Five suggestions - which I am sure have surely been proposed elsewhere...but hey..

1. Maps. I wish the map would update itself everytime you find something interesting. For example, If I pick up an ingrediant, a marker should show up on the map. Later, if I zoom in on that area, the Legend will specify all the things that were found in that area.

2. For console versions, (I am on PS3), I would like to see some of the PC mods incorporated in the console versions to simplify game play. I think it is normal to know how many stat increases I have had in a particular level so I can better manage my leveling (I am one of those efficient leveling types). Console versions force a user to use paper / pen which detracts from game play (and why I don't play anymore).

3. Need to re-think the idea of monsters leveling with player. In some cases, I can understand that all major routes would have bandits that level with the user. But some zones, like goblins, should stay easy (how can you have a cave with only shamans?!). Other zones should have a level 20+ rating (and the map would update when you read a sign indicating that you have crossed into such a zone).

4. Need a few fail-safe options for training. Somehow, I lost Vigge who is the only character who sells the weakness to magic spell. How can there be a single source for such an elementary spell?? I also lost the acrobatics advanced trainer. No clue how that happened but the green arrow points me to a spot and he just is not there. There is also a problem with the advanced restoration trainer who is not available if you do the Knights quest to early in the game. These kind of conflicts break up the smooth play of the game.

5. Need a mechanism to balance out the 100% protection in X. Either set a cap or start adding negative consequences for any protection beyond 50%.

My deal-breaker is (2). I will not buy a game that forces me to use pen/paper just so I can keep track of simple things. I want to be able to shut the game, return 2 weeks later, and everything I need to know to continue is readily available on the screen.

• If the tech is good enough Bethesda, fill up cities with more NPCs. Please. Many of us want lively cities.
  
• Upgrade to some non-scripted behaviors for AI.

In my opinion, a good way to add some life to larger cities would be to add lower poly, cookie cutter, riff raff NPCs that just walk around and have no signifigance other than making a city seem busy. Like in Assassin's Creed. The game would have to be built from the ground up to handle that kind of thing, though.

Seeing low-poly cookie cutter NPCs in first-person wouldn't be the best looking thing. Instead, I'd like more of the random NPCs in Fallout 3 in the cities.

That's a good point, but low-poly was a poor descriptor on my part. I just mean they wouldn't wear highly detailed armor or clothes or have weapons or anything anything like that. They would just have a very plain, basic appearance to them. This would also make important characters stand out more.

I'm not real sure I want the more essential characters to stand out more. It'd be nice to have each NPC doing their own thing. The characters important to your quests should look just as equally important as anyone else. Immersion's better that way, in my opinion.

I agree. Second-class filler NPCs should not immediately look and feel like second-class filler NPCs.

Definitely more NPC's..

What i'd like is to see the towns being invaded (randomly?).
And you have to fight with the local militias to defend your town.

It certainly would be interesting to have non-scripted AI for bandits or marauders to come into a small town and try to plunder it.

like in shivering isles, where it only happens if you ask someone; otherwise you dont have to bother with it?


and heres a suggestion that could come in handy: tracks.

no i dont mean railroad tracks, i mean animal tracks. human tracks. undead tracks. if youre hunting deer you might follow ones tracks. if your a bounty hunter you might follow human tracks (but this might not be the BEST idea). if your a paladin type you might follow zombie or skeleton tracks (they have to look different from human tracks)

this would probably overload the system, so you might limit it to WoW's tracking - only being able to track 1 thing at a time

How does WoW do it? In my head, I'm imagining something similar to a detect life spell, but with a longer tail behind moving critters... That's how i roleplay hunters, detect life.

in WoW when you trac something it shows up as a little yellow dot on a map.

say you track beasts; all beasts within your general area will show up as a yellow dot on your minimap.

what i meant by WoW style was only being able to track 1 thing at a time; no mini yellow dots on the minimap.

