I keep seeing people say that you don't have to patch to play. Well, I am having a heck of a time getting this patch right now, so that sounds pretty good to me. How do you do it?

I tried choosing "Do not automatically update this game" in the properties, stopping the update, and clicking play, but it just goes back to patching. Same if I launch from the disc.

I also tried offline mode in Steam, but it says "Skyrim is not ready for offline mode." It's installed and I put in my key, what else do I have to do?

I tried the "Verify integrity of game cache" that was suggested for some problems, no dice either.

What am I missing here?