I never thought of that. I'd love to see that in TESV. Especially in the larger, "clumsier" enemies, like Ogres and Ogrims. This may very well be the first time we've agreed. 2nd August 2010, 1.22am GMT. A memorable moment that will surely go down in history. ^_^

From what I saw with Fallout 3 is that they are at least bringing choices back into the equation. And I remember the entire world being literally open this time. Might be wrong.

What still concerns me are the guilds and the skills.

They really need to turn it back into a place to find work, and not just a story in which you are elected to save the guild. As in, quests available at every guild hall, not one at a time. I think the storyline (if there is one) and the jobs should be separate but reference each other at times.

As for skills, there need to be more, of course. But the skills you choose should actually dramatically change the experience. As in, I can solve most quests with violence, stealing, or persuasion.

Random monsters/animals in the wilderness and especially in caves should be much fewer in number and easier to kill. The bigger battles should be even bigger and more dramatic but also fewer and the majority I should be able to talk my way out of/ avoid altogether with stealth.

And no battles (except maybe the final boss) should lock me in a little room until I'm finished.

This way almost every dungeon-crawl quest is suitable for the fighters who want to hack their way through, the thieves who want to sneak past everything, grab the target and teleport out/ escape, and the diplomat who wants to disguise/ sneak his way to the target then bribe or persuade.

That should depend on the guild. I don't want my Orc Barbarian to be head of the Mages Guild. Although, it would be nice to be able to persuade/bribe people to advance in the guild. Perhaps to a limit of mid rank or so, would be a nice touch.

Yeah, it would be implied that the fighter's guild would have the toughest dungeons and the thieves guild, conversely would have no fighting. Or at least be just one on one fights here and there.

It was actually possible, because I've done it, to sneak all the way through the main quests of both games, with the exception of a few boss fights. My problem with Oblivion is that it locked me in and forced me to finish too many fights. Like that one in the mythic dawn was the most annoying.

A teleport spell also makes a big difference. The dungeons are mostly designed to assume that you'll be walking over a bunch of dead bodies, to exit. I always ended up running out of the dungeon with a trail of every monster I snuck past, behind me.

Bribing rank should only work in the very low ranks. Becoming a guild steward of the Fighters' Guild due to deep pockets it rediculous.

Hence it's limited to the mid ranks.

Well Steward is mid-rank. Eydis was only a guardian in Morrowind.

I know you are probably talking about gameplay and balance, but in real life it makes perfect sense. For centuries having a rich and influential family was way more important than any skill. Today money still get's you everywhere, for the right price. So buying your way up is certainly not ridiculous, though it would svck gameplay wise unless you like to cheat, so a limit would be needed of course.

I personally think however think that persuasion should be much more important in general, not just a way to get your guild rank up, but a way to solve (guild) quests. So you can get ranks up without having to fight without 'cheating'. Morrowind and Oblivion already had some 'peaceful quests' without (much) fighting, but in most cases that's again the only way to solve such a quest. Persuation/non combat solutions (other than stealth, since that does work most of the time though that too could be improved) should be an alternative to fighting in a quest, so you can choose between fighting(, stealth) and non combat ways to solve quest. Off course some quest should only have one way to solve (or one type of way, like having multiple fighting choices to solve, but no persuasion or multiple stealth ways into a building but no way to talk or fight your way in.)