Now that I've finished Skyrim, I'm ready for DG. Before I (re)install it, I'm looking for any potential "pit falls" I may experience, especially at my level.

Originally, I uninstalled DG because it was killing NPCs I wasn't ready to lose, especially store owners and the replacements. At an early stage, losing a store wasn't a sacrifice I was willing to make for a DLC.

Upon my reading, I see DG offers two new perk trees.

My question: Do these perk trees work with Skyrim's level system or do they get "assigned" in DG?

I ask because lvl 60 makes it really hard to gain additional levels, and if I need to perk up (or get the achievements), I'll suppose I'll have to whip out the OI and gain the levels necessary to unlock the perks.

Also, can you let me know if a lvl 60 character will run into other issues? Spoilers are welcomed, if needed.

Thanks all.

DON'T BLINK...BLINK AND YOU'RE DEAD

No I'm kidding, I just love quoting doctor who.

delete all your previous saves except for your most recent one and ones for other profiles up to the one your using. I say this because I installed dawnguard for my level 60 character, Lucien. And (allegedly) because of my numerous save files, it made the game extremely laggy and damn near unplayable, I'm not sure that will happen to you, but be wary.

Also the perk trees work for werewolf and vampire only build up in those respective modes, so you only level up those trees when killing as either a vamp or a werewolf.

The two new trees have a unique system.

Feed as a Vampire or werewolf to gain EXP.
The exp only count for the associated skill tree.


Some will say that they don't experience it. But i have.
High level are even more deadly for town/village NPCs. (the vampire scale with you, and will 1-2hit NPCs)
I was level 74 and avoid every town/village until DG was finished.

Thanks for the info. I didn't really want to cheat using the Infinium, but it's nice to know I won't have to now.

More tidbits are welcomed. I'll be back shortly to check up.

I started Dawnguard at around level 55, and ran through it without any problems. The vampire attacks on the townsfolk wasn't as bad as it could be - but certain cities are harder to defend than others. Solitude is one of the worst, because you fast travel to the gates, and the vampires are outside Vittoria Vici's house killing people - you'll usually never get there in time. Riften is smaller and you can usually save the people (although there are so many people fighting you're liable to kill someone accidentally). In Whiterun they usually spawn outside the Warmaiden's, so if you act fast you can save everyone. I've never tried Dawnstar, but I heard that it can be hard. If you don't fast travel to a town before finishing the quest you can avoid most of the trouble, though - just fast travel to the stables and manually walk through the gates. Be alert, though. At level 60 it should be easier to save the townsfolk than at lower levels because you can one-hit the smaller vampires and gargoyles and hounds, and then hit the single big vampy quick, hopefully drawing his attention. At lower levels even the smaller vampires are a threat and will take time to kill. By the time you kill a couple the casualties might have piled up.

Try completing ALL of the Thieve's Guild missions, first. This will give you access to one of every merchant type in the game in one place. Furthermore, they are all inside and thus cannot be killed by a vampire invasion. Also, for me anyway, vampires almost never invade unless the Bow of Auriel is used. Then, it's almost guaranteed. If you side with the vampires, be careful of the radiant quests, as you can get into a situation in which it's impossible to progress. Essentially, you have to turn different townsfolk into vamps, but you can get the quest to turn the same person again. This forces you to kill him, but you can get the quest again...for the now dead vampire. At that point, it's impossible to progress. Finally, complete as many main quests as possible. You don't want the vamps to kill quest givers, but sometimes, it might be unavoidable.

With this character, I'm officially done with Skyrim's quests, so I won't be worried about any loss of character or store. Let the vamps feast. Some NPCs deserve to die, and if Maven is chomped on, I hope I'm there to witness it.

As for my power, I can kill Elder dragons with one shot from my bow. I'm salivating for a Legendary dragon. That's why I was concerned with perks, because most of my easy levels are at 100. Not really much to improve, other than magical stuff, and I don't use magic to justify the leveling.

Seems like I'm all set, then. Excellent. Tomorrow night, DG will be re-installed.

Yeah!

I started it first time round with my level 71 character, and it was great fun. Sure, if you travel the roads at night, it's vamp-o-rama, and if you consistently fast travel to the actual cities, you will get raids, but use a bit of common sense and it's okay.

