BabeestorGor wrote: »

Good idea but a lot of the subraces listed aren't cultural groups, they are organisations.
For Dunmer I'd suggest Ashlander and Great House, for Imperial Colovian and Nibenese, for Redguard Crown, Forebear and Alik'r etc. Some of them are political divisions but long enough established to have an effect on culture.

Gidorick wrote: »

ZOS could greatly enhance the racial variety of ESO with the addition of sub-cultures. A sub-culture could do two things:

• Change the initial passive of the race
• Offer the player different character creation options

Only the initial passive would be different for each sub-culture, the other rank-dependent passives would remain the same. The initial passives could be shared among the different sub-races to offer a larger variety in player choice.

For example: The Heavy Armor Expertise is the initial passive skill for the Orcs. It could also be used as the Initial Passive of The Legion (Imperial Sub), The Stormfists (Nord Sub) and the Crowns (Redguard Sub).

Different character creation options could be provided with different hairstyles, different skin tones and different adornments.

Each race could have a number of sub-cultures. In the below list, I suggest 3 sub-cultures each. This would give each race a total of 4 options. I pulled these groups from lore, but I'm sure ZOS would be able to make up a few of their own.

Altmer

• Direnni
• Psijics
• Thalmor

Argonian

• Tum-Taleel
• Gee-Rusleel
• Wasseek-Haleel

Bosmer

• Shadow Walker
• Green One
• Camoran

Breton

• Reachmen
• Forsworn
• Wyrd

Dunmer

• Ashlander
• Bal Molagmer
• Camonna Tong

Imperial

• Dragonguard
• Battlelords
• The Legion

Khajiit

• Baandari
• Renrijra Krin
• Renrijra Maor

Orsimer

• Seamount Orcs
• Iron Orcs
• Wood Orcs

Nord

• Skaal
• Sovngarde
• Stormfists

Redguard

• Ash'taba
• Crowns
• Ra'Gada

ZOS could add a Sub-Race pack in the crown store to give players access to the sub-races. If they only used the passives that are currently available from the other races, we would avoid this being a pay-to-win type thing.

So what do you think? Would sub-cultures be a welcomed addition to ESO?

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

show previous quotes

Gidorick wrote: »

AngryNord wrote: »

Dragonguard, Battleguard, Legion, Crons and Thalmor races? uuuhh...

Sub-Cultures....

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

Battlelords:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Battlelords

Legion:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Imperial_Legion

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

Thalmor:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Thalmor

And... what do you think of the CONCEPT @AngryNord, not just of the suggested sub-cultures? If you like the concept but think other sub-cultures fit better, please let us know which ones!

Those really arent cultures. Theyre organizations and titles. Im all for the idea but they need to be a little more fleshed out.

starkerealm wrote: »

The problem I've got with this is an accessibility issue. It's asking a lot of new players as they enter the game, and it's a decision that doesn't make sense if it's deferred after character creation. A character doesn't decide, "oh, I guess I was a Reachman all along," it's baked into who they are. So, while you can put this question in front of a newbie, they're being asked to make a blind choice. The game already kind of does that with your race choices, but the races are basically cosmetic, outside of mid tier build optimization. So players can go through the content having picked the race and class they think sound most appealing.

But, for someone who has no prior experience with the setting the choices given to them are fairly coherent. You don't need to know who the High Elves are to grasp that this is the race for your Sorcerer. And, you don't need three pages of text to explain what a Dragon Knight is and how that differs from a Nightblade.

But, with something like Ashlanders or Reachmen, that's a major decision. Those are cultures that are completely different from the main strands of their respective races. But, it's not information that can be explained in a tool tip that's digestible to a new player.

Further, if Ashlanders were a playable sub-race... that would need to be a lot more than just an altered passive. There are massive character implications for that, when interacting with House affiliated Dunmer. So we'd either need new dialog for them (at least in Stonefalls, Deshaan, and Bal Foyen) or the result would be ultimately cheap.

To say nothing of how a system like this would get... well, weird. Especially when you consider all the ex-pats in the setting.

Now, like I said, I could certainly get behind guild skill lines for groups like the the Legion, Thalmor, or Lionguard. Where the guild basically exists as a venue for daily quests and nothing else. It'd even work with the Great Houses, remembering you can only have one House affiliation at a time. And, interactions with houses are uncommon enough that you'd only need a few lines of unique dialog to sell it as a significant choice.

But, the ethnic sub-groups that require familiarity with the setting? That's expecting a bit much at character creation. And its' something you really can't add to a character later.

• XP bonus with Light Armor
• XP bonus with Bow
• XP bonus with Destruction Staff

• Ashlander: Tribal nomads traditionally hail from Morrowind's wilderness. They reject the authority and divinity of the Tribunal and preserve the culture of Dunmeri ancestor-worshipping.
• Bal Molagmer: Also known as Fire Stone Men, these thieves from Vvardenfell who removes the ill-gotten possessions of the unjust to better the lives of those in need.
• Camonna Tong: Members of a crime syndicate of the same name. Although they hold a fierce distrust for those not of Dunmeri blood, they have been known to work with other races when it is justified by their end goals.