» Thu Jun 21, 2012 8:16 am EDIT: Okay so I am a huge gamer, as made apparent by the fact I just woke up at the crack of noon. In celebration of my laziness I am going to add in a Legend to this post for quick searching if not everything I put here is of interest to some people!
Legend:
Crafting
Professions!
Spells!
Weapon Buffs!
Okay so I just want to start off with something basic that I am pretty sure everybody has felt the lack of, and that's armor. More specifically; crafting.
Armor: Crafting - Customization
What I am getting at here when I say customization is the ability to alter your smithable equipment in slight variations such as color, things of that nature. I'll try and map out an example as best as I can.
Ebony Armor: 5 Ebony Ingots 3 Leather Strips (default)
o Heavy Armor
o Armor Rating 43
Heavenly Ebony Armor: 5 Ebony Ingots 3 Leather Strips [Customizeable Primary] [Customizeable Secondary] (Added Content)
o Heavy Armor
o Armor Rating 43
o Color Scheme: White(Primary), Gold(Secondary)
Shadowforged Ebony Armor: 5 Ebony Ingots 3 leather Strips [Customizeable Primary] [Customizeable Secondary] (Added Content)
o Heavy Armor
o Armor Rating 43
o Color Scheme: Black(Primary), Crimson(Secondary)
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I think three examples is enough for right now, so I will move on to explaining everything.
I liken this idea similarly to how the current Alchemy works in Skyrim right now, how you have your base ingredients needed to craft the item, and then if you want to boost its effects or alter it in any way, you can add additional herbs/ingrediants to meet those ends, and I had the same idea in mind when I thought about this. Going back to the "Heavenly Ebony Armor", if you take your base ingrediants + skill to make ebony gear, then say you wanted a white base color, you would make your primary slot a Moonstone Ingot, and to add in golden trims persey, you would make your secondary slot a Gold Ingot. You would have the quality and over-all model the same as the default Ebony Armor, but the colorscheme would change, fitting to which type of character you would like to make your guy/girl as, a Holy Paladin, a Death Knight ect.
Now I know there are no ores in the game that give off a reddish color, closest would be dwemer ingots and that's closer to gold than crimson or red. I have beaten the game as a two-handed barbarian on Master Difficulty from the start of the game to the end, and finished around level 34 with no enchants(other than what was on the gear when I aquired it) and so I found myself with an invantory full of flashy shiny gems. I could sell them or adorn them somewhere in one of my many houses, but I really had no use to put them into crafting as I kept with the Amulet of Talos most of the game. That got me thinking about what other possible uses gems could serve, not just for jewelcrafting necklaces and rings, but for decoration when crafting your gear at a Blacksmith Station. Now I know gems can't be melted down into a liquid for coloring but perhaps an alchemst could add some chemicals or solvants to it, soften it up and crush it in a mortar and pestle and brew a dye out of the powder of the gem. It would make some sense and would help link professions together without forcing professions to have to be connected. Like make a tier 2 perk in Alchemy one that allows the player to do that. Most people will get to Tier 2 Alchemy just making the potions they need to make it through the game. Perhaps also be able to adorn your weapons and armor with jewels if you want to feel like a king but of course that is getting ahead of myself and adds alot into one profession alone so I digress.
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That brings me on to my next topic of suggestion; Professions! I'm just going to jump right into it on this topic while the ideas are still fresh in my mind.
Jewelcrafting: This profession would allow you to craft rings and other accessories, clearing up what I consider clutter in the Smithing interface. It could also give the added perk of being able to adorn weapons, armor, clothing ect., with the random gems you find all across Skyrim(or wherever the content would be located), of course being a largely cosmetic perk, not giving or taking away from any added effects. A top tier perk for jewelcrafting could be something like enabling the player to equip two rings instead of just one. Would also have the added benefit of helping you level your enchanting at the same time as you could make a ring, enchant it, sell it and use the funds to buy some of the materials you need for the next ring.
Tailoring: Personally I found the lack of a profession to make cloth armor for mage type characters rather disheartening. I know you can tweak regular clothing but most of the stuff, at least in my mind, isn't appealing enough to want to wear any of it, and the variety of robes isn't very vast. Nothing excentric, just like a cloth version of smithing. Can start off in the first tier or early game crafting shabby shirts and shoes and top tier could be really extravagant robes with inlines and garnishes ect. Put to use all those linens we get from running through the drauger crypts. I could think of more useless things(embalming tools, anybody?) currently in skyrim.
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Now we are on to the part I am most excited to talk about; Spells!
I love mage type classes in Skyrim. I never really played one in Morrowind or Oblivion but in Skyrim I am really loving the archetype. I also love being able to dual wield spells, as well as other melee weapons in Skyrim. I was finally able to make my Machine Gun Mage and Berserker Viking Warrior. This section is what I am most excited to talk about, and as such don't really know where I should begin so I am just going to jump into it.
Like I said, I love the idea that I can dual wield spells, and I love even more how I can combine two firebolts together and launch a massive fireball at somebody or a crowd of enemies. What I found really dissapointing however is how you could not combine two different types of spells into one another to create an entirely new attack, each with their own added perks and benefits. Like I stated above, I don't rightly know how to start talking about this subject so I decided I will throw out spell combinations as examples so you guys and girls can see what I am thinking in regards to the subject. Here we go!
