Skyrim Discussion

The other thread (what character are you playing) was getting long, so I thought I would create a new one to discuss Skyrim goodness.

I played for about 5 hours last night, and didn’t complete a quest. I really didn’t play either, I just leveled my character. After hording about 300 iron ingots and over 100 filled petty soul gems (not to mention the hundreds of leather straps and other soul gems), I went nuts creating and enchanting daggers. I also leveled up speech a bit by turning around and selling them, and every time I leveled up, I would go and find a master trainer and level up another skill 5 points with the money I made from selling my daggers. So now I think I have 6 skills to 100- Smithing, Enchanting, Conjuration, One-Handed, Light Armor, and Archery, with Sneak and Lockpicking not too far behind.

So now I have my Enchanting and Smithing maxed, and went crazy on creating some armor and cool items. I have killed 16 or 18 dragons, so I am loaded on the scales (and bones), and created some Legendary Scale Armor. First I created a set of “smithing” gear (ring, amulet, armor, bracers) each with +25% to improving items, so I can wear it when I modify my gear to basically get a double bonus with 100% additional improving. I didn’t have enough points to rank up the smithing for ebony and deadric (I went the light route with eleven and glass) so I can’t get a deadric or ebony bow. So instead I improved my Glass one and double enchanted it where I think it does over 100 points of damage now! Plus I double enchanted all my gear and added =% bounus to archery to everything I could.

As all I did was smith, enchant, and train last night, I didn’t even get to try out my gear and am looking forward to testing it out tonight. I did level about 8-9 levels, so the creatures should be much more powerful now, but I think I should trump their increases. This game is so amazing, as in what game can you just sit and tinker with your character for 5 hours and have such a blast. BTW- I think I am over save 400 now- LOL.

~mrmiller

Well I could probably talk about SKYRIM all day and all night. I freakin love this game! But unfortunately this is my busy time so I will have to cut it down a little. Probably the best part of SKYRIM is the ability to get lost in the game. To just dive in with no particular intention and just go where the game takes you. Most of my favorite time have been just exploring the game and all it has to offer. I am not really into leveling and unlike Miller, I only have one skill up to 100 (sneak). I don't pay trainers and don't ever sit and work on one particular skill. Instead, I just play the game and what ever happens, happens. And that is part of the beauty as well. No matter how you like to play, you will have more than enough to keep you coming back for more. I currently have over 130hrs in and I am not even close to being done with my first character. Haven't even completed the main story line. Why? Because I often get lost along the way. I will usually start up the game, find one quest I want to do and set off in that general direction. The problem is that I usually get distracted by several things along the way. First off I should note that I do not Fast Travel anywhere. Part of the fun is the journey. So along the way, if I find something interesting, I investigate. Tombs, caves, dragons, camp sites you name it... I check it out. Because of this it can take me several days of gaming just to complete that quest I set off for early on.

Of course there have been several days I have done some hard-core questing too. When hard-core questing: I carefully look through all the quests I want to do and find them on the map before I set off. Then I make a route and plan each stop. A good example would be that I set off in Riften (my home town for this character) and head to Windhelm. From there I head to Winterhold and on to Solitude. Then head down to Markarth and from there over to Whiterun and finally back home to Riften. Hitting quests all along the way and unloading my loot in Riften when I get back. I can usually complete 4-6 quests during one of these runs and when I am questing I don't stop for anything out of my way (except dragons). I still don't fast travel even when questing. I do use a horse until it dies. And even if it dies halfway through the adventure I will walk until I come across another town to buy a new one.

I really try to get into the game and character. He has a personality, skill set and I try to not go outside that pattern. Horse dies on the trail? "That sucks! Looks like I'm walking". I don't use magic at all. I don't smith at all. I don't use two handed swords and I don't use heavy armor. I work mostly at night and stick to the shadows. In and out without being seen. If I want to try out different stuff I will make a new character that fits those skills. I plan to make two more characters. A Nord Warrior and a full-on Mage. I expect to have a ton of fun with all three but I think that is enough for now.

