Rare Races That Would be Cool to Play As in ESO

Ethromelb14_ESO

Snow Elves - I would like to be able to make a Snow Elf before their downfall. Or maybe the story line could revolve around having been magically restored from the degraded state of a Falmer, and seeking revenge on my persecutors and Tamriel as a whole. The closest way to making one currently, would be to make a High Elf Vampire always at stage 1; but it's not the same.

The Dwarves - Discovering that they reside somewhere far beneath Tamriel, and starting our character from that location. This would be part of a special DLC content.

What other rare races have you been wanting to role-play as?

MasterSpatula

Only if I can play as a Sload.

In other words: No, there are good, solid reasons why these aren't player races. Let's keep the aura of mystery around these guys, shall we?

Now, if you wanted to play Akaviri, we can talk. I think there are good reasons why we shouldn't, but it's not lore-breaking like your suggestions.

AugustoCP

I agree with @MasterSpatula . It makes no sense whatsoever for you to be able to play as any of the races you mentioned.

"Magically restored", just like that, after hundreds of years? Not even magic can do that. And even if it could, they would have to explain why there weren't any restored snow elves in the other TES games. The only possible explanation would be another of the "secluded sanctuaries" like the one we found in TESV: Dawnguard, but even that would be extremely far-fetched: the largest one only had 2 living elves at the time we found it.

About the dwemer, they likely don't exist anymore. The one exception is... well, trust me, you would not want to be like him (although there has been speculation of his "condition" becoming an alternative to Vampirism/Lycanthropy in a possible Vvardenfell DLC...) Still, there are even fewer living Dwemer than Snow Elves. So that's a no.



As for Akaviri, this one could, indeed be possible. Reman Cyrodiil accepted the remnants of the Akaviri invasion force into his army when he defeated them (one possible explanation being that they weren't fighting willingly). I suppose it's possible that the same happened during the last Akaviri invasion that was defeated by the Pact. So... I guess this one is possible.

Valrien

MasterSpatula wrote: »

Only if I can play as a Sload.

In other words: No, there are good, solid reasons why these aren't player races. Let's keep the aura of mystery around these guys, shall we?

Now, if you wanted to play Akaviri, we can talk. I think there are good reasons why we shouldn't, but it's not lore-breaking like your suggestions.

Falmer would be possible. Even the Snow Elf from Dawnguard says it isn't impossible for there to be other surviving snow elves out there. It would just have to be an artificially limited race. For example, say in an extremely difficult, somehow Falmer-based raid it and a free race change drops on the final boss with a low droprate.

Dwemer are out of the question, though. The mystery of what happened to them should stay that way and they should always be out of the hands of the players.

Lumenn

Tang Mo monks!

Ethromelb14_ESO

AugustoCP wrote: »

I agree with @MasterSpatula . It makes no sense whatsoever for you to be able to play as any of the races you mentioned.

"Magically restored", just like that, after hundreds of years? Not even magic can do that. And even if it could, they would have to explain why there weren't any restored snow elves in the other TES games. The only possible explanation would be another of the "secluded sanctuaries" like the one we found in TESV: Dawnguard, but even that would be extremely far-fetched: the largest one only had 2 living elves at the time we found it.

About the dwemer, they likely don't exist anymore. The one exception is... well, trust me, you would not want to be like him (although there has been speculation of his "condition" becoming an alternative to Vampirism/Lycanthropy in a possible Vvardenfell DLC...) Still, there are even fewer living Dwemer than Snow Elves. So that's a no.



As for Akaviri, this one could, indeed be possible. Reman Cyrodiil accepted the remnants of the Akaviri invasion force into his army when he defeated them (one possible explanation being that they weren't fighting willingly). I suppose it's possible that the same happened during the last Akaviri invasion that was defeated by the Pact. So... I guess this one is possible.

The fact is, everything can be explained if enough time and concern is taken to flesh it out. What if one of the Daedric Princes sees the mischief and chaos it could cause and decides to do the deed? If vampires can be made to be immune to sunlight damage, don't tell me you can't see a magical fixing of Falmer as possible. Now that would be silly.

