It always irritates me how I can be the Headmaster of Mages in Winterhold just because some random Psychics Psijics hailed to me. It just doesn't make sense! After all, it's not like I acted out of my own: most of the time, we were directed to some place. And what about my teacher?

And out comes the Thieves Guild questline, with the best explanation in the game

In short, Brynjolf said, "I'm probably the best thief, but I'm not by all accounts the best leader"

it still doesn't explain the ridiculously short time until he said that (around 4-5 quests tops), but it makes a hefty amount of sense: the most veteran guy may not probably be the most leader-like

Also, we don't get to be the Guild Master by just finishing the "main" quest line. Oh no, you need to work your fingers to the bone with petty crimes first. At least it makes us work for the title, and by the time we DO get the title, we know that we've worked enough to be a respectable guy around the house indeed.

I like it. Thieves Guild once again does not fail me

I agree, and I think the thieves guild has been my favorite faction so far. For me, it wasn't so much like climbing the ladder to leadership so much as it was rebuilding a crumbling mansion, brick by brick, and reclaiming its glory. Loved that. Now if only Vekel the Man would quit sneering "So you're Brynjolf's new protege, eh? Don't look like much to me" when I'm standing there in the guildmaster armor.

Yeah lol Vekel is the killer. Tonilia, not so much, as her words may imply mere formality, but Vekel...

The thieves guild questline is probably the best from a narrative point of view (as it was in Oblivion) but the radiant quests are so BORING!

I wish it could be possible to skip them and do the influence quests directly.

It's there to level your skills. What good are you as a thief if your pickpocket, sneak, & lockpick skill is at 20?

I love the Thieves Guild. What I maxed out to stage 4 and talked to Darren and he said "Don't tell anyone I said this, and if you do I'll deny it, but when you walk in here keep your head held high, because you're the best damn thief in this place", man I was actually touched, not gonna lie. Sadly, the game glitched out on me and I'm banned from completing the Thieve's guild quest line after doing loud and clear so I'll never get to be guild master or enjoy the full fruits of the quest line.

Just......terrible.

No it isn't. :/ This is not Morrowind where, to advance some skills, you have to reach a certain level in some skills somehow related to the 'profession' of the guild. Besides, the jobs are so stupid and easy that the real pain is not doing them but rather having to constantly walk back and forth to another city.

Totally agree. Even though the missions that get you to guild master are repetitive, it's the only guild you have to work for to complete. Yes you are leader before you restore guild, but it's the only guild that you don't pull a J.J. Abrams' Kirk and go from cadet to captain after one adventure (no matter how many missions it is). Restoring the guild took time and dedication.

The only problem I've got with the Thieves Guild is that you can't make out from Vex' and Delvin's lines where the offered radiant quest will take place. While I don't find theses quests boring - in fact, I still do them every once in a while as a guildmaster -, there is always the point when there's only one city left without the guild's influence, and Vex and Delvin randomly just don't send you there. In these cases, I now have to accept the quest, open the quest log to see where they're sending me, then talk to them again to cancel the quest and to take another one. Or I could reload. I don't know which would be more tedious, but tedious both options are.

Heck, at one point, my latest character's stats said that she had done "-7 Thieves Guild quests", because I had to cancel the radiant quests so often to finally get some for Markath.

The TG line definitely makes more sense than the Companions series. Half the time Farkas greets me with, "Vilkas says you're the new Kodlak. I don't know what that means..." and the half of the time mentions that Vilkas is the brains and he's the brawn. No bleep Sherlock!