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Simple as that- What is your favorite guild questline in Skyrim?

Mine is the Dark Brotherhood. I think Bethesda took what pleased gamers from Oblivions DB questline- the risk, reward, thrill of the hunt/chase, and the fact that you might get caught, also not to mention the political intrigue- and magnified it. But what scares me is the comparison with Oblivion. In Oblivion all the guilds were fine and good. But in Skyrim (or is it just me) the guilds are all on a downward slide. The college of Winterhold is shamed by basically every non-elf race, the Thieves Guild has been out of luck since , and the Dark Brotherhood has been chased to one sanctuary remaining. What are your thoughts on this issue?

Also, If you find that this thread has already been posted, just ask a mod to take it down. It hasn't been posted for, like, the last three pages, so I think it's okay.

Dark Brotherhood....i felt like they were the only ones who had a fleshed out storyline with a good plot twist. All the others were missing....something. I remember finishing the Companions and College quests and when they ended i thought "Really? Thats.....it? The end?" I felt there should have been twice as many quests in their main storyline as there were.

My vote might have gone to the college of Winterhold, if the quest line hadn't been so short. It just seemed like I got to Arch-Mage too quickly. Compared to Oblivion's Mages guild it was nothing. Instead my vote goes to the Dark Brotherhood.

I'm gonna refrain from complaining about the questlines and go ahead and say College of Winterhold- it was too short (*cough*like all the questlines*cough*) but it was fun and interesting.

For me it has got to be the College. The whole mystery surrounding the orb, growing to hate Ancano (not sure if I spelled that right) and then it also has my tied for first favorite quest of the game: The Staff of Magnus.

Dark Brotherhood is a close second for me.

Then Thieves guild.

Then Companions.

I can honestly say I have yet to do the Bard's College. I keep meaning to do it but then I do something else.

Companions by a mile. Met my wife there.

DB>TG>Com>CW
I enjoyed all of them more or less, but the College was too short, and while the first couple of tasks did a good job of making me feel like I was a student at the college, that feeling was quickly lost with the later quests, and by the end I felt less like a member of the college and more like a random adventurer who happened to be wandering by and was willing to help.

I really liked the characters in the Companions, but the storyline just didn't feel... whole, I guess, but at least I felt like I was part of the Guild this time, and the duties certainly increase its longevity.

The Thieve's Guild was great; good characters, good rewards, good storyline, and a sense of belonging to the faction. The radiant quests to improve the Guild's standing across the land got a little overbearing though, since they were randomly selected; I ended up forfeiting most of them near the end to get asignments in the last remaining cities.

The Dark Brotherhood, however, has to be one of the best side quest-lines I've ever played. It had everything, and the ending was great, especially if you follow through with optional task. It was truly a shining point of an overall great game in my eyes.

Belgarion98 wrote:But what scares me is the comparison with Oblivion. In Oblivion all the guilds were fine and good. But in Skyrim (or is it just me) the guilds are all on a downward slide.

It's easier to tell a good story in a game when the fraction you are in is not that big and powerful.
- There are more excuses to be made up why [player] has to do something about [problem].
- It's more realistic that an outsider can rise trough the ranks that fast.
- There is more sense of achievement helping a tight knit group instead of just serving the establishment.

Also, (if you allow me to guesstimate what Beth thinks it may be doing with the Radiant AI in the future) predefined guilds may be on their way out. Imagine joining a randomly generated group of people and reshaping the organisation as you see fit.
The guards in Skyrim complain about lack of bandit raids..... In a future TES game you may be LEADING that bandit raid......

SuperNull wrote:In a future TES game you may be LEADING that bandit raid......

That's an Interesting proposal....I would rather like to have a bandit character. I know all bandits are Hostile, towards the player, but to be able to join a group? Like in a DLC. "Bandits of Skyrim."

Bethesda had awful quests this time around. One thing that I think oblivion and morrowind had right. The game is good but if they add anything to this game it should be quests.

Edit: I am amending this statement. The overhyped radiant story quests are awful. The main quests are either great or awful. The radiant ones are fetch quests and kill boss quests. The hand written quests are much better than the random ones.

