Elder Scrolls Online battlegrounds AMA: Queues, rewards, leaderboards, and beyond Morrowind

ZeniMax regaled Reddit with a giant Ask Me Anything on The Elder Scrolls Online yesterday afternoon — specifically, on Morrowind’s battlegrounds. All three have been profiled to date: Ald Carac, Foyada Quarry, and Ularra. Here are some of the highlights of the AMA!

• There will be no resources nodes in the battlegrounds. “We want you to focus on the objectives.” There are no gear or consumable restrictions, though. Poisons are OK.
• At the launch of Morrowind, expect “titles, furnishings, and gear” as rewards for battleground performance. The gear will come in five-piece sets and for the most part “be useful in PVP and PVE.” Rewards are separate from Cyrodiil rewards.
• The team isn’t worried about the effect on Cyrodiil, either. “Battlegrounds are to Cyrodiil like Dungeons are to regular PvE. People like to do both, but some may gravitate more to one or another. I think people are going to want to do both, because they are much different experiences.”
• No straight answer was given on the topic of official battleground tournaments. Random in-map events to switch up the dynamics aren’t on the table.

• The queue will take into accounts groups, PUG players, ranks, and level as much as possible, but not roles or classes. Battlegrounds time out at 15 minutes max.
• The team promises to talk about class balance issues “soon.” As for side balance? “There will be no official BG rules/adjustments to encourage or dissuade 8v4 scenarios.”
• Battleground leaderboards are based on medals, not on wins and losses. They reset every week.
• No plans for spectator mode.
• There will be battlegrounds beyond Morrowind.