So, Skyrim's out 11/11/11

[kandrathe]

Cave bears are my new nemesis.

I used Animal Allegiance, or Ice Form. The first, gained during the companions quest line, and the 2nd during the Mage college quest line.

Since you are more of a thieves guild gal, you may have overhead some greedy bastards in Riften talking about a tomb to the west. It would solve your bear problems. If you want, seek out the obnoxious dark elf hanging out by the entrance of a tomb waiting for a daring adventurer to help her.

[Treesh]

Cave bears are my new nemesis.

I used Animal Allegiance, or Ice Form. The first, gained during the companions quest line, and the 2nd during the Mage college quest line.

Since you are more of a thieves guild gal, you may have overhead some greedy bastards in Riften talking about a tomb to the west. It would solve your bear problems. If you want, seek out the obnoxious dark elf hanging out by the entrance of a tomb waiting for a daring adventurer to help her.

Well, really, as a Bosmer, I have command animal (or something like that anyway). I just forget about fancy things sometimes. Ok, a lot of the time. I have finally started to think about using my different shouts though. It only took me about 20 levels to remember.

And isn't "obnoxious dark elf" a little redundant?

[Roland]

Cave bears are my new nemesis.

If you're a Bosmer, just use your Charm Animal power. Either you can run around with him at your side to fight off Bandits, or you can simply wander off and let him eventually return home. Or, you can put a handful of arrows into his chest before he turns on your for being a bad companion. You may still die, but at least you'll have a better chance.

I'm level 30 now. My bow alone does 52 damage, and I carry a quiver of Iron Arrows (8 damage) - although I have Steel, Dwarven, and Elven Arrows as well (I refuse to use the Ancient Nordic Arrows - collector's pieces for me). 60 damage - tripled for a Sneak Attack - means I 3-hit (sneak attack) Giants. If I'm far enough away I can get off 3 sneak attacks before they get close enough to uncover me - which means they're dead before they knew what killed them. I have no magical items (although I did find my first Glass armor last night - a helmet with 40% faster magicka regen), and have only improved my weapons and armor to Flawless (no perks in Smithing yet, despite it being at 92). Needless to say, for me life is about sneaking around and one-shotting anything I come across. I love scouring my way through dungeons, picking off my enemies one at a time. I love running about the wilds hunting deer and foxes. I love everything about being a Thief archer.

I'll say I'm almost a tiny bit disappointed to see Alchemy is as broken as ever (I have over 21k Gold right now), but I do so love Poisons (despite never using them - I never have an enemy that makes it worthwhile! Even Dragons, which are all Frost Dragons now, are more a test of patience than damage). With a couple of well-crafted potions I can make the rounds between each major city, cleaning out every single Alchemy ingredient from the shops, and still turn a profit between 500 and 1000 gold per shop. It's... a little obscene, really. I'm actually taking a break from Alchemy just to get back to actually playing the game, because it was getting a little boring doing the equivalent of Griswold runs (which I also have done, mostly in search of new armors and weapons that get unlocked). I'm almost tempted to avoid Enchanting altogether, simply because so far I've had no need. That, and I've been trying to play this character as an archetypical Thief (although I'm mixed on how I feel Alchemy fits into Thievery, and my high Smithing has kinda blown that out of the water a bit anyway). Still, I'm loving the game. I love exploring, and I can't wait until I hit 50 (or maybe 40) before I start actually delving into dungeons.

Last night was quite the trip. I entered Riften finally, and wound my way into the Ratway in search of the Thieves Guild. I found them, but couldn't join (found the person I needed to talk to when I hit the market after I left the sewers), so I kept on exploring. It's amusing to me to come across vandals, vagabonds, and whatever other names they came up with for unsavory poor people - wielding Dwarven or Elven Bows and carrying 100+ gold on them. Tickled my fancy, and netted me a nice profit. Definitely going to have to get some Speechcraft perks, if only so that I can sell all my wares at one place (instead of having to travel to multiple places because they run out of gold before I sell off all my goodies). Still torn on whether or not I want to join the Thieves Guild or the Dark Brotherhood, despite starting the chain for both. I typically play "Chaotic Good" characters, and that was my goal for this one as it suits my personality, but I'm almost wondering if I it would be worthwhile to fully explore all the shadowed elements of Thievery, or if I'd be better served starting someone new to do that. We'll see.

