1 & 2: I like any features (within reason)... and any world type... well okay I don't go for absolute horror... but don't mind a reasonably bit of fear factor.
3. definitely many releases.
Pacific Morrowind

I like this idea.

I would like something like the SI expansion. SI had an amazing story, great, unique characters, and the quests were really fun. In a mod like this, I would look for:

- A fairly large worldspace (just around half of SI would be fine)
- Unique characters (almost everyone in SI had different personalities, but I guess was because everyone was insane )
- A good story
- A fun main quest and side quests (emphasis on fun rather than challenging)
- New architecture and weapons would be nice

Edit: In terms of canon, I would like it to be generally lore-friendly. Adding new lore would be okay as long as it not something completely new and unexpected.

But in the end, any kind of expansion would really be fine.

Magician, great idea for a poll. Interesting that episodically beat out the retail game option. Have really enjoyed reading this.

I'd settle for a town sized world, so long as NPCs were unique, and each race was different. I don't just mean that like in of that each race should be different but equal(like in the Race Balancing Project), but I'm honestly hoping for each race to have different morphology, such as how a Khajiit and a Dunmer look nothing alike, and how they even have different feet or hands or heads or, well, anything.
I guess what I'm saying is that I'm looking for more unique beast folk races. I feel that it's a idea that is never really explored.
I mean, look at the multitude of races in DnD. Many of the races are normal looking(each race is similar to humans in shape, if not size). But when one opens the Expanded Psionics Handbook, you're going to notice the bug races almost right away. One, the Dromite, are somewhat comparable to humans(says they can be confused for halfings at a distance, which are like short humans), but the other, the Thri-Kreen, and only barely similar to humans(they have more in common with praying mantises then humans, having four arms, sharp claws instead of fingers, a bug-like head complete with fangs dripping with poison). A quick look through the Monster Manual would reveal many races with strange and unusual features.

But in Oblivion, each race looks pretty much the same. They're all human-like, save for two races that seemingly no one plays.
I'm ranting, I know, but if you're making a mod with unique content, take a few liberties in racial design. Add a race that can fly. And one that's like a wolf on two feet. And one that's like a spider.
If you can't think of odd races, then play some Pokemon games for a while. They've got seemingly endless different shapes and sizes, each with their own unique benefits.

1. Other,
2. Story
3. WIP

I chose Other because none of the others fitted what I was thinking of (and I don't know what "IP" is... Maybe I'm just being dense right now, though). Something I always wanted to do, but could never figure out a good way of doing, was a Total Conversion-style Mod with its own Lore/Races/et cetera, set entirely inside a single building-- some kind of huge tower/citadel, as though they were locked away from the world-- the land outside dead or dying, the last bastian of Life existing in an uneasy alliance. For something like that, Story would be a must-- something to make the world believeable, to make you care and not miss the endless exploring of beautiful landscapes you get in Oblivion-proper. And I chose WIP because it's the way I prefer to work, so...

PANDORA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I would want it to be big. Detailed also, but I would want it to last long. Sadly, I am currently bored of Tamriel.

I would like to see.... I don't know? but I would like to see TOTAL DARKNESS!!!!

1. Tamriel expansion. I'd love to see more province mods. The further a mod strays from the existing game world, the less likely I am to enjoy it. Unless it's really well done and some means of connecting it to lore is found.

2. Needs good story, plenty of interesting characters, and some fun quests to go on while exploring.

3. Periodic WiP releases. I think Iliana's release model for Elsweyr has proven to be a huge success and is something that should be emulated. People want to see tangible progress, and once they do they're more likely to want to help out in some way. Either by creating more resources or by starting add-ons for the project.

1. Other. Just a new world with new lore will do just fine (maybe that is a little bit too much to ask)

2. I voted Custom Content but I actually want size. As long as there are a good number of sights and things to do/climb, I'll be fine.

3. Periodic WiP, so as to keep people such as me interested and to show that the mod ain't dead.

My thoughts (and vote) largely mirror Arthmoor's.

1.) I'd love to eventually see the whole of Tamriel modded, as lore-accurately as possible. Lore-friendly is best. Lore-neutral is fine too for certain aspects. Creating new lore works so long as it makes sense. I even enjoy mods with lore-unfriendly elements, so long as they are as exceptional as Kragenir's Death Quest.

2.) For this one, I would have selected "all of the above" were it an option. But when push comes to shove, it's quests and character interaction that keeps me going.

3.) Yes, Iliana's method of releasing WIP betas works well for large-scale World mods. (Some types of mods might be better served by another choice.) It not only gives us non-modders something to do but also provides a means of ongoing feedback to the modder, and in the case of Elswery-Anequina seems to have resulted in aide from others in the modding community.

