This thread is for ideas and suggestions for future Elder Scrolls games, and to keep all the discussion in one series of threads.

We also have an official thread specifically for http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1515745-tes-vi-location-and-setting-speculation-20/ suggestions for future games.
Now that Skyrim has been released the number of suggestions and ideas for the next ES game are starting to show up. We have a long way to go before we get another ES game and all topics like this will be closed and either transferred or referred to this one.

Please keep any discussion of Skyrim in the correct forums.
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1516272-official-beyond-skyrim-tes-vi-54/

Alrighty! New thread means starting off with the grandiose idea of having a solid, directed discussion without tangents or distractions, which will quickly devolve into random 3 post conversations that flit back and forth with no rhyme or reason...

Starting off, I'd like to bring up Factions.

Generally speaking, Factions in TES have run the gamut from passable (Skyrims Thieves Guild) to atrocious (Oblivions Dark culty-hood). In my mind, however, their biggest failing has been in their conception, as opposed to their execution.

The various factions, particularly the big ones (the Guilds) have been based on gameplay archetypes, rather than adhering to their own in-universe presence. The Fighters Guild, for instance, has been portrayed as a purely physical organization, rather than the Mercenary regulatory body it is. It should welcome Mages just as surely as Knights and Barbarians. Even Mages need security, and there should be room in a mage organization (up to a point, anyway) for a bruiser. Bandits, pickpockets, extortionists, burglers, muggers... Al of these are thieves, and a criminal organization should represent that range.

Moving away from archetypes opens up more options for jobs (Radiant Quests) and character options, without forcing particular types of characters into particular factions.

I'll let that settle in a bit before I go on about faction reputation, blacklisting and questlines...

I don't think that's going to work. Allowing mages to be in the fighters guild or vice versa has been one of the poorest decisions they've made when they allowed you to do that in Oblivion as well as Skyrim. I agree that each guild should have a much stronger presence in the world, and they should embody the ideals they support, but they should also have some sort of realism.

Why should a guild just take in anyone who has some fleeting interest in their guild. Of course a fighter will fit in more nicely in the Fighters guild than the mage, and that's the way it was in Morrowind and Daggerfall.

The problem is, you're viewing it based on name and past execution, not on the in-universe function and character of the organizations.

The Fighters Guild, despite the name, it not a Warriors-Only club. It's a mercenary regulatory body designed to ensure quality hirelings and contract work across Tamriel. They protect caravans, clear out nuisances, run security for the wealthy etc. There is nothing about the organizations which limits the use of magic in their activities.

Mages are slightly less open, but still have a huge degree of variability. Half the jobs in Daggerfall were just brute labour and late night security, and in multiple sources Warriors and Legionaires have Ben assigned to protect Mages. There's no reason a combat oriented character should be excluded from a Mage Guild like faction, though limiting their progression could be warrented.

I'm not advocating an entirely open, largely pointless progression system like we have in Oblivion and Skyrim, where your skills account for nothing, and only completing quest stages matters. I'm talking about having the factions actually represent themselves as they exist in Tamriel, rather than as 1 dimensional archetype clubs which cater to a single type of character.

Hmmm, actually, I kind of like your idea, seem a bit more flexible. We maybe they'll implement it.