In a bustling city, the guards aren't really everywhere like in MW and OB, they are common in developed areas, but in Skyim I want the Bronx, areas of cities where no Guard shows their face or some such, like the 'bad part of Town' as opposed to the good part

And the empire is collapsing, so that means not many Imperial Guards

I'm fine with guards as it is. And I don't think they will change much to them, except for small dialogue changes and maybe add female guards. The number of guards was fine with me in Oblivion. BTW guards weren't everywhere in Oblivion, for instance I'm sure that there was only 1 guard in the waterfront, and that's only on the "rich" part of it. I'm very sure that there weren't any guards in the "behind-the -wall" side of the Waterfront (where the poor people are and where the Thieves Guild is stationed(when you complete the thieves guild quests)).

I actually want more guards in some areas. I understand that in less developed areas there should be very few guards. But in the cities I want lots of guards, so then my infamous rampages aren't so easy.

I like the idea of having more citizens and less guards. It would add to the rugged feeling of Skyrim. Less law, more real people going about their day. It would be nice to be able to settle my problems with the NPC's themselves and not just have some random guard show up for every little thing, so yeah, I like the idea of less guards. At least when compared to Oblivion. I personally think it would fit the tone of the game and make the cities feel less artificial and constricting.

Don't agree. Any illicit activity I attempted was generally what I'd call "stupid easy" to pull off with minimal practice. The only reason I can see for there being as few as we had was the "psychic guard" phenomena and if that were solved so they could only detect activity in a reasonable radius and not alert every other guard via the "Guard Hive-Mind," I'd love to see more guards if anything.

And by the way- the Imperial City Waterfront was "the bad part of town." Aside from during a couple of Thieves' Guild quests where the guards swarmed it, the waterfront was pretty much a guard-free zone.

no. stupider guards. They were all-knowing in Oblivion

I agree with this to an extent. If the guard AI was a lot better then I wouldn't have an issue with the number of guards at all, more or less. However, I do also think that guard placement is just as important as AI. The major cities can have a lot of guards sure, but in smaller villages I want to see less and less. I mean, the province is under civil turmoil... I think the guards might be conflicted if anything. Should they still do their job... etc.

I agree entirely.

I agree about the shady quarters in towns, where guards have little to no influence.

"Stop right there criminal scum." I think there should be more guards because the empire will want to stop any succession movements.

Nah, how am I supposed to let myself get attacked by an overpowering foe and train him out, scream "help I'm being repressed" and let the guards take it from there?

But really, it seemed alrgiht the way it was :shrug:

It depends on a lore.. prolly some "sheriff" folk wandering around..
Nords are famous for their own justice, an eye for an eye etc, lawsystem should be more chaotic and "violent"

The number seemed alright, only their all-knowing psychic powers bothered me. I assume there will be places and times of the day where they show up less.

Im fine with whatever amount of guards, just no more psychic guards

If it's like Oblivion then the guards are fine

If the stealth is improved (for example I can re-stealth after I've been spotted, or I can escape the pursuers by sprinting until they lose visual contact) then I want MORE guards to mess with, that'd be fun as hell, like in Thief series!

I don't know about less guards, I wouldn't want it to be too easy to commit crimes but I think they will take that into account, although less guards in areas that make sense like the "bad" part of town sounds good.
Another thing about guards, I think more of a local militia guard would make more sense with a few imperial guards just to keep an imperial presence, given that they are falling into civil war and the empire is falling on tough times I think they would want to recall their legions to protect their own province and their armies, leaving the cities of Skyrim to protect themselves. Just my two septims.

Well there were guards in the Trailer so I stand corrected. What impact they'll have is still yet to be determined.

I'd like less psychic guards, but the number of overall guards felt alright with me

We are the Guard, lower your shield and surrender your loot. We will add your criminal distinctiveness to the jail. Resistance is futile... Criminal scum!

im hoping for a more variety of guards, they were all pretty much the same, apart fomr the guard captains, who even then were very similar apart from prosthetic differences

More decentralized towns should have less, but perhaps more unique guards. Would be cool if one city had, say, magic-using guards.

i have a sinking feeling that im going to be able to walk up to a dragon and kill him with either a bow or a sword or some magic spells. if that is the case i want as few guards as possible cause otherwise you get the "WTF.......i just killed a dragon and im 10 levels below you" moments when i see a bunch of guards standing around doing nothing and the storyline is only YOU can stop them.

on the other hand....it is the middle of a civil war so presumably they would have increased conscription.

IMO there should be a some guards at city entrances, a few patroling the city and walls, and the rest should be on standby/in training or guarding a high value target (a count, vault etc.).

Then if you commit a crime that needs the attention of the garrison, like starting a fight with a guard, going on a murder rampage etc. (petty crimes should not) a citizen or guard should run and gather the garrison giving you some time to finish your fighting with the guards before reinforcements arrive.
After maybe a couple of minutes (if you're still fighting) almost the entire citys guard force should be at the spot you started the fight/crime, and if they spot you they should start combat

This makes it possible to commit a crime, deal with witnesses and get away without the guard-hivemind kicking in instantly and having the entire garrison swarming you in 30 secs

back to the topic, i'm essentially saying that the amount of guards in a city should be kinda high but most of them shouldn't be patroling the city but be used mostly in emergencies

More guards in the rich part of town, but more isolated. There would maybe be 2/4 guards in the "questionable" part of town, but they would travel in pairs.