1) http://deltiasgaming.com/ ... no one can choose your race/class/build for you because only you know your preferred play style, but a guide like this one may help. If you have the Imperial edition you have a bit of extra flexibility as the Imperial race seems to be the preferred starting point for many class types.

2) you will not have any shortage of skill points eventually if you run quest lines that reward with skill points and you collected skyshards ... it will appear slow initially as you will want to skill up your playing abilities before your crafting abilities but eventually you will have enough. Unless you regularly level up a crafter toon you are not going to have enough skill points for a dedicated crafter that does not quest.

3) all significant cities have outlaw hideouts http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Outlaws_Refuges

I understand the desire to plan out everything; I'm the same way! I like to have my endgame in mind before I even begin making a character.

I have characters in all 3 alliances and all classes. I enjoy each for different reasons.

1.) If you're interested in tanking primarily but with the option to do some serious DPS, I'd recommend going with a DragonKnight. As a DK, you'd have access to good crowd control, taunts, AoE, damage shields, and a great self heal. You could go many different routes with this in terms of race and weapons.

Dunmer = fire damage, dual wield experience
Breton = all about the magicka
Orc = health, stamina, heavy armor experience
Redguard = 1h/Shield experience, stamina
Nord = 2h experience, health, damage mitigation
Altmer = magicka, destro staff experience, status effect damage
Imperial = 1h/Shield experience, health + stamina

Note that any race can work with any class, but if you're a min/maxer and racial passives matter more to you than aesthetics, then Orc, Nord, and Imperial are probably the most "tanky", with Imperial likely having the most benefit. Weapon wise, 1h/Shield is most optimal for survivability and the first skill in its skill line is arguably one of the top stamina taunts. 2h is a great secondary for damage; the skill Momentum at the bottom of its tree has a good morph (Rally) for self-heals. Personally, I'd recommend going mostly into magicka (and health of course) over stamina as a DK tank; the best DK skills are magicka based.

If you're interested in heal-tanking, Templar is an excellent choice due to the many healing skills in its skill lines. Again, I'd go magicka over stamina here. Race wise, you might consider Breton or Dark/High elf-- less tanky, but magicka passives. Not necessary for either a DK or a Templar, it just depends on what you prefer. Resto staff+light armor is a good choice if you're focused on healing, otherwise anything will really work for tanking.

2.) At first, dropped/quest items will likely be better than anything you can craft. Once your skill is high enough and you've put a few points into it, crafting really shines. I wouldn't worry about making a dedicated crafter; all of your characters can be skilled in crafting. Skill points are plentiful later on, especially if you go skyshard hunting.

3.) That is debatable. Personally, I feel Davon's Watch is best for stealing weapons/armor for deconstruction (crafting stations are very conveniently located) to level crafting skills fast. For leveling stealing (legerdemain), I actually like Daggerfall; the docks closest to one of the Outlaws Refuge entrances has virtually zero guards, two ships with lots of containers, a lighthouse, and several easy-to-pickpocket NPCs. You hardly have to worry about acquired bounties since you can creep up the side of the hill near the entrance and dash into the refuge. Wayrest (the second major city for Daggerfall Covenant) is my absolute favorite so far for looting runs (bank, castle, inn, relog, repeat). Vulkhel Guard in AD has the advantage of being small and the bonus of having a Dark Anchor right outside the gates that you can hear/see from just about anywhere in the city.

And now I shall end the wall of text

Hope that helps. Don't stress too much about it; you can always respec your skills/attributes or just make a new character.

Thank you very much for the answers so far, but another issue has been hounding me. In an endgame PVE situation which one of those two classes would have the preference of the group for tanking? I ask this because DKs have the chains for pulling and Templars are so good at healing, and I fear that because of it most groups will require me to heal instead of tanking, as they would prefer a DK.

Another question I have is that as Nords and Argonians have good passives for tanking and Dunmer has so good a synergy with DK, does the Pact have more tanks than the other factions? Is there any faction with a shortage for tanks?

Thank you for the answers.

Well, the videos talk a lot about the mechanics, but what I'm asking is about the attitudes of the PVE community regarding these two classes. I would like to roll a Templar but I do not want to have people saying all the time that I need to be the healer instead of being the tank because I have a skill line dedicated for it and my char do not have pulls. If such an attitude is common I will go DK.

Yeah, you're right, I'm worrying too much about it. I will roll my Temp and do my job as good as I can. Thank you for the patience mate.