I finally managed to force myself through the first hour of Oblivion and then many more (several attempts back when it was released were a failure, apparently I wasn't able to accept the setting of Oblivion after Morrowind, but now after a few months of actually accepting and enjoying Skyrim for what it is, here I am), and am totally loving Oblivion.

Should I do the main quest early or save it for later? I've delivered the Amulet of Kings, but that's it, and for now am just doing various quests and trying to level smartly. My main concern is - doing MQ early might trigger random nuisance events like dragons in Skyrim that would kill quest NPCs, but then again, by not doing it early I could miss out something important, like, iono, unique alchemy ingredients that drop only from specific monsters encountered only at low levels.

Without spoiling anything, I hope, experienced Oblivion walkers could tell me, which of my concerns have a valid ground and which do not. Thank you.

I think once you take the amulet to Jauffre, Oblivion gates start spawning. You'll probably get sick of them before long so i'd continue with the Main Quest. Also at higher levels tougher monsters will spawn in Oblivion gates making the game pretty difficult than at lower levels.

I'd go for the Main Quest now if you can.

The Oblivion Gates don't start randomly spawning until after you rescue a certain person from a certain city. Giving the amulet to Jauffre will not have them start spawning.

As for when to start the main quest, depends on how challenging you want it to be. Thanks to Oblivion's levelling system (unless you're using OOO or FCOM) and its monster scaling system, doing the main quest earlier makes it really easy. You can get to the finale with [Spoiler] at some really low levels (I managed to get there by level 18.)

Basically the earlier you start the Main Quest the easier it is.

The Oblivion Gates do get annoying, but that is where you need to learn to only close them down if they are in dangerous spots (near towns or villages) or on a regular path. Most can be ignored.

I don't have Skyrim yet, but you do not have to do the main quest at all if you don't want to. You can even do a little bit of the MQ and then never again.
That said, for my characters who used to do the MQ:

- Some did it as early as possible. You get serious experience points. It is heavy combat. The guards don't level up like you. So if you want their help and want them to be able to administer ANY kind of beatdown, I'd go early.

-Others go as late as possible. The most glorious, combat-oriented character I created was a barbarian. She wielded a claymore and ax, little to no magic, wore a combo of heavy and light armor and was played on 75% difficulty and did the MQ at level 40. Each little skirmish took well over 5 minutes..... it was awesome. Her main, enchanted claymore broke (I cannot repair unless in a town and safe) some damn Dremora disarmed her and her axe went spinning off into, well, Oblivion, and she was forced to use weapons from her slain guard brothers in arms. Awesome. Note that doing the MQ very late is also very viable with a pure mage depending on how you set up static defenses for your character.

So..... make another character down the road and do the opposite of what you are about to do now!

This is true. Giving the amulet to Jauffre won't start spawning gates, but what happens a little after this will.


Thought I'd clarify for the OP that OOO and FCOM are mods that change the levelling system. In the vanilla game, as Xzalander said, doing the main quest earlier is easier because at later levels, you'll encounter tougher enemies, and find yourself having your backside handed to you.

The levelling system in Oblivion is opposite to Skyrim- in Skyrim you get stronger as you get to higher levels and choose more perks, but in Oblivion, enemies level with you. This means when doing the main quest at Level 20+, you'll be fighting http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:OB-creature-Xivilai.jpg instead of http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:OB-creature-Stunted_Scamp.jpg that you'd encounter in the early levels.

A lot of players here never bother doing the main quest at all (or only doing it once, with one character.) But if you definitely want to do the main quest, my advice would be to do it now before you get too high in level, because tougher enemies mean it can get really frustrating.

Thanks for the tips, I'm almost convinced to go with MQ right now, as, despite the fact that I'm trying to level 'smartly', even a random timber wolf encounter on the road is quite challenging and it seems, it will only get more challenging as I level up. Just one thing: will those oblivion gates endanger quest NPCs and could they make fail interesting quests or even guild quest lines? Or if they can and do, I guess, that's where the replay value lies, among other things.

Just some random thoughts –
- After you complete the MQ, you are known throughout the land as a mighty savior of the world and have to (or get to depending on your point of view) listen to everyone tell you so. I find this adoration and fame a bit anticlimactic while trying to do other quests that involve rats in basemants or missing potatoes and such.
- You can visit the first gate you find, go inside, check it out, harvest unique ingredients and leave it intact as a farm for such ingredients.
- When you close a gate, you get a prize. These prizes can be pretty neat and the best ones come to those who first achieve character level 17.
- With very few exceptions, NPCs who are needed for quests are marked ‘essential’ (can’t be killed). The game is pretty competent at not letting you screw up the ability to do future quests.
- Your mileage may vary, but I either pass entirely on the MQ, or do it very late in a game.

Much of this is true, yet not all of it. I've come across several minor quest givers, dead... either by high level monsters in the wild or oblivion spawns. Also, if I'm not mistaken some of the master trainers are not essentail(something to have in mind.)

