Lfehova wrote: »

It seems the community is split on whether or not the removal of forward camps is a positive change for the health of pvp, and I'd like those that think it's detrimental to consider these 5 points.

1. It indirectly will fix the lag and server issues (if ZoS doesnt break something else with this patch).

The root cause of server lag and attacks not registering is the sheer number of players in one location spamming heals and attacks. The never ending balls of people piling in because of forward camps. The removal of camps will cause travel time, fights will be spread out to multiple keeps. Fights will start and end more definitively. And there will be less lagball fights where people keep spawning until numbers hit a critical mass and cause attacks to stop registering.

2. It adds meaning to death.

A big part of pvp in any game is the thrill of surviving and the risk of death. Whether it be a MOBA where your death feeds experience and gold to your enemy, or a FPS where your KDA goes down, or an mmorpg. The death penalty in ESO was close to none. I have legit, when out of stamina/magicka, jumped off a keep wall to commit suicide and respawn just to refill my resources because we had a forward camp safely located and guarded. Adding meaning to death, by way of travel time punishment, will make the game more exciting and rewarding, and more frustrating.

3. The return of travel time and small scale pvp.

While I lead a guild and primarily group pvp, I am sad that the small scale pvp died in this game due to the availability of forward camps. I believe the game was a lot more fun when nobody could afford forward camps and most people had to travel to a fight. Small skirmishes with a death penalty like travel time, can be exhilarating.

4. This will reward smart strategies and skilled players and make risks meaningful

Pre-patch. Defenders routinely threw themselves off walls and just mindlessly slammed their heads against siege engines and players. Death just meant easy travel back to the keep where you could collect your ap tick or mindlessly charge out again. Assaulters played the role of mind numbingly brainless dimwits slamming their heads into an open inner breach. Over and over, until one side has an organized group destroy an assault or defense forward camp to end the siege. But all it took was on person to escape and drop a camp, and instantly the keep was filled with mindless Zerging. Is it fun to fight knowing that the kills you achieve mean nothing because your enemy will respawn in .5 seconds? Is it fun to fight knowing your death means nothing because you can respawn to defend in .5 seconds. Now each decision made, to rush up the stairs of a keep, or stack on back flag, or whatever choice you make strategically, we have a paramount impact on whether or not your alliance takes or defends a keep. It makes strategy meaningful.

5. We needed this change in conjunction with the oil change and ZoS actually did good predicting a problem and solving it before it festered

A lot of people clamored for a need to change oil mechanics. Those who never used or understood oil, hated it, rightfully so. The oil change, while I may not agree, removed the only zergbuster mechanic in the game. So while they have a zerg busting skill being developed and close to implementation, they could not change oil the way they did and not make another offsetting change. Imagine the flood of players from forward camps WITHOUT oil. There would be no real way to stop a zerg flowing from camps and the lag and crashes would be even worse than it already is.

I think the removal of forward camps was done at a good time, to offset the repercussions of changing oil mechanics. I would not be surprised if they brought back forward camps in a modified fashion, when they implement the zerg buster mechanic that they're developing for a future patch.

Anyways, I hope that clarifies some of the reasons why I think the change is a godsend for ESO pvp and why I believe it will revive a slowly fading community.

If people have some strong reasons against the forward camp change, I'd love to hear some of your well thought out rebuttals.

Hova