Yes, I said it. They have no reason to exist anymore. it was bad enough when you could be in the same Guild as people from other Factions. It was bad enough that the Crystal buildings of Alinor were shrugged off as being unrealistic...in a Fantasy setting...and instead gets a copy paste of normal buildings to ruin the unique feelings. But now any race can play in any Faction? This literally destroys the entire purpose of their existance. The whole game will probably be overran by Nords now, on every Faction. Humans working for the Dominion? ANY real Elder Scrolls fan will see why that alone is just a dumbest thing I've ever heard. Humans are nothing but scum to the Dominion, they represent everything they hate, the entire world of Nirn to them is a prision they wish to free themselves from, humans are just a painful reminder! Oh wait, nevermind they changed the Dominion too, now they just feel sorry for us because we're too stupid, so they want to rule us for our own good, lets not forget that an Altmer barely considered a Teenager in their society is Queen of the entire Dominion, but I digress. The decision to allow cross faction play, while understandable from a "Choices" perspective, is imo the worst possible move they could have done. Zenimax cannot seem to make up their minds, they insist the Factions are enemies, but are doing everything in the world to prove the opposite. I fully expect to get flammed by the "die hard" fans who will defend against any level of critisim, as I have been countless times during the BETA tests. But I hope there are at least a hanful of people out there who see just how dumb this entire thing is.

Oh this topic hasn't been around for a while. Good from you to open a new one

Only pre-orders have this. Most people who pre-ordered will stick to the factions they chose. The minority will be special and change faction with some race, and from those many will quit teso. So unless they add this feature to the cash shop, I believe the faction switchers will be a rare sight.

i agree with you http://www.gamesas.com/user/835531-lamppost25/

the alliances should have never even existed in the 1st place. it should be open world and if you want the throne of cryodiil then get a guild and take the throne.

I somewhat agree but only in so far as it makes little sense for the alliances to end up with tons of races that aren't naturally in their alliance I do get that during war there are defectors but there should be some form of limit as to how many players can be in an alliance that isn't their usual one. And seeing as a large amount seem to be pre ordering this game saying its a pre order bonus only doesn't really change the fact that there will be a largeish number of the wrong race in the wrong alliance.

The AD of the first era are not like the thalmor we see during skyrim.

I would say just imagine that the Altmer are using any humans that side with them. But I'm assuming the game will glorify the player character (OMG you saved the queen and did this and that and whatever else you are the bestest!)

Maybe imagine the Altmer are really good at acting?

Actually i agree.I think they opened it up because of all the vocal "I wanna play with my buddy but i hate the race choice" crying.

Are you completely mentally handicapped? The teams exists to create a team-based game.

The Imperials are already a confirmed Cash Shop purchase, I don't see why this would be any different.

I feel like this is just another pointless rant...

I didn't mind the alliances, even made sense w/ lore. The whole "Imperial" faction choice thing, that is what got me. It goes against the storyline as a whole, let alone pick any faction.

It could have been open factions of "Loyalty", but taken more time to "balance" and refine.

Except before this game existed, the AD of the 2nd Era were EXACTLY like the Thalmor, this game has completely ret-conned the Dominion.

The Imperials cant be the same thing? I really doubt every single Imperial wants to worship Daedra and sacrifice innocent people.

This is to get soul into PvP, to have named opponents and team spirit. Lore is secondary in an MMO, I don't understand, why this fact is ignored from some people. Balance and other things are just more important and always will be more important than invididual opinions about lore, history or taste.

Only pre-order players (so the minority in comparision with the normal buyers) will have this faction unlock. So, after some month, the majority races within a faction are the locked ones. And if there are some defectors this is no issue, in fact this makes it more believable.

LOL on one side we have the "real Elder Scrolls fans" and on the other side we have the "die hard Elder Scrolls fans".

I'll sit in the die hard faction. You're entitled to your opinion but I disagree, I think it opens up some nice RP options.

this is just another change made by the devs due to complaints by the fans. sometimes a dev team needs to know what not to listen to. i personally think unlocking the factions is good for pve but bad for pvp.

Microtransactions

This. Funny, everyone is up in arms about the Imperial/pre-order bonuses, but nobody seems to mind that they're getting a cash shop that specializes in exactly this sort of purchase.

The "exclusive collection" simply refers to the bundles of pre-order bonuses and Imperial goods that will likely have to be bought piece by piece through the cash shop.

Think about it. The Ring of Mara is not going to be unobtainable through any means other than an Imperial Edition purchase. It's just not happening.

I support the choice of play in any race (from what I've seen so far, the majority of people will be playing in their respective factions regardless).

You almost have a point with the Aldmeri, but thinking about it more I'm sure there are even some high elves that aren't as stubborn.

I WILL agree on how the world interacts with the player will likely feel off in a lot of scenarios. Like I mentioned above. If you play as one of the "hated" races, the majority of the Aldmeri faction is going to love you anyway.

What would be awesome is if they had the NPC's react differently depending on your race. So you could still play in any faction, but you may not exactly be welcomed. I can see why they wouldn't do this, as far as the extra workload is concerned when implementing it. But would be a lot of fun...

Team Spirit? This throws Team Spirit out the damn window. Anyone being anything has nothing to do with balance or Team Spirit.

This, anyone who argues that the any race any faction is lore-breaking hasn't been paying attention

This argument is absolutely [censored]. You will not be worried about the enemy's race while they're trying to cut your head off in PvP. You will not have time for it.

Please stop beating the dead horse. He's decomposing, so every time you hit him, it just releases toxic fumes into the air. This argument has been had countless times, and it can be boiled down to the same two points as always:

1) Most people probably won't be putting their race in a different faction. And those who do won't affect your game at all.

2) They've already chosen to implement this feature, and yet there are still going to be 3 alliances in the game. So clearly the 3 alliances aren't destroyed, dead, ineffective, or anything else.

Can we please stop talking about this and get back to whining about how the game should be free to play? Or how we want tab-targeting? Or how we want spears?

Yes, because NO Elder Scrolls game has ever had a champion of a different race before join a faction to which that hero wasn't born. I mean, it's totally lore-breaking.

You almost have a point. But humans in the AD? No...just no. Nothing can justify such a thing. In limited numbers? yes I can see it, but if you honestly believe it will only be a handful of people then you are far more optimistic than I am. I will leave it at that.