Two fairly inflammatory questions.

Nihili · December 2014

1) How valid is the existence of a #purplealliance or #orangealliance, etc? I'm in AD, and I must say that I have felt like I was facing two enemy groups (differing factions) who were on the same "team" at some point throughout my PvPing sessions, but this is purely speculation on my part.

[Before we go forward with this discussion, I want to reiterate that I'm in AD, and so my opinion is based on some biased experiences. I would love to hear from DC and EP players how they feel about a Green/Orange Alliance.]

For those of you who do not know; "purple alliance" is a reference to the possible collusion between DC (Blue) and EP (Red) to undermine AD only, giving you purple. Orange alliance is where EP and AD works together against DC, Green alliance is where DC and AD works together against EP.

To my knowledge the first use of one of these terms was by the AD in the NA server, back when AD had the largest population and "dominated" PvP (for sake of discussion I'll say purely because of a numbers advantage rather than a skill difference), which resulted in EP and DC being forced into cooperating to break our advantage. This is, of course, a natural step by the EP and DC, however in the recent Thornblade campaign in which EP won, some AD players complained in zone chat that they still felt the presence of a "purple alliance" - despite there being no reason for it: with EP in the lead the natural collusion should occur between AD and DC. #greenalliance. It did not occur.

Examples in which I have felt the presence of the "purple alliance": Chalman keep and the keeps/outposts on the way to Chalman (A keep on the EP side between DC and EP) have been left to DC after EP was in a comfortable lead - they were virtually untouched for hours and hours while both DC and EP pushed down against AD. I have logged in daily and seen no change in ownership to Chalman. The effect of this is that DC gets more AP than AD until such a time that EP feels threatened and makes an effort at reclaiming those keeps.

Thoughts?

2) How come there are so many former emperors in this game? For a supposedly near unachievable position, there are way too many of these buggers around. It is reaching the point where if you hope to actively compete in Cyrodiil, you need to look at how and where you can get your emperorship.

yodased · December 2014

1. 3 people fighting. 1 is always going to feel at some point the other 2 are ganging up on them. Its convenience and opportunity only. There may be guilds who play such shenanigans,but not whole alliances.

2. Its actually not hard to be emp. Get 5 inner keeps, farm AP to top of the leader, take 6th keep. profit.

People used to trade emps as well on buff servers and etc etc, its basically a joke now.

Agrippa_Invisus · December 2014

1. There is no real purple alliance. AD just does a lot of things that push EP/DC's buttons to the point where they'll smack AD down first before going back to squabbling.

Yes, this sometimes means Chalman stays an incorrect color for a while when AD has a) one of EP's scrolls and b) Emperor.

2. Celarus. Buff Campaigns getting farmed. The old 90 day campaigns getting farmed in their dying stages. I don't wear my Former Emperor title anymore for a reason -- it's meaningless. I can't show I wasn't one of the ones who got it from a farm server, but one where the title came only with hard work.

Gyudan · December 2014

1) I'd like to see a brown alliance: everyone teaming up to destroy daedra.
For specific alliances between 2 factions, I guess that it's all about strategy and don't see it as a "bad thing". Of course it's not particularly enjoyable for the group left to face 2 different factions, but that's PVP, everyone's free.

2) Emperor trading:

Gyudan wrote: »

1. Find a campaign won by another alliance.
2. Get on top of the leaderboards for your side.
3. Wait for the other alliance's emperor to get bored.
4. Discuss with him to plan a reroll so one of his friends can re-take emperor when you're done
5. Group at night and take back all the keeps.
6. Be crowned emperor.
7. Let the first occupying alliance take back the keeps.
8. A friend of the first emperor takes the ruby throne.
9. Both players display their very meaningful "Emperor" title and enjoy the buffs.

Roechacca · December 2014

I don't team up with other factions . End of story

GorraShatan · December 2014

I'm not sure it's really teaming up when you're doing something in your interests. If I see DC sieging Arrius and Kingscrest for example, as AD I'll want to go attack Farragut to try and get a scroll.

MiyaTheUnbroken · December 2014

Most of the time the alliances are just happenstance. If we see DC is hitting EP at Chalman and Arrius, it's wise to let up on Ash and slam into BRK instead and vice versa. These are unspoken alliances. No more than a head nod. Depending on how the battles go these alliances can last hours, occasionally days. There have been cases of formal, spoken alliances, but those are small scale and temporary at best.

