At level 15, game is no longer fun : V - Skyrim

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:50 am

I have just reached Level 73 and I didn't know which perk to take. So I decided for lockpicking. Novice. My first perk in lockpicking.. Already at low level I could open a chest at Master level. So there was not a necessity for me.

My character is a warrior one-handed, light armor, with shield. So, when levelling, I put more in Health, Stamina, and almost nothing in Magicka. Then I used my perks in one-handed, smithing, enchanting, alchemy, restoration and block. I spent lost of time smithing and improving my armor and weapons. I disenchanted a lot of items to put the enchantment on my new created gears. It paid... My tactic was to get a strong one-handed sword or axe and jump on the opponents without letting them move first. Blocking is very useful after a few perks. Wearing a set of 4 pieces of same light armor gets you stronger. Using enchanted rings or amulet with 20 or more Fortify Health makes a difference. Now at Level 73 I'm very strong and can enjoy playing in so many ways, like using a two-handed Silver sword against Overlord Death, Frost Atronach summoned by Draugr, just to Level up. When they see me fighting like that, they run away. True... The arrows don't hurt me anymore. All that because I patiently built a strong warrior character before starting the Main Quest. I did it at Level 22.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:21 am

When I start to get bored, I just wander the wilderness and discover and clear everything I come across and pick up new quests.
I also try to switch up my method, like I just started to pick up archery.

Also I found that if you can pick up the paralyze spell, you can paralyze things and then whack at them with whatever weapon you're using.

I'm at level 65 and have finished most of my quests and am starting to get bored, but at level 15 there's so much more to explore. MIT also might help if you stop playing for a few days so you don't just start playing on autopilot. Have a goal in mind and work towards it, whether it be mastering magic or weaponry.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:11 pm

This might be part of the problem. I've explored almost all of the map so I have no idea what parts are supposed to be easy or hard. I played Oblivion quite a bit, but it didn't really matter where you went on the map. Enemies were the same level everywhere.

Last time I got pwned was near Morvunskar as part of "A night to remember". There were some mages dealing shock damage, and they basically one-shot killed me.

I started with Heavy Armor, but found it drained my stamina too quickly and limited how much I could carry. Light armor should be fine, there are some nice perks that get unlocked later but right now it's pretty hard.

The idea is that I use firebolts and the like for ranged attacks and then run in with a sword to finish the enemies off. Without ranged combat skills, killing dragons and some enemies becomes hard, especially out in the open.
It was working fine for the first 5-10 levels, but then my fireballs started doing ridiculously little damage. I then found arrows did more damage and started using them instead, but now arrows have also lost their effectiveness. The only weapon that still has any effect whatsoever is my elven war axe, but even that is starting to feel like a toy.

That's because you need to specialize in order to continue to scale with enemies as you gain levels. The game is not tuned to allow you to gain equally in every skill across the board. Now you're at liberty to ignore the advice you're given on this board when you ask for it, but don't be surprised when the outcome of that decision is that you're gimping yourself.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:32 pm

Well, I'm a Breton Mage at lvl 55, with about 300 hrs into it--only done 7 main quest lines though, and am still enjoying it. Lydia's been my wife for a loooong time, and is a great asset. BTW, if you give her her own health potions, she will use them--haven't had her die in a long time since doing that. Whenever she says "oh look, a cave, I wonder what's inside", I use to get apprehensive--now, all I think is "cool, time for another Forsworn killng spree". I play at the Adept level like others--it's a good balance. There's a lot to do to make it more entertaining than just battle. With Alchemy at 100, potions are kick butt, and worth around $900. Boost your Smithing skills, then you can make some Falmer stomping Daedric armor and weapons. My current armor is rated at 106. I made Lydia and I matching Daedric outfits, except for her helm. She's too pretty to cover with anything but a Glass helm. I took our wedding bands, and and made new ones at the forge in Whiterun. Standard bands have a 10% restoration boost. The ones I made have a 62 point health gain, with a 40% archery boost for her, and a 50% magicka increase for me. Yeah, there's a lot to do--battle is just but a small part of the overall picture. Enjoy.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:48 pm

There's always that option, but I started the game on Adept and I've been playing it just fine for many hours. When you level up, it should feel like your character is getting stronger, not weaker. This was one of the biggest complaints with Oblivion and Bethesda have said they fixed it in Skyrim.

This might be part of the problem. I've explored almost all of the map so I have no idea what parts are supposed to be easy or hard. I played Oblivion quite a bit, but it didn't really matter where you went on the map. Enemies were the same level everywhere.

Last time I got pwned was near Morvunskar as part of "A night to remember". There were some mages dealing shock damage, and they basically one-shot killed me.

I started with Heavy Armor, but found it drained my stamina too quickly and limited how much I could carry. Light armor should be fine, there are some nice perks that get unlocked later but right now it's pretty hard.

The idea is that I use firebolts and the like for ranged attacks and then run in with a sword to finish the enemies off. Without ranged combat skills, killing dragons and some enemies becomes hard, especially out in the open.
It was working fine for the first 5-10 levels, but then my fireballs started doing ridiculously little damage. I then found arrows did more damage and started using them instead, but now arrows have also lost their effectiveness. The only weapon that still has any effect whatsoever is my elven war axe, but even that is starting to feel like a toy.

