My question is this then: If the monsters get harder and get better armour and weapons as you Level Up, what is the point of Levelling Up? I have always been fond of building your character up so that you can kick some of the earlier enemies ass! Will this not be possible in this game?
This is indeed the case. The only game I've ever played where leveling up is BAD. I had to turn down the difficulty slider because the game became utterly impossible (it seems they get better than you do) and every monster and their equiptment gets better making everything highly predicable (as they'll all be using the same things). I actually stopped playing the game a little while back and never completed it.
Thanx! I think that answer's my question (unless anyone else has any thoughts?)
I think my theory may be correct then. It's probably best to create Major skills that don't level up too fast and focus on improving the Minor ones, thus creating a much more powerful warrior. Fair enough, I'll be stuck with Iron and Steel weapons for some time, but what's the point of having a super weapon if all the enemies can b*tch-slap-you back to Hong Kong?!
By the way, nice art! That dragon looks like a cool version of Bahamut from FFVII.
By the way - the Difficulty Slider: what effect does it have exactly? Is there any advantage to having it turned all the way up? Do enemies drop better weapons or anything as a result?
My take on leveling and major skills goes both ways. It was designed so that you will mainly level major skills (blunt/sword/block) if you're a warrior, so that by using these skills, you become stronger in them, and in order to access some areas (Like Nocturnal) you have to be a certain level.
Therefore, creating a character that strictly have minor skills that you in fact will be using more than those you designate as major skills will have that major drawback. Unless you make a big effort to level up your major skills, you will never gain the necessary levels to access certain areas.
But then again, I agree totally with what Enverex said about how leveling up 'too quick' will only end up making the enemies too hard. I also believe there are two reasons for this.
One, it would be extremely lame to be able to 'max' you character immedietly from the beginning of the game simply by spamming up the levels (for example, running up against a wall using a rubber band on the controller just to gain athletics if you're playing on a 360). However, many of these skills require that you actually DO something unless there has been some sort of macro program built already... I don't really know, I play the Xbox version.
The second reason the skills must have been done the way they are is so that they sort of 'force' you to level up gradually with evenly leveled skills, because, in theory, seems to be the only way to keep up with the ever growing strength and defense of the enemies in the game.
So in the long run, if you're having trouble fighting anything, switch up what you're doing a little bit. Don't just swing like mad at every enemy you see... cast a spell or two, block a little more... get those other skills up so that you'll be a well-rounded fighter.
Every time I create a character, I tell myself "This one will be a warrior, or thief, or mage" yet in the end, they all seem to mesh together. I love using spells, weapons and bows, and to be honest, in some parts of the game it's almost necessary to be skilled at using all of the above.
Just don't get yourself stuck to one method of defeating enemies or you'll find yourself in a lot of trouble. Hope this has helped someone! Feel free to ask me any questions or advice and I'll be more than happy to help.
That's great Kendaric, I appreciate your comments. I think my problem was selecting Athletics and Sneak as Major skills. By the time I'd got out of the first dungeon, I'd levelled up. If it continued at that rate, I think I'd of run into serious problems. I prefer to have the time to explore first. I could forsee hordes of Daedra up by ass before I had time to grab a cup of coffee in the local tavern. Unfortunately, selecting those kind of Major skills, there's no way of avoiding levelling up, as you're using them constantly.
The only real benefit to levelling up is that it's the only way to increase your base stats (health, willpower, strength etc..) which in turn affect your skills. Eg: increasing your strength allows you to attack more effectively, increasing your willpower allows you to regain mana more quickly... if you only level up when you have +5 modifiers for your stats (ie: wait until you can add 5 to your strength / willpower etc) you can level up more effectively and stay ahead of the curve. There is a way of working out what modifiers you'll have when you level up but I always just save the game before I sleep and then see what modifiers I have.
