148251-we-gotta-get-dominion-numbers-up

== Content ==
			
I don't know what we can do to get Dominion numbers up. I play both sides and when I logged in to Exile side today and saw all the players in the holiday area I was like 'This game's doing pretty good. Looks about the same as Shade's End.' Then I logged in on my Dominion alt... Not so much. There's still players around everywhere but doesn't seem to be near as many as Shade's End. It's no wonder players complain about PvP queues. 
 
Some ideas, add two new races and give Dominion the clearly better one. It worked back when I was in WoW and they gave blood elves to us Horde. Some of us weren't happy about it but it got our numbers up. Give Exiles something ugly and Dominion something cute. Cuter than chua. Very important, none of this secret gender business on the new Dominion race. 
 
Give the less populated faction some sort of bonuses. Maybe faster exp gain. Maybe more currency from PvP and PvE. And while you're at it, make more stuff account wide so player have insensitive to play both sides. 
 
Advertise the game, and for once use the Dominion. Soften their image a bit. Stop making them out to be the oppressive, evil bad guys (even if they are). Make them more appealing. 
 
I dunno. I just know we need more players on the Dominion side. There's got to be something to get more players over there. 	
----
			Pfft I like my PVP queues also all exile players are bad at pvp :P I dont mind the low pop also we dont live in a dump like the exiles do and all our costumes are 100x better. 	
----
			
It was me and one more next to winterfest vendor at Luminai dominion,
relogged alt on exile... it's me and one more next to winterfest vendor.
Pretty balanced to me :P
However, sure it's half past eleven in the evening, but first day of an event one could perhaps expect to see a bit more :/	
----
			We all know carbine doesn't care about the dominion, that's why they only ever use exiles in their videos	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
It was me and one more next to winterfest vendor at Luminai dominion,
relogged alt on exile... it's me and one more next to winterfest vendor.
Pretty balanced to me :P
However, sure it's half past eleven in the evening, but first day of an event one could perhaps expect to see a bit more :/
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Some ideas, add two new races and give Dominion the clearly better one. It worked back when I was in WoW and they gave blood elves to us Horde. Some of us weren't happy about it but it got our numbers up.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
We all know carbine doesn't care about the dominion, that's why they only ever use exiles in their videos
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
The Dominion doesn't need pandering with media frippery to feel good about ourselves.
 
...
 
That's what Artemis Zin is for ;P
 
More seriously though, I don't think it really matters. There are always two types of races in MMO's that are most represented: Humans and 'The Cute/sexy One'. The playerbase is just like that, it's what always happens. If we weren't so base/predictable, it wouldn't be a problem!
 
The Horde/Alliance imbalance was worse as they didn't even have humans. At least the Dominion does :)
 
For what it's worth, in the year and a half we've been playing, I've seen/known more people drift from Exile to Dominion and stay there than I have the other way around. (Purely anecdotal, but there you go)
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Eh, while that did help to increase Horde numbers, it also made the Horde playerbase almost exclusively Blood Elves, and it's only going to get worse with Demon Hunters. (Amusingly, the Alliance was already over-stuffed with Night Elves, so at least this time the pain will be shared across factions.)
 
That said, as large as the Exile's numbers are, the majority are one race as well. It might sound nice at first to bolster the Dominion's number by such means, but I don't think a lot of folks on that side would care for having their own "Aurin" comprising the bulk of their faction.
+++
 
 
More Dominion advertising is always good, but I don't know if trying to steer their "personality" in another direction is necessary.
 
Admittedly, I don't have the greatest sense of "faction pride" with the Dominion either, but eventually I just shrugged it off and rolled with the "rawr evil empire" schtick or how after a while, the Exiles proved to have not-so-goody elements of their own. The Granok could be just as warmongering as the Draken, or how the Mordesh could be just as cold and amoral as the Mechari. I'd say the Dominion only has slightly "worse" going for it on public image relations on account of most Cassians being overly condescending snobs versus the overly cordial buddy Exiles (and while there's certainly friendly Lowborns, it just left me wondering why they didn't ditch the Highborns to join the Exiles) or how while the Aurin weren't above questionable acts FOR NATURE, they weren't downright psychopaths like the Chua have been FOR SCIENCE every single time I've encountered them.
 
