Before I begin, let me start off by saying that this is pure opinion/ hope and not speculation. If similar or even the same ideas have been posted elsewhere, I don't mind you telling me, but please take note that there's a 100% chance I've never read it. I haven't been on a Skyrim Forum since Dawnguards PS3 hiccup was announced. I am a PS3 owner, I was upset about the delays, but in the last week I have played both Dragonborn and Hearthfire. The former was fun if too short and the latter was a major disappointment. I hope Dawnguard is at least better than Hearthfire. Now let's get to it.

Skyrim, and Oblivion for that matter, have two major flaws (beyond glitches and bugs) that I can't stand. The first is the emptiness of the games, I've always felt that there was too much space in between towns and not enough people to make a proper population for the provinces. Just half a dozen or more people added to each town, even generic useless npcs would have been fine, and houses to go with them would make me happy (hint hint Elder Scrolls VI) . Hell just a few more houses outside the city limits would be fine. I realize this can't, or at least won't, be solved by any DLC, so I'll move on to my second grievance. Questing and Guilds. I want more guild quests, and not just the same radiant quests over and over, especially for the Companions.

The Companions' questline in itself feels half done, there just seems to be pieces missing. After only two quests you become a member of the circle and are given the special "wolf jacket" that's goes with it, and not only that but it's not optional. Unless you don't feel like doing anymore quests for the Companions, which is another thing I hated about them is you have to do the main quests after each sidequest and before you're allowed to do another. There was a line from one of the first Silver Hand guys you encounter about how you seem to be wearing some armor (I assume wolf armor) that instantly makes you a Companion. And quite frankly, if that isn't just me blasting through them, its seems to be the shortest of the major guild questlines.

I want more, these are the Companions, the supposed great warriors of Skyrim, and they don't seem to do much beside kill the occasional animal or beat up the neighborhood bully. There needs to be a new threat to the Companions, or they need to act on a threat to Skyrim, there's certainly enough of those to go around. Maybe the Silver Hand starts a major smear campaign against you, revealing the weresecret, and you have to prove your honor to the people of Skyrim. Or maybe a group of mercenaries has taken out a vendetta against the Companions to prove that they're the best warriors in Skyrim. Hell maybe this is where you can insert the arena we've all been clamoring for.

Now with the College of Winterhold, that obviously is leading to somewhere, whether main story related or not. So either continue from that or come up with something involving the Daedra. An evil mage seeks to recreate the Oblivion crisis or, again, smear campaign and proving honor. Honestly I'm not invested too much with magic in Skyrim so I have no real ideas on this one, but consistency required I at least try.

The Thieves guild, they need a major heist on this one stat. I liked Skyrim's questline, and Oblivion's, but I want a major questline involving a stealing spree. Catching a traitor and giving a man back his life is all well and good, but theft needs to be put back into the driver's seat. Maybe some great hidden treasure, or the Dragonborn's Eleven perhaps? If future DLCs bring us to Hammerfell or Cyrodiil or even the Summerset Isles we need to rob a castle. Maybe a joint venture with the local den of thieves, a backstab, a doublecross, and a bunch of one uping. Moon Sugar smuggling in Elsweyr? Escaping some great Aldmeri prison? Rivalry between us and pirates? Limitless potential.

Now for the tough one, the Brotherhood. Let's face it, Bethesda gave us a lot of power with this questline. So much so, that I don't see how they can top it, whether in DLC or Elder Scrolls VI. Assassinate a Daedric prince? Nocturnal has us do? Someone hires the Morag Tong to eliminate us? Again, if we go to other provinces, we could join up with other hidden assassins. Reform the group then take out a major enemy. I'm quite stuck with this one, so let's move on.

Another thing I would see with DLC, which is quite obvious, is of course the continuation of the main story. Now, I'm about to contradict myself, this is partly speculative. I know I said it wasn't speculation, but it does derive partially from what seems needs to happen in Skyrim. Mainly the choosing of the High King of Skyrim, the inevitable war with the Aldmeri Dominion, and the new emperor of Tamriel. I honestly think Bethesda is setting it up for the Dragonborn to become either High King/ Queen of Skyrim, and quite possibly Emperor/ Empress of Tamriel.

Maybe we get to the moot, whoever you supported in the Civil war steps up to the plate, and an Aldmeri assassin, or simply just an Aldmeri grunt really, kills them. Or maybe Ulfric turns out to be apart of the Aldmeri conspiracy to break apart the Empire. Anyway it happens, there's a power void, you get chosen to fill it. Who better to? Now this is where I would like it to go from here, and it may just spread across a few DLCs. Starting with the rumored Redguard. Speculation over, now for what I would actually like to see.