In WoW, when you "track" something it shows up as a little dot on your map. Example: I'm an Herbalist so I track herbs. Herb nodes show up on my map.

beat you to it, hahahah!


sounded like a bosmer there for a minute, sorry

So something similar to the way Fallout showed enemies on your compass?

Good idea. However this time around there will be no problem with renderable NPC's and ALL Npc's MUST be named and unique I want to see crowd dynamics similar to that of Assassins creed 2. It would be cool to be able to gather information from young children playing hide 'n seek, or to search someones rubbish or to ask the crippled elderly begger outside, huddling under an alleyway roof.

The image didn't show for whatever reason, but you can click that URL to see what it looks like.

http://www.maniasarcania.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/ptr230_minimap_repair.jpg

I love the idea of tracking. I want it to be organic, like if a deer romps through a forest it will make hoof prints in the ground and will creat disturbances amounst the undergrowth. The player could then see these and follow the tracks.

i want to spike some skooma with some catnip and put in on a table in a khajiits house. but i guess skooma is somewhat like catnip already

glad you agree with me leprechau---- ragnalin

Be good if you had a proper tracking system.
Like, you can zoom-in to the tracks on the ground, and you have to determine who/what they belong to and whether you should pursue.
Then you could follow/hunt the "who/what".

Tracking in Mount&Blade was fine. Of course, it was a satellite kind of view from a larger area where the tracking itself took place.

Low skill, you see white tracks and their direction. They are represent with arrows on the ground. While the skill increases, you can identify the people who's tracks they are, how many are they, and how fresh they are. Tracks(arrows) of large armies are bigger, and they are color coded based on how fresh they are.
So if you see red, big arrows crossing your path, you immediately know there's a large army gone that way just some hours ago. Pointing them with a mouse might tell you that they are made by 150-200 Khergit horseman.
Hunting down pirates and bandits is fun, and the tracking, pathfinding and spotting skills really are useful in the game.

Ok lets use this opportunity to hype the medical skills too, because those are totally cut from TES series for some reason.
In Mount & Blade:
Wound Treatment makes the party gain more lost hitpoints over time. Faster healing is always useful, since you can be thrown from one battle to another.
Surgery saves lives during combat. The skill gives some chance for troops to get knocked out instead of dying.
First Aid restores more hitpoints immediately, after combat, but onyl for hero characters I think.

In TES5 we really need a Medical skill, with some nice perks/subskills like those above. Medical equipment must be usable not only to yourself but NPCs too. Not everyone can cast spells, and every fighter must know how to treat wounds if they're to survive.

A word on the "filler NPCs" discussion froma few posts back:

There is a way to make "filler" NPCs not seem like they're just placed there to make the town look busy, give them something to do. AND don't make it look like they just mime it.
The problem in Oblivion was not nearly enough NPCs did stuff and, while some NPCs did something, it just seemed like they where actors, bad actors, who tried to make it look like they did something.

A few problems tying into that are the worlds timescale (they pretty much had to rush between locations) and how non-interactive the world was. When they raked stuff it didnt collect piles, when hoeing the fields it didn't create furrows.

I described that a bit more extended in http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?s=&showtopic=1051579&view=findpost&p=15268989 here, I really hope they put some more detail in what the NPCs actually DO.

Another idea I had, create a 4th focus skill grouping besides Combat/Magic/Stealth and call it Trade skills. You could put skills like mercantile, speech, armorer, fishing, etc. in that skill group and at the same time open up more skill slots in the other groups.

I was also thinking about possible a "Lore" or "General Knowledge" skill that would be more of a RP skill than a gameplay skill. It would provide backstory and information about places you visit, people you meet, items you find, etc. Perhaps you could also use it as a skill that provides a tiny modifier to other skills (similar to luck) to represent a greater knowledge of enemy weaknesses, npc history/disposition, etc...

No criticism on you here but on the whole thing, how about we FORGET about the "classic 3" groups all together and start thinking more openly?
There ARE no "pure skill groupings", you need a bit of each in every category. I mean even as a thief you'd need SOME fighting experience.

So my call is stop thinking in "Teh BIG 3" all together.