Dear Bethesda: 10 Things I Want To See In The Elder Scrolls: Online

6. More Variety In Combat

Combat in Skyrim can be any number of things, depending on your playstyle. A battlemage may never get his or hands dirty, barraging their opponent with spells and/or conjured minions as necessary. An assassin may use potions and stealth to their advantage, discreetly taking enemies out at a distance with a bow, or sneaking in up close to slice their throats with a dagger. And the warrior? He or she has no time for the luxury tactics, merely rushing in, kicking ass, and getting on with their day. That being said, despite the pleasant variety in the methods you have at your disposal to kill stuff, there's times when Skyrim's combat is... less than credible. Now, for the most part, Skyrim makes a respectable attempt at realistic combat and varied tactics - Mages and Necromancers will retreat from arm's range, casting spells and conjuring atronachs as needed, assassins and thieves use potions and evasive tactics, and warriors/knights will straight up rush you, closing the distance to hack at you with their unwieldy weapon of choice. While these initially pose a challenge, usually, you'll fall back on your favored method for disposing of... everyone. I chug an invisibility potion to get out of a bind, shooting an opponent with a fury poisoned-arrow to let them clear the room. A mage friend of mine opens a door, summons a Daedra, closes the door, and waits until the Daedra opens it so he can go in and clear the recently deceased of their loot. My friend who favors the warrior - she goes in, swings her Dragonbone Warhammer, and picks up the pieces later. Skyrim offers different ways of doing things, but rarely presents you with a situation in which you're forced to try a different tactic.

"Dragonrend AGAIN? Dovahkiin, you bore me."

For instance, in an adventure/shooter, you can't kill every enemy the same way - if you try to kill a Big Daddy the same way you would a Nitro Splicer, you're in for some serious pain. Playing Zelda? You obviously can't defeat a Dodongo the same way you can kill an Armos Knight. In Halo, you wouldn't approach a Brute the same way you did an Elite, and in the same way, you can't kill a Juggernaut the way you do a normal soldier in Modern Warfare - some situations force you to adapt as necessary, stripping you of your ability to kill everything the same way, or just coast through a section - testing your ability to adjust to combat outside of your comfort zone is often a thrill in a game, but it is one of the rare areas where Skyrim falls short - where in the game CAN'T you just stay invisible and murder everyone with arrows? Or walk in heavily armored, and dish out a worse beating than the one your take? Or just conjure up some support, and then proceed to barrage your foes with Destruction Magic? Answer: none. And speaking of arrows...