This, imo

I think that, in the TES world, dragons are valuable, as opponents and contributers to the plot. I agree that rarity of dragons should be encouraged, as it places more value of the dragon creature, not just another frustratingly hard creature to kill.
I believe Beth is doing a good job of dragons so far... unlike dragon age where the dragons were only used as promotion and not at all involved with the plot, really.

Anyone with common sense would never run toward a powerful dragon unless he/she is also uncommonly powerful. The lore of this next TES says that dragons will roam the world again so there we have it. Why make them rare like what you suggest when they're the next big threat? If the devs did make all dragons as rare as you wanted, I can see how bad that would be already... Oh look! Dragons are back in Tamriel... but there's hardly any of them. Well, let's just hunt down the 5 or so dragons and call it a day. Tamriel is safe again from the "dreaded dragons" that the Elder Scrolls only warned us about.

A better suggestion would be something such as making the more powerful dragons uncommon and leaving the lesser dragons as more common but still less than the natural creatures of Skyrim. The top tier dragons should be the ones that are rare. Dragon shouts and other powers should only be yielded upon defeating powerful dragons.

You see after how we've been told since Redguard that dragons were powerful and revered creatures who predominantly either went into hiding or made pacts with humans for protection after the Empire took over, I was kiiiind of stricken with the notion that they weren't exactly having the most prolific mating seasons anymore. By the third era, most people had assumed the majority of the dragons to have either left Tamriel or died off, I thought - it seems kind of weird that now, with the return of Alduin, they're suddenly out in droves. :ahhh:

I do like your idea, but I still feel as if there really shouldn't be that many weak dragons, lest they were previously wounded from an earlier battle or something. Most of them, I expect, are feeling pretty energized after spending the last few centuries (millennia?) in relative peace. The fact that these "ancient" dragons are now everywhere and getting killed left and right kind of confuses me.

So what happened? Was the strength of the dragons overplayed in folklore over generations for dramatic effect? Does the Dovahkiin have a magic "+200% to hit (on dragons)"? Are people in the 4th era of Tamriel simply ten times stronger than their ancestors? :teehee:

From what the trailer shows and from what I've read up on so far, I don't think dragons will be as common as you think, and weak for the slaughtering pleasures of the Skyrim residents. Bethesda told Gameinformer that dragons will be a force to be reckoned with for the most part. I'm not sure if they're referring to all dragons or just the more powerful dragons because they also stated that there will be lesser dragons. I can live with lesser dragons being more common because that's what they are: lesser dragons. The way I see it, lesser dragons are dragons that have yet to reach maturity and their full potentials; that's why it's easier to kill them.

I rather think the dragons found lairs in the deep places under the mountains and slumbered until their lord called them to rise... The humans some made pacts with could be members if the alduin cults...

This would help explain why you might see few dragons early in the game but their numbers would increase as you progressed toward the end of the main quest chain.

Dragon are crossbreed between Cliffracer and Super Mutant Behemoth/Deathclaw who appear from invisible Oblivion gates :teehee:

I hope there will be alot of dragon breed diversity, some of them being very hard to find or stumble upon to, but at the same time every dragon even late in the game being very challenging and rewarding to fight.

This. I'd expect something similar to them becoming more frequent as you advance the story... maybe they're not in the game from the get-go but there's a point in the main storyline when the Dragons are able to come into Skyrim... I don't know, It will be interesting to see what they do, it's not like they're going to be as frequent as cliff racers...

Yeah... Hopefully not:
Todd Howard.

It would be logical that they are not rare, but I hope they treat them at least comparably rare.

Dragons are moving Oblivion gates. They probably vomit out Cliff Racers at you.

I'm holding out hope that the dragons are a lie.

Not really dissapointed I just hope they don't pop up like every 5 minutes

Like the cake? (who gets it gets it...)

Anyway, don't take it like that, I think it'll turn out great.

do you know the exact number of dragons in skyrim? no? then dont jump the crossbow just yet.

If dragons wind up being the new Oblivion Gates, I'll just deal with 'em the same way: "~, kill"

No, since the beginning they said its a DRAGON INVASION! I never read of an invasion of two people .

I for one am actually not too worried about dragons being "common" (if that's the right word for it). Since your character is the "Dragonborn," it makes sense that you will be drawn to and will draw dragons to yourself. The nice thing about dragons is that they are totally outside of the player's control and arena of choice, as well. An Oblivion gate was stationary, hence avoidable, if the player chose to pass it by. In Oblivion, even though you "knew" that Tamriel was being invaded by Daedra, you could avoid entering Oblivion most of the time and the world really wouldn't end.

The dynamic unpredictable nature of dragon encounters in Skyrim should really make the game feel more alive. Maybe at first you will run across one or two here or there. Maybe after killing a few, the dragons begin realizing that *you* are a threat to them, and will start actively hunting you. You might be out hunting for herbs for that special brew and suddenly a black shadow descends silently upon you from behind. You might be about to take shelter in that little cave during a rainstorm, and then those eyes open up in the darkness before you. The difference in Skyrim will be that the player no longer has to choice to procrastinate and avoid his destiny; it will seek him out and his only choice is to face it or flee for his life, if he can.

Personally, I'm hoping that there is a variety of different dragon approaches, ie. ambush, full frontal open assault, you stumble upon one sleeping, etc. In Tolkien's worlds, at any rate, dragons were both violently obvious in their approaches (The hurricane of Smaug's wings) and also capable of subtle ambushes (the dragon from Farmer Giles of Ham, forget its name).

Anyways, I'm eager to see what gamesas has in store.

(I'm also hoping the minimum recommended specs aren't too steep, or it will be 5 years before I can try Skyrim...

The problem with Oblivion gates is you could run into a total of about 60 of them during the game, and enter a total of 7-8 randomly generated worlds, so one would just blend into the other. And your objective is pretty much the same with very little variation in plan, ie rush to the top of tower, get stone. Your biggest obstacle will really be the terrain, and after playing in the same terrain 20 some times you pretty much know what to expect.

Also like the poster above said, they're stationary. You don't have to close all of them. Fact the game closes all of them for you once you complete the main quest. As a rule I just go for the ones that are close to roads and settlements and left the ones that were in ass end nowhere alone.

Dragons are a different matter, they are flying tanks that spew various volatile substances at you, with fire being the most common. This means you've got a very big very tough, flying opponent that can attack you from any number of directions and drop all sorts of nasty on you from above.

How you bring these things down is going to depend on what you have at the time, and more importantly the terrain you fighting in, as the way there doing this doesn't seem to be dependent on terrain that means a dragon could come after you from just about anywhere.

I never thought I would use this anology backwards but...

Fighting a traditional western dragon is the fantasy equivalent of fighting a Russian Hind Assault chopper in an action or a war game. I doubt it will ever get predictable or boring.

Yup. Like fighting a Hind with a stick. You first, mate.

There has ALWAYS been the big lack of dragons in TES

So i think it's safe to say that Bethesda wants us to be like: OMG! WE HAVE DRAGONS NOW?!

But instead we're all like: Dragons are soooo lame and unoriginal.

I'm personally satisfied with the prospect of Dragons. It'll be amusing and fun.
and i enjoy entertainment

You aren't the only one; however, you are one of a definite few.

You need to look at it from the opposite perspective as well. If you hardly ever see dragons in the game people will say "I thought this game was about fighting dragons and gaining dragon powers, so where are the bloody dragons?!"

Yes, then you'd get Dragon Age :lmao:

Didn't Todd say his Character was buffed up when fighting the Dragon in the press demo and that they would be pretty tough? I'm pretty sure i read that somewhere