I know a thread suggesting that the guilds may almost be warring factions against eachother,but to what degree would you like it,if at all?Would it be just childish jibes against eachother like the Fighters guild calling the Mages guild "A bunch of useless pencil pushers who waste our taxes" (if such a thing exists on Skyrim),or maybe we would see direct physical competition?

For example,in Oblivion there is an Anvil Mages Guild quest where a rogue mage is killing traders on the road from Anvil to Skingrad.Naturally where magic is involved for a bad cause the empire looks to the Mages Guild to sort things out - but this sorcerer could potentialy wipe out all trade from and to Anvil or force traders to hire many guards,decreasing their overall profit.Such a disasterous possibility means the Imperial Legion should be involved (which they are,albiet slighty) but,if you are a worried citizen or a relative of a slain trader you'd also hire the fighters guild.Many other Mages Guild quests contain scenarios which would greatly affect the rest of Cyrodiil and naturally,many concerned citizens would hire alot of mercenaries.Do you think that in faction quests in Skyrim we should see many factions rushing to do your missions?Do you think you should be able to bump into them in your travels,going to where you are asssigned,and maybe even,if you delay the quest,let it be completed for you(without you getting the fame and the promotion/contract cash)?Or would you think this would be too unfair to the character?

Another thing I always wanted to do in Oblivion (because I'm slightly strange) was to do most of the Guild quests while remaning a freelancer.You hear that the dark elf in Anvil has a rat problem,or that the well water in Cheydinhal tastes strange,but you can't actualy do the quests until you join the faction associated with the problem.Sure,a freelancer would be less trusted with most problems,but you manage to do most Miscelaneous(sp?) quests by just gaining the trust of the NPC who gives out the quest.And wouldn't it be neat to have the Guilds start to dislike you because you are stealing their work or poking your nose into business that doesn't really concern you?Heck,maybe the factions would send people to ask you to stop or try to recruit you,and if you refuse,things could get violent.

Your thoughts?

I think the 'freelancer' idea is probably a non-starter, because if that was possible then nobody - literally - would ever bother to join a Guild.

I mean, the 'rewards' for getting to the top of Guild are pretty well zero, plus you have constant whining from the other members. If you could do the quests anyway, then I honestly couldn't see a plus side to joining up. Well, maybe if there were some sort of benefit programmed in, such as the ability to send out Guild members on quests and such like...

Maybe you'd make the guild broke,and after you'd be able to buy it out,and restart with you as the leader?

The whole idea of the guild is to be a monopoly of the trade, they wouldn't let freelancers get around for long.