Just because you can't fathom the reason this idea could work, doesn't mean it's not good or possible.

Ethromelb14_ESO

MasterSpatula wrote: »

Only if I can play as a Sload.

In other words: No, there are good, solid reasons why these aren't player races. Let's keep the aura of mystery around these guys, shall we?

Now, if you wanted to play Akaviri, we can talk. I think there are good reasons why we shouldn't, but it's not lore-breaking like your suggestions.

My suggestions are not lore-breaking in the least. I'll leave you to do the research to figure out why it could work. That's how to properly debunk a counter-argument - you see it from the opposing side first. Simply telling me your opinion doesn't change anything. I'm just saying ... I'm not going to argue, though.

GreenSoup2HoT

Draugr race would be neat. I already have started wearing the poly-morph and i love it.

Here's the racial passive's i would give them:

Death March: Removes all stamina cost of sprinting and sneaking.. however sprint and crouch speed is reduced by 25%.
Supernatural Presence: Reduces your detection radius in stealth by 50%
Dragur Endurance: Increase stamina and magicka recovery by 10%
Eternal Wisdom: Increases experience gain with any weapon skill line.

Note: You cannot be a vampire or werewolf if you play a Draugr. Their spirit is too weak and cannot endure the changes that would occur while transforming into either.

I think all these passive's fit Draugr very well in my opinion. I know some lore about them but im not sure what their strengths and weaknesses really are. I kind of just thought up these racial passives on the spot (please no hate). Overall i think Draugr would make a cool race

Gidorick

There's so many!

Check out my Sload adventurer @MasterSpatula

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/149340/hopefully-someday-we-will-travel-all-of-nirn/p1

Gidorick wrote: »

I tend to "get ahead" of myself... so just file this under that category. Under the "pipe-dream" category also.

I, like many others, hope the B2P model affords ZOS enough resources to do the Elder Scrolls name justice with ESO. Zone updates need to come more frequently than once a year. There could easily be 25+ more zones to be released to fill out Tamriel. At 2 a year this would take a dozen years or so.

I think ZOS could be more ambitious than this... if they had the resources to be. Elder Scrolls Online could be the platform that opens up the entire world of Nirn for players.

Tamriel Unlimited: The story of Molag Bal's attempt to unite Tamriel and Coldharbour and the Faction War. Tamriel Unlimited could provide ESO with a decade worth of content over 25+ more zone releases.


Boxed Expansions

Tides of Pyandonea: A boxed expansion that introduces deep-sea gameplay to ESO. Player/Guild ships, ship to ship combat, and the island nation of Pyandonea could provide an additional year or so of content. Pyandonea, a continent south-east of Tamriel, could be released over 2 or 3 zone releases and could include the release of the additional Maormer race (sea elves).


Yokuda Reborn: Another boxed expansion that tells the story of the Redguards and explore how the island nation to the east of Tamriel was destroyed. It is said that Yokuda was sunk, but it could be just that it was destroyed by a tsunami at some point, thought to be lost under the waves. Yokuda could include another 2 or 3 zones, including the release of the Lefthanded Elves race.

The Elder Wood Expedition: A boxed expansion giving players access to Atmora, the frozen continent to the north of Tamriel. This expansion could explore the ancestors of Talos (Tiber Septim) and could have the player actually influencing the development of Atmora and could set things in motion that would eventually have Talos make his way to Tamriel. Atmora could be another 2-4 zones and could include the playable race of Atmorans, from which the Nords sprung.


Akavir Revealed: A boxed expansion that could take player to the second most populated continent of Nirn, Akavir. This expansion could very well include an additional 20+ zones and include the release of the Tsaesci serpent men, the Kamal snow demons, the Tang Mo ape men, and the Ka'Po'Tun dragon tiger men.

Return to Aldmeris: A boxed Expansion that could explore the continent from which both Men and Mer were born. Another 3 or 4 zones could be released as well another race. One idea would be that there was a clan of Aldmer that stayed on Aldmeris who evolved into not men or mer... but something else. Since so little is known about Aldmeris this could be a good opportunity for ZOS to introduce completely new lore to ESO.


