I see a lot of theory crafting, artifact hunting, steamrolling the main quest, and other success driven motives here on the forums.

My question is, does anyone other than me just wander?

I did it right from the start. I left the guardian stones, picked a direction, and wandered.
A few hours, dungeons, and foresworn camps later I ended up at markarth (Spelling?)
that city all the way to the west.

Now I alternate wandering with clearing out my quest log. I'll do some thieves guild
quests for awhile. When I get tired of quests I load up my combat gear (I have two sets
of gear: one for thieving / murdering, and one for heavy combat) and strike out for exploration.

It's probably the reason behind me never having seen a dragon (other than the first one at the start),
and not being as experienced in the ways of the game as some people on the forums.


How about you?

I do the exact same thing! You sir...are not alone.

Absolutley!

I found myself just exploring the hills and forests around Riften last night for about 2 hours. I couldnt get over the experience of just wandering about. With my 30 in monitor and my 5.1 headphones it felt like I was riding my own horse through breathtakign scenery. I live in Colorado and I have to say its like Beth did a cut and paste of some of the places I have been to around here. Incredible.

All the time. Just order your packmule to go home, empty out the inventory aside from the necessities and just go walk.
And I do mean walk.
I also have the odd compulsion to go hunting as well.

Wandering is my favorite part about TES series. I LOVE stumbling upon something extraordinary. It feels like fate.

Of course! Thats the strong point of the Elder Scrolls series!

I follow the "Ooo, what's that!?" method of completing quests and end up all over the place.

I walk everywhere. Never run, and often I sneak. I disabled all arrows, quest markers and the compass, so I find things by finding them. Getting lost is not a barrier to gameplay, it IS gameplay

I do the same, except usually not on purpose. I usually set a goal or something I want to get done when I start playing but as I start walking down the road to my destination my companion comments on some dungeon or I see someplace that looks interesting, and there goes my entire day...Reason why it takes me forever to complete the main quest in TES games

My mage and I are taking it very slow and just enjoying the experience. I don't want to rush any content. I am "behind" most people, but that's OK. Anja and I will keep doing our thing.

Wait... Pack mule?

I also derive great satisfaction from one shotting deer, elk, goats, etc... with a sneak arrow critical.

The only thing I have yet to be able to hunt is foxes. I can never hit those darn things. Even with the slow down
time perk.

Haven't even touched main quest. Barely any quests at all, really.

The reason you haven't seen a dragon is because they are only activtated once you make some progress in the main quest. Then they show up in the world as unlimited respawning enemies that can show up at any time. Pretty fun stuff.

That's the best part of the game. I love to explore but I'm focusing more on the dark brotherhood first. I need the cool armor

Pack mule is my cute nickname I made up for that free woman the Jarl gave me for killin' a dragon.
Lydia I think her name is?

This is me! I've collected loads of quests, finished a few, got loads of half finished, and constantly get lost in snowstorms. I love snowstorms.

Mary

Same here, probably why I never finish any questlines! But I have fun doing it so I don't really care...

I was wondering around. Ran into a Courier on a road. I pickpocketed a letter he was carrying and it opened a new questline for me.


Totally random encounter and now I'm running around on another crazy quest I never knew existed.


That's why I love this game. Something completely random turns into something big.

Of course I do. It's the best part of the game. But particularly with Skyrim. Because I don't just wonder... I go...

DRAGON HUNTING

Yes, that's pretty much how I play the games, since nothing but the wilderness really seems fun and immersive. I spend most of my time in TES games just picking flowers because of my insatiable need to collect every alchemy ingredient I might possibly need, only to find myself halfway to Akavir when I look up.

Of course, that doesn't mean I won't still talk about game mechanics.

Pretty much all I do is wander. I don't do any quests that don't show up under Miscellaneous, and I just go around exploring and killing everything that attacks me.

I'll normally be on a quest but then get distracted by cavern or Fort and clear it out, or I get lost because I was chashing down that . I call it the ADD method.

I do too, most of the time. I have like 40 different quests on my list now, and i have them all marked. I look at my map and see what marker is the closest and I just start walking in that direction. If I come across a camp or dungeon or whatever, I'll check it out on my way. When I finish a quest, I'll fast travel to where I turn it in, then start doing other things that are nearby. Although, I think right now I'm gonna go finish up the dark bros quests, I think I'm almost done. then go wander around some more. I am tempted though to just go blow through the main story quests just to see the story, and then start over with a new different character and do more exploring with him.

Wandering is all I do. I don't worry about quest lines or anything else. I will go back to those after I've been everywhere. The best part of this game is experiencing the world as you would in reality: without the use of computer maps, quick travel, etc. Live off the land, fight through random encounters, explore the nooks and crannies you come across, and survive the experience.

I have one Nord character to do the main quest who is a fairly senseless Barbarian who likes big hammers & axes who is at level 8.

My other charcter is a Bosmer Hunter/Explorer at level 10 who is not at all concerned with the main quest and I'm having considerably more fun with him.