What you said (Enigma) about putting the skills you use a lot in your minor skills does make sense to a certain extent, but if you do that and only leave obscure skills as your majors it can get really difficult to level up. Your best bet is to balance your 'most used' skills amongst your majors and minors. Also remember that you don't *have* to level up at all. You only level up when you sleep so you can put it off until you're actually ready to level up.
deicist....reguarding a question I asked a few pages back, I did find a mod at The Elder Scrolls Forum to reopen all the oblivion gates with a spell. It is called "Recurring Hell" You must have a conjuation level of 75 to cast it. The mod adds the spell to your game and it can be bought at Edgar's discount spells. I had the most fun in the game with the gates. Now I can reopen them anytime...
There is a way of working out what modifiers you'll have when you level up but I always just save the game before I sleep and then see what modifiers I have.QUOTE]
Sigh... I knew someone was going to ask me that. Well it's not so much you can work them out as if you keep track of what skills you've increased you can make sure you get the +5 modifier. So.... The modifier to a stat is worked out based on how many increases you've made to skills dependant on that stat since the last level up. For example, Strength governs the skills of Sword, Blunt and Hand to Hand (I'm doing this from memory, not played for a while so those skills may not be accurate). So to increase the modifier to your Strength stat when you level up you need to increase Blade, Blunt or Hand to Hand. The number of increases you need to make across all skills dependant on that stat is:
0 increases for a +1 modifier
1-4 increases for a +2 modifier
5-7 increases for a +3 modifier
8-9 increases for a +4 modifier
10 increases for a +5 modifier
So, using Strength as an example again (and assuming Blade, Blunt & Block are all based on Strength):
If you increased Blade by 4 points, Blunt by 4 points and Hand to Hand by 2 points you'll get the +5 modifier. The good thing about this is that it's easier to get 4 increases in one thing, 4 in another and 2 in a third than it is to get 10 increases in one skill, so by balancing your skillset you can get those +5 modifiers fairly easily.
As to working out when you have the +5....you can either keep track of all your skill increases using some kind of chart or something..... or you can just save your game, level up and see what you get
I found something interesting to anyone with a new character doing the arena quests, The stregth of your oppenents maybe be based on your level but there equiptment is not, those two wood elfs girls I just killed had a dwarfen sword and an elven bow and the Khajiit I just killed also had a silver battle axe, while I somehow got lucky and killed them with my steel bow and iron arrows. If tehre equiptment really is based on your level that means level 5's would fight like people with daedric weapons as I am level one or it means that some of the combantants can only go so low equiptment wise.
I found something interesting to anyone with a new character doing the arena quests, The stregth of your oppenents maybe be based on your level but there equiptment is not, those two wood elfs girls I just killed had a dwarfen sword and an elven bow and the Khajiit I just killed also had a silver battle axe, while I somehow got lucky and killed them with my steel bow and iron arrows. If tehre equiptment really is based on your level that means level 5's would fight like people with daedric weapons as I am level one or it means that some of the combantants can only go so low equiptment wise.
Nah, it is based on some kind of levelling system, the first guy you fight has an iron sword if you're level 1 but if you try it as a level 10 (or whatever) he has an elven sword. I think the Arena opponents have the absolute top equipment it's possible to find at your level so while you're very unlikely to find anyone with a dwarven sword as a level 4 (or whatever) there is a very small chance that you could. Remember that the levelled lists don't say that everyone has iron swords when you're a level 1, they say something like most people have iron swords but there's a very small chance that you'll find someone with a steel sword.
Ok I was just a little shocked when I was doing the arena and I found myself fighting dwarfen and elven weilding combantants (when I'm level one!), as I figured I wouldn't be fighting them for atleast a few levels. I think your right about giving the combantant the abesolute best equiptment at your level, as they want to make the fights hard for you not matter your level when you do the arena. Especailly later on, like how iron swrods would've been average, they make later fights hardness above average.
Hey guys well i tried to kill the Girl with the Umbra sword 2 times, at lvl 8 i got owned and i came back at lvl 12 and got owned =/. I did find a stratagy though. I use the Setherhorne ( Im guessing its spelt wrong, i mean the dagger you get in the Dark Brotherhood that is enchanted and looks awsome and glows red when you take out.) its the only weapon i have the can actually inflict damage on her. I normally use a Glass shortsword. Well i put potion of paralasis on the dagger to stun her for 5 seconds. i can get her health half way down but i can't seem to kill her. If any one knows where i can buy another potion of paralasis ( I'm prety sure I checked all the mages guilds) Pls tell me. Or if you know a good way to kill her that would be good too. Thx a ton.