Here are my stats at the moment (just reached level 16).
Two-Handed: 17
One-Handed: 49
Archery: 38
Light Armor: 35
Sneak: 33
Lock picking: 23
Pickpocket: 16
Speech: 30
Alchemy: 22
Illusion: 15
Conjuration: 15
Destruction: 41
Restoration: 26
Alteration: 15
Enchanting: 21
Smithing: 20
Heavy Armor: 25
Block: 30

Magicka: 160
Health: 170
Stamina: 140

The reason Archery is so high is because I was forced to switch from Destruction to archery. It's impossible to kill dragons with fireballs. The fireballs move too slowly to even hit, and when they do, damage is like 5 - 10%. I noticed that at Destruction level 40, you can buy a new type of fire spell, which might work better..

I've been trying to do some alchemy to make health potions, but it's a skill completely unrelated to the stats of your character. It's all about remembering which ingredients do what and where to find them, which doesn't get easier as the skill increases.

I like your stats. They show that you increase where it should. For me it's pretty good. Just forget heavy armor and two-handed. Focuse on light armor and one-handed and block also. But for Alchemy it's more important than it looks. You won't find strong potion for enchanting, fortifying your health and specially improving your smithing. If you want a strong armor you must create potions first to fortify your enchanting skill which will allow you to enchant gloves (gauntlets), circlet, falmer helmet, necklace and ring with fortify alchemy, wear them and create stronger fort. enchant. potions, recreating new 4 pieces and recreate very strong potions for enchanting, fortify restoration (to drink before enchanting and improving armor and weapons and before your fortify smithing or enchanting potion). After that your gears will be strong, your weapons will do a lot of damage and your enchantment on your gears will protect you. When you reach dual enchanting perk, you can enchant your shield with almost 50% resist fire and 50% resist frost. With other 50% resist fire on another piece of gear, you can stand in front of a dragon with no fear. Besides you can put a lot of fortify health on different pieces of your light armor. Just choose well. With dual-enchanting you can fortify health together with magicka. And the same with necklace and ring. So now don't waste points on magicka, you will get them soon with enchantment. Don't worry, you are doing good. And to increase your one-handed and restoration as well as light armor, fight with a Mudcrab with a dagger, heal yourself... Etc. :biggrin:

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:57 am

You play with one handed and destruction while wearing light armor and complain about taking a lot of damage? It's called a shield, and if you already use one.. You just don't know what you're doing. Put more leveling bonuses into Health.

I have only recently learned how amazing shield is, so I would like to share. Having a shield and blocking successfully is reduces the damage by more than half to start out. I don't know exact number but it's a lot. And as your skill in blocking gets higher, it goes all the way to 80%. Your armor rating now is probably around 200. That gives you 24% damage reduction. That's not a lot. On top of that, with shield bash, you never have to get hit. You stagger them by bashing and hit safely. Not getting hit is like 100% damage reduction, but it uses up a lot of stamina. Once you get some perks like quick reflexes and deadly bash, it's just ridiculously OP. Choosing a shield over two-handed weapon mostly means you are doing half the damage compared to 2 handed weapon in the beginning of the game, so your battles take longer and more strategic. I personally find it more fun.

I have heard destruction mage is hardest type of game to play in the middle because your spells do not do enough damage in the middle although it gets better later with better spells, impact and cost reduction. But I have very little experience with magic in this game. I just use restoration for healing and alteration for boosting up armor in the early of the game. I think spending perks in alteration is a good investment because you get 30% magic resistance later on.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:39 am

Around 10-15 is where the game is hardest imo. You're just about past it.

This.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:34 am

Destruction spells as main damage source is the only thing in this game which really start to fall behind when you gain levels. That is with master difficulty. Melee weapons, bows and fists can get more damage from better equipment. There is no such things for spells. Only magicka consumption and magicka pool can be improved with mage equipments. Battles with mage character turns to endurance and patience game where you hit and run a long time while drinking potions and/or waiting magicka regeneration because of low damage output.

Okay, some start to think that destruction is only one spell school. There is conjuration and illusion which helps to deal damage. I haven't got far with a mage in this game, but I have heard that atronatch or other summons from conjuration schools eventually deal more damage than destruction spells. That is just ridiculous. Your minions/guardians/whatever are your main damage source because they outdamage destruction spells? Mages are suppose to be in support role with lower damage output? I think that summons are for that or at least should be. Illusion school can turn enemies against each other, so they are doing damage for you. That is nice unless there is a single powerful enemy. Then illusion school is useless for damage. You have destruction and conjuration as damage sources in those situations where destruction is gimped. So you just cast your low damage spells and wait until summons do the job what you should do in first place.

Now we are talking about consumables. Those are what boost mage destruction spells. Fortify destruction damage potion can temporary boost spell damage over +100%. Poisons can make enemies weak against different damage types and they stack together. Although these things are available for other characters too. For pure mages, using a bow to apply poisons or putting poisons to enemy pockets with sneaking, are not exactly what mages should do in first place. Spells which cannot be competitive compared to melee weapons, bows or fists, is just failed game design.

Mages are heavily reliable on consumambles and gimmicks like poisoning enemy with arrows or sneaking+reverse pickpocketing, if you want to do decent damage at later levels. Other roles can do decent damage without consumambles and gimmicks. Basically mages are forced to have a bit hybrid roles to be competitive.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:27 am

Then play something else and stop moaning.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:04 am

You can tune your difficulty down you know.