kind of - I do ofc play other factions across my characters but in my heart I will always be AD

that even goes as far as kamikaze runs into AD groups when I playing another faction

After 3 years as AD then 7years as DC, I just switched to the pact the character i'm actually playing, not because i prefere pact, I think I'm deeply for the Daggerfall alliance, but because I want to see Cyrodiil from another point of view.
I don't rule out going back to the blue side of the force, I'm already thinking about it, but it's good to change a little I think, otherwise we quickly go around in circles especially in Cyrodiil.

20 toons, sort of divided "equally" between the 3 factions. (Yes I know, 20 does not divide equally into 3...)

As I go through phases, I like to have pvp setups, pve setups and solo, dungeon and trial builds. And since I get board of some classes, I have builds in all classes. Although Sorc is my least favourite class to play, thus one of my 2 sorcs could end up on the chopping block.

I find being able to play in all 3 factions offers flexibility in playing and making AP. I'm most loyal to DC as it was a DC guild that helped be Emp a while back, so I won't fight against them in that campaign.

Another reason for playing in 3 factions has to do with night caps in PvP. You know, log on your EP toon, jump over to Cyrodiil and what do you know, the whole map is red. Now what are you going to do.

From the PvE side, I didn't like the Cadwell's silver and gold. If I just did all the questing for EP and now I have to "turn" on them. I didn't enjoy that.

Sad.

VoxAdActa wrote: »

The game really kind of goes out of its way to make the AD look bad. The entire Shadowfen zone quest is all about taking a break from internal strife and just fighting the AD.

Every other alliance is all about dealing with domestic, internal threats, with a side quest or a delve here and there where the other alliances show up (like the Ra'Gada pirates in Malabal Tor, but I don't think they're even actually affiliated with the Covenant).

Which is another reason I think the Pact storyline is disjointed and weird. Every other alliance has had enough daedra-strewn discord to fill out all the main zone quests with purely internal matters, but the writers got to Shadowfen and just... Couldn't think of a reason why there would be any Argonian unrest? We have to take a breather from dealing with the machinations of Molag Bal to fight elves. For that matter, Molag Bal barely had anything to do with Stonefalls, either. And Bleakrock was also about an alliance invasion.

Like, what, did Molag Bal look at the Pact and go "Nah, no way I can enflame any tensions between Nords and Dark Elves and their former slaves, they all just love each other too much!"

I do find this interesting in the way that so many of us can see the same story and get such different views out of it. I've always found ESO to be incredibly biased toward the AD and against the EP in particular.

• The AD storylines are generally thought of as the most cohesive, while the feeling the the EP lines are extremely disjointed is also very common. There's even the example of how the beginning of the Shadowfen and middle of Eastmarch stories have the same exact plot: an enemy who magically disguises themself as a Pact higher-up to infiltrate them. However, I also find it interesting that the EP lines are the only ones that really tend to make it feel like there is a three-banners war since you have to deal with invasions from the other two alliances. The AD and DC lines really only have the other alliances as a delve or sidequest here and there, and that's about it.
• In addition to the above, the fact that Ayrenn is introduced in the first city of the first zone of the AD line and is followed throughout, whereas Jorunn is not even introduced to the EP player until the 4th zone
• At any point when the three leaders are together, Ayrenn is always portrayed as the voice of reason whereas the other two are portrayed as brutish idiots. This is particularly bad with Emeric, actually, as he's shown to have quite the opposite characterization when he's met alone. And of course, we're not able to throw the Shadowfen 'eating babies' fact in her face, even though she's definitely come back with a "well, that was this general's idea and I disavow it."
• The High Isle story showed again how much the ESO team dissed on the Pact. Which was the only alliance whose ship captain was not a character we knew from before? Which was the only alliance whose leader couldn't even be bothered to attend the peace talks? Which was the only alliance whose representative spent half the time in his basegame (and low resolution) outfit while the other two got brand new looks for the occasion?
• (As to that, I realize the issue was Peter Stormare's unavailabilty. Still, they could have dubbed Jorunn with a different actor, or better yet given him a good excuse for missing such an important meeting, especially considering there's still a massive flu going around in the lore. Instead, it was "lol all Nords are drunks and womanizers amirite?")
• We all know that all three alliances will have to collapse at some point in the future. By the time Tiber comes around 300 years later, we're already on the 2nd AD, so the first needs to have collapsed before then. But still... there are no cracks shown in the AD through all of its quests. The EP is obvious enough since the Dunmer have a superiority complex over the Nords and the obvious tension with the Argonians, not to mention that only parts of Skyrim, Morrowind, and Black Marsh even sign on in the first place (Eastern Skyrim is under Svargrim and not involved, the Telvanni lands and Vvardenfell are mostly independent, and most of the Marsh refuted the Pact). Likewise, the Orsinium story leaves the Orcs' future in the DC in question, not to mention the fact that much of Hammerfell is questionable due to various Crown/Forebear conflict. However, we really don't get to see any major tension in the AD outside of lorebooks and things like the College of Aldmeri Racism questline (which itself reads as so eye-rollingly overt that it's not believable in the slightest).

