Cyrodiil Updates for Update 18

VaranisArano

Ley wrote: »

GeneralSezme wrote: »

As a bomber I will miss the "everyone stand in one place and wait for the tick moments" but I guess overall it is good.

I thought we were waiting for transit.

There's been a few times that's happened to me. I'm always impressed by the bombers who manage to hide inside keeps in order to bomb the transitus shrine.

Thrandath

Awesome rework on how "ticks" are applied. Now we'll just need to convince people to leave the safety of the walls. Any chance Keeps could see a slight siege damage buff based on resource level, in addition to the increased number available?

Recremen

Wow, lots of cool changes here! Obviously the performance improvements need barely a mention, it's objectively good. The tick change is both interesting and worrying, though. On the one hand, very cool! We don't need to worry about missing the tick if we're trying to completely push the opponent back to a resource and off the fight! On the other hand... not super excited that going to attack a new keep makes you disqualified for the tick. :-( Like sure if we weren't going to stick around anyway and we happen to get it in time then that's a nice bonus, but it seems like it lacks the follow-through for the intent. I do suppose you might want to disincentivize people running around to every keep on the map and trying to farm "credit". Idk that doesn't seem that huge of an issue to me.

I am STOKED about the siege damage changes. On the one hand, I'll have to bring many more ballista to a fight to take down walls, but on the other hand once we're finally in we won't have as much pressure put on us from point-and-click heroes. Siege damage has been overperforming even on CP campaigns and I'll be glad to have it reduced.

Finally, what's this about costume piece rewards from some new daily quests?? Oh hell yeah. I am massively into that.

Mazbt

Really appreciate the changes Brian. Can you guys please also add an incentive to stick with one faction for the duration of the campaign? Don't force it but just bring noteworthy incentive for at least some faction pride during a campaign length. I know a lot of group/faction based pvpers would like it.

Koolio

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Are these the same performance updates from Clockwork City that cause Long Loading Screen?

ZOS_BrianWheeler

Quad Cores will see a slight increase but the processors with higher cores will see a greater impact. <-- code gang confirmed 2.0

ClockworkCityBugs

ok so i have Phenon 4 core, 6 core and FX 8 core PCs at my house
i hope i will feel that impact

Universe

Thanks for the great changes

Please consider adding more to Cyrodiil, like the following:

Lord wrote: »

I hope that ZOS will add new base game features to PVP-Alliance War(even before the next chapter/expansion after Summerset), like the following:
1. Additional Alliance war leaderboard that is influenced by helping the alliance to achieve certain goals with much success(rather than the old alliance points farming), like escorting a scroll, having great KDR while capturing keeps/outposts etc.(doesn't include executions and it will count per unique kills-different players so it won't be exploited).

2. Greater rewards for participating in the Alliance War, including: much more gold and useful items in the rewards of the worthy and more.

3. More Alliance ranks & special rewards for existing and future Alliance ranks, up to rank 60(see some suggestions I made in this thread: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/4427280#Comment_4427280).

4. Alliance leaders such as Queen Ayrenn should appear.

5. Special alliance boss heroes that the AD/DC/EP needs to kill(difficulty similar to vet dungeon boss up to normal/vet trial boss).

6. More combat locations: additional keeps/mega keeps(larger and stronger garrisons), Alliance Bosses buff locations(special Heroes that grant buff/s to alliance and must be killed, this is tied to suggestion #5 above).

7. Special costumes/mounts/gear for completing of the more difficult Alliance War achievements(also tied to suggestion #3).

8. A lot more. It will be TL;DR

danno8

This all sounds pretty good.

If you are able, have you thought about changing the frequency of the score evaluations? Currently since resources are all worth 1 point each (the same as keeps and outposts), the best scoring strategy in the game right now is to wait for the 10 minute mark and begin taking all you opponents resources.

After the score evaluation is done you simply bugger off and do your own thing for the next 50 minutes.

If you were to lower the evaluation from 60 minutes down to say 30 minutes or less , it would avoid the whole silly resource game we are forced to play now.

Cinbri

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

Quad Cores will see a slight increase but the processors with higher cores will see a greater impact. <-- code gang confirmed 2.0

I hope 8 cores will see it indeed.

Rex-Umbra

Awesome changes.

ofSunhold

Yay!

Under-population and Underdog evaluation periods have been drastically reduced. This will result in scoring adjustments being applied more frequently depending on population and scoring within shorter time periods. So empty-map capping won't be quite so influential on the score then? Interesting. And the underdog bonus is changing as well?

