The Problems with Cyrodiil Go Far Beyond Lag

bellanca6561n

The fundamental design of Cyrodiil is Air Warrior - the first ever MMO launched in '86 where Blue, Red, and Yellow factions fought over major facilities and took out the resources of those facilities, in a campaign that reset every 30 days. Only meaningful difference is that Cyrodiil's war is fought on land. Yet, before EA bought Kesmai and shut AW down at the turn of the century, the design was refined and included a metagame. So, I have to wonder why there has been no development, much, less improvement, to the design of ESO's biggest battlefield beyond a borrowed and venerable 35-year-old game.

Yes, I know, ZOS has yet to puzzle through the whole massively multiplayer client-server part. And it's nowhere close to achieving that. Cyrodiil is in its third beta over seven years and the current results are not looking good.

The problem of course often goes by the silly-sounding name, blobbing. Every online game has to have a strategy for handling too many players in the same place at the same time. And it won't be solved by reducing server processing load through removing proc (short for process) armor sets, group size, or any adjustment to the current scheme.

You solve it through game design.

As it stands, the outcome of campaigns is so meaningless that ZOS began the current beta with one week left to go in one campaign, and will launch a major update in the middle of another.

Please, tell me that the developers have fresh designs for the only massively multiplayer part of ESO in the works.

Chaos2088

SpiritofESO

Yasha

SpiritofESO wrote: »

bellanca6561n wrote: »

The fundamental design of Cyrodiil is Air Warrior

In my opinion, the Alliance v Alliance PvP model used in Cyrodiil is a copy/paste of the Realm v Realm PvP model used in "The Frontiers" of DARK AGE OF CAMELOT.

ESO changed the names, but all else -- nearly -- remains the same. DAoC even had "Battlegrounds."

One important difference is that capturing an enemy Realm's "Relics" in DAoC had significance both in PvP and PvE. In ESO, it only has significance in Cyrodiil.



Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

I seem to recall that capturing the scrolls orginally also impacted pve.

bellanca6561n

SpiritofESO wrote: »

bellanca6561n wrote: »

The fundamental design of Cyrodiil is Air Warrior

In my opinion, the Alliance v Alliance PvP model used in Cyrodiil is a copy/paste of the Realm v Realm PvP model used in "The Frontiers" of DARK AGE OF CAMELOT.

ESO changed the names, but all else -- nearly -- remains the same. DAoC even had "Battlegrounds."

One important difference is that capturing an enemy Realm's "Relics" in DAoC had significance both in PvP and PvE. In ESO, it only has significance in Cyrodiil.



Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Yep, the founder of ZOS designed that system. His boss's handle in Air Warrior was Gunsmoke, though we called him Gunny

bellanca6561n

Yasha wrote: »

I seem to recall that capturing the scrolls originally also impacted pve.

Yes, the two were originally far more integrated in the original design, including the economy.

I'm sure just about....oh....99% of ESO players are happy that never happened, that the Justice System never happened, and a similar percentage really don't care about Cyrodiil.

The RvR system was outstanding. And, like most good designs, it was built upon a good design that came before it. But Air Warrior never had such a thing as players fighting the environment

Air Warrior was rooted in reality. Its lore: the history of WWII. And, back then, there were enough living veterans of the air war that we could recruit them as speakers at our annual conventions. That game had a very different audience though. Older, and steeped in the subject, which surprised the hell out of the veterans whom I somehow persuaded to attend.

For many, it was the first time they'd spoken about the war in any detail. And for some, it was simply gratifying that people cared and remembered.

Mozart Kaufman, a Jew who was shot down and captured by the Germans had the most intense tale to tell. And the most moving reaction to the nature of the questions he received at an AW convention. "I can die now. I know people will remember." He was with his family and it was an emotional moment for all.

Forgive the lengthy digression. When you've spent a decade of your life developing a game rooted in stuff that actually happened, and honored those who helped make it happen at a pivotal point in the history of this world, it's a tough transition to pure fantasy.

Still, I think ESO could be an astonishing MMO with a smart redesign of its player versus player main arena.