Very true, it's pointless to fight over it, I just want to point out though that enhancing the look of the mountains isn't necessary either, it would be nice to have but it's not vital to people enjoying the game.

Stephen.

Ha ha, no, asking for Bethesda to make nice scenery isn't the same as asking them to make TESV: The Sims. It is necessary if Bethesda is going to flesh out Skyrim and make it's terrain as lore-correct as possible. It has some of the highest peaks in Tamriel, making them big hills with blurry textures like the mountains were in Oblivion is not acceptable.

Just a few things I didn't like in in Morrowind and Oblivion. Overall the games are great, but I'd like to see some improvements:

• Balanced Character System: I don't want to be a master of everything. This appears to me as the exact opposite of roleplay. Thus, there should be a limit to attributes and skills, not necessarily bound to your class, though. I'm not saying how exactly they should do it, although I had a few possible ideas that don't change the levelingsystem entirely, but in the end I don't care how it looks as long as my Crusader won't be able to hop from rooftop to rooftop like a bunny.
  
• Dense Environment / Story: Probably the most important factor to make the game enjoyable in the long run. I don't mind how big the game world is, hell, let it be just 1 big city and some farmland around for all I care. But fill it with details and adventure around every corner. I'd rather have a small, realistic game world at scale than a huge forest were every tree looks the same with nothing to do there (of course you need to balance this, there have to be areas with nothing around as well, but you get the idea).
  This goes for story and what you people call lore as well. There don't have to be a dozen guildhalls all over the country, just keep the guild's storyline connected with the surroundings and it will be fine. Also, they should go back to the Morrowind-System where you couldn't join all factions with one character.
  
• Diverse Character Generator: The truth is, Oblivon's characters are damn ugly, and not really anatomically correct. I really hope they improve here, and give us options to change our character's appearance in more ways (body height, weight, etc.). From a roleplaying point of view, this strikes me as very important. After all, we want to spend hundreds of hours with this guy.
  
• Better Animations: Todd already said they want to improve their animations, so I'll leave it at that.

So, I don't really want new fancy features, like cooking my own food or fishing some slaughterfish. Of course I'd enjoy these things, but first I want them to improve and fix things they already did.

I was just pointing out my negativity over Oblivion's GPS compass in the "What you like in Morrowind compared to Oblivion" thread. Now I understand that because NPCs have a schedule and walk from place to place that it could be very hard to find someone for a quest or whatever. Still, I think having an arrow pointed at their exact position is stupid. What I have in mind is that you could ask NPCs where the person is right now. If you need a certain NPC for a quest, they will appear in other NPCs' dialogue options. For example you need to find Henk, then you'll ask random NPCs if they have seen him. If they have, they can give directions as to where they have last seen Henk, or where they have seen him head off to. This not only gets rid of the GPS that constantly tracks every step of someone, but it also makes you have to do some searching and detective work, for lack of a better term. I don't mean this has to be very hard, because I know that most players will get seriously bored if they can't find who (or what) they're looking for.

I think the most important side of the game needs to be culture, lore and making the world feel like a living place that you can feel immersed in.
This could be done by:
Having lively taverns, theaters (or odeons) and markets, with people singing, socializing and haggling with the shopkeepers.
Having libraries, foundries, mills, fisheries and banks and other public buildings where NPCs can actually work instead of lingering on the streets all day, the PC could do random jobs there as well
Having some tension between groups that sometimes have fistfights on the streets
Being able to set up a camp or lair in any place you wish.
Being tracked by Assassins if you have made a powerful enemy or local authorities if you are a criminal.

there are some other things required to enhance Tamriel but I can't think of every single one right now.

i know im gonna be shot for this, but can we reimplement the cliff racers? just in decreased numbers. like, one or two at max... i've never played morrowind, only heard of them, but i think that the cliff racers could be "fun", but not like in morrowind, where they massed into mobs of 30+...

fishing would be cool too...

my suggestions are more for flavor, not gamplay wise so...

My suggestion is to play morrowind before you write something like this, comepletely untrue. The cliff racers were never 30+, at most they were 3-4 of them nearby.

That sounds good.

More over, finding quest locations could do with a marker only in your map that indicates a general area inside which you'll find what you're looking for and not straight to the object. Well, for those who like it there could be toggleable compass marker (either on/off switch in options menu, or tied to the difficulty) that points to the previously mentioned area (key word: toggleable).

