Which has the most players - Players that just PvP, just PvE, or players that play both?

MacCait

Some players just love to PvP, some just PvE, and many like both... I am just curious which has the largest playerbase.

Please vote, it will be interesting to see results

NOTE: All PvP players have to PvE to get PvP gear, but many would likely not PvE if they did not have to. So if you are solely a PvP player, tick PvP

Likewise, if you only go to PvP to get skyshards and wouldn't PvP oterwise, just tick PvE

SilverBride

You only play PvE

I could never get into pvp in this game. And I hate the trapped feeling I get every time I go to Cyrodiil.

Rahar

You only play PvP

Any PvE I do is typically a means to an end to get to PvP. Organized raid environments are just not my cup of tea.

Wolfpaw

You only play PvP

Unfortunately in ESO you have to PvE to PvP.

Goregrinder

Every single PVPer does both. 100% of them. We have to run dungeons, farm leads, etc for monster sets and gear. Vateshran 2H/Staff anyone? That's from PVE. Crimson Twilight? From PVE.

There should be a 4th option "I only like PVPing, but also PVE because gear useful in PVP is locked behind PVE walls".

LightYagami

You only play PvP

80-90% PvP, 10-20% PvE.
I basically only do PvE if I need to farm some items.

tomofhyrule

You only play PvE

You will not get a reasonable analysis of this from just forum population.

There are so many people in game who don't even come on the forums, who are really casual, or just don't care to look at what's going on. I wouldn't be surprised if only about 10% of the game's playerbase is on the forums regularly, and that might even be too generous.

Of that bit that goes on the forums, it's going to be heavily weighted towards people who do endgame PvE and have multiple HM trial clears with multiple characters, PvP theorycrafters, and people who really delve into the patch notes and mechanics. I'll bet your poll will skew heavily towards both or towards PvP, whereas in the general game you'll have 'casual PvE only' winning by a landslide.

There's a reason that the developers are skewing a lot of content towards newer/more casual/solo/weekend warriors/etc. players, and they're the type who don't come on the forums. They don't notice if their 3k DPS gets nerfed to 2.9k or if the one set piece they're wearing (from a mag set when they use a 2H sword) gets hit with the nerfhammer. They're just here to have fun. They're not going to go for any hardcore trials of Cyrodiil play.

---

Anyway, as for me, I do PvE. I'll do PvP when MYM forces me to, but I don't enjoy it unless I'm with friends. I got into this game since I really need a new Elder Scrolls game already, so the 'MMO' part of this MMO isn't really appealing to me. Sure, I've done stuff and it'd be fun to get Emp one day, but it's not something I'm really going for.

SeaGtGruff

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

I mainly do PvE, and am not particularly fond of PvP, but I do occasionally engage in PvP-- primarily during PvP events-- and for the most part I enjoy it even though I stink at it.

MacCait

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

tomofhyrule wrote: »

You will not get a reasonable analysis of this from just forum population.

There are so many people in game who don't even come on the forums, who are really casual, or just don't care to look at what's going on. I wouldn't be surprised if only about 10% of the game's playerbase is on the forums regularly, and that might even be too generous.

Of that bit that goes on the forums, it's going to be heavily weighted towards people who do endgame PvE and have multiple HM trial clears with multiple characters, PvP theorycrafters, and people who really delve into the patch notes and mechanics. I'll bet your poll will skew heavily towards both or towards PvP, whereas in the general game you'll have 'casual PvE only' winning by a landslide.

There's a reason that the developers are skewing a lot of content towards newer/more casual/solo/weekend warriors/etc. players, and they're the type who don't come on the forums. They don't notice if their 3k DPS gets nerfed to 2.9k or if the one set piece they're wearing (from a mag set when they use a 2H sword) gets hit with the nerfhammer. They're just here to have fun. They're not going to go for any hardcore trials of Cyrodiil play.

---

Anyway, as for me, I do PvE. I'll do PvP when MYM forces me to, but I don't enjoy it unless I'm with friends. I got into this game since I really need a new Elder Scrolls game already, so the 'MMO' part of this MMO isn't really appealing to me. Sure, I've done stuff and it'd be fun to get Emp one day, but it's not something I'm really going for.

Thanks. Yes I am aware most of the population of ESO players do not use forums, especially more casual players. I was just curious on the percentage of players who do use forums

M_Volsung

You only play PvE

I've been to cyrodiil exactly twice, once upon reaching level 10 for the skill points and once for two-thirds on the skyshards.

Once I get the remainder of the shards I'm never going there again.

