Smithing details : V

» Mon May 14, 2012 7:01 pm

According to a guy who got the game early:

"There are multiple items with the same stats and name. For example, when I was crafting my steel armor, I could craft one with shoulder pads, or without shoulder pads. There was no difference in statistics, only how it looked.
Upgrading works like this: You go to a grinding stone, and select the weapon you want to upgrade. If you have the required ingredients, (for example, upgrading a steel weapon requires 1 steel ingot), you can upgrade the weapon, which improves the quality of the weapon (the weapon gets a "tag" after the name, example: "fine" or "superior")."

Well, that's settled it - Skyrim is going to be the best game ever made. This was the one thing left that was still a concern to me - I was really hoping there would be more than one type of each armour tier, and there is.

EDIT: http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/ly5r9/i_have_skyrim_and_id_be_happy_to_answer_your/c2wl4mu

» Mon May 14, 2012 12:05 pm

Cool!

» Mon May 14, 2012 6:09 pm

Rock! appearance customizashunz!

» Mon May 14, 2012 11:01 am

Since there is no weapon degradation shoud I assume that weapon improvements last forever or is there a possibility that after some uses you lost the improved condition and have to resharpen the blade?

» Mon May 14, 2012 1:08 pm

You have to resharpen the blade, I believe. All weapons stay at 100% durability and can't go below that, though you can improve the quality to 200%, which over time, eventually degrades back to the 100% base.

» Mon May 14, 2012 1:05 pm

Sweet. Can't wait.

» Mon May 14, 2012 6:47 pm

Hope there are a variety of Mage Robes as well.

» Mon May 14, 2012 1:33 pm

Yup, real excited.

» Mon May 14, 2012 12:11 pm

You have to resharpen the blade, I believe. All weapons stay at 100% durability and can't go below that, though you can improve the quality to 200%, which over time, eventually degrades back to the 100% base.

oh, interesting. This makes sense because without such a mechanic improving the smithing skill would be quite difficult. Also, this means that there IS a form of weapon degradation in the game.

» Mon May 14, 2012 8:10 pm

oh, interesting. This makes sense because without such a mechanic improving the smithing skill would be quite difficult. Also, this means that there IS a form of weapon degradation in the game.

Yes. But your weapons/armor can't break in Skyrim, the only real difference.

» Mon May 14, 2012 8:15 pm

Guess there's no Dragon weapons, only armor. Everything else, I.E. Orcish, Dwarven, Steel, etc. says forge armor and weapons but only armor for Dragon

Edit: http://i.imgur.com/ZZhwL.jpg from looking at this, at least.

» Mon May 14, 2012 11:45 am

Look at my Avatar, as that is how I feel right now.... 1337 Pure Pwnage all the way [censored]es

» Mon May 14, 2012 1:08 pm

Very nice; it sounds really cool for smith characters. I really wanna see what steel armor looks like without pauldrons.

» Mon May 14, 2012 1:01 pm

Well, looks like my Rogue may take up Smithing. The ability to customize armor appearance has me sold. I may forgo leveling alchemy now. I was trying to pick only one crafting skill but its going to be hard. If poisons are handled better I might still use alchemy, but well see. If we have to open the menu to constantly reapply, then I'll be more willing to let it go. In Oblivion it really just becomes a chore using poisons.

» Mon May 14, 2012 3:32 pm

Well, looks like my Rogue may take up Smithing. The ability to customize armor appearance has me sold. I may forgo leveling alchemy now. I was trying to pick only one crafting skill but its going to be hard. If poisons are handled better I might still use alchemy, but well see. If we have to open the menu to constantly reapply, then I'll be more willing to let it go. In Oblivion it really just becomes a chore using poisons.

The thing about alchemy is that you can presumably still make high level potions and poisons just by getting the skill high. No clue if they changed the mechanism for applying poisons--just saying that you don't have to spend perks in alchemy to make stuff, as opposed to smithing.

» Mon May 14, 2012 7:14 am

The thing about alchemy is that you can presumably still make high level potions and poisons just by getting the skill high. No clue if they changed the mechanism for applying poisons--just saying that you don't have to spend perks in alchemy to make stuff, as opposed to smithing.

Same with enchanting, which is mainly why I dislike the Smithing perk tree so much.

» Mon May 14, 2012 9:23 am

oh, interesting. This makes sense because without such a mechanic improving the smithing skill would be quite difficult. Also, this means that there IS a form of weapon degradation in the game.

They simply switched the degradation system around. You have to maintain your upgrades basically. Its exactly like the old system in practice, except your weapon has a "floor quality" or a minimum level of performance instead of degrading all the way into dust.

I find that very elegant. Same gameplay, better execution, IMO.

» Mon May 14, 2012 6:42 am

They simply switched the degradation system around. You have to maintain your upgrades basically. Its exactly like the old system in practice, except your weapon has a "floor quality" or a minimum level of performance instead of degrading all the way into dust.

I find that very elegant. Same gameplay, better execution, IMO.

Agreed. The same source also mentions that it's not possible to pay people to upgrade your weapons and armour if you don't have Smithing perks, which I also think is a good move. It wouldn't be fair to make upgraded weapons and armour available without the perks, any more so than making the full extent of battleaxe damage available without taking the relevant 2-handed perks.

» Mon May 14, 2012 8:08 am

awesome. I was curious about smithing. Is smithing useful for say a thief too? Do you think that it would help light armor?

» Mon May 14, 2012 11:47 am

awesome. I was curious about smithing. Is smithing useful for say a thief too? Do you think that it would help light armor?

http://i.imgur.com/ZZhwL.jpg. Definitely looks useful for light armour.

» Mon May 14, 2012 10:27 am

Agreed. The same source also mentions that it's not possible to pay people to upgrade your weapons and armour if you don't have Smithing perks, which I also think is a good move. It wouldn't be fair to make upgraded weapons and armour available without the perks, any more so than making the full extent of battleaxe damage available without taking the relevant 2-handed perks.

Perhaps it's my interpreation but it appeared to me that you can't pay them to forge weapons and armor either. The poster said something along the lines of "and you can only buy what they have in their inventory". This opens up interesting possibilities I believe, like the idea that the most powerful armors and weapons can only be obtained by forging them yourself (or finding them on poweful enemies).

» Mon May 14, 2012 1:40 pm

That's awesome, thanks Sammu!!! :celebration:

» Mon May 14, 2012 6:11 pm

Can anyone confirm if Smithing allows you to make Jewellery at all?

» Mon May 14, 2012 7:32 am

Does the apperance of the weapon change when you upgrade it?

» Mon May 14, 2012 4:50 pm

Well, looks like my Rogue may take up Smithing. The ability to customize armor appearance has me sold. I may forgo leveling alchemy now. I was trying to pick only one crafting skill but its going to be hard. If poisons are handled better I might still use alchemy, but well see. If we have to open the menu to constantly reapply, then I'll be more willing to let it go. In Oblivion it really just becomes a chore using poisons.

Poisons last for more than one swing now, there's also a perk which doubles the amount of hits before a poison wears off the weapon. I agree it was a pain in the ass having to constantly re-apply poisons after every hit, really put me off using them.