Originally published March 22, 2017. The original article can be found here.
Three unique Battlegrounds are coming with The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind's launch on June 6. To help you prepare for the conflicts to come, we are featuring ESO: Morrowind's Battlegrounds all month. The next map to be covered? The red-hot Foyada Quarry.
Watch Your StepEdit
While Ald Carac is designed to be dense and claustrophobic, Foyada Quarry, with its wide-open spaces and limited cover, is the opposite. In this deserted granite quarry, you can view exactly where the action is right from the start. However, when navigating this map, you should watch your step; the entire site is now overflowing with lava, bathing the arena in a red glow and burning those unfortunate enough to fall in.
Despite the environmental hazards provided by the looming Red Mountain, Foyada Quarry funnels the action right into the center of the map via a selection of granite pathways and seared wooden bridges. Because the majority of the map is so open, teams are able to quickly close and engage with each other, thrusting you into battle almost immediately upon leaving your base and making it an especially fast-paced Battleground.
While the center of the map is a hotspot for team fights, the outside ring provides cover in the form of mining equipment, granite blocks, and forges. In addition, should the battle in the middle get too heated, you can always retreat to your base, which has limited pathways of attack and provides some of the only high ground in the map.
Burn Your EnemiesEdit
Thanks to Foyada Quarry's unique hazards, crowd control abilities enjoy additional utility. For example, if you play a Templar, you could use a well-timed Piercing Javelin shot to knock an enemy player into the lava pool, or if you had a Dragonknight, you could stand right on the edge of the foyada and use Fiery Grip to pull another player in. When fighting around the map's hazards, pay close attention to your opponent's spacing to avoid taking a fiery bath.
In Team Deathmatch, the fighting focuses around the center of the map, and you might find that ultimate abilities with an area of effect (such as Negate Magic) can shut down enemy players and allow you to control the space.
In Domination, three of the capture points reside underneath each base, making them easier to defend. However, the all-important fourth point resides right in the middle, so while you may be hesitant to move to the center of the map, it might actually be preferable when compared with seizing and holding the base points.
When playing Capture the Flag, the flags are located at the top of each base, and given the additional cover available around the sides of the map and the high visibility of the map in general, the center might not see as much action. That said, controlling the middle of the map allows you and your team to react to what the other teams are doing. Because there are only two walkways up to your base and flag (one on each side), defenders have a distinct advantage.
Fight Among The FlamesEdit
When battling in Foyada Quarry , you must always keep one eye on the enemy and one eye on the molten lava below. Will you make your enemies burn? Or do you plan to avoid the map's red-hot center altogether? We have more information coming, so keep an eye out for our final Battlegrounds article this month, and please feel free to share your thoughts with us on the official forums or on Twitter at @TESOnline.