Been writing this off and on all morning, no it's time to get back to work...

For twinking out your character there are also potions that increase enchanting - I'm planning to make a new set of smithing gear while hopped up on those pots then make a new set of heavy dragon armor to upgrade.

I'm in the high 40s now and certain fights are getting extremely tough. Not sure if I am gimped or if this is normal. Anyone else struggling around these levels? Destruction magic doesn't seem to scale usefully.

S7 Coolhand wrote:I'm in the high 40s now and certain fights are getting extremely tough. Not sure if I am gimped or if this is normal. Anyone else struggling around these levels? Destruction magic doesn't seem to scale usefully.

Have you played since the newest patch? I had a lot of problems before the newest patch due to magic resistance being all messed up. Now it is back to normal and things are like they used to be before the first patch.

I was level 46 or 47 before I decided to level up my skills, and have not completed the "Talk to the Graybeards" task yet in the main storyline. I have completed the Companions main story, as well as the Thieves, Mage Collage, and Dark Brotherhood, but not many of the side missions for those. I have several other quests done for the varying villages/settlement.

I never had too many problems with one on one fights (mainly because my first strike was a 3x sneak attack) but with multiple enemies I was having a hard time, and had to use my conjures and companions to "draw their fire'. Now that I have leveled up my gear, hopefully I will have a bit easier time. I don't use any magic besides conjuration, and hope to make a battle mage character with my next go, or a straight up warrior. If I do a warrior I'm going to go with a Redguard and try to balance it with all the proficiencies. Then I can go two handed on the big one-on-one boss fights, one hand and shield for the groups, and archer to bring down the dragons.

Also, I think I messed up when adding points to magic on my current character. I play an archer/assassin type, and do sneak attacks most of the time. At around level 40 I began getting overrun when confronting multiple enemies, so I would start to conjure up an elemental or deadra, and then while they are taking the bunt attacks I could pick off the enemy from the parameters. The problem is to summon those creatures, you need quite a bit of magica. So I have put points in there to be able to summon the biggest creatures. Well, last night I was playing with the enchantments and added some 25% less magic needed to summoning, and can now cast them with very little magic. It looks like you might even be able to cast for free if you have 4 items for 100% less magic. I’m going to go back and test it out, but if that’s the case I hate that I spent so much of my last few levels for my magica pool, particularly when I don’t even have to use it a ton.

~mrmiller

i'm with ya matt.

maxed my enchanting and smithing and made some epic daedra armor and weapons with soul trap, life leech, and fire, and all sorts of others. the 2X effects perk is very worth it.

S7 Coolhand wrote: I'm in the high 40s now and certain fights are getting extremely tough. Not sure if I am gimped or if this is normal. Anyone else struggling around these levels? Destruction magic doesn't seem to scale usefully.

It also could possibly be that you leveled up all the non-combat related skills. Like smithing, speech, enchanting, alchemy, pick pocketing, or alternation. Each of these skills increases your levels but provide no real benefit in combat.

After hitting about lvl 40 on my Org class and discovered most of what Skyrim can offer, I have decided to make a woof elf sneak/ranger. This time though I'm forcing myself to never fast travel and to completely engulf myself in Skyrim's lush mountain ranges and plains.

I started with one handed weapon and a spell in the other hand switching to bow and arrow at times but now I don't use spells as much I dual wield one handed weapons. Still switching to bow and arrow at times. I will conjure a helper to at least distract enemies when I encounter groups in a cave or what not and then go in and hack away. I also some times will use conjures to get the attention of a dragon. I don't spend time smithing or making spells I did just get into a bit more enchanting recently as I found some good weapons that were not enchanted. I have found that I am now focusing on fewer categories when leveling my perk trees. Even more so than when I started. I used light armor (the Dark brother hood armor)

I only got to play for a little while last night, but I did try out my new gear. I fought another dragon (my 20th- achievement time!), and it was pretty much a cake walk. It was a fire breather and I had 50% protection from fire, so coupled with my new dragon scale armor I didn't take much damage at all. Plus my bow is double imbued for frost and lightening damage, so it was the perfect fit to take him down with ease. I think I only shot 5 or 6 arrows, but I did have a couple of summons pelting him as well as my follower. I didn't really do too much other fighting, as I was carrying out assassinations for the night mother, and those are easy kills when your sneak is high. I’m going to try and run some dungeons tonight, or maybe even get on the main quest.

