I have three characters and only one of them has completed the MQ, I just started an only hand-to-hand orc, its a lot of fun using only your fist, i recommend trying it i got the inspirationg from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhBiNx749Zw video

Hmm.. never thought of it that way

There really is no "wrong" way to play an open world game. Unless you just burn through the MQ and then complain about how short the game is.

Ugh..I could never do that.

I'm a major completionist.

That's half the fun of games like this--the Role Playing. There are gamers that do nothing but power play, and those are the ones that finish everything as fast as possible, and do everything they can to be a force, missing out on the role playing. I did my first character, finished the main quest, did the civil war, started the companions, nord barbarian, light armor. He's a sneak, and an archer as well as a two hand wielder, but he's not thief, and he's no killer.

I now have a second character, a Dunmer spell sword who doesn't take lip, will kill over it, and is now the top of the dark brotherhood. I haven't done thief yet, I think I may leave that for another character. Haven't done a pure mage yet either.

Nothing wrong with starting a new file. My current character is level 33, 40 hours into the game and I haven't visited Riverwood yet and I don't plan too. My other characters have but not my current one.

It would be perfectly okay to do so! That's what I love about Skyrim, you can do the heck you want! No one's gonna stop you from playing the game your way!

I've started about 7 new games. Have at it.

Starting sixth next week. Never got far in any of them. My massive OCD means that if I misplace just one perk I'm going to start over.

I play multiple characters each pursuing different quest threads and each treating main thread as low priority. I find it much more immersive to pick a few quest threads for a character and play consistent with assumed alignment. Some characters won't touch deadric quest lines another pursues them all, etc.

Jesus christ that looked fun! Might try that later ;P

I only start a new character if I realize my current character is boring or I built him in a completely bad way and made my game unplayable.

I've never had the "restartitis" problem some people seem to have. I generally know what type of character I'll enjoy, make that and play it through until he's done the MQ and all the guild quests he'd be interested in. Then I go back, make a different character with different skills, join different guilds, etc.

Ok to start a new char if not finished the main quest? Hell I do it all the time. Most characters on a game I never even finished was 20+ Neverwinter Nights 2! Never finished that game. Hell, never even got to max level!

I have 295 hours played according to Steam, I have finished the MQ once, never finished the civil war and I've got at least 8 characters if not more. So yes, it's okay.

I never finished the civil war either... I don't want to be a Stormcloak because i'm an elf and i don't want to be imperial because i saw their true face at Helgen...

Heck I created a new character to race through the MQ on Adept, just to see how it turned out. My other characters haven't gotten around to being the saviour of the world yet...... still trying all the new flavors!

Replayability is important in games these days. But, Skyrim is huge and can take hundreds of hours to see & do everything. Are you going through the same missions with all your characters? If so then I am currious to hear if something different happens.

In RPG games I always build a warrior first...best armor and offensive weapons I can muster...and enough of the arcane for healing. I then play through the entire game...all missions (as long as they aren't bugged) and finish them all. I then roam around and make sure I've visited everywhere. I don't even think about a different character until my warrior has scoured every carp hole and assessed the possibilities for a different class. Then I create a new character class that fits the world. For Skyrim I'm leaning toward Thief...there is so much loot around Skyrim that I'd probably ONLY steal...I'd ignore all the stuff lying around caves. In fact, I'm thinking Skyrim Thief will be my temporary fix until Eidos Montreal finishes Thi4f. I do plenty of sneaking as a warrior to do some archery and soften up the enemy before I rush in with steel in my hands, so while I'm storming through the game I'm practicing my artform for my next character. But, I definitely do not want to start over with another character until I finish the game with my first one...sorry I don't understand your addiction.

44 breton thief/assassin
25 imperial battle mage
30 something redgaurd 1h/shield
22 highelf pure mage
And now a 33 nord barbarian
I'm also planning to make an argonian dual blade shasowscale type deal.

X_ x ...

Reminded me of something. I'm seriously fed up doing the beginning of the main quest. I swear I would know the dialogue to a certain point by heart if I hadn't skipped the talking.

I think activating dragons is the only MQ thing that I would do in every game. The rest of it doesn't really appeal to me. I guess I don't enjoy constantly being told what to do.

My guy is like lvl 33 and I recently pitched all of his items and started up again with nothing and no gold and was back to being pretty well-equipped by the time I walked to the next city. I highly recommend that people try this on characters that have gotten stale. I'm now going to play without any magic items or potions and no fast travel. I considered starting a new character, but it seems more tedious than this at this point.

When I first started, I ended up making at least 6 new characters to see what builds/perks work and what don't. Now i'm on a pretty stable character and having alot of fun on my mage character and fighter.

I HATE going to get the dragonstone/golden claw... That's the worst!

Yes, that's exactly what I had in mind. And talking to the old guys up in the mountains.

Dude I have a level 81 legit who has not finished the main quest, civil war quest, Dark Brotherhood quests, half the temple and daedric quests, and Has yet to even see Falkreath, much of solitude or Windhelm. 300+ hours into the game. I have two other characters in their 20's and 40's respectively.

Play the way you want. I still do not know how the game ends.