Have any other Lurkers played Morrowind?

[WarLocke]

A few days ago I reinstalled Morrowind on a whim. Now I remember why I love the game.

Yeah, I know the Game of the Year edition is soon to be released, with Tribunal and Bloodmoon included, neither of which I have. But Morrowind is what I have now, and I'll worry about getting my particular plugin combination working with them if/when I pick them up.

So far, my sorceress has only joined the Blades (necessary for the 'plot quests') and the Guild of Mages (because, uh, she's a mage... B) ). So my question is this: What groups/factions don't work together? I don't want to join more groups and hit brick walls later - it's not only frustrating from a gameplay point of view, but from a story one as well (ex: why the heck does Group X tolerate me if Group Y just had me assassinate a bunch of them?).

For example, from gossip in-game I gather that the Guild of Mages and House Telvanni don't get along at all. Therefore I wouldn't be too surprised if a later Mage quest is some sort of strike against Telvanni holdings/interests, so there's little point in joining both if I have to alienate one.

The Thieves' Guild and Camonna Tong have a similar rivalry going on, but I'm not sure if you can even join the Camonna Tong. But, they're buddies with House Hlaalu and one of my quests currently is to 'disappear' a group of Camonna Tong in Balmora. I haven't committed to it yet; Idunno if I want to screw up my chances with Hlaalu. :(

Do the Tribunal Temple and Imperial Cult conflict? It seems like they might, both being religions. How about House Redoran and the Imperial Legion?

I don't really have any plans to join other factions in the near future (I'm playing a somewhat pure magic-user), but perhaps at some point I'll want to flesh out her other skills or outright start doing things differently. I just want to have some kind of idea as for what to expect. And the horror stories of players breaking whole series of quests by killing certain NPCs early or doing things out of order factor in a bit too, I guess. <_<

I can elaborate on my character build and plugins if anyone's interested, but I decided to leave them out of this post to save space.

Thanks for any replies in advance.

[Drasca]

No, there are (in general) no real conflicts. Except for a few assasinations ;) In general you can join every guild you wish to with little or no problems from the others-- depending on how stealthy and creative you are in fulfilling quests-- or going to another quest giver and ignoring the quests. You don't have to do all quests to gain Guildmaster status. You'll come to discover some conflict between the thieves guild and fighters guild officers with cammona tong influences, but you'll be warned of that ahead of time. You always have options around it. The only limit is between houses, you can only join one, and you are forewarned of that beforehand (though there are plugins around this). Generally Telvanni will kill Redoran and Hlaalu, Hlaalu Telvanni, Redoran vs both, etc.

And no, the Tribunal Temple and Imperial Cult do not conflict. Yes, you can Join the Cammona Tong, without giving details, they're under a storeroom in Vivec, reached by a trapdoor and hinted by the books. Actually, being high rank of one guild or another actually helps you with advancing the other guilds. Being guildmaster of them all... well you're going to be overpowered from all those rewards. Just being guildmaster of one is enough reward to make your end-game unique items seem marginal "just another powerful artifact" and unneeded to defeat Dagoth Ur (they aren't, really).

Magic skills are very useful, but not for direct combat damage. Alteration and Illusion skills, levitation (to get into position of sniping), water walk, mark & recall, almsivi & divine scrolls for travel (near a temple town? use almsivi scroll instead of walking). Paralyze, damage strength (imagine vines holding them in place and sapping strength) B) Enchanting your weapons and armor (I reduce plastic effect mod, so we no longer look like saran-wrap, down to a faint glimmer), etc.

In all honesty, it doesn't extremely matter what your original skills are. Eventually you'll be a demigod with nearly all of your skills in the high 90's. Magic, however, will be a problem if you expect it to kill with any ease alone. Not enough mana-- and no scaled down spell costs for higher magic skills. It can be sometimes alleviated with alchemy and potions, but all things can be alleviated with alchemy and potions (store bought and home-made).