Do you have to join a side in the rebellion when doing the main story? Or is that it’s own quest line?

~mrmiller

WOW just reading your posts I'm excited about this game, and yet I've only played 20 mins top since I bought it. I know there is a lot I'm missing, but when I finally get home, eat dinner, crack a cold one and sit down for a game I find myself headed for MW3 more than anything (never thought I'd say that). I play it more than GOW3 and even Forza 4. I HAVE to sit down and clear a day/night session where I just let myself wonder around the world of Skyrim and enjoy much like Interseptor described above. I will do that this weekend and maybe have some idea of what the heck you're all talking about.

Until then...Skyrim noob out!

The game is so good and immersive, you don't want to do anything else. Notice- I didn't say you don't want to play anything else like COD, but you don't want to do anything else like watch TV, eat, sleep, etc...

~mrmiller

S7 mrmiller wrote:The game is so good and immersive, you don't want to do anything else. Notice- I didn't say you don't want to play anything else like COD, but you don't want to do anything else like watch TV, eat, sleep, etc...

~mrmiller

Haha, glad I'm not the only one that feels this way.

I'm kinda between Zak and Matt with how I run my character.

I'm only like level 20 but I'm leveling my destructive magic and smithing by training because I use pretty much only destructive magic (when I'm not using my bow or dual-wielding) and I don't have the patience to sit and make item after item to increase my smithing skill. I figure that right now I have some solid equipment and the materials to build some better stuff, but I need to have my skills increased to build the items that I want and to do it the way I want.

I do tend to Fast Travel (again, because I'm impatient) but I'll probably change this after the holidays are done and I have more time to explore in the game. Recently I haven't had a ton of time to play so when I do get on I'm spending my time power questing and then selling my loot. Eventually I'd like to be able to just leave my hometown, pick a direction, and travel until I hit the edge of the map, pick a new direction, and repeat. I know what the game has to offer (as Zak has explained) but I just haven't had the time to immerse myself in it.

As I have stated, I'm a dark elf thief who wants to be an assassin (haven't really had any meetings with the Brootherhood) so I work mostly on sneak, light armor, one-hand, and archery. I tend to roll in dual-wield mode unless I get to someone or something where I need to use a bow or one sword and healing/destruction spells. I have just come into my Vampire powers and so far I'm loving them. Since I'm a dark elf, my dark elf blood counters the vampire fire vulnerability for days 1 and 2 so I don't really take any negative effects of vampirism until day 3, which still doesn't compare to the benefits I get from being a vampire.

All in all very impressed with the game and the discussions that everyone is part of. I'm learning a lot of the do's/dont's from what everyone else is doing or has done and I really appreciate the help.

Has anyone bought the 2,972 page guide for this game?
I'm kidding of course about the pages (I think) but just had a question.

As mentioned, I'm going head first into this world starting Friday evening and I'm thinking of buying the all inclusive guide this Saturday.

I bought the limited edition hard cover book not much of a walk through guide but a useful general guide

I bought the guide too. Of course you don't need it, as if you get "stuck" the internet is going to help you, and even more than the guide as you can find out if there is a glitch or not (there are several glitched quests). I like it as I spend a lot of time planning out my character before hand. The unique character creation aspects of RPG's is what I like most.