Junipus · December 2014

The #brownalliance is real. It happens whenever people see the DC army rolling in their direction

Kraven · December 2014

1. There are a couple of guilds that sanction and promote these alliances. They exist in each faction. And is a reason DK chain was nerfed as 'spies' would use dk chain to pull their friends over an enemy wall, this required that you had to have friends in each faction.

As far as entire Alliances banding together to take down big bad AD? Doesn't happen, doesn't need to.

It's small scale shenanigans performed by people who can't really stand on their own feet. Much like stream sniping, performed by those who can't actually commit to battle without knowing your positioning, plans and that they out number you.

2. Emp title and skill tree is crap and meaningless. It was farmed and traded with out consequence. Which is something some of us in early beta told ZOS would happen, then again they never listened to much of our feedback from beta anyway.

kijima · December 2014

Agrippa_Invisus wrote: »

1. There is no real purple alliance. AD just does a lot of things that push EP/DC's buttons to the point where they'll smack AD down first before going back to squabbling.

Yes, this sometimes means Chalman stays an incorrect color for a while when AD has a) one of EP's scrolls and b) Emperor.

2. Celarus. Buff Campaigns getting farmed. The old 90 day campaigns getting farmed in their dying stages. I don't wear my Former Emperor title anymore for a reason -- it's meaningless. I can't show I wasn't one of the ones who got it from a farm server, but one where the title came only with hard work.

Operation F#CK Yellow is always in force on NA Thorn, Hell, that's something that a few EP & DC actively acknowledged, even promote on the forum.

While there might not be an actual purple alliance, I can say that it sure as hell feels likes it.

Agrippa_Invisus · December 2014

kijima wrote: »

Agrippa_Invisus wrote: »

1. There is no real purple alliance. AD just does a lot of things that push EP/DC's buttons to the point where they'll smack AD down first before going back to squabbling.

Yes, this sometimes means Chalman stays an incorrect color for a while when AD has a) one of EP's scrolls and b) Emperor.

2. Celarus. Buff Campaigns getting farmed. The old 90 day campaigns getting farmed in their dying stages. I don't wear my Former Emperor title anymore for a reason -- it's meaningless. I can't show I wasn't one of the ones who got it from a farm server, but one where the title came only with hard work.

Operation F#CK Yellow is always in force on NA Thorn, Hell, that's something that a few EP & DC actively acknowledged, even promote on the forum.

While there might not be an actual purple alliance, I can say that it sure as hell feels likes it.

There is a lot more back and forth between EP/DC than AD seems to realize. There's a reason we see AD gankers along the Bleakers corridor constantly -- because the fighting never stops.

Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening.

On the days we wake up to AD emps and down scrolls, you can bet we set that aside and play 'race you to Faregyl'.

Karamis_Vimardon · December 2014

Operation f*** AD is always in effect

Seriously though, it 1v1v1. Yeah it can suck when the other 2 alliances "team up" no matter which side you're on, but it's going to happen. Just deal with it and rush head first into the fray!

Asgari · December 2014

Operation smash AD is one that will never end is a a true favorite of many. Too many mornings spent capping things back from the AD oceanic crew to not want to continuously pay them back forever for this.

FluffiestOne · December 2014

#OperatinF**kAD #AllDay #Erday

Darthryan · December 2014

Purple alliance is real.
I have alts in ep and dc now and while playing I'll ask why we aren't fighting blue when I'm ep. Ad is beaten back to their gates at this point. And everyone say we are in alliance now with blue. Same on dc side. Its kinda sad. Its funny when while on my ep alt, people joke that dc is our litle *** that we tell what to do. Dc just needs more peopleand the balls to fight ep and stop the alliance stuff so all sides are equal.

Turelus · December 2014

Nihili wrote: »

1) How valid is the existence of a #purplealliance or #orangealliance, etc? I'm in AD, and I must say that I have felt like I was facing two enemy groups (differing factions) who were on the same "team" at some point throughout my PvPing sessions, but this is purely speculation on my part.

There was a case I used for my raid the other night and I will use there here as well.
AD had taken Glademist and were pushing Warden, I took an EP raid to Rayles to siege there as well, all keeps went under siege about the same time.
To any DC player this would have looked like orange alliance, in reality it was seeing a chance and exploiting it.