I suppose I'll have to return to Markarth one of these days, as well. Apparently there's yet another Daedra there that - wait for it - eventually grants you the power to eat your defeated foes. What a world they've crafted. Never ceases to amaze me. At any rate, hope to get a great deal of playing done this long weekend - hope to hit level 40 at least, and get at least 80 in Archery and Sneaking. I'm eager to continue fleshing out the world - I just need to keep myself from getting too bogged down in the minutia. Oh, and I have yet to pick a wife (or even find an Amulet of Mara), but so far Aela the Huntress has been the one to most pique my eye. Something to be said for a strong, fiery redhead.

[Treesh]

60 damage - tripled for a Sneak Attack - means I 3-hit (sneak attack) Giants. If I'm far enough away I can get off 3 sneak attacks before they get close enough to uncover me - which means they're dead before they knew what killed them. I have no magical items (although I did find my first Glass armor last night - a helmet with 40% faster magicka regen), and have only improved my weapons and armor to Flawless (no perks in Smithing yet, despite it being at 92). Needless to say, for me life is about sneaking around and one-shotting anything I come across. I love scouring my way through dungeons, picking off my enemies one at a time. I love running about the wilds hunting deer and foxes. I love everything about being a Thief archer.

I have to second loving being a sniper. Although, I have found the joy of getting in 15x damage with the dual daggers if I turn a corner and there's someone there all of a sudden but hasn't seen me. =) The ONLY drawback to the one shot stealth kills is that I don't get to see the fancy death cutscenes often enough.

Nytha (the archer/two-handed swordswoman) had all kinds of magical weapons, including the bow that had soul trap on it which was really nice. Etheramwen (the sniper/assassin gal) is avoiding enchants for some reason. I'm not really sure why. She does just fine without them though. Is it just me or do the weapons you make have lower charge than weapons you find or buy? I swear, even with making the Elven stuff right now (I'm close to glass though!), I can't enchant any of them. Rings and ammys I make can be enchanted, but not the others for some reason.

I've got to get better at hitting the hawks on the wing though when I'm out hunting. I want more feathers, but aiming up in the air throws me off for some reason, even with the slowed time while zooming in perk.

Markarth (however it's spelled, I just think of it as Marklar instead) is a weird one, but it had one of the houses with the most bookshelves so that was the second house I bought. Now to fully move in and just leave the Whiterun house for Lydia to enjoy. She spends most of her time in the master bedroom anyway instead of her own room so she may as well have it all to herself.

[kandrathe]

She spends most of her time in the master bedroom anyway instead of her own room so she may as well have it all to herself.

It is a little odd when Aela and I are waking in the morning, to find Lydia sitting there eating another sweet roll. There was the option of moving in to Aela's place, but I can't seem to find her farm. I tried to find it one night by telling her to go home, and then I followed (stalked) her. She ended up walking (slowly) on the road around Whiterun, and when dawn came, she walked back to Jorrvaskr.

[Roland]

So, apparently with a little tweaking (and a high-end computer) you too can make Skyrim look like this.

More to be found here.

And that, my friends, is one of the biggest reasons I got into the Elder Scrolls games (with Morrowind) - the beautiful, wonderful world.

It is a little odd when Aela and I are waking in the morning, to find Lydia sitting there eating another sweet roll. There was the option of moving in to Aela's place, but I can't seem to find her farm. I tried to find it one night by telling her to go home, and then I followed (stalked) her. She ended up walking (slowly) on the road around Whiterun, and when dawn came, she walked back to Jorrvaskr.

I don't believe Aela has property. I believe she lives in the Jorrvaskr hall until you marry her, and move her into your place. Not all available NPCs own property, just as not all have merchant professions. And yes, it is a little odd to have Lydia spend all her time sitting in your bedroom - even when you're single. I do enjoy her company, but I don't think I'll be marrying her. Somehow, I don't think I want my wife coming along with me on my adventures, no matter how capable she may be. Wouldn't fit my style.

[Zyn]

Is it just me or do the weapons you make have lower charge than weapons you find or buy? I swear, even with making the Elven stuff right now (I'm close to glass though!), I can't enchant any of them. Rings and ammys I make can be enchanted, but not the others for some reason.

