Oblivion's Mages Guild actually had the right idea about progression

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

I've been replaying Oblivion after years in Skyrim and I just realized the Mages Guild questline does something really smart that Skyrim completely abandoned. You don't just join and get handed quests. You have to actually prove you can cast spells. You need to show competence in specific schools before the guild trusts you with anything real.

Skyrim's College of Winterhold just... lets you in. You show up, you're the Dragonborn, and suddenly you're running the place by quest five. There's no friction. Oblivion made you feel like you were actually climbing a hierarchy, and yeah it gets repetitive with the fetch quests, but there's something satisfying about earning your way up through the ranks instead of just being handed authority because the plot needs you to be.

The questline itself falls apart once you get to the end (the whole Mannimarco thing feels rushed), but those early-to-mid quests where you're just doing guild work and building your reputation? That's legitimately good progression design. Makes you feel like a mage instead of just a guy who knows spells.

Anyone else think Skyrim should've done something similar with the College instead of the main quest speedrun it ended up being?

 

[EbonyWarrior]

I get what you're saying about the progression feel, but I think you're remembering Oblivion's Mages Guild a bit more fondly than it deserves. Yeah, you had to do those recommendation quests in each school, but honestly? They were just fetch quests with a thin coat of "prove yourself" paint. Go get me a book, go steal this item, go kill that guy. It wasn't really testing your actual magical ability - you could waltz through all of them as a pure melee character if you wanted.

Skyrim's College is definitely too short and lets you become Arch-Mage way too fast, I'll give you that. The questline has real pacing issues. But I don't think Oblivion's solution actually worked either. The problem wasn't that you needed more quests - it's that neither game really made you feel like you were mastering magic in a meaningful way. Oblivion had you grind spells for arbitrary stat requirements, Skyrim just... doesn't care about your actual skill level for anything.

What I miss more is the faction politics angle from Morrowind, honestly. The House system where you actually had to navigate internal conflicts and choose sides, not just "do what the questgiver says and you win." Oblivion and Skyrim both kind of flattened that into a linear power fantasy. The College questline especially feels like it needed some real tension - rival mages, competing philosophies, something to make joining feel like a choice instead of a tutorial.

The Mannimarco ending in Oblivion was rushed though, yeah. That whole final quest felt tacked on.