Hmm, 100+ hours in, level 23, I'm almost done with the main questline (for the first time) with my main character.

Just have two more quests to go, then that's it, but now I'm wondering if I want even finish it?

I mean, what am I going to do if the war is won (if its lost, I guess I'll be restarting :shakehead: )? If Mehrunes Dagan is defeated and the gates to Oblivion are closed forever, then, like, what am I going to do? :confused:

Now I'm thinking maybe I like going to visit Martin, quasi-emperor up in his mountain stronghold, and maybe I like closing oblivion gates and killing all those Oblivion denizens and thwarting their plans. Do I really want all that to end?

So, does any ever get that anti-climatic, disappointed feeling after finishing the MQ?

i was in this position, but i hated oblivion planes alltogether, and i like the look of the imperial dragon armour, so i went ahead and completed it. i just now roleplay, dungeon dive, plenty of sidequests yet to do, caves places to discover guilds etc, oblivion is never finished

:obliviongate:

The main decision is whether you're bored with Oblivion gates, and have all the Sigil Stone enchantments you can use. If so, finish the MQ and they're out of the game. There are still dungeons with respawning Daedra, and conjurers that summon them, as well as Daedric Quests to take you into other planes of Oblivion, so losing the gates just stops the annoyance factor.

You don't tell us which other questlines you're doing, and how far along they are. Although the Main quest is called that, it may not be the most important for your character, and you could get more out of becoming Arc-mage, or Grey Fox, or whatever. Many people don't even start the MQ, and just do one of the others, and another significant fraction do DB or TG first, so they can repent!

Really, its not a huge expense for me. I always find things to do after finishing the main quest with my characters; whether role-playing (the most engaging factor in the game), Faction questing, or just finding new things I've never noticed before, I never lose that level of entertainment from the first time i installed oblivion 4 years ago.

I would say: insure you've had your fun with oblivion gates, as mentioned above. Sigil stones are great, do you have enough of thier enchantments?

No matter what, you'll always have things to do. Oblivion is full of little factors and side quests (i make my own side quests, for example; My chapel-going monk has decided to become a missionary of the nines, so he created a fortify willpower spell and uses it to strengthen every citizen he can in faith to the gods!!) that keep the game fun.

I believe the worst thing you can do is OVERTHINK the game, you have to just roll with it, man.

I have always found playing after one of the major questlines to be anti-climatic. I mean, going from being Champion of Cyrodiil to protecting rats for the Fighters Guild? Or all the other fetch and carry side-quests? I just cannot see any of my characters doing it. I figure that is where the "happily ever after" part begins, and I start a new character so I can do something completely different. In fact, because of that underwhelment I always feel, I almost never do any of the major questlines. I generally prefer to just walk the land like Qwai Chang Caine, get in adventures, and help people out.

If you have never completed the main quest, I suggest doing it at least once. That way you can see what happens. You can always go back to an earlier save and avoid finishing if you want. Most of my characters never do any of it beyond the sewer exit.

I recommend finishing every questline at some point with some character or another. During the very few times I have completed the MQ, it signals retirement for the character in question.

In your case:

If you have never completed the MQ, then do so.

If you have previously completed the MQ with a diff character, then consider freezing things right where they are. Martin can run things from his current locale and you can close gates as fast as you-know-who can open them. Surely, the Elder Council would offer a generous bounty to encourage gate closing, likely attracting the interest of other adventurers. Your character could teach others how to close gates (Fighters Guild comes to mind) and move on to other things if he likes.

well the gist of it is the char is all about roleplaying being Martin's cheif spy and agent. He's finished the DB, started but will never finish Thieves and mages guilds.

being spy lord to the council isn't quite as fun as being the "emperor's" right hand man. but, i am thinking i'll put it off a bit, close some gates, and the finish up when i get good and bored of it. after that, i don't know. maybe there are other threats to the social order that Dirge will have to respond to.

KOTN deffinately is not right for a dunmer vampire assassin, but i am thinking about shivering isles as a possibility

To me it feels like the game is designed to start the main quest first, then do it parallel with the start guild quests, you join the university, do some fighter guild and thief guild quest depending on that fits your character but the main quest is you main focus and you finish it before starting the final guild quest lines.
Starting the guild quests makes sense as the university is important for magic users and as SubRosa says doing the mage guild initiation quests or the thief guild start quests would be a little out of character for the champion of Cyrodiil, however dealing with the grey fox and the arch mage is more in character.
However the main quest is designed to be finished at pretty low level, at high level the defence of Bruma and the fight in the Imperial city get much harder as the guards get killed at once, at level 10 things go far better.
Second reason is that it feels more natural to do the minor fighter and mage guild problems after the main quest. The fighter guild final quest line is very minor to the main quest and why is not the fighter guild or mage guild present in force at the battle of Bruma, if you were the guild master you would order them.

Used a mod who prevent all the gates from being closed at the end of main quest so I can continue to loot them and have no reason to wait. It felt more natural than waiting to level 25.

Both of my characters have carried on adventuring after the Main Quest.

With Relanna, I kicked around doing lots of other quests before getting around to finishing the MQ. RP-wise, I spun it as if Jauffre had said "thanks for the courier service" and sent her on her merry way after she delivered the Amulet of Kings. Many quests and a significant rise in rank in the Mages' Guild later, Jauffre called on her again when the siege of Kvatch began. After that I more or less plowed through the MQ, although I took some breaks where it seemed timely to explore and do other quests, including rebuilding Kvatch (yay mods). All told the Oblivion Crisis lasted well over a year in that game.

Afterwards it was easy for me to keep going; Relanna was a power-hungry mage and thought for sure she'd be serving at the new Emperor's right hand, at the very least. Instead she got a pat on the head and some mostly ceremonial armor. ...She was displeased. The game took a darker turn after that, as she finished the Dark Brotherhood quests, took over the Mages' Guild, wandered into the Shivering Isles, and (thanks to more mods) eventually stole the High Chancellor's seat out from under Ocato. Then I started thinking about retiring her.

My second character, Amarel, being a much nicer and more law-abiding sort, gave the Main Quest priority over almost everything else. If she came across a quest where someone direly needed help and didn't need her to march across half of Cyrodiil she'd stop and assist; otherwise, everything was post-poned. The Oblivion Crisis lasted a little over a month, in her case. Now that the MQ is done she's finally getting a chance to turn her attention towards those other quests and exploration. For her the end of the MQ was something of a relief on some level, since her life and time was finally her own again. And yes, helping the Fighters' Guild out with some terrifying rats might be a little anti-climactic, but it's honest work, and she's glad to be finally pulling her weight in the guild.

Yes Zaria was also deeply displeased, however the dark brotherhood did not work so well, Zaria felt very insulted by some of the members and wanted to show it, things did not work so well and the body count got pretty high so she is not a member anymore, at least she have not been thrown out of the Thief guild for stealing. :whistling:


name / link to mod please :drool: will fit a power crazy bosmer mage as foot in glove.

Sure! http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6855 is the mod I used. (In practice the mod has you joining and rebuilding the Mythic Dawn. Relanna just used them as a stepping stone, though, disguising her identity and wiping the Mythic Dawn back out as soon as she'd gotten the Chancellor's seat. )

Ty you, might be a little dark for current character, she don’t like to kill innocent npc unless they annoy her a lot or she have other good reasons. But she will probably become crazier before she is done with SI