Oh yes, my best advice: Make a few items with the "feather" enchantment. Its almost as good as having your own cart and mule.

[Omni]

Hi,

I've decided to reinstall the game myself, mostly after seeing this. Very impressive.

[WarLocke]

Magic skills are very useful, but not for direct combat damage.

Yeah, I've noticed that. I figured I would need alot of Magicka, so I took the Mage as my birthsign, so with my current Intelligence of 66 I have 132 Magicka. It still runs out rather fast though. :( I kind of found a work around with damage-over-time spells; it seems cheaper to do small sums of damage over several seconds than to do one large hit. Burning Blood (4-6 Fire damage on Touch for 10 seconds) only costs 13 Magicka while Lightning Bolt (uhh, 15-20 Shock damage on Target) costs me 18, IIRC.

Once I work up my skills, I can see myself using Levitate/Bound Longbow alot. Sucks that you still need to carry around arrows though. <_<

Even with Magicka limitations, my main problem with combat is just staying alive. I chose Unarmored as one of my minor skills, but I think I'm going to have to buy it up or something. It's nearly 30 and my armor rating is listed as 5 on the inventory screen. Just about everything tears me up. Alits can sometimes get me in stun/stagger-lock. And I tried killing those Camonna Tong in Balmora; no chance, the dunmer at the entrance pulled out a big golden-looking hammer and was taking 20% of my health off per swipe. :( Idunno whether I'm still in the beginning weak period or what. I may have to invest in some armor - my skills are low, but that means they're that much cheaper to train...

Question: What exactly does the Shield effect do? It doesn't seem to raise your armor rating (not as reported on the inventory screen anyway), and doesn't seem to soak up damage or anything...

Oh, something I meant to mention earlier: one of my plugins is 'Magicka Regeneration v1.3', which regenerates your magicka based on your Intelligence. With 66 I regen something like 1 point every 4.4 seconds. It caps at 1 point/second for 100 Int. Even this plugin doesn't make a difference in combat, but it can add up when spelunking if you take it slow (and walk, since spellcast chances are dependant on fatigue...).

(I reduce plastic effect mod, so we no longer look like saran-wrap, down to a faint glimmer)

Ooh, where did you get that one? I may have to try it. I'm using 'No-Glo' right now, because the plastic-wrap effect bugged the hell out of me. But just a glimmer might be nice...

And thanks for the faction notes. I'm not really interested in the Cammona Tong, so I'll probably give them and Hlaalu a big finger. I might join House Telvanni if I can work them around the Guild of Mages, and maybe the Fighter's Guild if I feel like armoring up.

Oh, one last question: Maybe I'm just dense, but what exactly is the difference between the Tribunal Temple and the Imperial Cult. As far as I can tell, one worships 3 gods and wants the Imperials off the island, and the other worships 9 and thinks the 'natives' are savages. Zuh?

Edit: I just opened the readme for my magicka plugin, and the regen's based off of Willpower, not Intelligence. My Willpower's a full 10 points below my Int. :( 5.4 seconds/point for me, wah.

And Omni, Rhedd's heads are some of the best out there. But I can do you one better. Go here and look for 'NPC Replacer 3.50'. I think it's in ZeroTheHero's section. It's a 12mb file zipped, but it contains all of Rhedd's heads (actually maybe not the wood elf ones, now that I think about it) and heads from several other modders, and it replaces almost all the NPC heads with them. No more fugly NPCs, woot!

[whyBish]

I never did manage to get it going, always hung when going out the top hatch of the character design boat :(

--Edit: My fetish for quoting entire posts continues :ph34r:

[TaiDaishar]

The only conflicting guilds I remember are the warriors and thieves guild where you're supposed to steal the code book for the warriors guild and that doesn't make those thieves happy.

[[wcip]Angel]

For more mana, can't you just enchant an excuisite robe/skirt/shirt/ with constant effect regenerate mana?