Mind you, this is coming from someone with an Aurin & Draken of their own, and has played as far as clearing out Galeras & Auroria storywise so as far as I know, the Exiles dirty their coat even more later on and the Dominion gets some really good redeeming moments.
----
			
/factioncopy <character name> <new character name> <new race>
 
Copies your, e.g. exile, character over to the other faction, swaps in the new race, but keeps everything else the same, i.e. gear, unlocks, gender.	
----
			
Wish they showed the dominion more like how it is.  While I get having fun exaggerating qualities of each faction, they kinda took the dominion side too far.
 
Really wish they would show the side that really feels more like the roman empire.  Yeah they'll conquer you and want to rule everything, but once you're taken over - do your own thing as long as it isn't against the empire.  Showcase the "good side" with toric, zin etc and not.... snobby mc snoberson that no one seems to like even on the dominion lmao.
 
Showcase the exiles as the dominion sees them - a bunch of rebels and terrorists trying to have their way, vs the dominion trying to bring peace to the chaos.
 
OR they could do the smart thing and just tear down the faction barrier for gameplay.  IDC about aurin being in my group.  I don't like them, but I'd rather go "lmao my group is just bunnies" than "lmao why hasn't this q popped"
			
				
	Edited December 17, 2015 by Xiun	
----
			
I really don't understand why people choose a faction over lore or who is the supposed "good" or "bad" guys (played my share of rpg's/mmo's), I will admit that (since the example was used and this will sound a bit ironic) that I have always had a slight Horde bias since W3 BUT that will not stop me from rolling on a faction if my guild/friends needs it done.  The thing people miss is that most lore (when factions are involved) is mostly morally gray for each side.  Personally, to each their own but I still don't get it, even if it's on principle (moral or not); it's just some damn pixels people.
 
That aside, go dommies! :ph34r:   
			
				
	Edited December 17, 2015 by Bacon_21	
----
			We don't need cute. We have Chua.	
----
			Yeah dominion just isn't as polished as the exile side as far racial characteristics, quest texts and general vibe goes. Too many stereotypical snob/cartoon villains and not enough variety and depht to the dominion. Almost all Cassians are snooty highborn bossing you around, almost all mechari are cold and emotionless, almost all chua are manic evil scientists, almost all draken are bloodthirsty warriors. Take an exile character and they tend to be pretty much anything and have a wide range of personalities, or well except for granok they're usually rowdy roughnecks (except for that scientist guy in whitevale I guess). Also there still aren't even any mechari voices. I know most players will say they don't really care about the story and the setting and stuff, but at the end of the day it makes a difference.
			
				
	Edited December 17, 2015 by Jelletje	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Yeah dominion just isn't as polished as the exile side as far racial characteristics, quest texts and general vibe goes. Too many stereotypical snob/cartoon villains and not enough variety and depht to the dominion. There still aren't even any mechari voices. I know most players will say they don't really care about the story and the setting and stuff, but at the end of the day it makes a difference.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Did you even play Dominion? There's a lot of wrong with the faction, but saying that they lack depth is just plain wrong.
 
The Dominion as a faction has a lot of potential that is just neglected in favor of the "good guys" Exiles.
----
			
For me it is various reasons i can not get into the dominion.  *If* I represent a group of players then this is why that particular group does not play dominion.
 
1.  Animations.  In every game i played the looks and animations are a driving factor behind what I play.   In DDO i played halflings, even when the uber races were Drow and Dwarves (back before F2P).  It was because of animations/looks.  IMO Aurin are the most highly polished animation wise.  The run, jump, etc. are all very nicely done.   I believe the developers anticipated the appeal of them and so took extra time making them, and it shows.
 
So for the dominion we have:
 
Draken  (Which I fully intended to play) males hunch.  I hate that.  The animations look like a B movie monster to me, so they are out.  There went my goal of a draken slinger.
 
Humans are: A) boring and B) have odd animations.  The male run looks . . . off.  It looks like maybe steven segal was motion captured or something, with a prancy kind of jog. Since running is one animation you see all the time - they are out.  (my level 25ish human warrior barely levels as i can not stand that).
 
Mechari are robots and i have no real desire to play one.  
 
Chua are okay (but portrayed as psychotic) but even then they have odd animations.  I know that some say the run is awesome but the lack of bendy knees throws me.  I have managed to get one to 16 but the run/walk is starting to grate on me.  I like the passive animations but that stiff leg run thing . . . 
 
