[Gaming] Elder Scrolls 5 - Dawnguard is HERE!

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

So my sneaky thief has turned more into a sneaky mage healer conjurer... person.

I don't use conventional weapons, instead concentrating on bound weapons. Got my conjuring up to master levels and got me the Dremora Lord. Illusion and Sneak are the next highest, allowing me to sneak around with ease and cast silently. I also took up healing my follower, so my restoration magic is pretty high now, allowing me to get the magicka regen perk.

So pretty much my playstyle is sneak into a room, let Lydia run in to attack, from the shadows I cast Courage and Heal Other on her. If she gets in trouble I summon the Dremora Lord, and if I get overly bored I pull out some bound swords/bow and run into the fight, though my lack of Light Armor skill and only mid range One-Handed makes me pretty worthless in those areas at the level I am. Thanks to a mod I have I also have Bound Daggers, which means I can still pull off some of the stealth kills thanks to the x15 with daggers modifier.
 
Cheesy1

Cheesy1

My brother bought Skyrim a few days ago. Unfortunately for him, his laptop was unable to handle the stress of playing it for more than a half an hour at a time without overheating. Fortunately for ME :D, my brand new super yummy computer I got for Christmas can run it like a dream! So in exchange for letting him play it on my machine, I too have now begun my own adventure! Just made it to the first town after escaping the execution with the Stormcloak dude. Playing a female Wood Elf. Not sure where I'll go with her yet.
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

mr_thehun said:
hopefully not to any deep dark disturbing places.
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Fine, just remove all the fun.

Now back to my character, I finally finished the Thieves Guild and Mages College questlines, which I skipped on my first character. I have to admit the mages questline felt rather short, probably the same length if not a little shorter then the Companions questline.

The Thieves Guild though? My goodness... I kept expecting it to end and it just kept going. All the rewards for finishing are pretty great too, I was not expecting to gain so much from that questline both in gold and services. My only wish now is that they had a fast travel point directly into the Ragged Flagon, because the only two entrances involve either going through the Ratway or the Citren or whatever it's called. Riften now has so many merchants for me to sell junk I no longer have to fast travel to another town when I show up full to the brim with loot. Strangely enough I have yet to unlock the house there, I really should though.

Actually considering all you gain, I wish the Mages College and Companions gave a little bit more general services of some type. Maybe the Mages College can help rebuild Winterhold to be a thriving city again, and the Companions can gain new members to work around Jorvaskar. May have to look into mods like that someday.

Either way, I just need to finish the Stormcloak and dark brotherhood questlines now, and I pretty much, between the two characters, have done every non-radiant quest there is.
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

You know I think I have a dragon crush on Paarthurnax...

On my first playthrough I couldn't bring myself to kill him, so I decided to screw the Blades and just keep him alive. I decided on this playthrough I would kill him, just to experience the Blade side of things. Problem is, the more I think about it, the more I don't want to do it.

I don't know what it is about that dragon, maybe his awesome voice (funny enough the same guy that does Mario. "Itsa ME! Paarthurnaxx!"), the fact he was one of the dragons that helps lead to the defeat of Alduin in ages past, the fact that he helps me learns shouts, helps me fight Alduin on top of the mountain, or even just the fact that he is a dragon that understands he is born evil, but prides himself on being able to overcome his nature in order to be good. What did the Blades give me? Some crappy escort quests that involve finding a wall with a bunch of insight I mostly already knew. It was Paarthurnax that took that information and even lead me on the path to gain Dragonrend.

Man and I thought attacking Whiterun was going to be hard, considering I find Balgruuf one of the few noble Jarls, but it's going to be easier then making me shoot that first fireball at Paarthurnax. I have to hand it to Bethesda for making me really enjoy a character enough that I can't easily kill him.
 
Eriol

Eriol

Question: When using the "Summon" spells (Atronachs, or Dremoras), do they level with you? It doesn't seem so (well, definitely not for the familiar), but I'm really not sure about the 3 "main" atronachs. And I can't find the wiki saying anything either.

Any ideas/information?
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

No they do not as far as I have seen. Each Atronach scales up in power from one to the next, basically like this...

Familiar < Flame < Frost < Storm < Dremora

Really, once you get the Storm Atronach and the Dremora Lord, there are no real reasons to summon the Familiar, Flame, or Frost summons unless you are low on mana. The Storm Atronach will cover the need for ranged damage when you need it, plus some nice area attacks, while the Dremora Lord will destroy anything on the ground that can get in range of his daedric sword.

Once you unlock the master spells you do get a new set of spells called Thrall spells, that let you summon permenent versions of either the Flame, Frost, or Storm Atronaches, but frankly I don't see much of a reason to use them since they are not stronger then the temporary summons, and with the long cast time mana cost, can't be brought out quickly if one dies.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
As I get higher in level and the game's difficulty once again begins to approach triviality, I find myself abusing my companion more and more. I intentionally sprint/shove my way through her to get where I'm going ("Hey, watch it!" or "What's the hurry?!" Illia yells as she staggers away). I'll often FUS RO DAH or freeze-shout her for small or alleged slights - not just standing in doorways, but "giving me the bug eye" or some such.

The little woman says she feels sorry for her, and that I don't deserve her. I retort she's free to go any time she wants, so if she stays...
 
doomdragon6

doomdragon6

Staff member
So, I decided to start playing "more riskily" by deciding not to autosave every 10 seconds like I usually do. I figured this would give me more survival instincts and encourage me to play more cautiously--- don't pickpocket him, you can't just reload-- that sort of thing.

So I decide to load up only ony autosaves or a quicksave every so often on a long trip. I die twice in a cavern-- with only one bandit chief in, bee tee dubs, and have to re-pick mines and loot things 3 times over.

