The Elder Scrolls Online Previews Update 44's Battlegrounds Overhaul, From Variety to Loot

The Elder Scrolls Online has a new preview of Update 44’s significant changes to Battlegrounds, Including why the changes, and of course, rewards. 

Battlegrounds, which were first added back in 2017’s Morrowind Chapter, will be moving from three-sided battles to two-sided 4v4 and 8v8 matches. Lead Combat and PvP Designer Brian Wheeler explains that the original designs intended to represent the three-sided Alliance War, and intended to be something players could jump in and out of to get a quick PVP experience when they wanted to. With the smaller, three-sided battles, Some players were min-maxing and optimizing everything so much that it drove other people away because  it made the experience daunting instead of a relaxed experience. 

Enter the changes coming in Update 44 to the base game. The first change is having two sided matches, which also opens up larger team play, with the 8v8, and doesn't make everything reliant on ideal optimization. Wheeler even says that feedback came in that the old 4v4v4 matches often ended up turning two-sided with two teams ganging up on a third. 

Wheeler compares it to the scale of Cyrodiil. “Lots of people enjoy Cyrodiil’s larger battles because they can ‘relax’ when they play it, and we found that it was the opposite for the Battlegrounds experience.” 

The update will also bring seven new maps, with variations to support both of the new match sizes. The smaller matches get three modes and the larger matches have five options. The 8v8 mode will also have power-ups on the map, and if you secure these you might get boosts to things like speed, damage, or even boost damage absorption or ultimate gain. Team Deathmatch, available in both sizes, will have the lives mechanic in play where every death reduces the team's lives counter, ending the match if they run out. This increases the challenge of the 4v4 experience, so if the smaller more compact modes fit your style, there's still an intensity there.  

As for rewards, the revamped Battlegrounds will offer new item sets, including the Netch Oil heavy set, which offers some powerful crowd control immunity.

While these big changes are on the way, the ESO team said that these three-sided matches could see a return in events. So, if you really love the three-sided battles, stay tuned.