Just look at character creation, the races are imbalanced

Imperial - have no resistance, no specialty, Voice of Emperor to calm enemies once a day, stumble upon "more" gold

Breton - 25% Magic Resistance (ALL MAGIC), Absorb 50% magicka 60 sec once a day, can conjure familiar (third free spells)

Just these two show how unbalanced the game is...it is because in the game, no matter what race you are, you will going through the same thing...same mechanic on level ups and skill progressions, if choose Imperial you have nothing as bonus compared with others, no resistance, no nothing...and i doubt anyone really use Voice of Emperor, and anyone can get rich easily making "Imperial Luck" is nothing

Let say the Breton touch the Lord Stone, freely boosting magic resistance up to 50% with no effort, but Imperial only 25% magic resistance. Meaning if a player who choose Breton right after Helgen going to Lord stone get 50% magic resistance while if choose Imperial doing the same thing only get 25%.

Maybe some say "it really doesn't matter" but it does because the passive bonus is really a bonus for certain races, all players will going through the same level up mechanic ( Warrior, Thief, Mage stones, all other stones, enchanting, smithing, perks, starting health, magicka and stamina and builds are all the same)

A player can set up every races become Warrior, let say only take Warrior perks...Breton Warrior have 25% magic resist, spell absorb once a day and can conjure familiar, Redguard Warrior have 50% poison resist and fast stamina regen once a day, some others have other resistances and specialty...compared with Imperial Warrior who have nothing...while all are the same health/stamina/magicka, same build, same perks, same stones, same armor, same weapon, and same enchantments

Is there any reason to choose Imperial other than role playing?

How many people actually use the racial powers? I can see Orc players using it.

I believe with the new leveling mechanic choosing any race serves no point except role playing purposes after all with the way it is now what you lack in racial bonuses you can make up for with enchanting.

Breton have always active 25% magic resist, meaning plus enchanting, plus blessings, will have more than others who have same build as the Breton

breton who invest on Warrior perk only have advantage than other races who invest in the same perks, have advantage over other races who wear the same armor and use the same weapon, and the same set up

let say, Breton with heavy armor and shield, steel sword is DIFFERENT with Imperial with heavy armor and shield, steel sword

To be honest, I have never used Voice of the Emperor once in any TES while playing as Imperials.

I've never used any racial powers... at least if I ever had the effects were so lacklustre that I don't remember them.

Nobody is forcing you to be an Imperial. Skyrim was my first TES game and my very first character was an Imperial. He made it to level 81 without cheating. Retired him two months ago.

I used it in Oblivion when doing Nocturnal's quest seeing as a certain somebody wouldn't talk to me. I miss the old Argonian racial feats seeing as how Black Marsh is a disease riddled swamp filled with poisonous beings they made sense now it is kinda like meh. The Altmer +50 magic seems kind of pointless now seeing as how magic for non-Altmer no longer caps at 300.

Stats don't matter all that much in large part, and the racial bonuses aren't enough to really distinguish a race from another all THAT much. Plus, only those interested in power gaming would give a [censored], not RP players. And even then, they don't have that much of an advantage, and any disadvantage can be overcome with other means.

Bretons and Nords both have a substantial advantage in TESV but lore-wise this makes sense since they are both native to the area.

i give example

Breton/red Guard, Nord, Orc, Bosmer, Altmer with steel heavy armor, steel sword and steel shield facing a Dragon Priest

compare with

Imperial with steel heavy armor, steel sword and steel shield facing a Dragon Priest

both set up above are the same, they have same health/stamina/magicka, same armor and same weapon....BUT, which who have advantage fighting the same enemy?

It is because everything else after Helgen are the same, certain races have advantage more than others in the same set up...that's imbalanced.

Which someone could easily make up with enchanting.

Meh, Bretons always were overpowered.

Racial abilities don't give you any noticable advantage. Most of them is usable only once per day and share a key with shouts, so everyone forgets about them after a few hours. I haven't used a racial ability since February 2012.


Only resistances are really useful, but you can easily achieve them with potions or enchantments.

You get more gold allowing you to buy better weapons and armor earlier than other races. Hardly 'useless'. The voice of the emperor also gives you a second chance against Most bandit-oriented enemies, whereas other races must fight to the death or flee. Granted, not as effective at the highest of levels, but still potent when first starting.

Aside from race powers, One way they could've differentiated the races is to make them start with varied magicka, health, stamina and carryweight.

Here is an example of how I modded the starting stats in my game for each race to resemble attributes in previous games. They even out later in game but tend to feel a bit different early on

http://i.imgur.com/ROLxObP.jpg

Agreed, its only in the beginning of the game where stats matter. Late game, you're pretty much unstoppable in most cases.

I used VotE when playing my stage 4 Vampire on DiD rules. In my case it's why I actually wanted an Imperial as opposed to a Nord.

I've pretty much never paid a lot of attention to racial abilities. I tend to pick races based on looks or theme.

Breton power is like [censored] useless, now the voice of the Emperor, is not quite bad, stops [censored] bandits from attacking you on the side of the road.
Also saved a couple citizens of Whiterun's lifes

I like this idea. But then I suppose people would complain that their Nord, for example, is already a disadvantaged mage at character roll.

1. The racial power is so weak it is practically useless after you leave Helghan
2. The passive stuff are nice bonuses, but nothing that severely imbalances the game. I mean, when I went from a Nord to imperial, frost dragons were noticeably harder, but by no means impossible.

Everything I choose to do in-game has it's facets in Role Play, including playing Imperial, due to a long standing lineage of Imperial characters.
I choose races based on culture, personality, and how much I like the cut of their jib, not the statistical bells and whistles.
I'm not saying my way is the right way, but it is the method that leaves me happy.

And the only Racial Power that is actually good and useful is the Orc's Beserker Rage.

Indeed I choose my race by role playing purpose and back story I just miss some of the old racial bonuses tho now with the new leveling system and lack of stats some have been made pointless like the +50 magic for Altmer.

Early on Breton clearly has the most useful abilities. The thing is any race can eventually max out all resists. I like my high elf. I'll eventually have the same resists but I'll always be faster, jump higher and hit harder because of my height.