Is it just me, or does it svck that you have to complete the Mages guild in order to acces the labrynthian which holds one of the masks.. i dont know about any others but i know this one in paticular requirs you to play through the whole quest line.. i understand the one near the end of the MQ because.. well the MQ is dragon related.. and these are dragon preists.. but still.. ugh.. is there any other way in the labrynthian or?

If you are on the PC you can always use the console to open/activate the front door (or just player.additem cheat it). But you don't need to complete the entire Mage guild quest-line if you only want the mask. Just get the mask and then ignore the rest of the stuff.

Fun Fact: Console User..

Yeah lol Especially when it says XBOX 360 USER xD But sorry there's no other way becouse you need the torc to enter.

Dont sweat it, mages questline is actually very short and fast compared to thieves guild. Just blast through it.

Yeah. I try not to complain too much, but the College questline was way too short. Welcome to the College of Winter hold, apprentice. Quest, quest, quest. Congratulations, Archmage.

Hmmm I stumbled into this place last night. w/o being on any quest line or using any mods. I just walked into the front door... saw the maze.. then went above on the ledge surrounding the maze and jumped into it haha. I walked away with a new shout (terror?) and 4 cool staffs--that I won't use b/c I'm not a mage. Is there a dragon priest mask that I missed?

I couldn't find anywhere else to go. I went into the maze once.. and was afraid I wouldn't find my way out again.

The wooden mask is there, I don't believe its in the maze proper though. Like when you walk through the main entrance, its one of the round buildings to the far left, there will be a skeleton next to it.

I've been there, gotten the wooden mask by the body, but I still haven't found this maze. I kind of only poked around, I presume another quest will send me back there.

I'll have to go back and check it out. Are you talking about the area in the courtyard (separate area from the maze--have to go through a loading screen) where the Frost Trolls patrol?

The whole area is huge, so I may have just missed it.

I see no problem with having some quest rewards be guild dependent. Kinda gives you some incentive to play the guild, eh?

Same with the quest, 'No Stone Unturned'. You must join the College in order to get one of the Stones of Barenziah. Believe me, I've tried everything. Sneaking in through the Midden (Dark). I even kept myself completly undetected, the Midden has two exits, one in the courtyard, the other in the senior staff's sleeping area. Went to the roof access from there, then the Arcanium and saw the door to the Arch-Mage's quarters is locked, requiring a key. Went downstairs to the Hall of Elements, also locked. Final nail in the coffin is the fact that Savos Aren doesn't even have a key. Untill patch 1.4, you also needed to do 'Diplomatic Immunity' to get one as well. Not to mention the one that is inside Proudspire Manor, requiring you to do a side quest and buy the place.

It's unfortunate. This sort of thing really obviates the "open world, play as you wish" sort of ambience TES has always been lauded for. I don't know why they chose to go this direction.

If you check GallariaIchiban's posts, she's offering (in her sig) to do "save swapping" to pc and back to help out with some of this sort of thing. Not sure just exactly what can be done, but you might check with her.