Todd Howard, Skyrim's executive producer, says he wants to create DLC that 'makes the game better'. An ambitious claim, but Bethesda has a track record of releasing (horse armour aside) quality, substantial DLC - including Oblivion's Shivering Isles, and Fallout 3's Point Lookout. So, what will Skyrim's actually be like? Here's our wishlist.
Warning! We talk briefly about the end of Skyrim's main quest here, but don't mention anything too specific. Just so you know.
Extending the main quest
If you've finished Skyrim, you'll know that not much happens after the ending. Even though you've just saved the world from a fiery apocalypse, nobody seems to care. Some major characters have a few extra lines of dialogue, but that's about it.
So we'd like to see a DLC that extends the main quest, and reveals more about the world's reaction to Alduin's demise. They could introduce a new villain, perhaps - someone that was loyal to him, and is seeking revenge.
Bethesda did something similar for Fallout 3. One of the game's best DLC packs, Broken Steel, continued the story after the regular ending, and raised the level cap from 20 to 30. So it's likely they'll try something like that again.
There was nothing wrong with Skyrim's ending; it was actually quite satisfying. It just felt slightly disappointing to return to civilisation after saving Tamriel from the dragons' wrath and realising that nothing had changed. A thank you would have been nice.
Going back in time
In the quest Alduin's Bane, the Dragonborn opens an Elder Scroll near a 'time wound' to briefly visit the past. This is the perfect setup for a DLC. What if more of these time wounds started appearing around Skyrim?
We might get the chance to see, or visit, a Dwemer city before their race mysteriously disappeared. Or maybe go even further back in time to when the Nords first settled in Skyrim. This setup could make for some really interesting quests.
Time travel allows for creative storytelling and game design, and Bethesda have already established that it's possible in their world.
Leaving Skyrim
One possibility is that they'll take us to an underground city. Blackreach was one of Skyrim's most memorable locations - a Dwemer ruin buried in a huge cavern lit by strange glowing flora - and Bethesda know that people loved it. This would be a good opportunity to learn more about Dwemer culture, or even discover what happened to them.
Or maybe we'll leave the main continent completely and visit Summerset Isle, home of the High Elves. The island setting is perfect for a self-contained story, and there's already extensive lore written about the place that they could use for inspiration.
There's also the island of Pyandonea. This tropical setting would be a bold departure from the snow and mountains of Skyrim, and it's a place rarely spoken about in Elder Scrolls lore, making it perfect for a new story surrounding the elusive Maormer.
Well, that's what we think - but what do YOU want to see? Leave your ideas or predictions below. And if you've already finished the main game, will the DLC be enough to bring you back?
Comments
39 comments so far...
Wabbstarful on 1 Feb '12 said:
What about the continent of Akavir with the japenese samuri (Tsaesci) like serpents, Snow demons of Kamal, Monkey people of Tang Mo or what about the tiger dragons of Ka'Po'Tun, all of which originate from the continent of Akavir. This may confuse oblivion players as the war with the Reman forces vs. the akavir (actually the akaviri Tsaesci) was viewed as human, however i may be mixing it up with the later reman army due to at a later era the serpent people were bred with humans. Also to mention, what about the worm people who are known for necromancy and the long battles with Somerset isle??? Otherwise the other ideas are great, but i wanna see a nice castle or mead hall for myself too. P.S. Bethesda ADD SPEARS FOR GODS SAKE XO
Phaedros on 1 Feb '12 said:
Say what you will about Oblivon, I love it, Shivering Isles was amazing.
matthew_m_g on 1 Feb '12 said:
Frankly, I still think some fashion of Cyrodil and/or Morrowind is possible, as Bethesda did say they wanted fewer, and more expansive, expansions.
Plus, all of the geometry is already in the game, and many of the skins/textures are available via the original installation. Just add the necessary textures for Morrowind (likely a sizeable difference) or Cyrodil (not so much--just more trees, flora, and fanua over longer plains) and have at it. Granted, that is a tad ambitious, but not out of the realm of possibility.
Hell, I'd pay another $60 U.S. for an expansion pack that encompassed the whole of Cyrodill and/or Morrowind. Would be interesting to see how things changed after IV and III, respectively, too.
RandyChimp on 1 Feb '12 said:
Blackreach....really? If the DLC is anything like an expanded Blackreach, no thanks. I hated that f**king place. I hated each time I looked at the map for where to go and saw it beckoning me. It was tedious.
hicken_t on 1 Feb '12 said:
I'm expecting a dlc set in a chunk of another province or something on the same lines as the shivering isles set in a daedric princes realm. Hircines realm or azuras perhaps. No horse armour!