Then I leave and head for a town. All is going well, then I'm ambushed by a spider (for the first time EVER) and I'm dead before I know what's happening, so I lose about 10 minutes of travelling and herb gathering.

This project isn't working quite how I thought it might.
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

My own little attempt to make the game difficult was to stop using the quest map markers for finding people, items, or locations I needed for quests.

For awhile it was working out great, until I got a quest I missed on my first playthrough to find the dead body of a woman. The Innkeeper said she usually traveled to the a nearby island and goes into the eerie cave for herbs, which has a pretty good sized dungeon in it. So I go in and slog through the whole dungeon, couldn't find her anywhere in the cave, the dungeon, on the island, simply nowhere.

I decide after awhile to just "screw it" and load up the map marker. Her corpse was five feet outside of the town in the lake water, nowhere near the island.

Never again.
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

ScytheRexx said:
I decide after awhile to just "screw it" and load up the map marker. Her corpse was five feet outside of the town in the lake water, nowhere near the island.
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Yeah, i had trouble finding it with the marker...


Also, your solutions don't sound much like making the game harder, just making it take longer...
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
ScytheRexx said:
My own little attempt to make the game difficult was to stop using the quest map markers for finding people, items, or locations I needed for quests.

For awhile it was working out great, until I got a quest I missed on my first playthrough to find the dead body of a woman. The Innkeeper said she usually traveled to the a nearby island and goes into the eerie cave for herbs, which has a pretty good sized dungeon in it. So I go in and slog through the whole dungeon, couldn't find her anywhere in the cave, the dungeon, on the island, simply nowhere.

I decide after awhile to just "screw it" and load up the map marker. Her corpse was five feet outside of the town in the lake water, nowhere near the island.

Never again.
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Ha ha! I did that on my first character too!
Added at: 10:41
Some light reading:

http://twitter.com/SkyrimMom
 
Gared

Gared

Ok, so I took a brief hiatus from Skyrim to play SWToR, came back, started an entirely new character concentrating on destruction magic and robes and... what the hell was I doing wrong before?!?!? This game is fucking easy! Holy hell, no wonder Shego read me the riot act about how I must be doing a shitty job of things. Still fun though, and I'm having a blast slaughtering every imperial patrol that I wander past in the wild.
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Spells start out strong but feel like they get rather weak later on. If you are planning to go destruction I recommend maxing out perks and never stop using the destruction spells, just keep casting them all the time so that you level it up as high as possible before other skills start increasing and leveling you. I am pretty high in destruction with perks in fire spells, duel casting, and impact, and I still feel like I get more damage out of a well blacksmithed sword.
 
Gared

Gared

Yeah, so far I've been doing the smart thing and just using my dual-cast shock spell and anytime I don't have enough points in Destro when I level (I'm all of level 5 so far), instead of wasting the perk somewhere else, I just bank it until I can get to whatever level of destro they want me to have to buy my next in-tree perk, and I've been avoiding blacksmithing, enchanting, apothecary, etc., so I don't accidentally level too high without keeping up on the Destro. Hell, I think the only other skills I've gained skill levels in are Speech (from selling stuff to merchants), Lockpicking (from all of the chests), and Light Armor (from getting wailed on by Draugr in the barrow).
 
Eriol

Eriol

Dual casting and impact are essential for a destruction mage or else mobs just massacre you up close. But with them, you feel really powerful.

To be able to even use later spells, start getting enchanting up and get gear with minus to spell cost. Eventually you can make your spells from any one school (or two with 100 enchanting) cost zero. Very nice to be able to cast the expert-level spells with impunity.
 
Shegokigo

Shegokigo

At the higher levels you actually find yourself casting less destruction spells (as you slowly chip away at life totals) and instead use Frenzy/Calm from Illusion (to let them do their own dirty work) and Draemora Lord/Storm Elemental from Conjuration (to finish the last one standing).

Straight 1v1 fighting at much higher levels takes a while with destruction, all because they decided not to add any enchants that +dmg to any spells. Yet there's plenty of +melee +archery bonuses *sigh*
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Shegokigo said:
At the higher levels you actually find yourself casting less destruction spells (as you slowly chip away at life totals) and instead use Frenzy/Calm from Illusion (to let them do their own dirty work) and Draemora Lord/Storm Elemental from Conjuration (to finish the last one standing).

Straight 1v1 fighting at much higher levels takes a while with destruction, all because they decided not to add any enchants that +dmg to any spells. Yet there's plenty of +melee +archery bonuses *sigh*
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I'm surprised nobody has modded that yet.
 
Shegokigo

Shegokigo

Well the Dev tools haven't been released to the public modding community yet (I don't think) so when it does, we're going to get a huge influx of mods that are much more detailed than current. This is why you see things are reskinned right now and not straight brand new models.
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Shegokigo said:
Well the Dev tools haven't been released to the public modding community yet (I don't think) so when it does, we're going to get a huge influx of mods that are much more detailed than current. This is why you see things are reskinned right now and not straight brand new models.
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People have actually been adding brand new models, like the Triss outfit from Witcher 2 and a lot of weapons models, like JaySuS Weapons and the like. The issue is that adding such information is not easy, so most people either go with a simple reskin or a model swap (Arch-Mage > Nocturnal Dress, for example). The tool set will make it easier to add the items into the general leveled lists, so we will see more new items and less swaps.

As for enchants, I have seen very few enchant based modifications, so it is likely very hard to handle without the tool set. Much of the mods we have now are by reverse engineering through the code, and likely outside of the perks, they don't have a +spell damage somewhere in the files to base a modification around.
 
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