I have 2 questions on how youraise your attributes, do skills you pay for not count or something or is it just that after you have your 10 major skills to level you can't get bigger bonuses? I have gotten 5 hand to hand levels, 4 or so sneak level without a bigger bonus in agility or stregth (saved before i slept once, and then later on did the same thing agian) Is it just that after your 10 point from a level no more bonus can be had or am i just remebering the levels of sneak etc. wrong and buying levels does not help?
Walk all the way to the doorway leading to the room she is in. She won't attack you, so there's no need to be alarmed. Walk to the doorway and drop paintbrushes all along up and down to block the doorway (paintbrushes float).
From this point, go back up the stairs, turn left and on your left will be a little crumbled area of rock. You can climb down onto this (slowly) and you should be just out of her reach. From here, you can fire fireballs or fire arrows until she is dead. If you're careful enough, you can even use a sword to hit her.
Ok, I dont know if anyone has posted theis before but I found an awesome way to get gold fast. What you do is wear the gray fox's mask and pickpocket people. BUT only take gold from them. If you get caught let the guards come up to you and say their "Halt" speech. Hit 'Resist Arrest' and run maybe ten feet. Take off Your mask and Surrender *Note: only hit A once, because the second time will make you talk to them.* They will say that it is fine that you surrendered and they let you go on your merry way to steal more gold. BUT do not steal Items because when you surrender they will see the stolen goods and arest you.
Yeah Im a level 20 Darkelf and the arena sucks because everyone has Glass and Ebony weapons. But I do have Full ebony armor and an enchanted Glass claymore with desinigrate weapon 30pts on it. Its a good I dea to do the arena early on.
Yeah, there's some kind of Dai-Katana you can get very early in the game with 100pts Disentrigrate armor and weapons... 1-3 hits and the person will be naked.
This nearly makes you immortal if you dupe varla stones or grand soul gems to restore your charge... infinite, instant destruction of enemies armor and weapons (not to mention looting and repairing them gets up your armorer skill like crazy)
You can also get a paralyze staff when you get to the staff bit of the mages guild quest. Some of the randomly generated staffs carried by necromancers have Paralyze spells on them. Paralyze is the most expensive offensive spell in the game so you'll be lucky if you can get an 'on target' spell with paralyze for more than a couple of seconds.
Yeah, since I've got a spell that paralyzes my target for 3 seconds it makes all those seemingly hardcore enemies (feckin' brown bears!) easy. Its a common sight in the land of cyrodil to see me running down hill after a sleeping bear bashing it with my bare fists! Its also a good way to improve weapon skills for those strength lvl up modifiers!
Of course a lot of creatures (vampires for example) are immune to paralysis so my game hasn't become totally boring!
Walk all the way to the doorway leading to the room she is in. She won't attack you, so there's no need to be alarmed. Walk to the doorway and drop paintbrushes all along up and down to block the doorway (paintbrushes float).
From this point, go back up the stairs, turn left and on your left will be a little crumbled area of rock. You can climb down onto this (slowly) and you should be just out of her reach. From here, you can fire fireballs or fire arrows until she is dead. If you're careful enough, you can even use a sword to hit her.
I know it's kinda cheap, but hey, it works.
I did something even cheekier...
Make Umbra chase you all the wat back to the imperial city docks. Race up and down the main street jumping and avoiding her attacks by running on the wall. After a short time every guard, pirate, beggar and random passer by will get stuck in and after a few deaths and some comedy 'falling in the sea' action Umbra's sword and armour will be yours! Also any random casualties she inflicts on the public can mean free loot without any feelings of guilt!
Just a general combat tip.
Anyone trying for a battlemage type character will soon find out that an effective way of stopping enemies getting too close is to summon a large creature (my favourites are frost atronachs) which acts as a corridor blocker! Summon one between you and your foe and then let them duke it out whilst you shoot arrows, cast fireballs or get in sneak attacks. Also some of the bigger creatures look so sweet. Nothing quite as fun as unleashing a frost atronach on a bunch of scamps!