Whether Redguard starts off with the above situation or not, it does have you traveling to Hammerfell, (and maybe High Rock and that Orc place I didn't look up the name of) to make an alliance with their leader to take out the Aldmeri. You either do this openly as a Stormcloak, or secretly for the Empire. Civil war choice dependent. Being an Elder Scrolls game, you of course have to help them out with a problem of their own before any promises can be made. Skyrim isn't the only one under the threat of dragons, just like Cyrodiil was the only one effected by the Oblivion crisis, and maybe the power void left by Alduin's death has been filled by a dragon in Hammerfell. Except, in Hammerfell, these are a new breed of dragon, (maybe like Japanese dragons in looks) a more vicious less intelligent breed.
Or to escape a story too similar to the Alduin, you have to help eliminate an enemy of Hammerfell's leader. Maybe a rebel, maybe a high ranking Aldmeri, who knows.
Both lead you down a multitude of quests, more than seven at least, and you join forces. Step one to fighting the High Elves. And of course sidequests, maybe relating to the already existing guilds or new ones, new armors, new shouts, new plants blah blah blah.

Step two leads us to either Cyrodiil or just straight to Summerset Isle. I don't think it would be Elsweyr, Valenwood, Black Marsh or Morrowind. Morrowind seems like a boring choice after Dragonborn's visit to Solstheim, and Valenwood, Black Marsh and Elsweyr deserve there own games that will do them justice. Visiting Solstheim and Hammerfell in this game gets a little leeway because they were apart of their own games before. But we do need a location that isn't Skyrim for the final act or two. Cyrodiil would have to be act 2 no matter what. Getting the Empire on your side to take it back to the Aldmeri, using your voice to break them down. Now this is where things get interesting, thanks in part to the Dark Brotherhood quests.

So either your dealing with the old coward Titus Mede that signed the White-Gold concordant, or the meeker individual that replaced him. He doesn't want to be apart of your war and demands that you leave before you incite the Aldmeri into war. Now comes a smear campaign of your own. You have to go to key members of the Elder Council and work them against the Emperor. Making either the claim that you should be the Emperor because you're dragonborn like Tiber Septim. Or for the more modest players, one of them comes to you making this claim. Again, you have to give to get, doing different tasks for the Council members, all while avoiding the Aldmeri and re-establishing the Blades to support your ascent to the throne. This could be extended even further by the presence of the late Tiber Septim himself as Talos, or the ghost of Boromir or Capt. Picard. Leading to a battle with the Aldmeri that reveals to the Emperor, the Council, and the people of Cyrodiil itself that you should be leading Tamrial. Here comes act 3.

Act 3 is on Summerset Isle, full all war has broken out and you're there to lead the charge. Or better yet, depending on your skills, you get to choose between being on the front lines, acting from the shadows, or anything in between. You sweep across the Isle taking forts and holds (or whatever they have) until you reach the capitol. This is where the true motivation behind the Aldmeri's actions is revealed. And here is where I want you to feel like you've actually failed Tamriel. I know it won't happen, but I want it to be revealed that the Aldmeri were working towards saving Tamriel, and quite possibly Nirn, from a greater threat than even dragons or Daedra. And you screwed everything up. After preventing Armageddon, you bring down Die Hard 5... I mean the Apocalypse. Here's the clincher. It won't be happening for 200 to 300 years, but the only time to prevent it was at that moment. You now have to live with the knowledge that you have doomed Tamriel and it's people.

BUT this is a video game, and it's more than likely that Bethesda won't end it with such a down note. You end a game badly and it will bite you on the ass, it's been proven a few times recently. So more than likely, you'll fight some evil High Elf that has become mad with power. Defeating them saves Tamriel, and you are now Emperor, or just High King of Skyrim. Or Still just Dragonborn with important friends and big favors owed to you. Fading into obscurity like the Hero Kvatch before you. Done deal.

Now as an addendum to this, there are two more ideas I would like to state.

One more additional DLC I would like to see is one where you explore the Dragonborn's past, ala Lonesome Road. I know that Beth likes to keep it ambiguous, having no knowledge of your past beyond being in custody/ prison and amnesia, but I'd like to see a change to this pattern. If not in Skyrim than maybe ESVI. I liked Lonesome Road's story (and I know that was Obsidian not Beth) and the Prologue/ tutorial levels of Fallout 3. Giving you at least a little more motivation to your character. Simply being Dragonborn and plain curiosity isn't enough for me. I like to explore a character's background, and have it push you forward to the endgame. If only a little. This could just be a sidequest in any DLC involving Cyrodiil, completely optional and not necessary to plot. Giving those that don't want to explore it the option of skipping it.

Now what I don't want to see in DLC. Dwemer. No thank you. Maybe you meet one that got left behind in a sidequest, learn a little more about their technology, yes I know they did that in Morrowind. If Bethesda wants to go further into where the Dwemer are, I believe that should be the plot of an entire game. Hell maybe if they do something like my Aldmeri preventing apocalypse, that could be the event they're trying to prevent. The Dwemer returning as a technological superior threat. Seeking revenge or trying to bring Tamriel into the industrial era they aren't ready for.


Anyway those are my ideas/ what I would like to see happen in future Skyrim DLC. Hope you liked them, and if you didn't well, oh well. Please be kind, these are just my ideas, things I would LIKE to see. Not necessarily what needs to absolutely happen. Let's face it, they could go anywhere with it. Even leave it open until a future game.