Offensive Spell Combination Examples:
Steam - Flames/Frostbite
The mage combines Flame and Frostbite together to generate steam, severly draining targets stamina by XX amount over YY seconds as well as abscuring the vision of enemies directly infront of the mage. Drains mana per second while active.
Frostfire Bolt - Fireball/Frostbolt (Yes I know what you're thinking but it's a good name, shh)
The mage combines Fireball and Frostbolt together to generate a bolt of Frostfire, dealing explosive damage to all whom the effects hit, and slowing them by XX amount for YY seconds. Doesn't drain stamina or ignite the targets affected by the attack.
Lightning Barrier - Lightning Bolt/Lesser Ward
The mage combines Lightning Bolt and a Lesser Ward to encase his/her target inside a Lightning Barrier, dealing constant electrical damage over time, dealing total accumilated damage recieved over time once the ward expires/breaks. Lightning Barrier fades after a couple seconds.
Living Bomb - Fireball/Lesser Ward (Yes again, I am aware. Come up with a better name and I'll change it
)The mage combines Fireball and a Lesser Ward to place a Barrier around the target enemy. After XX seconds, the Barrier becomes violently unstable and explodes, dealing YY damage to individuals around the target, but leaving the recipient of the Barrier unharmed.
Defensive Spell Combination Examples:
Holy Shield - Healing/Greater Ward
The caster combines Healing and a Greater Ward to encase him/herself inside a protective Shield, restoring XX amount of health every second and reducing incoming physical damage by YY for a duration of ZZ seconds.
Frozen Armor - Frostbolt/Greater Ward
The caster combines Frostbolt and a Greater Ward to encase him/herself in a sheet of Frozen Armor, reducing incoming damage taken by any source and freezing the first enemy to hit the caster in place for XX seconds. After a blow is landed, the shield expires. Slows bosses instead of freezing.
Howling Cold - Frostbite/Greater Ward
The caster combines Frostbite and a Greater Ward to encase him/herself in a gust of Howling Cold, lasting XX seconds, dealing no damage but slowing nearby enemies and draining their stamina.
Tempest Blast - Lightning Bolt/Greater Ward
The caster combines Lightning Bolt and a Greater Ward to encase him/herself in a Tempest Blast, doing marginal shock damage to nearby enemies for XX seconds. Upon taking damage, Tempest Blast explodes, knocking back all enemies in close proximity to the caster. Shield expires upon taking damage or reaching full duration.
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Okay so now I want to move on to a some what related topic to the last, but still a little different. This one will focus more on the melee centric types I have in my head; weapon buffs!
Spell Enchant Examples; One-Handers!
Inferno - Flame/One-Hand
The player Enchants his/her One-Handed weapon with the power of Flame, doing a base amount of additional fire damage based off a percentage of over-all base weapon damage over XX seconds, lasting YY seconds.
Frosttongue - Frostbite/One-Hand
The player Enchants his/her One-Handed weapon with the power of Frost, dealing no additional damage but increasing mana consumption of enemies striken by the player and slowing movement speed by a small amount for XX seconds.
Thunderstrike - Spark/One-Hand
The player Enchants his/her One-Handed weapon with the power of Shock, applying up to three charges on the weapon, each strike doing electrical damage and jumping to a nearby hostile target. Lasts XX seconds or until all three charges have been consumed.
Spell Enchant Examples; Two-Handers!
Volcanum - Fireball/Two-Hand
The player grips his/her weapon tightly, infusing it with the power of a Volcano, explosively increasing the weapons killing capabilities for a few seconds. (Haha see what I did there? ;D )
Icebane - Frostbolt/Two-Hand
The player grips his/her weapon tightly, infusing it with the power of a Glacier, increasing the armor penetration rating of the players attacks and draining the targets stamina for XX seconds.
Zephyr - Lightning Bolt/Two-Hand
The player grips his/her weapon tightly, infusing it with the power of a Thunderstorm, increasing the attackspeed and stamina regeneration rate of the player for XX seconds.
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I was just thinking of things like that. I know it looks like alot reading it and seems far fetched and detachable from an Elder Scrolls game, but I tried invisioning in my head what all this would be like in-game so that I wouldn't stray too far from the Skyrim feel. The way I picture it is say you have a weapon in your right hand and a spell in your left, you click and hold both of them at the same time and the blade of your sword or dagger starts catching fire then you're free to attaack. That's how I see it in my head, even though it's alot on paper. Also I realize this might conflict with some enchants with profession and random drop enchants but the way I was looking at it was likening it back to how it was in Morrowind where you would have a spell and enchant that spell onto your weapon with a soulgem instead of denching an item to enchant another. So it's, in my mind, similiar to Morrowind, but on a more real-time basis.
Also I am aware this was a very long post, but it is 3:15am my time at the time of writing this sentence and I am falling asleep, which is why you may have noticed im kind of trailing off. If it seems you guys enjoy my ideas enough then when I get on tomorrow I will create a legend at the top of the post for ctrl+F'ing. I'll also add more at that time as well.