2) Dominion are the "bad" guys.  It is heavily painted that way from the very beginning. Sure they have both sides do bad things, but the OVERALL theme is Dominion = Bad, Exiles = Good.  Sure they may have an awesome story (and i am trying to force myself to get there), but so far it is all kill any who do not think the way we  want them too kind of thing.  I can understand some of their actions, even support some of them (blockade of Mordesh world was actually prudent), just the bulk of the stuck up and/or fascist stuff gets on my nerves.  The whole "The Eldan Chose us. . . " thing is lame.  From what I have seen EVERYTHING the Eldan have done has been screwed up in some way.  Now Tresayne Toria is the baddest woman in Wildstar, i grant you that.
 
3) Quest areas: I personally loved the whole tomb raider with Artimis Zen at the beginning.  I got pretty excited to see how the zones progressed,  but from there I go to the next zones and was not very impressed with the themes of them.  They looked awesome, fun stuff to kill/see/explore but the quests . . . blech.  You either indulge the draken in their odd blood fetish (that priest really needs to get  a room) and/or you get to do stuck up church things.  Neither was very interesting to me (and i am almost done with the draken area as it was less stuck up at least).  What happened to tomb raiding? That was freaking cool!  I signed on to tomb raid man!  I can care less for some blood god or church politics, gimme the tomb raiding.
 
Now i am SURE that there are those who say that those areas are great.  More power to them, the thing is you are saying you need more people to go dominion and i am telling you why i find it very hard to do so.
 
I keep hoping that life after those zones picks up, but really not seeing it so far.
 
So would a new race that had highly polished animations do it for me?  Probably.  Or an animation pass that fixes either the human run or the Draken hunch thingy.  I can force myself through the lower zones and focus on getting to end game faster if i enjoy the character more.  But it really is the character animations that keep me from really getting into Dominion.	
----
			
Going to have to agree with human run animations, they look very wooden and...unhumanlike. At least my female exile human run kinda irks me.
 
+1 for the jagged coast starting area, by far my favorite one as far as the theme goes. The whole thing just came together beautifully and it felt like a real believable dominion expedition with interesting and immersive dialogue all over the place. It's a shame the attention to detail and immersion drops like a brick afterwards and onwards.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Wish they showed the dominion more like how it is.  While I get having fun exaggerating qualities of each faction, they kinda took the dominion side too far.
 
Really wish they would show the side that really feels more like the roman empire.  Yeah they'll conquer you and want to rule everything, but once you're taken over - do your own thing as long as it isn't against the empire.  Showcase the "good side" with toric, zin etc and not.... snobby mc snoberson that no one seems to like even on the dominion lmao.
 
Showcase the exiles as the dominion sees them - a bunch of rebels and terrorists trying to have their way, vs the dominion trying to bring peace to the chaos.
 
OR they could do the smart thing and just tear down the faction barrier for gameplay.  IDC about aurin being in my group.  I don't like them, but I'd rather go "lmao my group is just bunnies" than "lmao why hasn't this q popped"
----
			I wanted to be big and buff. Only Granok could work.	
----
			also with the small population on the dominion side, come irrable and rude players which brings a bad name to that community especially for those who are helpful and friendly on the dominion side......more reasons for some players not to play dominion side quests which is sad....there's a lot to see (at least up to level 22-23 ish) and do over there.
			
				
	Edited December 17, 2015 by Scar Red	
----
			
Well, Carbine Devs are actually notified of it. It's the marketing department whose logic is that filling up already inundated Exiles meant that they had to advertise them more and completely the Dominion story.
Dominion Trailer will be released, which by that time the faction may be at 100 people.
Ironically, RP stories happened to present them and morality better.	
----
			while the dominion side is lower pop, we have the better players.  just saying quantity =/= quality.  i am biased however in my opinion.	
----
			Introduce an Aurin like race to Dominion GG	
----
			Give Dominion Ekose	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Introduce an Aurin like race to Dominion GG
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Give Dominion Ekose Luminai
----
			
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/wildstaronline/images/6/6b/VaroniaCazalon.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/200?cb=20140331043926
Show her in official lore, though I don't know who she should fit in with since all Exiles doesn't have people who fit her non-existent (and no longer) role (Mondo and Deadeye fit as foil as orphans with different outcome, when I finally realized it).
I don't know if it's a blasphemy for "taking a long shower" at her.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 just saying quantity =/= quality.  i am biased however in my opinion.
----
			eliminate all aurin.	
----
			Make Osun a playable Dominion Race	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Give Dominion Ekose
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Make the female side the option to be the cranky old lady ekose.... pls
 
