Agreed. I got really bored of Oblivion because of this. Even if you start as X, you eventually become XYZ. Then you can start as Y, and eventually become XYZ.



Agreed. I came to this forum and was happy to see it was so much more friendly and formal than certain other ones. (Diablo 3... ugh) Save that kind of attitude for [censored] and Youtube comments.



I think the fun flavorful perks are a signature of Fallout games. OTOH, I think that if they added a few Global Level/Skill based perks, that would be a fun addition. (Eg, one available every 5 or 10 levels, that gives a fun/nice bonus, but is limited based on what skill levels or skill-perks you have available, and cannot be saved for later)



It makes it hard to take someone seriously who uses "umad bro?" or anything similar, as a frame of reference.

There are no classes in Skyrim. It is near impossible to gimp yourself in this game. You can beat the game without ever spending a perk point (although with a challenge), and putting down (nearly) any perk point will buff your character. I honestly do not see your problem with the system.

Yes there are some "use-impaired" trees. Does not mean they cannot be used, and will gimp you. Your skill level matters a lot for that as well. Gimping yourself requires something like Maxed Speech, Maxed Pickpocked, Maxed Lockpicking, with no real combat skills focused on. All three give very little to a combat situation, perks or skill-wise, although can get you significant resources out of combat, allowing you to gear up, potentially undoing your "gimping".

Maxing a craft usually gives you an edge in one way or another, that makes up for the fact it is not a combat skill. Even if you only have 20 One Handed skill, and similar for Heavy Armor, you'll benefit by having a full set of Daedric Armor and Weapons, and be hard to take down. If you decide you also want to sneak, there are perks that allow you to do that with your heavy Armor. Suddenly you want to take up archery because you are sneaking now.. Why not? None of this will gimp you.

You don't need to spend 100 points in the "Warrior" specialization to be called a warrior, or be effective at fighting with weapons. Same goes for Mage and Thief specializations. Each tree only needs around 5-10 perks to spend to be considered a master, and each specialization only had 6 trees. Realistically, you already cannot spend EVERY SINGLE POINT in one specialization by the time you hit level cap. You have to branch out and expand your skills.

To me this is starting to feel like the people complaining about this, are the ones that want to Max Alchemy, Enchanting and Smithing to be able to make God-Mode items, and then have Maxed Armor skills, Maxed Weapon, Maxed Block, Maxed Archery, Maxed Magic, etc.. So they can just rofl-stomp with everything. As it stands, if you max out your 3 crafting skills, you much more limited in other skills - AS IT SHOULD BE.

For all the "I'm a person in this world" or anything about "Human" this or that:
1. No you're not. You're playing a game avatar.
2. Even if you were, most people are specialists, and even among those, very few are masters of ANYTHING.
3. There are very few people in the world who are good at everything, let along GREAT at everything, let alone a MASTER of everything.
4. Most skills take months, and years to acquire, and require constant upkeep to keep in top "master" form. This covers everything from firing a gun, to playing a sport, to making pottery, if you want to talk realism, why should a game be different?
5. The human brain will lose connections and weaken skills, in order to make room for new skills. In game language, this would translate to "Trying to specialize in a new tree, will reduce your specialization in a tree you aren't using often enough."

Finally, this game gives you the freedom of choice. This makes people complain about too many choices, and not being able to master everything on one playthrough. If the game gave you set classes, there would be people who complain about lack of customization, but not many will complain about needing multiple playthroughs. They just play each character that interests them to try them out. This game needs the same replay style, but with MUCH MUCH MUCH more customization than many games offer.

Also one afterthought I had after re-reading your post; gimping yourself has been possible in every Elder Scrolls game. You used to have a custom class option, and could set yourself up with horrific skill combinations. Additionally, because of the way levelling worked (especially Oblivion), you could hit max level without getting any notable STAT upgrades, setting you behind every levelled creature. This led to a much less enjoyable levelling system.

Additionally, you are never FORCED into speccing into anything, and even if you do, you are not FORCED into that Archetype. Mages can decide to Sneak or wear armor. Warriors can decide to add illusion and restoration spells to their repertoire. Thieves can cast magic, use a shield or armor, becomes smiths, etc.. None of this sets them into a specific path. "Oh I put a perk into Heavy Armor, guess I can't cast magic now!" is just silly. There are more than enough perks to diversify yourself, and again, more than enough perks to make up for a few "wasted" perks here and there when trying things out.



This is exactly what people should do.

A few of my characters refuse to use Elven Gear, out of spite of the Thalmor. Additionally I only use one crafting profession with perks at a time on my characters to prevent overpowering them. My mage is not going to wear armor, because it does not fit in well, or look mage-y enough. I will also avoid the companions and dark brotherhood to allow other character more suited to those tasks to complete them. College of Winterhold will be done, and maybe Thieves guild (I am a Sneaky Mage).

Granted, I don't have the most intense limitations, but it is letting me have far more replay value from multiple characters and play-styles.