Ok. So it's been a while since I have played, various reasons as to why (getting married the main one) and I have kinda lost where my character was, what I was doing last time I played etc. And also because I wasn't too happy with how I progressed my character. So basically I am starting anew.
I didn't get a huge amount of time to play, therefore I never finished the main quest, didn't even enter the college of winterhold, barely touched on the dark brotherhood.
This time I am going to try to do more. One of my problems last time is that I spent so long doing side quests, I just seemed to get bogged down with them. It's remarkable how many there are.

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to join all of the factions at the same in the same game? Like Morrowind and Oblivion.
Also is there anything that may conflict between some of the factions? I recall in Morrowind there were a few conflictions between some of them

Also any useful advice for someone starting again who hasn't played in a couple of months.

Thanks.

Yeah, you can join all at the same time. I don't even think many of the factions send you to the same places so you wouldn't have to pick and choose which quest. It seems like I may have been to the same place twice a few times, but it could've just been for a proper quest and a bounty quest.

Be advised: the 1.5 patch changed Smithing so if you want to grind out Iron Daggers to power level Smithing do not install 1.5.

He has no choice if he's on PC.

Anyway, none of the faction quests are mutually exclusive, except for the Imperial/Stormcloak questline.

You sure? I think there's a way to reject them in Steam.

Thanks anyway, but yeah too late, already happened.
What does it do, or what does it not let you do?

It makes the cash value of the item crafted relevant to the XP so daggers have a diminishing return effect. Many people have said that if you just Transmute iron into silver and gold and make jewelry you'll get a similar (maybe even better) effect to the Dagger grinding.

QFT - turn Steam off and you're sorted.

Ah that new character smell....

I remember starting off with my second character, the game somehow became so much more fun.

For my latest I didn't have a problem---in fact I preferred--- spending a lot of time on miscy quests while I worked on crafting and training my mage. Then, by the time I started some of the main guilds, I found some of the unique-item rewards had leveled up.
You should play as you like, but I wouldn't be in a rush to do everything simultaneously, especially as a newlywed!

Cool, thanks for the advice.

I believe as long as you have STEAM in offline mode it will not try and install new updates.

It may have been mentioned but you can join every faction except for the civil war faction. You have to pick one side, or get both to end the war. I always chose a side... more fun.

I've kinda lost track of how many new characters I've started. keeps the game from getting to stale. But every time I do, I find better ways at doing things.

I tried that (on Xbox) and it didn't work all that great. You'll still get way more XP for making a steel cuirass than a silver necklace. But it is a good a moneymaker.

Ah. So maybe there is some other mystery "value" that is calculated. Like a steel cuirass would be more "valuable" in a fight against a Draugr Overlord than a Silver Necklace.

A good starting stategy is to pickup "everything" you can and strip the dead of everything as soon as your hands are free. It doesn't matter if you already have one of those or not or don't want it. You can sell it all at Riverwood and get some coin.

At Riverwood sell everything but keep your best 1 handed, your best 2 handed sword , your best armor & your best bow with arrows BUT DON'T BUY ANYTHING (unless you need arrows). Now find Faendal & do the favor for him (lie to his girlfriend). Now ask him to follow you (getting his help doesn't hurt because you're only level 1) & he can help carry any loot you aquire.

Now use your coin to have him train you in archery. You'd be surprised at how much this helps when just starting off.

Now go back to Helgen but don't fast travel. Walk or run. The idea here is to find or be found by bandits or animals to fight to enhance your experience level.

At Helgen, the road going east splits in two. Take either & follow it to the end or to Riverwood (around the mountain). By now you should be level 3 or 4.
Now do the same again but take the other eastbound road from Helgen all the way to Riverwood around the mountain again). Now level 5 or 6.

Many people won't do this because they either don't think to or because it takes some time to do & they're in a hurry but you'll gain many experience levels doing this & in this game, experience means alot.

Now do the Riverwood Trader quest & you should end up at level 6 or 7.
Now drop the claw off at Riverwood then head to Whiterun but don't be in a hurry & you'll get more exprience points so by the time you reach Whiterun you should be level 7 or 8 & this is a great level for taking on the dragon that's going to attack the Whiterun Watchtower.

Hope this helps.

hmmm. I never really connect with a secondary character the same way I do with the first. They say you can never recreate the first 20 hours of gameplay of an elderscrolls game and I think that's right

Well said and very good advice, IMO.