~mrmiller

Yeah I can always just check the net, but sometimes I like that feeling of book in-hand to read (also something to add to the lavatory library) so I just looked it up.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Prima Official paperback Game Guide $16 w/656 pages. The one OC mentioned (Collector's Edition hardcover) is $25 same number of pages, and I suspect the same throughout except the hardcover.

Edit: quicknote, as I was thinking about this I also jumped out there and searched for an ipad/iphone app...

http://itunes.apple.com/app/dragon-shout/id483488468?mt=8

Yep, you knew it was there. Free too!!!

S7 Panzer wrote:

S7 Coolhand wrote: I'm in the high 40s now and certain fights are getting extremely tough. Not sure if I am gimped or if this is normal. Anyone else struggling around these levels? Destruction magic doesn't seem to scale usefully.

It also could possibly be that you leveled up all the non-combat related skills. Like smithing, speech, enchanting, alchemy, pick pocketing, or alternation. Each of these skills increases your levels but provide no real benefit in combat.

After hitting about lvl 40 on my Org class and discovered most of what Skyrim can offer, I have decided to make a woof elf sneak/ranger. This time though I'm forcing myself to never fast travel and to completely engulf myself in Skyrim's lush mountain ranges and plains.

Well I've never played an Org or Woof elf myself...
Speech has leveled up on its own quite a bit, I leveled blacksmith and enchanting to 100 early to make wicked armor. Never pickpocketed at all. I have done a fair amount of alchemy, and a bit of alteration. I'm going to try tweeking my armor stats even more by making a new set while high on pots. That patch Zac was talking about may make things better for me too, I really haven't played this in weeks now. I just remember ancient dragons crushing me in ridiculously short time... just looked it up though and looks like ancient dragons are the toughest, so guess I shouldn't worry too much about that.

I think the best class (at least to tank through) would be 100 two handed, 100 heavy armor, 100 smithing- that is it. Then you could have the most powerful and resistant character, but still be at the lowest level. Of course, that is not the most fun, but you would crush your way through all enemies I'm sure.

The problem with ranking things up like Pickpocket, Lockpick, and Speech (and to a degree even Alteration and Illusion), is they level your character up without adding any "fighting" benefits. That means when the enemies level is scaled up to match your character level, they are going to be much more difficult. You have to make sure your fighting and defensive skills are always at par or above your other skills, or you are going to have a hard time with the enemies- particularly the larger ones and groups.

~mrmiller

S7 mrmiller wrote:I think the best class (at least to tank through) would be 100 two handed, 100 heavy armor, 100 smithing- that is it. Then you could have the most powerful and resistant character, but still be at the lowest level. Of course, that is not the most fun, but you would crush your way through all enemies I'm sure.

The problem with ranking things up like Pickpocket, Lockpick, and Speech (and to a degree even Alteration and Illusion), is they level your character up without adding any "fighting" benefits. That means when the enemies level is scaled up to match your character level, they are going to be much more difficult. You have to make sure your fighting and defensive skills are always at par or above your other skills, or you are going to have a hard time with the enemies- particularly the larger ones and groups.

~mrmiller

Preach it brother Matt! It's really is best to just level you character naturally. I really don't every have an opponent I can't handle. If I am sneaking it is super easy but even if I take on a group head on, I still don't really have a problem. But I also don't have any artificial leveling.

Interesting side note/story:

I was riding along yesterday, minding my own business and I was ambushed by a large group of bandits. They had a nice little fort set-up with a bridge going over the road. On the bridge was a trap set for unsuspecting victims complete with large boulders to both damage and block the path. Normally I leave these bandits in the dust and simple ride on but last night was a different story. As I was attempting to escape the ambush, my horse took one too many arrows and boulders did their job a little too effectively. Shadow #5 was down and she was not going to get back up.

