This is probably going to be locked because it "should be discussed on the official thread", but oh well worth a try...

So Cyrodiil's terrain was for the most part rolling meadows and such; pretty easy to get from A to B. Vvardenfell was smaller than Cyrodiil but felt bigger because it's difficult terrain made it difficult to traverse the province

Most maps of Tamriel just suggest mountains scattered about, but of course the specifics aren't set in stone. I personally think there should be a massive mountain range cutting through Skyrim (either east-west or north-south). Oblivion had mountains but they were pretty small, and if you ever reached the top, you would have to just turn around because you couldn't go down the other side. In Skyrim this mountain range would provide a really cool obstacle that you would have to travel through in order to get to the other half of the province. And there should be multiple mountain passages with dangerous creatures that would make it difficult to get through for low level characters.

That's just my idea, what are your's?

I would love steep mountain ranges that force you to take narrow, twisting paths down into misty valleys filled with hot springs and lush green vegetation, eclipsed by the massive elevations around you. Something similar to Entius Gorge for Oblivion.

Ah you are referring to the Unique Landscapes mod?

Yeah something like that only much, much bigger. I personally wouldn't like "lush" vegetation; but more "rugged" plants and terrain.

If they really go Skyrim then i hope they improved their landscape tools so the cliffs don't look like molten cheese and have actual overhangs.

And seriously it shouldn't ALL be cold climate themed, Skyrim is primarily cold because of the highlands and not the northern position.
Oh and another point, please don't make it all viking stereotype.

Yeah I think most of us agree that there shouldn't be slow and cold everywhere. There should be highlands and lowlands, with cold and less so temperatures, respectively. I would love the whole place to feel a lot more dangerous and untamed than Cyrodiil.

Skyrim should look like Alaska and have similar seasons.

Skyrim's border area with Hammerfell, IIRC, is very rocky and contains a multitude of river-bearing canyons and plateaus. Their border with Morrowind should be a bit more temperate, as Morrowind's mainland is very jungley.

I don't just mean ice and snow as in cold, i mean the whole environment looking like you constantly have to wear a thick fur coat.

Maybe even a few mushroom trees and guars?

Forests, Highlands, tundras, meadows, etc.

Anyone that played Daggerfall would realise that High Rock changed seasons, even though it's more up north.

Yeah in the low valleys the weather should be warmer and the vegetation deciduous.

Oh, I just happen to have made a hight map of Skyrim for my owm pleasure...
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff112/iceco_lfkd/SkyrimHight.png
A few notes on the map itself: red are roads, blue are rivers and the black thick line is the edge of the game world, not the border of Skyrim (post-War of Bend'r-Makh).

The terrains:
Some things have been filled in on the map, because the lack of roads demanded an explanation (I took the roads from TES Arena btw).
Some other features:
[list][*] an actual rift near Riften
[*] a glacier
[*] lush green near the cost, more harsh in the elevated areas
A note on the semi-frozen moor: Remember that description of those vampires swimming under the ice and then dragging you through it? Those would mainly live here.

Like Scandinavia, Solstheim, and Jerall Mountains, depending on elevation. Plenty of green lowlands like in Cyrodiil or Ascadian Isles with agriculture and towns, and then you have the snowy mountains, with things like like High Hrothgar (Snow-Throat), the Greybeards, Labyrinthos (from Arena), snow whales, and portals to Coldharbour.

Ice covered plains, snowy pine forests, mountains, mountains, mountains...
Oh, and more mountains. And some little warmer places in lower areas.

I doubt it.... there still lies a mountain range between Morrowind and Skyrim... pls it just wouldn't fit in it.....

Really nice map and ideas there. Cyrodiil's terrain was for the most part a big bowl, with all the mountains and highlands around the perimeter. Just like in the map, I would like the whole place to be very mountainous and hilly. And of course many low valleys where weather would be much more temperate.

Yeah it was mostly a joke...

This is what Skyrim looked like in Arena:
http://www.imperial-library.info/maps/arena_skyrim.shtml

Here's what the PGE says about the features:
"The land of Skyrim is the most rugged on the continent, containing four of the five highest peaks in Tamriel (see Places of Note: Throat of the World). Only in the west do the mountains abate to the canyons and mesas of the Reach, by far the most cosmopolitan of the Holds of Skyrim, Nords of the pure blood holding only the barest majority according to the recent Imperial Census. The rest of Skyrim is a vertical world: the high ridges of the northwest-to-southeast slanting mountain ranges, cleft by deep, narrow valleys where most of the population resides. Along the sides of the river valleys, sturdy Nord farmers raise a wide variety of crops; wheat flourishes in the relatively temperate river bottoms, while only the snowberry bushes can survive in the high orchards near the treeline. The original Nord settlements were generally established on rocky crags overlooking a river valley; many of these villages still survive in the more isolated Holds, especially along the Morrowind frontier. In most of Skyrim, however, this defensive posture was deemed unnecessary by the mid-first era, and most cities and towns today lie on the valley floors, in some cases still overlooked by the picturesque ruins of the earlier settlement."
http://www.imperial-library.info/pge/skyrim.shtml

Sounds like Balmora. I really like the idea of warm, misty valleys shadowed by mountains and cliff faces. Kind of like that chasm in Northrend (for Wrath of the Lich King). Not a WoW player here, but as someone who has played Warcraft III where Northrend was just all ice and snow, I love what Blizzard pulled off with it.

Oh, and seconded for improved terraining tools. I want the ability to actually vertex manipulate terrain to hang above other bits of terrain - real mountains and cliffs, not steep hills covered in rock meshes.

forests(with and without snow)
tundra without snow(it should looks cold: colours not much plants)
tundra with snow
snowie mountains
polar like looking places with ice and stuff^^

Yes. Deep, dark, dense forests with thick canopies. I wan't to feel claustrophobic when I'm in one. Also if there are seasons (please Bethesda), it would be cool for the leaves to come off the trees in the fall.

But hopefully not ALL like that, if it all looks cold it's just to, well, cold...

I made this picture a long time ago:
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c280/Tobias-T007/Portfolio/skyrimYAAAR.jpg

That's basically how I imagine Skyrim, but it's just one small part of it. Skyrim should be a very varied country, the same way Morrowind was.
Morrowind had many different landscapes; ashlands, lush grasslands, rocky coast lines, swamps, volcanic and with the expansion Bloodmoon it got snow. Morrowind was basically a miniature world.
Now I don't want this to be Oblivion bashing, but bear with me here. Oblivion on the other hand was just a whole bunch of hills with one big forrest on them, the forrest varries a little bit in style, but not very much. It quickly became boring.

The same way I don't want Skyrim to turn into a 100% frozen land. There should be just a little bit of everything. Maybe even lava ravines deep underground, how cool wouldn't that be?

well if i think of skyrim i think of snowy mountains in the south and west border with some mountains scaterd tru the middel some snowy tundra wastelands some green vally's with some little /secret tropical area above a lava vein either in secret vally or in a dome like cave
rocky coast with mostly cliffs and rocky beaches with typical looking viking harbor citys with 1 major nordric stronghold and of course some small setements acrous the country and in the east more strongholds for against the counter atacks of the defending redoran and i east some small redoran encampments and maby some small redoran setelments as revange on the nord atack also tru the land lots of caves some classic rocky caves some ice caves in glaciers
some abandon fort ruins from early times and maby soem forgotten akaviri ruin fort maby some ice villages of those humaniod creatures we also saw in bloodmoon well thise is how i see skyrim i think