Think of it as self-actualization: the toon is now able to become his or her ultimate true self.

I kind of agree. My main character is a bosmer stamblade and he's quite bad (well I'm quite bad). Difficult character to get the hang of in pve for myself so I don't get one-shotted. But I just like him too much (and invest far too much time and money in him) to ever think of changing his race. I did buy an appearance change token for him tho, damn he was ugly af

actually - more disconcerted than offended...

but yeah, it did kind of rub me the wrong way...

are you troubled by my disconcertedness phage?

Phage wrote: »

Mic1007 wrote: »

Think of it as self-actualization: the toon is now able to become his or her ultimate true self.

"If I wish real hard, maybe I won't be [insert race here]."

“Reach in, and find your inner Altmer. Feel him, embrace him. BECOME HIM!”

eh. its not for me, as I get attached to my characters as they are, but.. i don't care what anyone else does with their fictional pixel avatars.

Race change tokens are useful for when those hopes and dreams die, but you're to lazy to level up a new character. With a race change token you can project new dreams into "different" character, now at half price!

MAEK wrote: »

Race change tokens are useful for when those hopes and dreams die, but you're to lazy to level up a new character. With a race change token you can project new dreams into "different" character, now at half price!

that had me laughing hard - well done

It is perfectly normal to perform race-change operation. If character feels like a khajit imprisoned in the body of nord, so he/she surely can have somekind of khajitoplasty.

Understand CHIM and you will no longer care...

At any rate, players are not members of any particular race. We are probably Daedra or Aedra of some sort. We aren't mortals like everyone else in Tamriel. If we die we reincorporate just like Daedra. We have power beyond that of anything but a local beat cop. It would stand to reason that we can use our power to change our external form as we please.

wolf486 wrote: »

I kind of agree. My main character is a bosmer stamblade and he's quite bad (well I'm quite bad). Difficult character to get the hang of in pve for myself so I don't get one-shotted. But I just like him too much (and invest far too much time and money in him) to ever think of changing his race. I did buy an appearance change token for him tho, damn he was ugly af

You have to be new and low level. The stamina regen racial passive is fantastic since they nerfed regen. Just wait it out, you'll be more than fine later on.

Nestor wrote: »

Race in this game is just a set of bonuses, lie the ones that come with gear. You change armors and gear at the drop of a hat, why not race?

oh my goodness nestor - have you no heart, no soul...

these characters are our creations...they're not simply mules, toons...they live, they interact with their environment...

image for a minute if your creator (should you believe in such things) suddenly determined you'd make a much better mole rat than human...well now - that would suck, huh?

i believe the cinematic masterpiece which was Virtuosity touched on this subject quite astoundingly in the coversation between Sid 6.7 and the programmer whom created him:

Lindenmeyer: Oh my god.

SID 6.7: Which god would that be? The one who created you? Or the one who created me? You see, in your world, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh, but in my world, the one who gave me life doesn't have any b@lls.

don't quit on your creations - don't quit on yourself...

When they made resource management harder I had to change my khajiit mageblade to a high elf mageblade. At the time, for the VMOL progression, I needed the extra damage. But I knew a guy who got Flawless Conquerer on a mageblade Khajiit so I mean, I had hope but it's gone.

Kolzki wrote: »

Perhaps the character creation screen could say something about what each race is best at so new players can consider their options before going full on altmer stamblade? Just a thought.

that's an awesome idea!!!

Kolzki wrote: »

Perhaps the character creation screen could say something about what each race is best at so new players can consider their options before going full on altmer stamblade? Just a thought.

Um, it does. In the case of Altmer it says something like "Their racial bonuses reflect their magical affinity by increasing their damage with destruction spells, increasing their magicka...(etc., etc.)"

Just so we're clear, the etc.s were me. It doesn't actually say etc. etc.

Since we're posting funny first characters, I came to ESO having never played an MMO and didn't know the importance (at least in terms of completing the more difficult content) of race and classes. So I just went with what I thought was "cool". I knew I wanted to create the television character Angel (from his self-titled show, which was a spin off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) so I knew I was going to create a vampire. After reading through the classes the nightblade sounded most like a vampire to me so I went with that. The Nords are my favorite race so that is what I selected. And finally it just felt right that Angel would carry a big stick so to speak and whip some arse.

So I created a Nord vampire magicka nightblade wielding a two-handed greatsword wearing heavy armor. The struggle was real...

Anyhow, he was my first ever character and my main - I learned all motifs/recipes on him and I also started the long journey towards master crafter. So the character was never going anywhere. But I ultimately realized I wanted him to be usable in every facet of the game possible so I eventually did turn him into an Altmer and started using staffs and wearing light armor (thank you, costumes, and even more so with the new outfits!). Still love the character and still by far the favorite one I've created in the game.

Just one story of how one person felt it the right move to change the race of a character.

People who chose their race for the lore won't care.

People who play for free (and thus help support the crafting economy, since - no craft bag) won't spend the money and so won't care.

Munchkins, being munchkins, would have already rolled the "correct" race for "their" build and so won't care. [Beyond "fixing" an old alt.]

What this whole thing seems to be aimed at - to me - is "casuals" who run a few (or only one) character, especially those newer to the game who might have said, hey, let me do a month of ESO+ and see what this thing is all about. That's where you are likely to get the most "my Breton is a stamblade!" or "that Khajit looks so much better than my Bosmer!" types of events, which is where ZOS steps in and milks the users by offering them respec tokens. On sale!

My point is that the entire "traitor to one's race" discussion seems to miss the mark. There is no betrayal without allegiance. Of the kind that goes rather beyond the commitment of a typical casual (especially those that haven't been in the game for long). [And yes, I realize that in a universe of 2.5 million monthly active users you can easily find ten, or a hundred, cases of anything. We are talking the statistically average case here, or at least my conception thereof.]

Besides which, this is a game. If you're getting so attached to a game that you start emotionally blending in-game and reality, then you probably shouldn't go anywhere near Final Fantasy 7 remaster whenever that's out. Just saying.