, about a year ago, you could climb up on the gate but as soon as you jumped down there was ~150k damage for both of us. No guards needed.

Varana

Commancho wrote: »

I have done all delves and skyshards in cyro during peak times on popular EU campaign. What you afraid of? You lose nothing. This is not hardcore mmo when your character can be killed and robbed and you have to start all over again.

The main reason why you would try to avoid getting killed, is the travelling. When you're doing Chorrol quests on a non-blue character, it can be a real PITA to get back to that place from your respawn keep at Chalman or Arrius or the like.
So sure, you don't lose much when you die in a busy campaign, but it can be a nuisance.

vgabor

If you avoid contested areas and keeps where the current fight happening, you can easily ride around in Cyrodiil anywhere. The land distances vast so everyone using fast travel shrines between already owned keeps, generally you will see no one on the countryside. I have picked up all skyshards with many character there and very rarely had any fight in the far away areas.