I would like to see random quests introduced. Let's say that you join the Dark Brotherhood. You can talk to a certain NPC within the faction that randomly generates assassination quests for you. Not predefined quests, but actually randomly picks people from the TES:V universe for you to go and kill, regardless of their rank/faction/etc. No one, other than main storyline characters, would be exempt.

For the Fighters Guild, it could be a little more expanded. Such as going somewhere to clear out some critters, escorting someone somewhere, acting as a bodyguard, or clearing out a cave for one of the Empire's companies.

Mages Guild would be collecting alchemy incredients, scrolls, potions, soul gems, killing renegade mages, etc.

So, I've been looking at the results and I have to say I'm happy that people are expressing their thoughts. I think it's about time to express my opinion.

I believe that the character has to be the best at what they do in order to rise through the ranks. For example, if I'm in the Mages guild, I should be actively competing with other members of the faction for a promotion. This is lacking in TES games in my opinion. You do what you're supposed to do to advance, but no matter how slowly or quickly you finish your assignment, you still end up advancing in the end. There should be some form of candidacy, where you have to fight others for the favor of your superiors.

Despite the constant criticism Oblivion gets, I feel like Oblivion's factions were more interesting to a degree. For example, the Morag Tong in Morrowind involved killing people, and eventually killing members of the Dark Brotherhood before becoming Grand Master. On the other hand, the Dark Brotherhood in Oblivion involved not just killing people, but killing them in interesting ways, like assassinating people one by one in a building without the others knowing, or poisoning a sick warlord in his sleep. And this was all tied up with a plot where the PC is used as a tool to tear the Brotherhood apart from the inside.

But the factions in Oblivion were also smaller, and shorter. My favorite faction in Morrowind, the Imperial Cult, designed specifically for alchemists/healers, was absent in Oblivion. Therefore, I believe that factions should play a greater role in future ES titles. Factions should be more numerous (because I want to see a Healer faction), more varied (contain political parties, perhaps), and should have plots that make being in the faction worthwhile. Along with improvements to advancement (I believe that skill requirements should return to prevent speeding through the factions), the factions in ESV would definitely be incredible. But seeing that Bethesda's project is so far along in development, we'll just have to wait and see.

The problem with having your actions influence the outcome or ending is that it has the potential to make the next game's lore "wrong". If you side with the Necromancers and wipe out the Mages Guild in one city, or vice versa, the next game has to intentionally avoid any mention of the Mages Guild destroying the Necromancers in that city. Much of the vagueness of the lore concerning the events in DF and the "warp in the west" are necessary "discontinuities" in the whole story to account for the different possible outcomes in that game. I don't think that Bethesda will do that kind of thing again with this series.

The factions in OB operated independently of each other; there was no "interaction" to speak of. In MW, not only did membership in one group affect the disposition of other factions, joining certain groups excluded you from certain other groups. There were conflicts (not only "rivalries", but actual "you can't do this if...") between some guilds and between all three Great Houses, and there were several missions which pitted you directly against a rival faction. There was even more to it from a background story perspective, as one group tried to infiltrate another and control or destroy it from within, or where rival groups within the faction offered different quests. You could sometimes work for both sides wihin the faction if you wished, or could advance despite skipping or "buying off" several "sensitive" quests for one side or the other. In MW, the inter-faction and intra-faction rivalries and disputes made them feel real and dynamic, despite being nothing more than a bunch of static coding (which must have been a real convoluted nightmare to test). In OB, each faction felt isolated from the rest of the game, and somehow unimportant. There were a few strong points to the OB quests, but the "big picture" was somehow lacking.

You should modify the optional choices...

"Should factions have extensive quest-lines past becoming head of the faction (like 50% quest line related to rising to head, 50% quest line related to exercising the responsibility and power of being leader)."

For example, the archmage maybe has to sit in on coucil meetings and deal with various issues that arise there.

He can enact policies that would change the scape of the faction.

This is an excellent point, but taken to an extreme, the result would be only one possible ending for the game and none of your actions during the course of the game would have any real impact on the world.

This game is massive and non-linear and it really deserves a non-linear ending.

With all the DLC, it dwarfs any other RPG I have played. After a few hundred hours playing Oblivion during the last couple years, I have still not completed the main quest. If I understand correctly, you're saying that there is only one ending? I was hoping there would be different endings depending on my actions.

