Just wanted to thank everyone in this thread for all of the information you've provided. I was a little tempted to give this game a go and thanks to everything I've read here I've decided not to touch it with a bargepole. As it were.

 

How on earth can you play this and do things like go to work, play with the kids, go shopping etc etc?

aha...believe me if you walk around enough there will be dragonsand not on the main quest line, some are easy some are .....shudder

I'm pretty sure you don't get dragons anywhere if you don't start the main quest line? I have two characters who have killed the first quest dragon and they've both encountered them in the wild, and two characters who haven't done that quest and they haven't seen a single one.

I've managed to not have kids so far, and I'm spending every other week on call and not being able to leave the flat, at the moment. So it's easy.

nope I reached level 24 before visiting the Greybeards and have killed 9 or 10 before that point, so long as you visit Whiterun and start the Jarls quest series, remember that you start the main quest simply by starting the game.

Before visiting the Greybeards? That's after killing the first quest dragon. I haven't collected/handed in the Dragonstone yet (and thus not triggered the first dragon fight) and not seen any up to level 20ish on two separate characters.

And I've sent my 18 month old to boarding school, divorced my wife and quit my job. /Plenty/ of time to play now.

So as you surmise the Dragon Stone is the trigger, its a shame as imho the Dragons are one of the highlights of this fabulous game, plus you get a real kick in the stats for killing them. I found my Archery skills advanced a lot quicker , one downside for me with the levelling system not giving you enough perks for all the skill sets I want to develop :(

I'm pretty sure the trigger is just the first quest dragon fight, just after you hand in the dragonstone.

 

I'm deliberately holding off activating the dragons on two of my characters. They are amazing and quite a lot of fun to fight, but it's also quite annoying if you're trying to do something and get jumped by one. The first time I encountered a random one I had no ranged attacks ready (only short-range spells and melee weapons) so I was pretty much completely unable to fight it. I took shelter in a nearby cabin but there was some mage guy in there who attacked me, and then followed me outside where the dragon was still waiting. :-((

All I've done on the main quest so far is talk to the first guy in Riverwood, the rest of the time has been spent wandering around so no dragons yet.

 

The baddest dude I've seen so far was someone called Krosis who I stumbled upon at the top of a mountain. I thought he was just another mate I could easily defeat but I had to run away as I couldn't touch him.

That's the one that killed my Lydia. Though I may have accidentally helped with my sword. I had to run away on several attempts. I think I finally got him at around level 30.

Kids so far...that you know of!

 

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to have a fiddle but I honestly can't see where to get the time.

It's a bit cold in here love.

Loving it.

:D I've been having lots of fun with it. 11 hours in now, level 9 I think. Whenever someone says "elsewhere" it will now make me think of the Khajiit.

Well I finally have read through this entire thread and it looks like I am going to need a bottle of chloroform for the wife and kid in order to play this game properly. Its going to be a quiet Christmas, for them anyway MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

Come on Christmas!

I'm amazed I've racked up nearly 30 hours so far, what with the misses and everything!

38hrs, level 25.
I'd like to think I've put a serious dent in the quests, but comparing my map to a fully revealed one I'm scratching at the surface. :-O

I put another 4 hours into thwus last night which meant going to bed after 2 aagain. Tiredness and dodgy sinuses isn't fun in the morning.

My mage man is doing pretty well against most enemies. Could do with more Magicka even though I've put every level increase into it. Need better enchanted items.

Killed my second (on my own) dragon. Poo pood myself when I heard the first roar as I really wasn't expecting to.see.a dragon on top of Winterhold College. In fact the second was also there but a frost breathing one which I thought was novel for a dragon.

Started some of the quests in Winterhold and met the Psijil, or sommat like that. Thought there was a bug at one point. Walked up to the man and the colours changed. Ancoaoaon was stuck mid walk then I realised time had stopped :D<spoiler/>

Was in an inn with a bard a couple of days ago. He was singing a song, I walked upstairs with him behind and by the time I.opened one of the bedroom doors he was asleep :D

 

I found Blackreach (or Darkreach or whatever it's called) last night. That place needs a map of it's own.

Don't know that place. Sounds interesting. Went back to Shearpoint where Krosis was last night as it was the closest point I'd travelled near somewhere I was going. There's now a dragon with him :O He was deadly enough before. I can't imagine trying to.take.him on now.