People don't like to lose, it's easier to accept that you're losing by placing the blame on others for ganging up in alliances.
Sometimes this does happen, people whisper enemies and say "hey this factions winning, you hit x and we will hit y" however these agreements and alliances don't last more than a single objective.

Also if a faction is on #1 place, you hit them not the guys losing and don't threaten your campaign win.

Nihili wrote: »

2) How come there are so many former emperors in this game? For a supposedly near unachievable position, there are way too many of these buggers around. It is reaching the point where if you hope to actively compete in Cyrodiil, you need to look at how and where you can get your emperorship.

It's a mixture of things. Emperor is not actually as hard to achieve as some think. If you have an organised guild and a lot of free time (students, unemployed, holiday) then you can make yourself Emperor in the first days of a campaign reset.
I think the "need to be emperor to be competitive" thing has been blown way out of proportion by many on the forums. Recheck the skills for a former emperor, other than the 5% less ultimate costs, they're tiny differences.

I also think the number of former emperors works out fine in the grand population of the game, I wish I could give you numbers but I personally wouldn't say any more than 5% of the population has it.

TheBull · December 2014

Darthryan wrote: »

Purple alliance is real.
I have alts in ep and dc now and while playing I'll ask why we aren't fighting blue when I'm ep. Ad is beaten back to their gates at this point. And everyone say we are in alliance now with blue. Same on dc side. Its kinda sad. Its funny when while on my ep alt, people joke that dc is our litle *** that we tell what to do. Dc just needs more peopleand the balls to fight ep and stop the alliance stuff so all sides are equal.

Lie. Every once and awhile we'll have a no name newb say something like we should let EP blah blah blah. You know what the overwhelming response is? F EP.

Turelus · December 2014

Darthryan wrote: »

Purple alliance is real.
I have alts in ep and dc now and while playing I'll ask why we aren't fighting blue when I'm ep. Ad is beaten back to their gates at this point. And everyone say we are in alliance now with blue. Same on dc side. Its kinda sad. Its funny when while on my ep alt, people joke that dc is our litle *** that we tell what to do. Dc just needs more peopleand the balls to fight ep and stop the alliance stuff so all sides are equal.

I assumed this is the NA servers? Because EP on EU Thornblade are normally more "WTF are smurfs doing? Why attack Chalman when they could get a yellow scroll?"

Darthryan · December 2014

TheBull wrote: »

Darthryan wrote: »

Purple alliance is real.
I have alts in ep and dc now and while playing I'll ask why we aren't fighting blue when I'm ep. Ad is beaten back to their gates at this point. And everyone say we are in alliance now with blue. Same on dc side. Its kinda sad. Its funny when while on my ep alt, people joke that dc is our litle *** that we tell what to do. Dc just needs more peopleand the balls to fight ep and stop the alliance stuff so all sides are equal.

Lie. Every once and awhile we'll have a no name newb say something like we should let EP blah blah blah. You know what the overwhelming response is? F EP.

Its not a lie. And these weren't noobs saying this. These are leaders of pvp guilds and others who are well known. Next time I will screenshot it and I guess black out their names cause of the name and shame policy. But will show whoever pms me the real names.

Kraven · December 2014

Darthryan wrote: »

TheBull wrote: »

Darthryan wrote: »

Purple alliance is real.
I have alts in ep and dc now and while playing I'll ask why we aren't fighting blue when I'm ep. Ad is beaten back to their gates at this point. And everyone say we are in alliance now with blue. Same on dc side. Its kinda sad. Its funny when while on my ep alt, people joke that dc is our litle *** that we tell what to do. Dc just needs more peopleand the balls to fight ep and stop the alliance stuff so all sides are equal.

Lie. Every once and awhile we'll have a no name newb say something like we should let EP blah blah blah. You know what the overwhelming response is? F EP.

Its not a lie. And these weren't noobs saying this. These are leaders of pvp guilds and others who are well known. Next time I will screenshot it and I guess black out their names cause of the name and shame policy. But will show whoever pms me the real names.

I'll say it again. There are a couple of guilds that promote these alliances, these guilds exist in all three factions. When you wonder why X is in the lead yet Y is attacking Z instead it's because there are a swarm of players who would much rather kick the losing team because as long as they're losing they're not putting up much of a real fight. There are a ton of people in Cyrodiil regardless of what alliance they're in who go for the easy fight.

