I like exploring. I like going into caves, discovering places, etc. I have killed a few named people and I think those may have been quest targets. Does it hurt if you explore like this? Do people not give you quests that you would have gotten had you explored all the cities first?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22eIJDtKho

You worry too much. Yes some people give you quests for those places. You are not penalized though.

There is a place that if you explore before you have the quest, you cannot become thane of Riften though. That is a bug though.

the First thing did was explore for nearly 80 hours and then do the main quest at about 100 hours.

Yes, if the nun catches you she will rap you across the knuckles.

Yeah well it happened to me on my first character because of this random stuff. I did a bounty in a place and when I came back and finally started the Companions it glitched. Because the initial companion test dungeon is random and it was the same one I had just finished awhile back. So when I tried to do it again, it glitched out and wouldn't finish.

For me it did hurt. I did alot of roaming exploring at the beginning of the game and ended up clearing some dungeons and looting quest items that later got bugged and I am unable to finish the quests. For now I simple roam around updating the map and not going into dungeons till a quests requires it. Clearing outdoors areas though hasnt been a problem so far. As far as just random killing of "named" people I would advise against it. I have found that very few named persons dont have any quests attached to them at some point in the game. This is just been experience though, yours may be different.

IMHO there is no such thing as a non quest dungeon anymore in this TES game. This is due to the fact of the whinners on the forums during Fallout 3 and Oblivion. That threw tantrums because they don't like to explore without a purpose or quest. Well now that they have their way. It ends up glitching out questlines for alot of us.

Thank You to the QQ's

You can 'skip ahead' on a few quests (common on "A Night to Remember"), and you can find quest items before knowing about them (some of them will trigger the quest), but in general you will not prevent yourself from getting a quest, that I have found.

However, locations take 30 in-game days to reset. If you get a quest for a location that you have recently cleared out, it can bug. The best thing would be to go around and explore what you want, then 'rest' for 30 days before jumping into any major quests.

One Caveat: Raldbthar has a puzzle near the end of it. If you explore this location fully, before having the appropriate quest, and then return after 30 days, the puzzle will be reset into an unusable state preventing your progression (unless you are on PC and then you can ~tcl through the door). I'm not sure if this has been fixed yet, but I have not seen it in any of the patch notes.

Skyrim really does that? That svcks.

I don't worry about it because I know I'll be re-playing this one end to end a few times.
I've re-played Fallout 3 a few times without touching the main quest, makes for a different game, different challenges.

So far I haven't had too much problem exploring dungeons before I'm "supposed to." I like the idea that every piece of the landscape has something tied to it, be it a unique item, quest, dragon shout, etc. The exploring in Oblivion really felt boring after you got high enough level to enchant the best gear in the game. I'm glad there's a purpose behind every dungeon. Not a QQ, just my honest opinion.

Blaming people who request a feature ain't really fair. Its developers who choose to implement things at the end of the day and its developers whose job it is to make those things work. If they can't, they shouldn't.

I have to admit this is a concern of mine as well. So far I have been going to cities and finding quests and such before heading out to those dungeons. However, the desire to make a shaman-esqe explorer that rarely enters cities for any reason is starting to build.

I think I am going to go ahead with it now, but hopefully I don't run into many glitched out dungeons because I didn't acquire some unknown quest first. It bugs me when I find a "quest" item that I don't know anything about.

Well I didn't get this from a dungeon, but if you 'pick up' a certain flute before you get the quest, you can't turn it in. Another instrument let me hand it in, but the dialogue is stuck at the same time and I get no reward. For the most part you're safe though. Some dungeons require you to be on the quest in order to even enter. I've cleared a few places only to be sent back later for a quest and everything worked out fine.

There is one place that breaks the main quest if you go there before getting the quest for it and solve its puzzles. Just be careful with exploring the Reach.

Yes, this has been my experience too.