DLC expansions outside of Tamriel

The Coral Kingdom: This could be a single release DLC expansion giving players the partially sunken nation of Thras between Tamriel and Yokuda, and a new playable race, the Sload and could introduce underwater content to ESO, if it's not already in ESO by this point. Since the Sload detest adventure the playable Sloads would have to be considered Sload outcasts and the story would have to reflect that.


The Kowtow of Roscrea: This could be a single (or multiple) zone DLC release of the island to the north of Tamriel but to the south of Atmora and could be the ideal location for the playable race of the yeti/bigfoot-like Imga.


Esroniet Unfurled: This single release DLC could give players the island of Esroniet and could give ZOS a chance to introduce a new playable never-before-seen race to Nirn. Perhaps a Skeever-esque race.


Unrest in Yneslea : This could explore the island of Yneslea and could introduce an Argonian ancestor that is more Hist than it is Argonian. A tree-lizard as a playable race. This could be a chance to explore the relationship between the Argonians and the Hist... it might be that they are more 'related' than we realize.


The Cathnoquey Consortium: This single release DLC would open up the island of Cathnoquey and could include the playable race of the Lilmothiit, who are related to the Kajhiit.


Altogether these releases would total 60+ expansions possible for ESO. Each one would be quite an undertaking and could give players more reasons to play ESO. ZOS would need to have multiple expansions in development at once and would have to release multiple expansions per year.

If 3 of these zones were released each year, the above concept with give ESO 20 years worth of content. It's pretty clear to see ZOS won't run out of content available to release for ESO anytime soon. This doesn't even include oblivion realms and alternate realities like Lyg.

Of course, ESO will never see all these expansions, but Nirn is a huge and mysterious place. Hopefully some day we will get to see at least some of the lands outside of Tamriel.

Abeille

I'll stay out of the Snow Elf/Dwemer discussion.


One race that I can see being added one day, not only to ESO but also to a future single player TES, is the Fish Elv--- I mean, Maormer. Although they as a nation are always at odds with the Altmer, maybe a few individuals are not a complete lost cause.

And I find them kinda pretty (shh, don't tell the rest of the Dominion) :V

Gidorick

MasterSpatula wrote: »

Only if I can play as a Sload.

In other words: No, there are good, solid reasons why these aren't player races. Let's keep the aura of mystery around these guys, shall we?

Now, if you wanted to play Akaviri, we can talk. I think there are good reasons why we shouldn't, but it's not lore-breaking like your suggestions.

Honestly the best, most solid reason why these aren't playable races is because Bethesda has probably told them "NO".

I don't know if Bethesda wants ZOS expanding on the TES franchise in that way.

I wish they would. I would personally love it if ESO pulled out all the stops and made ESO the definitive TES experience instead of a typical cash shop MMO.

But I digress... I just hope at some point ZOS figures out a way to release this kind of content in a way that they feel is appropriate. As it stands now, ESO is stagnant. Each DLC is self contained and could pretty much be considered a separate product. There is no interconnectivity between the DLCs. ZOS isn't building a world... they are building... well... a theme park. That is more apparent now more than ever.

TX12001rwb17_ESO

The only other race I could see being playable would be the Sea Elves, they are not near extinction and their are plenty of them in the Dominion Area, them fighting for one of the alliances would be the same reason some Imperials do.

Korah_Eaglecry

Everyone would be playing these races rather than the traditional 10. It would suddenly feel more like WoW than an Elder Scrolls game. So Ima go ahead and say no I cant support this.

ES has always been traditionally about the 10 current races. Falmor, Dwemer and every other oddity race has always been just that. An oddity.

Nedd

Would pay like 20000 crowns to play as a Lilmothiit.

Aquanova

I think at some point ZOS should introduce 3 new races, 1 for each faction.

1.Kothringi (blue humans in shadowfen) or whatever they're called for Ebon Heart.
2.Maomer (blue sea elves) for Aldmeri Dominion.
3.Smurfs I guess for the Daggerfall Covenant since I can't think of any rare race that was in their story line, but it maintains a blue race continuity.

Gidorick

Aquanova wrote: »

I think at some point ZOS should introduce 3 new races, 1 for each faction.