I've finished Morrowind and Tribunal several times. I played through the whole shabang for the last time when Bloodmoon came out. If you need any particular tips on anything, say enchanting, give me a hollar.

Edit: Think I might have some old pictures from MW:
Excerpts from my collection:
http://www.home.no/lzp/Weapons.jpg
http://www.home.no/lzp/2.jpg
http://www.home.no/lzp/4.jpg

Down by the riverside:
http://www.home.no/lzp/m1.jpg

Just call me "Jesus"
http://www.home.no/lzp/m3.jpg

From Tribunal:
http://www.home.no/lzp/mw10.jpg
http://www.home.no/lzp/mw11.jpg

Some nice scenery:
http://www.home.no/lzp/mw4.jpg
You can bet these chaps are up to no good:
http://www.home.no/lzp/mw9.jpg

Watching these pictures makes me want to start all over.. *sigh*

[Walkiry]

Talking of plugins, besides that "new face models" one (it is indeed really good and I have it in my HD :D), I recommend going Here and grabbing the "Atmospheric sound effects" plugin with all the updates. It's really really good.

There are also tons of new signs for you to choose in different plugins, and given that there's an already really overpowered one ("The Lady" anyone? :D), I don't think any new ones will overpower you. In the end, Dagoth Ur is a pussy :lol: (What was it? Oh yeah, an angsty dink in a mask :D).

[[wcip]Angel]

Try taking on Vivec. I think you'll find him more of a challenge.

[kandrathe]

For example, from gossip in-game I gather that the Guild of Mages and House Telvanni don't get along at all. Therefore I wouldn't be too surprised if a later Mage quest is some sort of strike against Telvanni holdings/interests, so there's little point in joining both if I have to alienate one.

The Telvani way is to eliminate their rivals. Persuasion can get you just about anywhere in the game. Work on speechcraft and personality.

The Thieves' Guild and Camonna Tong have a similar rivalry going on, but I'm not sure if you can even join the Camonna Tong. But, they're buddies with House Hlaalu and one of my quests currently is to 'disappear' a group of Camonna Tong in Balmora. I haven't committed to it yet; Idunno if I want to screw up my chances with Hlaalu.

As always, save game before attempting this. Taunt one of the Camona Tong in the Balmora council club into attacking you. Do not fight them in the bar, lure them upstairs and kill them off. My battle got kinda nasty because all four came upstairs at the same time. No one will be the wiser, and Larrius Varro will complement you on your efficiency. You don't need to join any of the houses, but it is useful to join one for the training. You can only join one house, IIRC. Also, some of the Camona Tong, and Thieves Guild quests are at odds, so trying to do both will get you expelled from the one or the other. I joined the Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, Blades, Twin Lamps and the Imperial cult. I'm Nord, and so I didn't feel like I belonged to any of the three houses.

Do the Tribunal Temple and Imperial Cult conflict? It seems like they might, both being religions. How about House Redoran and the Imperial Legion?

Probably not a problem, for both. You will have plenty to do without joining everything. If you get kicked out of one, then se la vie.

I don't kill anyone who doesn't attack me, unless I've been tasked specifically with doing so (then I'm careful to not have, leave any witnesses). I've even managed to keep Orvus Dren alive, although he doesn't deserve it. Currently, the only group that despises me and attackes me openly are the 6th house cult, and that is normal as they are followers of Dagoth Ur. Another tip I've discovered -- sometimes 6th house cult are reknowned townsfolk who will chase you in town. So, I let them chase me and I lead them far enough outside of town so as not to incur any penalties for their dispatch.

For me the best way to advance has been to get an Azura'a Star (Azura Shrine Quest) and then fill it with the souls of Dremora, or Orgrim or other Daedra and then use an enchanter to craft daedric or ebony weapons, then sell the weapon (to the Scamp in Caldera). Azura's Star is reusable, and Dremora and Golden Saints tend to drop some of the best and most craftable gear. Once you have enough gold, buying spell crafting, enchanting, or training is no trouble.

