I think adding a prone position would be a very good idea. here are some of the reasons why:

• Stealth: not only would being prone make you harder to see, and able to hide under tables and behind counters and whatnot.
  
• Enemies trying to ambush you would be hard to spot if they could go prone
  
• breaking into (and out of) places: crawl through a narrow sewer pipe to freedom <--shawshank redemption
  
• ducking isn't always enough when you are trying to dodge dragon fire-breath
  
• It's realistic

Here are some reasons why i think it won't be added

• hard time figuring out how to make it work with controllers
  
• little demand from players
  
• They would have to of created the game with this in mind, otherwise i foresee a lot of bugs.
  
• It's not absolutely, 100 percent, necessary

I don't really see the point of being able to go prone. Maybe it's just me. :shrug:

I think the crouch/sneak lends itself to better stealth because the individual has more control over what parts of the body touch the ground, mainly the heel and ball of the feet, where prone your whole body is moving against the ground and creating noise.

it would be cool id do it a few times but i think i would just kinda forget about it i never go prone in games that allow it

^ i wonder if this guy read my post, or if he just doesn't understand it.

you obviously never played metal gear solid.

If your in the mood for a stealth action game with a very heavy story, pick yourself up a copy. (i'd start with MGS3. It's a prequal and it's the 2nd best after MGS4)

I think you would rethink going prone in stealth situations

Although it sometimes frustrates me that there is no prone option in Fallout, I just don't honestly see the point of adding it to TES. It'd be more trouble than it's worth anyway, what with all the tinkering with animations and character models.
In Skyrim... I just cannot imagine my character (or any NPC for that matter) lying flat on their stomach.

Why would people say "No, this game should not give us options". That always confuses me when people specifically don't want an option they they would have to pay literally nothing extra for.

"Here you go sir, complimentary milkshake with your burger. On the house!"

"No, that's not what I asked for - take it off of my table now, please".

Myself, I would love THE OPTION, because it would open up new methods of gameplay and keep me playing longer, which is what options often do. Look at World of Warcraft. How much useless crap you would never use, but millions of other people do is in that game?

If they wanted to add the ability to go prone, the most logical way to do it would be to hold the crouch button. Since that will be one of the sticks, it would be iffy. Unless they changed the crouch button to one of the main buttons, but really, you probably won't have to crouch/go prone enough for it to be a main button.

In CoD you had to if you wanted to survive (unless you only played as regular :tongue: )

I don't need it in TES. There's not enough AK-47's to worry about. It's to much of a shooter-thing imo.

Exactly. It always took me out of the experience how in TES I could always be slightly off in the distance, crouching well above the standing grass, and be perfectly invisible to the enemy. Not even behind a tree or anything. Where as in real life... it just would happen like that.

I think it would be a good addition. Helps in stealth, and also gives new possibilities in dungeon architecture. You would actually need to check the walls for small gaps or something to go otherwise forgotten parts of ruins *drools from archeology reflex* :clap:

well i just think that this just a misconseption, because it's status quo for shooting games to have it.

on MGS (and i'm sure other stealth games that i haven't played) you don't mainly use prone to hide from bullets, but mostly to hide from sight.

I think TES's stealth system should just make it feel more like a stealth game, and less like a combat/magic game with stealth elements

Yes, but shouldnt be able to if using heavy armour, and you shouldnt be able to move, *only used if a pack of 800 wolves walk by you and if you run away you will die surely die*

"Play dead" (what you just described) would be good too, but you should be able to move especially if your not wearing heavy armor. If you are wearing heavy armor i'd prefer you just move really slow, but not being able to move would almost make sense and it's a pretty good limitation based on armor, so i'd agree with that.

I didnt miss not being able to go prone in morrowind or oblivion so it would not make any difference to me in skyrim. I really missed a prone feature in fallout 3 and new vegas though, especially when playing as a sniper character.

TBH it is more a feature/movement seen in FPS (and rightly so); in fantasy games there are rarer instances of people going prone for stealth reasons.

Consider:

"Sneaking up a hillside to spy on an enemy encampment. They number about twenty all told. As you come to the crest of the hill, you crawl fowards on your stomach, in order to give away as little of your position as possible. Peeking over, you plan your method of attack and which sentries to take out first..."

The ability seems very situational (for RP at least, as used in the context above or some similar situation) and for most players runs the risk of being unused.

Personally, I would love to have it in, as I am all a fan for adding as many features as possible that increase a player's ability to RP more effectively and add greater realistic dynamics to the game. But I agree, coding, implementation and lack of use are too strong against it's inclusion. Still... I can only hope... TES VI...

Although I would love to have it in Skyrim you are wrong about shooting games look at Halo the second most popular shooter has no prone.

Anywho, I think that it will create a lot of bugs in the game if it is put in so in essence their is a "charge" for it. A charge in play quality but if it doesn't not change the rest of the game I would love to have it.

Not much point in having it. No weapon can be utilized from such a position and ultimately there's just no point. I think it'd actually be dangerous to go prone with a sword.

RP value? hahahaha

"hard time figuring out with controllers" Not the case,you just hold crouch a few more second's,just like COD.

There is a point in stealth, to be able to use small openings in caves and inside buildings. There are games like The Witcher (good game imo) where the character can't even touch the water, let alone swim or jump. If you ask their fans about that aspect, they will jump at "that's a minor detail, the game is great as it is". On the other hand if you add swimming in the next Witcher game, all the fans will welcome this and say how much it adds "immersion". The same with Tes. Of course ladders, ropes, going prone, estinguishing the lights or breaking through windows are not essential features, but having them would not hurt the gameplay either, by the contrary.

No, there's a point to climbing ladders, climbing ropes, extinguishing the lights, but breaking windows (???) and going prone is useless/impossible. Theres not a single situation where you'd ever need to prone, or even find a use for prone.

Bethesda doesn't like these things do they?

I don't see how you can say that when i pointed out situations in the OP and people have been suggesting uses of it this whole thread.

impossible??? whats impossible???

Wow i must have missed the hubdate that confirmed sniper rifles were in /sarcasm

It's impossible because the game is packed full of skinny cooridors and many, many places where your body will clip through walls. If you go prone the game will need to auto-sheath your blade/axe and re-draw it when you get up (that'd be quite annoying and tacked-on)

Not to mention nobody with half a brain would ever find a practical application for laying down whens there's monsters and blade wielding guards around. Enemies will need a new set of animations for striking you while you are on the ground otherwise it'll look like they are swiping at the air, not to mention if you were prone any guard with half a brain would simply plunge his blade into your spine, seems awfully risky. Long story short no moron would use it in real life, and the one possible use for it is ambiguous at best. When do you ever find yourself in the situation where you are overlooking an enemy camp? never, you never do. Are you just going to arbitrarily go prone every time you see any enemy? For role playing value maybe? "Look at me, I'm a role-playing a person who's about to get stabbed in the back while I'm crawling and shuffling around the floor!"

There's simply not a single situation you'd ever encounter in the game where prone is more suitable than the basic crouch/sneak. It's a LOT of extra work for little to no use. It's prone for prone's sake, it's not going to be useful in the slightest.