1.Kothringi (blue humans in shadowfen) or whatever they're called for Ebon Heart.
2.Maomer (blue sea elves) for Aldmeri Dominion.
3.Smurfs I guess for the Daggerfall Covenant since I can't think of any rare race that was in their story line, but it maintains a blue race continuity.

I don't think they should be attached to the factions @Aquanova . The factions in the Pact, Covenant, and Dominion all made oaths to ne another. Players not of those races fighting for one of the alliances are probably seen as mercenaries.

KingYogi415

I like Sea Elfs!

ArchMikem

@Gidorick All those ideas are fully capable of being standalone games to the point they'd be wasted on lesser quality expansion packs, regardless of how inviting and exciting that would actually be. However since the Maormer already play a direct role in the game It would definitely fit to have a main quest line involving them.

I said this before in another similar thread, I would definitely try playing as a Lamia or a Tsaesci. I've kind of developed a thing for snake people it's kinda weird.

TheShadowScout

Ethromelb14_ESO wrote: »

Rare Races That Would be Cool to Play As in ESO...

...would be nifty, as long as you didn't pick the ones who'd be all lore-breaking to be around in this era...

Ethromelb14_ESO wrote: »

Snow Elves - I would like to be able to make a Snow Elf before their downfall. Or maybe the story line could revolve around having been magically restored from the degraded state of a Falmer, and seeking revenge on my persecutors and Tamriel as a whole. The closest way to making one currently, would be to make a High Elf Vampire always at stage 1; but it's not the same.

...and sadly, the snow elves -would- be one of the lore breaking ones, since their downfall has been many, many centuries before, long before the war at red mountain that saw the chimer turn dunmer. So, the couple in hiding that people can encounter in Skyrim, there can be no snow elf player characters.

Ethromelb14_ESO wrote: »

The Dwarves - Discovering that they reside somewhere far beneath Tamriel, and starting our character from that location. This would be part of a special DLC content.

...and that one is even -more- lorebreaking, since we -know- from the TES:Morrowind lore and later that there have been No Clues as to where the dwemer went, No Sightings of any dwemer (except one) between the events around their disappearance and the last TES game in the fourth era, and Nothing along those lines. And believe me, NPCs all over the elder scrolls timeline have looked, very, very hard.

I'd stick to the plausible races. Not like there is a shortage of those... many have been mentioned already, the common ones might go from Maormer to Reachmen, from Goblins to Imga; yet there also could be some last remaining Lilmothiit or Kothringi (yes, the knahaten flu wiped them all out - but that happened a mere generation ago, and noone says how long your player character has been in coldharbour before the escape... its a flimsy excuse, granted, it is -is- possible that the player character might be a "last survivor" of those races, since it has not yet been too long since their "end"), perhaps even Ayleids... and of course, there is a whole continent full of the four akaviri races, who tried a big invasion ten years ago, and some survivors from that might just have found their way into coldharbour...

Personally I like the idea of a "two alliances race" - like, say, Akaviri survivors could join both DC and AD, but not EP because there too many people still hold a grudge, and would kill them on sight, while maormer could join EP and DC, but not AD where the constant rainds by theior brethren have built the same resentment, and maybe Goblins could go for AD and EP, but not DC due to them rather wanting to wipe 'em all out the use them as cheap labour or disposable allies like the altmer or dunmer might... something like this...

Huggalump

The Dwarves have been so mysterious in ES lore for decades, it would be really upsetting if the first time we actually get to see them is from a Zenimax MMO just so they can push a DLC.

Elebeth

Random Lore Rant/Debate - Check
Playable Races Thread - Check
"Dragons" Thread - In 3, 2, 1...

And the cycle continues

WardenofArcherus

TheShadowScout wrote: »

...yet there also could be some last remaining Lilmothiit or Kothringi (yes, the knahaten flu wiped them all out - but that happened a mere generation ago, and noone says how long your player character has been in coldharbour before the escape... its a flimsy excuse, granted, it is -is- possible that the player character might be a "last survivor" of those races, since it has not yet been too long since their "end")...

