I know this game is ages before Morrowind, but the Argonians and the Dark Elves never really got along in the lore. Frankly, Argonians never really "got along" with anyone! Why suddenly are they playing nice with the two races who just aren't that cool to them to begin with (nords and the darkies)?

Because Black marsh is right next to Morrowind and ZOS wanted to have 3 races in each faction

I think its to do with the fact they dislike the High Elves more and geography. Morrowind and Blackmarsh are next to each other, and sometimes its better the devil you know.

Also it could have something to do with the Hist which are a group of sentient trees that made the Argonians or Saxheel as they are also know. The Hist guide the Argonians in many ways, and can exert a lot of power over them to the point of actual mind control.

Exactly. Just like during the Oblivion crisis when the Hist commanded the Argonians to invade Mehrunes Plane and fight back the deadra, the Hist probably understands the threat of Molag Bal and is commanding the Argonians to join the Ebonheart Pact and deal with this threat. This Hist commands, the Argonians obey.

Because Argonians are our slaves. Slaves do as they are told. "Operation Get Behind the Scalies" commence!

Funny, though, how the Hist are behaving differently to Bal's invasion compared to Dagon's. Why? For Dagon's invasion, the Hist called the Argonians back to Black Marsh to defend the place (and even then, not all of them went back; many stayed in Cyrodiil at the very least), and launch a counter-assault into the Deadlands themselves. They out-destructed the prince of destruction. Yet with Molag Bal, they suddenly need to help their slavers/enemies?

Saying "the Hist command it" doesn't answer the question. The answer is simpler: because Matt Firor wants to replicate DAoC's RvRvR gameplay, and isn't gonna let TES get in his way.

I was trying to use in game lore of what was a possibility and not use a game mechanic. To explain with a game mechanic is easy its all about numbers and maths if the Argonians didn't join the Ebonheart Pact then there would only be two races for them rather than the three. So either they would of have to brought the Dwemer back or Snow Elves to balance it out. Or forget about the Argonians all together and kick out a race from the other two alliances.

So the Hist must react to everything the same way? Maybe they thought that the war in Cyrodil was ultimately more important? I was just trying to offer a lore explanation for game mechanics. You know, like they do to explain every game mechanic change in TES. I'm pretty sure the OP didn't want a "well, that's is how the game designer wanted it" response, because they already know that.

The reason for it is simple: gameplay.

Ahem, keep that up and you'll get a Red Year.

The reason for the Argonians joining with the Dunmer is due to the fact that both have common interests here: Beat Molag Bal, and stay as sovereign nations. They won't join with the Aldmeri because they don't want to join an Mer-ruled Empire, and they won't join the Covenant because they don't want to be ruled by humans. All the races in the Ebonheart Pact have a common goal even though they might not like each other. It's just an alliance of convenience, nothing else.

Also they were allies back when the Akaviri invaded Tamriel, so it's not new for them to be working together.

No, but the important bit that's missing here is the original question: "why?"

We've seen how the Hist and Argonians react to similar circumstances with Dagon's invasion and the collapse of the Empire. It made sense given the Argonians' isolationist nature and their hatred of the Dunmer. So if the behavior is going to be different for Bal's invasion and the collapse of the Empire, that begs the question... why?

I'm not saying there can't be a reason, but so far ZOS's writing and lore team have yet to give out any hints other than "because Hist" (though I'm not sure it was them that said that). And considering what we've gotten from them so far, I'm not holding my breath for anything good. So unless we want to go with pure fan speculation, "gameplay" is the only answer we can give.

I heard the story in some interview (saw so many, can't remember) that your decision in one early quest for the daggerfall cov
change the reactions of, say, the orcs to you. They may keep angry about you for the rest of the game. SO: There will be anger and
hate between the races. Only because they fight together doesn't mean they like each other.

I was very happy to hear that. Like many said - fighting together means choosing the lesser evil. But it seams Zenimax won't break the
complex relationships between the races...at least not completely.

They weren't allies during the Akaviri until ZOS retconned them into the battle at the very end. And even with that, there was no explanation for why they suddenly showed up to help.

We've heard that depending on what race you play NPCs will react to you differently. So I'm sure if you play as an Argonian and are questing in Morrowind the Dunmer NPCs will be very hostile towards you.

They are a free not slaves. The grey skins would be slaves to the Nords if Scalies are slaves to the grey skins. We all in the Ebonheart Pact must stand together as equals or we will all fall. If any side falters in this pact there wont be Skyrim Morrowind or Black marsh . You can just call them Aldmeri dominion and we wont let that happen!

Maybe because the game hasn't come out yet so we don't know the whole lore?

You know what, that seems like the logical answer right there.

Edit: Kinda weird how games don't give you the full lore before the game comes out right? I mean I think Bethesda should have told us the whole lore to Skyrim before it even came out. I will demand they tell me the whole lore to TES VI a year before it comes out.

Maybe. But you'd think they'd prefer to impress us with their handling of lore, rather than make us question if they can handle it. It's been over a year since the game was announced, and despite all the lore complaints that not only the initial reveal brought up, but also the complaints brought up by subsequent media releases, they've given us very little we can chew on.

So again: at this point, we don't have an in-world/lore answer for why the Argonians are helping the Dunmer, and given what we've seen by ZOS so far in the lore and writing department, I'm not holding my breath for a satisfying answer. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong and we'll get an awesome answer that the even the lore forum will be able to discuss in depth for years to come... but unless and until that happens, we've got nothing.

No, I agree with you that they haven't give us any sort of lore with anything in this game at all. But that's the point of games isn't it? To actually play the game and learn the lore that will be presented in the game. I'm sure the explanation for the Argonians teaming up with the Dunmer will be explained in the game.

I'm not going to sit here and say that ZOS is doing a great job with the lore, because they have had to change things. But I feel like a lot of people here are trying to crucify them before they even got the chance to play the game. For all anyone knows it could be the best lore game ever in the entire series. It could also be the worse. No one is right here at all. But I'm pretty sure they got the bases covered on a lot of [censored] in this game.

One can hope. But the way I see it is, they're impressing us with gameplay, and they're impressing us with questing, so why wouldn't they also impress us with some lore? It's not like they need to spoil the whole game, but the stuff they've released relating to writing and lore has been much less impressive compared to the stuff they've released relating to gameplay and questing. So the only reason I can come up with to explain this disparity is that their overall contributions to the writing and lore of the series is generally less impressive than their contribution to gameplay and questing.

They have.. bases?

News to me!

If they stay true to Morrowind, then the Dunmer will be hostile towards every single race except their own. They're not very big fans of "outsiders".

I understand what you're saying. However, I believe that in an MMO lore must ultimately be subservient to gameplay. For instance, in MMO's you will often have to fight beings that are practically gods compared to you, and yet 20-40 of you can somehow kill them? It doesn't make sense, except that obviously players want to fight the baddest of the baddest, so the developers let them. Many sacrifices are made in an MMO for the sake of an entertaining game.

Fixed. To many people, having a solid lore foundation and good writing is part of the entertainment. Doing things that are nonsensical in the setting detracts from the enjoyment, and ultimately makes the game less enjoyable. Having Molag Bal as an end-game raid boss that you get high-level loot drops from would be less enjoyable than being told 'you can't fight him, because he's a god'.

There's no reason lore has to be altered for gameplay. Though even where you want to change lore for the sake of gameplay, there's no reason more interesting lore can't come out of it.

Though that reminds me. I hope.. nay, demand, that http://uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Easter_Eggs#Fat_Lute be the sole item that a difficult boss drops.