CRABIEN PLS
----
			16 people in Illium and 40 in Thayd, Luminai. At peak hours. So a little different.	
----
			Merge Dominion with Exlies on the PvE servers.	
----
			
It feels more like people are more likely to go with the "rule breakers" when it comes to video games, rather than stay with the majority or the more organized side. People just want to stand out and make their own story, such as the exiles making you look like you're "an outlaw fighting for the good of a new planet!" whereas the dominion places you as more in a "you're a soldier, work for someone" kind of place. 
 
I also sort of blame advertising a bit, as they do make the Dominion look like the straight up main adversary of the game, and less people want to work for the bad guy. It's kind of what we see in Star Wars (a movie franchise I've never actually seen at all). Despite me never seeing it, I do know that Darth Vader and his side are the bad side while the guys with the green lightsabers are the good side. Never having seen the movies, I could be completely wrong, but that's just what advertising tells me. If I went to watch the movie, I'd be predisposed to dislike Darth Vader, just because he was meant to seem like an antagonist in the advertising.
 
Though it's all really up to debate, I feel like we can just blame the Aurin for it, it's their fault.	
----
			
I blame the Chua for dwindling numbers, they really need to stop using us as "Lab Assistants"  :angry:
 
:D  But yes, we need more Dominion players!	
----
			also, as I suggested in another thread; 2 new races would be awesome. A plant like race for the dominion for example would be so cool. 	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
no thanks.
----
			
Dominion Engineer Is my first character.  I see many pop in from the portal then vanish.  Not very chatty people when it comes to new players.
So yea.  Don't know what else to do.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Then stop your faction from making threads like these :)
 
Given a solution, you don't want it, then don't complain "Boo hoo too few ppl are playing Dominion"
----
			I wish full boots model in mechari case... and Im going to Dominion... I hate when something is sticking out from under gear (like horns, tail, feet...). Exiles side models are made much better, only aurin have some sticking out body parts, on Dominion side only cassians are made in a way that no body parts are pointing out from under gear...	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I wish full boots model in mechari case... and Im going to Dominion... I hate when something is sticking out from under gear (like horns, tail, feet...). Exiles side models are made much better, only aurin have some sticking out body parts, on Dominion side only cassians are made in a way that no body parts are pointing out from under gear...
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I dont think carbine cares about mechari at all. The feet sticking out is incredibly annoying, and we STILL don't have voices. 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
there are boots available where they dont stick out i have 2 models
----
			make some babies dominion, not only war against us poor poor exiles ;(	
----
			I would like to play a draken, but than i would have to play with Chuas, thats a nogo for me !	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
The feet sticking out is incredibly annoying, and we STILL don't have voices. 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I dont think carbine cares about mechari at all. The feet sticking out is incredibly annoying, and we STILL don't have voices. 
----
			
See it this way: one advantage of having less Dominion players is that you get Frames per Second in Illium instead of the Seconds per Frame you get in Thayd!
 
I'm convinced that the Dominion image problems are a myth: no MMO player in their right mind would stop playing them because 'they are the bad guys'. Just look at Darth Vader or the Empire's popularity. They are just cool and that's enough. I think it's more likely that the 'real' problem is that their races aren't cool enough (Mechari faces are pretty terrible all around, for example).
However, I propose another alternative: the best way to get the Dominion numbers up is to cull down the number of players who insist that No Really the Dominion are Actually the Good Guysand You Are Just Culturally Biased Against Them© and if you think otherwise maybe you should go play an Exile® since you clearly like them more. Nobody really cares about the Dominion being the bad guys. Except the Writer, because he thinks that moral ambiguity makes him Real Smart instead of giving lumber to the mentioned players to push people away from the faction by pretending there's a correlation between your faction choice and your morals.
So maybe we should tell the writer to stop being one of those players.
			
				
	Edited December 23, 2015 by Ildur	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
See it this way: one advantage of having less Dominion players is that you get Frames per Second in Illium instead of the Seconds per Frame you get in Thayd!
 
