PC/NA Vivec EP

Hibiki54

What's up with EP on the Vivec campaign? I do not understand the mentality of EP being a bunch of solo players. I can understand small private groups. That's all good. But when I jump into PvP, as someone that doesnt do it much I would like to roll with an organized crew and help put in work. I'm pretty much lost in Cyrodiil running solo and not getting any direction to go where the fight is.

When I jump into AD or DC, I'm always able to get into a PUG group or at least an organized group that picks up PUGs. And we usually roll on groups until we get out popped.

So EP, whats up with that?

Vilestride

EP does run some PuG groups. I believe KUSH still openly recruits from zone. But for the most part EPs more organized guilds are already well established and do there recruiting on a more committed recommendations basis.

Having PuG groups is essential but the latter leads to a far stronger faction in the long run and is something that contributes to EPs factional success over the last few campaigns.

Malic

This is an excellent example of what ESO pvp has become. The OP is completely right of course in context but remember when you actually had to gear, plan and practice for ESO PvP (think VR6-10 days).

Now you just pop in, pug up, zerg until you get "popped" and most are perfectly content with that. To the point they will actually post a call out to an entire faction as to why others wont adhere to or support their particular play style as it is the norm.

Vilestride

Malic wrote: »

This is an excellent example of what ESO pvp has become. The OP is completely right of course in context but remember when you actually had to gear, plan and practice for ESO PvP (think VR6-10 days).

Now you just pop in, pug up, zerg until you get "popped" and most are perfectly content with that. To the point they will actually post a call out to an entire faction as to why others wont adhere to or support their particular play style as it is the norm.

I get what you're saying but to be fair to the game pugs have always existed and been prominent as a basis for new and casual players. And that's a good thing.

And implementing the strategy you mentioned still results in stronger playability.

gabriebe

Leading pugs is exhausting. I gave it a little try this morning when AD was on an emp push and I could barely get half the group to stay on crown. Gave up after a bit and went back to being solo. It's a shame, especially when no guild groups are running and the usual destro/negate trains are in full force.

If you see a guild, ask someone in it for an invite. You'd be surprised at how many people are ready to help you.

Ackwalan

It's because of all the spias. Once you pick up an unknown player, you can expect your every movement to be reported.

Agrippa_Invisus

AFAIK, currently SOTP, Kush, and Pact all openly recruit from zone to flesh out their teams. During the mornings Attunes runs the LFG raid and occasionally I'll see THC (To Herd Cats -- no more aptly named guild than I can think of).

I know I don't lead groups anymore due to my own sanity.

I still remember the one Thornblade where I logged in at 7 am on the last day of the campaign with a tiny difference in score to run PUG groups that took Glademist (TWICE) and then start running Hijinx groups at noon until the campaign score became final in our favor.

Things like that make me demur holding crown anymore. My own sanity and blood pressure requires it.

Wing

AD does not have PUGs, simply the surprising ability for a bunch of Zerg surfers to realize where the fight is and show up.

like solo'ing together.

Nogawd

Yeah I remember near launch (Wabba) and things were a lot different.

There would be several pug groups, even pug dedicated guilds. There were handfuls of pvp guilds running around, from casual to more serious with required builds. A player of any level could find something to fit them.

Now I see a lot of solo to 3-4 man groups going where the fight is/where they are needed. They get AP from the offensive and defensive ticks, flipping resources. They play with like-minded players that they know are geared and "gud". Any pug or casual is just dead weight that would limit them rather than help.

I have also seen some players in zone chat refuse advice from veterans on callouts with where help is needed, saying that they "paid for the game" and will go where ever they "want to go". Add this to the amount of pve players that come in to get skyshards or grind for caltrops. Throw in massive over-sensitive egos, spies, those who faction jump, maybe guild recruitment is not very good right now or the overall incentive to group/guild is just not there. Some small groups/guilds outright refuse to consider any new players.

Vilestride

Nogawd wrote: »

Yeah I remember near launch (Wabba) and things were a lot different.

There would be several pug groups, even pug dedicated guilds. There were handfuls of pvp guilds running around, from casual to more serious with required builds. A player of any level could find something to fit them.

Now I see a lot of solo to 3-4 man groups going where the fight is/where they are needed. They get AP from the offensive and defensive ticks, flipping resources. They play with like-minded players that they know are geared and "gud". Any pug or casual is just dead weight that would limit them rather than help.

I have also seen some players in zone chat refuse advice from veterans on callouts with where help is needed, saying that they "paid for the game" and will go where ever they "want to go". Add this to the amount of pve players that come in to get skyshards or grind for caltrops. Throw in massive over-sensitive egos, spies, those who faction jump, maybe guild recruitment is not very good right now or the overall incentive to group/guild is just not there. Some small groups/guilds outright refuse to consider any new players.

