Indeed. Generic fantasy sells better. I really wish I understood why that is, but I don't. That's also why Skyrim was picked as the follow-up, as it is relatively "normal" looking as well. I would bet good money right now that we return to Hammerfell or High Rock for the next game, because I don't think they have the balls to do one of the more alien provinces again.

Which is understandable, but still a shame.
I'd love some Elsweyr or Valenwood.
Of those two I suppose Valenwood would be possible since it's basically forest-y.
If they keep to the timeline the Summerset Isles might be a possibility as well because of the Aldmeri Dominion and the Thalmor.
But really, wherever the next one takes place and no matter how much lore they change we'll probably play the game anyway.

These were exactly my thoughts when I heard that TES5 would take place in Skyrim. ;) Though I can understand that a full game in Elsweyr or Black marsh might have limited mass appeal.

Personally, I'd put TES6 away from Tamriel altogether. Akavir might be a good choice. The information we have on Akavir is vague, mythical, and centuries old, so Bethesda could start with a rather clean slate - no need to retcon a whole province, no need to rebuke the lore-buffs. The snake-like Akavirians could be quite interesting visually, but there's room for new and never-heard-of cultures as well. With regard to Tamriel, I'd forward the timeline by a couple of decades, declare that the empire exists in name only and that the true power now lies in the courts of the provinces. Then let's say that explorers discovered that large areas in Akavir lie in ruins, but there are valuable metals and plants o find. The Tamrielic provinces then compete in their efforts to colonize some parts of Akavir (so the player will have familiar looking surroundings and factions to start with), but beyond these colonies lies the great unknown (with lots of opportunities to create a sense wonder: Akavirians, ancient cultures, other natives, etc.). I think such a setting would provide vast opportunities for epic roleplaying.

I agree, though, that we'll probably get either Hammerfell/High Rock, or the Elven provinces in the southeast.

I think that one is a lot more possible than any of the others, but I still doubt they will do it. I guess they could do it and change the lore to make it look more normal.

Summerset Isles is/was also my guess, either for the next TES game or as an expansion. Though with the timeline/years passing between two TES games, even skipping Aldmeri/Thalmor and shug it off with a few historylines is possible.

They can never do stuff like the "great war" on that engine, so they will always skip over it. And I doubt Summerset could be an expansion, given how large it is. High Rock maybe, it's smaller and kind of oddly shaped.

(I just dropped in here, so excuse me if I'm repeating stuff that has been said over and over again)
Shivering Isle's was kind of alien. So maybe the inevitable expansion to Skyrim will be something more exotic again as well. It's an easy way to make an expansion immediately interesting and distinguish it from the main game.

Doesn't have to be a great war. I thought more of an internal power struggle or a bigger event happening there that no one saw coming and trowing them off. And according to this map Morrowind as well as Cyrodiil were bigger.

Well, Morrowind and Cyrodiil were main games, not expansions.

Anyway I agree it would be really cool. More Thalmor stuff and setting the next game in Summerset would honestly be my dream come true. I just doubt they do it, is all. We shall see!

Well, for now we'll have to agree to disagree on our interpretations of lore.

Our different takes on Nocturnal are a good example of why we as players need to have choices in the faction quests. Some will see things one way, some another.

Lol. Thanks, that made me laugh. I am feeling very drained but actually a bit better overall today than yesterday.

I'm somewhat reluctant to share; I use different names for IE modding, MW modding, OB modding, GOG, etc. But I suppose it shouldn't do much harm. Just bear in mind that I'm not currently modding Oblivion (iirc, early 2010 was the last time had OB installed and touched up a few of these mods).

For Oblivion, my mods cater to a rather specific niche: Necromancers & Vampires. Nothing revolutionary, as I mentioned, but they're clean, do what they're supposed to do, and provide some alternative roleplaying options.

Necromancer Lair and Vampire Sanctuary (with vampire Ceridwen and hellhound Black Shuck companions):

Ceridwen is built in the tradition of Hilda (a Morrowind companion mod by Dixon): Minimal dialogue/story, just a companion without hassles. NOT a Bioware-style companion. The homes and companions are free but have a short introduction story via letter.

Miniature Necromancy Revised:

This is a fix job for Jpm's Miniature Necromancy. The original is very fun but also sloppy (so very many mods suffer the same; I've done a few fix jobs for Morrowind mods, too).

Eclipse:

I got tired of being attacked by fellow necromancers and vampires, so I created this mod to allow a player to join the "evil" factions via ritual scrolls sold by Shady Sam. I didn't care for the Thieves Guild, so Sam is also an independent fence. I considered adding quests to the evil factions, but I lost interest in Oblivion and scrapped the ideas.

The rest are smaller mods tweaking a few aspects of the game to be more to my liking.

Dammit, being sick, laughing like this hurts my chest! That's good stuff. :-)

If I had to bet on the first expansion for this game it would be set in Orsinium? the Orc homelands that is smooshed between Skyrim and Hammerfall. The description of the place in game makes it sound small enough to house an expansion the size of Shivering Ilses/Solhiesthim yeah I just butchered a couple of the names but the point being I'd place huge amounts of money on that region over all the others. Plus they can add a small dessert to it to get us away from the cold peaks of Skyrim.

Just my two septims

Course then I have to admit if they want to do a HD Remake of Morrowind for current gen consoles I'd absolutely love them for it! All expansions and everything but I don't see that happening.

From my understanding of lore Orsinium is actually within High Rock.

I got this for Christmas.

I've already put in three hours.

Halp.

Too late.

See ya next summer. ;)