-Decrepit

I'd go for something original. I like to play interesting games with something unique. Iliana's mod seems to be something quite special, so that goes in the same category for me.

I went for gameplay changes. Even if story, characters and quests are important too, I wouldn't just want to play Oblivion with a differnt setting.
Wouldn't have to be big changes, but little things like a proper first person view could change a lot to gameplay. Something like this would completly change the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvovdSnj1Rw&feature=player_embedded
I don't really care about size, custom content and to much detail. Something like CDM's idea would be great. It would be something different form the rest and surely quite interesting and you wouldn't really need those points to create something cool.

I voted for full release, because I had Nehrim in mind when reading TC and the SureAI team has been working ages on it.
They've finally got into the testing and bugfixing phase and I can't wait for them to release.
For something like new provinces I think WIP like Iliana did it would work great as you have really something to show and it would be easier to get people to help you. But for a TC i would stick with a full release. If you have the time you should release a playable mod. All people who've already played an earlier WIP or episode couldn't fully enjoy the game.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to share their ideas and opinions on the subject. Much more of a response than I expected, tbh!

Some more specific replies follow....


Congratulations.


Apparently you're not alone. I'd be curious to hear what prevents you and others who voted in this direction from enjoying other fictional universes. Does it just not 'jive' with the game mechanics? Do you not want to invest in learning about a whole new world? Do you want to keep playing your existing character as long as possible? Are you skeptical that waiting for a mod like this would only end up disappointing you? Any details about your feelings on the matter are appreciated.


I actually considered doing this before I began work on my own mod. I think increasing the scale would do a lot to add to the immersiveness and vastly improve the feel of Tamriel. In my own mod, I've approximately doubled the distance between communities and dungeons and the number of NPCs living in these communities.


That really is an excellent idea. I hope someone takes up the challenge.


I'm glad to see you're back on the scene. I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away forever.


I've been meaning to do a poll like this for a long time and just never got around to it. I was equally surprised by the amount of support people have for episodic content.


I agree. I'd like to see some really different races as well, but the engine doesn't play nice with these kinds of changes. There are a few talented modders working on overcoming these limitations, however, so keep a look out for future developments.


IP = Intellectual Property. I made a note of it in the first post for others. Thanks for pointing out the ambiguity. Nice idea for a mod, btw.

I guess you should try Windfall... many quests in that mod are exactly what you want.

The main reason I'm here is because I adore The Elder Scrolls universe and mythology. Take that away and my interest fades.

I don't care much about stats, skills, attributes, etc, when I play a CRPG. I want a world I feel connected to. I want to dive into a mythology that carries me along like a swiftly-moving river right out of my everyday existence. I like dropping my character into Iliac Bay in 3E 417 or Vvardenfell in 3E 437 or Cyrodiil in 3E 433 and feeling as though these places and times are connected in mysterious ways. I don't feel the same connection to Feralden or Kalimdor or any other fiction fantasy world I've played or read about.

I'm here because I like Tamriel, plain and simple.

I personally don't like the idea of scaling up Cyrodiil mainly because I have exhausted my interest in this place. It's too familiar, because I play on it every single day, so no matter how many great mods that are set in this province I just cannot find the feeling of freshness (cannot find adjective, but kind of equivalent to getting of the boat in Morrowind). I want to see a mod set in Tamriel where you start in another province or continent and never go back to Cyrodiil again.

Funny how many people think a "scaled up" town would be a good idea. I actually have since almost two years (creation date of the final ESP file: 13th March 2008) a 4x version of the Skingrad landscape on my hard drive, working on it on and off. Well, it's not really playable at the moment. It's still not really big, just 107 cells in total. In the end I'd like to have a usable, multi-level medieval town there, even if most houses either wouldn't be enter-able, or lead to random house interiors, Oblivion gate style.

The LOD texture looks like http://www.xn--vrnideas-b1a.de/oblivion/3729876.00.00.32.png.

In some ways, this is the opposite of what the Open Cities team did, as well as a homage to the old RPGs, where a town or dungeon might take just one grid cell on the world map, but have its own way bigger map upon entering it.

I agree SOO much, graphics aren't even that important to me, just to have all the other aspects nailed is enough, believable conflicts, people, and settings, well done atmosphere, realistic gameplay despite there being magic. I'm so with you on the algorithmic generation stuff, it would allow for VAST landscapes and cities without the tedious effort. Same goes for weapons and armor, why should every armorer have used iron to make the exact same shaped armor cuirass? It just doesn't fit.

