So, as the title says it, I have a renewed interest in Skyrim and wanted to share some thoughts with anybody that cares to read it. Also, remember, these are all just my own opinions and I don't mean to offend anyone. Everyone has their own unique tastes.

I've always been drawn to the cleric/paladin type of characters in RPG's. Especially the kind in the Warcraft universe... clad in kingly heavy armor and utilizing magical powers, stern sentinels, unbreakable and unrelenting. Kinda like a superhero... not the Batman (though, he's one of my favorites) or Wolverine types or anything, but the Superman and Green Lantern types. Corny good guys... lol.

So, I started my first character with that in mind. Started a big Imperial (with golden, long hair ) and planned on rough build focused around: One Handed, Block, Heavy Armor, Smithing, and Restoration. I avoided any kind of skill calculator and instead just kept a "rough" idea of what I wanted in my head and just winged it as I leveled, always trying to stay true to my character's flavor. If I maxed all those out, I suppose I would have thrown some points into Alteration for the magic protection skills. I would've done Speech, but it doesn't seem as charismatic leader-like or commanding and instead it's more along the lines of a sneaky, sly merchant.

Obviously, from that, you can see that my character was a "sword and board" fighter. I also only used big, heavy maces. Also, I avoided archery (any ranged), since my character viewed it as cowardly, and I rarely sneaked. (Boy, was no ranged a little painful, lol.)

Anyway, that's basically the jist of my character. I leveled up to nearly 30 with him and just became burned-out by the game. It just wasn't fun anymore. I guess smashing and bashing with my maces and shield grew a bit old. Also, throughout the game, I was always battling encumbrance since my equipment was so heavy and it was really tedious trying to collect things (I was trying to work my way up to the skill that makes equipment weightless too). And yes, I was pumping my stamina up as much as my health too, which basically made me neglect any magic points. My character grew into more of a tankish soldier than a magical paladin, not only because I couldn't afford the magic points, but because I didn't use my restoration spells as often it seemed. It's a shame one can't cast spells while holding a mace and shield by simply raising your weapon and commandingly shouting (probably would be unbalanced)... it was a little tedious having to switch the shield out when hotkeying heals and things. I'd be healing but also missing potential blocks and taking more damage than I would have if I just kept the shield up. Backing up or running wasn't an option, so I would just try to heal in between killing foes or until I marched to the next one.

On top of that, this is also my first Elder Scrolls game. Thru some research before buying the game, I had an idea what to expect from it and how to approach it. As in, avoiding min-maxing builds, talent calculators, crap like that. But, I think that damn WoW was ingrained in me still (even after quitting it for over a year) and my habits. I would gobble up everything I could to sell, I would grab every single quest that I could in an area (and try to complete most of them, if not all!), I would fast-travel about to avoid long journeys so I could get right to the quests (still a bit spoiled by portals, summoning queues, and AFK flight paths... lol), I was power-leveling and grinding smithing, and other things.

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Well, I decided to give Skyrim another try and create a new type of character. Even though I've read some negative things about them on the forum, I decided to go with a full blown mage. And wow, has it changed things. It's a blast! (literally)

It's so much more satisfying to blast things from afar then to be right up in their faces all the time and exchaning blows... block, bash, hit, block, block, bash, hit... I suppose because I play in a first-person view and the game is like a pseudo-shooter game. In third-person games, melee usually isn't really an issue for me. But in this one, it's not as enjoyable as firing at things for me. Also, perhaps my large shields and weapons always screening my view of things in hostile areas didn't help either.

Also, with the new kill cams, one of my favorite past times while traveling is to blast wildlife with fireballs... especially goats! Wow, the first time I did it and the cinematic came up with the goat going "beeeEEEEHHH!" and going flying in the air while on fire I literally laughed out loud in my chair. Also, other kill cams, like blasting skeletons violently into pieces, are also pretty satisfying. Having all the video settings maxed also helps because a mage has much better eye candy than a sword and board character (Well, okay, that's not fair... those beheadings and things were pretty nice. And now they have even more with the new patch).

There's a nice mix of spells to utilize and plenty of strategies.

