All right, it took over two hours to read through all of these posts (yes I want a medal! ^^ ). I read many of the same things, a few pissing contests, and a few very good ideas. 1. Let’s leave ‘out’ multiplayer. That’s not what TES is about and it should stay that way. 2. Let’s not leap before we look. Adding new races may conflict with the story created for Tamriel. Everything about Dragons or Myst elves – not all of that is part and parcel with the design of Nirn, so let’s now leave out that idea (for now). 3. In some of the official vids about the making of TES IV, the developers said they had more impressive pseudo-AI, but it was frustrating to be the player and have all the inventory bought out so you had nothing to purchase, so they cut back on the scripting and instead gave a more “player friendly” version. Is this what we wanted? Who’s to say, but it’s what we got. Developers will always gimp a final product for one reason or another. The scripting makes or breaks the game of course, and the more intensive the scripting, the more PC – unfriendly it becomes 4. The Morrowind system of enchanting had a far better outcome than does Oblivion. Granted having only certain aspects enchantable to either weapons or armor was a balancing to the way you could literally ‘break’ Morrowind (like having constant effect, heal 1 – 50 pts on a Deadra tower shield), still having ‘use’ items should be brought back. If you remember paper in Morrowind, it had a ‘very’ respectable amount of enchant points, for it being just a weightless piece of parchment, and I used to hotkey nine “scrolls” with nice effects that had a use and no mana or cast-time cost. I also agree with others that having your enchanted items recharge slowly over time should be brought back... In Morrowind we all know you could wait one day and have your items fully charged or just use soul gems for it to happen faster. Also I wish to see if you add a negative effect to something, it would balance a positive effect, thus allowing more enchant room (though negative effects deduct ‘less’ then a positive effect counterweight so it’s never ‘one to one’ (for balancing) but it would be nice to have a drain fatigue 10pts for an extra 4pts of enchant power, etc. I also have quirks about different styles of clothing not having different levels of enchanting power. Exquisite outfits (the full outfit) was sort of a scavenger hunt (unless you knew where rolly the gaur was *chuckle*) but it had more room then common or expensive, or even extravagant. I would wager this was gimped out for time and cost reasons, but now it should be brought back. 5. Having separate gloves and pauldrons gave more enchant slots, as did being able to wear clothes under armor. Alright I agree with another post, having four wearable rings could be introduced if you don’t want “two gloves” and “two boots”, but on the flip side, one ‘should’ be able to wear clothes under armor, else the armor would ‘really’ chafe! And robes over clothing gave you one more ‘slot’ ^_^ hehe, and is very much plausible. 6. The old Morrowind system of (2 – 10dmg) had its perks (which is where luck really shined if you fortified it!!), and can be used, this time in relation not so much as ‘dice rolls’ and/or ‘luck’, but also with strength level. More strength means you may achieve more power out of your weapon (hence the range of 11 – 25, etc). 7. Adding “full realism” does ‘break’ the concept that it ‘is’ a game. I have thought you would need a forge to repair items, or water to make potions, but then I understand it’s a game and some things just don’t need to be implemented – I STILL think you need empty bottles to use alchemy, though! On the flip side, weapons / armor degration should either be removed or reduced. I agree with many that there’s no reason why things degrade so rapidly. Also with armor, I agree with many of you that various types should have various colors / styles or at least varying levels of defense. 8. In Morrowind, you could be a vampire wearing a full-face helmet and people wouldn’t know you were a vampire. This should be reintroduced, especially if wearing a full ebony or dwemer helm. Granted, you lost about 10 disposition points when they couldn’t see your face, but it was easily re-attainable if you had good personality. I also think that “feeding” should bring out vampiric powers, and not feeing should reduce them (to be more humanized, though you are weaker for it, etc). 9. I like the idea of bringing back the different racial feet styles. I really loved the argonian feet. Of course it was terrible when you couldn’t wear the boots of blinding speed because you were a lizard. I was thinking spats would be a fine alternative for them (they are like shoes, but cover the tops only ^_^). On another note, they don’t have felines ‘because’ the cat race is the Khajit? There is no “dog” race, so they have dogs. Just consider that… though it conflicts with having mountain lions as a ‘cat’ race *shrugs* It was just my thoughts on the matter. 10. I remember quite clearly about “feather” in Morrowind. Fortifying strength was more practical in carrying capacity and damage, but at the same time having a high ‘feather’ level increased your base movement speed. I would enjoy seeing this brought back – higher feather, faster traveling. 11. I really do wish to see at the very least, left-handed fighters. This would open up the CS for modders, giving them more animations to work with. As a game preaching open-ended playstyles, that everyone is right-handed defeats the immersion, IMHO. 12. The idea that there is a gray zone is important. Either you’re a god-awful baby-eater, or you’re Mother Teresa! There is just no middle ground. I would like having three sides to the scale, instead of two (or in some arguments, just one as you’re usually a ‘good’ guy deep down). 13. Here’s an idea that may be plausible for open-ended gameplay: you don’t start out as a prophesized hero, but you may ‘become’ that said hero by asking about rumors, following up on leads, and deciding you wish to accomplish what you weren’t ‘destined’ to do. Though this may in turn defeat the very purpose that that ‘is’ who you are playing- the one chosen to ‘do this or that’. That in itself isn’t bad, as a game ‘does’ need some type of goal, even open-ended ones. 14. Morrowind’s system of bartering was more impressive than Oblivion, but on the flip side, Oblivion has it right in a slider, with a 130% / 75% ratio (or whatever it happens to be). So combining the two, have the window system come back, but let you buy for no less than cost and let you sell for no greater than cost (up to or down to cost depending on the usual factors – disposition, personality, merchantile, etc). Morrowind had it ‘wrong’ though when you went to adjust the amount you wanted to spend. If you were buying 800 septems of merchandise and could adjust it down to 550, you had to manually cycle through all those coins, when it would have been SO MUCH NICER to be able to click on the number and just input what you wanted. Let’s combine this with the window system and the slider (the principle of the slider effects, if not an ‘actual’ slider) to make a very nice ‘buying’ experience for the player. 15. There was a quest in Morrowind that had you punch someone until they were knocked out, and then you could pickpocket them. A requirement as you weren’t supposed to kill them. We all would like the ability to knock someone out instead of killing and at the same time loot all items (even those equipped) from their unconscious self. Now with any new idea comes the thought of scripting, meshes, textures, animations, etc… and that also relates to time, release date, cost. It’s a gambit when a company decides to not add a feature because they just don’t want to wait on a release date (they ARE out to make money, just like any other corp…) Edit: one more item: I wish to be able to actually create the potions you can buy in the shops. Why can't I make the "weak potion of healing" which is worth far more than my "restore health" potion, even though my restore helth potion does far more healing that that little bottle...
