Hi

I am playing rather slow. My char is mainly a 2-hander melee character, that joined Imperial-faction and Companions-guild. The game seems overwhelmingly big so far, and it demotivates me when planning onto starting another 2 classes: "mage" (mainly destruction) and "thief/rogue/assassin" (with backstab, etc.).

As far as I understood there are 2 factions total: Imperials VS Stormcloaks and you can only join one of them

And there are 4 guilds (Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Mages Guild and Companions), and you can join and complete all of their quests in one playthrough. But something tells me that for a best experience, it's best to join only some of them accordingly to what sort of character you want to play, regarding to "good/evil" choises and what sort of skills and perks you level up.

Wouldn't it be best to complete Companions as "warrior", TG and DB as "thief/rogue/assassin" and Mages guild as "mage"? Have anyone completed them all in one playthrough, and did it ruin the gameplay/immersion to do so?

The reason I am asking, is because this game is so huge and there doesn't seem to be any limits what a character can or can't do. It seems that Bethesda is encouraging players to try nearly everything no matter what character you are playing. This confuses me, because without guidelines, I am having a hard time taking action into one specific direction. I would rather take a planned action and have some sort of expectations on, whether it's optimal way to play a specific sort of character. To rephrase - I would like someone to tell me which path to take to get the most out of my experience, for the most amount of fun, so that the game makes most sense.

Please share some suggestions. Thanks.

As for the guild quest lines, I viewed the Companions as mercenaries. I don't look at them as a "Fighter's Guild," implying warrior-types only join, I look at it as something for a character who will kill for the highest bidder, so to speak. This is the free-for-all guild in my opinion.

The other three, however, I've restricted. My rogue would not join the mage's guild, my Cleric would not join the Dark Brotherhood, and on my newest play through I won't be joining the Thieve's Guild (playing as a necromancer).

I'll agree with you that unrestricted play often means boring play. I like to put a few rules on how I play out my characters.

This game is meant to be played through with different characters. One character can do everything, but I think people lose out on the experience that way.

Also, this game is not really about the factions, or even the MQ. It is about the world and the exploration and the story (both the one you make up and the ones the game provides for you). The faction quests and MQ are more an excuse for you to get out in the world and see what's up rather than the end all of the game. I see the factions as something to do in between exploring trips.

Oh, and don't be afraid to take a hulking tank of a warrior through the Thieves, it could be a real challenge to make a character that is totally unsuited for a faction then take them through that faction. Then take a thief through the Civil War.

My opinion : you are going the right way about things. Why would my mage join the companions? The option is there to join all factions with one character, if your playing time is limited, but if you have the luxury of the time to play multiple characters, why not?
I would even think of different characters for thief and assassin, maybe one cold blooded killer, and a more rogueish type who is in the Thieves' and the Bards'. No reason for the killer not to join another faction as 'cover', either.

I did them all in one go my "RP" is the be a badass. There are no good/evil choice for anything other the DB it's all do this or leave it as uncompleted quest. If you do anything like a well done game you will get a quest from all of them and the Bards (only a semi real faction). For the most part they are all shallow no real perk or down side to any. Changes nothing in the world at all other then you can bribe guards if you have a bounty.

Mages you can do without ever casting a single spell but, that has nothing to do with any other faction. Thief you can do without ever sneaking etc. I say entering any of them ruins gameplay because they have no standard to do and no clear gain. You can complete companions be top ranked and the guards will still ask you if you fetch the mead, other faction members are no better one still says they can't believe you were allowed in etc etc etc.

So it's up to you but no it does nothing for the game but really takes nothing out of it either.

yes, I completed all of them with one of my char, and it svcked. I was a two handed weapon/heavy armor warrior trying to be sneaky or doing magic related stuff without ever casting a single spell. no point at all.
with my other chars I try to join only guilds related to my build.

On my first character I am planning to acquire and complete every Misc quest I can find (before starting to complete the MQ), but even those (misc quests) seem to have alternate endings, right? My point is, if you have to squeeze every drop out of the game, you're going to have to complete all the misc quests with different chars, and remember previous choises, in order to pick the possibility for a new outcome. Or what?

There are people who have posted threads where they have become the Archmage of the College, and have only cast two or three spells. Can you do the Companions quest line using stealth, bows and light armor? Sure, why not. Morrowind had skill and attribute minimums required to move up the ranks, and questline, so a warrior wasnt likely to make it far in the Mage's Guild or Thieve's Guild without a lot of training. Oblivion eliminated the requirements, and it seems Skyrim has even elimnated the ranking system.

this is a game that i feel is meant for serious roleplaying and multiple characters.

i would make sure to develop a character before playing this game because the world does not change with your character.

the game will not change on your next playthrough. it will be up to you to make it unique.

I can see that it brings alot of freedom to explore everything and do anything, but heck, I'd prefer more strict rules. I wish that Skyrim had 3 main classes that you could chose between: warrior, rogue and mage, and if you pick one of them, the possibility to make "wrong" or inoptimal choises were automatically disabled. For instance, if I pick rogue, I should not be able to do Companions, nor Mages Guild. Plus the ability of abandoning quests would be awesome too - I hate the idea of accidently picking up a quest that requires me to do a dirty deed, when my character represents everything against that kind. And not being able to remove that quest from my Journal. Sometimes I don't get Bethesda at all...

I agree kind of. I don't think the game should stop you from joining one if you are in another but it should be hard. Skyrim sends you to all of them. Walk through town you hear rumors starts a quest, go to a bar (deadric really love bar folks in skyrim) starts a quest, DB sends you to the thieves, thieves sends you to mages. Enter Riften at all and it starts you. I think the game should allow for combos like battle mage, non-sneaking just kill it DB (I love to use my special companion gift here), etc. I just don't think it should be fed to you in the form of join or ignore the quest log.

Yeah, I'm off a same mind on this.

I joined the thieves guild with my necromancer just to get the daedric artifact and fences. He will never finish it. Otherwise I've done what you plan. I played the thieves guild focusing on archery, then the db focusing on dagger backstabs. I only finished the civil war once with my warrior, but mostly ignore it. Same with main quest.

Make multiple characters and pursue different guilds/factions/quests with each of them. That way you'll have several memorable experiences instead of one big long blur.

The fact that you only need to cast a couple of spells to do the mages' guild is irrelevant. If you're playing a mage you're going to be casting a lot of spells. The same for the thieves' guild and sneaking. The absence of skill minimums, etc., is an artificial problem created by metagaming. If you're playing in character it's not an issue at all, though it's definitely an area where many opportunities were missed.

What skills do they train?

Heavy Armour, Block, Archery, 1H Weapons, 2h Weapons, Smithing

I'd say the emphasis is on warrior there as is their whole ethos if you talk to the members.
The Fighters Guild were mercenaries in the previous games too.

I appreciate all the replies. I went back to discovering random places. There are so many.. I can't imagine rediscovering them all with my next playthrough, but I suppose that it's not the point that one has to experience everything that is, in one playthrough only. I might end up semi-rushing through the main parts that I want to complete with my second (and maybe third) character, otherwise one lifetime is not enough to see all there is in Skyrim.

I dont think it makes sense to join the Companions with a magic-user being that theyre all primarily Nord warriors of some sort and magic users wouldnt be too welcome (although nothing really happens in-game). As an imperial spellsword i joined the college, legion and the companions being that i also used a sword and heavy armor. With a pure Nord warrior all i joined was legion and companions. With a nightblade im joining college, thieves guild and dbh.

I suppose a pure mage would be inappropriate, but my Combat-Conjurer is 50% mage 50% warrior so... I'll do the companions