What We Want in the New Skyrim DLC, Dawnguard

With the newly announced Skyrim DLC, Dawnguard, just over the horizon, now would be the perfect time to start making of list of features we expect to see.

Luckily for us, Bethesda tipped their hand at DICE this year to show off some of the projects that the genius developers there worked on behind the scenes. Since then, we’ve already seen the implementation of kill cams for arrows and dragon shouts by using the Kinect. We’re still waiting on a couple of other innovations to come to light.

• Article: Dawnguard Announcement

Here are our picks for things we want to see in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim DLC.

Horse Combat

Bethesda did something no one expected by making horses cool. Remember all of that hubbub during the days of Oblivion when they thought people would actually pay money for horse armor. I know several people who would gladly fork over some cold hard cash for a little steel for their horse. But forget the pony show here; what I want is to make horses even cooler.

Let me attack from the saddle. Swing a sword. Draw a bow. Throw a lightening bolt or two. As it is right now, even a mangy pack of wolves makes me off of my high horse just to dispatch them. Even simple maneuvers would allow me to feel as though I could at least defend my trusty steed.

Follower commands

I wonder if Lydia would still be alive today if I could have told her to run like hell when you see me leave. As it turned out, my running and screaming into the night after facing a cave filled with trolls seemed to be a cue for her to stand her ground to the very end. After running half a mile, pulling in a half a dozen city guards, and exhausting my last potion; I found what remained of my companion and thought, “who’s going to carry all my crap now?”

As in the DICE presentation, additional follower commands allows for more strategy as well as the ability to customize your companion with your play style. Since I play as a thief, I usually remain in the shadows and without a partner who usually runs into the middle of battle like Leroy Jenkins. Having the option to “sneak” or “let me attack first” would make me consider picking up a buddy from the local tavern. As it is now, I’m a lone wolf until I can find a friend who knows when to keep their swords sheathed.

Spell Combinations

How do you add something complex to an already complex game? By using what’s already there. Adding new spells to the game comes with its own problems, but by using spell combinations to create something new, we do away with working through more magic trees or negating the ones we’ve already built. Imagine creating a fire bound bow or raising electrical zombies.

Speaking of weapons, let’s learn to enchant weapons with magic powers as well. Let me take on the dragon priests with a flaming sword. Let’s see what happen when you dip your arrows into a little fear before letting them fly into a crowd of bandits. And by using the spells already set before us, we’re already grounded in the strengths we’ve picked for them and our character. Don’t think of it as bringing in something new, but rather building upon what we already have.

Werewolves and Vampires (Oh my.)

Those glowing yellow eyes on the cover of Dawngaurd can only mean one thing – vampires or werewolves. Actually, those are two things, but with all the talk about crossbows showing up in the next DLC, I would put my money on some vampire action.

As it turns out, one of the projects that the developers worked on included new powers such as flying and calling on minions when you went full fang. We’re talking leather skin, wings, and nasty little overbite. I actually wanted to create a vampire thief in my original playthrough, but it’s rather difficult to sneak when you tend to spread fear faster than the common cold at E3.

With that said, werewolves need a little love as well with a couple of extra abilities like weapons and armor designed to protect their furry little hide. Let me be able to call on a pack of wolves to do my bidding like attack enemies or chasing balls. Better yet, let me work on my own pack of followers to lead into battle. When you have an army of werewolves, you’re gonna see the fur fly.

More, More, More

As fans of Skyrim, our needs are relatively simple. We just want more. Give us a new area to explore, caves to loot, and perhaps a new weapons to start swinging around to kill people in the new areas to explore or caves to loot. Give me a castle with new enemies and a little challenge. Take us to the sand swept lands of the Khajiit or the dense forests of Cyrodiil yet again. We’ve spent hundreds of hours already in this open world and we’re only asking for a slightly bigger sand box.

And more dragon riding. I would like both if that’s available.