EP has plenty of the same morons. For example I've seen this particular one almost weekly. AD will be in first, EP in second and DC in third, EP will start to push AD then some one with an AD main comes and starts building groups to attack DC. And the sheep follow! Doesn't matter that 2nd and 3rd place should both be attacking 1st. The instigators get a fight going between DC and EP then switch back to AD and organize a push while the other two Alliances are now fighting each other.

Not knocking it, a sound strategy and it works. It works all the time, I'm just surprised that it works (rather I wish I was surprised... fuggin' people). I won't name anyone specifically because I don't need to, if you're on Thorn then you know, or should if you pay any attn. AD will choose which of the other two alliances they want to push against by this point DC and EP are thoroughly engaged. So whichever side AD decides to push against the other feels like they are being ganged up on.

Oceanic rolls through with little resistance middle of the night, which annoys the *** out of both EP and DC so yeah at that point I'm sure it feels to AD like they're being ganged up on. Poor things.

Agrippa_Invisus · December 2014

Darthryan wrote: »

TheBull wrote: »

Darthryan wrote: »

Purple alliance is real.
I have alts in ep and dc now and while playing I'll ask why we aren't fighting blue when I'm ep. Ad is beaten back to their gates at this point. And everyone say we are in alliance now with blue. Same on dc side. Its kinda sad. Its funny when while on my ep alt, people joke that dc is our litle *** that we tell what to do. Dc just needs more peopleand the balls to fight ep and stop the alliance stuff so all sides are equal.

Lie. Every once and awhile we'll have a no name newb say something like we should let EP blah blah blah. You know what the overwhelming response is? F EP.

Its not a lie. And these weren't noobs saying this. These are leaders of pvp guilds and others who are well known. Next time I will screenshot it and I guess black out their names cause of the name and shame policy. But will show whoever pms me the real names.

L.O.L.

Citation most definitely needed.

There is no purple alliance. We fight plenty. We're (usually) not dumb enough to push DC right after an AD night cap either.

Tavore1138 · December 2014

In EU chillrend it does seem as if the Orange alliance happens at times but how much is planned and how much merely one taking advantage of what the other is doing I cannot say. And TBH who cares? both teams have lower numbers here unless we get an invasion to crown someone so it keeps us alert and makes numbers more even.

What is more annoying and far less ethical is when certain members of one alliance cooperate with the AD or EP and act as scouts or spotters for them... and no way for the affected alliance to prevent this. When you've seen a member of your own alliance sitting unattached in the midst of battle while the opposition accurately 'spot' all your stealthed groups it is very frustrating.

Bramir · December 2014

There is no purple alliance, but there is a rational explanation for EP and DC ganging up on AD in NA. I believe two campaigns have been won by AD in the last couple days via nightcapping. To prevent that happening again, AD needs to be pushed so far down that they are all but eliminated going into the final week. There is nothing personal about it...it is just necessary for either of the other alliances to win.

Joy_Division · December 2014

1 - I've played in every faction and every faction is convinced the other two are ganging up on them. I would say recently in NA Thorn, the bananas have been on the receiving end of a tactic understanding between their enemies a little more often than the smurfs and strawberries are.

2 - As others have said, Emperor trading was a very real thing (a shame as Zenimax was warned beforehand that this would happen).

Subtomik · December 2014

Agrippa_Invisus wrote: »

L.O.L.

Citation most definitely needed.

There is no purple alliance. We fight plenty. We're (usually) not dumb enough to push DC right after an AD night cap either.

I admit completely that I will go out of my way if there isnt a leader to push pugs towards AD. So will a lot of us.

Its not some fabricated alliance, its actual disdain for AD.

That being said, we gave it to red all day the first day of the campaign. and the last campaign NM must have made a dozen attempts at arrius before we got our scroll back. We will fight the EP as much as you would expect us to fight an "enemy"

the only difference is given the choice between enemies, EP are the italians, AD the ***'s.

Pyatra · December 2014

Solution, come play on Haderus NA. Yep.

Ffastyl · December 2014

1) Ever since the nightly sweeps from AD perhaps over a month ago, I have harbored a deep disdain for AD. And perhaps so do the others in both DC and EP. To fight hard for a day only to have your work undone by night is a frustrating thing, and people are slow to forget frustration like that.

