So I played fallout new vegas and WoW..... Thats as far as my experience with these games go.

I have absolutely no idea what exactly I should be doing... Usually I read the manual a little and then just smash into games and work it out, however that doesn't seem to work that easily in this game. I have like 10 hours played and i'm level 5... for example. I decided to go frost in destruction only to find that frost works on..... almost nothing... I don't want to be a warrior as such, I'd rather hybrid, but I've got all these trees I have nfi what they do and no real solid information other than trial and error... I spend my time running from town to town completely randomly not following any specific quest lines and I get confused over who the hell hates who and if I work with these people, will these other people hate me etc... I try to follow a natural quest progression but it just never works that way.

Basically can you guys just give me a basic template I can use to learn wtf I can and can't do in this game? cos right now I'm level 5 with points in a tree that is almost completely useless. Thanks

This game is called "sandbox" in that you can do pretty much what ever you want to. Have fun with stuff. Talk to NPCs. If you want to do a quest, go to the bar and talk to the barkeep. Just don't look for a ! over anyone's head. Listen to what NPCs say... it's not just "filler text" that you get in ARPGs.

The more you do something the better you will get at it. If you like magic, use it a lot and you will level up your magic skill. Pick perks in the skills you want to make those skills better. You might have to wear light or heavy armor early on to survive until you can get better spells and items. Go to Whiterun and do some quests there until you get Lydia for your companion. She will help make things a bit easier in combat.

If you are really stuck, you can pick up the strategy guide. I bought it because I like having all that information at my fingertips just in case. It does a good job of explaining how things work and what to do.

Good luck!

It's like real life.

You get up in a morning and you do what the hell you want.

When it's not a work day that is.

Kill the female enemies, take their armor and stare at their half-nekkid body...

Do what you would do if you were there..

the imperals dont like the stormcloaks

thats it

Kidding aside, the concept is generally don't worry about who's the good guy, who's the bad guy... there's none it's all depends on your own view. If you have to pick a side, pick one and deal with the consequences. It's one of the thing that make TES great, you can do whatever you like as long as you can deal with whatever consequences, and you unravel and affect the story as it goes. There's no right or wrong, just do it

This games is abit different, which makes it fun and last ages.
Quests fall usually into what I refer them as, 3 main categories.

1) Main Quest Line
2) Campaign Quest
3) Small Tasks

Litterally any NPC could give you a quest, at any time. So be socialable ingame and talk to them. You are under no pressure or time constraints to do quests (usually), so unless you got a roleplay reason not to accept a quest, take it.

You can feel like you've completed the game, if all you ever do is the main quest line. This is of course what you character is usually here for afterall, to do the main quest eventually. I personally don't recommend rushing to do this too soon. Game environment often change as you push the progression of the main quest line, this can be both good and bad, depending on what occurs.

However the Campaign quests include things like joining Guilds/Clans/Organisations in Skyrim, where you can advance in them, gain special perks of doing so, as well as just enjoying a challenge of doing a class specific quests. For example; Joining the theives guild is definitely fun for those who have a sneaky/stealth build. But if you just like combat join up the companions. Hopefully you get the point.

Small tasks are still good. They don't really provide any real challenge usually, but if you've got a quests in a specific town, it is nice to earn a little on the side while there.

If you're feeling lost, then you should just follow the story. Either the main story about the dragons or joining either the imperials or the stormcloaks, they'll make things happen in the grand scheme of things.

In developing your character, the system is way different than NV. There are no exp points, you develop skills as you use them. If you want to develop a skill without using it, you must find a trainer in the world, that will make that skill advance in exchange of gold.

Last, but not the least, role-play. Pick a type of character you'd like to play and stick with it. Then make another one when you get bored, there's a lot of replayability in the game. I wouldn't recommend trying to do everything in one playthrough. You want to be a warrior, if so, do you want to specialize in big 2-handed axes or sword and shield? A mage? Which type of magic? A stealthy assassin?

Do what you would do IF YOU were there...I like that ..thats just how i played it.. from the start I was clueless as well, I followed the first person who offerd to help when i was about to be --Be headed yet he was part of the very people that were going to kill me. When i new this I started again..this time did not panic and followed a rebel.. and so a picture in my mind started dont trust the soldiers. And now lvl 10 mage with bow useing magica as my main,
destruction tree, perks with alchemy, and stealth..Idont know if this is right or wrong..I dont care Iam realy enjoying this game and last night killed my first Dragon

This.

You really need to get laid...

Aight thanks dudes. Basically from what you've all said there's not really much I can do to screw up, so i'll just do whatever the hell I want