Odovacar

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

I play both competitively. I tend to lean a bit more to PvE content but i always love my PvP. Most of my PvP-only buddies rely on myself and some others to carry them for any gear they may need too...they don't care and we don't charge, lmao.

coop500

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

I'll preface by saying I don't ENJOY PVP, but I find myself there anyway, in battlegrounds, in IC, in Cyrodiil even. I don't seek PVP when I'm there, but it often finds me and I do my best to cope with it.

LanteanPegasus

You only play PvE

Goregrinder wrote: »

Every single PVPer does both. 100% of them. We have to run dungeons, farm leads, etc for monster sets and gear. Vateshran 2H/Staff anyone? That's from PVE. Crimson Twilight? From PVE.

There should be a 4th option "I only like PVPing, but also PVE because gear useful in PVP is locked behind PVE walls".

Yes, well, it's probably meant in a "If it were entirely up to you..." way.

I voted PvE only, but I've "played" PvP, too. Either running with a well coordinated zerg during MYM, or being randomly slaughtered a gazillion times in IC.
But that's limited to the necessary minimum I need for stuff like event tickets, event drops (like motifs, pet parts, etc.), or furniture only buyable with certain Alliance ranks (DC banners, mostly). Doing that since starting the game in 2016 brought me up to Lieuteant II alliance rank, so I did it for quite some time. So - PvP purely for farming what I "need" (ok, want) for PvE.
When zerging I tried to contribute. Brought siege, manned the ram/flags with my character (who happens to be a tank), resurrected people, used Siege Shield and similar support skills (while grabbing some kills for the dailies by being in a big group and throwing caltrops like confetti).
But I don't give a flying falmer about facing off against other players, so I voted "PvE only" with a clear conscience.

MacCait

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

Goregrinder wrote: »

Every single PVPer does both. 100% of them. We have to run dungeons, farm leads, etc for monster sets and gear. Vateshran 2H/Staff anyone? That's from PVE. Crimson Twilight? From PVE.

There should be a 4th option "I only like PVPing, but also PVE because gear useful in PVP is locked behind PVE walls".

I get your point. Its ok though, I think it goes without saying that every PvP-er will PvE just for gear...

But would those PvP'ers PvE at all if they didn't need to?

So the question is really which one do you play? Not which one do you have to play

Hamburglarjones

You only play PvE

Unfortunately Cyrodiil is just broken with lag, it doesn't live up to what a triple A studio should be making, it's a bit embarrassing that it's actually on the live servers with how it has been all these years. Due to the lag, I never really saw the point in playing PvP, I stick to PvE trials for the most part

coop500

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

MacCait wrote: »

Goregrinder wrote: »

Every single PVPer does both. 100% of them. We have to run dungeons, farm leads, etc for monster sets and gear. Vateshran 2H/Staff anyone? That's from PVE. Crimson Twilight? From PVE.

There should be a 4th option "I only like PVPing, but also PVE because gear useful in PVP is locked behind PVE walls".

I get your point. Its ok though, I think it goes without saying that every PvP-er will PvE just for gear...

But would those PvP'ers PvE at all if they didn't need to?

So the question is really which one do you play? Not which one do you have to play

I guess I answered wrong then, sorry.

I only LIKE PVE, but this game pressures me into PVP for various reasons too. Its a two way street

MacCait

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

coop500 wrote: »

MacCait wrote: »

Goregrinder wrote: »

Every single PVPer does both. 100% of them. We have to run dungeons, farm leads, etc for monster sets and gear. Vateshran 2H/Staff anyone? That's from PVE. Crimson Twilight? From PVE.

There should be a 4th option "I only like PVPing, but also PVE because gear useful in PVP is locked behind PVE walls".

I get your point. Its ok though, I think it goes without saying that every PvP-er will PvE just for gear...

But would those PvP'ers PvE at all if they didn't need to?

So the question is really which one do you play? Not which one do you have to play

I guess I answered wrong then, sorry.

I only LIKE PVE, but this game pressures me into PVP for various reasons too. Its a two way street

OK I added an edit

Kel

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

I play both.
I will typically swing one way or another most times, but I do play and enjoy both.

Goregrinder

MacCait wrote: »

Goregrinder wrote: »

Every single PVPer does both. 100% of them. We have to run dungeons, farm leads, etc for monster sets and gear. Vateshran 2H/Staff anyone? That's from PVE. Crimson Twilight? From PVE.

There should be a 4th option "I only like PVPing, but also PVE because gear useful in PVP is locked behind PVE walls".

I get your point. Its ok though, I think it goes without saying that every PvP-er will PvE just for gear...

But would those PvP'ers PvE at all if they didn't need to?

