I just thought I'd add a comment about random dragon encounters. I feel that they are the answer to the question ""What if cliff racers were made as bad as possible?".

Let me illulstrate my point. Random dragon ecnounters are just like cliff racers. Except:

- Instead of being some of the weakest creatures in the game they are some of the most powerful
- Instead of running up on you and attacking you directly thus making them redictable and straightforward to slaughter, dragons keep incredible distances between you and them and hit you with ranged attacks
- Instead of being limited to specific areas, they litelrally spawn everywhere
- Dragons will spawn INSIDE of minor towns.
- Dragons will spawn right above you when you fast travel
- Dragons are extremely difficult to escape from or kill, all while blocking your fast travel and waiting
- Dragons are unlimited in number and it is impossible to wipe them out, you will be harassed by them forever
- Dragons will spawn in places you have completely cleared of enemeis, forever you cannot ever get rid of them, even after completing the main quest.
- Dragons will chase you down from from extreme distances



Simply put while I enjoy the scripted dragon encounters. I think the random dragon encounters are very much the equivalent of a decision by Bethesda to reincarnate cliff racers in the absolute worst form humanly possible. I could not think of a way to reimagine cliff racers in a worse way without making them invincible, able to spawn in interior cells or invisible.

Random dragon ecnounters are the pinnacle of annyong harrasment.

Agreed. Dragon spam just makes them annoying as opposed to epic.

I've had a few that didn't even attack, making everyone nervous for no reward.

I did not play MW so cannot compare.

well after killing single enemy type 100 times it does become less then epic i agree 100%

They got old even after my first play through. There should have been a serious drop in their number after the player has enough kills to fill all the shouts (like 60ish).

i set timescale to 8 and one of (the many) benefits is that random dragons aren't nearly so common.

I'mma make a character called St. Jiub II and challenge that claim!

FREEDOM OR SOVNGARDE!!

I'm trying my best just to ignore them and just have my char go about her business.

That plan isn't working very well, either.

I really don't get it. The dragon fights, even the random ones, are the best part of the game for me.

I literally start jumping for joy.

It happens nearly every time I fast travel. I've killed more dragons than mudcrabs.

The problem is you'd hope that the dragon fights would be epic.
Instead you stand there watching them flying in circles, screaming "GET THE [censored] DOWN" at your computer screen.

The problem is you'd expect Dovahkiin to be some kind of badass dragon assassin they all fear (yknow, like in the trailer?).
Instead they all seem to think Dovahkiin owes them money, so they never leave him alone.

I never fast travel. It's just how I roleplay these kinds of game. It's very immersion-breaking to me, personally, to just teleport around the map. Maybe that's why I don't encounter as many.

Ranged attacks are your friend.

Carriage counts as fast-travel, yes?

Weren't the AI so terrible and wouldn't they occur that often, I'd consider them pretty awesome. (Not counting the bugged ones.) But unfortunately, Bethesda made them so that I only roll my eyes out of sheer annoyance whenever I meet one. I actually hesitate to start the mian quest with most of my characters which svcks as the cheapest house is not available unless you go dragon and I like a place to put my stuff early in the game.

Also, am I the only one that found the RANDOM dragon encounters a bit too....convenient?

Delphine: K let's go find that prophecy wall thing, but we'll have to encounter some Forsworn, AND HOPEFULLY NOTHING ELSE.
Dovahkiin: Gee, a dragon's here. This is totally random and unexpected.

Septimus Signus: K you got your scroll thingy, now you should go back to that mountain
Dovahkiin: Gee, a dragon's guarding the way up the mountain. This is totally random and unexpected.

My first playthrough, I had a dragon encounter at like literally every transition in the main quest. Just bad luck or scripted?

Dragonrend.

/thread

If you buy a game in a series that emphasizes combat, and then call it harrassment when it throws enemies at you, it might be time to take a break.

I'm using the console to prevent random dragon encounters, thankfully it works.

The two barrels between the smith and beezehome is safe as far as I am concerned. It has never reset in the last 20 hours of play time since I decided to store a bunch of stolen stuff inside hoping to get rid of them. I am starting to add more stuff that the vendors simply do not have enough money for.

I do not wait two days for the merchant to restock, something which may actually be the reason for the frequency of dragon spawns in other people's games. I only fight about one dragon per three dungeon, unless I'm on a dragon hunt.

This made me laugh hard.

I for one enjoy the hell out of dragon fights, but I agree with this entirely at the same time. It's like..

Dragon: Hey, man, whatcha doin'? Doin' some quests there?
Dovahkiin: Go away.
Dragon: Aww, c'mon, man! I just wanna be included.
Dovahkiin: Please stop pestering me..
Dragon: We could shout at each other. That's fun, right?
Dovahkiin: I swear I'm gonna murder all of you..

whats annoying is 3 dragons spawning at the same location after exiting and entering.

i fast traveled to the orc stronghold and ebony mine and a dragon was waiting for me, entered the mine to see if the ore had replenished which it hadn't yet so i exit the mine and another dragon is waiting for me, waited 3 days at the stronghold entered the mined, gathered ore, left, and there was another dragon

a frost dragon and 2 elder dragons all in the matter of 4 days at the same loctation

Dragons are just too common. You should only see roughly 20 dragons in 100 hours. So 1 dragon every 5 hours. Whereas right now, I've seen like 40 in 80 hours. Ran away from most of them cuz they're annoying and loot is too heavy.

I think a random dragon egg should spawn in a dungeon somewhere, and If you don't find it within a certain time limit there will be a new dragon to find and kill.

Weird. I have played 80 hours too. And I have killed 4. Including the one outside Whiterun that is part of the main quest. I've seen maybe 2 more dragons in the distance, which I ignored. (That was around 10-20 hours played, when I wasn't strong enough to kill the regular dragons even). Oh, and I have killed a dragon inside a cave. A skeleton dragon, that didn't leave a soul.

So to me, the amount of dragons seems pretty good. Not so many to make them boring. But enough to startle me every time I encounter one. What is the difference ? I have "set timescale to 6", giving me in-game days that last 4 hours real-time. And I hardly ever use fast-travel. Would that be it ?