On multiple attempts to subdue EP, DC 'leaders' have diverted attention and considerable forces towards AD. This may be to exploit an opening, but the cost often outweighs the gain. By diverting forces to attack AD leaves the offense against EP undermanned, and doomed to fail. Satisfying the underlying rage towards AD can be the only gain worth such self-destructive strategy.

However, with the EP now beginning to mimic AD's night capping days, the Green Alliance may become more prevalent. EP seems to be the stronger alliance today, and is shifting its weight around mayhap too much.

2) These former emps are mostly from the days of emperor farming. The fewer campaigns has reduced the ability to farm emperors, but not eliminated it. Buff campaigns have very lax security until a few or more keeps are captured; with a coordinated and veteran group to generate and sustain momentum, emperor farming can be achieved. However, this does not rid ESO of the current Former Emperors littering the alleyways. The only cure for their abundance is time; in time they will quit and the number of Former Emperors will drop.

k2blader · December 2014

As an AD whose first campaign on Thorn NA was the recently completed EP-dominated one, I don't understand the "disdain" the other factions have for AD.

Certain AD guilds (maybe the source of ire?) do not represent all of AD. In fact I wish some of the more bloviating members of such would just shut the frack up most of the time, not to mention go take some action (their own advice) rather than whine about what PUGs are or aren't doing or bashing PUGs while at the same time expecting them to do what the "leet" folks say. Anyway, most of AD are not these people.

Given that, as someone who just plays for fun and to enjoy the strategy of objectives (and doesn't play 8+ hours a day), I rather clearly see and feel the "purple alliance" regardless of claims it doesn't exist. For example, red & blue simultaneously pushing AD to Fare or their gates when all pop bars are equal and AD has no scrolls. It doesn't make sense, and it makes the game much less fun because there is no balance or real competition in 2 factions versus 1, when pop bars are equal.

kijima · December 2014

Agrippa_Invisus wrote: »

Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening.

On the days we wake up to AD emps and down scrolls, you can bet we set that aside and play 'race you to Faregyl'.

For sure grippa', totally agree. You can see things change depending on what time your logged in.

For someone that plays 4 hours a day, the same 4 hours of the day, everyday. They only see a snap shot of that timeframe and nothing more. If you log in and out at many times during the day you see all sorts of changes depending on what is peak time in other parts of the globe, this is an MMO after all. One decent guild operating at any one time can make a massive difference to how a map looks.

And while I know a few guild leaders that talk to others about sharing the pain, It's not as if every EP and DC player has been wired to attack AD and not each other, although from what you read in the forums from some AD players, you'd think that was the case.

Yes, I've got screen shots of blue and red working together, I've been there when blue are attacking the back of the keep, and red the front. Yes, I've got screen shots of the map on thorn being perfectly shared between DC and EP , split right down the middle with AD being pushed back to the gates. While that might feel like a purple alliance, it's more a case of operation F$CK AD being in action than anything else.

I'm AD and I'm not buying into the purple alliance. I've been playing PvP since beta, I've seen AD with enough numbers to keep both EP and DC at bay on pretty much every campaign, remember those days?

Operation F$ck AD is in place, purple alliance while real, not so much.

kijima · December 2014

Princess_Asgari wrote: »

Operation smash AD is one that will never end is a a true favorite of many. Too many mornings spent capping things back from the AD oceanic crew to not want to continuously pay them back forever for this.

I don't care much about double teaming. It's a game where anything goes, and usual does, but what does irk me is this term about night capping?

Who's night are you referring to?

I find this to be complete BS. You get pissy because people are playing the game during 'their' peak time and not yours. I could say you are night capping Oceania couldn't I? It's not just the vegemite eaters that don't share your time zone.

ESO is an MMO, it knows know boundaries, doesn't recognize international time lines, and it's sure as *** doesn't give flying continental what direction the water goes down in your toilet bowl. It's Global!

/end rant

P.S. Not having a go at you directly Asgari, my rage is more about the night capping term, not you as a person.

Jaxsun · December 2014

yodased wrote: »

1. 3 people fighting. 1 is always going to feel at some point the other 2 are ganging up on them. Its convenience and opportunity only. There may be guilds who play such shenanigans,but not whole alliances.

2. Its actually not hard to be emp. Get 5 inner keeps, farm AP to top of the leader, take 6th keep. profit.

People used to trade emps as well on buff servers and etc etc, its basically a joke now.

^This