I'm convinced that the Dominion image problems are a myth: no MMO player in their right mind would stop playing them because 'they are the bad guys'. Just look at Darth Vader or the Empire's popularity. They are just cool and that's enough. I think it's more likely that the 'real' problem is that their races aren't cool enough (Mechari faces are pretty terrible all around, for example).
However, I propose another alternative: the best way to get the Dominion numbers up is to cull down the number of players who insist that No Really the Dominion are Actually the Good Guysand You Are Just Culturally Biased Against Them© and if you think otherwise maybe you should go play an Exile® since you clearly like them more. Nobody really cares about the Dominion being the bad guys. Except the Writer, because he thinks that moral ambiguity makes him Real Smart instead of giving lumber to the mentioned players to push people away from the faction by pretending there's a correlation between your faction choice and your morals.
So maybe we should tell the writer to stop being one of those players.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (would explain SOME of the crankiness of the dominion)
 
And yes, we know some of you want Aurians to join the dominion but the dominion is too stuck up and rude :P
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
HAHAHAHAHA no.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
However, I propose another alternative: the best way to get the Dominion numbers up is to cull down the number of players who insist that No Really the Dominion are Actually the Good Guysand You Are Just Culturally Biased Against Them© and if you think otherwise maybe you should go play an Exile® since you clearly like them more. Nobody really cares about the Dominion being the bad guys. Except the Writer, because he thinks that moral ambiguity makes him Real Smart instead of giving lumber to the mentioned players to push people away from the faction by pretending there's a correlation between your faction choice and your morals.
So maybe we should tell the writer to stop being one of those players.
----
			
I must say it's not obvious which is the evil faction or not by the looks coming to the game.
When I first came to the game I thought that if there was an evil faction, it would be exile... by looking at faction races and so.
I have never been mistaken by that before, it's usually quite easy to tell by looking at races of different faction who is evil or good.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
There is even more, 2 models are non pvp gear, some pvp gear also cover feet but come on... Why not all models make in this way? It would be much better... Yet this mechari head going up and rotate - this looks kinda "low", they should have better expression... like less silly...
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Right, starting bloody wars out of ego and defacing your cultural values (Granok), virtually exterminating a whole sentient species in a poorly conceived attempt to live forever (Mordesh), killing thousands of innocent people in terrorist attacks (Exile humans), and aiding terrorists and enslaving, raising, and eating thinking, feeling, sentient and sapient organisms (Aurin)  is "Good" ... 
 
Faction choice never necessarily has anything to do with you personally, but that doesn't change the narrative nature of that faction just because you want a black and white story.
 
You wan't more Dom players? Give the Dominion more trailer time, expand their main characters stories (Zin, Toric, Cazalon, the Emperor, Doon...). Also, finish opening up the classes for all races. Chua Warrior = gold
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
For me it is various reasons i can not get into the dominion.  *If* I represent a group of players then this is why that particular group does not play dominion.
 
1.  Animations.  In every game i played the looks and animations are a driving factor behind what I play.   In DDO i played halflings, even when the uber races were Drow and Dwarves (back before F2P).  It was because of animations/looks.  IMO Aurin are the most highly polished animation wise.  The run, jump, etc. are all very nicely done.   I believe the developers anticipated the appeal of them and so took extra time making them, and it shows.
 
So for the dominion we have:
 
Draken  (Which I fully intended to play) males hunch.  I hate that.  The animations look like a B movie monster to me, so they are out.  There went my goal of a draken slinger.
 
Humans are: A) boring and B) have odd animations.  The male run looks . . . off.  It looks like maybe steven segal was motion captured or something, with a prancy kind of jog. Since running is one animation you see all the time - they are out.  (my level 25ish human warrior barely levels as i can not stand that).
 
Mechari are robots and i have no real desire to play one.  
 
Chua are okay (but portrayed as psychotic) but even then they have odd animations.  I know that some say the run is awesome but the lack of bendy knees throws me.  I have managed to get one to 16 but the run/walk is starting to grate on me.  I like the passive animations but that stiff leg run thing . . . 
 
2) Dominion are the "bad" guys.  It is heavily painted that way from the very beginning. Sure they have both sides do bad things, but the OVERALL theme is Dominion = Bad, Exiles = Good.  Sure they may have an awesome story (and i am trying to force myself to get there), but so far it is all kill any who do not think the way we  want them too kind of thing.  I can understand some of their actions, even support some of them (blockade of Mordesh world was actually prudent), just the bulk of the stuck up and/or fascist stuff gets on my nerves.  The whole "The Eldan Chose us. . . " thing is lame.  From what I have seen EVERYTHING the Eldan have done has been screwed up in some way.  Now Tresayne Toria is the baddest woman in Wildstar, i grant you that.
 
