PvP in MMORPGs is often a double-edged sword and not every player can handle it. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch spoke with player and Twitch streamer Pain In The Axe, who has spent thousands of hours in the PvP of The Elder Scrolls Online. He reveals what PvP in ESO does well, where its weaknesses lie, and why he had hopes for New World that were not fulfilled.
Who did we talk to? Pain In The Axe has been playing ESO for nearly 7 years, primarily in PvP. In June 2019, he also started creating videos and live streams about the MMORPG, showcasing some self-created PvP builds and creating his own PvP community.
On his main character, he has over 3,000 hours of playtime, and overall he has spent more than 365 days being completely online.
In 2021, he briefly switched to New World because he initially liked the PvP system there. But after a few weeks, he returned to ESO and created videos about it again.
We talked to him about the positive and negative aspects of PvP in ESO and also why New World couldn’t keep him engaged in the long term.
The biggest highlight is the combat system
MeinMMO: You have spent numerous hours in ESO’s PvP. What exactly do you like about it?
Pain In The Axe: The best part is undoubtedly the combat system in ESO, as it is so fluid and responsive. There are no cast times for abilities; everything happens immediately, and the combos in this game are much better because everything can happen in less than a second.
If you have the right timing, if you’re playing well and know your combos and mechanics, you can unleash an incredible amount of burst or healing to stay alive. There are so many nuances in ESO’s PvP solely because of the combat system.
I also like that if you’re a good player, you can fight even when outnumbered and even win. There’s no “Oh, I can’t win because I’m alone”, instead, you can actually do it. If you play well and at the highest level, you can do incredible things.
I think it’s one of the best things about the PvP system: those who play well will achieve good results.
MeinMMO: Where exactly do you engage in PvP? There are certainly different scenarios and content.
Pain In The Axe: In general, I either play solo or in small scale in Cyrodiil or on battlegrounds. Nowadays, I mainly play solo because I enjoy the challenge of being alone and fighting against as many people as possible to test my skills.
In battlegrounds, I can’t play alone of course, but I really enjoy battlegrounds because they incorporate the team aspect. You have to play with a team, stick together, and really pay attention to what each individual is doing to succeed. That’s a lot of fun.
However, it also requires a lot of coordination. Even if you are not directly communicating with teammates, many people can simply read what you are doing by observing. So you should keep an eye on your team. Maybe you can do something to support, and together you create that big burst effect or the gigantic healing, or the defensive rotation you need when under pressure.
And I like that the performance in the battlegrounds is very solid. That’s why I usually end up there much more often.
Performance problems and MMR are problematic
MeinMMO: So you’re not often in Cyrodiil?
Pain In The Axe: No, I need to enjoy Cyrodiil in moderation. There’s a period when it’s really fun and works well, and then it’s simply incredibly good.
But when everyone comes home from work and plays, you just can’t do the things that are so great in PvP. The combat system doesn’t work in such a scenario anymore. So, unfortunately, you have to forgo Cyrodiil during those times. And that’s really sad because that’s a large part of the day when you simply can’t do it.
MeinMMO: Where do you see the biggest problems in ESO’s PvP?
Pain In The Axe: For me, it’s the mid-game in PvP. It’s really hard for a new player to get into the game because there’s a huge skill gap. If you look at the lower levels in PvP, it’s probably the best form of PvP because all the players are coming together who are still learning.
But the MMR system is so strange because MMR is not based on your actual performance, so how good you are. It’s more about how much time you spend in the battlegrounds.
Let’s say you’re a new player entering. You learn the battlegrounds with low MMR, and you have fun because people are on the same level. After a few rounds, however, you enter a higher MMR, and suddenly you’re fighting against players like me or other endgame PvP masters, and you get crushed. You wonder what the hell just happened? What’s going on here?
There are no good battlegrounds with mid-level MMR, and it doesn’t take any skill to reach endgame MMR. That’s why many players are frustrated and give up. If you really want to achieve endgame PvP, there’s a huge mountain to climb instead of going over many smaller ones.
MeinMMO: Yes, I remember such a moment myself. The opponents suddenly became much tougher from one match to the next.
Pain In The Axe: That’s exactly what happens to many, and it’s frustrating because I really want PvP to grow. You were probably thrown into a battleground with experienced PvP colleagues. And if you only played about 50 runes, then it just takes a while to reach that level. Someone who suddenly gets thrown into such a match won’t understand how to defend themselves against the strong players.
It needs to go back and forth, depending on how good you are and how you perform. Only then can people learn and improve because they won’t learn anything when they fight against someone who has been doing it for seven years, as he has already developed so far that it’s not fair. They won’t even understand what is happening to them.
And when everyone is competitive and wants to win, you can’t exploit that. You can’t just form lobbies and let another team win because, firstly, the lobbies are random from the start, and secondly, everyone is going to want the gold. So no one is going to give up voluntarily because they want to earn gold.
MeinMMO: Do you want to convey anything to our readers regarding PvP?
Pain In The Axe: I’ve thrown a lot of words into the room. I’ve addressed many issues, about when we’ll get new content and how things stand with performance. Those are the most critical questions related to PvP.