Been doing the same for Anvil. >.<

I was debating between answering Tamriel Expansion or self-created content for 1. I chose original content because I have played an awful lot of Oblivion and have no qualms against giving another universe a try, plus that allows your creativity free reign. But I do love the lore and atmosphere of the Elder Scrolls universe, so either way.
For 2 I went with quests and characters, primarily because I feel like this is what Oblivion lacks most. As others have said, though, all of the above is nice too...
For the third I went with the WIP, since that seems to me a good way of getting content out and played, a good way of getting feedback, and a good way to keep the modder motivated with attention to the mod. However, as has been said, episodic has worked great for a lot of big mods in the past.
Also, I am stunned at the magnitude of responses to this topic in such a short period. It's proof of how many people there are here who are interested but silent.

I would like an IP, but with a world that is truly unique.

-An underwater utopia, with different kingdoms, the surface is a huge ocean with a few islands with people living on them,or monsters/ enemies. Possibly be an aquatic race, or a land faring race with their own boat or underwater gear.

-A huge sprawling cave, with battling societies within. The outside is lethal, and the only world the player will know is the underground. Think the Underdark but the Drow actually dieing form sunlight.

- A huge city, with corrupted guardsmen, different street gangs, many buildings that give you different goods and services, that HAS a world outside, but the world outside isn't the players concern. I never understood the fact that the Imperial City was supposed to be a metropolis, where people lived for most of their lives, but it was itself a small town.

- A magical dimension where magics is the main form of combat and life. Where swords and shields aren't needed, and everyone is great at some form of magic.

- Or Vice Versa, a huge war torn map, where its all about how good you are with technology and weapons, and only those.

1] A Tamriel expansion, I really want to feel like I'm just in one of the many provinces of Tamriel right now, and all I need to do to get to another one is to board a ship and off I go. I'd like it to be High Rock.

2] I would like to vote for Size [ HAS to be as detailed ] or for Detail [ HAS to be accordingly big, too, not to look like a midget compared to Cyrodiil ]

3] Completelly done, when it comes to the world, detail, NPCs, creatures and factions. I'm okay with quests and the main plot released later.

I voted-

Tamriel expansion
Story/quests/intersting characters
Episodically

To expand. I love the Elder Scrolls Universe. There's so much background to use. I like the way that (unlike Middle Earth) there's ambiguity and conflicts in the lore rather than everything nercessarily being 'true'. I have no interest in playing the game outside the ES universe.

I would lke to see expansions merged into the cyrodiil worldspace as far as possible so that the world is seamless (like Elseweyr).

There has to be something to do when you get to the new land, which is why I chose Story ets for the second option, however there has to nbe a unique feel to the place as well, so it requires more than just using exisaiting assets. As regards size I'm not too bothered, small and detailed is good, as is huge and semi empty. My one critisism of Iliana's wonderfullmod is that everything feels too close together, it's a very short journey from Orcrest to Corinthe for example (I appreciate that this is a constaint of both lore, and the space Iliana has to work with).

I'm very excited by Onra's Heightmaps. Huge areas of emptyness. My dream mod at the moment would be for someone to take say Onra's Blackwood heightmap and add in some custom content to make a rewarding gaming experience in the province. Ideally I would like there to be huge areas of wilderness left for hunting and living in the wilds. There could be quesrts like hunting down rare and exotic beasts for unique ingredients.

The feeling of remoteness and space is sadly lacking in the increasingly crowded world od Cyrodiil/Elseweyr.

Finally, as many say, I think Iliana has hit on the right way to release these big worldspace expansions.

There is the recent add-on of a new, huge landmass called http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1074421&hl=, which is made by Lord Rahl. It's is huge and magnificent. Something like this would be awesome to do. I always love this sort of stuff.

I'd like to thank everybody who took the time to vote, especially those of you who posted your thoughts and ideas on the subject.

The massive support (two thirds) for Tamriel expansions tallies with my experience on these forums, so that's not too much of a surprise. I am a little surprised that I didn't see more support for mods recreating other existing fictional worlds (Tolkien, Jordan, Erikson, Martin, D&D settings, etc., etc.) and was somewhat pleasantly surprised to see some support for the creation of completely original IPs. I suspect the interest in original IPs closely correlates to the interest in alternative gameplay styles (ie. not Oblivion under a different name, but a completely different kind of gameplay experience).

The poll clearly shows that more people are interested in rich, detailed settings with strong stories and characters and are willing to give up a little on total surface area to obtain it, which should give many world-builders food for thought. Also, that custom content, while taking a back seat to good story-telling is still important to many people.

The support for episodic and WIP releases was also significantly higher than I had anticipated. (I expected very low support for WIPs, which must mean many mod users are more tolerant of these kinds of projects than I had originally assumed.)

The poll is still open, so feel free to keep voting and posting. I will continue to read all of your posts with great interest. I suspect this information is also of interest to other world builders out there who have yet to speak up on the subject so your continued feeback, ideas, suggestions, etc., etc., is encouraged.