GEN good, neutral, evil or LNC lawful, neutral, chaotic.

I don't want two choices I want four shifting none polar opposite ones.
Quests that have constant conflict and fuzzy wuzzy lines of GEN, LNC and both at the same time.

It should be a puzzle a rubiks cube of shifting sands.
Guilds / factions that have one enemy are not doing their job, they get swollowed by stronger rivals in a flash.

Being a member to a guild should give you huge amounts of assets that that faction uses.
It should allow access to abilities and training that is the cause for that faction.

Joining one should be a serious and concerted choice, you then join two more.
They should conflict with both others as much as possible, intercine murders, thefts, location of treasures, protection of witnesses... etc.

Having joined access to stores, safe hopuses and even average dialogue to none faction members should have the strong risk of..
Costing more, becoming unavailable, attacking you on sight, trying to arrest you for nothing, harassing you, just more consequence and choice.

Having chosen paths you should not always be rewarded for success, or penalised for failure on every quest.
Some events outside your control need to pop up, make you feel that maybe not everything is at your command.
I:E Scripted chaos, randomly controlled events that make your head spin, unpredictable and unique.

I agree. I enjoyed using both magic and weapons to fight with, depending on what seemed more suitable at the time. There's no reason to exclude the fighter's guild if you're a mage, or vice-versa. Just as there are people in RL that like having careers that cover a broader range of subjects, I think it should remain open in ES. Being a math teacher shouldn't exclude you from taking art classes, for instance. To each his own--some like staying "pure" as the term was, but some of us like more variety in our playing styles and RL.

I expect two things form the guilds:

First, my skill at the skills preferred by the guilds and the quests I do should determine my rank. No more being Headmage when you aren't an apprentice at any actual mage skills. Radomize quests until I'm a real mage magister.

Second, my involvement in a guild should affect how others traet me. If I'm a real law/order type, I expect that the theives and DB should hate my guts, if I'm DB, the law should hate me. If I'm a blade, indepndance minded nord groups should hate me, etc.

third, the quests at a higher level should make sense as the duties of a high level official of that guild.

Fouthr, the difficulty of the quest should relate to the prize.

As I noted, guild advancement should also depend on the skills the guild look for in a person. If someone is a pure mage, do not expect to go that high up the Fighters Guild ladder.

And resurgum, this is where I like MW's handle on factions. It's a "we like these guys, those guys svck, and I don't care about them" attitude. The DB, in all likelihood, should be frowned upon by the guard factions, and fighters guild. However, the mages guild, nobles, revenge seekers, and sometimes the thieves guild and knights will like them, as the DB does offer a valuable service to eliminate competition, embarrassments, and undesirables.

Also, the path one takes during a quest should impact other faction's feelings towards you. Say, for instance, you take on the FG quest to shake down a peasant for money they owe to your employer. If you end up kicking the person's butt or threatening them, the person who employed you will like you, but regular folks will end up disliking you for being a dike. But, if you convince the person to hand over the money (and without threatening them with harm), normal folk won't hate or like you more, as you were just doing your job but you weren't being a dike, and you still gain more favor with your employer. Or, you can pay the debt from your own pocket. The employer will like you, but not as much as the other 2 choices, and regular folk will end up liking you more, as you helped that person out.

Meh.

The Fighters Guild needs shrewd businessmen to negotiate contracts. The Fighters Guild has always come across as more a mercenary guild than a place for warriors to learn swordsmanship. That's what the Legion is for. I doubt the Fighters Guild would have any problem with a mage joining. It just means more business. They can be fighter oriented, sure. I picture most FG members to be sellswords, and probably couldn't offer much to a mage besides money, but I don't know why they would actively discourage them from joining.

The Synod seems like they would be the more the discriminatory of the two mage factions, wanting those of actual faith. But the College of Whispers? If they are secular I doubt they would care much if you were a proficient caster, or a studious researcher. Edwinna Elbert seems less a mage, and more of a scholar and I for one enjoyed her scholarly pursuits.

I can see the Thieves Guild generally liking you to be sneaky for obvious reasons, but so long as you get the goods, and do not get caught, I very much doubt they care if you open your locks with a pick or a spell.

I would like to see rank determined by the completion of certain tasks. Tasks which can be used to force a degree of skill proficiency without the arbitrary "YOU NEED X DESTRUCTION TO BE ARCHMAGE" type stuff we saw in Morrowind. The Thieves Guild could require you to pick pockets, requiring sneak/security, to advance to the upper echelons, allowing mages who like to steal things to be in the guild but not necessarily be the big shot.

I know in DF, to advance in the Mages Guild, you had to take a test. Such tests were often "open this chest" or something of the sort. Stuff like that could work, in order to show you are proficient in your skill and deserve the advanced rank. As opposed to the archmage not even knowing a single thing about magic and is more of a glorified necromancer hunter :banghead:

Synod? Where have you heard that?

It would really strenghten the replay value... to limit the guilds you can join to either be good or bad.

The mage guild disbands in The Infernal City and Skyrim is 160 years after that. The new ones are Synod and the College of Whispers. It would be funny if you could 'cheat' on the Mage Guild tests if they get put in the game. Just use high level scrolls and be the Head Mage with all the levels in the magic skills totaling 41. I do like the idea of these kinds of tests for advance in rank, I will add them to the OP.

Added a link to Sphagne's thread in the OP.