We as a PvP community are a divisive lot and I think it is difficult for Zenimax to identify the issues pertaining to Cyrodiil that matter to us most because we spend 90% of our virtual ink arguing over specific minutia that, even if 'corrected,' would still not address what I think are core problems that currently plague game-play in Cyrodiil. I think the #1 concern we all have is lag and I believe Zenimax is fully aware of that. People have left the game entirely and others avoid Cyrodiil because of it. Period. If Zenimax could snap their fingers and fix it, they would. That being said, what could Zenimax fix/address/help by just snapping their fingers? I play on the NA server and all my observations are specific to it.

1. If a PvE player who left 30 days after launch came back right now, she would not recognize PvE with all the new content. A PvP player who did the same might wonder where the Forward Camps went but would otherwise know every square inch of Cyrodiil. I know you will advertise the Justice System and the Imperial City as PvP content, but the fact of the matter is the AvA that PvP is built around, the AvA I heard so much of its importance whenever the topics of dueling came up, will still be the same as it was at launch! I love Cyrodiil, but don't you think it's getting a bit stale?

2. You are going to have to trust me here, there is zero incentive when it comes to loot/rewards to participate in Cyrodiil for 99% of your player base. If I spend a night in DSA (Dragonstar Arena), I will *always* come out of that with decent purple gear that others value and sometimes with a rare jewelry I can sell for 50k without haggling. From one night. For an entire month, I kicked ass and took names fighting for the Ebonheart Pact and got *ZERO* gear for my end of campaign rewards.

2A. While on the subject of rewards...you do know that many players DO NOT even open their "rewards for the worthy"? I get it, good loot needs to be rare. But how is it that PvP oriented players with constantly full mailboxes consisting of nothing but decon trash is allowed to continue? Especially when spending 30 minutes doing a single Vet Dungeon will yield more Purple gear - some stuff I actually use (adroitness) - than I have received in the ENTIRE history of this game from Cyrodiil. If the was even a rumor that a warlock ring could be found in those "rewards for the worthy," not only would they be actually aptly named, but also my PvP friends would no longer always have their mailboxes full.

2B. One further comment about loot. You know how PvP players are incentivized to go PvE to get gear? Why is this a one-way street? If desirable gear from Cyrodiil was bind on pickup that you didn't have to be in the top 1% to get, I might actually see some different names when PvPing now and then.

3. There are too many campaigns and too few players. Whatever was the original intention behind home/guest, different lengths, vet/non-vet, etc., how Cyrodiil plays out on a nightly basis has evolved, or rather devolved, into something that is undesirable and unhealthy. Some people will blame this on the "buff campaign" mechanic and believe that doing away with them will help resolve things. I disagree. First off, I do think there is value with the connection between PvE and PvP and buffs are what brings people who otherwise would not PvP to Cyrodiil. This is good. The problem is that "buff" campaigns have become proprietary in that one factions believes that it is theirs by divine right and that any incursion, however small and innocent, must be immediately dealt with and purged with extreme prejudice.

While there is some value to the tacit understandings that happen between the "nuisance" and "dominant" factions - namely there is a place for some good small scale PvP absent the lag that often accompanies large-scaled battles in Thornblade - I have been on both sides of this and found it to be unhealthy. The occasional moral victory the nuisance faction gains one night for smacking the Emperor's crew for two hours or so at Sejanus pales into comparison to the many nights it beats its head against the wall getting overwhelmed. Instead of a healthy and dynamic campaign, the inexorable logic leads to the nuisance faction complaining of being outnumbered and the dominant faction being so overprotective of it server that people will actually put off sleep to until the Farragut Mine is blue and not red.

The belief in proprietary servers needs to end. When there are 4 vet campaigns and 3 factions, it should come as no surprise that each faction has one: Haderus (yellow), Azura's (red), Chillrend (blue). Eliminate two of these and I believe you will get two healthy, dynamic, and balanced PvP campaigns. I would also increase the value of buffs since these will actually be contested for rather than simply be guaranteed. In my experience, PvP has always been at its healthiest when there was two active campaigns: I am thinking of the old Wabbajack and Dawnbreaker after the first 90 cycle and Chillrend (before it became a blue buff server) and Thornblade immediately after the current system was in instituted. Standing Emperors may not like that their reign would quickly come to an end. But I think they will value the extra sleep they will get as well as a fluid and interesting campaign.

4. You really need to get rid of AoE caps before I eat Cheerios tomorrow for breakfast. I know you designed the game under the premise that AoE caps would serve as an important balance mechanism. I also understand you are investigating ways to mitigate the unintended detrimental aspects that AoE caps have brought to Cyrodiil's current meta. Just drop them altogether and see what happens. If things need adjusting, react accordingly. We KNOW how Cyrodiil plays out with AoE caps. We DON'T know how it will play out without them. Stop speculating and thinking in the abstract and actually acquire empirical evidence how Cyrodiil plays out BEFORE trying to fix a mechanic that few people like and we know doesn't work as intended.

5. I really like this game but it pains me to see how such obvious and correctable issues remain unaddressed. I don't know how to fix the lag and I don't even know if lag is just something inherent in MMOs. I am not expecting it to be resolved in next Monday's patch. But I think you can go a long way to eliminating the (unfair) perception that Zenimax is apathetic toward its PvP community by quickly addressing the critiques listed above. #2 and #4 could easily be implemented by the time of the next maintenance patch. #1 will require a little creative thinking, but there is no reason why you cannot give your community a little preview of some of the things you are thinking of adding to Cyrodiil (or do you not plan on adding anything?!?). #3 is the most radical but nevertheless easy to implement and the most puzzling of the current status quo. I would have to be given a pretty persuasive counter-argument why the 3 proprietary / 1 contested campaign system is somehow conducive to the game's health and appeal.

As far as priorities go, I care a whole lot less about Reflective Scales than an interesting environment to actually play in.