Misconceptions regarding end-game & progression

After scouring through the threads, I see a lot of fundamental flaws in people's ideas of the games design, especially end-game content.

Major misconceptions:

- No PvP progression

- No raids

First, the game has PvP progression. Your character will gain alliance points, which can be spend on various ways. In addition there are 23 PvP ranks for your faction, plus skills level upon usage in PvP (so your character continues to progress experience wise during PvP). Or lack of meaningfulness in PvP (Owning keeps provides benefits, possible access to public dungeons [Think of Darkness Falls], gear etc). Also Cyrodil (the RvR zone) will not reset weekly, they have stated that the possible timeline for reset is between six to twelve months, keep in mind that this value is subject to change, but it shows that Zenimax wants longevity and sense of accomplishment in their RvR. The icing on the cake? A PvP skill-tree line.

Second is about lack of raids. This is not true, but it depends on one's definition of raiding. Needless to say there will be PvP raids, but the classic PvE boss encounter content is not left out either. The game will have Champions, NPC enemies that require more than few groups to handle. These bosses will be placed into "Adventure zones" (essentially vast public dungeons) where players can band up with their groups to attempt to down a Champion encounter. This is essentially a raid PvE content, difference being that the group may have few random guys in it. But that doesn't stop your guild from creating 10 groups of 4 players and going after the boss. The major difference? The loot distribution; In this case all the 10 groups will have their own loot tables, so not only the encounters are more rewarding, it is a distribution channel of gear level balance to the game. This way the Champion encounter's loot does not have to meet the levels of expectation that typical raided gear has; Low drop chance, 1 attempt a week, requires 40 players of which only 1 can get the item. This means they can actually provide meaningful items but at the sametime provide players a chance to get competitive gear from ex. crafting or PvP. So yes, the game won't have your typical "raids." But the content is essentially the same; Those who want NPC scripted boss encounters will have them, and this way no one is forced to spend time with scripted encounters if they do not want to, and still remain competitive.

Those who want the classic 40 man guilded raids; Zenimax has stated it isn't attempting to mimic such features in order to challenge market leaders in their own game; They want their own twist, and essentially proper and rewarding RvR experiences. This means that the carrot on a stick has to be provided for both contents.