Topic: WRUP - What are you playing?

[RossRoy]

You know what? I'm torn again .. Playing a Mage is fun and all but, I really miss those kill animations you get as a warrior, and those heavy armor really look badass, so I feel like I'm missing with my puny robes.

So I'm officially, again, at a cross road. I'm bored of my mage.. I could just start using a sword and armor more, but I'm afraid I might be too long into the game for it to be effective.

Having tried many avenues, I'm thinking of going Conjuring Warrior, maybe even as far as using Bound Weapons and Heavy Armor. Imagine that, summon atronach or raise undead army, summon a bound sword and go to work! ..

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Now you all know why I rarely get through RPG that let you be free - I can never settle on what I want to do .. it's actually crazy. I probably have over 40 hours clocked into this game, yet I've not even gone out of Whiterun yet. I just did a flash visit to Falkreath (as in I didn't talk to anybody, just passed through) and that's it. I can tell you one thing - I know that opening by heart by now

[Dragonfire]

I was talking to a friend from Epinions last night.  His son is playing Skyrim..got it the day it came out and he was level 50 last night.  Can't remember what type of character he has..or if he said.  My friend has started playing too..he said he's..umm...level 12 I think.

[Achim]

You know, I was watching a video earlier today and it reminded me of something crucial .. I need to use Shouts more! I always forget about them, but they can be a life saver in certain situation! And they pack quite a punch too!

I didn't even try that in my dragon fight. Probably would have helped quite a bit...? And it's even in an additional weapon slot, so to speak. I am just as hopeless about "let's hold on to it, I may need it later". Just like in RAGE the other day. Near the end you get this really awesome weapon, which I thought I will need in the final battle. So, I go through all the corridors with all my regular guns (shotguns, machine guns, etc.) and fought a rough fight. Then, the end. Had hardly used the awesome weapon

Now you all know why I rarely get through RPG that let you be free - I can never settle on what I want to do .. it's actually crazy. I probably have over 40 hours clocked into this game, yet I've not even gone out of Whiterun yet. I just did a flash visit to Falkreath (as in I didn't talk to anybody, just passed through) and that's it. I can tell you one thing - I know that opening by heart by now

Monty Python once had a skid about "being decisive"

I think I only started over once, in Fallout 3 or New Vegas, due to things not moving along nicely. Of course I understand your basic problem, that is exactly why I am so hesitant about spending the perk points I am level 9 now and try to fit in some one-handed battle between my runs with magic, trying to achieve a slightly mixed character as well. But similar what you said about smithing before, it may cause the abilities to lack behind the level... 40hours and starting over again, just for changing the character sounds like a tough call.



Marie, level 50 in just under 2 weeks is quite a feat. Of course, he should have way more time on his hands than me. I am level 9 now, so your friend seems to play at a similar speed as me...

[Dragonfire]

His son - the one that is level 50 already - is ..umm...let me think here...15 I think.  Something like that.  He had also played the last came...Elder Scroll something or other. 
His son's character got married in the game and then some other male character was hanging around and hitting on his wife.  So he plotted and killed the other character.     I guess he did it once in the house and the wife knew and she got all depressed..so he reset and waited until later when he and the guy were alone near the ocean.  Dumped the body in the ocean. 

[RossRoy]

Well, I did restart again. But before doing so I tested a theory, and I think I found a build to allows me to be a "mage", yet wear heavy armor and view those kill animation!

Like I said above, I'm going Conjuration Warrior. And so far, it works REALLY well. Basically, at the beginning of each fight, I cast "Bound Sword" and "Conjure Familiar" (which both raise my conjuration skill). Then I fight normally as a shield and sword warrior (which raise one-hand, block and heavy armor) .. and guess what? Getting more skilled in Conjuration AND 1 Hand BOTH improve bound weapon damage output.

I just killed the boss at Bleak Falls Barrow in 3 hits after raising my conjuration by 2 perks (novice conjuration [casting-50%] and mystic binding [bound weapon dmg+]), and my 1H by 3 (Armsman twice [dmg+40%] & fighting stance [power swing sta-25%]) .. I just hope those bound weapons scale with level because they are going to be useless eventually if not.

[Achim]

Well, I did restart again. But before doing so I tested a theory, and I think I found a build to allows me to be a "mage", yet wear heavy armor and view those kill animation!

You are hardcore...