The number of charges and strength of a fortify enchant varies depending on the vessel you are enchanting, your enchanting skill and the soul you are using. Until you get to 100 Enchanting (Which I just did last night - It's pretty ridiculous), you'll find weapons in the world that outweigh what you can make.

-Z

[Kevin]

Is it just me or do the weapons you make have lower charge than weapons you find or buy? I swear, even with making the Elven stuff right now (I'm close to glass though!), I can't enchant any of them. Rings and ammys I make can be enchanted, but not the others for some reason.

The number of charges and strength of a fortify enchant varies depending on the vessel you are enchanting, your enchanting skill and the soul you are using. Until you get to 100 Enchanting (Which I just did last night - It's pretty ridiculous), you'll find weapons in the world that outweigh what you can make.

-Z

I'm pretty sure what you are enchanting doesn't matter. I think you can put the same number of charges on a steel battle axe as you can on a daedric one. The quality of the soul gem and the soul do matter and your skill and perks of course matter too.

This may be what you meant but the term vessel felt a big ambiguous in this context. It's only your skill, the soul gem and the quality of soul in the (which only matters if the soul is not as powerful as the gem can hold).

So a silver ring or a golden ruby ring will end up with the same level of bonus. Since the enchant works as a multiplier on item value the value of enchanted items matters as to what you are enchanting, but you can also make an iron dagger using just a petty soul gem and the damage stamina enchant that will sell for over 600 gold early on in the game. This can of course be combined with smithing to skill up some crafts fast and work as a massive gold pump. Banishment enchants might sell for more, but it's much harder to get than damage stamina (and I think you need to be L20+ for it start spawning).

Of course I've found gold to not be an issue. Early on as a caster buying the spells can be a bit of a sink, but I haven't even tried to make gold and if I want I can get a second house and fully furnish it too. I've even bought some weapons and armor instead of just finding/crafting it.

Money is a lot easier in this game for me than previous TES games. It's not I couldn't make money in those games but in this one I don't have to think about it and I'm still fine. Which is another thing that is good about this one.

[Zyn]

Yeah my post is a bit vague - the things that effect Enchanting and charges are:

1. The type of enchantment (Dictates charges based on strength of effect)
2. Perks
3. Enchanting skill
4. Soul being used

-Z

[Treesh]

Yeah my post is a bit vague - the things that effect Enchanting and charges are:

1. The type of enchantment (Dictates charges based on strength of effect)
2. Perks
3. Enchanting skill
4. Soul being used

-Z

That may be true, but when I go to put on an enchantment, it tells me that the item doesn't have enough charge for the enchantment, but it won't let me drop down the magnitude of the effect with the slider either. Of course, my enchanting really isn't very high on Nytha, but it's a little aggravating that I can't enchant -anything- that I made with her.

[Rhydderch Hael]

First major complaint here, made it to Solitude for the first time, saw what was happening off to the right. I hadn't made a choice so far in the game concerned the factions, but I couldn't let it pass. I slaughter everyone involved, save him, run up to him and he says, "Hey", "Nice day in Skyrim isn't it?"..... Bah.

I realize I'm expecting too much from our current technology, likely, but man, wouldn't a "thanks!" be at least worth coding?

You're lucky you got a result. The first time I saw what was going on, I followed the same decision loop as you, leapt to the stage and struck for the officials...

...I sorta missed and hit the wrong guy. It was sort of like the tale of William Tell and the apple, with Mr. Magoo playing the part of ol' Billy.

[kandrathe]

Of course, my enchanting really isn't very high on Nytha, but it's a little aggravating that I can't enchant -anything- that I made with her.

My first enchanting skills were from disenchanting stuff. My enchanting is getting higher, and I've finally sunk 2 perks into it.

For me, It's all due to conjuring really. I get alot of petty soul gems, and since I use bound sword, and I have the auto soul trap perk, they end up filled. For smithing, I make a ton of leather bracers. Then, I save enough leather to upgrade them, and then head on over and use up the petty soul gems to enchant with whatever will pay me the most. It's usually enough to break even for all the materials I ended up buying to improve my smithing.

The market here is flooded with exquisite leather bracers that improve carrying capacity by 3.

[Crushar]

I have an interesting story to tell. When going to meet the Greybeards before I knew what a giant camp loooked like I walked up and tried to kill them. Needless to say they one shotted me. I then reload and kite them all the way to that town below high hrothgar using a Flame Antronach. It took me by count 20 of my Flame Antronaches to kill them fun time.