Honestly though nearly everything being talked about here affected by population loss. It's not that any of the guild behviours you mention were ever more or less existant relative to one another in the past. Now it's simply all scaled down. There are Les pugs, less small scale and less elitist groups. It's not that any of them Replaced the others.

Kartalin

We were running into a ton of EP small scalers late last night it just happened that most of the encounters had all of them in the same place at the same time, beating our 13 with 40+ and numerous siege. But if they weren’t all together then we couldn’t find more than 5 or 10 anywhere at one time. Very frustrating finding good fights after 11pm eastern or thereabouts.

Hecker777

I feel like the PUG zerg is an Important mechanic. Think of them like the base footsoldier- Not highly effective but can overwhelm with numbers. They are best when KUSH or LFG is online wrangling them.

Then you have the 12-18 Medium/large groups. They are great because they tend to be stronger players and can reinforce the Zerg when there is a big fight, or start a fake siege, and yet are strong enough to capture a different keep than the one the zerg is on-extending the factions reach.

Then you have your 2-5 groups. These are great because they tend to know that they (generally) won't take keeps by themselves but generally tend to be great players. They can run around cutting transit to say....ash when Ales is under siege, or flag Bleakers when the chal fight is going down. They are usually good at being outnumbered and can keep larger groups busy and away from the front lines, as well.

Then you have the solo players. The best of the best can serve some of the functions above, and gankers can be good when used with strategy. If you hit the tail of a larger group en route to support a siege or defence, chances are they are going to turn around for their fallen. You may not be able to take the group out, but you have made them waste precious time in which your alliances larger groups can complete their objectives without the reinforcements arriving.

VaranisArano

If you are EP on Vivec and not finding a group to run with, here's a few ideas for how to find the fight.

If you want to fight DC, head for the Chalman ->Bleakers-> Aleswell corridor. Plenty of fights going on here.
If you want to fight AD, head for the Blue Road Keep -> Sejanus Outpost -> Alessia Bridge corridor. Plenty of fights going on here.

If you use addons and want to get fancy, get the CyroHUD addon. This will notify you when keeps and resources flag or have siege placed up on them. When I PUG, this is how I tell where the fight is without a group to tell me where to fight or without opening the map every 30 seconds. (Its also how I tell whether the EP skirmishing around Bleakers are serious - if there isn't siege up, they aren't serious lol )

RMerlin

EPHS is open to people willing to join us. We usually run around 4-12 people, and don't require any voice chat software. Use "EPHS" in zone chat for an invite when Xylena or myself are running it ( we don't have any schedule, we just run it when we are actually there).

We often focus on hitting resources behind ennemy lines, and defending our home keeps (Drake being our primary keep ). And the occasional keep frontdooring.

VirtualElizabeth

I kind of wonder of some the solo players are "burned out" former PVP guild players. I was one of these until recently. I just didn't fit in honestly with the guilds I ran with for most of 2015 - early 2016 meaning I play regularly but this is not SERIOUS BIZZNESS for me. I was tired of the yelling, the snarky comments and general negative attitude of some of the PVP guild members I played with in the past. I had one guild leader who would literally yell at us for 15 minutes if we wiped trying to take a keep.

I get it can be frustrating to run with less experienced players but if your play style is ego driven, maybe leading a guild is not for you. This is not a job, we are really not in a war and honestly its just not fun if your guild leader treats it as such. Therefore when I came back to ESO last spring, I joined the merry band of solo players running about Cyro, until this week when I found a guild that seems to mesh with my personality and so far I am having a lot of fun!

Nogawd

^ Yeah I have been in and out of some bigger guilds just for that reason. Blame everyone but themselves. Crying that the other 2 factions are "double teaming" them, blah blah, always some excuse as to why they died in a battle. Of course the most tacky blaming the healer. No one can take being around those kind of negative entitled people for very long.

I have seen some of the more "known" solo players try to make guilds, but playing solo and leading groups are just a different style of play to be successful. They often end up just staying solo for the most part aside from a friend or some leeches here or there.

You will always get casuals/pve players coming in to farm skills and even more coming to farm crystals. There have been a lot more "lfg" of late in zone, so it might be a good opportunity for some people to step up, create a guild, and help win over some more players to pvp.

It is a burden that I know many do not want, but the opportunity is there.

Taysa

A lot of guilds from Sotha recently transferred to Vivec as well. I haven't been to active in Vivec since the guild I'm in transferred over simply because I've been under the weather, but I know at least 2-3 guilds made the switch after Sotha became a political ****show.