You may find some bugs with certain mods, if you are on pc and use them, but overall, it's not too bad (glitches aside).

I recently started a new character, who is now up to level 35 with no grinding, and I have not had one vamp raid, nor one random vamp encounter...and he's only fought 3 non-scripted dragons...and this is on a character which doesn't fast travel, and camps out at night, etc, doing the hardcoe approach. It's the most sedate game I've played, almost could be retitled "A camper's journey in the northern province"...

The thieves guild and merchants at Windhelm and Markarth are sometimes outside and can be attacked by vampires.

To be honest if you wish to sell anything go to the respective forts either DG or CV and sell there. You have plenty of merchants.

As long as they are quest items even though it says 20lbs they actually weigh nothing. There's a mod which lets you drop them, though, if you're on the PC. If you install that mod then their weight will affect your encumbrance. I had the same concerns about the Stones of Barenziah until I found that out! My DG character has his single scroll lying on the table in front of the bed in Honeyside, while my Vampire character has his three scrolls displayed in his room in Castle Volkihar (at least I think that's his room, the one with the torture rack antechamber?).

I'm pretty sure the merchants in the Thieve's Guild NEVER go outside. I'm referring to the ones that are in the Ragged Flagon. You essentially get a fence, a smith, an alchemist, a fletcher, a mage (I think), and a bartender...all in the same cell. Unfortunately, you always have to go through two loading screens. But given just how much is in there, it's worth it. I'd say that, once the Thieve's Guild is COMPLETELY finished, it is the best place to sell stuff. By the time you're done, you're looking at about six merchants in one place, one of which will buy your stolen goods, and has around 3000 gold by default. If you have Hearthfire, there's also two blacksmiths, both of whom sell large quantities of iron ingots. It may have a crap storyline, but this guild has some seriously awesome perks.

Also, I'm pretty sure Elder Scrolls don't add to encumbrance.

I finished DG last night, and surprisingly, I didn't need any shop owner. The quest was over before I knew it, and because I did a straight shot to complete the quest, I doubt any NPC died as a result (I was out of any city cell when I was approached).

Best way to deal with the NPC/Vampire raid issue.
GZ on a "clean" run.

Oh, don't worry, you're not completely out of the danger zone!

Yep, I am, because I'm done with the game with this character. I'll be doing some clean-up in DG for the achievements. After that, I'll be deleting all these saves and starting my 6th game.

I don't know how people do it. I can never throw my characters away...but that's mainly because I only use one. I only have one in Skyrim, one in Dark Souls, and one in pretty much every RPG I've played.

I'm throwing this one away because its sole purpose was to lvl 60 (Ogham Infinium exploit) and to finish the MQ. Despite my 6th game, it's the first time I finished it.

You have six high level characters, and only one has finished the MQ!? What absurdity is this!?

lol

It's not so absurd, Necro.

I've only gone through the MQ a total of three times across all of my characters that I've had. It's not that I dislike the MQ, but since I usually run Dunmer Vampire Lord Assassins, their aims and "life goals" usually don't mesh well with the requirements of the MQ.

I would however, take every single one of my characters through the MQ if they'd just allow me to kill the Blades...

There are not words to describe how badly I want to kill those self-righteous pricks.

Or at least kill the leaders and start it up yourself....

Restartitis Complexicus

I finally found a cure: willpower.

Nonsense! Willpower no longer has anything to do with our characters!

Two blacksmiths added to TG with HF? I missed this! Where are they added?

For every reputation quest you do for the TG, you get a new merchant in the Cistern. You need to do 5 jobs for Delvin or Vex in a city (Markarth, Windhelm, Whiterun or Solitude) and then you will get a reputation quest. Once that quest is done you get a new merchant. So you can get up to 4 new merchants. One is an apothecary, one is a fletcher, one is a smith, and I forget what the other one is. Also, for each reputation quest the amount of gold fences have increases: 1000 -> 1500 -> 2000 -> 3000 -> 4000. This makes using the fence at the Honningbrew Meadery perfect for DG since you don't have to enter a city and he has lots of gold and will buy anything you have to sell.

Strangely, one is a blacksmith, and the other is an armorer. They do pretty much the same thing.