I really enjoyed the Thieves Guild questline, mainly due to the Nightengales bit. Breaking into Honeyglow Estate or whatever was classic, and Karliah is a boss. Way cooler than Astrid.

I really like Karliah's voice, it's so edgy

SuperNull wrote:Also, (if you allow me to guesstimate what Beth thinks it may be doing with the Radiant AI in the future) predefined guilds may be on their way out. Imagine joining a randomly generated group of people and reshaping the organisation as you see fit.
The guards in Skyrim complain about lack of bandit raids..... In a future TES game you may be LEADING that bandit raid......

As great as that would be, I highly doubt it. I was VERY disappointed with the Radiant AI this time. I remember reading about all the cool things that it could do before they released Oblivion (NPCs killing each other over an item they wanted, NPCs plundering stores without any guards around, etc.). They had to dumb it down a bit for Oblivion because the AI was so good that it led to unwanted behavior (see examples). I had very high hopes of them improving Radiant AI. They had over 5 years to do so after all. Then Skyrim comes along and: other than NPCs taking cover in fights, activating traps or picking up items on their own, there was absolutely no improvement at all. If anything, I feel Skyrim's AI is worse than Oblvions.

But anyway, to get back to the original topic. Thieves Guild would have to be my favorite. The story is interesting and it feels rather long due to the amount of Radiant Quests you have to do to improve the guild. College of Winterhold was way too short. Companions were alright, but didn't really excite me. Never joined the Bard's College. Dark Brotherhood was quite a letdown for me. Easy to do, lack-luster quests where it didn't matter if I got caught.

Belthazor wrote:I was VERY disappointed with the Radiant AI this time. I remember reading about all the cool things that it could do before they released Oblivion (NPCs killing each other over an item they wanted, NPCs plundering stores without any guards around, etc.). They had to dumb it down a bit for Oblivion because the AI was so good that it led to unwanted behavior (see examples). I had very high hopes of them improving Radiant AI. They had over 5 years to do so after all. Then Skyrim comes along and: other than NPCs taking cover in fights, activating traps or picking up items on their own, there was absolutely no improvement at all. If anything, I feel Skyrim's AI is worse than Oblvions.

I agree to some extent but it doesn't mean that stuff will stay this bad in the future.
The way I see it is that the more beautiful game graphics become, the more irrelevant it will be to improve them each time. At some point game makers will have to spend all their time improving gameplay, not looks, to stay innovative.

PS: Yeah I'm sorry to yank this off topic.

So, no votes for the Bards College then lol.
Personally, I go for the DB, though the Thieves Guild was a close-running second.

Storywise: Thieves>College>DB>Companions

Had most fun-wise: Thieves>DB>Companions>College

DB is fun and all but i felt the story could have been better. Companions overall was bad. Thieves Guild was awesome (wish u felt more like thieves than a gang though). College had an interesting story but was disappointing when it came to diversity of enemies.

My favorite Guild Quest line would be the darkbrother hood because well its the Dark Brotherhood that s good enough reason and you also

Keep in mind I just started playing when patch 1.4 came out (deliberately waited for any real involvement, wanted some of the quest bugs worked out first. I hate being a beta tester!)

Personally, for me, I liked the College the best, with a caveat The quest-line was way too short, and Bugesda missed way too many opportunities to flesh things out. Since I usually play mage-type characters (destruction spells just ROCK!), I would have liked to see more of an involvement post-questline, such as teaching, setting emphasis, restoring the College to its full glory, more background information, etc. There were way too many missed opportunities there, including the story behind the Augur and the Astronach Forge.

I've done a bit of the DB - and I really can't say I enjoyed it. It just seemed the same old thing - murder someone, get caught, pay the bounty, move on to the next kill. With some of the assignments, you just couldn't get a kill and escape. (For example, the one where you off the bride in the wedding - no matter what I tried, following the examples and suggestions from the wiki, I could not do it without getting caught. The invisibility potions simply didn't do the trick, which [&@%!] me off to no end. What's the use of a potion if it doesn't work?)