I would like a compass marker that simply leads to the general area, no need for the compass to show the direct path.

Well, I remember having a ton and some behind me when I air-walked from Balmora to Tel Vos once ... definitively more than 3-4.

They were the most annoying creature in Morrowind, obviously you've never played it if you think they could be fun, just thinking about them I can't get that sound out of my head, the 'kakaw!!!, or more like 'KAKAW!!!!' over and over and over, everywhere I went 'KAKAW!!!!' oh hi mister nord how are y... 'KAKAW!!!!!' got rid of it, now where were we... 'KAKAW!!!!!'

If they bring back cliff racers at least change the sound...

Stephen.

KAKAW!!!!!!

What's so horrible about cliff racers? I thought they were fun. And surely there is another way to implement them than the one which made so many people hate them.

I'd actually have a question:

What would you prefer, a world that's actually deep and feels believable or just a place the story take place in?
I ask because, reading through some of the later posts, it seems people just prefer the world to be a framework for the story and not a actually active one.
Sure now you say "No, I want it active" but really what most people mean is having more ways for the player to kill stuff.

A active and believable world would also include a lot that's either not useful for the player or just has minimal use. Like what people said about farms before, no it doesn't mean "you can play a farmer" but it means there actually are some to make the world more believable.

I'd take a rich, diverse world over a good story any day. I want the world to feel more alive and realistic, and not just to give me more things to kill.

Actually, I long for less killing and more alternate ways in solving different situations.

E- To answer the question.... I really couldn't pick. A rich world without a good story is as dull as a good story without a rich wolrd.

This isn't "either story OR rich world" question.
The world can be rich and deep AND have a great story, hell the worlds depth can ENHANCE the story.
What I meant was different, there are game worlds that are open and deep and still have a good story and then there are ones which world is just a framework around the story. Oblivion kinda feels like it's just a framework really, a fancy looking one but just a frame still.

Ah, I misunderstood your meaning then. In that case the obvious answer is the rich world over the framework one. For as long as the richness doesn't overshadow the story (which I see as the main point of the game), at least.

And agreed about the oblivion statement.

I know this has been suggested before, but we need throwing weapons back. I myself rarely used them, but I can see how they could be useful. I really don't know why they were removed in Oblivion, they're really great IMO.

That would be cool.

Crossbows has been suggested before, but I'll repeat with an idea of simple skill based accuracy system. Ready a bow/crossbow and your crosshair turns to something like this: ( . ) , with the dot moving between the sides and progress in skill would mince the gap between the sides. This way the differences between a bow and a crossbow could be implemented more obviously in accuracy (in addition to damage of course), and compliment the accuracy system with locational damage (and possibly even locational armor) to make it more worthwhile.

this, also one thing I like about bioware games and games that are based off dnd is that are oftentimes alternative ways to solve situations. there should also be more dialogue trees

Look, I kno roleplaying is what this game is all about, but the problem with oblivion was that you where forced to roleplay. They could have made a tower for knights and have the power to arrest people and command the guards, but no, I was forced to roleplay by imagin all that. I hated that I was forced to roleplay with my imagination, instead of having different content for different classes.

I don't think that is the traditional way of roleplaying either. RP'ing means simply doing what you imagine you character would be doing. Acting out the character that you have created. In your case, making up factions that the world doesn't recognize, is actually something you do in order to RP your character, it's not that it forced you to RP, it's that it forced you to make an excuse, so that you could RP.

Seriusly NO comments on my page-long list of suggestions?

I want a larger and more varied game world. I loved exploring Cyrodiil but i got a bit sick of the huge forests and i thought there were too many dungeons for the size of the world. You couldn't walk for five minutes without being attacked by something guarding a dungeon entrance. I'd like to see more open plains and more missions where you actually have to search for things rather than just following a quest marker.

I know, but I roleplayin in oblivion was difficult.

Example: For paladins they could have made ill people in the cities, maybe some randomly spawning thieves in the city for you to arrest. They could have made paladin spells like "turn daedra" or "divine damage" and a bunch of other things. Instead, I am forced to imagin my "damage health" spells is "holy damage" and I only use this spell on daedra.