MagicBoughie24 on 1 Feb '12 said:
Got excited thinking something had been announced
MoMoAbidi on 1 Feb '12 said:
Aside from new provinces, main quest continuation, and even some large houses for us, if Bethesda is planning on developing two expansions like with Morrowind and Oblivion, one of the expansions should has the player investigate and eradicate the Thalmor.
versionr on 1 Feb '12 said:
+1
not to mention the f*****g crimson nirnroot!
I found most of the Dwemer ruins tedious....they just go on and on and on...if you've seen one Dwemer ruin, you've seen them all!
divinebeetle on 1 Feb '12 said:
I liked Oblivion too once I'd modded the hell out of it
+1 on Shivering Isles
monty_79 on 1 Feb '12 said:
+2
I hated the dwarven ruins with the passion of a million fiery suns. Who on earth thinks gold and green look nice together?! Trinny and Suzanna wouldn't be impressed and neither was I.
k-mysta on 1 Feb '12 said:
I reckon they should release armor that has an arrow sticking out of a knee pad.
ste hicky on 1 Feb '12 said:
Fully agreed about the ruins. s**te cut and paste design but that's not what i'm here for.
Sure I'd like expansions to be more like Shivering Isles but i'd also like some some, one off, hand crafted quests along the lines of Knights of the Nine. I love that questline in IV and it's better on it's own than 90% of quests in Skyrim which are : Talk to person here, go there, collect artifact, go back Rinse and repeat another 500 times. Daedric quests not included, they were cool for the most part.
Nice world, Nice vibe, s**t quests with absolutely no consequences at all. That's a fail in RPG terms if you ask me.
I'd like the NPC's in the world to actually give a f**k about what's happening in the world instead of being all "Oh look, A dragon has died on top of my ma's house....Y'know what the problem is with Skyrim these days, everyone's obsessed with death...." like f**k all has happened.
I volleyed the Jarl of Whiterun in to a basement in Solitude and he still wished me the blessing of the god's when i helped his freak son for the whispering door quest.
I murdered the Emperor's cousin at her wedding in Solitude in broad daylight for the Dark Brotherhood and then became thane afterwards and was well respected on the streets by the guards . WTF?
Really!?
So there you have it, More imagination, Some actual consequences, No more snow....please and the NPC's to act like the world may actually be in a bit of s**t.
Oh yeah, flesh the Anduin questline out, that was woefully short.
I'd also like some DLC or an expansion that takes place earlier in history(those who've finished will know what i mean). That was a major oversight to me, when you go back and it's scripted. No freedom, no quest for that particular shout, just stand and watch this 2 minute cutscene.
I'll bail before i say much more or I'll just come across like i'm destroying the game (though i could take it apart on many levels without even mentioning a single bug or glitch).
damoxuk on 1 Feb '12 said:
Maybe they should concentrate on fixing the PS3 release and all the broken quests/glitches before even thinking about DLC which is only bound to make any problems worse.
But once all fixes done i'd like to be able to go back to morrowind with skyrims engine
STE MO on 1 Feb '12 said:
I would like to go back in time to see what Winterhold looked like, maybe even change the time line and have it all there. Then there's the Dwemer and the Falmer, that would be great to explore their back story's.
Imaduck on 2 Feb '12 said:
The game needs about 2 strong patches at least first.
SPARDA666 on 2 Feb '12 said:
There is only 1 DLC I am interested in and that is one where I get to butcher as many Thalmor as possible, as inhumanely as possible.
The Pointy eared, fascist, nazi f**ks!
TO THE ALDMERI DOMINION WE GO !!!!!........oh oh oh and the same DLC should include a new weapon which is simply a huge spiky FLAIL to MASH EM GOOD !!!!!!
rhyfel on 2 Feb '12 said:
what ever the DLC will be about? lets keep our fingers crossed its not broken like the game was at launch.
richomack360 on 2 Feb '12 said:
Things I would like to see:
A large DLC centered on the Falmer/Admeri taking advantage of the civil war in Skyrim and challenging the remnants of the Stormcloaks/Imperials (whoever you picked)
I would also like the opportunity to turn on whoever I helped in the civil war as i feel a bit miffed I helped Ulfric, the sod doesn't even acknowledge me !!!
