The Thieves Guild questline is weirdly paced and nobody talks about it

[RiftenWanderer]

I'm on my third playthrough and just hit the Thieves Guild, and I'm noticing something that's been bugging me. The early jobs feel so... disconnected? Like you're doing random radiant burglaries for weeks before anything actually happens story-wise, and then suddenly you're in Goldenglow Estate and it's this whole thing with Maven and Delvin and the Civil War tie-in.

Compare that to Dark Brotherhood where you get Innocence Lost and you're immediately invested, or even the Companions where you're climbing the ranks and there's actual progression. But Thieves Guild just feels like filler until you hit a certain point and the actual plot kicks in.

Don't get me wrong, I love the questline once it gets going - the stuff with Mercer and Karliah is genuinely good. But getting there is such a slog. Am I the only one who finds the pacing weird, or does everyone just speedrun through the radiant jobs to get to the real story?

 

[DragonbornVet]

You're not wrong about the radiant job padding, but I think it's actually doing something the game doesn't advertise well. Those early jobs aren't just filler - they're supposed to rebuild the Guild's reputation in each hold. The problem is the game never makes that goal feel real to you. You're just clicking through radiant quests without any sense that you're actually accomplishing something.

Dark Brotherhood works better because Sanctuary feels like a home base with actual stakes and character moments between contracts. Thieves Guild just... doesn't have that. You're working for Brynjolf and Delvin in a tavern corner, and there's no narrative thread connecting the jobs until Mercer finally shows up. It's lazy design, tbh.

That said, once you know what's coming, speedrunning the radiant jobs makes sense. But on a blind playthrough? Yeah, it drags. The questline really should've had a few more story beats in the middle - maybe some tension with Maven earlier, or discovering something's wrong with the Guild before Mercer makes his move. Right now it's just "do 5 jobs, now plot happens."