1.1 What the skills should be

There should be 29 skills. 9 skills each for Combat, Stealth and Magic. The other 2 skills are neutral for Vampire and Were-form.

At the beginning of the game you should pick four major skills and three minor skills. Major skills should increase quicker than minor skills and minor skills should increase quicker than non-selected skills.

They should add the skills: Mysticism, Staffs, Unarmoured, Athletics, Short blades, Swords, Bandaging, Blunt, Hand-to-hand, Polearms and Axes.

And remove the skills: One-handed and Two-handed.

These are my proposed skills:

Blue = Magic (9)

Green = Stealth (9)

Red = Combat (9)

Grey = Neutral (2)

Alteration – Governs the level of alteration spells you can cast, as well their duration and how powerful they are.

Conjuration – Governs the level of conjuration spells you can cast, as well their duration and how powerful they are.

Destruction – Governs the level of destruction spells you can cast, as well their duration and how powerful they are.

Enchanting – Governs how powerful you can enchant items.

Illusion – Governs the level of illusion spells you can cast, as well their duration and how powerful they are.

Mysticism – Governs the level of mysticism spells you can cast, as well their duration and how powerful they are.

Restoration – Governs the level of restoration spells you can cast, as well their duration and how powerful they are.

Staffs – Governs how good you are with staffs, rods and wands.

Unarmoured – Governs how fast you are while wearing light armour and how much damage you take when wearing it.

Alchemy – Governs the powerfulness of your potions, the amount of ingredients you can collect and the effects of certain ingredients.

Archery – Governs your accuracy and power with longbows, shortbows, thrown weapons and crossbows.

Athletics – Governs how long you can sprint for, your speed on land and water, how good you are at dodging and parrying, and how high you can jump.

Light armour – Governs how fast you are while wearing light armour and how much damage you take when wearing it.

Lockpicking – Governs how easy it is to pick locks.

Pickpocket – Governs how easy it is to steal an item from an NPC.

Short blades – Governs how good you are with daggers, short swords and tantos.

Sneak – Governs how good you are at sneaking.

Speech – Governs how good you are at persuading NPCs and getting discounts at stores.

Axes – Governs how good you are with axes.

Bandaging – Governs how good you are at healing yourself with bandages and how good you are at removing arrows.

Block – Governs how good you are with shields and blocking.

Blunt – Governs how good you are with blunt weapons such as maces and hammers.

Hand-to-hand – Governs how powerful your punches are.

Heavy armour – Governs how fast you are while wearing heavy armour and how much damage you take when wearing it.

Polearms – Governs how good you are with glaives, pikes and spears.

Smithing – Governs what armour and weapons you can make and how strong it is.

Swords – Governs how good you are with swords, scimitars, claymores, sabres, broadswords and katanas.

Vampire – Governs how powerful you are as a vampire.

Were-form – Governs how powerful you are in your were-form.

These skills I have suggested would make the game more balanced and allow multiple characters. In Skyrim there are only 18 skills. Most of the skills were very broad and covered a wide range of possibilities and left some skills like lockpicking and pickpocket not being used that much. Each specialization (Magic, Stealth, Combat) has their own set of offensive, defensive and support skills but each having their own priorities.

The offensive skills being: Axes Blunt, Polearms, Swords -- Archery, Short blades -- Conjuration, Destruction, Staffs

The defensive skills being: Block, Heavy armour, Bandaging -- Light amour, Alchemy -- Unarmoured, Alteration, Restoration

The support skills being: Smithing, Hand-to-hand -- Speech, Sneak, Pickpocket, Lockpicking, Athletics -- Illusion, Enchanting, Mysticism

1.2 What the attributes should be

These should be the following ten attributes. Every attribute should govern three different skills (Not including the skills Vampire and Were-form). The Luck attribute shouldn't affect any attributes but affect things that require luck obviously, like a chance to hit a critical or if you win when you make bets. All the attributes should either end in 0 or 5 at the beginning of the game.

Strength – Affects your carry weight and damage done by melee attacks.

Affects: axes, polearms, blunt.

Agility – Affects your damage dealt by ranged weapons and your steadiness in combat.

Affects: sneak, hand-to-hand, swords.

Endurance – Affects your total Fatigue and your health gain upon levelling up.

Affects: bandaging, heavy armour, block.

Willpower – Affects the rate at which magicka regenerates.

Affects: alteration, mysticism, restoration.

Intellect – Affects your total magicka.

Affects: enchanting, conjuration, unarmoured.

Speed – Affects how fast you move and the length of your jumps.

Affects: athletics, light armour, pickpocket.

Spirit – Affects your damage dealt by spells, staffs and wands.

Affects: staffs, destruction, illusion.

Focus – Affects the accuracy of your attacks.

Affects: smithing, alchemy, speech.

Dexterity – Affects how quickly you can raise skills.

Affects: archery, short blades, lockpicking.

Luck – Affects everything you do in a small way.

No skills are affected.

For every five points an attribute is increased when you level up, the player should be allowed to add one point to any of the skills that particular attribute governs.

E.g. When you level up and increase your Strength from 23 to 25. You can increase either Blunt, Axes or Polearms by one point.

1.3 Pricing for skill trainers

Don’t do a Skyrim by making beggars charge 2,000 gold for training. Make it a lot less (This is referring to 3.0 The economy which suggests alternatives to the games money, rewards and item prices). Also make the training actually take some time and not an instant skill increase.

On average it should cost 5 gold per lesson. (With my suggestion for a better economy this isn’t cheap).

1.4 Decent perks

I liked the idea in Skyrim but the actual perks were horrendous. I think they should have a more Fallout style to them and have less percentages and statistics.

1.5 Classes

At the beginning of the game the player should be able to chose their class. There should be a list of the usual classes and the ability to create your own class. Each class should have three attributes assigned to them (except Luck) and their own set of four major and three minor skills. If the player chooses a class which doesn't have at least one of the following attributes then they shouldn't have magicka: Willpower, Spirit, Intellect.

If the player has selected three attributes that aren't any of the aforementioned and therefore can't use magic then they shouldn't be able to specialise major or minor skills in: Mysticism, Enchanting, Destruction, Illusion, Conjuration, Alteration, Staffs and Restoration.

If the player creates their own class they should be asked to choose three attributes. If the player chooses at least one of the attributes that allows them to use magicka then they should have all skills available. If they don't then they can't use a single one of the magic skills except Unarmoured. Once they have selected their major and minor skills they should choose their class picture and name.

Ex 1:

Class name: Warlord

Attributes: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity

Major Skills: Axes, Bandaging, Swords, Heavy Armour

Minor Skills: Polearms, Speech, Athletics

Ex 2:

Class name: Seer

Attributes: Spirit, Willpower, Focus

Major skills: Alteration, Speech, Mysticism, Restoration

Minor skills: Alchemy, Unarmoured, Hand-to-hand

1.6 Permanent birthsigns

Birthsigns should be permanent and non-changeable after one is selected at the begginning of the game. They should also just have passive effects. Meaning they should just have permanent buffs rather than spells. Except for birthsigns like The Lover which should be a dialogue option.

2.1 Armour and weapon durability

Weapons and armour should degrade when they take hits. If they take too much damage they should totally shatter and be beyond repair. The degrading of the item should be visible with the use of cracks and rust.

2.2 Realistic archery

Loading an arrow should be slow at a low skill level and have little accuracy and power. The power should be dependable on the player’s strength. Also make the quivers out of leather and not the same material of the arrow head.

2.3 Weapon limit

Have a limit to the amount of weapons you can have at once. All the weapons you do have in your inventory should appear on your character model and contain animations when you change between them. The amount of weapons you can carry should be determined by your characters strength. (Mentioned in 2.5 Item slots).

2.4 Armour effects

Heavy armour should have a large effect on the player’s attributes by reducing your Agility, Speed and Strength as well reduce your spell effectiveness. The same with Light armour but with a smaller effect. Unarmoured should have no stat change but increase your spell effectiveness and magicka when wearing robes.

2.5 Item slots

For your armour, clothing, weapons, and spells there should be slots for each type of item.

For armour and clothing the slots should be: Vest, cloak, top, bottom, boots, gloves, and helmet:

Vests - Should include togas, tunics and vests and be the bottom layer if wearing armour.

Cloaks - Should include short and long cloaks and can be worn with any armour except certain unique cloak armours.

Bottoms - Should include breeches and greaves.

Boots - Should include shoes, boots and sandals.

Gloves - Should include gloves and gauntlets.

Helmets - Should include helmets and hats.

The different slots for weapons and spells should be as follows:

Left hand primary

Left hand secondary

Right hand primary

Right hand secondary

Any weapon or spell can be placed in the primary slots (weapons which require two hands take up both the Left and Right hand primary slots). Only spells can be placed in secondary. Secondary slots allow you to use a spell without going to a menu and swapping. This means you can have a spell in your Right hand primary and Right hand Secondary and use them quickly.

Arrow slot

This is a slot for your arrows. All the arrows you collect will be placed in this slot. So instead of a separate quiver for glass and daedric arrows, they will instead be placed in a single leather quiver.

Primary torso weapon

Secondary torso weapon

Waist weapon

Thrown weapon

Concealed weapon

These are the slots for your other weapons. For the Concealed weapon slot, you can only place a wand or dagger. For the Thrown weapon slot you can only place thrown weapons like knives, throwing stars, and darts. In the waist weapon slot you can place any weapon apart from weapons which require two hands to hold.

E.g.

[Left hand primary: Sword] [Right hand primary: Fireball spell]

[Left hand secondary: Healing spell] [Right hand secondary: None]

[Arrow slot: Arrows]

[Primary torso Weapon: Bow] [Secondary torso weapon: None]

[Waist weapon: None]

[Thrown weapon: 10 knives]

[Concealed weapon: Dagger]

2.6 Add capes/cloaks

Add capes and cloaks as their own armour slot (As mentioned before).

2.7 More than one ring

Make it so the player and other NPCs can wear two rings at a time like in Oblivion. Any more than two rings should negate the effects of the other rings.

2.8 Removing arrows

If the player is hit by an arrow on their body or shield they should be able to remove the arrow. This should take away a small portion of health if the arrow came from their body but it should reduce the chance of contracting a disease. This should be governed by the Bandaging skill.

2.9 Quivers

For some reason Bethesda gave us multiple quivers for each type of arrow. I have a solution, make the player able to buy a quiver and put all their arrows they acquire in that single quiver. Then the player can select which order to use the arrows.

3.1 Less money but more types of coins

Make it so there are many kinds of coins which are worth different values. For example, 10silvers are worth 1gold. Also, don’t hand out gold like it’s candy, a delivery quest shouldn’t award the player with 500gold, instead you should be given 2gold. The player at level 40 should not have 500,000gold let alone 500gold. With that said, certain items should be reduced in price in markets and houses should be a lot cheaper. This means that even 10gold is a lot of money

3.2 Change in economy

Killing shopkeepers, burning crops, killing cattle, stealing ingots etc… should have an effect on the economy and make merchants sell fewer items at higher prices. Investing in stores and helping the owner retrieve items should increase their stock.

3.3 Effects on skills

As you may know, in Skyrim pickpocket is the most pointless skill in the game. Gold is in so much abundance that you don’t need to bother with it. But like I’ve already mentioned, with the reduction in amount of gold and pricing, this will make pickpocket an investable skill.

4.1 Voice actors

Voice acting isn't the Elder Scrolls' strongest feature. In Morrowind there was almost no voice acting. In Oblivion there were like ten voice actors for a thousand people. In Skyrim there were dozens of mediocre voice actors.

For the next game I would prefer fewer, good voice actors than lots of mediocre voice actors. Obviously if they can have lots of good voice actors then that would be better.

4.2 Bartering

Make bartering like it was in Morrowind but add it to the Speech skill. Include discounts when you buy multiple items and if you are a usual customer of that store.

4.3 Speech like it was in Fallout

During certain conversations in Fallout 3 you would get these dialogue options which would have a percentage chance of success. This should be in the next game as it gives an alternative to completing quests. Certain dialogue options should only appear if the player has a high enough Speech skill.

4.4 Improved responses and topics

The responses in Skyrim were exceptionally bad and most of the time wouldn't allow you to say what you wanted to. For the next game this should be improved with less vague and more varied options to choose.

5.1 Fines and prison sentences

In every Elder Scrolls game, committing a crime didn't have any serious consequence. In TES IV, crimes should carry a much more serious fine and a longer sentence so the player and other NPCs commit fewer crimes. The fines and sentences should roughly be as follows:

Murder:

Fine: 1000gold per murder.

Prison sentence: 5 years per murder.

Mass murder:

Fine: N/A

Prison sentence: Death.

Theft:

Fine: Double the price of the stolen item(s).

Prison sentence: 2 day x value of item(s).

Jailbreak:

Fine: N/A

Prison sentence: 1 extra week to your current sentence.

Assault:

Fine: 50–200gold.

Prison sentence: 1 month–1 year.

Trespassing:

Fine: 10gold.

Prison sentence: 1 day–1 week.

Horse theft:

Fine: 50gold.

Prison sentence: 6 months.

Pickpocketing:

Fine: 10gold.

Prison sentence: 2 months.

Being a member of the Dark Brotherhood:

Fine: N/A

Prison sentence: Death

For every week of jail time any combination of your skills should be reduced by 1 skill point to a maximum of 20 skill points per sentence. However until those skills are returned to their previous value, increasing those skills doesn’t count towards the skill increase to level up.

5.2 Prison population

Make prisons populated unlike in the previous games where there was only one prisoner per jail.

5.3 Time in prison

Make prison an actual punishment. The guards and other prisoners should mistreat you. You should receive torture if you have done a bad crime and you should have to eat and sleep whilst there.

5.4 Death penalty

Certain crimes like murder should grant you the death penalty in which you are either hung, beheaded, quartered, crucified, burning at the stake and shot at by firing squad (bows not guns).

5.5 Stolen items

I really hope they improve this. It is silly how guards can tell that a fork you stole from the other end of the province is stolen. I would much prefer that items which have multiple copies and are below 20gp not to be identified as stolen. Unique objects which are more than 20gp should be identified as stolen as something like that is noticeable. (Like I mentioned in my earlier suggestion, 20gp is a lot of money).

6.1 Storage

Storage holders should have a weight limit so you can’t put tonnes of items inside.

6.2 Coins

Containers shouldn't be littered with coins which quickly accumulate in your inventory. Almost no container should have coins unless it is there for a specific reason, as in real life most people don't leave money lying around every container.

7.1 Level up

Max level should be 50. After increasing any combination of your major and minor skills by 10 points, you should level up. Your other skills increase too but they will increase slower and won’t allow you to level up. When you level up you should be able to add 10 points into any of the attributes.

(As I mentioned earlier, for every 5 points an attribute is increased you can add 1 point to one of the skills it governs, however this shouldn't count towards the 10 points required to level up.)

Every level you get to add 10 points to any of the attributes.

8.1 Psychic guards

Fix the psychic guards so they are only alerted to crimes when they actually see it or when they hear other NPCs screams or when someone reports the crime.

8.2 City guards

Actually give the guards a personality this time like they did in Oblivion where they would interact with one another and have conversations during certain quests. As well some occasional named guards, jailors, and captains like in Oblivion. Perhaps even have some defective guards who disobey their higher ranking officers.

8.3 Proper guards

Make guards actually behave like guards like the ones in Morrowind and Oblivion instead of the non-stop gossiping ones from Skyrim who aren’t very good at their jobs.

8.4 Town guard

Allow the player to join the town guard or the Imperial Legion and be able to kill criminals and make arrests.

9.1 Follower limit

Get rid of the follower limit. I want at least four other followers who can join you. Perhaps make it so you can get extra followers by selecting a perk in the Speech tree which allows you to get an extra follower.

9.2 Improved AI

The followers in every game have poor AI. Most of the time they're either blowing your cover when sneaking or are getting caught on the most obvious of traps. In the next game the AI should be seriously improved so that they follow the path you take to avoid traps and know when to not attack enemies.

9.3 No essential followers

Get rid of the invincible and protected companions who just won't die. All followers should be killable and unable to respawn. If they are killed by something like a trap or fall off a cliff, well that's how the game goes, no need to whine about it. In Skyrim the game literally handholds you to make sure you don't make a mistake that can hinder you in anyway (this is mentioned in 16.2 No essential NPCs).

9.4 Personalities

Ever notice how none of the followers have a personality or any morals? In Skyrim you can have every possible follower fight against the Stormcloaks, no questions asked. In Fallout: New Vegas I thought it was pretty good that certain companions wouldn't fight the NCR or the Brotherhood of Steel. One thing that amazed me in Dawnguard was Serena's lack of morals and personality. Seemed a bit lazy to me and felt she was just there for eye-candy.

10.1 Toilets

It’s silly to have sewer systems and no toilets. So add toilets, buckets, outhouses or holes in the ground and have NPCs actually use them. And yes I am aware of the buckets found in the forts but I have yet to see anyone use them. Also these buckets don't exist in most houses.

11.1 First-person view

Allow the player to see their body when they look down as its annoying just being a floating camera.

11.2 Hand movements

When picking up objects, opening containers or picking locks; actually show the hand movements of the player doing it. Same for when you are eating and drinking potions.

11.3 Sneak system

Improve the system so it feels more realistic. I hate it that when I kill a bandit with a bow and the bandit next to him only cares for a few seconds then goes back to their business.

11.4 Player model in menu

Like in Morrowind and Oblivion you should be able to see what your character looks like in the inventory menu.

11.5 Character customisation

Allow the player to adjust their character’s height, weight and age. Actual figures not just a slider from 0 to 100 with no actual meaning or actual change.

11.6 Haircuts

Add a barber or somewhere you can change your hairstyle. Not just a random stranger, but an actual shop where NPCs visit. Bethesda were extremely lazy in Skyrim to add just a single NPC who just changes you character totally with no actual reasoning to her powers.

11.7 Sleeping

When you sleep you should actually lay down on the bed and go to sleep. Same for when you are waking up.

11.8 hardcoe mode

Add a hardcoe mode so you’ll have to eat, drink and sleep at least once in a day. The same applying for NPCs. However if you’re a vampire you do not need to eat or drink.

11.9 Reporting crimes

Allow the player to report crimes to guards and have them follow the player to the scene of the crime. If there is no crime you should be charged for wasting time.

11.10 Character Creation

At the beginning of the game, the player should be able to choose their character’s race, gender, height, body hair, facial design and if they are afflicted with vampirism or lycanthropy. Then they should pick a birthsign, three attributes and their four major and three minor skills. How high your Strength attribute should determine how muscly your character is.

Then they should have to select their class (As mentioned in 1.5 Classes)

The character's attributes should be at a default 0. The three attributes for your chosen class should be at 15. Then your chosen major skills should increase the attribute they govern by 10 points per skills. The same goes for minor skills but for 5 points per skill. All skills should start at 0. All major skills should be increased by 10 and all minor skills increased by 5. Then depending on what race and gender you are, your skills should increase accordingly.

e.g.

Race: Khajiit

Gender: Male

Class name: Warlord

Attributes: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity

Major Skills: Axes, Bandaging, Swords, Heavy Armour

Minor Skills: Polearms, Speech, Athletics

These are the attributes and their starting amounts:

Strength (30)

Agility (5)

Endurance (35)

Willpower (N/A)

Intellect (N/A)

Speed (5)

Spirit (N/A)

Focus (5)

Dexterity (0)

11.11 Personal journal

Let us keep our own journal that we can add our own text and notes to. As well if a puzzle requires translation or diagram, let us draw things on our journal.

11.12 Drunk

Drinking too much should make you drunk and eventually knock you out and make you throw up.

11.13 Hold-ups

You should be able to hold up shop owners and take their merchandise and gold. You should also be able to mug people on the streets and take their items.

11.14 Climbing

Allow the player to scale walls and buildings. The speed at which you climb should depend on your athletics skill.

11.15 Improved marriage

Make marriage not require some ridiculous necklace and instead make it a proper speech option. Also don’t make random people throw their arms at you accepting your proposal. Instead make the NPC actually like you and be in love with you.

11.16 Health regeneration

I hope they remove this for the next game and make it only for argonians. It is very unrealistic to suddenly be fine after an arrow to the knee.

12.1 Locational damage

Like in Fallout, have different limbs and part of the body have a different effect on the person's HP.

Hitting the arms should make the person have weaker strikes and less accuracy as well sometimes cause them to drop their weapon.

Hitting the legs should slow them down and possibly cause them to fall over.

Body hits should be how it was in previous games.

Hitting the head should take away a lot of HP and possibly decapitation with melee weapons. Arrows to the head should be insta-kill unless they are wearing a helmet where it depends on the armour rating of the helmet and the damage rating of the arrow. If the arrow is weaker than the helmet, the arrow should bounce off. If the arrow has stronger than the helmet, the arrow should penetrate the helmet and cause damage and possibly kill. If they are roughly equal, the arrow should puncture the helmet making a weak point and cause little damage.

12.2 Naval battles and cannons

I’m not saying guns but I think they should include cannons in the game like on boats so you can have naval battles between the Thalmor and the Empire for example.

12.3 Block while dual-wielding

Was quite annoying not being able to do this in Skyrim and sort of ruined dual wielding.

12.4 Larger and more coordinated battles

The battles in Skyrim were embarrassing and should be more realistic with soldiers staying in lines and using tactics. Including decent rallying speeches. I laughed when Tulius and Ulfric gave speeches; they were so quiet and uninspiring I pretended I wasn't with them most of the time.

12.5 Attack clashes

If you and an enemy hit a weapon at each other at the same time, your weapons should clash and the person with the better block and attack should come out on top. The same for spells where the person with the better skill level wins.

12.6 Bleeding and broken bones

When you stab or cut an enemy they should start to bleed and slowly lose health. You should be able to stop the bleeding with bandages, potions or spells. There should also be bone breaking where the pain can be reduced by bandaging and potions but can be totally fixed with powerful spells. You should also be able to fix bones by seeing a healer or getting rest.

12.7 Knockdowns

We should be able to knock enemies down with our fists and weapons and cause them to stagger a bit. If they are on the ground we should be able to perform a ground execution.

12.8 Attacking underwater

You should not be allowed to attack or block underwater, but you should be able to cast spells underwater.

12.9 Add dodging and parrying

Add the ability to dodge and parry attacks and include it in the Athletics skill.

12.10 Flaming arrows

We should be able to light an arrow on fire with braziers, torches and spells so they do extra fire damage. However, they should fall shorter than ordinary arrows.

12.11 Dismemberment

Allow you and NPCs to be dismembered so you can lose your head and limbs. However this should likely result in death if not treated immediately.

12.12 Misfires

When loading an arrow you should occasionally misfire by making the arrow fall short or fall off the bow. Also you should sometimes fail to cast a spell or it might backfire. At a higher skill it should be less common.

12.13 Arrow deflection

One thing that I would like to see is a way to deflect arrows. This could be with a weapon such as a sword or through a spell such as telekinesis.

13.1 Bigger towns

Reduce the number of towns and instead have bigger towns with a larger population.

13.2 Arena

Add an arena like the one in Oblivion. The player should be able to bet on matches and fight in them. In Oblivion it made the game much more fun and added a whole new series of quests.

13.3 Open cities

Make cities have walls and gates but make them open to the outside world.

13.4 Interior lighting

When it's night, the interior windows should be dark instead of bright.

13.5 More shops

Have lots of stores and shops, not like Skyrim where there are two merchants per city. As well have NPCs actually use these shops instead of being there just for the player.

13.6 Taxes

If the player or any other NPC owns a house in a hold or city they should have to pay a monthly tax to the governor.

13.7 Trade routes

Instead of having merchants stock appear out of nowhere, actually see traders where they get their stock off of. And if you kill their traders and stop their trade routes the merchants should have little things to sell.

13.8 Purchase denial

If you annoy merchants they should refuse dealing with you like in Morrowind. In Skyrim you can kill a merchant, and their relatives don’t mind selling stuff to you.

13.8 Social classes

In the past few ES games there seem to be no social classes or feudal system towns whatsoever. There isn’t any distinguishing rights or features to be a peasant, noble, knight or monarch. Everyone lives in roughly identical houses. Everyone has roughly the same amount of coin on them and talks as if they are of all the same social class. In Skyrim, the developers tried to do this with the whole ‘Grey Quarter’ however it was very badly handled and seemed all the Dark Elves seemed like they were in the same boat as everyone else in the city.

13.9 House decorations

When buying a house it would be nice to arrange the furniture yourself and chose where you can put certain things like cabinets, mannequins and racks.

14.1 Guild ranks and length

Bring back guild ranking like in Oblivion. The reason there weren’t any ranks in Skyrim was because there was as many as 5 quests for each guild. In Skyrim all the guilds were rather disappointing due to a poorly written storyline and lack of quests.

14.2 Faction forcing

I hated how Skyrim forced you to join guilds and factions. E.g. you can’t complete the main quest without joining the Mages guild and occasionally the Thieves guild. The same thing would happen for becoming a werewolf.

14.3. Make guilds do what they are meant to do!

For some reason, in Skyrim the guilds don’t actually do what they are supposed to do:

The Companions (Fighters guild) are meant to help civilians, but most of the time you are either beating them up or fighting with the Silver Hand who no one else cares about or are even that significant.

The College of Winterhold is more like the Companions because most of the time you are killing monsters and creatures.

The same goes for the Thieves guild where you do very little stealing and burglaries and spend more time killing people.

Even the Dark Brotherhood has the player kill people in broad daylight; I thought they were meant to be assassins not a couple of random thugs.

14.4 Faction disguises

Include an improved version of the F:NV faction system. For example if you’re wearing guard armour, the guards will act like you’re part of the town guard and you can make arrests. If you’re wearing Dark Brotherhood armour, civilians should fear you and report you. The guards should attempt to apprehend you if you are seen.

14.5 Guild members

The player should not be the only person doing quests and missions for guilds. Whilst you are playing, guild members should go on contracts and missions set for them. NPCs shouldn't be essential so guild members should sometimes be killed on missions as well new members should be recruited when numbers are low (as I mention in 16.2 No essential NPCs).

14.6 Joining a guild

The way you could literally join a guild in Skyrim by doing jack all was astounding. To join, you had to do like one tiny thing and suddenly you’re a fully pledged member. For the mages guild all you have to do is cast a flames spell and suddenly you are praised for your magical ability. In the next game you should have to actually have an above average talent in the skills required for that guild.

E.g.

For the Dark Brotherhood, you should be above 60 in: Sneak, Lockpicking, and any offensive skill (e.g Short blades) otherwise they shouldn’t contact you due to lack of experience.

When you join the Dark Brotherhood you shouldn’t be given a contract straight after joining and let loose to kill a target. The guild should first test you skills to see if you have what it takes to carry out an assassination in a sort of simulation (when I say a simulation I don’t mean a virtual simulation I mean like a test in which you must sneak up on another member of the guild without letting them see you) If you fail their tests they should say you aren’t good enough to become an assassin and try to kill you so you don’t disclose any of the guild's information. These tests should apply to all the other guilds except they don't kill you if you fail them.

14.7 Initiation

To join a guild you should have to go through an initiation or something to become a fully pledged member.

E.g.

For the Dark Brotherhood you should have to swear an oath to Sithis and survive being cut from a poisoned blade or something extreme.

14.8 Contract advice for Dark Brotherhood

This is a small thing that really bothered me. In Oblivion the other assassins would give you some advice on your contract and made intelligent suggestions or gave you some insight on where you are going.

In Skyrim this is totally the opposite and practically handheld you throughout the story. For example, in one quest you had to kill a bride. However the writers decided to make the dark elf assassin give you a hand by actually going through the trouble of putting a bow and arrow at the location, even though she didn’t know about the contract and isn’t being paid for it. When she said this to me I just went “Why?” Not only this, but the little girl assumes exactly where the bride will be standing and makes an absolute guess that the statue above her will fall off easily. Then once you kill the target not only are you instantly detected but somehow an invincible argonian uses his telepathic brain to determine that you’ve been discovered during the contract and comes to save the day. And worse of all he didn’t die even though there were 20 guards on him. Pretty bad writing. However this happened on all the contracts. On each one the other assassins would give you their amazing insight and help even though they only knew about the contract after you told them and it has nothing to do with them.

14.9 Multiple faction armours

One thing I liked particularly about Skyrim’s Dark Brotherhood was the different assassin armours. However for the next game I would prefer more variation and choices in what faction armour you can wear.

15.1 Spell-casting

Make it easier to hotkey spells on consoles as well allow us to cast spells whilst our hands aren't free like in Oblivion (Mentioned as Secondary weapons in 2.5 Item slots).

15.2 Not everyone can use magicka

Certain players and NPCs shouldn’t be able to use magicka. As I see it, only people with magicka can cast spells. If the player chooses or creates a class which doesn't have at least one of the following attributes then they shouldn't have magicka: Willpower, Spirit, Intellect.

This means that players without magic can't use Staffs or do Enchanting. (But can still use Unarmoured).

15.3 Wards

Make certain wards affect melee, magic and arrows.

15.4 Add levitation, waterwalking, polymorph and teleportation

Levitation should allow you to hover and move to hard to get areas. Waterwalking should allow you to walk on water. Polymorph should allow you to transform NPCs into creatures or objects. Teleportation should be a sort of replacement to quick travelling where you can teleport to locations you have marked.

15.5 Spell-making

Include spell-making under the Enchanting skill. Make the effectiveness of the spell dependent on how good you are at the magic school for that spell.

16.1 NPC activity

Don’t make the NPCs so lifeless. Include civilian protests and riots against the town guards or possibly corrupt Counts who have increased taxes. Make NPCs with bad moral standing occasionally steal from shops or markets. As well murders which make the guards have to track down the killer. Assassination attempts on powerful leaders. Dark Brotherhood assassins in the act.

16.2 No essential NPCs

Like Morrowind where everyone can be killed and if they die it’s your own fault. It was annoying in Oblivion where certain NPCs couldn’t be killed but it was even more annoying where half the NPCs in Skyrim were essential because Bethesda couldn’t be bothered to supplement what happens if they died.

16.3 More children

At least add more than ten. It’s so unrealistic how there are only a few children per city. Add teenagers and babies too. Also not just human children but elven and beast race children. And whenever there is danger near them, make them flee the area instead of getting in the way.

16.4 NPC and building names

We shouldn't know the name of NPCs unless we have been told who they are or the NPC has given you their name. The same with buildings where we only find out the name of the place when an NPC tells us what it is called or we see a sign with its name on it.

16.5 NPC appreciation

NPCs should appreciate the things you do in the game like they did in Oblivion. Not like Skyrim where no one knows who you are and don’t care for what you have done.

16.6 Builders

It’s funny how there are all these ruins and cities in the series yet no builders in sight. For the next ES they should add builders who actually work on buildings.

16.7 Deadly diseases

Have NPCs get diseases which can severely injure them or kill them.

16.8 NPC criminals

Make NPCs commit crimes in the game and actually get arrested or killed.

16.9 Birthdays and anniversaries

Make people celebrate or mention their birthdays so it feels like NPCs are aging.

16.10 Doctors/Healers

Have doctors/healers who will heal you and have their own market stalls.

16.11 Disposition

Add disposition like it was in Morrowind and Oblivion. With a high enough disposition NPCs might want to marry you.

16.12 Brawls

What exactly was the point of these in Skyrim? They weren't exactly realistic or fun and were nearly impossible to lose. It seemed like they were just there as an excuse to give you a follower which is an extremely lazy alternative to giving the player an actual quest. (I like how Bethesda grandiose these so called tavern brawls) They also gave you insane amounts of gold (This is referring to my 3.0 The economy)

17.1 Reduce dungeon lighting

Make dungeons much darker. Like they were in Oblivion so you would require a torch and light spell. Not like Skyrim where dungeons were bio-luminescent and filled with random torches.

17.2 Less enchanted items

Make them a lot less common as they’re meant to be rare. Not like Skyrim where there are ten enchanted items per dungeon.

17.3 Hard puzzles

Morrowind difficulty puzzles. Not like in Skyrim with the dragon claw routine and those spinning pillars with the answers right in front of you.

17.4 No linear and treasure packed dungeons

No linear dungeons like the ones in Skyrim where you had to get from A to B. Instead more like Oblivion’s with multiple routes and caverns. And this time don’t make them so the player is the first person ever to enter the dungeon because every dungeon still somehow has all the monsters in them and the treasures have been untouched.

17.5 Less coins

For some reason every dungeon is littered with coins which quickly accumulate in your inventory. You'd think after all these years they'd have been foraged dry of all these riches, yet they still seem to have their original treasures. For the next game they need to have a lot less of these generic rewards and abundance of coins.

18.1 Quest intervals

For guild quests you shouldn't be able to do every quest end on end. They should have intervals between each quest lasting a few in game days to make the game last longer and feel more realistic. For example, for the Dark Brotherhood you shouldn’t receive a contract as straight after the one you just did. Also, all the quests shouldn't be available at the beginning of the game; it should be like Oblivion where quests would pop up over time.

18.2 More group quests

I’d like to see some good group quests. For example for the Dark Brotherhood you might need to assassinate a merchant but other members of the guild should accompany you and provide back-up or distractions.

18.3 Remove QUEST ITEMS!

Don’t include the “You can’t drop quest items” text. It’s up to the player if they don’t want to keep an item and if they do lose it then the NPC who gave them/receive that item should tell the player off and ask them to get another one of that item or simply tell them they have failed.

18.4 Quest failing

Skyrim was just a chore with how you couldn't fail a quest. Back in Morrowind and Oblivion you could fail quests and it made the game challenging and provided multiple quest endings.

18.5 Boats and ships

Make moving boats and ships which involve a variety of quests. Remember the quest in Oblivion, ‘An Unexpected Voyage’, I would love another quest like that in the next game.

18.6 Remove quest markers

In Skyrim for every quest you aren't actually told where to go or what directions to take, instead a magic marker appears and you have to follow it. Instead they should remove it, and add better directions and journal entries so you don’t get lost (Like in Morrowind and Oblivion).

18.7 Multiple quest options

There should be more quests which have multiple ways of completing them with many endings and outcomes.

19.1 Potion drinking animation.

Like I mentioned before, when taking a potion it shouldn’t magically happen. You should actually have an animation which shows you drinking the potion.

19.2 Alchemy labs and bottles

Make alchemy like in Oblivion where you could use your pestle and mortar anywhere rather than at a table however, using an alchemy lab should allow you to create more effective potions. As well make it so you can only make potions when you have a bottle full of water available for placing the ingredients in. When you drink or use a potion the bottle should be empty and allow you to use it for other potions.

20.1 Improved horses

Make them like Oblivion where they are actually useful and get you from place to place, with different breeds with different stats.

20.2 Remove fast travelling

It is very unrealistic and it makes exploring pointless. Instead have only carriages and horses. This would make exploring a lot more fun and stretch out the length of a single character.

20.3 Horse combat

Allow the player to use swords, bows and magic on horses.

20.4 More horse riders

In Skyrim very few NPCs ride horses. In the next game there should be more horse riders and followers should be able to ride horses.

20.5 Races

Have some form of races like running races, horse races, and carriage races with fellow characters in the game where you compete for money.

20.6 Real time carriage rides

Make real time carriage rides where you can be attacked by bandits or monsters and not just an instant teleportation.

20.7 Drinking potions

When you are about to die in combat the game shouldn’t allow you to just drink a potion in an instant and be okay. Like I mentioned before, drinking potions should have its own animation so drinking a potion in combat should make you vulnerable so it won’t be constantly spammed as a last resort.

21.1 Beast race legs

Please add beast race legs like they did in Morrowind, and make beast races only able to wear certain boots and helmets.

21.2 Argonian horns

Make argonian horns go through the helmets instead of them randomly disappearing, and make certain helmets designed for argonians and khajiits and other helmets which they can’t use. Now before you say “beast races will be redundant this way” I feel that if the developers include more variants and armour designs then this won’t be a problem. You will have also noticed that in Skyrim, certain helmets are refitted for beasts. If they have time to do that they have time to design unique beast helmets.

21.3 Racial distribution

This is one of the few things Skyrim did right. It made the majority of the characters Nords and made fewer of the other races. This makes sense because in most countries the native/foreign distribution is 80/20. Oblivion was very unrealistic with its 50/50 distribution.

22.1 Daedric princes

Stop with all the Daedra owning your soul thing. In Skyrim you just seemed to be opening up lots of plot holes with Hircine, Molag Bal, Nocturnal all wanting you in their realms for eternity. Make it like Oblivion where the princes have very few interactions with the player and only give the player an artifact and leave it at that.

22.2 Daedric armour and weapons not craftable

No forging of daedric items. They should only be available from Dremora or NPCs who are already wearing it or Daedric princes who give it to you.

22.3 Blessings

To receive blessings from the Nine Divines you should pay a tribute at an altar.

23.1 Real time lockpicking and pickpocketing

Make them real time so it is harder and can be interrupted. This is the main reason why lockpicking and pickpocket are the most redundant skills in the game, simply because they are too easy.

23.2 Breaking locks

Allow us to break locks with our weapons. Harder locks require better weapons, harder strikes or more strikes for them to break. Breaking locks should be very loud and alert nearby NPCs.

24.1 Improved vampires

They were okay in Skyrim + Dawnguard.

Playing as a vampire: In the next game the characters with the disease should be able to infect others with vampirism by infecting them with their blood or saliva through a bite. A vampire shouldn't age at all unless they were born with the disease. Being near garlic or in the possession of garlic should reduce the persons stats drastically. Upon death a vampire’s body and blood should turn to ash. A vampire should have all their attributes increased by 20% except Luck which should be reduced by 10%. They should also have a reduced 50% to fire resistance. Being a vampire means you don’t have to eat or drink.

Becoming a vampire: To become a vampire, a character must catch the disease during a specific quest or from a bite by another vampire. The whole spell which gives them the disease.

NPC interactions: When you are full vampire, NPCs who hate vampires should be hostile. If NPCs see you as a full vampire; then you feed and return to normal those NPCs shouldn't act like you’re not a vampire anymore. Also when feeding on an NPC, that person shouldn't act like nothing has happened and rather try to stop you or become weaker.

The different stages of vampirism should be like they were in Oblivion.

24.2 Wanted posters

Generic wanted posters of criminals who you can turn in or kill. Like the Grey Fox posters in Oblivion. Also make wanted posters of the player if they have committed crimes and haven’t been caught. Also allow the player to remove wanted posters to lower their notoriety.

24.3 Make skooma illegal

Make skooma illegal and actually have significance in the game.

24.4 Unique items

More unique weapons and armour that have original models.

24.5 Silent kills

When an NPC is sleeping or their backs are turned, allow the player to perform an insta-kill execution. You may say this is already in Skyrim, but it is very hit and miss and you can’t do it on people who are sleeping.

24.6 Were-creatures

There should be werewolves, werebears and wearboars which the player can become. Transformations should be forced every full moon and require the player to feast on at least one soul before the morning otherwise they will die. When you transform back to human you should be wearing the equipment you had when you transformed; this could be explained by saying your mundane form is transported to another realm while your were-form takes control. Were-creatures should have a weakness to silver.

24.7 Card games

Include card games where you can play for money and against other NPCs. Similar to how it was handled in Fable 2, Fallout: New Vegas and Read Dead Redemption.

24.8 Timescale

In Oblivion I believe it is 1:30 and 1:20 in Skyrim, for the next game it should be a more realistic timescale like 1:10 or 1:5 or even 1:1.

24.9 Reputation

Make a reputation system like in Morrowind and Oblivion where your actions influence people’s opinions of you. If I stab someone and then tell a guard I’m with “the guild” the person I stabbed shouldn't act like nothing happened.

24.10 Aging

Make the player and other NPCs age through the game. If 10 game years pass, a child shouldn't still be a child. Similar to how Fable 2 handled it. This is tied in with 24.8 Timescale. This means that even a game year would take ages. (Obviously waiting or sleeping in a bed would speed this up.

24.11 Scripted scenes

More scripted scenes in the game like when the Psyjic monk in Skyrim showed himself and like in Oblivion when the Cheydinhal guard killed the dunmer.

24.12 Seasons

Autumn, spring, summer and winter. Not just a permanent season in some areas of the map.

24.13 Decaying bodies

After a few weeks bodies that have not been removed should decay and eventually become skeletons.

24.14 Lighting

At night time you shouldn't be able to see anything and should require a torch to see. If you’ve ever been in a blackout you at night time you would know you can’t see a single thing. Dungeon lighting should also be affected by the time of day.

24.15 Game intro and main quest ending

Skyrim's intro and ending was poor for so many reasons. There are a few glaring issues with Skyrim’s intro that made it quite irritating to repeat:

§ Mute character – During the carriage ride you aren’t allowed to talk. This is very frustrating as there is a conversation going on around you which you can’t have a say in.

§ Lack of background information – Notice how you are told nothing about the two sides at the start of the game? And are expected to make a decision on what side to choice without any real explanation or direction.

§ Boring environment – Bethesda chose possibly the dullest part of Skyrim for their intro accompanied by static NPCs. For the entire carriage ride there is nothing interesting going on. Whilst you are reading this I want you to watch the CoD4 and The Last of Us intro. Notice how things are happening outside the car. For example, in CoD there are people hiding inside bins, house raids, people vaulting over fences to avoid dogs and public executions. In TLOU there are people packing their cars full of supplies, car crashes and buildings going up in blazes. Both are far more interesting than Skyrim.

§ Bad voice timings – This actually made me laugh whilst playing. Notice how when the priest is talking and the Stormcloak cuts in? For a scripted scene it was very badly timed.

§ Hands bound – Notice how everyone’s hands suddenly become untied when the dragon attacks except the player’s? Even though there are people with swords on them, you can’t seem to undo your bounds. (But for some reason when the dragon knocks you over your hands suddenly become free then are bound again when you get up).

§ One horse drawn carriage – This is based on my idea of realism. I mean how can one horse pull an entire carriage with 5 people on it? This is quite amusing seeing how when you are riding a horse it can’t seem to canter for more than 5 seconds.

I would talk about Skyrim’s ending but it is quite frankly totally ridiculous and opens up a few plot holes. These bad intros and endings has sort of become a theme in the series as the only half decent ending was Oblivion’s. These things are the most important things in a game and should be focused on in the next game.

24.16 sixual intercourse and children

Once again we are granted with a sterile protagonist. In Skyrim you couldn’t have six with another character and therefore couldn’t have any children. To remedy this they made a DLC which allowed us to adopt children as a constant reminder of our dysfunction. In the next game it should certainly be an option.

24.17 Smithing perks

Smithing was so unrealistic in Skyrim. Without any knowledge or experience you should suddenly design daedric or ebony with all the spikes and edges just because you selected a perk. In the next game you should only be allowed to craft certain armours after you have been shown by another smith how to do it or have read blue-prints or a book which tells you.