I've pvp'ed in multiple MMO's over the years. Over that time I've come to notice that the darker factions tend to draw the better pvp player on average. This may not be your experience... but it has been mine, at least on the servers I've played on.

I realize this could purely be my own skewed observation. But I still play SWTOR regularly and have nearly twice as many wins on my Imp toons as I do on my republic toons. I don't think that means the "good" factions are bad players, just that the "bad" faction players tend to be better on average.

I wont go back to far in MMO examples.. but to me it always seems the "Bad guys" so to speak always seem to lead the boards. For example;

In DAOC - Midgard always held the most keeps/territory

In SWG - the Empire seemed to destroy more bases than the Republic

In WoW - the Horde is always on the top of the rated ladders

In SWTOR - the Empire always seems to Win the ranked WZ.'s

For me.. the Ebonheart Alliance looks to be the darkest group... will they dominate in pvp?

Which alliance will you join/play?

What's been your experience?

The "dark" faction is very subjective when it comes to Elder Scrolls. It's not like in SWTOR where you know who is the good side and who is the bad side. What makes the Ebonheart Pack the "dark" faction? Because they have Dark Elves? Why isn't the Aldermi Dominion considered the "dark" faction, considering that's where the Thalmor are from (yeah yeah I know the Thalmor isn't in the game though, too early in time).

The Ebonheart Pact will have the most players mainly due to the fact that many people have played Morrowind and Skyrim. That's one of the biggest reasons why that faction is going to be the biggest in the game, not because they are "evil" but because people want to go back and play a faction that many people are familiar with the territory. So there really isn't any way to tell where the best PvPers are going to be in this game.

It won't end up with the best PvPers... welcome to the forums

Best PvP'ers are min / maxers just like the best PvE players are.

And if some of these best PvP'ers play a "pure caster" for example, they'll most likely choose a Breton or an Altmer as their race.

So the answer to your question is: No.

To add on this, we won't really know till we know what the Racial Trees look like.

True. That is why I said "most likely".

Just assuming Zenimax tries to stay somewhat true to the Lore and previous games.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I hope so. I tend to like playing the "Good" guys. But I have to say, at least in SWTOR on my server... I can do my dailies/weeklies for my Imp toons in short order. But my Pub toons.. not so much. Haha.

I don't know which faction I'll end up going with - but I am leaning toward Ebonheart from the start. My gut and past experiences are telling me to go with them. But my Roleplaying/Good Guy voice is saying to be a High Elf.

Time will tell.

Well, High Elves really aren't the "good guys" in the Elder Scrolls lore...

High Elves are..pretty bad

Haha.. that is subjective!

Yeah, the High Elves are anything, but the good guys in the Elder Scrolls universe.

I'm thinking that they may be the darkest faction lore wise... Between extreme xenophobia, incist and cannibalism they have an interesting morality to say the least.

But this is not the point. The daggerfall covenant do appear most 'badass' to those who are not familiar with the lore... however if you are a great PvPer I suspect you know something about the lore. I think the lore is fairly well balanced in terms of everyone having their own foibles so I think its anyones guess really.

To be fair, nobody can really be called a good guy in Elder Scrolls lore.

Leperchans is right, there's no clear good guys-bad guys division in TES. The Ebonheart Pact isn't inherently any darker than the other two factions. The Altmer (High Elves) aren't your typical wise, noble race. In fact, very little in TES is typical, especially not the elf races.
And if an average Skyrim player hears that you chose Altmer because you wanted to be a good guy... Well, be prepared for emotional responses.

That's subjective.

incist?

Well, yeah. The High Elves themselves seem to think they are the saviors of Tamriel or something...

But I good a good feeling that the human races don't really see them like that in the era when Skyrim the game takes place...

Ionno, the Thalmor aren't very decent folks. I'm not going to draw parallels, but I definitely wouldn't have tea with them.

To answer the question, no, I don't think so. Main reason for thinking it won't is a lot of the popularity of the Ebonheart Pact is based solely on the flavor of the month feel from Skyrim. So a huge chunk of the population is going to be heavily weighted toward people used to single player, and AI opponents. That isn't to say there won't be good PvPers in Ebonheart, but it will have closer to normal distribution with the other factions... with the additional weight of having to carry people who, by and large, aren't good at PvP. Enjoy that.

Thalmor = Altmer. Especially in 2E 582, two centuries before the Thalmor was established.

In the http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Pocket_Guide_to_the_Empire,_First_Edition:_Aldmeri_Dominion, it is stated that the Altmer do not breed outside the 'pure line', but I suppose that book is not very reliable.

I guess I did not pay a huge amount attention to lore in Skyrim. I played my main as a Khajiit as I played a thief with some archery. I played a few other characters as well, but more just goofing than anything.

From my preconceived notion - High Elves are what I'd call the good guys. Looks like a may need to do some more studying.

But my real point to the whole original post is ... why do people, MMO pvp'ers in general, gravitate toward the perceived "dark" classes/factions? Or am I missing that.

For example. Everyone I grew up with wanted to be Luke Skywalker... not Darth Vader. Now it seems everyone like Darth Vader. (I like Darth also.. but like Luke much more)

Ah, alright. I was thinking of the strictest definition of incist, that is relations between immediate family members. I don't think this is the case here - I always saw their "pure line" as several untainted lineages that weren't allowed to procreate with people outside this closed circle. Then again, after several generations you do end up with everyone being related to each other...

Well, Horde weren't evil. They were a band of outcasts that grouped together to survive extinction from zealous and overbearing races. Forsaken had their own Agenda, but the Tauren were peaceful and Thrall gathered the Orc clans for freedom and to eventually make a peaceful world.

I think it's just about how cool the perceived villains are

Actually the opposite, I think they will be the worst. I say this because Skyrim is the most recent game to be released in the Elder Scrolls series, therefore most likely having the most kids in the games player base. Having said that, I think The Ebonheart Pact will be the faction with the most kids on their side. Now this is not always the case but, from what I've noticed in MMO's most kids tend to be foolish and unreliable(Same way most of them act in real life), now this is not the case for every kid I've interacted with, but it is for most.

Edit: cat jumped on my tablet with the post screen open

Edit edit: she stole my 2000th post

I'll be joining the DC because they look like the most narrowly defined races: orcs - warrior, bretons - caster, redgard - stabby-stabby from the shadows.

Unlike many others I don't want to play EP for the very reason that I want to explore the DC homelands and I've already been all over Skyrim.

As for the AD I do have one bit of RP stuck in me. I absolutely abhore the High Elves and, therefore, the AD. I kill high elves whenever I come accross them in Skyrim. In fact my dislike of High Elves is so strong in the ES games that I'm beginning to think that death is too good for them.

Then again I'll probably end up playing whichever faction my wife chooses...hahaha.