Now that i have your attention from my stupid topic title.........

I along with many others am not exactly thrilled about the possibility of there being locked zones. I hate the idea of being forced to create other characters if I want to explore 2/3 of the game. For me I like the idea of freedom of choice and openness.
HOWEVER I can sympathise with those who argue that it would be stupid if people could just wander into enemy territory for a Sunday stroll without consequence; to which I agree.
So here is my idea (though not in any way revolutionary or unique) that I think will breach the conflict between the two sides of this debate and unearth a potential middle ground.

Faction Standings – i.e. a rank for each of the 3 factions for your character. This rank can go from +3 to -2 for example.

I am in favour of the current setup of assigned alliances depending upon race however I don’t think that this should be the end of it. For example if somebody wasn’t really that interested in engaging in PVP and the battle for Cyrodiil why should they have to be relegated to say, only Ebonheart Zones?
When we first get thrown into the world of ESO upon creating our character, we should have a reasonably favourable position (say +1) with our race faction BUT at the same time should be NEUTRAL to non-race factions (Say 0). Afterall we haven't bludy done anything yet.

What I propose is that from then on certain activities that you engage in will strengthen/weaken the reputation you have with your race faction and non-race factions.

• A person who is neutral (rank 0) with or better with non-race factions will be allowed to walk into their zones without consequence, even trade and engage with other NPCs for quests and not risk being attacked on sight. They cannot attack other players.
  
• Those who are at -1 can enter the zones but be attacked by enemy players, NPCs that can fight and cannot trade/talk to NPCs. They can only attack players if they have been attacked first. (This will prevent masses of people going into enemy zones and killing players minding their own business as this ruins the experience for other people). If nobody touches them, then can’t touch nobody . (This may sound silly to others, but I feel that the balance of favourability should be tipped towards those in their own zones rather than those wandering off at rank-1 (who more than likely have a sinister agenda for wandering off in the first place))
  
• Those who are at -2 will be locked out of enemy zones. (After all you have proven yourself to be a mortal enemy to their faction).

I would limit PVP i.e. fighting for Cyrodiil for your own race faction, so you can’t fight for Cyrodiil for the Dominion if you are a Nord for example. Though you can chose to ignore the battle for Cyrodiil entirely.
Your faction standings would be affected by things like trading, questing and PVP, with more emphasis on PVP. So you can do lots of trading with non-race factions but as soon as you start to do some regular PVP in Cyrodiil for your race faction, you’ll notice your standing with non-race factions start to plummet.
Gaining reputation for one race regardless of the activity will cause a proportional decrease in the others. So if you ignore the war for Cyrodiil you’d better quest and trade equally for all the factions if you want to be neutral for all.
It should be noted you cannot go below neutral for your race faction as this will always allow the player the option of engaging in Cyrodiil's PVP no matter what they have done prior (as this is a big part of the game). Also, potentially not being able to go beyond +1 with non-race factions as this would be inconsistent with always being at least neutral with once faction.

Also, there would be specific quest givers in Cyrodiil and all Zones for that matter in which a player who is an enemy to a particular faction can complete quests to restore favourability with said faction. However if a player is at -2 then it should be noted that it is not a case of doing 2-3 quests to restore rank to neutral. It will take a long time.
This is so that although people may end up at -1 or -2 with non-race factions it is not completely set in stone and there is a way back (although difficult one) if they decide to change their play style.

I realise this may be in vain, a tad too late and that nobody has even bothered to read through all this, but who knows. Of course I leave this open to discussion below, please feel free to agree with my idea, amend it in any shape or form or rip it to pieces because I am completely missing the point or whatever.


I’m going to go make a tuna mayo baguette- I look forward to your responses (if anyone has bothered to read ofc )

*edit* how do i change topic titles? I notice a mistake

ESO is a Themepark MMO. When you create your character, its allegiances and enemies are set. You follow the story and fluff and that determines your course.

Sandbox ideas are all well and good, sure they'd fit in a sandbox type game, but again ESO isn't going to be a sandbox game, hence it doesn't fit and make sense for this game.

Anything that allows for opposing factions to talk to each other and interact with each other I am in favor of. I learned many years ago, and many MMO's ago, that the more choices you have the longer you will pay for a subscription to that MMO. If it is just a theme park where the only thing you can change or effect is your gear and experience then your sub will most likely be done before the first year is gone by.

So yes I am in favor of your idea!

locked zones is wrong and against elderscrolls history

Its just me but theres "little" of hype in the air...

I understand that but why does it have to blatently one or the other? Is there no middle ground option? Why can sandbox esque ideas get incorporated?


While this may or may not be the case, considering the setting of the game is a fierce war going on for Cyrodiil i dont think it is complely irrational to have locked zones, it just needs to be implemented properly and not as simplistic as, this is your race you must play here and are not allowed to go there,