There are honestly only two or three things I'm legitimately concerned about for Skyrim. Considering the general crowd Bethesda's selling to nowadays, it's not hard to get a rough idea of what kind of game will be produced.

A lot of people have been saying it since Oblivion's launch, so hopefully it is being addressed already, but level scaling is something I would really not like to see in the game. The reasons have been stated before well enough that I won't rewrite it, but I think the game would turn out more satisfying without it.

A bit more diversity in what a player can do would be a welcome change. Now, though it's kind of an anathema to say so, but I'm generally happy with some of the streamlining that seems to be the trend for some of the newer titles. Mass Effect 2's system worked wonderfully for what the game was trying to accomplish, D&D 4.0 cut out a lot of largely unnecessary things while preserving the essence of them. I didn't like the direction Oblivion took with it, however. It seemed too rushed, and produced unnecessary skills while reducing others to trivialities, and cutting out some that were deemed unnecessary. Considering TES's past marketing as a world where the player is the centrepiece of a setting with minimal boundaries, those little things that the player has the liberty to do -- enchant their own gear, become more of a skilled alchemist, devote specialization or lack thereof for visibly different play styles -- really make the difference.

As a more aesthetic aspect, I really, truly hope the models and animation changes improve things. Those soulless faces are what keep me from buying Fallout: Vegas. I don't think it's absolutely necessary to try to meet the standards of some of the more high-end graphic RPGs out there, but even something slightly different from the present would be a fantastic.

The last major concern I can think of right now is the reliance on voice acting. Again, for games like Mass Effect, Fable, etc, full voice acting works very well with the setting and the atmosphere those games are good at creating. But in the case of TES, I can honestly say that I would much, much rather read through large amounts of text rather than hear a few sound bites from the NPCs, which inevitably results in a far more shallow pool of dialogue, given the kind of money voice acting demands.

overly linear
invisible walls. not at the border but in the middle of the map.

NO MODDING TOOLS! :ahhh:

that i turn on the game to find that i can only play as the adoring fan, im given the only sword and armor in the game, there are invisible walls to my left and right and can only go forward.

after a few seconds of running my straight line a voice says "there will be the most dangerous enemy in the Elder Scrolls series coming up be prepared".

and into view comes a mud crab riding a cliff racer.

you cannot unequip the fork of horpilation

• Loads of new annoying bugs that will never be fixed with new engine.
  
• Level scaling.
  
• World clutter just containing bad loot.
  
• Level scaled quests and rewards.
  
• Dunmers sound as annoying as wood elves.
  
• Dunmers don't sound like people who drank nothing but whiskey and sujamma.
  
• No change to Fast Travel system.
  
• Developers selling out to lure in new players and forget the old player base.
  
• Graphics before gameplay.

Thanks for the nightmares.

My only fear is that there won't be proper modding tools. Every other ''fear'' can be fixed with said modding tools.

That it will be Cel-Shaded.

Level scaling and beards

My biggest fear is that it won't be an open-world game where we can choose our own path and story as all other TES-games have been.

Fear is much said, but I'm not comfortable with the idea that it might continue the Oblivion simplification trend. Hope the first consistent info will be encouraging.

Oblivion 2.0

Level scaling. we'll just have to avoid the dangerous creatures till we can handle them

Also, that the graphics engine isn't "very good" since it's multi platform

Biggest fear: Exclusive deals to one platform or another robbing me of the ability to play.

dx10 is not just better graphics than dx9, but its just overall better performance aswell.
saying you would prefer dx9 over dx 10 is like saying you would take a rotten burger over a 3 course meal because you have had that burger before and trust it.
doesnt mean its better than the 3 course meal.

Fear that the mounts would be useless for the gameplay.

That it'll be a 10-hour action game in a similar vein to Dante's Inferno, Darksiders, God Of War, or worst of all, Bayonetta *shudder*

Dualwielding and dragon mounts.

That you will only be able to play as the Adoring Fan from Oblivion.


On a serious note though, my fear is that they put in some high-tech stuff, like guns(that some people have suggested). Would really ruin the entire atmosphere of the game.

DirectX

Very true about starting as a prisoner, but I still don't know.. meh. and no I really don't want to ride the dragons. haha. That would be odd.

Fears in no particular order:
I won't like it
Spears won't return
Crossbows won't return
It gets delayed
I have a test the next day (truly the worst of all)
Not enough nvde nords
Psychic animals/guards
It has a tutorial dungeon (Pleeaase never again. Ship+Building=Fine, Dungeon=Not fine)
Not enough side quests
You get to the top of a guild and realize there's nothing to do now
Leveled rewards/enchantments
Leveled enemy equipment
Cliff racers
Cities too small
Bad PC port
Uses over 19 GB (All I got left on SSD, would have to quadruple Oblivion in size, triple FO:NV)

My biggest fear is that they will use the same writers who did Oblivion and Fallout 3, that is to say bad ones.

I can deal with other stuff, and I'm pretty sure they've realized that level scaling as seen in Oblivion was horse ****.

Beards that aren't beards, but in the game they are called beards, by these so called beards, are actually a slider for beards, which just darkens your chin to the point that it is un-beardish... and purple.

Being streamlined / being primarily for consoles.

examples of what this causes:

1. HORRIBLE UI like TES4
2. Lack of DX11 effects.
3. Fewer armor types, weapon types, spells, etc. etc. (like TES3 to TES4)
4. Fewer armor slots and crappy inventory in general. (like TES3 to TES4)
5. Crappy textures, requiring massive modding (Oblivion)
6. Crappy + repeated voice-overs like Oblivion.
7. EXCLUSIVE DLC, I freaking hate that I can't play DEAD-MONEY atm. My single biggest fear. Why should I pay $200, lower my gfx, forget mods, and increase my load-times just to play DeadMoney.