3) Quest areas: I personally loved the whole tomb raider with Artimis Zen at the beginning.  I got pretty excited to see how the zones progressed,  but from there I go to the next zones and was not very impressed with the themes of them.  They looked awesome, fun stuff to kill/see/explore but the quests . . . blech.  You either indulge the draken in their odd blood fetish (that priest really needs to get  a room) and/or you get to do stuck up church things.  Neither was very interesting to me (and i am almost done with the draken area as it was less stuck up at least).  What happened to tomb raiding? That was freaking cool!  I signed on to tomb raid man!  I can care less for some blood god or church politics, gimme the tomb raiding.
 
Now i am SURE that there are those who say that those areas are great.  More power to them, the thing is you are saying you need more people to go dominion and i am telling you why i find it very hard to do so.
 
I keep hoping that life after those zones picks up, but really not seeing it so far.
 
So would a new race that had highly polished animations do it for me?  Probably.  Or an animation pass that fixes either the human run or the Draken hunch thingy.  I can force myself through the lower zones and focus on getting to end game faster if i enjoy the character more.  But it really is the character animations that keep me from really getting into Dominion.
----
			Actually the exiles had places to go, they just went to nexus to *cupcake* off the dominion	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Actually the exiles had places to go, they just went to nexus to *cupcake* off the dominion
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I really like this post and agree a lot with the point that the Dominion has an almost surprising number of strikes against it that are just... well, odd.
 
I'll add to the list above: the character select screen I know that is a very silly and small thing, but compare the default stance of (for example) a Cassian female and an Exile female.
 
The Cassian female suffers from a bad case of what I think the kids call 'resting *cupcake* face' (or worse). The Exile female has a bit of a grin and a much more neutral posture. I'm not saying that changing their postures would fix much, but it's indicative of the problem: the aesthetic choices for the Dominion are often off-putting for no discernible reason.
 
The default attribute for the Exiles seems to be "Spunky", while for the Dominion it seems to be "Arrogant". Arrogance is simply not an attractive feature (IMO).
 
Overall though, the biggest problem as I see it is that the Dominion is presented as... well, as the bully.
 
This is distinct from, for example, the situation in Warcraft or Star Wars (the Old republic): in both of those settings the 'opposing force' (for the sake of argument, I here mean the Horde and the Sith Empire) are presented as being roughly militarily equal to their opponents (the Alliance and the republic, respectively).
 
In Wildstar, by contrast, the Exiles are presented as not just different, but vastly inferior in terms of power. Think of it this way: if the Dominion loses the battle for Nexus, they are beaten back and will return, as they have an unknown number of other planets under their control. If the Exiles lose... they are exterminated. 
 
Seriously, the Dominion is on Nexus for adventure, for exploration, for glory or to fulfill some prophetic destiny. The Exiles are on Nexus because they literally have nowhere else to go. If the Exiles lose, it's entirely reasonable to assume that at least two of the four Exile races will be the subject of a genocide (the Aurin and Mordesh). (I don't know if it's explicitly said that there are other Granocks elsewhere in the galaxy, and while the Exile humans will certainly be the subject of ethnic cleansing, they are humans after a fashion.)
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Yeah....that's wrong.
 
The Arkship was on its last leg, and it was either "Nexus or nothing."
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
The Cassian female suffers from a bad case of what I think the kids call 'resting *cupcake* face' (or worse). The Exile female has a bit of a grin and a much more neutral posture. I'm not saying that changing their postures would fix much, but it's indicative of the problem: the aesthetic choices for the Dominion are often off-putting for no discernible reason.
 