Ballista have been rebalanced to do more damage vs. Siege weapons and damage vs. players has been reduced. Happy to see this one.

New dailies you say?

Arrchangell

I just want my Quad Core to be fully utilized, i don't want it to hover at 40% usage...

Aliyavana

Any chance you guys will do anything about the current state of bgs? premades are just steamrolling pugs

Adoman

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

Server Performance: Several requirements that were part of ability passives have been converted to server side encoded checks, which will cut down on requirements ran per ability use.

Mmm, encoded server side ability checks.

Agrippa_Invisus

All these appear to be positive changes.

Please replace the Rewards of the Worthy at the same time! They're a chore, not a reward!

Eirella

Omg updates? For Cyrodiil?!?
Some great changes, thanks Brian!

Bhaal5

With this news, i'll pre order summerset now.
Hope they deliver.

Junipus

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

The character compositing should help with console crashes <-- confirmed from our coder gang.

In terms of the BRK -> Sejanus example, the two are technically different structures on the server as one is an Outpost and the other is a Keep. This means you could be on both of their credit lists, but if you pushed to Alessia and contributed to that battle, your BRK credit would be replaced with Alessia credit.

Nice change, but just to be picky it would seem to imply that if one were defending Aleswell from the horde and pushed them back beyond the farm, only to find that the sneaky had reached Ash then one would have to wait at Aleswell for a tick before moving to Ash - similar to how it is now.

However, at present everyone (mostly) knows to stay at the keep for the tick instead of porting out to another keep/outpost. With the proposed changes it would be assumed that we could be halfway across the map and receive a tick for a previous defence, thus making it no different in application to those who leave a keep to capture resources on the live server.

Are there any changes in the works on when ticks are awarded for defence and how will we be notified of defensive ticks?

Are these 'credit lists' applicable to each individual, each group or divided up among all keep defenders during a successful defence? Can I decide that I've done enough, die and respawn in an outpost or town and still receive a sizeable amount of AP?

Are there plans on delineating the boundaries for each keep/outpost/resource so those new players don't wonder why they've received no AP if they move onto a new objective similar to group area notifications in Craglorn?

waitwhat

@ZOS_BrianWheeler

Everything listed is fantastic. Wonderfully done!

Perhaps also reduce the damage non-elemental ballistas do to walls and doors. They are anti-siege siege engines after all, as the listed change awesomely reflects. This will force attackers to use trebs on walls and rams on doors, thereby increasing the time to breach and providing more balanced and stimulating counterplay (more oils and more siege shields).

Increasing the time to breach in that manner will also allow everyone, attackers and defenders, to earn more AP per siege in a completely justified way: namely, with more siege.

As an added bonus, this change would also cut down on siege-farming empty keeps, as it is more likely defenders will arrive in time (giving people more AP in a justified manner), and at the very least by making empty keep farming less efficient.

waitwhat

Koolio wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Are these the same performance updates from Clockwork City that cause Long Loading Screen?

@Koolio nah that had to do with texture load checks and specifics to the console operating systems. That's why it was several orders of magnitude worse (if not exclusively) on the consoles. This is a big boost to consoles since they have dramatically less processing power that even mid-tier PCs.

Darkmage1337

@ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Any chance Mementos collectibles will be enabled and allowed to be used within Cyrodiil in the future, ever again?
Mementos are simply just cosmetics/animations that do not affect or hinder game-play or PvP, so why would Mementos be disabled in Cyrodiil (as well as Battlegrounds)? I understand the reasoning for disabling non-combat pets (due to sneaking, etc.) But Mementos are fun to use, and would be even more fun to use in PvP-land..

Imagine how much more fun and added value that players get from Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds when players can be on the walls of a Keep and be able to throw Mud Balls at distant enemy players, with the Mud Ball Pouch Memento in their quick-slot, before leaping out to attack; or be able to Juggle Knives and Swallow Swords to mock enemy players who are below or above them on a wall or balcony, or be able to use the Blackfeather Court Whistle Memento to summon crows to feast on dead enemy player corpses, or be able to use the Box of Forbidden Relics Memento to perform the Black Sacrament on a player's dead body, or ... you get the idea. Mementos are fun to use and to get creative with. The problem is players are currently restricted and are not able to have the option or choice to do any of these things with their Mementos in Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds.

I would like to be able to use my Storm Atronach Transform Memento in conjunction with my Storm Atronach Senche Mount in Cyrodiil, on my sorc tank, which is constantly in lightning form. After all, in this example, both of those virtual goods came from Storm Crown Crates that were paid for, yet I can't even use the majority of the Mementos I received from Crates or PvE Quests due to in-game restrictions in these areas. There isn't a memento that I know of that would negatively effect real, actual game-play in Cyrodiil or Battlegrounds. Mementos are on the same level as Costumes and The Outfit System, yet Mementos are disabled in Cyrodiil/Battlegrounds, whereas Outfits/Costumes are not.