You can also get a paralyze staff when you get to the staff bit of the mages guild quest. Some of the randomly generated staffs carried by necromancers have Paralyze spells on them. Paralyze is the most expensive offensive spell in the game so you'll be lucky if you can get an 'on target' spell with paralyze for more than a couple of seconds.
Also, has anyone noticed that as you progress through the game so does everything else? I fought a simple dark guardian today who had a daedric claymore. Except as everything progresses, goblins simply dont. They still carry around 'Rusty iron daggers' and a few lockpicks each. I wonder if it is their low intelligence that doesnt let them upgrade in weapons or if was just a flaw. I believe that it is probably their intelligence.
Also, has anyone noticed that as you progress through the game so does everything else? I fought a simple dark guardian today who had a daedric claymore. Except as everything progresses, goblins simply dont. They still carry around 'Rusty iron daggers' and a few lockpicks each. I wonder if it is their low intelligence that doesnt let them upgrade in weapons or if was just a flaw. I believe that it is probably their intelligence.
Its true they don't seem to get better kit (although I've seen some cool staffs and magical weapons being waved about). However the fighting technique is different. They always fight in packs. So whilst its simple to take down a minotaur lord it can be a real struggle to dispatch a Goblin Warlord, a couple of his mates and a shaman (and his headless zombie). I was playing last night and got done over in a goblin cave. Even my 'Frost astronach/paralyzing stuff' technique didn't pay off! BTW does anyone know if command humanoid works on goblins or is it just for people? That could make my life easier...
Comments
This is indeed the case. The only game I've ever played where leveling up is BAD. I had to turn down the difficulty slider because the game became utterly impossible (it seems they get better than you do) and every monster and their equiptment gets better making everything highly predicable (as they'll all be using the same things). I actually stopped playing the game a little while back and never completed it.
I think my theory may be correct then. It's probably best to create Major skills that don't level up too fast and focus on improving the Minor ones, thus creating a much more powerful warrior. Fair enough, I'll be stuck with Iron and Steel weapons for some time, but what's the point of having a super weapon if all the enemies can b*tch-slap-you back to Hong Kong?!
By the way, nice art! That dragon looks like a cool version of Bahamut from FFVII.
Therefore, creating a character that strictly have minor skills that you in fact will be using more than those you designate as major skills will have that major drawback. Unless you make a big effort to level up your major skills, you will never gain the necessary levels to access certain areas.
But then again, I agree totally with what Enverex said about how leveling up 'too quick' will only end up making the enemies too hard. I also believe there are two reasons for this.
One, it would be extremely lame to be able to 'max' you character immedietly from the beginning of the game simply by spamming up the levels (for example, running up against a wall using a rubber band on the controller just to gain athletics if you're playing on a 360). However, many of these skills require that you actually DO something unless there has been some sort of macro program built already... I don't really know, I play the Xbox version.
The second reason the skills must have been done the way they are is so that they sort of 'force' you to level up gradually with evenly leveled skills, because, in theory, seems to be the only way to keep up with the ever growing strength and defense of the enemies in the game.
So in the long run, if you're having trouble fighting anything, switch up what you're doing a little bit. Don't just swing like mad at every enemy you see... cast a spell or two, block a little more... get those other skills up so that you'll be a well-rounded fighter.
Every time I create a character, I tell myself "This one will be a warrior, or thief, or mage" yet in the end, they all seem to mesh together. I love using spells, weapons and bows, and to be honest, in some parts of the game it's almost necessary to be skilled at using all of the above.
Just don't get yourself stuck to one method of defeating enemies or you'll find yourself in a lot of trouble. Hope this has helped someone! Feel free to ask me any questions or advice and I'll be more than happy to help.
What you said (Enigma) about putting the skills you use a lot in your minor skills does make sense to a certain extent, but if you do that and only leave obscure skills as your majors it can get really difficult to level up. Your best bet is to balance your 'most used' skills amongst your majors and minors. Also remember that you don't *have* to level up at all. You only level up when you sleep so you can put it off until you're actually ready to level up.