This turned out to be very unfortunate... for the bandits. For I was no passing civilian or dignitary. No, I am a lvl 44 Dark Elf, Vampire, Assassin, Nightingale, Dragonborn, Champion. They pissed off the wrong guy this time. A mistake they won't make again. No sneaking around for me. I was pissed and they were going to pay. It was mid day and they had incurred the full wrath of Tanith Nightstalker. I was on them within seconds and used the full arsenal of my powers. As I shouted "Fus Ro Dah!", the first 2 bandits went flying. As they scrambled to get their barrings I quickly slaughtered a mage and archer as they were coming to assist. As their bodies fell I moved on to the next set of three bandits. Drawing their life force with my vampiric power in one hand and slashing with my Nightingale sword in the other, it did not take long and all three were down. And not a moment to soon as the first 2 bandits had finally made it back into the fight (the shout had knocked them outside of their fence and they had to walk all the way around the fort to get back). Unfortunately for them my shout had regenerated by this time and I hit them once again with the full blast of my Unrelenting Force. This time sending them flying into a wall causing significant damage. As they flailed about, trying to get up, I put them out of their misery with a few quick slices of my sword.

This left only one Bandit still standing. Shooting arrows from a distance, I had purposefully ignored him as I took out the entire rest of the camp. You see, he was the bandit on the bridge. The one responsible for springing the trap and unleashing my wrath. So with everyone else dead I calmly walked towards him at a slow and steady pace. Arrow after arrow hit me as I slowly approached, never faltering, never stopping, I just kept coming. I could almost see the fear in his eyes as he desperately tried to fire one more shot... but now his time had come and with one swift motion I skewered him and lifted him into the air. His life now fading, I raised him up even further into the air and slammed him to the ground. The entire bandit camp had now been silenced and I was able to move on. At peace for avenging my faithful friend and companion. Shadow #5, a champion in his own right. He was a great horse and he will be missed.

S7 Interseptor wrote:Epic Story Here

*Clap, clap, clap* A man and his shall never be seperated

Eventually I'll put some of my stories from the 200+ hours of gametime spent in this magnificent world. I, like Interseptor, like to roleplay my characters, sometimes to a fault. I have a backstory for all my characters, a general path of skills of which I'm naturally good with and some that come with the need of adaption.

Zak's story would make an excellent movie: Tanith Nightstalker in SKYRIM!!! by Quentin Tarantino. Excellently woven tapestry there, Zak.

I'll try to get in on this background and storytelling to. I used to do this kind of stuff when I played DND, deep backgrounds and fully fleshed out characters but I haven't had the chance to do this so far. Keep up the stories guys, there's a lot of great stuff in here.

Zak, did you ever think about making like a serial thread of on the forum about the trials and tribulations of Tanith? Instant success!

S7 Interseptor wrote:This turned out to be very unfortunate... for the bandits. For I was no passing civilian or dignitary. No, I am a lvl 44 Dark Elf, Vampire, Assassin, Nightingale, Dragonborn, Champion. They pissed off the wrong guy this time. A mistake they won't make again.

LOVE IT!!!

So I had an hour or so to kill and I took Zak's advice about no fast travel and set off from my home in Whiterun to take my "unusual gem" to the appraiser. I began running along and came across the Snapleg Cave and have been able to hammer on some new enemies that I hadn't seen yet which offered a little challenge but were ultimately pwned by my twin blades.

I think that in the future, even if I don't have a lot of time to play, I'm going to continue this way to really enjoy the world. I've been able to improve my archery skills (by hunting elk and cats), improve my sneak skills (when I sneak up on creatures and skewer them on one of my swords), and lockpicking on chests and cages.

Found a new bug that's kind of annoying. If you have a vampire character (race/sex don't seem to matter) and you wear the Thieves Guild hood, your character ends up with cul-de-sac haircut. It sucks because I'm at the point where the hood is a good fit for what I'm trying to do with my character, but it makes my character look like a tool. I guess this only matters when I'm playing in 3rd person POV, but it still irks me. Not sure if anyone else has run into this, (since Zak and I are the only ones I know of that are running vampire thieves) but I thought I'd throw it out there.