So the question is really which one do you play? Not which one do you have to play

If the question is "Which game mode do you prefer" my answer is PVP 100% of the time, in every game I've played since Quake 3/Unreal Tournament back in 1999. If I could avoid PVE outside of grinding to max level, and grinding for gold, I 100% would.

But the question positioned was which category has the most players, people that play PVP or people that play PVE, which is a different question. I was commenting that the poll itself is missing an option.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

Despite what the forums would have you believe, I think most players that have been around for a while do both. It's unfortunate how much finger pointing there is between "PVE" and "PVP" players.

I would certainly wager that there are more PVE only players than PVP only players, especially considering that you are pretty much never forced into a PVP zone outside of an event for cosmetics, but PVP players are certainly required to PVE to some degree for gear and that sort of thing. Almost anything that you actually need from PVP can be acquired with gold.

Sylvermynx

You only play PvE

My only excursions to Cyrodiil are for fishing; I don't pvp any more at all.

VaranisArano

If we're counting all players ever, it's going to be PVE-only. Considering free-to-play events and new players who only come for the Chapter and new DLC, those are all PVE oriented.

There's a good chunk of players who will venture into PVP for event rewards, such as during Midyear Mayhem, or for rewards like leads, skyshards, achievements, and now Endeavors. But these tend to be more active players.

The regular population of PVPers is fairly small. I'd argue it's not because PVP is inherently unpopular, so much as:
A. Cyrodiil performance has been suffering for years. Cyrodiil can be a huge draw, but it's hard to muster enthusiasm for war when your skills don't work and your teammates are crashing out in the large fights the zone is supposedly intended for. Those of us who're still around have seen a lot of friends leave for many reasons, but many left because of persistently terrible performance.
B. Battlegrounds queues and MMR have been a problem since launch (in part because ZOS locked BGs behind a Chapter purchase, so the population started small and never really grew). ZOS has never managed to provide group/solo, pick-your-mode, AND have a reasonable wait time. You can pick 2 of the 3, apparently.
C. Imperial City is a strange beast that offers the worst of PVP to its PVE-loving questers, while offering neither the free-ranging playstyles of Cyrodiil nor the fast paced brawling combat of Battlegrounds to PVP fans. It has its fans, and I think it does urban combat very well...but it's definitely an extremely niche zone.

redspecter23

Secret option #4, players that mostly hang out in their houses, dream of dressing up their alfiq banker and merchant in outfits one day and are waiting for the next house or furnishing pack with their wallet flailing about.

Hexquisite

You only play PvP

I only PVE to get gear for pvp. Though I did at one point play through all story lines in game, and do all dungeons.

Tandor

You only play PvE

I have PvP'd in other games but have no interest in it these days. I've never been to Cyrodiil or Imperial City and probably never will, likewise with duels and battlegrounds.

The more interesting question to me is how those who do participate in PvP - especially those who only do so - square their doing so with the constant complaints for several years now that PvP is "literally unplayable". Even a recent thread suggesting that PvP performance had improved in recent months was instantly jumped on and the suggestion trashed.

MacCait

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

Goregrinder wrote: »

MacCait wrote: »

Goregrinder wrote: »

Every single PVPer does both. 100% of them. We have to run dungeons, farm leads, etc for monster sets and gear. Vateshran 2H/Staff anyone? That's from PVE. Crimson Twilight? From PVE.

There should be a 4th option "I only like PVPing, but also PVE because gear useful in PVP is locked behind PVE walls".

I get your point. Its ok though, I think it goes without saying that every PvP-er will PvE just for gear...

But would those PvP'ers PvE at all if they didn't need to?

So the question is really which one do you play? Not which one do you have to play

If the question is "Which game mode do you prefer" my answer is PVP 100% of the time, in every game I've played since Quake 3/Unreal Tournament back in 1999. If I could avoid PVE outside of grinding to max level, and grinding for gold, I 100% would.

But the question positioned was which category has the most players, people that play PVP or people that play PVE, which is a different question. I was commenting that the poll itself is missing an option.

The outcome of votes gives an idea of percentage of players and what they play, presenting a rough idea of which category has the most players from forum users voting, but that is not the question you vote on, the question you vote on is what do YOU play.

Hallothiel

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

Love playing both - depends on my mood.

(Which is what I love about this game - the wide choice of things to do)

Narvuntien

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

I play both but I consider PVP a sometimes food. I always end up enjoying but cryodil is such a time suck.

Bradyfjord

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

When it's working, there is no pvp like Cyrodiil. Sadly, I won't do battlegrounds without being able to queue with my brother, whom I often play ESO with.