+1 for the NPC's taking more note of what is going on, I killed a dragon near Falkreath, but the farmer was more concerned about where a dog went or something
Also, better smithing / customisation please !!!! Less of the "go get me an artifact" quests - be creative you swines !
fyckfaco on 2 Feb '12 said:
I WANT HORSE ARMOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!! xD
metallicorphan on 2 Feb '12 said:
bah,you are all pussies
I wanna know what the hell that Giant was doing down there,LOL
MagicBoughie24 on 2 Feb '12 said:
From what Ive read the giants and Dwemer were mates, dont know why he would still be kicking about though
corkscru74 on 2 Feb '12 said:
Quests and new locations are all well and good but I want the crafting system fleshed out!
I want to be able to customise my armour and weapons more, I have to say I was slightly disappointed by the Dragon Armor. I blitzed my way to 100 smithing, saved every scarp of dragon bone I'd ever harvested and in the end it looks a bit half finished. I'd love some sort of dynamic creation system where I could choose how it looked. Same for weapons - This hilt, with this blade, in this colour etc.
If that's too much of an ask (which, to be fair, it probably is) just give me more varied, exotic items. I've rarely found anything more powerful than what I could already craft - give me huge, epic weapons and armour of badassness + 1
johnafirth on 2 Feb '12 said:
At present I don't care about DLC. I want them to fix the game so it's no longer a buggy mess. The 11/11/11 date was clearly far more important to Bethesda than the game's quality.
Killermancarro on 3 Feb '12 said:
I want to go to the battle where 4 out of 10 guards took an arrow to the knee and give them all knee pads so i hear less belly aching in the main game
Barrick on 3 Feb '12 said:
This game can only be fully experienced on a pc, make your own dlc! sharing mods and all that jazz, i bought for ps3 and the fr issues are horrible even after the apparent patch that was to fix that. I think they did top shivering isles, with the toolkit on pc only (N). Expect to see anything and everything including online on pc version from peoples mods in time.
Jacob_Rayne on 4 Feb '12 said:
i would like if they added a ton of new features to the character creation, i mean what if in your travels before coming to skyrim you became a werewolf or vampire? maybe your female character is a lesbian so men wont propose to her. aslo i think each race should come with a couple of back stories that all have your character end up in helgen. of course all of these add ons would effect: skill progression, intimidate/persuade, how good/evil characters treat you, weapons you are particularly good with, and so on
PS i agree with the guy who said spears, some javelins and halberds would be nice as well
Vuglomer on 16 Feb '12 said:
Spears, Throwing Axes, Crossbows, Horse Armor,Horse Combat............ Armored Sabre Cat Mount, Armored Mammoth Mount, Armored Dragon Mount and Quests to obtain them (imagine flying on armored dragon and throwing axes down on your enemies
).......option to help Alduin? 
...........
Sonne on 24 Feb '12 said:
Something about Snow Elves would be cool..
awesomeman8oB on 26 Feb '12 said:
something about psijic order would be cool there's not much magic in skyrim,or something about daedra because i want there awesome weapons and there hearts.
Matthew Krauss on 1 Mar '12 said:
I certainly think that the land of Akavir would be great to see. Since we're playing Skyrim as the Dovahkiin and we go to Akavir, I think Tosh Raka would make for a great new villain who became a dragon and wants to conquer Tamriel. So as Dragon Born you would have to stop Tosh Raka similar to how you defeat Alduin. Plus new Thu'ums would be nice. Also Blackreach was really cool, but when I was down there collecting the crimson nirnroot it started to make me feel a bit sick not having any sun light.
Oiip on 2 Mar '12 said:
they should make an mmo out of it instead of makin DLC's...engine looks sweet , they just need to organise the game to mmo
manniefresh13 on 3 Mar '12 said:
A continuation of the main quest would be good, seemed really short and it didn't seem to make a impact on the world and how the world views your character. Being able to become the king of Skyrim yourself, back stabbing Ulfric or Empire and taking over for yourself.
maybe able to command more than one NPC. i miss the days like games of baulders gate where you had a whole team, each with there on custom quests. more armor sets and weapons...(spears would be great).
Considering you already have roads leading to morrowind and cyradil, why not open them up. A thalmor invasion and the conquering of their country or the other way around since you can already be high elves. Or even rip off warcraft and have the orcs become aggressive and a crazy civil war with there race. Bring back the dwarves, the didn't really disappear but just traveled deeper into there caves, you could go so many ways. Even a thalmor invasion since its already set up anyways, revenge on the overworld masters, with a deep hatred for high elves.