EDIT: Didnt see "with very few exceptions" my bad

As main quest goes normally without mods that changes the levelling system,it is easier very early on but you still can make use of some helpers along the way like potions,armour and such.Next time things gets easy is when you are way up in level and have all sorts of equipment imagineable,the hardest part then would be to keep friends alive maybe,you are fine pretty much.

In the middle it can be challenging if you miss with the levelling so you are out there in crappy gear and skills and get a hard time survive,or at least get the missions completed.

Nope. Not true, as has been pointed out by others no doubt. Thank goodness this isn't how it works, I woulda been hella frustrated early on if this were true.

I started the MQ with one of my first characters, but never finished it until almost 3 years later with a different character. With that later character I used lesser-used skills as Majors, which keeps vanilla games (Xbox and PS3) from leveling up too fast. Therefore I could play the game at my leisure, and attack the MQ when my character (who is a pure mage type) felt ready to do so. He became the Arch Mage first, before going to Kvatch.

Never did the MQ. And I′m glad I for it as it would have destroyed so many things that I hold dear in Cyrodiil

If you're encountering Timber Wolves, you're already past "early." The first big battle in the Main Quest is really only "easy" if done before about level 3 or 4. At that level, there are mostly just stunted scamps for your fellow fighters to deal with. Not really a problem for your character, but it's hard to keep your allies alive.

My characters who do the MQ usually do the first few sub-quests immediately, and then level up a bit before continuing.

As I've said before, I was pretty shocked the first time I went to Kvatch, but still started seeing gates popping up everywhere! I was sad because I But the 2nd time I attempted the MQ (and really got into it) I found myself getting addicted to closing them! The Grey Wizard spent a long time just traveling the countryside, looking for gates to close (especially near roads). Now that the gates are gone, The Grey Wizard just sits in his tower and walks the University grounds, doesn't really do much else. His glory days...gone.

If you want the best loot you can get from the Oblivion gates, do it later. If you want to keep certain NPCs alive through the quests, then do them early.

I always do the Main Quest early. I don't like the Oblivion gates that keeps spawning and I like to get that done since it gives me more time to do other quest in my own pace.

Played the game for years, but never finished the main quest until a couple of months ago. I went back to my 3rd character, created in 2008, and finished it out at level 44. Had fun, and she kept on playing afterward to level 50. Then recently, my main character - level 51, also from 2008, has decided to finish the main quest. She is presently at around 1200 hours in the game. She has decided she likes closing gates, and despite everyone’s else complaints about the same, is going to close all 60 of them. She has closed 37 so far. You don’t have to do all that, but that’s what she’s decided and I just go along.

Random thought: Oblivion gates are a great source of revenue, so if you complete the main quest early you will miss out on that cash flow. Just going up to a gate and killing those critters will net some loot. Or as someone else said, enter a gate and mine it for loot and come back out without closing it - never done that though. Take a companion if you can, as all that Daedra stuff gets heavy.

At present, I don’t see how finishing the main quest early would mess up any of the other quests.

If you don′t like the gates popping up and if you want to do other things then don′t do the MQ at all. It is actually optional, you know

There are certain parts of the MQ that can be justified in taking a break from. Up until you get Martin to Cloud Ruler it seems urgent, but once he's there you can then easily roleplay that the Blades can take care of him and so you can go off and do some other stuff for the moment.

To me it seems the opposite. Until I get Martin to Cloud Ruler I feel little sense of urgency. But after that gates are springing up all over, constantly reminding me that there is a crisis going on and that I am neglecting it. That's when I feel the most urgency.

Yes, that's the way it hits me, too. Even when you go into the cities, you overhear people talking about the crisis. After Kara Whey attended to the Kvatch business, she took some time off, did some business in Anvil, explored a bit. That all changed when she picked up Martin and got him to "safety." As a "responsible hero," one can't ignore those gates.

If you truly want to feel responsible and make sure people are safe, hang on to that amulet for all you′re worth and never ever talk to that certain someone

Most of my characters have never laid eyes on the Emperor, and have never heard of any stinkin' amulet.

Yes, I know but then it keeps in the back of my mind. I always feel like I have to do the MQ, in Oblivion, first. Just to get the annoying part over with

Yes, but see, you're using 'player knowledge' to come to that decision. You know that, but your character doesn't. To me, roleplaying uses only information my character might plausibly know. Using my own information or information gotten from the internaet, to me, is meta-gaming, not roleplaying.

Of course, there's nothing necessarily wrong with not roleplaying. It's just not the way I would want to play the game. *shrugs*

I know that now but I didn′t know it back then. I just never got around to do those things but I didn′t know that I should avoid doing it if I didn′t want any gates.

RP for me is to decide what I want to do, not what the game wants me to do. I see your point, but I think it′s a valid thing to ignore the emperor′s wish in the tutorial. As far as I′m concerned it was just a jailbreak. I did meet the emperor but he didn′t give me anything and I′m free to do what I want, no weight of the world on my shoulders thank you very much

I don′t think using what one knows about the game is meta-gaming but rather a necessary thing if one wants to RP a specific character. I know many here who made certain characters to RP after they knew lots about the game. Meta-gaming is imo to rack up the numbers and exploit everything.