It's been over a week now, and I see a lot of discussion about the removal of forward camps and the impact they've had. Also, you crazy people seem to enjoy reading my opinion, despite my branding change to Brova. So I'm going to revisit my previous five reasons, and give you my opinion on a few hot topics as well.

Caveat: Keep in mind, the first few days after the removal, people were still dropping camps like usher drops platinum tracks. So whatever judgement of fwc removal effects should be judged later.

1. Indirectly fix lag/server issues?
Not completely yet, but it has definitely helped.

This is a yes and a no. First of all, the meta hasn't changed yet. People haven't learned to play and adapt to the new flow of pvp yet. People still think the best strategy is to gather 100 people to hit Chalman and meet 100 EP there and lagball each other out. Normally, the defending side will drop off walls and kill players on siege until the keep is flagged. Thinning out the Zerg. The problem herein lies, that when one side messes up and gets wiped, people drop their reserve camps. I have personally watched every faction drop camps when the server lags until it crashes. But these lag/crashes have definitely been shorter bursts now, with the exception of when players drop camps. And I believe, when the camps become even less common, and players adapt to the new meta, the lag will be even better.

2. Adds meaning to death?
Absophuckinglutely.

I have never had so much fun in ESO pvp since early release. Yes I have never been so frustrated when killed but it is way more satisfying to kill other players as well. People complain about riding horses, we were intended to ride horses or they wouldn't have added them. Think of riding your horse as a punishment for dying, and it'll make you reconsider rushing in or coming out of stealth outnumbered. Then, born out of fear of dying, your next near death that results in you killing your opponent will feel that much better. It's basic human psychology. It's the same reason why when you get a warlock cowl you're like, "Eh, 2.5k gold or elegant lining. *** I don't feel like selling crap to people today. Elegant lining it is." But when you get that light infused undaunted helm from the last boss in Elden hollow, or you get a signet of warlock in AA, you literally scream "*** YES!". It's not fun if it's too easy, girls don't like nice guys who just fall at their lap, you don't feel accomplished running a quarter marathon, there's no accomplishment killing someone in pvp if the risk of dying means you just spawn at a camp a millisecond later and go back and kill them since you have full resources now.

3. Increase in small scale pvp and meaning due to travel time?
This definitely depends on the player!

People think that they will magically get these fun small scale engagements when they sit inside faregyl waiting for people to attack? No you won't. So no, you probably think removal of camps has done nothing for small scale pvp. But I have had a TON of it. I'm so paranoid now, that I play the Rocky Theme song everytime I have to ride back to my team or my team and I are riding to an objective. By far the most glorious Rocky Theme songed encounter occurred while me and my friends were riding from Chalman to Arrius. We were about halfway there, we were chitchatting on mumble, there was 8 of us. I all of a sudden look to my right, and see 15 AD riding right near us. I literally freak out and scream, "Dismount! DISMOUNT! AD on the right!!" And it's as if the AD were on our mumble, because at the exact same moment, I believe their leader saw us and all 15 of them dismounted. We then proceeded to have an extremely fun 5 minute fight with rezzing, kiting, and strategy before the victor was rewarded with riding to Arrius.

The moral of the story here is, if you think encounters like this are fun, stop sitting in a keep waiting for a fight, and start riding with some risk.

4. Reward smart players and strategy?
This is definitely taking effect but has not reached full capacity since people still have camps.

I have seen lots of interesting strategy from all three factions and it makes me smile thinking that people are finally thinking instead of just slamming their head into a wall. People are flagging outposts to cut off transit before attacking a keep. People are hitting key transit keeps. People are setting up gank squads along reinforcement travel lines. It's becoming an interesting game, if you can understand the strategy behind the scenes instead of just going to the nearest enemy keep with swords and mashing your buttons. The big problem here is, all the strategy and planning should reward you with free keeps. But one person can drop a camp, and negate all your planning and hard work, and unless you drop a camp to counter it, you will have a tough time winning your siege. I think it will only get better with time.

5. This change was needed in conjunction with the oil change to keep zergs at bay?
Not sure yet and here's why.

First, I underestimated the fear factor for the majority of the player base. I order my soldiers to ride deep into enemy territory to fight overwhelming numbers and they proceed. When I tell those outside of my guild the same thing, they question me with words of sandy vijayjay. The majority of the playerbase is crippled by fear of death, that they seem to want to follow the other hundred people thinking it will give them some safety. With creative siege defense, I've wiped much larger stupider numbers while defending, catching those unaware. I've also watched hundreds of my faction get slaughter by a well set up defense. But people still drop camps when mistakes are made to negate the mistake. Who knew the most op negate would be camps. The real question is, when there are no more camps left, and people start growing a pair, will the zergs be thinned quickly enough that there are 5-8 separate fights on the map? Instead of just 1-3? Will a zerg busting tool help discourage zergs and make it a disadvantage? Will the zerg busting tool suck enough in small scale pvp that it is a risk to run at all times?

Anyways, if you have any reading comprehension skills, you can tell that my feelings on the camp removal is still an Overall Positive. We have still yet to see the full effects of the removal of forward camps.

So @ZOS_BrianWheeler‌ , please hold the horses (too soon?) on reimplementing forward camps. Make sure you guys have tested those camps to full working capacity. And wait until you see what real effect the removal of camps has on PvP before you reimplement them. Don't let a few vocal complainers push you to action too early. Don't fall to peer pressure. Don't do drugs. Stay in school.

Oh crap, I promised a hot topic.

Hot topic #1 PvP is dead!

No, it is not. If you have taken the time to look at the undaunted passives or undaunted sets or sanctum sets, you will notice that it is worth your time. A lot of hardcore pvpers are hardcore carebearing right now for those perks. I even convinced AOE BBQ to run undaunted dailies with me last night, and he hates PvE more than he hates the notzees who persecuted his race in Germany. In addition, running AA 100 times is boring. But a ton of the earlier dungeons are way better designed, with amazing layouts, and fun bosses. The problem was, all this well designed content was level 20, or level 40, and literally took five minutes to do solo dolo for the skill point. Now all those dungeons are vr12, take time and some skill, and undaunted dailies force you to visit them. I'll be honest and say I've wiped quite a few times tanking the last boss in elden hollow as a vamp. That damn daedric firebreathing beast hits harder than my mom when I called her a curse word for the first time.

Anyways, PvP is not dead. ZoS finally made PvE fun and a lot of people are meandering into some dungeons while not PvPing, including my entire guild No Mercy and I assume countless other PvP guilds.

Thanks for reading, lemme know what you think!

Tl; dr F you. I took the time to write it, you can take the time to read it while you're sitting at your desk pretending to do work.

Hova

Edit: typos, God I hate typos