Zenimax disclosed more information about Cyrodiil and PvP.

Following its previous Q&A on PvP on Elitist Jerks and the "Creating Cyrodiil’s Keeps", Zenimax Online gave us more info on The Elder Scrolls Online's skill progression by publishing a new "Ask Us Anything" on the topic of Cyrodiil.

New information were given on Cyrodiil's maps, keeps and resources, siege weapons, rankings and various game mechanics.

Maps

• The map of Cyrodiil is huge. It would take around 30 minutes to cross it without being hindered, and longer still when taking into account the aggressive NPCs, players, battles and the temptation of loot from nearby ruins.
• Between each of Cyrodiil’s three territories, there’s a bottleneck location which is a great way to find skirmishes, solo battles or to spy. Another way to find those is Cyrodiil’s town and the end points of transit lines.

Keeps and Resources

• Keeps can be assaulted at any time, without a declaration of war. If it’s undefended, it might take around 15 minutes to take the keep with a ram and three groups of players. An undefended resource will take less time and only require one group. The NPC guards aren’t just for show and healing abilities will be required.
• Resources control specific upgrades: farms upgrade guards (better abilities), mines upgrade walls (more hit points), and lumber mills upgrade the keep’s doors (more hit points). Some of those upgrades are visual.
• The resources are within 60 seconds of travel time on foot from a keep.
• Once a resource is lost, the upgrades it sustained will begin to degrade.
• Everyone in Cyrodiil can see when a keep is under attack on the zone map.
• There is a bonus for the number of keeps controlled but defending more keeps leaves an alliance more spread out.

Siege Weapons

• There are 6 siege weapons:
• Rams will destroy a door
• Forward camps add a respawn
• Trebuchets will destroy keep walls
• Ballistae will take down other siege weapons
• Catapults cover a wide area of duration effects (disease or snares)
• Flaming oil destroys ram operators
• Siege weapons can be deployed wherever there is a flat space wide enough for the weapon. Rams can only be deployed at enemy-controlled keeps.
• They can be aimed at anything but are more or less effective as seen above. Rams can only target a gate.

Ranking

• There are 50 PvP ranks with 25 titles and grades. Killing somebody with higher rank awards more Alliance Point. You don't gaign less for killing lower-ranked players.
• The rank is displayed next to the name of the player. Nameplates can be enabled for yourself, allies, and enemies.
• An alliance retains the emperorship as long as they hold at least one of the six keeps surrounding the Imperial City. If the player who is emperor changes his or her home campaign, that player will lose the emperorship.

Game Mechanics

• Low level characters can, if the player behind the screen is skilled, kill a true level 50 character in a duel but levels are still important in Cyrodiil.
• Weapon swapping isn’t instant but quick. You can swap weapons while in combat after reaching level 15.
• Groups of 24 players can be formed within Cyrodiil.
• To get more speed within Cyrodiil, you can use an ability from the Alliance War skill line, use a horse or fast-travel between your alliance keeps. Teleportation can be cut off by capturing a keep, all three resources around it or damaging a keep that has been breached.

Miscellaneous

• Players can wear costumes in Cyrodiil if they wish, but they don’t offer any combat advantages.
• Some events are broadcasted, like emperorship or the theft of an Elder Scroll. A small group can retrieve an Elder Scroll, but their location will appear on the map.
• A character is assigned to a campaigned at creation (Home Campaign). Some campaigns may have queues to retain balance but another war can be joined via a guest pass (Guest Campaign) or you can join another player in your group in his campaign.
• When going linkdead, there is a brief window where you can log back in and be with your friends in the location your character was last.

Guilhemette "Whilhelmina" Giacopazzi