Today I learned that by simply accepting "The Bronze Beneath the Lake" I sided with the Dozens. I neither wanted nor planned this. I actually intended to grab all the gear I find and take Crucible Knights' side in this conflict. But alas, by accepting the quest, I restricted myself from even getting offered the "Winds of Steel" quest.

 

The questgiver does warn the hero that "Crucible Knights won't be happy when he does this", but it doesn't indicate that just by accepting the quest he takes the Dozens' side.

 

I reckon that successfully completing the quest should side the hero with the fraction, which would be reasonable in this case, not merely saying to do so.

 

For now I managed to change conversation node condition as suggested here. This enabled me to continue with Knights' quests. If I'm not able to complete them I think I could try to decrement n_MercenaryHire_State value through console. Nevertheless, I hope this gets changed.

Edited June 28, 201510 yr by Davenv

The guy who gives you the quest warns you that agreeing to work with the Dozens would piss off the other two factions. Don't skip dialogue.

If you read my opening post carefully you'd know that I saw the warning.
 
My problem is that Wenan doesn't warn that agreeing to work with the Dozens is going to make Knights' averse. His words are "I do have something if you don't mind stepping on the toes of Crucible Knights". I don't see how this is implying that accepting the quest means taking the Dozens' side. Think about it from the hero's perspective. Why would telling Wenan that you agree make Clyver unwilling to work with you further? Agreeing isn't even intention, let alone execution.
 
If I completed the quest and brought gear to the Dozens, that unwillingness would be justified. But that isn't the case.

Edited June 28, 201510 yr by Davenv

Well-known issue that is not technically a bug, and have been discussed at length.

For what it's worth, I agree that it's a problem, since agreeing to do something isn't the same as actually doing something, and a lot of games allows you to actually betray the party you've agreed to help; I certainly could've ended up in the same situation as you during a playthrough, thinking I could double-cross someone I don't actually like, thinking "I'll accept it and see if I can work against them in favour of <other faction>".

 

The wording is hazy for something that is such a dead-stop adamant hardline, a completely binary choice, and the questline(s) underwhelming in complexity, far from what one would expect from a game such as this, certainly.