Played 741 hours and for the first time I got this last night:

http://i48.tinypic.com/22zt39.jpg

I was so shocked I didn't know what to do at first. Didn't lose any NPC's and it was great fun watching about 15 NPC's beat on the dragon after it landed.

I also found a new path to Ivarstead that I had never found before. Just path the stormclock camp and right over the top of the mountain. I was within throwing range of High Hrothgar, but couldn't get to it and had to move on over the top to Ivarstead.

So how many long time players are still finding new stuff, if so what?

A day or two ago while exploring Solitude with my bard, I realized there was a fletcher.

And those dragons in cities are a mess. I met one in Markarth, and it kept landing on high places which I had to climb, only to see that it flew to another spot. Ugh! Eventually I killed it with a bow.

Yeah this dragon was on rooftops for a while but I finally pulled out my bow and got it to land. After a couple wacks with my sword I went into the dragon kill-cam and at the same time all the NPC's were beating on it. It was a very cool sight. Had I been thinking I would have taken some shots of it.

I still come across little encounter scenarios, shrines, and stuff as I roam - like a burnt out caravan in the wild, or a shrine with some form of mage lurking about, or a cache of gems in a boat by the side of a river. Stuff like that.

I finally found the "back doors" into Solitude after oh about 1000 hrs.

I don't know if it's DG related or not but

Spoiler

The boat in Dawnstar that you can ride.

I never spent all that much time there.

Which back doors?
Guess this is another thing I didn't know.

Who would wan't to burn a caravan savagely, anyway?

If you go down by the Harbor across the Bridge their are doors that you can go through. Just keep looking left, once you know they are going to be their you won't miss them. One comes out by the err Stall vendors ( about), the other up by the Blue palace ( I'd like to give better dircetions but I've only been through them once)

I don't know why, but after - oh, I don't know, it must be close to 400 hours now, I still haven't met the Jarl of Dawnstar. I just never had a reason to go there, it seems (I've been to Dawnstar, but not much. It's so - off the road from everything). And I still haven't figured out where the Temple of the Divines in Solitude is.

Of course, there are still many things I haven't done at all. The DB or CoW questlines, for example. Lots of caves and ruins I just pass by, thinking "some other time". Half of the Daedric quests. Probably a whole lot of sidequests. I have never owned Prouspire Manor or Vlindrel Hall. And just a few days ago I visited an Orc stronghold for the first time.

I did have my first dragon inside a walled city a couple of days ago, though. Twice in a row, actually, with different characters, both times in Windhelm. First time was a bit of a PITA, since that character is low level (7 or 8 at the time) and a pure mage, with only a few spells and practically no shouts, so it took quite a while before the dragon landed.


I came through one of those backdoors on my very first visit to Solitude in my first playthrough, causing me to totally miss Roggvir's execution. Made the NPC dialogue a bit weird.

I came through the front door on my first visit and totally missed the execution. Took me ages to figure out what on earth everybody was on about so there is still a "first time" to come for me lol