As to Ayrenn herself, she's character shilled every time she's on screen - see how she's never portrayed as being in the wrong at all and is always the voice of reason. Not to mention that she's way too young for her role. As an Altmer, whose lifespans are 3x as long as humans, her being only 27 is almost sexist in the idea that the woman has to be younger than the men, despite the fact that that would make her a child to the Altmer. This is even more confusing since the Altmer are a very conservative and traditionalist society, and yet she never in person makes any implications that she in any way believes in the lore-stated goals of the AD in Altmer supremacy. In fact, she seems to be extremely progressive for an Altmer, which would naturally put her at odds with a culture which is so regimented and planned out that marriages take decades to plan out and must be between suitable partners. But of course, everyone who opposes Ayrenn is also an evil Daedra worshipper, so Divines forbid that anyone be in danger of making legitimate points against her.

The timelines are the main reason I can't in good conscience support her. We are told that in 573 (she would have been 18) that she was to have gone to the Sapiarchs to learn how to rule, but she abandoned her post and went galivanting around the world. Her brother was therefore named heir and went to the Sapiarchs in 575 (which, if we're assuming that 18 is the age at which that happens, he'd therefore be 2 years younger than her). He was the one who put in the work to be the ruler, but then she swooped in just after her father's death and took back the title without the requisite training and the fact that she let her younger brother do it all in her stead and then took all the credit herself. And... I'm supposed to be surprised that Naemon was mad about this? I'm supposed to think he's the villain of this story?!?
I've been in grad school and had a trusted partner steal my research and put their name on it instead of me the second I was out of the picture. There is nothing happy and friendly about someone you trust stabbing you in the back to elevate themself.

I will say that I do enjoy stories where people can see the same thing and come to different conclusions - it does make the game feel more alive and realistic (and it's much more fun to discuss politics in a fantasy world then watch the politics in the real world...). I just feel that the AD, and Ayrenn in particular, were played up a little too much, likely as a result of the AD in Skyrim and trying to make it clear that the 1st AD was nothing like the 3rd AD. But I will say that my personal experience with the research scooping has left me with an understanding of what Naemon was going through, and therefore also left me completely opposed to Ayrenn and her AD, and I especially am turned off since I do feel like that's the one that's being shoved in my face as the one I'm "supposed" to like.
...but I'll admit that it doesn't help that 9/10 times if I get ganged up on in Cyrodiil or the IC, it's an AD player/group as well.

My technologically advanced Khajiit support each other, the family, and most other Khajiit, although quite a few of those others are crazy in the head.

Shaveskin factions are all crazy in the head. Like tax collectors, we try to avoid them.

Faction loyalty for my characters is just a matter of happenstance and opportunity and will wear or display whatever banner is needed at the time to fulfill their goals.

For me, it's basically a minor inconvenience. Unless I'm in pvp, then it depends on if I have addons installed. If I do factions don't matter, if I don't then I roll with ep because not doing so makes them hard to ID due to ZOS not having native colorblind mode options.

I prefer playing one alliance (AD) simply because I have every class on there and I know the most people there. I don't care much about alliances lore-wise as the concept was obviously made with gameplay in mind and doesn't always correspond well with the 'rp' aspect of the game. Also, reading zone chat in Cyrodiil is usually enough to dissuade me from having any warm feelings towards my faction on a meta level.

🍭

FOR THE PACT!

#trifactiontrash

I pretend the factions don’t exist. Im an adventurer, not a soldier. The idea of the faction war was kind of cool ten years ago but my characters ignore it 100% now.