I know a lot of people really hated the Thieves Guild because it didn't make you feel like a theif, not really. However, it did make you feel like part of mafia of sorts. I mean, threatening people in the beginning because they don't pay their debts to the TG? Or putting competitors out of buisness because they interfer with the boss's (Mavens) profits? I mean, I didn't feel like a thief, but I did feel like a criminal, which is what counts. I also thought the whole story of revenge and betrayl was one of the better stories told in the game. And the whole, everyone knows the TG hideout its so unrealistic thing? Yeah, in real life, in high crime neigborhoods, everyone knows who the hardened gansters are, but the cops don't have the manpower to do anything.

Although, I will admit, the radient quests were painfully bad.

The thieves guild did feel a lot like tha mafia in Skyrim, that's what I first thought when I had to go shake people down for money.

But it's not the Mafia guild it's the Thieves Guild...

They're still petty criminals. Both rob people, albeit in different ways. Honestly, I like the change, even if it is a different feel than the previous thieves guild.

I would prefer we kept the thievery involved though, I felt like a really crappy Mafia that didn't know how to operate efficiently,

Yeah, the TG is more like a syndicate with their hands in a bunch of different rackets than strictly being thieves, however if all the TG did was steal that would've spawned even more complaints. I liked the main questline, but the small jobs were a bit tedious.

I've only done the TG once so I'm not sure, but was it made clear what the deal was with the first quest? When Brynjolf gives it out it seems like a protection racket, but when you talk to the NPCs it sounds more like they borrowed money, but hadn't paid it back yet.

Even though the "small jobs" for Vex and Delvin were tedious we all gotta admit, they did level our thievery skills quite fast.

Well, my Sneak was probably already at 100 when I started the TG questline, but my Pickpocket skill went up fast as hell.

Are you talking about the sneak/lockpick/pickpocketing perks, or just practicing being stealty. I really didn't think the radient quests were all too helpful in that regard.