[Frag]

Rerolled my first main, lvl 32, he was the oft-mentioned stealth archer, but besides ending in up a ethical quagmire that I'm not quite ready to deal with yet, I missed the death animations so much. By way of a heads up, if you're looking for "hard mode", try dual wielding. Yeeesh.

[Treesh]

Of course, my enchanting really isn't very high on Nytha, but it's a little aggravating that I can't enchant -anything- that I made with her.

My first enchanting skills were from disenchanting stuff. My enchanting is getting higher, and I've finally sunk 2 perks into it.

Eth's just not even bothering with it. My Morrowind Eth didn't really use enchanted gear. My WoW Eth didn't use weapon enchants for a LONG time simply because she's stealthy so why is she carrying a lightsaber around? Hated the excessive glows on the weapon enchants in WoW for a rogue. I didn't have an Eth in Oblivion because a caster was the only way I enjoyed that game.

Eventually I figure she'll learn to do enchanting, but just not right now. She's got her alchemy. She's put in time in the mines, especially some of the gold mines that are around. She's flooded the market with lots of gold jewelry. Her smithing is getting decent. She'll disenchant something if it's got an enchant that she wants and will probably use, but other than that, she just doesn't worry about it much. She's holding on to all the soul gems she finds, empty and full, for when she wants to start up a new business venture though.

[kandrathe]

Eventually I figure she'll learn to do enchanting, but just not right now. She's got her alchemy. She's put in time in the mines, especially some of the gold mines that are around. She's flooded the market with lots of gold jewelry. Her smithing is getting decent. She'll disenchant something if it's got an enchant that she wants and will probably use, but other than that, she just doesn't worry about it much. She's holding on to all the soul gems she finds, empty and full, for when she wants to start up a new business venture though.

I've held off on alchemy, but recently found 3 different pieces of +20% alchemy gear.

Tonight I hit level 40, and 100 on conjuration and smithing. Just have to get another level to get the last smithing perk. I've almost saved every dragon bone and scale from the beginning, but lost three tonight due to a rapid despawn. Most of the time the bones are there for days/weeks. I fast traveled a short jaunt to Whiterun, and back within the same day but the bones were gone. Oh well. I still have somewhere around 60 bones and 60 scales, with dragons continuing to jump on me all the time. I killed my first Elder dragon tonight too. Way hard. Even with 60% fire resistance I was healing (Aela and me) all the time, and relying on a summoned storm atronach, and Aela to bring it down. Once on the ground, I switched to sword, shield, and more healing.

The Forsworn are harder.

[Crusader]

I have about 80 hours played now, and I must say I love the game, but there are some issues with balance. My playstyle generally has been to decide on a questline, and then doing whatever strikes my fancy on the side after triggering dragons.

My first character, a female Khajiit named Misha, is now level 32. I tried everything, ended up as a stealth character. I did learn a valuable lesson on this character: smithing breaks the game's balance if you powerlevel it by making a pile of leather bracers and iron daggers and then making a full legendary dragonscale set. I heard enchanting has the same effect. Still, it's an enjoyable character, and stealthing around and backstabbing with a dagger is generally fun. I joined the Dark brotherhood and must say I liked the sinister mood around them. I then decided a new approach and new character. I have done the Dark brotherhood questline completely, now working on the thieves guild.

Character 2: Aermat, Aldmer (High Elf) mage. A pure mage. Lots of destruction, along with some summoning. I quickly found the game to become too easy around level 18. the ice spike spell is just darn powerful. Also, Lydia needs to stay out of my line of fire more... I did part of the mage guild quests with him. It's an interesting, mysterious storyline.

Character 3: Armat, My first character with a some personal rules around it: Smithing only with ore I mine myself (no buying materials), No enchanting, no magic whatsoever. This was the first character with a challenge. I played on Expert. I went with two handed axes and heavy armor. I quickly learned I would need to do a little alchemy to get healing potions, and potions for resistances against some enemies (KROSIIIIIIIS!). It's generally fun to play, although most enemies die very fast to a two handed weapon. Still, enemy mages can really rip me a new one. And since I am not putting perks in archery, it takes me a long time to force a dragon to land. On a more positive note, Lydia doesn't get in the way as much. I did the entire Stormcloaks line with him. Storming forts with a big axe is fun.

