Concept for Factionless Free-For-All PvP Mode

Erickson9610 · September 2023

With the Endless Archive soon to release as a roguelike PvE experience, a new PvP experience could give a breath of fresh air for the PvP community. I've been thinking about what interesting PvP genres could best fit within the lore of The Elder Scrolls, and it occurred to me that one could justify a "factionless free-for-all" PvP mode as one of the many Great Hunts hosted by the Daedric Prince Hircine.

For instance, look at how the story of March of Sacrifices goes. Many hunters are competing to eliminate their quarry, Tarcyr, and each team is split up somewhere within the forest. Teams are able to take one another out during the competition. The team who brings the heart of Tarcyr to Hircine wins, but you can also kill the team who hunted Tarcyr and steal the heart from them.

At first glance, the structure of the Great Hunt which took place in March of Sacrifices sounds like a cross between a battle royale and the Capture The Relic battleground, where eliminated teams stay dead and the win condition is to bring some objective to the drop off point. Designing a new PvP mode to work like this would allow players to queue for a free-for-all PvP experience where the goal is to survive against enemy players and be the last man standing, similar to how the goal of the roguelike Endless Archive is to survive waves of enemies for as long as possible.

Edit 1: Rather than allow a group queue with this mode, it might be more beneficial to limit it to a solo queue. That would help mitigate the staggering power that crosshealing has in PvP modes, as well as make this mode feel like a true free-for-all.

I think that these Great Hunts could be expanded upon in a PvP context as an opportunity to bring an exciting and popular PvP genre into The Elder Scrolls Online.

OBJnoob · September 2023

Don't get me wrong it sounds fun. Every time someone comes up with a new PvP mode it sounds fun to me. The more the merrier. Your idea is creative... I like it.

But the way you describe it being for pre-mades I feel like it's going to be in competition with BGs. And also I don't consider that to be factionless. I understand there are no cyrodiil factions, but there aren't cyrodiil factions in BGs either. Nevertheless there are teams.

When I read the title I really thought this would be a solo PvP experience. I think I'd like that even better.

Erickson9610 · September 2023

OBJnoob wrote: »

Don't get me wrong it sounds fun. Every time someone comes up with a new PvP mode it sounds fun to me. The more the merrier. Your idea is creative... I like it.

But the way you describe it being for pre-mades I feel like it's going to be in competition with BGs. And also I don't consider that to be factionless. I understand there are no cyrodiil factions, but there aren't cyrodiil factions in BGs either. Nevertheless there are teams.

When I read the title I really thought this would be a solo PvP experience. I think I'd like that even better.

Perhaps it would be better if there was only a solo queue for this PvP mode. That would at least prevent the issue of crosshealing.

Amottica · September 2023

Erickson9610 wrote: »

OBJnoob wrote: »

Don't get me wrong it sounds fun. Every time someone comes up with a new PvP mode it sounds fun to me. The more the merrier. Your idea is creative... I like it.

But the way you describe it being for pre-mades I feel like it's going to be in competition with BGs. And also I don't consider that to be factionless. I understand there are no cyrodiil factions, but there aren't cyrodiil factions in BGs either. Nevertheless there are teams.

When I read the title I really thought this would be a solo PvP experience. I think I'd like that even better.

Perhaps it would be better if there was only a solo queue for this PvP mode. That would at least prevent the issue of crosshealing.

If it is going to be a FFA then it would obviously be a solo queue. If this is an FFA that people queue for there should not be any teams. The only time FFA with teams works is in an open-world setting similar to Cyrodiil.

So if we are talking about FFA, let us talk about real FFA where is every person for themselves and we come up with great builds to both survive the onslaught and still do some damage. Otherwise, we are just talking about BGs.

TX12001rwb17_ESO · September 2023

A 15 minute free for all located within a large maze in the Hunting Grounds (size wise it would be as big as a single section of the IC sewer) where 12 players compete against each other to have the most amount of points after the games duration with bonus power ups that last for 60 seconds that spawn in random locations to level the playing field so even weaker players will have a chance to win.

Such power ups would include the various power ups you encounter in arenas such as a weapon and spell power boosts, projectile deflecting shields, speed boosts and even a single "Werewolf Behemoth" potion hidden somewhere that will turn whoever drinks it into a killing machine.

Also an idea: What about some non-combat oriented PvP like a race of somekind.

Erickson9610 · September 2023

Amottica wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

OBJnoob wrote: »

Don't get me wrong it sounds fun. Every time someone comes up with a new PvP mode it sounds fun to me. The more the merrier. Your idea is creative... I like it.

But the way you describe it being for pre-mades I feel like it's going to be in competition with BGs. And also I don't consider that to be factionless. I understand there are no cyrodiil factions, but there aren't cyrodiil factions in BGs either. Nevertheless there are teams.

When I read the title I really thought this would be a solo PvP experience. I think I'd like that even better.

Perhaps it would be better if there was only a solo queue for this PvP mode. That would at least prevent the issue of crosshealing.

If it is going to be a FFA then it would obviously be a solo queue. If this is an FFA that people queue for there should not be any teams. The only time FFA with teams works is in an open-world setting similar to Cyrodiil.

So if we are talking about FFA, let us talk about real FFA where is every person for themselves and we come up with great builds to both survive the onslaught and still do some damage. Otherwise, we are just talking about BGs.

