I love the Thieves Guild. I am a thief/assassin player by heart and have gone through the chain several times at this point on varied characters, each going about things a different way. Full on murder, sneak and blade-staying, archery, etc etc.

But when it ends and the work to upgrade the place begins, it's rather lackluster. The additional shops are nice, but people described the Thieves Guild as being "like a palace" and "As busy as the imperial city" and... I just don't see it.

For example... The second upgrade. Rugs. RUGS. I could have Effin' -STOLEN- some rugs from some kind of rich district if they really wanted me to. I could have done that. That could have been one of the -first- things I could have done. I even saw some rugs in the East Empire Company warehouse.
And I get a shiny new bed. Why can't everyone else have shiny beds? We're already drowning in cash. I could go out and buy them all beds legitimately if they wanted me to. I find it silly that I get a mattress and a little improvised 'wall' while everyone else has to deal with metal rods and some animal fur.

As an additional note, I'd like to know what exactly is upgraded on each phase. I know of the rugs, the shops, the Nocturnal statue in the Cistern but... Everything else is too subtle. The place is still kind of a dump afterward.

That is all. Still already put 200 hours into this damn game
(Mostly thieves)

yeah I think we all expected more in a lot of ways.

Mods will hopefully improve this. That said, I'm on PS3 so am stuck with the lackluster upgrade system. I haven't even done it yet, completed the main questline for the TG but just can't be bothered to do 25 Numbers jobs or whatever it is in a row to get the upgrades and the trophy.

You don't need to do all numbers jobs all the time - you can also take Vex jobs and do two things at a time. It's quicker than you think.

And as far as mods go, not an option for me. I play on the 360.

And I still consistently think "Man, I coulda gotten some point and made this place a bright white. THAT'D make this feel like a palace".

I've done 10, 15 jobs for the TG, running jovs for both Vex and Delvin, and I haven't been prompted for a quest for any of the big cities. Finding it pretty monotonous tbh, chasing the "Learn 20 Shouts" trophy instead. I don't normally bother with achievements, but Skyrim's are pretty attainable, and if there's any game I'd want a Platinum Trophy for, it's Skyrim.

You're missing out. The Guild Master armor is pretty much the best light armor in the game that I've found.
My higher level character (Rigged via exploit, since I don't have "cheats"), upgraded via smithing and such, gave me around 400 armor rating. That's better than some -warriors-.

agree OP, but afterall they're making their base in the sewer. the odor has to be overwhelming and members probably could be identified by smell. they've returned to glory and still live in sewer....it's just not right.

my only complaint was the assigning of the side jobs. the character i did TG on had a -18 in the quests stats lol from refusing jobs in cities i've already completed the special assignment for. and there's nothing to do in riften so it was pointless to even take those. it took me refusing 30 or so jobs before i finally got to do markarth. maybe i wasn't paying attention, but i didn't think it was made clear enough how to upgrade or restore the TG. had to check with the UESP. and it didn't make sense that after becoming guild master and restoring a daedra shrine, that now i'm demoted to doing petty jobs to restore the guild. should have went straight to the special jobs.

but i do have to say the questline and the side jobs are fun, had a good time with it.

I think it made some sense. You could think of it like this - Maybe you're not the -only- one doing petty jobs to catch the attention of wealthy backers?

But really. It's not the petty jobs that annoy me. For the most part they're quick, easy, (Sometimes I have the misfortune of an NPC folllowing me around the building, which forces me to get a bit more clever) and I just want to get the Guild Master armor.

My complain, back to the original post, is that a fully upgraded base just doesn't feel "upgraded". Some rugs, a statue, some shops. It's still crap.

I was really, really hoping that I would end up owning goldenglow estate, and transform that into the new guild. Oh well.....

Pretty neat idea.
Even better since you already learned how to navigate it while robbing it.