Skill requirements would be really nice, as well as the advancement tests.

I think that there shouldn't be set numbered skill requirements, but you should have to do something that requires a high skill to prove that it is high enough. For example if you were doing a mage guild quest, you would have to cast a certain spell to complete a mission, but the requirement to cast that spell is 75, so you would need to be able to cast level 75 spells, but the person wouldn't say "You can't be promoted unless you have a 75 in conjuration" as that would just sound stupid.

I really can't see them putting this in. I myself will be using 1 handed, shield and light armor if I've gotta have a high heavy armor skill or two handed to get to Master in the fighters guild I will be pretty pissed.

There's no excuse.


I don't care -who- wants to play through all the Mages Guild quests as a damn warrior, it just plain SHOULDN'T HAPPEN! Sure, there ought to be options... things that the Mages Guild might want a warrior for, like escorting scholars to dangerous locations or what-have-you... but the actual quest line? Hell no! That's defeating the entire purpose of a specialized Guild!

Granted, there won't be a Mages Guild in Skyrim. There might be some sort of equivalent... but really... we have no idea what the factions will be like.

If Skyrim's factions are specialized, however, then they had damned well be SPECIALIZED... or it's just going to be one more meaningless slog through a bunch of quests that won't really matter to anyone but obsessive quest-doers and completionists. There's nothing in it if it doesn't matter who you are and what you can do. If it's just a mindless 'Go here, kill that, find this, come back, rank up' line of crap like Oblivion's was, for -everything-, then they might as well just leave them out.

There are some lines which are okay to blur... thieves and assassins? They're similar skillsets. Hell, a Battlemage could very -easily- be both a Fighers Guild and Mages Guild champion. But without your skill and ability in the field to which you are supposedly being applied meaning anything... there's just nothing in it. There's no point. It stops being a guild, and starts being an "We'll let anyone in" club.

That's not what factions are supposed to be like...

I don't remember ever having to "grind" to advance in MW. I would just go off to another questline until I advanced as far as I could there, then go on to another, and so forth, until I came back to the first one and now I have the level to advance, voila!

I agree it shouldn't be too restrictive, but you should be somewhat capable in at least some of the appropriate skills

PERFECT!!!! Instead of skill tests, it would be a test where you would have to complete something. For instance, Mages guild, you would have to open a magic chest, or perform a difficult spell that required a high level, rather than saying, you need this skill at this level. For the Fighters Guild, you would spar with someone, without the use of Magic or Bows. If you used either, they would disqualify and possibly demote you for trying to cheat. And for the Thieves Guild, you would have to steal something from another member of the guild without being caught. So you would not be able to fight your way out of it.

Edit: another thing I would like to add is, a guild is historically a group of people who share knowledge because they have similar skills and proffesions. They would work together, control trade in their proffesion, that sort of thing. So shouldn't guilds be a bit more like that, you are joining the guild to gain from their knowledge and contribute your own, there should be missions where one would have to train an apprentice in some skill central to the guild, such as sneaking for thieves, or you could choose to train the apprentice in one of the skills central to the guild, ensuring you had to know SOMETHING about what they do.

I loved being the master thief who could jump 30 ft in Oblivion. I could steal anything, instantly dagger anything down. I was invisible. But I was also somehow the master of the Mages guild... so yeah. Skill requirements would be lovely.

Maybe in the "fighters guild", it shouldn't be You need 56 Two handed skill to get to the next rank it should be you need 56 in any Fighter skill, that sounds like a compromise and it works better for role play aswell.

This! This is exactly how I feel!

There's a line. Guilds and factions should, for the most part, operate in real life. If you join... fine... but you'll never rise above your level of incompetence. You'll hit a wall where, unless you suddenly learn more and become more skilled, or dig deep and find some natural talent you didn't know you had... you just can't breach.

I'm all for making alternate methods, mind you.

If your Warrior wants to join whatever the Mage-Faction is... let him learn a couple of parlour tricks and then try to schmooze his way up the ladder. Bribery, flattery, and sleeping with the boss are all widely acknowledged (albeit shady and deeply frowned upon) methods of gaining status and prestige and that promotion you want. Is it advisable, not really... because you might just find that you went and got yourself wrapped up with someone who's only going to use your few talents to their own ends and cut you loose... but that is the price you pay.

If they did it that way, I would totally love it. That'd be fine.

Skill requirements, with a few outside ways of getting around them... if you've got some other talent for doing so.

