Am listening to GameInformer interview:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/podcasts/archive/2011/02/03/toddhowardse.aspx

Therein it is said there is currently a Compass giving orientation, and likely quest directions.

YUK

If we get lost, then when standing still and not otherwise preoccupied, the the character's head turns to face the best path to where to go next wrt to questing. Chasing may be a problem, but whatever. Environmental cues, magic, gadgets should inform one where the cardinal directions are.

I know this has been discussed to death, but I just had to reiterate

Maybe for certain quests you could get a general direction and then you get to search it out...Like a search for ruins quests or hunt for a Unicorn.

Did not get this in the podcast but it sounds stupid and totally unneeded. Will look pretty stupid if your character turn around as look at a wall because that is the direction to a quest if you release him
Might also create problems if you just stand still watching enemies or people moving.

You will normally have the compass on the hud, something else would be stupid, quest arrows is a different issue. health and other stats just shows up if you are hurt or they are not filled up. Hope it shows numbers of arrows,

Todd says that "there is a small compass bar at the top, uh, that right now is always there, uh, for direction."

I don't think this necessarily means that there will be quest markers on the compass.

Compasses are pretty standard in rpgs these days. Have been for years. They can be pretty useful. Better than continuously checking your map to see if you are headed in the general direction you want--like I kept having to do in Arkham Asylum until I got familiar with the grounds. I don't want quest markers, but I certainly want the compass. I'd like to know if I'm headed south, or south-east etc.

Ignore, double post.

Is this suggestion serious?

What's the point in playing a game as opposed to watching a movie, when the game does all the work for you?
No. If the task is to find someone, my source of enjoyment is searching. If searching is replaced by standing still for a moment and then pressing W (or whatever button these console gamepad thingies use for walking forward) until I'm there, then the source of enjoyment is... what exactly?

Note that I said 'best path' not 'direction'. The idea is similar to the glowing trails of Fable, but much less obtrusive. Your second point is valid, though disengaging from the current quest effectively turns this off...and so Spec, one can search otherwise all you want.

Compass so I can actually navigate.

I'm pretty sure it's been said that there will be directions for certain quests, with the possibility of NPCs guiding you to the beginning of a path, so hopefully quest markers will either be much less obvious, optional, or only available for certain quests. I think the above info was in one of the magazines (not GI though).

I personally would only care to see a Compass if one was acquired in game as an inventory item, and not just 'there'.

anyway, addendum to my previous thoughts: having enemies nearby would cancel the head-turning-quest-path-thingy. Having a guide in a quest would cause the head to turn to the guide.

I think it should have a system similar to Assassin's Creed's "the target is in this general area, use your eagle vision" way of finding your objective.

On the other hand, some people don't like searching and searching, being unable to find something because the devs may have very vague hints. I think a lot of things in the game should be optional from the options menu, to make everyone happy. Things like quest markers and fast travel should be able to be turned off for people who prefer.

it it doesnt have markers, its perfect! a normal compass was all i wished for

This is true, of course, the original idea of a compass is not something that magically tells you where you need to go next, it's just a device used to help determine north, south, east and west, and having such a thing would be helpful for navigation in a game where you're told where to go via directions like in Morrowind too, as if you're told to head north from a certain location, you'd know that you need to go north, much like how you might use a compass in real life. It doesn't necessarily mean that the quest markers from Oblivion will be there. I do expect them to be, though, as that seems to be the trend in games these days, but the fact that there is a compass certainly doesn't guarentee their presence.

I just hope there's an option to toggle them off myself, whether it's an option in the game menu, or if when selecting my active quest, I can choose whether I want markers placed on my map for it or not, and to go along with this, there should be some form of directions given for quests, so not using the quest markers is actually feasible.

And I would not like the head turning thing, it just seems like it would be annoying if while I was just standing there looking at something my character suddenly started looking in a different direction, and it's not like that would "fix" the "problem" with the compass. The reason the compass bothers some players is because they see it as "hand holding", with it, the game points you in the exact direction of your next objective, rather than requiring you to find it by following directions. What this thread is suggesting isn't going to change that, it would just mean that the game has a different way of pointing out the next location you should go to.

That auto facing is the OP's idea of how it should be not how it is going to be.

All it'd take to make me happy is a toggle, Skyrim can have all hand holding it wants, magic arrows, breadcrumb trails, big neon signs and even this (horrible) head turning idea, but please Bethesda, let me turn it off if I don't want it.

Because there's no other reason to stop and stare, right? Looking at a beautiful landscape, or waiting for someone, or lying in wait to lay a trap?

Nope.

If learning the lay of the land as well as its most obvious landmarks (Throat of the World?) isn't enough for you ... well, you can certainly buy a compass and have it equipped in one of your hands.

This.

A compass that shows North, South etc. and directions from an NPC is all i need for mah questz.

Given the fact that we can instantly access a full world map that shows landmass details and landmarks, why the hell do we need a compass, auto-face or ANYTHING else? At least make it optional, since it is pretty much universally loathed.

Yes, NPC's will give you directions. And a pro-tip for everyone who doesn't want a marker telling you were to go. *De-activate quest* DONE. Then just use the compass the same way you used the mini-map in Morrowind. You couldn't really do that in Oblivion because they didn't give direction but they will in Skyrim. So everyone is happy now.

Part of the issue was that you couldn't just "deactivate" the quest. You had to select another quest, and the arrow was still there for that quest like the annoying guy in the background constantly waving his arms for attention.

The only way to get rid of it was to complete the active quest (which would clear the active quest), however the next quest update would automatically become the active quest.

And the easy solution to that is to have a quest that does not use the arrow be activated. Such as after you become the Grand Champion or the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. :shrug:

Not all characters will do those quests.

The other annoying thing which activating a different quest didn't get rid of was the compass showing the locations of dungeons, etc. which you couldn't see. (Morrowind did this as well, IIRC, with little yellow squares showing up on the minimap, but I didn't like it so much there either.)