Definitely more spells, enemies, even owning your own keep and lands. being able to attack with and from your horse.
what i would definitely like to see is boss battles. significant boss battles always brings up any game and leaves a lasting memory in anyones mind to how cool that game was. On that note why not be able to see and battle all or most of the deadric princes and/or gods!! Making the final decision whether your truely good or evil.( that would be awesome)
Expand the shouts available to learn, making the character fly like a dragon or even transform into a dragon as the final shout abiltiy would be awesome.
I hope this sheads some light on some things, but since you guys are the pros, i would of thought you guys have already had the same ideas!!
P.S -Plz let us fight the gods/dreadic lords
mus42 on 4 Mar '12 said:
No thanks! I'd much prefer it if Bethesda stick to making quality Single Player games. There are enough boring grindfest MMO's aleady.
Kvothee on 6 Mar '12 said:
this game is osom, the best game of 2011
noldor on 6 Mar '12 said:
True
Hoan58 on 20 Mar '12 said:
Ok i want there to be like castles or forts in scenic locations like maybe dark forests or on beautiful cliffs or waterfalls that we could buy for a certain amount of gold or maybe we could even take over them and claim them for free! and it would also be really cool to have like an army to command! like not just 1 follower/dog or atronach but like a whole entire army or group! those are just some of my ideas and it would be really cool to have those things
Horn of Guinness on 14 Apr '12 said:
Definitely agree with comment below, it seems like having your own castle or mead hall is only proper for someone who has done so much for Skyrim. Since I play on 360 and don't have access to mods I have some other ideas too.But here are some small ones which for me would really extend my enjoyment of the game. I won't list any of the obvious stuff that we all want like the actual DLC . Lots of clever people have already covered that.
1.I would spend a lot of time reorganizing my stuff if I could. Being able to sort containers would be nice, and would save time digging through containers trying to find armor pieces and enchanted items which go together. Maybe even a whole house container menu to sort without picking stuff up and carrying it all over the house to different containers.
2. Renaming items. Especially when I take so much time to make enchanted items but because I'm using an enchant spell, they end up named "Glove" or "s" or whatever I have time to type before the spell wears off. It would be so nice to be able to rename at my leisure, and have the items all nice and easy to find in my inventory.
3. Burnishing or polishing armor. I would do this. If you could color or paint your armor, perhaps add a gemstone to your smithing recipe to add color to the armor. (Garnet to make red armor, etc.)
4. Creating your own Sigil or design for your house to emlbazon on your shield, or perhaps it could appear on a banner atop your houses. Your follower could display your colors as well.
5. Change wall mounts. An option to "Create Head Mount" when searching the body would allow you to put a Dragon Head or Troll head on your wall instead of a Wolf or whatever. Allows customization of house.
Well, those are the things I would like to see which I haven't seen mentioned before. Apologies if somebody already mentioned them.
stiglitz1979 on 21 Apr '12 said:
One thing that I feel should be included in the DLC would be a way to open your own stores, and then have a quest line to supply them, or battle bandits trying to steal your shipments. Another thing that would be cool is to be able to buy farms, or buy a mine you have cleared (like Embershard) and then hire workers for it. Maybe have the followers you can get be able to work the mines (I hate some of them, so back breaking labour would teach them a good lesson). Or just have an aspect of being able to open businesses that you can go back and collect money from (besides your wife that seems to sell stuff yet never leaves your house). Buying a farm would be cool, or even opening your own town.
Another thing that would be cool is to allow for more customization inside a house. Being able to buy more mannequins or chests or other items would be fun, and would allow for more personalization.
As for quests, maybe expand on some of the stories they have. I felt at the end of all the questlines (companions, thieves guild, mages college, and dark brotherhood) it just kind of stopped. The thieves guild really treats you like you are a nobody, sending you on quests and such when you are the master of it, and they sit in the flagon drinking.
Including more armor options would be nice too.
Allow you to have your own "base" to keep followers at would be a nice detail.
For missions, I would say to allow a big terror to try to overthrow skyrim, and being able to work alongside ulric or the general for a final battle would be neat.
Raising your own army could be a new mission too, to begin your own revolution. Something like where Shining Force for the genesis went well (they allowed you to go around and get character).
Mostly, I find my characters (I have 6 that are between levels 55-60) have far too much gold. One of them I could probably buy all of skyrim with how much gold he has. I would like a reason to stop hording it and something to spend it on.
Also, maybe include weapons that are better then ones you can make yourself. I never used the daedric artifacts (except the ebony armor, which was nice for more dps), and I usually just made my own daedric swords and "super-smithed" them.
alzy1982 on 26 Apr '12 said:
THIS! Oh yes!