It used to be that you could cast soul trap after the creature was dead. The latest update I ran, undid that, and it adds a new sense of drama to my conjuration. My conjuration skill is fairly low (mid 50's) and so I had to buy a "Summon Golden Saint" spell that only lasts 20 seconds. In 20 seconds I need to then cast a Soul Trap, pummel the snot out him and keep him stun locked (or he will dispel the soul trap). Once you can trap Golen Saints in Azura's Star you can make items with constant effect (if you can afford them is another matter). I have pieces of my gear now that constantly restore Health, Magicka, and Fatigue.

[Moldran]

TaiDaishar:
I think there are 1-2 ways to get the code book without angering the Thieves Guild too much. And of course, if you get expelled, you can usualy buy yourself in again.
Oh and there are "conflicts" between other factions as well. But IIRC, none of them is so big that it would keep you from joining the other faction forever.

Warlocke:
Hmmm. The Imperial Cult simply is the Empire's official religion.
The Tribunal Temple worships 3 ancient Dunmer God-Heroes plus several "good Daedra" and a huge number of Saints. Try to read some books on Dunmer history if you want to know more about them. Or talk to some knowledgeable people :) You will learn more and more about the background of it all as you make progress in the game.
The Tribunal Temple does not necessarily want the Empire out of Morrowind (at least not as much as other Dunmer factions). I leave the rest for you to find out :)

Telvanni seems to be a very interesting and entertaining house, IMO. I always enjoy my visits in their territory :) I have not joined them so far, though.

One more hint for a mage: Use Soultrap. Start using it early on. The more souls you own, the better. The more powerful a killed opponent, the more powerful his soul, the more powerful enchantments you can make with it. So cast Soultrap on powerful enemies before killing them.

@Angel:
Enchanting items with constant effects should be impossible in the early game, since you need high-end souls for it.
Constant effect enchantments can be very overpowered, btw. Ever used a constant effect summoning of a powerful creature ? I once did it for fun, but loaded a save game after seeing how easy it was to kill all the guards in Ald'Ruhn :)

A quite powerful feature that you can accquire relatively early is high-level Chameleon. Invisibility is deactivated as soon as you perform any action (such as opening a door/chest or attacking someone), but Chameleon is not. High-level Chameleon allows you to fight while your opponent cannot even see you.

[[wcip]Angel]

You don't need that high lvl a character in order to fight an ascended sleeper. You can either just use a bow or buy hellfire scrolls which have a 100% effect of being cast and does a lot of damage.

.. but yes, constant effect items *are* overpowered. In the end, my character could carry over 1000 x. (I don't remember what they use for measurements.)

[Walkiry]

One more hint for a mage: Use Soultrap. Start using it early on. The more souls you own, the better. The more powerful a killed opponent, the more powerful his soul, the more powerful enchantments you can make with it. So cast Soultrap on powerful enemies before killing them.

??

I always soultrap after killing my enemies. With Azura's I can trap, try enchanting, re-trap, try again, etc. Ad Nauseum over the fallen body of a foe.

[[wcip]Angel]

What? You have to cast soultrap before you kill your enemy..

[kandrathe]

In the game out of the box, you can cast it continuously on dead creatures. Before I jumped back into it a few months back (after you showed me your kewl weapons), I decided to try to avert the many game scrams by downloading and installing the game patches. One of those patches repaired the "bug" with soultrap.

The patches improved the game stability alot for me, although it still scrams occasionally loading new areas. I use F5 before every door transition now, and in the wilderness about once every league. I rely on the mage guild for most of my transport. In my Event Log, the game seems to be timing out waiting for the CD-ROM to spin up to speed. I'm seriously thinking of exploring some HDD alternative, or setting the CD on full spin for the duration of my play. Sometimes I can play for hours, and sometimes for minutes between scrams.

[Walkiry]

Wow, I never knew it was a bug. Guess I'll have to patch one of these days...