Certainly it involves more work for the writers, but there are great solutions for any story problem and it would be amazing as a player to see some of your choices have an impact even beyond the ending of the game, if you import a character from the previous game. Also, I believe each new TES will take place in a different region, ideally with its own factions and politics.

The way FNV handled factions and with multiple endings for quest and faction quests, and if you side with one faction other factions dont like you. I also think a reputation system added to TES would make it better.

I also dont wont generic guilds like the "Mages Guild" or "Fighters Guild" or "Thieves Guild". In different cities there should be different guilds competing for control of territory. I want what you do to help a faction effect. So if you help one guild fight a turf war with another and oust Guild B, then Guild A moves into new headquarters in city. Also a bounty will be put on your head by the other guild. Unless they are entirely wiped out.

My preference is that the three traditional categories of factions (found in Daggerfall and Morrowind, but not Oblivion, unfortunately) should always be represented in a mainline TES game. To wit:

Professional Factions: Fighters, Thieves, Mages, Assasins
Geographic Factions: Knightly Orders, Great Houses, and I'm counting the East Empire Company and the Legion as "outsider" geographicals
Religious Factions: The various temples (Daggerfall), The Tribunal Temple and the Imperial Cult

Furthermore, there should be relationships between both these factions and other, unjoinable factions. For example, in Daggerfall various factions would be randomly allied or opposed to each other. In Morrowind, you had the Fighters/Thieves/Camonna Tong plot, the Mages Guild/Telvanni rivalry, the Camonna Tong/House Hlallu alliance, the Tribunal Temple/House Redoran alliance, the various squabbles between the Great Houses, and probably more I'm not remembering.

Oblivion was deeply disappointing in this respect, to the point where I will not be buying TESV when it first comes out and, if this aspect does not return to its former glory, I will not be buying it at all. Without that, there are better games out there.

That is one of the "problems" with OB, and to a lesser degree, with MW as well. You have no "ultimate impact" aside from the scripted ending. It felt worse in OB, since everything in the game already reset after 3 days, so your permanent existence in the world at large never extended beyond your character and any houses you might have bought.

I'd prefer to see at least 3 or 4 "twists" on the same basic ending, so the actual event remains lore consistent while the details can change radically with your character's actions. That's potentially a lot of extra work which only the "multiple playthrough crowd" will ever get to appreciate, so I don't think we'll see it.

BTW - the TES games dwarf any other RPGs I've ever played, even without figuring in DLC or the massive host of mods available.

I find that I wished to blend most of the answers I had to pick separately.

"How many factions should be in TESV, and how long should they be?"
I want many factions that can appeal to an individual character's different skills, with some of them having long questlines while others have shorter.

"Should factions have their own plots?"

Yes, but not necessarily completely unrelated to the main quest.

"Should factions have items that can only be obtained by joining them?"

Yes.

"Other points on factions"

I choose all.

There should be a general idea behind the TES V gameworld involving politics, economy, religion etc. From there, factions are formed. These factions all have an opinion of eachother. Therefore some factionquests are intertwined with eachother or with MQ, some should be complementary etc.

A bit like in MW, but could be more developed.

I love the factions in Oblivion. Especially the smaller ones. The more factions the better in my opinion. Size, quests and so on should vary. But I want to be able to join as many factions as possible. They do not even have to be grand. Some children in a village got a troublemaker gang called "The Wild ones", then I want to join it. If a sister and brother somewhere in a remote city got a little union of some sort called "The No ones" well count me in there aswell!

Well maybe not but you get the idea.. small, cute factions would just add to the elder scrolls universe.

What is stopping them from having the factions like in Morrowind? Nothing! They can be as deep as New Vegas and wide as Morrowind.

Lately we’ve been more lenient about TES V topics here but they have unfortunately begun to overrun this forum so we will be cracking down on them again.

• If you want to discuss features that you would like to see in an upcoming Elder Scrolls game, or expect to see, please use the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1147719-tes-v-ideas-and-suggestions-188/
  
  
• Speculation on when or if such a game will be announced belongs in the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1147858-official-tes-v-speculation-thread-89/.
  
  
• Finally any discussion of future Elder Scrolls games that involve multiplayer of any sort belongs in the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1119156-official-tes-multiplayer-thread/.