People, the mark of a successful assassin is killing your target and getting away with it. I stopped playing the DB halfway through, and I ain't going back. The next character I use (this was my first, and I can tell you a mage isn't the best type of character to use for the DB, heh!) is just gonna destroy the bloody thing.

The Thieves' Guild is an interesting one so far. At one point, I found myself wishing I would enchant armor/clothing with invisibility to get through some missions, and then I realized Oblivion spoiled me there. What a crutch that was! It's certainly challenged me to improve my sneaking and Illusion-casting skills.

I ain't even interested in the Bard quests, and it shouldn't even have been in the game in the first place as far as I'm concerned. From reading the wiki, some of the missions could have simply been handed over to the TG or the Companions, and no one would have been the wiser.

The Companions... well, way too short, and it... didn't feel complete. Maybe it was the whole werewolf angle; there weren't any missions that required you to be a werewolf to successfully complete it, or not enough emphasis on being one. It was just there, an option. I never used the option. Maybe if I had spent some time roleplaying a werewolf, I would have used it more.

I would say TG overall. This time you can solve many of your problems with raw force, which is really nice for non-stealth characters No, really, the real reason is that long rebuilding "quest", after which you really feel you have deserved your position as a leader. DB comes second, because of that ultimate job you are doing to earn your position.

In College questline, the story of "The Staff of Magnus" quest is nice. What is wrong with this questline, is that you become an arch-mage way too early and easily. I would done the same to both College and Companions as it is with TG. College already have good quests to be used, e.g. you should do at least three out of five ritual quests before being nominated as an arch-mage (assuming that high level mages vote for their arch-mage, you would gain majority), or it could well be that you would need to do them all before nomination. As you can gain arch-mage position without any sort of magical skills, you know, it is somehow embarrassing to ask the master wizards to teach their arch-mage Similarly, you gain your leadership of Companions too quickly, it would well involve some TG-like quests before your position is recognized.

Bards... I was so much hoping that my character would learn to play instruments, I even carried a flute with me a long time with my first character... The disappointment was much too deep to ever come back to that guild...

FuzzyMage wrote:With some of the assignments, you just couldn't get a kill and escape. (For example, the one where you off the bride in the wedding - no matter what I tried, following the examples and suggestions from the wiki, I could not do it without getting caught.

I have had no problems with this. What you need is high enough sneak skill. Go to the top of walls, and shoot an arrow from the corner. Stay in sneaking mode until the red dots disappear, and you can fast-travel away. If you go to get the unique loot (wedding dress and such), you can do it without fighting after the red dots have disappeared; but keep in mind that the lizard who has been sent to watch your back follows you and start fighting with guests, if you spend too much time with them

FuzzyMage wrote:The invisibility potions simply didn't do the trick, which [&@%!] me off to no end. What's the use of a potion if it doesn't work?)

Invisibility is a little bit difficult in Skyrim. I don't know the details, but NPCs detect you based on your visible and auditible "distractions", and Invisibility only removes you to be seen (that is, you can sneak in daylight). If anyone hears you, or if you touch someone, you are detected and Invisibility does not protect you anymore. Similar to Oblivion, Invisibility effect is cancelled if you do anything other than move, which is why it does not protect you when assassinating people. Basically, you would need to combine Invisibility and Muffle, and I am not sure if you will still need high sneaking skill to remain undetected under difficult conditions.

FuzzyMage wrote:People, the mark of a successful assassin is killing your target and getting away with it.

Absolutely. I'm pretty sure I have been able to complete DB questline without any bounty, and without any more-than-usual gears or tactics.

FuzzyMage wrote:The next character I use (this was my first, and I can tell you a mage isn't the best type of character to use for the DB, heh!) is just gonna destroy the bloody thing.

Yes, mage is not the best one... I have trusted on archery in both Oblivion and Skyrim DB quests, it is much easier (i.e. requires lower Sneak skill) to sneak to a shooting distance than sneaking to stabbing distance.