[Drasca]

If you feel the game is getting too easy, raise the difficulty in the game settings. The default is adept, which is generally fine for most people, especially early on the game. Later on the game, for those who have not really have a combat ready character, lowering the difficulty setting is adviseable.

For those who seem overly prepared, try expert or master difficulty. I am level 61 and I play at Master. If I don't have the right resistences up, I die immediately. Boss fights tend to have 2k-5k health and hit HARD even with 500-600 health.

You can change the difficulty at any time repeatedly. So feel free to adapt it to how you're doing in the game. For most though, the default adept is going to satisfy them throughout the game.

[kandrathe]

I did learn a valuable lesson on this character: smithing breaks the game's balance if you powerlevel it by making a pile of leather bracers and iron daggers and then making a full legendary dragonscale set. I heard enchanting has the same effect.

Well, if 50 is the realistic "high level" (81 is about max getting 100 in everything without trainers), with leveling happening more slowly after that, getting your main skills to 100 by 40-45 seems reasonable. I'm level 42, and just have crafted Dragon Plate for me, and Dragon Scale for Aela. And, I will enchant them, but I go for more utilitarian enchants, like carrying capacity, faster stamina regeneration, faster magicka regeneration, bigger magicka pool.

My philosophy is that like with the other TES games, the higher level you are the better the opponent, and the better the treasure. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

This is true in my own house. My elder son is level 18, and after tonight he's about 90% finished with the main quest. He might have done it earlier had he not been side tracked by becoming the Harbinger of the Companions first. He wants to improve smithing too, but I think he's taken up with the story and he wants to know how it ends. My char has earned about 100K, and spent about 90K of it on houses, horses, armor, crafting materials, and bounty (after witnessing the events in Solitude I've become pretty radically anti-empire.) The bottom line is that we are both having fun. I don't understand his style of play, and mine is way too boring for him. "Dad, do you really need to pick up every Chaurus egg in the dungeon?" I reply, "Yeah, but I can only get them here!"

[Thenryb]

I did learn a valuable lesson on this character: smithing breaks the game's balance if you powerlevel it by making a pile of leather bracers and iron daggers and then making a full legendary dragonscale set. I heard enchanting has the same effect.

Well, if 50 is the realistic "high level" (81 is about max getting 100 in everything without trainers), with leveling happening more slowly after that, getting your main skills to 100 by 40-45 seems reasonable. I'm level 42, and just have crafted Dragon Plate for me, and Dragon Scale for Aela. And, I will enchant them, but I go for more utilitarian enchants, like carrying capacity, faster stamina regeneration, faster magicka regeneration, bigger magicka pool.

My philosophy is that like with the other TES games, the higher level you are the better the opponent, and the better the treasure. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

This is true in my own house. My elder son is level 18, and after tonight he's about 90% finished with the main quest. He might have done it earlier had he not been side tracked by becoming the Harbinger of the Companions first. He wants to improve smithing too, but I think he's taken up with the story and he wants to know how it ends. My char has earned about 100K, and spent about 90K of it on houses, horses, armor, crafting materials, and bounty (after witnessing the events in Solitude I've become pretty radically anti-empire.) The bottom line is that we are both having fun. I don't understand his style of play, and mine is way too boring for him. "Dad, do you really need to pick up every Chaurus egg in the dungeon?" I reply, "Yeah, but I can only get them here!"

In many ways I prefer your son's approach but end up playing more like you described. I have not witnessed the "events in Solitude" you mention. I think this is because, prior to even arriving in Solitude, I became wary of clicking on any NPC lest I end up with some dumb fetch quest. My quest log is already full of those crap quests, such as gathering fire salts for some blacksmith somewhere. This is definitely not a game for someone who wants to complete all the quests accepted. As to characters, the only one I have made who is successful is an assassin type with some bow skill (sort of like the one Roland described in an earlier post). The only quests she has some difficulty with are those where she is forced to take a companion along. I have not found an effective one yet. They either get in your way or break your stealth. This includes Aela. The problem with the "forced companions" is that you cannot tell them to wait or stay back. My attempts at making a warrior have certainly not been successful above level 15 or so. I have tried the two handed, light armored barbarian type (my preference) as well as the heavy armored sword and shield type. Both get eaten alive by opponents like the Silver Hand.