Race inconsistencies

[Savlian]

In the single-player:

Khajiit are the "stealth" race primarily.
Redguards are the "warrior" race primarily.

But, in the ESO:

Khajiit are the "warrior" race primarily. Why not stealth? Because the Dominion already has a stealth race - Bosmer.
Redguards are the "stealth" race primarily. Why not warrior? Because the Covenant already has a warrior race - Orsimer.

This is proven by the "Alliances Page" on the official ESO site:

Khajiit: "..... They have ..... a hedonistic outlook, but they are fearsome on the field of battle. They are the strong arm of the Aldmeri Dominion."

Redguards: "The Redguards of Hammerfell are ..... athletic warriors, born to battle....."

Their appearances on the "Alliances Page" images also prove this.


Personally, I think they shouldn't change the "class" of each race in order to balance the alliances.
And I somehow feel that the races are not the same as we know and love them.

What do you guys think?

[Avron the S'wit]

Races changed for Skyrim, too. They took the charisma bonus away from Imperials and gave it to the Bretons. I suppose you can rationalize it, though: the Imperials are out on their luck with the Empire being slapped around by the Aldmeri Dominion.

Personally, race changes don't quite bother me much. You also have to remember that this is a blast from the past, and things are different - as are the skills, strengths, and stances of the races and their provinces. Races and their provinces aren't static and are prone to change a bit here and there. I think this is much more realistic, than to assume someone maintains the same boring stats over thousands of years!

[p-sto]

I feel it's less realistic to believe that every alliance would have a perfect balance of skill. Perhaps it's the influence of playing strategy games but I tend to like games more that offer groups that are unique to themselves instead of mirror reflections of each other.

What bothers me about this is how it reflects on the culture of the race. I don't have much of a problem with seeing the Khajiit as a proud warrior race that learned to be more stealthy in time because they're situation demanded it. However, I've always seen Redguards as being a people with a long and proud tradition of being honourable warriors. To suggest they were at one time thieves and cutthroats saddens me.

ETA: I went to look at the alliance page and I didn't really see anything to suggest that Redguards would be stealthy. That being said if they shift the stats in a way that doesn't reflect the race it would seem a very poorly thought out game to me.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

You could find powerful mages in Redguard society in the games and in the lore. Or great Khajiit warriors, especially certain breeds.

Having them excel at one area is simply a gameplay mechanic.

In an MMO it's not even a major one, since the slight racial boosts of most MMOs really only make a a difference for the first ten levels or so.

[Haravikk]

I don't see why the races need a focus at all; it's always annoyed me in Elder Scrolls games that races are skewed towards one thing or another, thankfully it isn't too hard to overcome and play whatever you like anyway, but really racial differences need to be relegated to a unique perk tree, so that we can play how we like, but still mix in some of the racial flavour to keep things interesting. But otherwise the choice of race should be more about appearance, culture and history, and what other characters in the world you're most likely to get along with.

Obviously some racial traitors are important, like argonians being able to breathe under water, but while orcs may well be better suited to smithing, that shouldn't mean they automatically have a head-start, it should be something you either choose to take advantage of or ignore in favour of something else, i.e - an orc only smithing perk that help to give you a boost, but that you could ignore in favour of gaining their berserk ability sooner for example. It's hard to give concrete examples since we still know so little about the exact mechanics here, but a racial perk tree was something I really hoped for in Skyrim, something that unlocks every few levels with its own points to spend, or maybe even a perk tree that's available from the start and you get X points to spend right from the start, letting you customise your argonian, or you can save those points for later if you're not sure what you want yet.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

The thing you're claiming is an Elder Scrolls thing is actually just an RPG thing that goes way back to early DnD. Tamriel originated as a custom DnD campaign from the early Bethesda guys, back when they were still making football and terminator games. Many aspects of its origins in Dungeons and Dragons are still apparent nearly 20 years later, including racial abilities.

[Haravikk]

I know it's not just limited to the Elder Scrolls series, but as a series that has its reputation in being immersive and letting you play however you like (within reason) much moreso than other games, it's always been annoying that your choice of race can result in disadvantages depending on how you'd like to play. Obviously on the other hand the lack of any early customisation in Skyrim makes your character feel like a blank-slate, as the racial abilities are all that defines them.

Given the scope that an Elder Scrolls Online game has I'm hoping they can find a way to strike an easier balance, with race choice giving you a few characterful options to choose from in addition to whatever starting point your class choice gives you. This is why this shoe-horning of races into a category for their faction is a bit worrying, as it's those kind of arbitrary things that make it harder to just jump in and play how you like, which would be unfortunate as playing how you like is what the series is best loved for.

[Ratwar]

For me, it is all about being playability to the game. If they need to change a little lore to make that happen I'm fine with that.

[Mr.Argonian]

Well there aren't actually changing any lore Khajiit are known as cunning theives and fearsome warriors. This just isn't really reflected in game mechanucs, but the lore is sound.

While these traits make them superb thieves and acrobats, Khajiit are also fearsome warriors, although seldom gifted with the skill to harness magical forces.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Khajiit