The default attribute for the Exiles seems to be "Spunky", while for the Dominion it seems to be "Arrogant". Arrogance is simply not an attractive feature (IMO).
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Well, there was an old (unreleased to make Exiles sympathetic) and in-game lore that implied that Dominion, along with its caste system, seem to get worse under Vorios the False.
- Maybe Arboria was congratulations to Chua or bribe them to rejoin the Dominion after Vorios mandated some laws to *cupcake* them off.
- Maybe losing Nexus is way less than a battle, plus the loss of "birthright" might set off anger and possible revolts. Like Dominion being non-existent might be worse than its existence.
- Or Executive Meddling, maybe it was supposed to be Exile only and something changed during their development.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Not really true. Dorian Walker went out into the outer rim on a fools errand to find Nexus because he was obsessed with it. His ship was the only one literally on it's last leg when the Drusentity appeared before him and showed him the way to Nexus. The Exiles could have went to any of the other planets in outer rim, such as those where the Marauders live, or any of the other planets equally as distant as Nexus that the Dominon doesn't control. The trip to Nexus took a long time even for the Exiles, they were not just about to perish, they just decided to follow Walker there, though the exiles undoubtedly knew they'd have trouble with the Dominion there...
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
 
Even if you could fix the starting zones and other elements, you're still left with a game world where on the Exile side you have races fleeing from Genocide, and on the Dominion side you have races trying to commit Genocide. You have the Exiles in poverty and the Dominion in mansions. I don't know how you fix that in a way that can be attractive to people on an emotional level without completely rewriting things, or advancing the story in a very different direction.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
This is one of the things that bugged me the most about the character creation revamp.  They had an opportunity to make the Dominion look more appealing to new players, but went in the exact opposite way.  Now one of the first screens you're presented when you make a new character is one where you have a cutesy or noble faction with a blue background standing against ones posed either like assholes or maniacal with a bright red background.  If you're a new player who has no idea about the game's lore, the character creation screen practically screams "good" and "evil" when you're asked to pick a race.
 
That's why when Carbine tells us that there are no clear good guys or bad guys, I have a hard time buying that that's what they're actually going for.  Every time the Dominion are portrayed (if they're portrayed at all), they're clearly the evil antagonists against the ruff and tumble underdogs.  Even given the opportunity Reloaded provided to paint a slightly different picture, they just doubled down.  Like Nazryn said, there's plenty within the lore that could provide a very different look at the factions, but either Carbine really has no interest in actually portraying the Dominion favorably or they're just extremely bad at providing any sort of nuance.  And neither does the Dominion any favors as far as bolstering their numbers and providing more balance.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I actually agree with pretty much all of your points except this bit here. The only race in game to actually commit an actual genocide were .... the Mordesh. Arboria was stripped of it's resources (trees and minerals) not its inhabitants. In game Lore on the Sandthorns tells us Aurin still live on Arboria and continue to attack the Dominion Planet Reapers and defend the mother tree.
 
And let's not forget, that it was Brightland and the Exiles that killed thousand of innocent Dominion citizens in terrorist attacks. Say what you will about the Dominion's strict laws and tough justice, they (in all cases except when Pheydra is behind it) fight with Honor. 
 
I will also very quickly point out, given that it's christmas... WE are the rich ones with 'mansions', and the "terrorists" we are fighting are the poor exiles on the brink of extinction... Think about that when you want to make claims about a state being good or bad.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 Seriously? Did you even read the lore on Dorian? What he SHOULD have done was use his resources to find ANY nearby planet that could support the Exiles (there are plenty, and we know of at least one which was where the Marauders Hailed from). Instead he used the last of his resources in what the lore literally calls a "last ditch" effort to find Nexus.. a Planet that was as far as the Exiles were concerned was only a legend. He is explicitly described as obsessed with Nexus... I didn't make anything up that;s literally how the lore is written. The Exile fleed being damaged didn't stop it from making a multi-year trip to Nexus, so it wasn't imminently doomed.
 
This is from the timeline: 
 
"For years, Dorian scoured ancient star charts and ships logs, combing them for any references, however obscure, to suggestive celestial anomalies. Ceaselessly he grilled smugglers for detailed reports of their most memorable sights. With trinary systems so commonplace and green nebulae nonexistent, it was arduous work.
Then one day he hit paydirt.
It came in the unlikely form of an old spacer named Klegg he found slouchedin a miserable watering-hole on the Gambler’s Ruin. His eyes lit up at Dorian’s diagram of the nebula that he had sketched himself from the Book.
Klegg hadn't recorded the nebulas coordinates—but another drink would likely help him recall the quadrant. Heart pounding, Dorian obliged.
The next day, after scrawling a hasty note to Belle (and a terser, apologetic one to his superiors), Dorian stole the Horizon and soared off into the unknown, certain in his heart that salvation was at hand.
 