Well, the original ESO intro shows that you are rituallistically killed by Mannimarco, pulling you into Coldharbour. With the Soulburst occurring in 578, and our escape from Coldharbour being in 582, so our character has been there anywhere from a few weeks to almost four years. Is there still a possiblility our character could be Kothringi? Sure, but the odds of that are so exceedingly rare, that I'd imagine ZOS would rather not hear the uproar when players saw twenty or more silver-skinned fellows stacked in the local bank.

TheShadowScout

WardenofArcherus wrote: »

Well, the original ESO intro shows that you are rituallistically killed by Mannimarco, pulling you into Coldharbour. With the Soulburst occurring in 578, and our escape from Coldharbour being in 582, so our character has been there anywhere from a few weeks to almost four years. Is there still a possiblility our character could be Kothringi? Sure, but the odds of that are so exceedingly rare, that I'd imagine ZOS would rather not hear the uproar when players saw twenty or more silver-skinned fellows stacked in the local bank.

Ah, but whoever said Mannimarco only started sacrificing people to Molag Bal -after- the soulburst? That wormy elf has been around after all, and who knows for how long he had been secretly killing people in his rituals...
...
...yes, it IS a flimsy excuse, as I mentioned, but... not entirely impossible, unlike dwemer, which definitely would be entirely impossible without breaking the established lore.

I'd still want to see the "plausible" options like Maormer, Goblins or Reachmen before any of the implausibe ones if they really ever thought about adding new races...

Lynx7386

Only option I'd like to see is more khajiit subspecies, at least the other bipedal ones. Would love to play a cathay-raht for my warrior-style nightblade, or a dagi for my thief-style dragonknight.

dtm_samuraib16_ESO

Ethromelb14_ESO wrote: »

The Dwarves - Discovering that they reside somewhere far beneath Tamriel, and starting our character from that location. This would be part of a special DLC content.

What other rare races have you been wanting to role-play as?

Although some Daedra eradicated them, they were NOT eradicated, a few actually survived the curse (2 of them in TES3).
I already (for TES) had ideas to restore a whole clan that survived the wrath of this Daeadra, which, by all logic, could have been possible.
If a handful can escape the curse, many more could have.
This is NOT! the same as more DID, it is actually as said, more COULD.

This was the whole idea: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/535188-cambragols-dwemer-hold/?hl=+klipperken#entry4359014

Who knows, maybe someone can make something out of it.

SickDuck

Wake me up at pandas...

On a more serious note it would be great to have new races, but only if ESO resolves/decouples racial passives from the physical appearance.

WanderingJarlPuncher

a cool rce that we could farm for CP: devs!
no one would tire of beating those things down!

khele23eb17_ESO

No more elves or humans. There's enough of those. Id like to see something more primal and vicious. Like goblins. In fact I have an altmer magblade character, with the goblin costume and he claims hes a goblin shaman... Who am I to say otherwise :P

dtm_samuraib16_ESO

WanderingJarlPuncher wrote: »

a cool rce that we could farm for CP: devs!
no one would tire of beating those things down!

Shouldn't they better be fixing the game, rather than running around being clubbed by the entire world?

Just asking.

Lumenn

Tang Mo Monks! All that needs to be said.....

Savos_Saren

Nothing is lore-breaking in a game that designs its own lore. As with any MMO- Zenimax will need to expand their classes and races to keep everyone's interest. While pushing out new content is great, people are going to get bored of the same ten races and same four classes. You can only mix and match so much over a couple of years before you've done it all.

As a few people have already pointed out- you can easily introduce new, playable races without breaking the lore. Look how easily Zenimax introduced the Maomer, the Kothringi, and Ayleid. We know, in fact, that there are surviving Dwemer (at least one), and Snow Elves (at least one).

I can see the Maomer being introduced as the lightning-resistant race (since Dunmer are fire, Nord are ice, Argonian/Bosmer are poison). Not to mention that we don't have any classes/races that take advantage of aggressive "ice" builds. (besides those pesky Altmer who get a slight increase to all elemental talents)

I happily welcome expansions of races and classes. It's an ever-expanding MMO. It would behoove Zenimax to offer diversity.