The game is pretty stable for me, all the bugs I found are gameplay-wise, not stability. Like that big weapon that decreases your skills permanently if you equip-unequip it repeatedly. Good thing I had saved the first time I came accross it :lol:

[Drasca]

quest for Sotthilde's codebook? Heh. There are not just 1-2 ways. There are several. I do mean several. Stealthy pickpocketing is one. Outiright mugging is another (taunt and knock them out with hand-to-hand or a sleep spell.. through continuous drain or damage fatigue). Not doing the quest is yet another. You don't have to do all the quests to be guildmaster, just raise your reputation. I also seem to recall one persuasive conversation option to get the codebook, so you can also talk her into giving the codebook. Finally, there's a late quest which involves getting the Bitter Cup artifact and giving it to your Balmora Fighters guild officer and quest giver Eydis Fire-Eye. That'll give an official skip to the quest, and moving on forward to other quests from her.

Can you tell I know just a little too much and am quite obsessed over Morrowind? Can you? Can you? Its so beautiful.

Btw: Warlocke, go to www.Euro-Morrowind.com and look around under add-ons, then select Morrowind and its under textures.

Also, I highly suggest you patch if you want to play the game. The patch has a lot of quest fixes.

The game is so wow, that I burned out playing. I did so friggin' much with so many mods and additional quests. Drool.

[Moldran]

Angel:
True, you don't necessarily need a strong char to kill an ascended sleeper. But you typically won't meet and defeat them very early. Of course, it is possible nonetheless.
If you follow the main quest without doing much other stuff, you can meet them pretty early. It depends on how you play, as usually in Morrowind. If you follow a "typical" way through the game though, you will spend some time before trapping one. If you don't use "cheap tricks", I think playing more or less straight through the main quest (i.e. without gaining alot of skills+loot elsewhere) will be relatively tough, although probably not impossible. Hmmmm, maybe I should try it next time :)

Drasca: I said there are 1-2 ways to get the Codebook without angering the Thieves quest. That you can skip the quest altogether is of course another matter... in that case you don't get the codebook ;)
The 2 ways I know:
Succesful Pickpocketing.
Persuasion (not 100% sure wether this is possible, but I think it is).

I did not try hand to hand combat yet. Does it really not anger the Thieves Guild if they see how you steal the book from the unconscious Scottilde ? Or does it only not anger them if you do it while succesfully sneaking ?

[Walkiry]

Vivec would be a better challenge if he had a decent weapon instead of his useless fist. After using up his spells he's not too rough (provided you have a few restore fatighe potions, which brings the other point, alchemy is SO overpowered).

http://walkiry.no-ip.org/morrowind/vivec01.jpg
http://walkiry.no-ip.org/morrowind/vivec02.jpg

Then again, this is one hell of a beefy char :lol:

http://walkiry.no-ip.org/morrowind/vivec03.jpg

I took a level 42 vanilla scout there and it was harder indeed, heh.

If you don't get distracted with the sidequests (due to the rewards and leveling up) the game is much harder, but it's just fun to go trampling around the godforsaken island ;)

Morrowind is great.

[Drasca]

hehe some things aren't meant to be spoiled. Go try it out for yourself.

Anywho, I've done all of the methods successfully (sometimes through trial and error) and made thieves guildmaster without being expelled once. That's not too hard, but you're really limiting yourself if you think there's only 1-2 successful options. There are many many ways, I just listed the easiest ones I remembered. I didn't even mention Master Aryon's grand dominator, expensive glove. Calm Humanoid, and Command Humanoid are such useful spells. Nor did I mention use of summonables (conjuration is tricky and expensive), or any of the other shady assassination lethal methods. You can mug hand-to-hand without killing. Of course, it always helps to have high% chameleon active whenever doing something shady.

Btw: You said 1-2 ways without angering the thieves ;) quest line. You yourself had a third way, go get expelled and pay the price afterward-- wait however long it takes to be reinstated.