Like I said above, I'm going Conjuration Warrior. And so far, it works REALLY well. Basically, at the beginning of each fight, I cast "Bound Sword" and "Conjure Familiar" (which both raise my conjuration skill). Then I fight normally as a shield and sword warrior (which raise one-hand, block and heavy armor) .. and guess what? Getting more skilled in Conjuration AND 1 Hand BOTH improve bound weapon damage output.

I think I have a staff to conjure familiars, which I found somewhere(?). Anyway, what are those?, What is a bound sword? I am not familiar with either term, really and can't second guess.

I just killed the boss at Bleak Falls Barrow in 3 hits after raising my conjuration by 2 perks (novice conjuration [casting-50%] and mystic binding [bound weapon dmg+]), and my 1H by 3 (Armsman twice [dmg+40%] & fighting stance [power swing sta-25%]) .. I just hope those bound weapons scale with level because they are going to be useless eventually if not.

I killed that boss on first try, but certainly not with 3 hits only.

I might want to go into a bit more in this direction myself. Except, maybe only light armor, as that would go better with sneaking. Seems like your method would roughly balance melee and magic. And even if those weapons don't level, at least by the time they become useless to me I would have leveled up the magic enough.

[RossRoy]

Well, I did restart again. But before doing so I tested a theory, and I think I found a build to allows me to be a "mage", yet wear heavy armor and view those kill animation!

You are hardcore...

Or insane. Depnding how you want to look at it 

I think I have a staff to conjure familiars, which I found somewhere(?). Anyway, what are those?, What is a bound sword? I am not familiar with either term, really and can't second guess.

The conjure familiar staff will allow you to summon a ghost wolf to fight with you, but it won't cost you any Magicka.
Bound Sword is just what the name implies: a conjured ethereal sword. It actually looks great too, semi-transparent and all. So that means I don't have to carry any weapon with me, just summon a sword before each fight (well, the summoned sword lasts for 120 seconds).

I killed that boss on first try, but certainly not with 3 hits only.

I might want to go into a bit more in this direction myself. Except, maybe only light armor, as that would go better with sneaking. Seems like your method would roughly balance melee and magic. And even if those weapons don't level, at least by the time they become useless to me I would have leveled up the magic enough.

Well you can't sneak at all with Heavy Armor so basically, so far, I'm simply charging in! Just downed the first story dragon again with my conjurer. Let's just say it was the easiest dragon fight I've had so far (though it might be "experience" too, more than the actual strength of my character).

If you want to start dabbling in magic with your current warrior, I think the Conjuration school probably is best. Or actually, if you are going the sneaking route, maybe Illusion might be better for you. There are some awesome spells in the illusion tree that could allow you to make your strongest enemy attack his allies while you pick them off (frenzy I think), then when things get too intense, you can just calm everything down so they don't see you as a threat anymore (calm I think).

The fun thing about magic is that it's useful no matter what "class" you decide to be (unless you decide to role play to the extreme) and you can just choose 1 or 2 branch from the perk trees of a school of magic. For example, with my conjurer, I am planning to take only 3 branches from the constellation: the binding line, the cost reduce line and the atronach line. I don't care about dual-casting or the necromancy line.

Same goes for the other schools. You could raise destruction, and only choose perks related to, say, fire spells and completely ignore sparks and ice. Etc for the other schools.

[Achim]

Maybe insanely hardcore...?

I am still embarrassed how careless I seem to approach the perks in comparison to you. You seem to look way more into it where I just picked what sounded cool so far Like double wielding spells seemed great, so I took it (and it works quite alright too). Well, my only other RPG experience was Fallout 3 and New Vegas, which functioned quite different in this regards, whereas you have way more experience with this type of game.

Yeah, I admit I should just have tried out that conjuration staff. Will do so tonight. Also, maybe I should have a little more study of the skill tress to get an idea what can be done. I understand your explanation, that choosing random stuff is bad, whereas filling an entire branch should be the way to go? ...and with "school" this is more figurative language, right, referring to the skill trees?


EDIT:
BTW, I feel a little bad now. We persuaded Jon to get Skyrim and since that day he has hardly posted here anymore

[RossRoy]

I am still embarrassed how careless I seem to approach the perks in comparison to you. [...] I understand your explanation, that choosing random stuff is bad, whereas filling an entire branch should be the way to go? ...and with "school" this is more figurative language, right, referring to the skill trees?

That's not quite what I'm saying. I may be putting more "thought" into it than you are, but that doesn't mean it is better that way. As always, the important thing is, are you having fun? That's the only thing that counts.

