When The Elder Scrolls Online debuted in 2014, one of its leading selling points was Cyrodiil: the MMORPG’s vast, open-world PvP area where countless players across the game’s three factions could wage war on each other’s territories. Cyrodiil was even a significant highlight in GameSpot’s original Elder Scrolls Online review, with reviewer Kevin VanOrd stating that developer ZeniMax Online’s MMO is “at its best when the PvP action intensifies” and describing its large-scale battles as “great fun.”
Fast forward to shortly after ESO’s initial launch euphoria, and the flaws in Cyrodiil quickly became apparent. The overwhelming number of players, coupled with the complexity of the overall game, resulted in significant server performance issues that the mode continues to grapple with to this day, despite multiple attempts by ZeniMax Online to rectify the situation. Engaging in Cyrodiil in 2025 means dealing with poor frame rates and extremely laggy battles, ultimately rendering the PvP sieges unplayable for many—an unfortunate state for what was once a hallmark feature. However, this may be on the verge of change due to Cyrodiil Champions, a new experimental test mode.
Cyrodiil Champions is an ambitious open test on ESO’s live PC servers scheduled for March 24-31, which ZeniMax Online hopes will ultimately identify the main cause behind the mode’s frustrating performance. This test campaign will recreate the large-scale siege battles Cyrodiil is famous for but will significantly streamline class abilities and disable almost everything else (passive skills, armor types, stats, and more) in order to (hopefully) demonstrate that the sheer complexity of each player’s stats and abilities interacting with one another is what is leading to server-breaking performance issues rather than poorly written code or defective server infrastructure.
“Our primary objective for this test is to clarify once and for all some of the performance discussions we’ve been having internally,” ESO game director Rich Lambert stated in an interview with GameSpot. “We win either way, right? We win if it goes off without a hitch and fulfills our expectations, and players enjoy it. We also win if it fails, because then we can return to the drawing board and say, ‘Yep, that’s not the issue. So what is the real problem?'”
Lambert mentioned the team continuously receives feedback regarding Cyrodiil, marking it as one of the most significant complaints ZeniMax Online hears about ESO. For eight years, ESO has followed an annual chapter release cycle (the game’s version of expansions) that has introduced a massive new zone alongside original story content and generally one major feature, like NPC companions or ESO’s card game Tales of Tribute. In a blog post from December 2024, studio director Matt Firor announced ESO will not introduce a new chapter in 2025, with the team instead shifting to a seasonal model featuring smaller updates.
Firor stated that the team wanted to experiment more going forward, outlining a variety of ideas they have on how to enhance ESO in the coming year. He specifically highlighted the need to “seriously” address Cyrodiil’s performance and indicated that the team set an “ambitious” target to see it return to the thousands of concurrent players the mode accommodated shortly after its launch in 2014.
Cyrodiil Champions is the solution ZeniMax Online has developed, even though it is still in its infancy and far from a fully realized feature. Lambert mentioned the team decided on this direction in October, aiming to assemble a test version quickly to validate the concept.
From Lambert’s perspective, he compares the ambition behind the Cyrodiil Champions test to that of the game’s 2016 One Tamriel update, which drastically transformed ESO by eliminating faction-restricted zones and allowing all the game’s quests and enemies to scale alongside players.
“We want to change,” Lambert stated. “We want to progress. We want to invigorate things. In my mind, Cyrodiil Champions is at the same level of innovation as One Tamriel was when we implemented that years ago, and that fundamentally improved our game. I believe that’s the potential Cyrodiil Champions holds, and we aim to pursue more of that kind of development in the future.”
The test will greatly modify class abilities while in Cyrodiil. While many abilities typically deal damage and heal, or deal damage and control targets, or can affect numerous targets simultaneously, that may not hold true in Cyrodiil Champions. An ability, like the Templar’s Javelin, which usually deals damage and knocks down opponents, will solely perform the knockdown, or abilities that usually heal and inflict damage will now only do one or the other. Some abilities might deal damage to fewer targets. This is all being implemented with the aim of improving server performance and identifying the precise causes of Cyrodiil’s performance issues.
Lead combat and PvP designer Brian Wheeler mentioned that achieving a “strict separation” between PvE and PvP abilities is something the team has discussed for quite some time, and that by removing additional layers from each ability, the team can eventually focus on the performance issues in Cyrodiil. He acknowledged that it’s a significant shift for the game.
“Our engineering efforts have reached their limit,” Wheeler asserted. “At this point, it falls to design. It’s up to us to evaluate abilities and ask, ‘Does this really need to perform all these functions?'”
Even if the test is technically successful, Lambert noted that continuing to expand and develop Cyrodiil Champions is not a guaranteed bet. It all hinges on how players react to what comes next.
“The internal playtests have been overwhelmingly positive,” Lambert indicated. “Time-to-kill has increased, meaning you’re not experiencing two-or-three-second fights.”