So we already know that there will be no dragons in the game at launch. At this time, Dragons were very rare in Tamriel to the point that some people though they didn't exist anymore or had never existed.

Obviously, we know that's not true. Numerous Dragons survived the Dragon Wars includinghttp://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Paarthurnax, http://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Nafaalilargus, and several others. Thankfully, the developers have acknowledged this and Paul Sage and company have said they have http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_cKUX8H8JM&t=10m53s for how they will introduce Dragons later on.

Since this is an MMO, since Dragons are rare and mysterious at this time, and since it is very difficult for non-Dragonborn to defeat Dragons, here is my theory on how they will do it:

Dragon fights will be boss battles at the end of endgame content. The limited number of dragons we fight will come from the http://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Atlas_of_Dragons. This gives them roughly two known dragons for us to kill, since obviously we cannot kill Paarthurnax in ESO. The number corresponds nicely to the number of factions we have.

I theorize that Ahbiilok will be the dragon we fight in the Ebonheart Pact, since he was last sighted in Morrowind.

Mirmulnir will be the dragon we fight in the Daggerfall Covenant since he was last spotted in the reach, only a hop skip and a jump away from DC territory.

Nahfahlaar will be the dragon we fight in the Aldmeri Dominion since his location is unknown (NOTE: Despite the link on UESP, there is absolutely no reason to think Nahfahlaar is Nafaalilargus, so we can kill him IMO.)

Obviously I could be totally wrong about the particular dragons...I just think it would be a nice way to tie the quests into existing lore. They could also make up their own. Either way I suspect that they will be boss battles and that they will be bigger and tougher than dragons in Skyrim.

What do you think? Alternative ideas?

I'm not much of a lore buff. But couldn't we technically kill most of the dragons (minus paarthunax (sp?) of course) since Alduin was going around and resurrecting all the dead dragons?

Hmmm.... Mannimarco + Deceased Dragons from the Atlas = Raid?

I think we could. But I don't really know.

Yes and no.

Paarthurnax can't be killed since he was said to be on top of snow throat the whole time and was not resurrected by Alduin.

Nafaliilargus can't be killed since he was killed by Cyrus the Redguard a few hundred years after the TESO time line (which was pre-Alduin's return.)

Other than that, yes.

Mirmulnir is encountered in Skyrim and is raised by Alduin for example.