MaKo wrote:

FuzzyMage wrote:With some of the assignments, you just couldn't get a kill and escape. (For example, the one where you off the bride in the wedding - no matter what I tried, following the examples and suggestions from the wiki, I could not do it without getting caught.

I have had no problems with this. What you need is high enough sneak skill. Go to the top of walls, and shoot an arrow from the corner. Stay in sneaking mode until the red dots disappear, and you can fast-travel away. If you go to get the unique loot (wedding dress and such), you can do it without fighting after the red dots have disappeared; but keep in mind that the lizard who has been sent to watch your back follows you and start fighting with guests, if you spend too much time with them

FuzzyMage wrote:The invisibility potions simply didn't do the trick, which [&@%!] me off to no end. What's the use of a potion if it doesn't work?)

Invisibility is a little bit difficult in Skyrim. I don't know the details, but NPCs detect you based on your visible and auditible "distractions", and Invisibility only removes you to be seen (that is, you can sneak in daylight). If anyone hears you, or if you touch someone, you are detected and Invisibility does not protect you anymore. Similar to Oblivion, Invisibility effect is cancelled if you do anything other than move, which is why it does not protect you when assassinating people. Basically, you would need to combine Invisibility and Muffle, and I am not sure if you will still need high sneaking skill to remain undetected under difficult conditions.

FuzzyMage wrote:The next character I use (this was my first, and I can tell you a mage isn't the best type of character to use for the DB, heh!) is just gonna destroy the bloody thing.

Yes, mage is not the best one... I have trusted on archery in both Oblivion and Skyrim DB quests, it is much easier (i.e. requires lower Sneak skill) to sneak to a shooting distance than sneaking to stabbing distance.

Archery is not my strong suit - I have problems with precision, which is why I use area-wide destruction spells whenever possible. That's just one of the reasons the DB is so bloody difficult, I have to either shoot spells or stab them. I tried that wedding mission over 20 times with various methods, and I finally gave up and just performed the hit, paying off the bounty afterward.

As an example of why I'm ticked about the invisibility potion... while wearing muffled boots from the TG, I tried the arrow method while in sneak mode from a corner balcony, then took an invisibility potion immediately after, before anyone got there... and still got nabbed. That just ain't right. I wasn't moving, I wasn't even breathing, and they still saw me. WTF? Obviously, I'm doing something wrong, but danged if I know WHAT!

Eh. Ain't gonna keep stressing/obsessing over the danged thing, so I'm gonna go lop off some bandit heads as a stress reliever!

My favourite quest line is the Dark Brotherhood. Killing is really awesome and it is a very interesting guild in general.

I destroyed the DB this time, and want to restart because I feel like Im missing out I thought the DB was awesome on my first character, too. I suspect that FuzzyMage has a low sneak skill. I didnt care for the TG first round through, but I didn't know more quests come if you do enough side jobs. This playthrough I completed all of the TG questline and found it entertaining. It just sure wasn't the mystery involved with (DB) Working for the Dark Brotherhood is my favorite choice

In both Morrowind and Oblivion, the Thieves' Guild felt like home and family. I loved my buddies there. In both, I did the Mages' Guild, but it felt alien- I only did it for the practice and rewards, really. I never did the Fighters' Guild in those two. I started it in Morrowind and just gave up when they wanted me to kill my thief buddies.
In Skyrim, the Mages' feel the same as ever. Alien and unwelcoming. The Thieves' Guild still feels like family, especially with Brynjolf's lass-calling.
I only joined the Companions because I wanted to be werewolf- I'm not a fighter, don't care about honor and glory and all that crap. I take care of myself. But they felt like family too. Maybe because the first time I went in there I got caught stealing a sweetroll and Skjor let me off with a "I'm sure it won't happen again".

I think it's a tossup between the Thieves' and the Companions.

I would enjoy the DB afterwards if . And like everyone else said, the College and Companions gave you leadership too early. And I'd like to be able to see some DB members out and about doing missions occassionally. I feel like I was the only one who actually killed people. Or maybe every once and awhile they'd change up the Radiant Quests so you can team up with members to do "Special Missions" like ambush an entire caravan or they go and distract the target while you snipe them.