I promise not to tell any one if you... oh nvm. It's your game so you get to do whatever the hell you like :intergalactic:

It's an open world sandbox. Do what you like, lather, rinse and repeat. The MQ will be waiting for you when you are ready... =p

I thought the MQ was going to run away

It's ok to do so... I'm on my 3rd runthrough now, not happily so.

I just wish I had the choice to continue past 11 mb save files. I'm getting sick of re-running the entry quests just to parcel out one section of the story before the bugs kick in.

Its a role playing game. Play it how you want. That's the beauty of it all. You don't have to be hindered by anything but your own imagination. Enjoy the freedom, you probably wont see it again till TES VI.

in my experience it's completely different
on my first char I did a bit of the MQ before going off to complete the mage guild
on my second I did the companions and am now focusing on the MQ
and on my latest character I just ran straight for riften to do the thieves guild, haven't even touched the MQ
only overlapping factor between the 3 is the MQ (which is why I haven't touched it yet with my latest char)

also did a lot of stuff along the way and it was mostly different since I went in completely different directions
do recall seeing some of the same dungeons and stuff but it's still different because with some characters I had a quest there and with others I just looted the dungeon

I feel not being a jack of all trades pays off because it forces you to play differently as opposed to just relying on your strongest tactic
my warrior is like 10 levels lower than my mage but he kicks ass, probably wouldn't even use magic if he had any

are you kidding? of course it's not ok. completing the main storyline is the only way you can say you beat the game, and beating the game is the only reason to play it. i hope you're embarrassed for suggesting such a ridiculous notion.


/trollmode disengage

I got three characters to about lvl 17-20 without meeting the greybeards. Then I stuck with one and finished the MQ. I plan on making number 4 and staring from scratch again.

I had Stormcloaks take over Skyrim then I started a new character.
Never did the main quest.
I found the Stormcloak quest line to be that characters purpose in life.
Now when Stormcloaks own Skyrim, there's nothing for her to do.
So I dropped everything apart from some clothes, deleted every save I had and jumped down the trap door to Sild The Warlock and made my save down there.
Riiakhans travels ended with her sacrificing herself to be Sild's experiment, she's probably a ghost in his tomb by now, defending him against anyone who tries to foil his plans.

Uh yeah, I'm not really interested in the MQ like... at all and I have three characters. About 50 hours in all characters combined.

Lol im on my 4th character and i havent finished the main quest LOL
It just didnt appeal to me at that time; though im trying to finish it now haha :celebration:

Definitely ok, you'd be missing a lot if you didn't.

My first guy is a Nord looking to be a decent noble, build an empire, etc.

My new guy is a Khajiit destined to be a total turd, stealing from people and setting their homes on fire. He is a walking middle finger to the Nord rulers of Skyrim and always picks the most rude/arrogant answer to every question asked. It does get annoying when they steer you back to a more "acceptable" answer though

Sure, I did it.

Nah.

This whole DID thing where you have people starting over constantly is probably Bethesda's way of saying it's ok to start over because you screwed up a perk or killed off a NPC or any little detail just to have you playing the game longer. I seriously don't know anyone who enjoys starting over constantly, maybe if Skyrim had something like Fable where your able to change your apprentice along with being able to max out everything in the long run you would realize how silly it is to start over.

Screw dat, man! I wanna make my guy Yosemite Sam with 2 axes!
Or maybe a fat dude- ok, can't make im fat- how about musclebound-OK!
Maybe a dark elf female-aw man, she's BUSTED! Necromancer! I'll have to do this in 1st person the whole way, tho.
Hmm... A Khajit! I'll try to make him look like my cat! Name: dike Head. Not very khajiti....why do they all talk like Puss in Boots, anyway now?
AHA! Orc Female! Fango gra Culona. Bard all the way!

I wish theyd fix the "my horse isn't eating people" bug soon..

I'm just on my second character and she's only level 3. I only got the game over a week ago though. With my first character I knew from the begining that she wouldn't go far. She was my 'survey' character. With her I ran around the world a lot, did some quests, tried out all the skills, met with all the factions, didn't see the grey beards and got a general feel of the game. That took around 30 hours of gameplay. At level 15 I felt like I seen and done enough that I was ready to re-roll another character and start really playing the game with a specific character role in mind. I doubt she is going to see the end of the MQ anytime soon though. With Oblivion it was 6-7 months before my main character completed it.

I think it's absolutely ok. I like to play different kinds of characters and explore different skillsets and factions. I only did the main quest on one character in Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim.

Two characters to get a feel for the game, am currently on the third (level 51) and less than halfway through the Main Quest. Having way too much fun with side quests and exploring.

I am now at about 200 hours and didn't finish the main quest once. That said, I played Oblivion for way more than 500 hours and didn't finish the main quest once...

Absolutely! This is the type of game you should play how you want. So far I have three characters and none of them have finished the main quest yet.