I completed the Castle Kvatch part of the MQ at level 3 because it's too hard later. I didn't talk to Martin in the Temple, so now he's waiting down at the little village below Kvatch. I would like to leave him there and go off and do a whole bunch of other quests before I escort him to Weylon Priory, because I don't want to have to deal with the Gates yet.

Is there anything wrong with this? Will he wander off?

nope, he will stay right there and await you... and though it would make sense that there are some problems with this, there are not.

Best thing would actually be to never go to Kvatch in the first place. All my characters which don't plan on doing MQ do this. Just go, get rid of the Emperors Bling, and take Jauffre's assistance for some weapons and armor, along with a horse from one of the brothers, a repair hammer from their dark elf, and a book from the other brother. Take all of it, sell it, and live your life.

I concur. I have different accounts for different characters.

My Dark Elf lives in Weynon Priory as an archer exploring the countryside.

My High Elf is a wandering mage.

My Argonian Assasin lives with the Dark Brotherhood.

As far as they're concerned, Kvatch is just fine and Jauffree has the AoK. What if they should go to Kvatcha and see it totally destroyed and the cause was Oblivion Gate? Turn right around and run. No way are they going to enter that gate.

EDIT: As for ol' Martin, he'll stay there forever until you come to pick him up. He's a good little priest.

This a wonderfu plan and one I often use. You are free of that cluttery amulet, you have sated your curiosity about what an Oblvivion Gate his. You have helped that brave guard Captain do a nice quests. No more gates will open at this point marring the landscape. In fact my characters often abandon the MQ at this point never to return. Once you get to level 17 if you feel you really gotta have some of those top level sigils, you can progress things a bit and coax some more gates open.

I usually wait until LV 17 so that I can get the best Leveled Sigil stone but if I'm wearing Heavy Armor I'm probably going to do the quest at lv 2 so that I can get the Blades Armor Set.

Nothing wrong with that. I usually wait until 17 to even go up the road to kvatch just because I don't need to do it until then and it gives me time to get other stuff done without oblivion gates popping up everywhere.

Nothing beats the 50 magicka sigil stones.

Exactly.

The Detect Life 180 Sigil, The 50 Magicka Sigil, and the 125 Feather Sigil. Those are the main reasons why I wait until LV 17.

I did that, liberated the city but since I never handed in the amulet the MQ never progressed. So visiting Kvatch is no problem even if you don′t want to start the MQ. Thing is not to give the bling to Jauffre

Nice list of top sigils indeed! :goodjob:
I would add each of the elemental shield ones for 25 each.

Ya. I personally just use the Magicka one since all of those other effects can be achieved at a high enough(not as high as the sigil stones) magnitude to be useful as a spell.

Yes, you're a terrible person for doing so! That poor emperor trusted trusted you with saving Tamriel from certain destruction, and you "go off and do a whole bunch of other quests" !!!

Actually, if you drop the MQ after Kvatch, you've done what the Emperor asked you to do: You've taken the AoK to J., you've "found his son," and you've "closed the jaws of Oblivion." Your character may well presume that the crisis is over, since no more gates will open. (And may be wise enough to see that further meddling will only make things worse.)

True -- you could leave Martin to find the way to the priory by himself and then later, when you hear nothing from him and don't see any Oblivion gates or anything, figure that everything's been solved and you can go on with your life. Come to think of it, I don't think there's much evidence of a crisis after that -- except for the burning city that never gets rebuilt.

EDIT: Embarrassing typo

Good points there, could have done so. But I kept the amulet because I was too afraid that the burned city on the box would be Bruma if I went on with it

I always at least deliver the Amulet since you get a free horse.

I didn′t know that at the time. When I think a little more about it, I think I WAS gonna deliver the amulet but got too distracted by other quests that kept popping up, ' I do this quest and then I deliver it...'
' ok, just ONE more quest and THEN I deliver it!'

And now I would feel stupid to do it so I keep it as an investment

Damn, I dropped off the AoK, got the stuff in the chest but forgot to get the horse. Can I still go get it, or would it be stealing? Funny, worrying about stealing a horse when I've killed everybody in Hackdirt before I spoke to anyone apart from the innkeeper. Unprovoked attacks, but not considered murder, though. Odd. :shrug:

If you've talked to Prior Maborel, the horse is yours.

Closing the Oblivion Gate at Kvatch is just about the same difficulty at any level. However, the fight afterward to get to the chapel is a different matter. I've found that doing it early is good, because the Daedra opposing you are weak, and the allies you bring in (Savlian etc.) can handle them for you. Much later, you're strong enough to handle them all on your own. But in between, there's a point where the Daedra get stronger, the allies don't, and you get totally swarmed to death. The optional sortie into the Castle can be the same.

So your approach makes a lot of sense. Get Kvatch done early, and decide when you want to do the rest of the MQ (if at all) some time later. I've sometimes done the first part early, and come back to do the Battle for Castle Kvatch twenty levels later to get allies for Bruma near the end of the MQ, leaving it well alone for that "weak period".