I hope I was able to convey how much fun PvP is in ESO and how much potential it has. It’s really fantastic. When everything works, it is the best PvP game I have ever played.
MeinMMO: Thank you for your time!
Not only in PvP could ESO use some fresh winds. MeinMMO author Melli has compiled a list of contents that the MMORPG urgently needs in 2022:
9 things that the MMORPG ESO urgently needs to bring in 2022
That’s why the MMR system needs a strong overhaul.
New World was supposed to become an alternative, but disappointed
MeinMMO: In 2021, you also devoted yourself to New World to play the PvP there and perhaps find an alternative to ESO. What attracted you to the PvP there and where did it fail?
Pain In The Axe: Well, I first liked that there was open PvP everywhere in the world. That sounded really cool. You could walk around, develop your account, and experience PvP action in between. You even had an advantage as a PvP player because you could gain experience faster.
But unfortunately, the MMORPG didn’t offer much in endgame. Once you reached level 60, there was no more incentive for PvP in the open world. The only form that existed for me were the wars. And unfortunately, they were laggy and chaotic. Tactics, strategies, coordination—they all unfortunately didn’t exist.
Everyone stacked at one point, and it was just random when damage hit and when it didn’t. That was really boring and frustrating because nothing worked. And they kept saying it would get better. But then they introduced the cursed gauntlets, and they had a passive effect that caused more problems.
That was the bug that made me uninstall the game. The grind in the game’s endgame wasn’t fun either. Just running 24 hours a day on elite mobs is extremely boring, and you need a huge group every time. It was just monotonous and boring.
MeinMMO: The combat system of New World is based on a similar system as ESO. How did you like that? After all, you spent a quick 388 hours in it.
Pain In The Axe: The combat system was good, though not as good as in ESO. I liked the idea of New World and also the overall presentation, and we need good competition in PvP.
New World right at launch was a lot of fun for me; it was a good experience. Many players, a lot of action. Unfortunately, the endgame wasn’t polished and interesting enough to keep people around. And there was also guild drama on our server with high taxes and so on.
MeinMMO: There are certainly other PvP games like Mortal Online or Albion Online. What do you think of such games?
Pain In The Axe: To be honest, I haven’t played those games intensively. I’m a fan of Old School RuneScape and still play it aside from ESO. I haven’t given these titles much attention yet, but maybe I should do that.
I’m just very focused on ESO, especially since the last patch was really good with the new sets and “Quality of Life” adjustments.
The perfect PvP MMORPG needs incentives and good rewards
MeinMMO: What should the perfect PvP MMORPG look like for you? What content should it definitely have?
Pain In The Axe: It would need good incentives to keep players coming back and experiencing the content over and over. It must reward the players, perhaps by being one of the best money makers in the game. It also needs regular content drops to refresh old content and bring new concepts into the game.
For ESO, honestly, the best thing would be to revamp the battlegrounds and the Imperial City because those are two zones where there are no performance problems. They can’t use the excuse that performance hinders their implementation.
ESO lacks fresh content, incentives, and communication with the players
MeinMMO: What else should ESO do to become a really good PvP MMORPG?
Pain In The Axe: They should not focus so much on Cyrodiil because that will become a long-term issue. We have been battling with a content drought for 3 years now, and we are very frustrated. It’s time to focus on things that work, like new battleground maps, new Battle Royale game modes, new rewards, and perhaps a special skill line for PvP.
We just need something substantial to engage us while they continue to work on performance. They can’t just say they can’t do anything until performance is right. We don’t know when that will be. We don’t even know if they will ever succeed.
They don’t communicate very well about what they are working on, but they need to do something in the meantime, like a small compromise. For example, continue to work on performance but at the same time add something small and new.
I would probably change something immediately. Something they could quickly fix is probably to remove some of the AP rewards for empty fortresses to create an incentive to fight more than just running to an empty fortress and killing guards. Because that’s what so many people do right now, and it somehow takes the charm out of PvP. Reduce it a bit because no one should be getting 6,000 AP for an empty castle.
MeinMMO: What would be the most important aspect that ESO should change?
Pain In The Axe: Incentives, that’s what we need, real incentives. When you do battlegrounds, let’s say you do three battlegrounds per hour and you win all three. You should earn the most gold per hour in the game because it’s actually very hard to win all three.
And when everyone is competitive and wants to win, you can’t exploit that. You can’t just form lobbies and let another team win because, firstly, the lobbies are random from the start, and secondly, everyone is going to want the gold. So no one is going to give up voluntarily because they want to earn gold.
MeinMMO: Do you want to convey anything to our readers regarding PvP?
Pain In The Axe: I’ve thrown a lot of words into the room. I’ve addressed many issues, about when we’ll get new content and how things stand with performance. Those are the most critical questions related to PvP.
I hope I was able to convey how much fun PvP is in ESO and how much potential it has. It’s really fantastic. When everything works, it is the best PvP game I have ever played.
MeinMMO: Thank you for your time!
Not only in PvP could ESO use some fresh winds. MeinMMO author Melli has compiled a list of contents that the MMORPG urgently needs in 2022:
9 things that the MMORPG ESO urgently needs to bring in 2022
