I was reading over an article this morning and I was struck that Todd H. and Co. are still debating amongst themselves just how many dragons the our little adventurer will encounter during his quest in the magical northern province of Skyrim.

I wanted to put this out for discussion because it might be one of a few remaining areas that the forum community here may be able to effect on the finished game. Todd said that he was hunted by three dragons at one time and that was too many. They are debating between having about a one dozen dragon encounters and what Todd loosely described as limitless because they will randomly spawn.

I'd like to gather everyone's views here, seriously on what they would like to see.

Now, my two cents. I wouldn't mind having a few situations where my adventurer is in over his head. That is to say, the possibility of attracting multiple dragon's attention should be left in a very rare event. I think it would be very very very fun to have no choice but to run desperately for my life. Not all adventure fun is heroism ... Fallout had lots of great running away moments during my main character's playthrough.

The other side of this coin is that If I play +130 hours (it'll climb higher than that over time though). I'm going to want to have fought more than one dozen dragons. I was considering that it would be most pleasant to randomly encounter one dragon every 4 to 5 hours of play. That is to say, maintaining they're status as special boss monsters but then also getting some good exposure to what will likely be one the better features of the game. Brass tax, that means that in 130 hours I should fight between 26 -43 dragons. Plus the ones that are attached to quests.

Your number sounds about right to me. And obviously it will be sporadic. I think many more than that would be too many, and they would subsequently become annoying.

Considering that I don't want to have to fight dragons at all, I'm either going to need good running shoes or have to pray they don't appear in droves until a certain quest starts. I can't deal with dragons.

Perhaps it will be an in-game option?

You can chose to encounter random dragons all over the game, as much as the OP said, or you can choose to only encounter dragons in the quests concerning them.

Alternatively, there could be a scale (1-10, 1 being as little as possible while 10 is as much as possible). This would be the best option but is also the most unlikely...

...unless of coarse, the main quest is laughably easy like Oblivion and you can complete the main quest in about 3 hours of gameplay at level 2.

From reading the way the quote was worded, my impression is actually that theoretically, the number of dragons you could encounter in the game is infinite, as in, they continue spawning, however, they still haven't decided the frequency at which the appear, while there may not be a static amount of dragons in the game and that if you kill all of them, there will be no more, there may be a certain amount thaqt players are likely to encounter in each playthrough, and what that should be, Bethesda is still debating, and in that regards, I think the key is to find just the right balance to ensure that dragon encounters are frquent enough that you remember that dragons are a regular threat to the world, but not have them become so common that they lose the epicness they're supposed to have and instead dealing with them becomes an annoying chore. In the end, making something more common than is welcome is a very effective way to make players become annoyed with it. Cliffracers and Oblivion gates are both perfect examples of that, I think, and if Bethesda wants to prevent dragons from going the same way, finding the right frequency for encounters with them is important, that, I think, is something Bethesda should keep in mind when debating the issue.

Though when Todd Howard says that being chased by three dragons at one time was too much, I think he meant too much for his character to handle, in other words, dragons are powerful, too powerful for one to reasonably expect to survive against three at once.

Quite right, but I don't always want to be able to win.

hmm I really don't know how many I'd feel was just the right amount. I'm not really a big fan of dragons in TES, but I'm sure they'll pull it off nicely.. BUt it still makes it hard for me to imagine just how many I'd want to encounter really. What does make me happy is that we indeed get in over our head

Give me five at once. I can handle it.

Infinite dragons is ideal, these dragons seem simply fantastic. I want to fight them all day everyday. Hell if I ever get ambushed by three dragons, I'll call in another dragon piss him off and begin fighting all four of them. :toughninja:

If I ever encounter a dragon in my game, I'll gladly tell him about a Mr. Zarriel who lives over the mountain, who calls dragons corn-licking salamanders.

As a PC gamer, I don't worry about stuff like this. I know that after the first 30 or so HD nvde mods with bump-mapped nipbles, there'll be a No More Dragon Encounters mod.

38

i think there should be an unlimited amount of dragons but to only allow one or 2 dragons at a time, and after completing the main quest there should only spawn every one 2 hours of game play and only one at a time, but if one is still alive after the spawn time is up then another dragon wont spawn till the remaining one is dead

I think 30 would be the most necessary. I don't see why there would need to be more than that, especially if they are supposed to be somewhat epic battles. I don't need to run into 12 dragons just while traveling to some town. >.>

My opinion would be infinite spawning, but only encounter a dragon every once in awhile... And occasionally having to deal with more than one at a time would be okay, too, as long as it doesn't happen with any frequency. I don't want to be invincible--challenges are what make the game more enjoyable. So, that's my two cents worth!

I felt that the Super Mutant Behemoths in Fallout 3 were a bit too few, just 5 of them in the entire game. I seriously hope there will be more than 5 dragons. But one thing that comes into my mind, is how many levels of dragons there are. If there are more than 1 level of dragons, then I wouldn't mind having the lower level dragons spawn infinitely, while the medium level dragons are like the Super Mutant Overlords or something. Then you'd have those unique, epic dragon (which Alduin is one of). These would be around 10-15 across the world and would be the equivalent to Super Mutant Behemoths (except they'd have a LOT more health, take longer to kill and are actually FUN to fight). SMBs were kinda ok, but kinda lame as well.


Todd Howard:

Here's a Skyrim sales pitch - add exactly 11 epic dragons to the game!!! I'm assuming you understand why, it's pretty obvious. That's my suggestion, anyways.

I suspect there will be 6-10 "mega dragons" and 2-3 "super mega dragons" and 30ish "junior" dragons.

I would prefer them to be quite rare random encounters, and strong to a point where one is allmost unbeatable. If thought about, dragons are huge, tough as nails, beastly creatures, and should be tough as sh*t and hard to find. I want to feel a tight fear in my gut if I see one, and mind numbing terror if I see two at once. Some creatures just should be feared at all times.

How about having about as many dragons as there is about oblivion gates, so like around 50 total, only there's only ever, say, three at a time, and they don't necessarally have to chase you down from the other side of the map, and as soon as ou kill one, another one takes its place. I do want them to be somewhat frequent, but at the same time, I don't really want to be constantly hunted by them, nor would I want over half the small towns to be burned down by the time I reach Alduin.

Seven over the course of the main quest, and none outside of that.

I would like no more than 4-5 in the world at one time. But for various dragons to be found in hard-to-reach dungeons as surprise bosses/hidden bosses. If i could make the game how i would like, these hidden dragons would be in the toughest dungeons of the game, but completely optional. That way, to reach the dragons "lair" you would have to seek it out in the dungeon; turn a few corners, flip a few switches, you read some inscriptions on the walls warning you of a great monster and if you hit the final switch the floor falls out from underneath you and you go sliding down into a giant cavern chamber where the dragon has been sleeping. It would then wake up and talk to you for a bit(to give you a chance of talking your way out of it(or maybe to just taunt you...) before initiating combat.

That's just an example of such an encounter =P I would like there to be a few located in dungeons and then, as someone else suggested, 50 or so in the regular world with only like 5 active at any given time. Then again it would svck to run out of dragons in late late game

I think like maybe 25 randomly spawning dragons in the world, and around 10 dargons that only appear during the main quest. The 25 randomly spawning dragons spawn infinitely until the main quest is completed, after which you can try to track them down and eliminate them for good.

Of course, it cant be too often or it wont feel special. I think every 4-8 hours of gameplay sounds right. Thing is, they cant become annoying.

Most of us seem to be on the same page. With one exception, everyone seems to want them to be rare. I noticed that more than just me a used 4 hours between encounters a loose guide for frequency.

Right on Brother :toughninja: