I'm just speculating. Dragons, are they going to be "dealt with" the same way Oblivion Gates were “dealt with” in TES IV?

Let's say you come across a dragon - the load screen pops up, and you are suddenly brougt to a mountainous Island with a dragon. Then you run towards the dragon to get the "sigil stone" or in this case "dragons’ heart" or w/e.

I'm hoping it won't be like this. I hope dragons are like rare, unique monsters, but also rewarding and hard to kill.

Thoughts?

That would be horrible.

From what I've read they're random encounters, and can be found dynamically almost anywhere (even attacking cities). They'll be interesting to fight, and may even chase the player to retreat in defeat. I'm not sure exactly what the combat will be like, but I'm sure Bethesda won't cop out with it. It'll be on Nirn, not teleported away.

But Dragons are like cliff racers they can not be avoided.

I hope not but I can see them doing it that way.

God of war meets the elder scrolls? We actually climb the dragon's body or cut a way through it? I doubt it, but the final boss might be a bit like that, but if done right then it certainly beats the bosses from oblivion and morrowind.

I think most dragons that attack cities require you to combat them when the regular combat system. Maybe you have to use the city defences to bring it down, then go outside the city and finish it off.

This man speaks the truth.
:clap:

I'm guessing the main quest will consist of trying to uncover how those guys stopped Alduin from eating the world last time. -see the game informer wall- And collecting Dragon souls since apparently the Dovahkiin can do that? My copy of GI hasn't arrived yet but that's what I've gathered from reading the forum. I'm sure there will be at least one quest that introduces this. And whether or not the other Dragon slaying will be done via the main quest or as random encounters, or maybe both. No one knows. Then the end will be you doing whatever you learned to stop him. I don't think we will actually "fight" Alduin per say. But I wouldn't be against it if we did as long as they made it awesome. Which I'm sure they would.

Edit* I'd also like to point out the Oblivion gates never got tedious for me... Though that was probably because I only closed the quest related ones. :shrug:

I'd rather have it sort of like the oblivion gates, but you have to travel to each of the major dragons' lairs, enter them, kill them, and bring something back. The lair wouldn't be like a sprawling ancient elven ruin or anything, maybe a medium-large cave (depends on dragon) with some fancy loots in it.
Minor noob dragons could just be tough creatures though?

Baby Dragons methinks?

Yeah perhaps, or even the fairly large young ones too.

I hope that the encounters with dragons are random and unpredictable, like spotting one inside a cave or occasional appearences from the sky. Loading screens would ruin the experience for me.

it would be scary as hell for me. Imagine being told by villagers that a dragon has been terrorizing them, and he always flies from the west. You go to the cave or w/e and it loads, it's very dark in the entrance and you can hear something making grunting noises in the distance.. >> then as you come around a corner, an eye on the dragon's massive head opens and stares at you. That would svck.

Yeah, there's a real danger here. Dragons seem like the coolest thing ever, but if there are too many, or if fighting them becomes "tedious", they will seem like a chore.

Oblivion gates definitely got tedious for me. At first they were so alien, demonic, and different from everything else in the game that the process of shutting them down was intense and rewarding. But after 3 or 4, you begin to notice that shutting down a gate doesn't have much (any) effect on the game world - they were just another form of dungeon, with some special loot, that you could entirely bypass if you wanted. And then you get to "Allies for Bruma".....

The line between "epic struggle" and "annoying routine" seems to be quite thin.

It will depend partly on how combat is handled - if it's fast & fun, that could be a good thing, but it could also make it seem like dragons are less of a threat.

More important, I think, is how they work the encounters into the gameworld. If a dragon is attacking a town, I want to see some screaming townsfolk, houses burning, guards & warriors scrambling to attack (or to hold a defensive position). If I'm out in the wilderness and I see a dragon, I want it to be a meaningful combat encounter - not just a bigger version of a boar on the road. Part of this could be accomplished through the inclusion of dragons' lairs - a great idea others have already mentioned.

they will be pretty common to encounter, but not as common as cliff racers, because dragons will be tough to fight. hopefully we see different varieties of dragons, unique varieties :flame:

Yeah on that quest I went down to the oblivion gate and saw my "army" of 15 people, and then we fought like 8 daedra and it was over. I was expecting like a 100vs100 battle or something.. :/

I would be very disappointed if we were suddenly transported to another cell when coming across a dragon. In fact, I bet the devs would be a little bit insulted if they read that!

I disagree. I'm hoping dragons are like any other beast - scattered around the landscape. But you shouldn't encounter them as often - they should be rather rare to come across. Dragons should also have epic loot, not just some dragons soul or alchemy related ingridient.

Assuming these dragons can attack you from the sky and breathe fire, I can't see yet how they won't own you each time. Maybe this Thu'um (or how's it written) will make you able to turn into a dragon yourself. :celebration: :clap:
Poof, the magical dragon...

fighting these dragons should be like fighting monsters in Monster Hunter

This should be relevant to your interests.
http://twitter.com/#!/DCDeacon/status/24860101403746304

Frankly, if the game is long enough, I'll be happy about ~20 dragons to fight now and then. Random encounters also sound better than Oblivion gates, because I always thought "Nah, I'm not in the mood right now, and it's optional anyway".
With dragons, there would be a real urgency and struggle, and thus the achievment of victory will feel much more satisfying.

That would be horrible, but they are like new cliffracers and mudcrabs

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1156463-dragons-are-the-new-oblivion-gates/

Please make use of the search function guys, thanks