Yeah, I was starting to think about it being going back in time while awaiting responses, but it still leads to a few complications like that note I mentioned. But yeah, I guess I am just overthinking things (which I do fairly often in real life).

While Cincinnatus isn't a "goody two-shoes," he too fights for those that he thinks innocent.

I figured the Pact was doing rather unsavory things elsewhere. This is The Elder Scrolls after all, so ambiguity and perspective plays a significant role. I'm thinking I might incorporate that somehow for Cincinnatus later on.



That Sea Serpent picture is dope, Khajiit. I mean, they're all great pics but that naval battle one stands out. Cincinnatus definitely needs to meet some Maormer in the near future.



Yeah, I guess it is best for me to just pick and choose what is actually being done by my character when it comes to a lot of the quests in other Alliances' provinces. I'm still a bit hesitant in case some of those quests affect my character's reputation when I am not considering them as part of my roleplay, though. For now, I am just going to stick with what actually suits my character, but I'll get around to the other stuff eventually.


Thanks again for the feedback, everyone. I like hearing what you all think about these things.

Which one? Khajiit is partial to the first one with the flaming arrows in the sky!

Except the Cadwell Silver and Gold questlines give a few skill points per province; so if you want/need skill points it may help you figure out a way to work them into your roleplay, lol.

Oh, whoops. Yeah, the first one. Although the second one is cool too with that kind of a stare-down that's going on.

The first one just looks epic with the ships, smoke, debris, and the critter looming large above the roiling, battle-churned sea! Love it!

@Khajiit - The second half of Greenshade was probably one of the most exciting sections of the Aldmeri Dominion and you captured plenty of great moments in it. TBH it does slow down a little in Malabal Tor but still.

Anyways, continuing the "here's an excuse for you to level up in other alliances' zones", I'm going to echo the "just go with what you want" thing. Like Grits said, the other TES games more or less condition you to do this already, and though the "explanation" is helpful, it's probably best to interpret it your own way. (I saw someone take it as you stepping into the shoes of an unnamed Hero of the other Alliances--sort of what I was doing but again, I went with the "Simulation" option).

I mean [censored], my own game's already gone off the rails by there being three Heroes instead of one (yeah, the Harborage stuff was hard to figure out and I don't think I ever settled on a single explanation, and even then there's only one true Hero of the Scrolls), not to mention one of them only began existing at the time the game started (well sorta). Combine the "three parallel universes" thing I was doing before One Tamriel tied them together (something I was planning to do even before One Tamriel was revealed to be a thing) and I already have my own problems to deal with. :V

Then you throw in the technical limitations, as if you didn't have enough of a headache to begin with.

That said, am I the only one that felt ESO did to each of the alliances what Oblivion did to the Emprie? As in it sort of ignored the actual flaws of the alliances and the only time you ever saw the nasty sides it was while you were in other alliances. (I think the Pact is the one that's presented as the most "innocent" one, never mind that each of the races involved hate each other the most).

I only say this because there actually are mentions of how "imperfect" each alliance is, but it's more tell than show, y'know? It's set aside to lore books and the occasional NPC, but the majority of those against the Alliances tend to be Bad Guys.

You only ever see armies treating Argonians as second-class citizens while in Auridon, and never in any part of the Ebonheart Pact zones. Same thing with Orcs (again, the two Covenant members who defected to the Dominion in Auridon).

It sort of gives it a layer of horror, IMO. Keep the hero blissfully unaware of the injustices so they more willingly help their alliance, which gets worse when they tend to be of the marginalized groups. I DID love playing with that, though, with Eolan being the "majority" race of DC, he most strongly believes in the ideals and the righteousness of it and is the only one in the squad willing to fight for his alliance. He's almost ignorant to any of the alliance's flaws.
Hates on the other hand, only really helped the EP when it was convenient for her or when her own people were in danger. It wasn't until the Prophet said "help them or you won't get your soul back" that she decided to help build it (also the fact that the other alliances will be worse for everyone involved. See: Shadowfen and the dead babies.) She was the one that found it the hardest to swallow. At the very least, several other Argonians know that the peace can't last long.