I agree. PvE already has solo arenas, but PvP currently doesn't have any means to play solo with no one being on a team. This teamless FFA idea could change all of that, and it might actually be more fair for solo players than Battlegrounds, Cyrodiil, and Imperial City currently are.

Erickson9610 · September 2023

TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »

A 15 minute free for all located within a large maze in the Hunting Grounds (size wise it would be as big as a single section of the IC sewer) where 12 players compete against each other to have the most amount of points after the games duration with bonus power ups that last for 60 seconds that spawn in random locations to level the playing field so even weaker players will have a chance to win.

Such power ups would include the various power ups you encounter in arenas such as a weapon and spell power boosts, projectile deflecting shields, speed boosts and even a single "Werewolf Behemoth" potion hidden somewhere that will turn whoever drinks it into a killing machine.

Also an idea: What about some non-combat oriented PvP like a race of somekind.

The idea of having power-ups in a PvP mode does sound like an interesting twist. Maybe you could earn buffs like the boons you get in March of Sacrifices for taking down the side indrik hunts?

It would be like the patrolling horrors in the Imperial City where you're incentivized to kill these dangerous bosses while watching your back for any enemy players who intend to finish you off when your health gets low.

Amottica · September 2023

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

OBJnoob wrote: »

Don't get me wrong it sounds fun. Every time someone comes up with a new PvP mode it sounds fun to me. The more the merrier. Your idea is creative... I like it.

But the way you describe it being for pre-mades I feel like it's going to be in competition with BGs. And also I don't consider that to be factionless. I understand there are no cyrodiil factions, but there aren't cyrodiil factions in BGs either. Nevertheless there are teams.

When I read the title I really thought this would be a solo PvP experience. I think I'd like that even better.

Perhaps it would be better if there was only a solo queue for this PvP mode. That would at least prevent the issue of crosshealing.

If it is going to be a FFA then it would obviously be a solo queue. If this is an FFA that people queue for there should not be any teams. The only time FFA with teams works is in an open-world setting similar to Cyrodiil.

So if we are talking about FFA, let us talk about real FFA where is every person for themselves and we come up with great builds to both survive the onslaught and still do some damage. Otherwise, we are just talking about BGs.

I agree. PvE already has solo arenas, but PvP currently doesn't have any means to play solo with no one being on a team. This teamless FFA idea could change all of that, and it might actually be more fair for solo players than Battlegrounds, Cyrodiil, and Imperial City currently are.

Do not get me wrong. I do not think FFA would be a game-changer by any means. It is boring since it has a very limited dimension.

A much more interesting PvP design would be to change the Death Match to make it a real Death Match. A death match should be the best of three matches in an XvX design. Not sure how to do the matches with an XvXvX. Regardless, a character dies in a match they lay there watching the rest of the match unfold and only revive at the end for the next round. This is much more interesting than a FFA and a much better design than the watered-down death match ESO has had.

Erickson9610 · September 2023

Amottica wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

OBJnoob wrote: »

Don't get me wrong it sounds fun. Every time someone comes up with a new PvP mode it sounds fun to me. The more the merrier. Your idea is creative... I like it.

But the way you describe it being for pre-mades I feel like it's going to be in competition with BGs. And also I don't consider that to be factionless. I understand there are no cyrodiil factions, but there aren't cyrodiil factions in BGs either. Nevertheless there are teams.

When I read the title I really thought this would be a solo PvP experience. I think I'd like that even better.

Perhaps it would be better if there was only a solo queue for this PvP mode. That would at least prevent the issue of crosshealing.

If it is going to be a FFA then it would obviously be a solo queue. If this is an FFA that people queue for there should not be any teams. The only time FFA with teams works is in an open-world setting similar to Cyrodiil.

So if we are talking about FFA, let us talk about real FFA where is every person for themselves and we come up with great builds to both survive the onslaught and still do some damage. Otherwise, we are just talking about BGs.

I agree. PvE already has solo arenas, but PvP currently doesn't have any means to play solo with no one being on a team. This teamless FFA idea could change all of that, and it might actually be more fair for solo players than Battlegrounds, Cyrodiil, and Imperial City currently are.

Do not get me wrong. I do not think FFA would be a game-changer by any means. It is boring since it has a very limited dimension.

A much more interesting PvP design would be to change the Death Match to make it a real Death Match. A death match should be the best of three matches in an XvX design. Not sure how to do the matches with an XvXvX. Regardless, a character dies in a match they lay there watching the rest of the match unfold and only revive at the end for the next round. This is much more interesting than a FFA and a much better design than the watered-down death match ESO has had.

Deathmatch makes sense to be "best of three", because it has a relatively quick finish time if no one can respawn. However, people will often ignore the objective in other modes and deathmatch regardless.

If people could queue for a PvP mode that is less about sieging, killing mobs, or capturing/holding objectives and is more about simply killing enemy players without teammates stealing their kills or being vastly outnumbered by the enemy team and thus being unable to kill anyone, then players absolutely would queue for such a mode.

reazea · September 2023

This idea would be far better suited to a Battleground and fewer people at a given time.

Cyrodiil needs to have faction related objectives to keep it fun and lively and provide incentives to play.