I was going to title this post "why I'll zerg you down"(!)

I play in Cyrodiil because I love open world and objective based PVP games.

My main goal is to help my alliance win. I consider everyone in my alliance my teammate. There are times when I don't want to zerg another player down, but that conflicts with ethic to help my teammates. You may think I'm dishonorable, but to me it would be dishonorable for me to let you 1vX or farm them with your group.

I understand as a GenX gamer I'm waaay past my prime so I'm not trying to prove anything. If you're a younger player, please understand the Elder Scrolls series goes back to the 90s, so there are a lot of GenX and Boomer players. Many of us aren't motivated by the same things we were 20-30 years ago.

So when an opponent is at a resource looking for some 1vX, I put the needs of my team and my teammates above theirs. It's not personal. I don't enjoy it. I consider it dirty work that someone has to do. No one enjoys chasing a dude around a tower. If there's a small organized opposition group there, usually the disorganized randoms are at a disadvantage with zero coordination. But whatever the case is, I do my best to help my team achieve a positive result.

I'd like you to know that's not all I do. I spend a good chunk of my play sessions completely solo. Often I take resources and towns. Sometimes I solo flag objectives with the intent of either causing a distraction or getting the ball rolling for my team. I 1vX and fight outnumbered as much as I do the opposite, usually more.

I'll fight anyone under any circumstances solo, but if a hapless teammate tries to help me, I'm not going to reward their good intentions by letting you slaughter them. Sorry, but open world AvA isn't supposed to be fair. And again, my loyalty is to them, not you. If I see a teammate who I know prefers to 1v1 without interruptions, I'll respect their wishes.

tl;dr:

My position is that if you want duels, go to Wayrest. If you want structured PVP, play Battlegrounds. IC is another flavor of PVP, but it's also unfair. AvA is asymmetrical chaos. You never know when a larger group is going to come from around the corner. If you look for 1vX, don't complain if the X isn't what you wanted.

I recognize others are free to play the game how they choose. But perhaps consider the theme of Cyrodiil and the positions you choose to put yourself in before sending a spiteful tell or dehumanizing opponents on your stream.

I was motivated to post this after seeing a 1vX streamer completely melt down after he was "zerged down by gankers" inside a cy after he and his duo partner went to a keep fight with a scroll present. I thought it was completely irrational and devoid of perspective.

Why?: For the challenge of being on the side that needs the help.

How?: By playing the game mode as if I mean to win. instead of pretending that newb farming and night capping translates into 'skill', and 'good fights'.

As an older player (will soon reach level 50 ;-) I can no longer keep up with the younger players like I could 20-30 years ago. That's why I play Nightblade with Oakensoul (sorry, but barswapping is cancer and is only due to the fact that you couldn't play properly with a controller otherwise).
I only run around solo in Cyrodiil and also like to fight against other players 1vs1vsX. I look for the hotspots on the map and know intuitively from many years of gaming experience where the next action will take place.
I have no problem with ganking (either or being ganked), and I'm also not afraid of onehitting players with 18-20k in a GCD (sorry, if I don't kill you, the next player will do it 5 seconds later).
I play for my alliance and the map objectives (emperor, scrolls, keeps...) and I can usually be found with the zerg (as I said, I know where the action will take place), where I provide pressure from the second row.
All in all, I enjoy playing in Cyrodiil, even despite the technical problems that have existed for years, because it is simply a huge, chaotic sandbox that always provides a fresh and varied gaming experience.
I can be found on Ravenwatch EU (no cp), where the technical problems are limited and there is no RNG with proc sets (a more original PVP experience).

It's fun

> No one enjoys chasing a dude around a tower.

I have been in 6-plus-size groups that, from what I could tell, intentionally chase one or two person groups around a tower.

So, if you've ever left a resource to go do more stuff for team points with a troll-tank still in the tower, and wondered why that resources was never recaptured, its because of these groups that, from what I can tell, have crowns with the attention span of a dog chasing squirrels.

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

i usually play cyro to have fun, i could care less about campaign scores

i leave cyro when theres no good fights happening, or population balance is out of whack (its absolutely no fun at all when your faction is 1 or 2 bars and the others are 3 bars or locked)

outside of that i usually tend to run solo and go to where defenses or attacks need support

That sounds a lot like me, actually!

I usually go to Cyrodiil to do town PvE quests and scouting/resource missions, or briefly as a to-and-from escape route from Imperial City and back to quickly turn in district quests or bank my Tel Var.

But when I join my fellow DC players with trying to capture or defend keeps and scrolls, I have a lot of fun despite dying a lot and generally stinking at PvP.

I think I could easily become one of those players who basically lives in Cyrodiil, because I always have so much fun there. But I think I'd have to get a game controller and get used to using it, because trying to do heated battle with a mouse and a keyboard can be so awkward.