The Elder Scrolls Online's Brian Wheeler details PvP, map size and more

Faced with an overwhelming prevalence of quandaries in regard to upcoming Elder Scrolls Online, some clever soul raised their Illusion skill high enough to cast "Infodump". Doing so summoned the MMO's PvP developer, Brian Wheeler, to the Elitist Jerks forum , where he went about answering all sorts of questions - from the grand to minute - that fill in the blanks of its inter-player battling.

To regurgitate the full thing would be a mammoth task - and largely a pointless one, given its availability here . That said, there are a few things worth highlighting. The game's PvP is set in Cyrodill, for instance, which should be a name recognisable from Oblivion. It should be a location that's recognisable, too. "Cyrodiil in our timeline will look very familiar to Oblivion," Wheeler states, "however much more spread out." When asked about the original, more exotic incarnation of the region - first mentioned in the original TES: Arena, and appropriate to the timeframe of the MMO - Wheeler says, "we have a book in the game for you to find for more details about that." That's the great thing about lore. You can make it do whatever you want.

In regards to the region's size, Wheeler says that it will take "roughly 20-30 minutes to cross it from north to south" on foot. As for how the developers are ensuring that space is packed full of things to do: "Besides keeps and the resources that fuel them," Wheeler says, "there are specific choke points between the Alliance territories within Cyrodiil to look for small skirmish fights. Also note that the towns of Cyrodiil offer PVE quests that are repeatable so if you're looking to take a break from killing people, or even better, want to look for players taking a break and don't expect to be killed, head to Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Cropsford or Vlastarus!"

As for the mechanical specifics of combat and capturing, head through to the full Q&A . And for a more detailed explanation of how the game's PvP Keep system will work, head over to the latest post from the official Elder Scrolls Online blog .

Thanks, OXM .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.