I don't really care, as long as the rest of the game is good. For me at least the strength of the TES series certainly isn't the Main Quest but the freedom of the rest of the game. Unless they make the Main Quest really good, with have enough freedom and replayability and stuff like that I won't play the MainQuest for more than one or two times (and dragon invasions and chosen ones aren't really promising things.)

This is exactly what I was thinking it more fun if you get to know the world first and get involved

Well, for me it certainly doesn't have to be 500 hours. Or even 20. What I do want, though is the storyline forcing you to wait and do some sidequests.
For example, in Morrowind I tackled the Main Quest immediatly. I did a few side quests here and there, but I was done fairly quick. After that, the world just felt... meaningless.
In Oblivion though, I did a lot of travelling and did nearly every quest I found. I ended up putting nearly 80 hours in the game before I felt like giving jauffre a visit.
But on my second playthrough I started doing the sidequests when the gates were appearing everywhere. I felt like I needed to rush everything because, you know, the world is being attacked by evil demons.
It would be perfect if the Main Quest gave you an excuse to do some sidequests, avoiding both the ''end of the world'' problem and reaching level 30 before by the time you start the Main Quest.

I'd like a beefy storyline, but more importantly is hours upon hours upon HOURS of side quests and side-questlines, unique 'random' encounters, unmarked quests and unique dungeons.

I wouldn't mind a long mainstory, but that's not really why I play TES games

~50+ hours main quest

Definitely epic.

Agreed.

Like Morrowind's

Depth is greater than a quantization of length to me.

100-200 hours is ok

Oblivions was way too short

For Oblivion, I downloaded a special mod that allowed me to toss the Amulet of Kings in the nearest body of water the moment I got out of the sewer. In other words, I couldn't care less how long the main quest takes.

I want a game that'll take me at least a month or two to beat... just the main storyline.

Sure. Just play for 5 minutes each day. :laugh:

I think we both know that is scientifically impossible.

Oblivion was on the shorter side, I would prefer to see a longer main quest. But as many people have said before me, the real greatness in these games lies in the side quests, so I definitely want to see more of them, and possibly more factions that you can work your way through.

The storyline? 400 hours? Holy [censored]!!!. No thats not gonna happen, not even 40. Unless you mean the total gameplay of quests and what not, i still don't think well come close to 400 on one char without mods unless you mindlessly grind for no reason.

We obviously want more hours of gameplay. But honestly, I'd like a solid 80 hours of exciting gameplay from Skyrim than 400 hours of boring repetitive gameplay. I'm sure Bethesda devs feels the same way.

A slow buildup is always great. That gives you more incentive to struggle with your character. Once you get all powerful and important, you realize you're very close to waiting another 5 years for another ES game, if it comes out at all.

Also Morrowind main storyline was very epic, compared to Oblivion. A powerful and satisfying main story is always more welcome than hours and hours of random mini quests.

400 M'F'ing hours of storyline?!?! Does the OP live in the same world as we do? F'in hell, I don't usually rage on people, but this is just too much

25-30 hours would be a sweet spot. I'm not sure how a developer could make an enriching main storyline for 400 hours of gameplay.

Eh, main-quest in OB lacked build-up and had a weak pay-off. It was pretty good in FO3 but then ended as it was just starting to get good.

Other:

Epically long/huge game- main quest itself can be 15 minutes for all I care.

Not intending to bash, but it usually only occupies me for 2 or 3 playthroughs then I start getting into the game. :shrug:

I don't like this poll because it goes from 400 hours to 20ish to don't care to other. Where's the mid-range?

I voted other just to be realistic. Considering trends of games in recent years, they're getting shorter. 400 hours is pretty much unrealistic unless you're interested in every single nook and cranny of the game. I spent about 60 hours on one play-through of Dragon Age, which was my second play-through. The first was about 50 hours. But, since TES has a bigger, open world, and will have been in development for nearly 5 years once it's released, Skyrim's main quest alone should equal about 60 hours. Everything else should at least double that.

I'd put a rough estimate of what I'd like to see at about 200 hours actual play time for ONE play-through, including beating the main quest and doing a few side-quest lines, etc. Because you can't please everyone with every single quest line.

Kinda nit-picky, and probably poorly written, but it is what it is.

48 hours MQ total.

as I go through the quest, the world and current state of affairs change, what was once simple becomes a bit edgy and vice versa. old friends die new friends anew, and depending how far along I am should stagnate some side quests while opening up others..thats the hope.

TES Skyrim, please blow my mind.

I feel the same way. Side quests are the bread & butter of great RPGs.