Have Rune stop you and ask you to break into Calcelmo's lab to get the Dwemer etchings to see if they could possibly translate the strange markings on the rune he has. Say you pick up a Radiant Quest to steal from Markarth. I'm not saying make the radiant quests the main focus but make them more important. After aiding everyone with their issues, then Mercer would approach you about his past before doing the whole Nightingale portion of the questline. The stories are there, they just needed to be written in. The side quests could've been to aide the members of the Thieves Guild with their own stuff (Sapphire's Daddy Issues, Rune's real name, etc.). Had the main focus of the Thieves Guild been to simply restore the guild back to prominence, then that might have been a more interesting story. Had this been some side part, or after MQ stuff, it might have been better but I honestly didn't mind it too much. I liked the Nightingales honestly but I do feel it was an unnecessary part of the Thieves Guild Main Quest. Then instead of ever dealing with the Nightingale Armor/Equipment you end up unlocking the Guild Masters set and maybe a special power from Nocturnal when you return the key. Since its actually possible to sneak past the Falmer on your own this would be doable, and not having muffle boots or combat enchantments would make the stealth a bit more challenging while also further discouraging combat. Irkngthand could work as is and be better for it if you're meant to use your regular thief armor and instead of following you through the whole thing, Karliah and Brynjolf are waiting for you to sneak through and unlock a passage to let them through. What this tells me is that its thief armor but for fighting and yet the big final fight quest is more about snoeaking than fighting and a 3 v 1 against Mercer doesnt warrant special armor. The enchantments are poorly managed, 15% cheaper illusion magick is a waste for the hood, the armor has good enchants but doesnt work on its own aesthetically, the gloves wast an enchant on lockpicking which is already too easy, but the boost to one handed isnt terrible, and the boots are just a rip-off of the Dark Brotherhood. The Nightingale Armor really pisses me off too, and not just the looks or how bad it is on an Argonian. 3, I resort to using the console and the immersion is ruined. 2, I try to help them, end up accidentally hitting one of them and getting kicked out of the guild mid-quest and it bugs out. 1, I let them fight alone and they get stun-locked/Karliah dies and the quest is bugged out. The routinely alert Falmer I've already snuck past, and end up initiating combat, which leads to one of three possibilities. You're supposed to sneak past all the Falmer, which I can do just fine, but Karliah and Brynjolf cannot. I am not complaining because its a hard dungeon, I'm complaining because the intended mechanics don't work. Irkngthand either needs better stealth abilities for Karliah and Brynjolf or it needs to be heavily re-worked. After that you can have Nocturnal speak, if you must, and then get the Guild Master's armor. Especially since it doesnt actually work in game like its described, for example you can't open Nordic Puzzle doors with it like Mercer did.Ī better approach would have been to completely ignore the Nightingales bit, not speak with Nocturnal at all, and just have Karliah explain that we need to return the Skeleton Key to the Sepulchur to restore the Guild to glory. Considering how easy Skyrim Lockpicking is compared to Oblivion, and how plentiful lockpicks are, the value of the Skeleton Key as a tool was heavily reduced, and it makes for a fine MacGuffin. The one thing I thought was worthwhile about it was the new gravitas given to the Skeleton Key. Nocturnal is a pretentious bitch, Ikngthand is a dumb, bug filled, quest, and the whole concept is almost completely useless. The sword looks dumb, the bow is okay at best. The armor is gaudy and doesnt work at all on beast races, which sucks because my thief characters are usually Argonians.