Heya guys and gals.

I am very new to the RPG genre and am also new to the Elder Scroll series. I have not played any of the earlier games and so have no previous knowledge about the game and the NPCs. I’ve read a bit on the lore and am totally fascinated by it all. I did play WoW for a bit which was my only MMO as well. I have since quit the game to move over to Skyrim.

So I was wondering where would it be a good place to start off? I spent my time on WoW playing a Hunter and a Paladin. I was looking to start as a Nord as my first character. I love using a bow and enjoy my fair share of melee combat. What would be a good skill to put my talent points in as I level up?

And what professions should I be focussing on? What are the benefits of the various guilds in Skyrim and which one should I focus on?

Thanks all for the help!

I think you should stick to what you know or just experience the whole lot, you have plenty of levels and time to decide what you really want to do and you can always make new games

Really, just about anything would work. It's not really about min/maxing the way you would in an MMO.

You enjoy bows and melee? Then play with a bow and melee weapons Skills level up as you use them, so the more archery you do, the faster you'll be able to unlock the perks.

Just pick up something that interests you and enjoy the ride

Glad to help a new player to the genre/series

If you like archery, definitely focus on the Archery perk tree, every skill in the tree is awesome and you should max it out as soon as possible. Light armor is what I use, but I suppose you could get away with heavy armor if you wanted - but if you also plan on being stealthy, stick to light armor. Every perk in the Light Armor tree is also worthwhile.

Smithing is excellent, but don't bother getting any of the light armor smithing perks, you can focus on the heavy armor side of the perk tree to access Daedric weapons and the Dragonscale armor. Alchemy and Enchanting is awesome as well, but you don't need much in the way of perks in those trees, other than the perks that increase effectiveness of the skills.

In summary, focus on archery, light armor, smithing, alchemy, enchanting, and if youre a sneaky character, sneak, lockpicking etc.

Oh cool thank you soo very much for the information. I was wondering how does professions work in Skyrim. Do you get to make your own gear or loot gear from mobs? Does your gear scale as you level as well? And do you have to farm the required materials to make the gear?

I know I am kinda getting ahead of myself but I am just so excited to get started. LOL!

All of what you just said is correct, you can loot bodies, find weapons and armor in dungeons and mine or buy the materials you need to make the particular item you want

I understand your concerns, since I've played WoW as well, but your choices virtually endless in Skyrim. You are able to do anything you want, wear what you want and switch your armor and weapons while in battle to fit what you're doing. You can focus on all professions and use anything you harvest (ore, ingredients and food). You loot off mobs, chests, etc. As far as your armor, when you make it and as you level smithing, make sure to go to the workbench to see if you can upgrade/improve your armor (if you have the right materials). I wore the leather armor I made in the beginning until I maxed smithing just by improving it as I leveled the skill. There is a lot to experience in these games, so just take your time. I'm generally new to the series as well (played a small bit of Oblivion before Skyrim came out to get a feel for what was going on) and it has been one fantastic journey!

Welcome to the forums. Have a http://images.uesp.net//c/c4/Fishystick.jpg

You won't be putting points into skills, they'll level up as you use them but don't grind on just a couple or you could level too quickly. Just use what you like to use. When you level up, you'll choose a boost to either Magicka, Health or Stamina. You'll also be able to choose a perk to get a boost on a skill but you can save it until later if you can't decide. You can really do whatever you want so just keep talking to people and they'll give you quests, read books and some of them give you quests or skill boosts or even knowledge about the world and how to deal with some creatures and find places. Take it slow and it'll be a blast.

I also came here from WoW (though I haven't stopped playing it), and I think you will be fine. Choose your main skills and they will level naturally as you use them. Put perks in them as well. If you choose too few skills to focus on you will level slowly (you level by raising skills, not from quests) and will have too few perks to spend. But if you choose too many you will level too fast and have to put lots of perks in different skills, which can also make you perk starved. Around 4-6 skills work, depending on what skills and the number of perk points in them.

Combat skills: one handed weapons, two handed weapons, heavy armor, light armor, blocking, archery and sneak.

Using one handed weapons allows you to use a shield (shields are improved by the blocking tree) or any kind of spell in the other hand. Two handed weapons... require, well, two hands to use. Archery is self explanatory. There are 3 types of armor: Heavy armor, light armor and no armor (cloth). Heavier armor makes you move more slowly, and sneaking in heavy armor is unpratical as it makes a lot of noise when you walk, but it gives more armor. Cloth (no armor) is generally only used by pure mages that don't want to wear armor.

Sneak would be equivalent to stealth in WoW: makes you harder to see, but not impossible (though with high sneak skill you're almost invisible). Detection can be influenced by a huge number of factors, such as noise (from armor or steps), lighting (easier to sneak at night or dark caves, harder in daylight on an open area), etc. Attacks from stealth ("openers") get a huge bonus; less for bows, more for one handed weapons and a lot more for daggers. Sneaking, by itself, it's another playstyle entirely

Magic skills: Illusion ("mind tree": can use fear, charm or calm spells to control the fight and even make enemies fight each other; also has an invisibility spell), conjuration (summon undead, elementals or demons to fight for you, or even conjure weapons to use), destruction (use fire, frost and lightning to blast enemies), alteration ("physical magic": armor spells, paralyze, transmute) and restoration (healing, turn undead spells).

And crafting: smithing (make light and heavy armor and weapons), alchemy (make potions and poisons) and enchanting (enchant gear: disenchant an item to learn the effect and put it on another item).

There's also non combat skills: speech, lockpicking and pickpocket, but I would recommend you not put perks into them because it's not needed (except maybe some perks in pickpocketing, that are somewhat useful).

Choose any combination of those skills and it WILL work. Of course, some builds will work better than others, but what's the point in being efficient if you're not having fun? If you're having trouble, turn the difficulty down (or up). You can change it in battle, even.

Last of all, have fun. Skyrim is a big, vast gameworld with lots of quests and adventures to be had. Do what you want, don't do what you don't want, and don't worry too much about efficiency. I'd also advise that you find an specific build that you like or want to use and ask more specifically about it so you can get more in-depth advice.