How is this so "obvious"? Adding a simple co-op feature would be trivial, split-screen even more so.

It's not trivial, it's pretty complicated adding in a co-op feature that actually works and is fun. And it's using resources that could be spent on improving single player, that's how it's obvious.

The server (your Xbox) just needs to keep track of the other person's movements. The client just needs to send the commands and the server has to read them, and if it was split screen it'd have to do even less. Nothing else in the game (aside from trading, maps and inventory management) would have to be modified, since it's all in real time.

Well I still don't like it, like I said ES is perhaps the last true bastion of single player gaming.

if they had an online arena they would have to worry more about balance then they ever have before because if they don't then it would be incredibly boring and just a contest on who has the superior build. stuff like that elitist crap pushes more and more people away from a game. so no an online arena should not be added personally i don't even think ESO should be made if there going to make it a typical mock off the current gen with an action bar and everything then they shouldn't have begun making it at all. they could have done something more and improved for the next gen of mmos rather then just making another clone.

Think about it though. You could invite a friend over and adventure with him in the land of Skyrim. If you're against that, why aren't you against companions?

I have no interest at all in co-op play, I'm not a sociable person, I actually never use companions. Only recruited them for the Blades quest, I still don't object to them being in it though.


They had that in Fable II and it was fun for about 2 hours. If they hadn't added that in they could have focused on making the single player experience a bit better (I thought Fable II was a brilliant game, but it could have had more quests or other features if they'd left out the multiplayer, which was really buggy to begin with as well).

Fable II is a terrible example. The multiplayer was a complete afterthought, and the second player couldn't even customize their character. Fable II doesn't have the same open world as Skyrim either making it just a two player hack-and-slash game.

Which would make adopting such a thing in Skyrim so much more complicated and with so much more potential bugs.

I thought you said the multiplayer in Skyrim would be simple and wouldn't take much away from single player development ? If Bethesda were going to do something like that they'd probably want to do it right, and that would take a lot of energy, which would take away from the single player game, only to add in a feature that I and a huge amount of Elder Scrolls players wouldn't use, and who the rest would use for a few hours before getting bored with..

Fable II's multiplayer was without issues.

As for complication, all you would need to do would be to let a player control an NPC (a housecarl or other companion) or make a new character and then just plop them into the world. It wouldn't have any more bugs than singleplayer.

Fable II's multiplayer was full of issues at launch.. I read all about it in the Lionhead Forums before they shut them down (WHY !!!!)..

It would be so cool to be able to invite your friends into your game that would be awsome and really no more intrusive than your companions are dont see the problem it would be up to you if you wanted to invite a friend to share in your experience of the game there needs to be some variety and the world of oblivion skyrim online that is ever exspanding and being added to new enemys more lands more charecters I for one would gladly pay a monthly fee to play in something like that,look at some of these online games you can play on your computer that have sub par graphics and reallly not a very good plot think about how far you could go with a platform like oblivion and syrim it gets me totaly crazy just thinking of the possibility of such a game why wouldn't you want that every player good bad bandits dragons all could be controled by an online player just think about it shop keepers legion guards all of it you could have a job participate in a economy and or play directly in the game it would be real as life. Just a thought

I like the idea of an arena. But please no multiplayer.

The arena questline in Oblivion was my least favorite. It could have been worse had there been no questline at all related to it, but there was definitely no reason for me to return to it so i could fight a bear (or 2). Online? Hell no. I'll take a pass on that (and ESO while we're firing tangents). It might be fun doing a little co-op but I cannot imagine putting in 100, 200, or 300+ hours with a friend on a game like this. I would probably get really sick of that person after a while. "Stop taking all of the good drops!", "Give me some good weapons!", "Hang on my inventory is full!", "I want to go not !", "I need health potions!", "I need to sell some stuff! Why? Because I pick EVERYTHING up!"...................Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I actually like the fact that some of my very good friends do NOT play a lot of games or the games that I play. We stay better friends.

honestly if Bethesda is going to do this they need to make the game more stable I already have lag offline how much more lag will I have online? i have got to 0 fps numerous times and if there was online all i imagine is countless freezes and frustration

Just for the sake of planning I suppose an online arena could work if put together correctly.
Lets say the arena is made separate from single player: 1. you bring up the skyrim launcher 2. instead of clicking play there will be an option below play that says "arena online" or "play online arena" and then that would send you to the arena server where you then chose a save state of the character you want to use.

When you are loaded onto the arena server the area can be a small town with the arena in the middle, standard things like random guards and shops and of course waiting is disabled as it would be useless. Of course the town is all that is outside of the arena as exit gates in the town would be forever locked.

How the arena could work is like this:
when in the arena weapons and armor lose their upgrades and only get a max of superior so anything thats been smithed higher will be temporarily down to superior and would return once out of the arena. certain perks would be disabled for fairness.

Standard arena: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 sections where people choose their side or randomly, standard rules of superior limit smithing and some disabled perks. winning in standard arena rewards you with gold and random gear.

Brutal Arena: 1v1 and 2v2 only, no smithing limit and all perks allowed and winning in this arena wins you little gold but you have 100% chance for 10 black soul gems that are filled and 1 random piece of equipment that would be what you would find if you were level 30 in single player.

Champion arena: 1v1 only and works in tournament style where 10 people must join before it starts, there can be two styles of champion arena: standard and brutal, which follows the rule set of standard arena and brutal respectively, winning this arena will net you a spot on the champion board for a week which would grant you double earned money during that week for any arena match you play, and on your victory you will get a full set of champion's gear that is unique to the arena as the only way to get it is to win in the champion arena, you can choose which champion set you want: mage, knight (sword and board), barbarian ( 2 handed with your choice out of the 2 hander weapons) and thief.


Fisticuffs arena: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 arena where no one has any weapon and is put in slave clothes - winners get no gold but win hand to hand boosting gear of their choice

and lastly
Wabbajack arena: free for all arena of 6 people where your only weapon is the wabbajack with infinite charges -winners get silly gear prizes (example: boots that when worn makes an arrow be sticking in your knee untill you unequip the boots)

This is how I think arena could work at least.

Gosh if you don't want to play in an online arena then don't. I think its extremely selfish of you guys to want to deny it to other people who may like it. I probably wouldn't partake in it either but i'd be nice to have one more option with the game.

I play madden football but never play a single multi-player match. You know what? Having the online component in no way effects my single player experience.