Siege Warfare Introduction
By Caytlynne of Skye
With the release of Elder Scrolls Online, ZeniMax and Bethesda Software will take Elder
Scrolls enthusiasts into the realm of MMO’s and player versus player combat for the first
time. This is exciting news in many ways, since the Elder Scrolls franchise has such a
large number of fans worldwide. It will expose many of these fans to player vs player for
the first time since previous releases have been first person shooters.
M
any players that have previously experienced pvp
will attest to the somewhat addicting nature of this
style of play, while others may not have had such an
enjoyable experience. Those that did not enjoy pvp previously
may find that the ESO version will be a much more enjoyable
experience. Many of the current MMO’s suffer from a very
small landscape for battles allowing smaller groups of players
little chance for significant gains before the dreaded zerg runs
them over. ESO promises a huge battleground that will, from all
reports, take as long as 30 minutes to run across on foot. This
will permit smaller groups of player’s ample time to take a keep
or outpost without the worry of being overrun by a vastly superior
force.
ESO also promises missions that permit the solo player the
opportunity to gain Alliance vs Alliance (AvA) experience, as
well as, gold and loot. These missions will provide exciting
opportunities that many other MMO’s ignore.
Part of the ESO AvA experience is centered on the taking of
Castles or Keeps, and their associated resources such as outposts,
lumber camps, mining camps and farms. Those familiar with
previous MMO’s such as Dark Age of Camelot and Guild Wars
2 have experience with siege equipment and their use in MMO
battles. Let’s take a look at how the ESO franchise envisions and
executes siege warfare.
Figure 1: A typical French trebuchet that may have seen actual use.
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History shows us that several types of equipment dominated the
siege battlefield: trebuchets, ballistas, and battering rams. While