ESO Cyrodiil PvP Thoughts!

I remember me and my brother as kids. We used to lay in bed, dreading the misery of school the next morning. So, naturally, we'd talk about gaming to distract ourselves. What would be the BEST game ever? What we came up with went like this:

You're a solider - not a God-of-war, not a hero, legend or general - just a soldier, not particularly strong, just as capable of dying as anyone else. You have a basic weapon - a sword, a longbow, maybe a staff or a pair of daggers - and basic armour. You're literally just a regular infantry man with nothing remarkable about you at all.

The world in which you reside is at war! And by 'world' I don't mean instanced zones. I mean MASSIVE zones, so large it'd take you hours to cross them all, and zones that are alive with wildlife, immense and awe-inspiring landscapes of mountains, rivers, forests and caves, framed by a sky that rains, snows, blusters and beams. The fortresses and cities that litter this world are equally vast, war-beaten structures. And if you amass a large enough force of troops (fellow players OR npcs as far as me and my brother were concerned) you could capture these keeps and settlements, drape them in your factions colours.
Which naturally brings me to the wars in which you'd fight.
In World of Warcraft, a 50v50 encounter in World PvP is considered to be a war - and could even crash or lag-out a server!
Well in this game, battles would be as to-scale as possible. 1000v1000! More even! Me and my brother wanted these battles so big and so epic that they could literally last for days at a time, that the player behind the hand controller or keyboard would himself have to battle through the fatigue of gaming for so long! There'd be siege engines that trembled the ground and took dozens of players just to usher them onwards, archers shooting for so long they'd run completely out of arrows and draw melee-weapons to continue fighting, Warriors in the front lines so caked in blood that their swords would be all but clotted - glued - to their hands.
And the best part about these epic battles?
You are just a regular soldier. Just as fragile. Just as weak. At any second you could be killed by a stray arrow, crushed by the hurtling boulder of a trebuchet mounted upon the walls of the enemy castle, doused in hot oil tipped over the ledge of the keep, or even just flat-out beheaded by an enraged enemy infantryman in the front lines. And once you're dead, you're dead. No resurrecting nearby in 30 seconds. You resurrect at your factions capital, so distant, there's almost no chance of you getting back to the battle in time before it is over.
Imagine how it would feel to battle-charge in a horde of 1000 people towards the ranks of your enemies, friends either side of you, the thrill of knowing that the rush could be over with 1 wrong move.

This, to me and my brother was the ultimate game! And this is why Elder Scrolls Online has me so excited!
Of course, ESO does not conform to everything I mentioned, but it's set to do better than any other game I've ever encountered. The World PvP in Cyrodiil is almost a smaller-scale replica of the things I described above!

• You are a regular soldier in Cyrodiil, easily killed, starting out with basic equipment
• The environment is a sprawling, truly massive landscape
• The keeps & forts are equally huge! And, of course, can be captured if you can muster enough force
• The battles are hundreds versus hundreds. Not thousands, but still quite massive
• When you die, you cannot respawn at a keep that is under attack! Nor can you teleport to a keep that is under attack.

All of these things are amazing concepts. When me and my brother devised our dream game, there was 1 thing we wanted that we'd never really felt enough of in any fighting, war or battles games before.
Fear.
I personally love that concept about PvP in Cyrodiil. Patriotism and the hunger for epic battles will drive you into them, but what will keep you engaged, adrenaline-fuelled and - even if it's just a little bit - frightened, is the knowledge that, just like in a real war, you only have 1 life. Die and it's game over.

Cyrodiil isn't all about just 'zerging' down the keeps and forts of the enemy factions either. There are strategic points which can be captured - farms, mines and mills - which once taken, have a negative effect on the fortresses they supply, reducing the hitpoints of walls, towers and doors. There are PvE quests which can be completed in Cyrodiil too, which, again, is tainted with the constant worry of being ganked, picked off by an arrow at that crucial moment that your health drops too low from the creature you're trying to kill. The Imperial City, at the centre of Cyrodiil, is the ultimate goal and symbol of power in ESO PvP. If your faction controls the Imperial City, one player from your faction is named the Emperor and is granted insane strength in battle. There are buildings which house your faction's Elder Scrolls, deep within your territory. The Scrolls grant passive buffs which strengthen you in battle, so don't let your enemy steal them! And, if you feel you have the numbers behind you, don't hesitate to take the Scrolls of your enemies!
Finally, don't forget that there are 3 factions in this game: The Aldmeri Dominion, The Ebonheart Pact and the Daggerfall Covenant. It opens up so many more exciting possibilities! Temporary alliances, 3-way-battles over 1 keep, or even the scenario of one weaker faction allowing the two others to destroy one another before rolling in, after a along and hard battle, to claim an easy victory against the weakened survivors.

Be whatever you want. An archer on the walls, an armour-clad warrior in the front lines or a siege engineer manning the catapults and battering rams. Personally I'm looking at the Mage-route, but may have to wield a bow, or maybe I'll have more than 1 character - there's just too much to decide when it comes to character customization!

Anyhow, that's why I'm excited for the Elder Scrolls Online.