Sigh... I knew someone was going to ask me that. Well it's not so much you can work them out as if you keep track of what skills you've increased you can make sure you get the +5 modifier. So.... The modifier to a stat is worked out based on how many increases you've made to skills dependant on that stat since the last level up. For example, Strength governs the skills of Sword, Blunt and Hand to Hand (I'm doing this from memory, not played for a while so those skills may not be accurate). So to increase the modifier to your Strength stat when you level up you need to increase Blade, Blunt or Hand to Hand. The number of increases you need to make across all skills dependant on that stat is:
0 increases for a +1 modifier
1-4 increases for a +2 modifier
5-7 increases for a +3 modifier
8-9 increases for a +4 modifier
10 increases for a +5 modifier
So, using Strength as an example again (and assuming Blade, Blunt & Block are all based on Strength):
If you increased Blade by 4 points, Blunt by 4 points and Hand to Hand by 2 points you'll get the +5 modifier. The good thing about this is that it's easier to get 4 increases in one thing, 4 in another and 2 in a third than it is to get 10 increases in one skill, so by balancing your skillset you can get those +5 modifiers fairly easily.
As to working out when you have the +5....you can either keep track of all your skill increases using some kind of chart or something..... or you can just save your game, level up and see what you get
Does anyone know whether the Resist Magic skill has any drawbacks, like making healing spells less effective on yourself, for instance?
Nah, it is based on some kind of levelling system, the first guy you fight has an iron sword if you're level 1 but if you try it as a level 10 (or whatever) he has an elven sword. I think the Arena opponents have the absolute top equipment it's possible to find at your level so while you're very unlikely to find anyone with a dwarven sword as a level 4 (or whatever) there is a very small chance that you could. Remember that the levelled lists don't say that everyone has iron swords when you're a level 1, they say something like most people have iron swords but there's a very small chance that you'll find someone with a steel sword.
Walk all the way to the doorway leading to the room she is in. She won't attack you, so there's no need to be alarmed. Walk to the doorway and drop paintbrushes all along up and down to block the doorway (paintbrushes float).
From this point, go back up the stairs, turn left and on your left will be a little crumbled area of rock. You can climb down onto this (slowly) and you should be just out of her reach. From here, you can fire fireballs or fire arrows until she is dead. If you're careful enough, you can even use a sword to hit her.
I know it's kinda cheap, but hey, it works.
This nearly makes you immortal if you dupe varla stones or grand soul gems to restore your charge... infinite, instant destruction of enemies armor and weapons (not to mention looting and repairing them gets up your armorer skill like crazy)
Linky
You can also get a paralyze staff when you get to the staff bit of the mages guild quest. Some of the randomly generated staffs carried by necromancers have Paralyze spells on them. Paralyze is the most expensive offensive spell in the game so you'll be lucky if you can get an 'on target' spell with paralyze for more than a couple of seconds.
Of course a lot of creatures (vampires for example) are immune to paralysis so my game hasn't become totally boring!
I did something even cheekier...
Make Umbra chase you all the wat back to the imperial city docks. Race up and down the main street jumping and avoiding her attacks by running on the wall. After a short time every guard, pirate, beggar and random passer by will get stuck in and after a few deaths and some comedy 'falling in the sea' action Umbra's sword and armour will be yours! Also any random casualties she inflicts on the public can mean free loot without any feelings of guilt!
Anyone trying for a battlemage type character will soon find out that an effective way of stopping enemies getting too close is to summon a large creature (my favourites are frost atronachs) which acts as a corridor blocker! Summon one between you and your foe and then let them duke it out whilst you shoot arrows, cast fireballs or get in sneak attacks. Also some of the bigger creatures look so sweet. Nothing quite as fun as unleashing a frost atronach on a bunch of scamps!
Its true they don't seem to get better kit (although I've seen some cool staffs and magical weapons being waved about). However the fighting technique is different. They always fight in packs. So whilst its simple to take down a minotaur lord it can be a real struggle to dispatch a Goblin Warlord, a couple of his mates and a shaman (and his headless zombie). I was playing last night and got done over in a goblin cave. Even my 'Frost astronach/paralyzing stuff' technique didn't pay off! BTW does anyone know if command humanoid works on goblins or is it just for people? That could make my life easier...