General report on battlefield conditions in Cyrodiil from the EP frontline during primetime.

Recently there has been an effort to adjust balance in Cyrodiil and while longer term efforts may be in place, the current short term adjustments of nerfing healing appears to have limited or any effect on stacked groups 'invincibility' imbalance. While initial days of update appeared promising, the drop off survivability for in the first days of any launch can be contributed to the farming of new gear, miscalculations in game adjustments and reliance on existing tactics.

Ballgroups
Ballgroups quickly returned to their original state with shield stacking being prevalent for each group encounter. Vicious death still being a driving force of kills, with burst strikes ranging from 30k-50k+ damage during large scale engagements, further enforcing a high health/high resistance meta. It is unclear if the 8 HoT trigger point is too high or if the 33% reduction is strong enough as healing remains unchallenged due to the number of shields that seamlessly refresh, proving a bottomless pit of damage mitigation. Lag is still a noticeable factor when groups are in the area, particularly when more than one group is present. Lag associated with each group appears to be parallel to their survivability, where ballgroups with no lag do not survive long during engagements, and groups that carry lag seem almost invincible with lag spikes accruing during stacked burst attacks or when a ballgroup member is separated from the group and close to dying. Example lag burst attack: Player sees approaching group attack, game lags for 3-4 seconds, game animations accelerate to catch up leading directly to death screen with zero opportunity to properly counter the on coming attack. Movement counters still non existent with snow treaders & speeder builds being standard issue for most ballgroups, combined with sources of immovability & CC immunity, hard CCs tend to be only disruptive counter, but nominal due to CC immunities. An Increase of negates has been noticed during burst strikes, often including a pull. While negates has always been a reliable counter to ballgroups, counter negates will become more prevalent.
Beginning stages of few DC group factures has started to show, particularly in groups that were once growth focused, expect to see a 'new' group emerge in the following months, spite may delay but history has yet to be unrepeated. One or two AD banners have started to remerge from their previous cycle but still unclear if these adoptions will be carried into their next cycle. Tri-faction ballgroups have recently migrated out of EP, expect to see them focus EP, particularly those that were verbal in zone about how un-cool it is to farm your own faction's scroll as well as teaming up with existing ballgroups from current faction.
Personal note on ballgroups: While I may be critical of them in their current state, I do believe there should be a place for them on the battlefield. The essence of a ballgroup can be simplified as focused zerg, displaying all the key factors of any zerg. Hivemind behaviors (single raid lead making calls), and attacking smaller numbers in a constated location with all groups members stacked in that location, utilizing CCs to collect and disable players defenses during concentrated attacks. Team work, coordination, comradery, wanting to be revered as the 'best' players are shared among all organized groups & players, and not unique to ballgroups. There has been a noticeable focus on buffing the behavior for the past years, which has increased the number of ballgroups, but decreased both the variety of tactics they deploy and counters to their playstyle. My criticism is not directed toward any individual player, group or person, it is being expressed to help balance combat in PvP and foster a more competitive and vibrant PvP community.

Small man groups
Little to no change, slight shift in AD tactics in hitting more northern targets, patterns suggest collaboration with DC small man groups.

Zone Generals
AD appears more zone general(ZG) driven, followed by DC. AD has an experienced ZG who appears to drive a large portion of the faction's actions, resulting a high concentration of AD in most engagements. Limited organized groups has contributed to this ZG rise in AD as noted ZG has often found conflict with organized groups due to their independent nature. DC appears less ZG driven as noted ZGs tend to appear at random, DC is still heavily scout driven with smaller groups and 1vXers driving much of zone response.

EP Vs. ADC
Patterns still remain suggesting ADC still intact during PCNA Primetime. Scoreboard suggests nighttime groups have currently shifted to AD, while map conditions at start of primetime suggest DC still holds a strong daytime group. Primetime fights still remain EP focused regardless of camp. score, and importance of emp. or scroll still holds a higher value with proximity to EP. Western fronts continue to be unchallenged, AD still focusing *** & SEJ as primary targets while DC remains focused on Chal over eastern home keeps. Ballgroups still pvdooring EP tri keeps when opposing faction is almost gated, with limited access to inner 3rd floor based on defending response. Assaults on EP still void of strategic purpose other than reforming ADC.

Dragonknight Refresh
Notable interest in DKs since the update, players expressing positive feedback from changes, including the elemental focus, updated animation & audio adjustments. With a few exceptions of possible desync bugs, response has been overwhelming positive with limited complaint about imbalance in the current meta.