The last time I enjoyed pvp was back in the days of Summerset. For me the sweet spot was back during Morrowind - Summerset. The lag has been up and down, but it never goes away. That delay when you press the button and nothing happens, and you don't know if your combo is going to land is frustrating to say the least.

Lady_Galadhiel

You enjoy playing BOTH PvP and PvE?

I enjoy both now.Once I started with Pvp i was a bit sceptical if i will keep playing it for longer but once I got into battlegrounds I did enjoy kicking some booties >.<

VaranisArano

Tandor wrote: »

I have PvP'd in other games but have no interest in it these days. I've never been to Cyrodiil or Imperial City and probably never will, likewise with duels and battlegrounds.

The more interesting question to me is how those who do participate in PvP - especially those who only do so - square their doing so with the constant complaints for several years now that PvP is "literally unplayable". Even a recent thread suggesting that PvP performance had improved in recent months was instantly jumped on and the suggestion trashed.

PVP in Cyrodiil was playable for me...for a technical value of playable.

I've been playing since the PC/NA Haderus campaign, and performance didn't used to be this bad. I played on Trueflame and then on Vivec when it was the only CP server and we were packed every night. I had some crashes, but it wasn't an every raid night, again and again, crashing experience like it has been on Kaalgrontiid and Gray Host. It wasn't perfect then, not by a long shot, but it wasn't this bad either.

I had one of the worst connections in my raid group. I've got a better computer now, but there's just nothing to be done about my rural internet. Usually I'd be doing fine for the first half hour to hour of our raid night. I could fight, I could siege, I could play with my friends, and we could have some pretty good big fights!

Then as prime time wore on, we'd get to bigger fights and I'd start crashing. We ride to save a keep under heavy attack? I crash at the front door and then spend the next twenty minutes logging back in, riding to the keep, crashing again, rinse repeat while listening to my teammates complain that some of them were crashing, or their skills were lagging, or that fears were bugged, etc. Once the fight resolved, I'd be able to rejoin my team. Maybe I'd get to do some cleanup at the resources? We'd ride off to the next fight...and if it was a heavy fight at a keep, I'd be crashing again. At that point, I'm not playing. I'm listening to my friends play. So I'd often say "I'm sorry, I'm just taking up space in raid at this point and can't play." Then I'd go play Warframe with some other friends.

The only time when I can reliably not crash in giant fights again and again is during Midyear Mayhem.

When it comes to issues with skills, I often crashed before it got to that point of severe lag. On the other hand, there's times when I had unresponsive skills. I played a healer, so a lot of times my Barrier would go off on a delay - seconds after we'd started the push that I wanted the Barrier damage shields for. Or there would be times when we'd get positionally desynced from each other - Crown would suddenly shoot forward into a different area and then we're sprinting to keep up.

That being said, my experience in an organized raid doesn't capture the frustration of solo or small scale players who need to rely on their own skills to save themselves and secure kills, rather than being able to rely on groupmates to carry us through the worst of the lag spikes. For that, I look at my experience soloing a dungeon: at the start of the Undaunted Event, there was a problem with the patch that made dungeons noticeably more large than usual. My MagSorc is normally very survivable, between the damage shields and Matriarch heal. But when a lag spike hit, I couldn't hit my shield or heal. I'd be pressing the buttons and nothing would happen, all the while I'm taking damage. I died a lot just because ESO wasn't responding to my inputs in the usual timely fashion. It was "playable" technically as I finished soloing the dungeon despite the deaths, but it was frustrating as hell. It's no wonder to me that procs are more popular when skills can't be relied on to be responsive in heavy lag.

And that's where I'm at with "playable" Cyrodiil. For me, it was playable to a certain point, but I couldn't reliably play with my friends in the big fights that Cyrodiil is supposed to be intended for. My raid friends could play, but they had to deal with some crashing and a lot of extremely frustrating lag and skill delays where ESO just isn't performing correctly. And for players who really rely on skills performing correctly - like solo and small scale players who don't have the buffer of a larger team - it gets even more frustrating because it feels like it's ESO's bad performance that's killing you, not the other players or your own lack of skill.


Now, I don't know if any of that qualifies as "literally unplayable" in your opinion, though you say you've never been to Cyrodiil and probably won't ever. There's some hyperbole, I'll admit, since most of the players for whom Cyrodiil was "literally unplayable" for most of the time have already quit.

What I will say is that Cyrodiil has not been performing as intended for years and that the current performance is often extremely frustrating with lag, skill delays, and crashing. Things improve for me during Midyear Mayhem. Then it ends, performance deteriorates, and I get frustrated again because I can't reliably fight with my friends in the large battles I love.

I'm not sure I really answered your question, so sorry. I just don't think it's a great "gotcha" question for players who love PVP.