But not having skill requirements is a deadly, deadly mistake... and it was probably the single-largest flaw with the Oblivion factions they made. If they had just had that, I might very well have found the faction quests to be more interesting. Instead, they didn't really even -require- any unique skillset. Why were all the Mages Guild quests entirely without dependence on magical skill? Why were the Dark Brotherhood missions all so similar to Thieves Guild missions, with the exception of setting someone up to die?

They should be unique, and specialized...

I found this:
"After the Oblivion Crisis, the Mages Guild was dissolved for unknown reasons. The two splinter organizations were known as the Synod and the College of Whispers."
I've got a feeling we'll be seeing these or at least one of them in Skyrim... I'm guessing they're "not on talking terms" lol.

I do agree that there should be requirements at every level of very guild. You might be able to become a low-level grunt in any guild, but your advancement should taper off once you reach your limits. This should resolve the issue for most people.

ie. a stealth player that can barely cast a light spell should be allowed to join the mages guild, and do grunt work, but never be granted higher levels unless he magically improves (pun intended). The Fighters guild may pan him entirely, especially if he isn't very strong. However, his skills may dovetail nicely with the Thieves Guild.

In contrast, a spell sword with a solid balance of casting and strength should be able to advance far in both the Fighters guild and Mages guild, but being a generalist, fail to make the cut for advanced rank. Ideally, the guild should make it obvious to the player that he has reached the apex of his advancement within the guild, so as to avoid frustration.

Lastly, only a master should be able to achieve the highest ranks, especially guild master. These ranks should be reserved for those who specialize in the field - not any Johnny come lately who can throw down a sword or toss off a spell.

Also, guild memberships should offer real rewards in addition to quests. Merchants of certain items should react more favorably to guild members. Armors should offer better prices to Fighter's Guild members. Ingredient peddlers should offer better prices to Mage Guild members, etc. This would mean that even being a middling member of a guild is better than nothing.

I would love to see requirements added to the (advancement) quests themselves. If you're doing a quest to prove to a guild that you're worth of becoming a member (or advancing in rank/becoming the master), you should be limited to the skills and weapons that guild focuses on (especially if it's through a duel).

I'd like to have skill requirements. Archmage Sword n' Shield didn't really do it for me.

Yes, they're annoying and should be implemented to ensure that you play more of the game before you can just skip to the top of the social ladder.

This precisely. A nice balance.

I think they should require skill requirements. It would add immersion for sure!

but... I want to be able to join all of the guilds......

I do like being able to become the head dude....but yeah, I think it should be pretty rigorous and maybe even expensive. But then have awesome perks once in the position.

I make mage characters.
So why should I be able to be head of the fighters guild?
Maybe I won a lot of fights, but thats a bit out of the point...

Sure, it makes sense for anyone to be an a associate for the mages guild, they are just people interested, but how could a pure warrior become archmage...

So yeah, I like requirements.
Maybe no requirements for the first rank, that makes sense, but for higher ranks, definitely.

Wait, why not requirements for the first rank?

Neither.

Guild advancement should be about winning favour with certain members, and causing other's favour to drop. One should be able to cause the death or demotion of members so that advancement can take place. For the leadership position, one must convince a majority of the members to promote you as their leader. Some members will favour a person with strong skills, others will not care. This way a person with skills in the guild's area of expertise will have an easier time with advancement.

This is a lot more dynamic and involved process than simply completing a line of fetch/kill quests. Through the process of advancement, a character will create friends and enemies. Each rank in the guild should also have certain privileges and responsibilities. Getting a magic item as a reward for advancement is pretty lame.

this

I work for local Government and see this daily lol


Anyway my views onthis are that Morrowind had the better system and I only say that as when playing Oblivion, I did not want a Jack of all trades anyway so I never completed the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild in one playthrough.

Although the thieves guild and Darkbrotherhood guild playthroughs were always played as either a mage of fighter with stealth skills.

Its about choices, and Oblivion gave me this, I just had to set my own limitations, which is great.

I had mage characters who's backstory meant they were inflicted with a wasting disease that meant I never added a point to strength, but this never meant I would not raise the blade skill as he was the dogs b@!!5 with a dagger

I agee with skill requirements, it just makes sense.

Obviously they should have requirments, and they most likely will.

That was a MAJOR flaw in Oblivion. Removing the Guild Reqirements and allowing someone to be head of the mage guild without knowing a single spell is just plain stupid.

They need to reinstate Guild Requirements and you should have to have at least one skill 90+ before you become head of the guild. It's called "Role Playing".