Is there any specific reason(s) why Mementos are disabled for Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds?

TL;DR version, my point is: it seems silly that I and many other players cannot use our paid-and-earned Mementos (Cosmetics/Animations) while in Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds, where many of us spend 90% of our in-game play-time..

nightstrike

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

Quad Cores will see a slight increase but the processors with higher cores will see a greater impact. <-- code gang confirmed 2.0

Will it do better with hyper threading turned on or off?

GreenSoup2HoT

Some ideas id love to see.

-Can only obtain Emperor-ship once per campaign or loose 1 million AP score on leader-boards per crown (crown fee).
-Must obtain lumber-mill for extra front door damage. (To much PvD in Cryodill)
-Vicious Death kills do not grant AP. (Less Suicide Bombing for greedy reasons please)
-Vicious Death does not proc off siege damage.

@ZOS_BrianWheeler

Jadokis

Is there a timer on the keep defense participant list? Or will people be able to attack someone, go afk, and still get the tick? Or leave the keep altogether to go fight at an outpost or in the open.

Biro123

Yay! Cyrodil is not forgotten!

Happy to buy the new chapter now knowing that funds are actually being spent on the content I love.

Fingers crossed for mats as quest rewards!

Morgul667

Interesting changes

Please keep some love for small scales groups / or people on a different time zone so they can still play the map and not have to face crazy hard NPCS Our folks live on another timezone and yet want to have fun

Would be nice if AP gain were not allowed on a char from another alliance, 2H after logging out the first one. However this would impact the golden and should be bug free to be fun. Any bug would be a nightmare. Seems easy enough to implement but you never know

GeorgeBlack

Thank you for working on it even if it doesnt mean improving your cash flow.
It does however hold a lot of ppl playing the game

zParallaxz

ZOS_BrianWheeler wrote: »

Here is some news about Cyrodiil for update 18 (the Summerset update). There are more things coming for the update besides what is listed here and we’ll detail those in the coming months, but here’s a start:

Server Performance: Several requirements that were part of ability passives have been converted to server side encoded checks, which will cut down on requirements ran per ability use.

Client Performance: We have increased the amount of cpu cores used by the client which should improve framerate for players on mid to high end CPU's on PC platforms. On consoles and PC we have improved how characters are composited resulting in faster character loads and less framerate spikes.

Defense ticks no longer require you to sit and wait in an objective for the tick. Instead, each type of objective will track whether you’ve earned credit towards a defense or offense tick. Earning the offense or defense "tick" is pretty easy, and you earn credit for pretty much everything except standing there doing nothing. Offense ticks still have a base value that will be granted regardless of being on the credit list, but any bonus AP earned by combat around and inside an objective will only be granted to players that are on the credit lists.

You can be on several credit lists for a Keep superstructure of a Keep, Mine, Lumbermill and Farm and earn Defense ticks for each of them, however if you defend or attack a new Keep superstructure, your credit will be removed.

On top of that, we've increased the amount of Alliance Points you can earn from a Keep Defense with a multiplier based on the lowest ranking Resource of that keep. This is meant to encourage defending the entire superstructure of a Keep and it's supporting structures.

Lastly regarding Keeps themselves, we’ve added a new Keep Upgrade to more defensive siege weapons. The higher the keep levels are on wood, food and ore, the more siege weapons defenders can place.

New daily quests have been added with a new quest board. These quests will grant Cyrodiil exclusive costume pieces and other goodies.

Under-population and Underdog evaluation periods have been drastically reduced. This will result in scoring adjustments being applied more frequently depending on population and scoring within shorter time periods.

Monsters/guards in CP Enabled campaigns have learned how to deal with CP enabled characters. They will be a bit harder to kill and hit a bit harder.

Catapults now have their area damage stick around in the world for a period of time after impact resulting in better area denial. Ballista have been rebalanced to do more damage vs. Siege weapons and damage vs. players has been reduced.

There is more info for Cyrodiil and update 18 coming in the next few months, but until then we will see you in the war!

How will performance issues affect higher end consoles such as a one x with a a external ssd.

Yakidafi

The new stuff look interesting, except:

"Monsters/guards in CP Enabled campaigns have learned how to deal with CP enabled characters. They will be a bit harder to kill and hit a bit harder."