Just take Fallout 3. Remember when I was surprised that you had chosen the "Animal Friend" perk? I was because to me, that perk didn't much benefit when compared to the others I could take at that moment, but in the end, you still managed to finish the game and have fun playing it? Who cares about the raw numbers? So what if my so-called "optimized and thought out" character does 450 damage per hit, while yours "let's just take what sound fun" one dishes out 445? Maybe I'm just putting way too much thought in choosing my perks..

Oh about those "school" .. it's just a way to call each type of magic: Conjuration, Destruction, Alteration, Restoration & Illusion. So five types of magic, five schools.

BTW, I feel a little bad now. We persuaded Jon to get Skyrim and since that day he has hardly posted here anymore

Yeah but didn't he post something about not having played Skyrim much since buying? Unless he did start playing and now he can't stop 

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Oh and a quick note.. about me being "insanely hardcore".. I just want to clarify something. I didn't scrap a character that was 40 hours in.. I actually scrapped 3 different characters that were each about 10-15 hours in each.. still amounts to close to 40 hours of play, but never too far along. ..... [trying to justify the unjustify-able]

[Najemikon]

  I haven't had much time this week for Skyrim or much else! 

[Achim]

Just take Fallout 3. Remember when I was surprised that you had chosen the "Animal Friend" perk? I was because to me, that perk didn't much benefit when compared to the others I could take at that moment, but in the end, you still managed to finish the game and have fun playing it?

Of course, in the end that is what it's all about. (Like, I was really annoyed getting attacked by dogs, mole rats, etc. all the time, so I definitely got my benefit from Animal Friend...)

Yesterday I almost lost my fun I was constantly killed by those acid spitting lobster-like creatures with seemingly no way to kill them. Eventually managed though. Then I meet the boss of that dungeon and he basically did one-hit kills So, I decided: sneak, arrow, hide, sneak, arrow, hide. I laughed when I wanted to speed things up and added Frostbite poison to the arrow, as it actually healed him

But then I also had this awesome moment when I arrived via fast travel at the location. A giant and a dragon were already fighting there! of course, after we dispatched of the dragon the giant started to focus on me, but my magic was no match for him Question: I now killed two dragons before finding new shouts. Is the energy stored in my character and will instantly make the shout available when I find one?

Oh about those "school" .. it's just a way to call each type of magic: Conjuration, Destruction, Alteration, Restoration & Illusion. So five types of magic, five schools.

Yeah, I thought that's what you meant. Where do you get the spells to conjure stuff, like your sword? As I was looking through the perk trees yesterday I couldn't find any such thing, only enhancements for it. Explore more and and talk to more people...?

Oh and a quick note.. about me being "insanely hardcore".. I just want to clarify something. I didn't scrap a character that was 40 hours in.. I actually scrapped 3 different characters that were each about 10-15 hours in each.. still amounts to close to 40 hours of play, but never too far along. ..... [trying to justify the unjustify-able]

Ah, that's totally differnet then... But all sarcasm aside, I actually understand. And coming full circle what you said at first, it's all about a fun experience. So, if after 15 hours you want to restart to try something different, that is absolutely what you should do! Heck, one coudl play this game for 100 hours and onyl do a few fetch quests and still be busy the whole time



Jon, we are looking foreward to hear from you when you start your game

[RossRoy]

The conjuration spells are usually sold by court wizards, for instance I got Conjure Flame Atronach and Bound Sword from Farengar in Dragonsreach. But you can and will probably find some during you travels.

acid spitting lobster-like creatures

These are different from mudcrab I guess? Because I haven't met any "acid spitting lobster-like creatures" in my travels ..

I did come across an interest Fauna fight. I could hear a Sabre Cat roar, so I readied myself for battle .. only to find it fighting a bunch of mudcrabs .. Guess who won? The mudcrabs!! All I had to do was mop up the crabs and bam! Easy sabre cat pelt and eye, and a few mudcrab chitin for potions.  

Question: I now killed two dragons before finding new shouts. Is the energy stored in my character and will instantly make the shout available when I find one?

Yep, they accumulate. But you have to unlock the shouts yourself, because as usual, the game let's you decide what you want to unlock.

Speaking of dragon souls and shouts.. I still have only fought a single dragon with my conjurer. There was one earlier today that came close, but he kept circling far above outside of my bow's range. I was trying all I had to bring him down, but I didn't manage to hit it even once.. ah crap! now that I think of it, I probably should've instructed Lydia to attack it .. argh! I'll have to try that next time a dragon decides to circle me without attacking.

