In Bethesda's latest interview, Todd stated that:

"Base on what races you play, you will have different powers AND your skills start out differently."

So in a way classes are merged with race.

Sourse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eokdHSzhAY
Skip to 10:29 in the video.

That's a starting bonus.

That's not a class.

Also it's been in the game before...

:thumbsup:

Many people believe that all characters start off with ALL skills at 0. This proves that there will be character variation.

That always ocurred... Orcs have better Blunt than High Elves in Oblivion for example.

Nice to know that there will still be skill bonuses for each race, at least. I knew about powers, but I wasn't sure if, say, the Altmer would still be fabled for their magical prowess or the Imperials' articulate speechcraft skills. I do wish (as some others have suggested) these skill bonuses were modifiers though, so that characters would still be very different from one another at the end of the game. Where a Nord may be limited to a marksman of 100, Bosmer would end up with 110. Certainly this would give a little more meaning to choosing races and the like, although I know Todd insists they want to stray away from that for whatever reason.

Still, thanks OP.

We pretty much already knew this.

Not doubting it; but IMO that's pretty pathetic if true. It means that the character is a newborn infant mentally.

Not gonna lie, that's a pretty stupid thing for anyone to think. Anyone who's played an Elder Scrolls game (and most of the people with that thought most certainly have) would already know that each race starts out better in specific skills. It's something that's been done in each Elder Scrolls game. Not to mention, since Fallout 3 took a similar approach in the beginning, due to there only being one playable race and no classes, wouldn't Bethesda be smart enough to put in something along the lines of tag skills for Skyrim?

The point is, you're right that there are classes in some ways. Skyrim, as far as we know, has all of the positive elements to classes, it just lacks the negative restricting aspects and the actually titles. The racial bonuses being confirmed are nice, but you didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know that they were already in :rolleyes:.

You did, not everyone. So good for you.

I thought it was obvious from the start. It has been in every TES game I've played.

Alright, guys, take it easy, he might have been one of those here who only played Oblivion and didn't notice the skill bonuses and starting powers.

Yup. Same old racial bonuses like always, classes gone. Classes are not in "in a way." They're out. Period.