So there had been a lot of discussion about "Herp I want a pyrat guild lulz0r" and the sort, But what I want to discuss is different paths or roads if you will, within each guild. Allow me to elaborate. Going on the assumption there will be the Synod and CoW - if you were to join the CoW they could offer you the path of becoming an experimental necromancer, or if you joined the Synod they could offer you a different path within the guild that allowed you to take on a more specialised role.

Obviously these options wouldn't be open to you as soon as you joined the guild, some might be offered soon after joining, halfway through, or near the end.

Instead of the same story line for each guild, maybe 2 -3 different paths you could take within each guild, going into a specialty area or something to that effect.

Something to think about . My 2 cents.

Multi-path guild storylines. I like it.

While I'd enjoy that immensely, I'm not sure it's worth the payoff to develop a guild's plotline in such a manner. Heck, I'd be tickled if I was merely given a choice between two tasks, like the 'detours' in The Amazing Race, in a given quest.

Well to make it easier, im not suggesting different end quests, it would all sort of intertwine at the end. It would also increase replayability, making you want to go back through the guild and if you chose a different path it could be like "Ahhh so thats why I did that last time, because now im doing this"

Essentially it wouldn't be THAT big of a challenge (with that said it would not bbe easy) but keeping the ending of each guild the same, it would make things much more interesting and keep teh player engaged on all of their playthroughs.

I think all the guilds should have specialization options.
One thing I had hoped for (even asking for a mod several times), was to be able to specialize at the Arcane University.
there could have been different colleges, each representing a school of magic., with specialized quests, advancement, and perks.
e.g. if you wanted to become an Illusionist or Destroyer for example.

of course, meeting certain requirements should be neccessary (such as being high enough in a particular skill or attribute)

I like the idea. Lots of other games have choices that result in different consequences for quests. TES gives you more choice in *how* you complete a quest, but ulitmately once you finish it there is no consequence from your actions. The most cliche examples being the "good" and "evil" choices in a game like Fable. Letting someone live or killing them had an impact on how the quest would end. In TES, the quest givers and the world are ultimately indifferent to how you completed your assignments.

id like to take it a step further, and have all (or atleast many) quests chains interloop with each other, and affect atleast somthing about another quest line.

I think its a great idea. I think it would be much more entertaining to go through a second playthrough with a new character and do different quests the second time to reach Guild Master. Good way to setup some time consuming achievements too

It'd be interesting.

Personally, I'd like to lose the "you are the centre of the universe" feeling The Elder Scrolls normally has, and give these alternate quest paths to other adventurers. That'd be an interesting way of having guild quests (and perhaps even the main quest!) all sort of intertwine... like, just because you didn't give the Totem to Mannimarco (for example), doesn't mean that he didn't find a way to get it anyway.

Ehhhhhh, whats a Synod and CoW?

The Synod and the College of Whispers are two different guilds from the Infernal City books. I think they were magic related ones replacing the Mages Guild. If Skyrim has them I will be sad to see the Mages guild gone.. it looked like it was all ok after we saved it in Oblivion.

Isn't "The Road Less Traveled" a poem by John Frost?

I don't know, or are you thinking of the "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost?

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, etc.

Multipath storyline factions would be really awesome, yes.

... but I still want a pyrat guild lulz0r. Herp derp.. :teehee:

It would be awesome, I encourage and would love it, particularly if the different options resulted in radically different outcomes, rewards, and they had an effect on the world once you were done, so there truly was replay value... However, such multipathed guilds would take twice to three times the development time for the same amount of content in game... As disappointing a revelation as this is, I doubt its going to happen, and if it did, it would be accompanied by a great deal less content through the game as a result of the additional development time devoted to each guild... Part of me hopes they do it, part of me doesn't. I just wish it were possible to get the best of both worlds, but it seems there is always a compromise.