You know, so far, in all previous character, I sort of hit a difficulty wall when I got around Level 12. Either because I couldn't aim right with an arrow, or my mage couldn't survive long enough to dish out the pain.. With the conjurer? I'm now Level 13 and it's still a joke. I 2-hit, sometimes 3-hit all bosses so far (that's when I don't 1-hit them!) My bound sword is still the strongest 1-handed weapon i can find so far in the game, so I'm still way ahead of the curve. But it has an unintended side effect .. my conjuration skill is going up like crazy, 1-handed is going up at a much slower pace but still going up. Heavy Armor and Block are stagnating. Enemies just don't have time to hit me enough to get the skill to rise! Even my conjured familiar (a wolf basically) managed to kill an archer earlier today with 2 attacks.

[Achim]

The conjuration spells are usually sold by court wizards, for instance I got Conjure Flame Atronach and Bound Sword from Farengar in Dragonsreach. But you can and will probably find some during you travels.

Again, should have thought of this myself. It has been a while since Italked to him first, so I all but forgot him already...

These are different from mudcrab I guess? Because I haven't met any "acid spitting lobster-like creatures" in my travels ..

Looked them up: Chaurus Quite nasty buggers, they are. Lydia was having little problems, but I got minced time and again. It#s the acid that eats through your armor which makes it difficult to judge when to run away

Mudcrabs were super easy with some fire applied to them...

Speaking of dragon souls and shouts.. I still have only fought a single dragon with my conjurer. There was one earlier today that came close, but he kept circling far above outside of my bow's range. I was trying all I had to bring him down, but I didn't manage to hit it even once.. ah crap! now that I think of it, I probably should've instructed Lydia to attack it .. argh! I'll have to try that next time a dragon decides to circle me without attacking.

To instruct Lydia to attack he would have to be very close, I think...? I believe you must be able topoint at the target of what you want her to interact with. So that might not be possible.

You know, so far, in all previous character, I sort of hit a difficulty wall when I got around Level 12. Either because I couldn't aim right with an arrow, or my mage couldn't survive long enough to dish out the pain.. With the conjurer? I'm now Level 13 and it's still a joke. I 2-hit, sometimes 3-hit all bosses so far (that's when I don't 1-hit them!) My bound sword is still the strongest 1-handed weapon i can find so far in the game, so I'm still way ahead of the curve. But it has an unintended side effect .. my conjuration skill is going up like crazy, 1-handed is going up at a much slower pace but still going up. Heavy Armor and Block are stagnating. Enemies just don't have time to hit me enough to get the skill to rise! Even my conjured familiar (a wolf basically) managed to kill an archer earlier today with 2 attacks.

I conjured the wolf one now, but there were no enemies nearby. I also called upon him with the latest dragon, but I was too busy to see if he did anything.

Well, you are doing this for the third time now, it's gotta get better eventually I am also thinking I might try a few more battle related perks now, before also improving sneak, pickpocket or anything non-combat like that.

But, you almost sound like you are overpowered now Maybe you accidentally set the difficulty lower?

[RossRoy]

Chaurus

Ugh! Saw them as a loading screen .. not necessarily looking forward to fighting them .. I'll probably get the creeps, like when I fight spiders 

To instruct Lydia to attack he would have to be very close, I think...? I believe you must be able topoint at the target of what you want her to interact with. So that might not be possible.

You have a point there. And most of the time, even when I ask her to do something easy (like rotate one of those puzzle stones) she says "alright!" and then just stands in front of the stone not doing anything. Pfft useless follower!

Well, you are doing this for the third time now, it's gotta get better eventually [...] But, you almost sound like you are overpowered now Maybe you accidentally set the difficulty lower?

If I'm overpowered already at level 13 .. what's it gonna be like when I reach 40+ with full enchanted dragonbone armor? Naw! It must be simply because I stopped advancing the story and I'm just doing some fetch quests and the Companion quest line. (I'm at the point where I should be going to see the Greybeards, but I'm not going yet).

[Achim]

Ah, that makes sense. I can imagine that most random enemies in the mash are low level.

I also met a pair of troll and had to abondon that fight No chance to get them just yet.

I read somewhere, that enemies will level according when you first meet them? If that is true I am not sure if having met the trolls is good or bad

BTW, I encoutered the chaurons (they are more dangerous than a single frostbite spider) in an early mission for the Jarl. I am almost sure it should be on your log, or at least should have been there during one of your first two rounds. It's a "go kill a guy" kind of mission is all I'm gonna say.