This post has been edited by monkeyemoness: Jul 10 2017, 10:00 PM

Khajiit has noticed little things throughout all the Alliances' quests that speak to the racial tensions bubbling just under the facades of the Alliances. Offhand comments, certain quests that seem a bit shady towards members of certain ethnic groups, major quests in which certain characters push for a resolution that would obviously piss off or disrespect another ethnic group. Little things like that

Wouldn't it be fantastic if we get to see the eventual disaster that's just waiting to happen in each alliance? What if we get to assassinate the alliance leader? That would just butter my toast.



That aside, as far as the game part goes I guess they gotta make the alliance you're playing through appealing. Even as it is there were certain quests that I remembered upset some players so. I can just imagine the discourse over which alliance is the least terrible if they drew attention to the gray, just like the Civil War in Skyrim. The way the Ebonheart Pact was worshipped OOC in one Argonian RP guild I was in was pretty unsettling and reminded me of the Imperial/Stormcloak fanboys, tbh.

Also, the Squad's nearing the end of their Nirnhoned research and I've gotten 2 of the 6 Legendary furnishing plans before they're gone. All is well I guess.

This post has been edited by monkeyemoness: Jul 11 2017, 12:49 AM

Personally, Khajiit would love something like that!

Finished the Dragonstar Arena with Britta today!!! WOO HOO! (new trophy hanging in trophy room at Guild Hall!).

Huzzah!

Congrats to Britta! That sounds very scary!

Yay, congratulations!!

It was all fun, right up to the final boss. That one was AWFUL! We all died enough times that everyone was starting to talk about maybe it was time to give up, but we kept saying "Just once more..." and we finally beat it! WOO HOO!

Congrats to Britta!

In regards to what Monk said about the flaws of each Alliance, I can only go by what I have seen in the Pact since I have yet to play the Covenant or Dominion (I guess I'll take the role-playing in that regard a little less to heart and pretend it is seeing the world through another set of eyes like it seems it is supposed to be, and as suggested). I think Zenimax did an alright job with showing some of the cracks in the Pact. Going through a bunch of quests in the Morrowind zones, especially around Senie and some other settlements, there were quite a few racial remarks made by Dunmer toward Argonians (including one calling another Argonian a Scale-back right in my face without any regard to Cincinnatus's race). You can also see during the Pact questline examples such as Prince Irnskar offending those Argonian and Dunmer representatives.

But come to think of it, the vast majority of examples I can think of where you see the tensions in the Pact are in the Morrowind zones. It doesn't seem to be nearly as observable as Eastmarch, The Rift, or Shadowfen, although it does happen a little bit in those places. At least from my own experience.

The way Cincinnatus sees it (and I personally see it as an outside observer), the Pact isn't some shining beacon of righteousness in Tamriel. It's just the most preferable of the three options. Sure, he believes in the Pact standing for the autonomy of the respective member provinces of the Alliance against the would-be potential rulers from the Covenant and Dominion, but he doesn't simply just do things because "Pact rulez!". As an Argonian, he sees the only way for his homeland and his fellow Saxhleel to be their own rulers is by helping the Pact out. But he also isn't naive as to believe the relative peace with the Dunmer can last for very long afterwards.

Congrats to Britta. Eolan had the same approach in Shada's Tear. It took just wailing on her at the end instead of guarding to finally kill her. Who says stubborness and insanity doesn't pay off?

Anyways, found another Ra Gada motif today and tbh I think I'll just get the Squad to buy every motif they need. They go for around 5k each these days anyways.

Those Ra Gada swords are nice. Kinda khopesh-ish. The armor doesn't look different enough from the Abah's Watch stuff, imo.

Funnily enough, it was the Sword Motif that I found. :V

I don't even use most of the motifs I collect, tbqh. Related to that, I'm getting kinda burnt out on the Vvardenfell dailies. Particularly the world boss daily that makes up half of the Morag Tong motif reward quest. WB based dailies are annoying in particular. Gross. If it weren't for the fact that they're slightly more expensive i'd just buy all the motifs I need and get it over with. Maybe when the Crafting Monkey gets a full set.

Khajiit may harass you to make him one (or two ) of those at some point, lol
J/K*


*Sort of

So as I sat around waiting for people to show up for the World Boss Daily in Vvardenfell, I realized that it's been three days in a row that I hadn't gotten a single motif from either the Temple or the Ashlander dailies. I also remembered the Crafting Monkey only has half of the Morag Tong Motifs.

Then I went shopping. No more stressing over world bosses. If the Squad's getting the motifs it'll be whenever cause there's no point in incomplete motifs. :V