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Which faction will be OP'd at launch?
Giffen
Member UncommonPosts: 276
Since preorders can make races be in any faction, I guess this question might be a two part question:
1) Which faction is going to be most populated at launch (probably due to the starting areas or look)?
2) Which faction has the most desired races/starting area for players that don't preorder (that faction's population will grow faster than others after game launch)?
Comments
I would say Ebonheart Pact might be more popular at launch due to it having Skyrim and Morrowind. New players who care about racial bonuses might choose Aldmeri for their excellent Nightblade and Sorceror type bonuses.
Found this site today which was quite interesting: TESO Census
(That linky is to the results page, you can enter your own data on the homepage.)
Just over 2000 characters in the survey so far, and Ebonheart is indeed in the lead (Go Skyrim !).
Predictably, Nightblades are very popular as a profession...
I'm pretty sure the aldmeri dominion will be the most popular do to the races and also the prettier landscape. I don't know if that will give it an advantage or not. Most games I've played people like elves and forests.
The ebonheart pack will come in second as it has races people will like to play and has SKyrim.
I'm planning to play the daggerfall covenant and I think it will be the least played with it's races and starting setting. The setting seems a little different then what I'm used to playing with Skyrim and Oblivion.
That's about as even as you can get for faction distribution.
This is the main reason why I'm choosing Daggerfall as well. I'm already fed up with elves in many other thousands of mmorpgs and I've spent hundreds of hours in Skyrim. I found Daggerfall continent fresh and different.
Moreover, it's not like we won't see other factions' area as we'll tackle them later in 50+ and 50++ content.
It may shift around a bit after launch since a chunk of the population will have preordered. But after that, everyone else will be locked into a race/faction (or it will be something you unlock by purchasing in the store).
So once the preorder dust settles, Ebonheart will have the highest population because of Dunmer / dark elves. For some reason they are always the popular race in any game.
This is mostly true, though Daggerfall has one thing going for it: Orcs. Orcs are pretty badass in this game, and people who have a history of playing orcs may gravitate there. Redguards are pretty sweet too, depending on your taste. Hell, people might just pick it to avoid elves and furries.
Keeping in mind, of course, that anyone who preorders is not limited by race, in which case they may base their decision on Lore, or on location. I, for one, wanted to go Ebonheart just because I love Morrowind's mushrooms so much, or Aldmeri for Elsweyr. My friend and his guild were planning Daggerfall though... so I don't know now.
I'm not so sure. Looking at that graph, Bretons are somehow in the lead. Spell resistance OP, I guess? Orsimer and Redguard are depressingly low though. Actually looks like the alliances are very even, by races and otherwise. It's really anyone's game at this point. I'm really surprised the factions are balanced so well, even with such a small sample.
I'm not sure how important that faction race-lock will be really. Looks like ZOS are going to be offering "upgrade" options post-launch for those who want the benefits of the higher-grade game editions. Pay the difference and you're away.
Ebonheart will either be the most popular or a very close second imho. The psychological effect of the Skyrim name, coupled with the Nord race and the Dunmer Dual-wield XP bonus is going to be significant imho.
I've played Breton in every elder scrolls game so far. Perhaps it's time for a change. I didn't really do it for the spell resistance though.
I thought the same after my first beta weekend on with Ebonheart, last beta weekend it was the Blue guys (daggerfall?). Maybe just my campaign, but we got stomped Friday might lol.
AD (high elves) have the best racial for magic users (6% more frost, fire, lightning damage). So anyone wanting to focus on Destruction Staff will want to be one.
Daggerfall covenant has the most balanced racials across the faction, with suitable races for tanks (Orcs), casters (Bretons) and melee DPS (Redguard).
Ebonheart lacks a decent caster race (Dunmer being the closest, but not matching High Elves or Bretons).
AD lacks a decent tank race (Both Wood Elves and Khajiit are more melee DPS).
I think players who didn't pre-order and are wanting to be caster DPS in EP and DC will be seriously disadvantaged by not being able to choose High Elves. 6% flat increase isn't exactly a trivial boost, the melee dps and tank choices by comparison aren't that meaningful (although the extra health for tanks is obviously desirable).
IMO they should add the 6% damage increase to both Bretons and Dark Elves, or remove it from High Elves (and the fire boost from Dark Elves) and give them something else.
races wise i think breton, nord, dunmer and altmer are going to be most played followed by khajiit. I would also expect Daggerfall to be the least played faction.
I am looking at the landscapes which most interest me but plan on playing a class for each faction to 50.
Ebonheart has Skyrim/Nordic, Morrowind/Alien-Barrens, Blackmarsh/swamp-jungle
Daggerfall has the Breton area which is medieval fantasy / European style, the barrens/rocky area from the orcs and desert from the Redguards
While the Dominion featueres some tropic/island environment, and large forrests... i think The Dominion area while very beautiful might be the "least diverse"
on the other hand, dunmer dragon knight make by far the best fire mages...and fire is especially useful against vampires
I still think High Elves would make better DKs if you are focusing on fire, they get 6% boost, and more mana regen which is useful for DKs. They just miss out on 6% more stamina and some fire resistance to get 3% more fire damage and increased mana regen.
IMO good game play by the players will be OP at launch in several betas I've been on many factions and each can do well but in almost every case it came down to good/voice chat using players and skilled players.
But for Population Ebon Hear due to Morrowin/Skyrim at launch will get the draw
No need, you can play through all the other faction areas once you are 50.
Huge advantage.
Yeah I was in DC and saw something similar. It was the AD who were in the worst position on the campaigns I tried as they fell to just a single keep or so at times and lost their scroll. EP consistently did ok and were never seriously threatened as far as I could tell.
Beta weekends will probably be different to after launch though of course.
Ebonheart would be however with the freedom for Preorders to faction jump they will join Aldmari for its better starter zone