Dorian's vision began to fade as he slumped over the navigation console. Hundreds of systems still to investigate...Something shimmered at the corner of his vision. Exerting every fiber of his will, he forced his eyes open.
And saw... her.
At first, Dorian was certain he was hallucinating. An ethereal female apparition was floating above the deck, smiling enigmatically. She raised her arm and pointed out the nearest port. Dorian looked, and saw three brilliant lights twinkling where before there had been nothing. When he shifted his gaze back to the figure, she was gone. He returned his attention to the port, and watched in wonder as the three lights flared with supernova intensity, then dimmed out completely, leaving only throbbing afterimages seared into his brain."
 
 
Tell me again how STEALING A SHIP to chase a legendary planet with only a vague idea of the quadrant from a DRUNK was the ONLY viable option for the Exile fleet to find a planet to settle... When even Dorion comments on how many OTHER systems were around.... 
 
Keep your ridiculous ad hominem to yourself and straighten out the lore in your own head mate. 
 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
The Dominion's portrayal is perfectly fine, imo. They're hardly the "clear cut" and actual bad guys. They're just far worse, than the Exiles and the Exiles number of (their actual and not the wonky Nazryn interpretations of) dark spots. Across the board.
 
I find any complaints about negative portrayals of an empire that not only revolves around "Might Makes Right", but will gladly commit genocide for turning down their offer to assimilate, to be pointless. There's almost NO way to make that look group look like anything less than a faction of thugs (no matter how high they raise their pinkies/wine glasses), when that's one of the vertebra in their empire's backbone. That's one of your factions faults. Embrace it. Unless you want some "Mary Sue Faction." Carbine has done a darn good job of making them look as good as they do. They deserve far more credit than they get.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I'm going to have to disagree with you here: I think that Carbine has done a terrible job at creating an emotionally resonant experience for starting Dominion players.
 
Again I bring up the utterly inexplicable choice Carbine made of having the Exile saboteur be an Aurin female. The initial introduction to the antagonist should not be a bubblegum flavored Yandere. Don't get me wrong, you can have a cute antagonist, but not the way Carbine did it. 
 
Also, consider my point about the Sith Empire: it's not about making the faction look good, it's about creating an emotional attachment to your character. Maybe it changes later on (which is the problem) but I went hours and hours on Dominion alts without ever feeling like I was playing the hero.
----
			
You got it all wrong.
We simply need to kill more Exiles so there will be fewer of them,and in turn
more of us.
it's simple Dominion math.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
-snip-
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Let me give a rather long winded example of what I mean: The Sith Empire in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
 
The introduction for players on the Sith Empire faction is, at least in the opening, I think the gold standard of how to run characters in an "Evil" faction. Let's be clear, no one is going to make the arguments about the Sith that Naz is making for the Dominion. The Sith are expressly cruel, violent, racist, contemptuous and belligerent. The Sith revel in bloodshed and slavery.
 
Yet the Sith are popular (I want to say more popular then the Republic, but I'm not completely sure about that).
 
I would contend that this comes from the fine storytelling that Bioware puts into the starting areas and the backstory of their characters. In this case, specifically, your characters (who you can play as complete monsters) start off as underdogs.
 
That sounds weird, but it's the case: of the four Sith Empire aligned classes, three start off 'on the wrong foot', so to speak (no spoilers, this is literally the first 15 minutes of the game);
-The Sith Warrior begins as a prodigy, but is immediately informed that he has a dangerous rival in the starting zone. Moreover, he is informed that his arrival has irritated even more powerful entities that can swat him like a bug and he has to earn his future or die.
-The Sith Inquisitor is, flat out, a freed slave who is constantly belittled by their 'mentor' who is actively trying to get you killed.
-The Bounty hunter is a dashing rogue that almost immediately has his mentor and support team wiped out. Not just wiped out, but killed by someone that is set up as both a long term adversary and one of the worst cases of Backpfeifengesicht in video games.
 
The only character class that isn't immediately beset by troubles is the Imperial agent, but that doesn't matter (because you're James/Jane f'rikken Bond with a laser). Oh, but even the Agent begins the game not by blowing up puppies, but by manipulating two (equally repulsive) Hutt gangster cartels. 
 
I strongly believe that this feeling of being the underdog, of your character being someone that has to make their way in a world of grey and black morality, helps to form a bond with both your character and your faction.
 
----
			Can we please que pve instances with Exiles please?? Screw the lore. We need more people to que dungeons. I don't think people in this game care that much about the lore anyway.	
----