Also, since I'm roleplaying as this mage and not your typical paladin, my morals are more flexible and the choices I make are less restricted, in a way. I don't always have to do the honorable and just thing to do.... I can easily make choices that are less so, or selfish ones that increase my power, or simply just logical ones.

And, wow... I visited the College of Winterhold as soon as I could and it's a lot of fun. It really immerses you into the game.

Basically, that's what I'm trying to do now... immerse myself more and just sit back and enjoy things. No sense of urgency to complete a quest, not grabbing every single quest I can find to make my trips more efficient... I'm just drifting along and exploring until I eventually get to my destination.

I've been avoiding fast-travel and instead go on the long journeys... even across the map. Also, it "looks" a lot farther on the map than it really is. It's not so bad once you get accustomed to journeying. Skyrim becomes more of a world instead of just nodes to travel between. So far, the trip from the College of Winterhold to Ivarstead (for the main quest) has been an interesting one. There's lots to discover on the roads and in the wilderness. I made a stop at Windhelm and completed a quest line and did some other things, ventured into a random spider cave and found a vamp hideout to clean out, killed an old orc that wanted a glorious death, ran into some necromancers and bandits, met a strange khajit and a drug-dealing argonian, got attacked by a dragon, found a treasure map along with other random treasures, lots of cool things...

So, that's about it... I'm playing even more casually and using a character that I personally find more interesting and the game is fresh and enjoyable again. Sit back and enjoy the ride, don't worry too much about where you're going.

lol i know what you mean about the paladin class, right around 25-35 it starts to get boring.

The reason so many people are down on magic in Skyrim is because they are comparing it to prior Elder Scrolls games. Compared to any other game, the magic in Skyrim is just fine.

I have a pure mage, but I got kinda bored with him after about 30 levels or so, for some of the same reasons you got bored with your Paladin. Dual casting the same spells over and over for the stun impact stagger got old. I suppose I could have broadened him into more of an illusionist, but illusion magic seems to jive well with sneak, and there is no way my Altmer mage is going to sneak anywhere.

So, I rolled up a new characer, a Dunmer nightblade who combines sneak (but no perks on the left side of the tree), one handed with a heavy dose of illusion as well as conjuration magic (bound weapons mostly). That has been a very fun character to play. He is at level 46 and I am still not bored with him.

My favorite character was probably my paladin class. I got Spellbreaker and Dawnbringer (a Daedric artifact shield and sword respectively) which fit my motif well, and wore the nice gilded, golden Dwemer armor and even equipped Lydia with a matching set. I had a lot of fun roleplaying as a holy warrior for good, and went from hold to hold doing quests. The vampires in Morthal quest and the quest to stop Potema from ressurrecting in Solitude were probably the high points of this character, and after them I was probably level 25 and had done most of miscellaneous quests that I could find, so I stopped playing my character.

Unfortunately no faction seemed to fit him, and I didn't think of him as the Dragonborn so I avoided the main quest and didn't use shouts. So...there just wasn't much to do anymore I guess, aside from random bounty missions.

i went with the sneaky archer who wore heavy armour and used a sword and shield for when things get tight also picked the steed stone so i can prance around in my daedric armour like it weighs nothing.
never gets old putting an arrow in someones forhead!!!!

Sounds like you got it figured out now and are enjoying the game much more, which to me is the main thing.. : )

Jareh, nice post, I used to play WoW. The problem was that i can't play it on my PS3 because my pc aren't so powerful, so when i noticed that Skyrim came out I was thinking that it was like playing WoW, but offline. All videos on youtube gave me a great idea for Christmas, so i bought it. After playing a while, i see that the thief suit best for me, so i maxed out him. The Wiki of skyrim is FULL of spoilers and at this time i know everything that help me to grind skills and i know a lot of tips to WIN every encounter. I only saw a little number of place in Skyrim but i felt like God and i burned out... I was trying to play this game the best but i have a problem, i can't play a character more than 15-20 levels then i start a new one but I go on the same decisions and the same gameplay, the best logically way to make more money and upgrading levels quickly.
I was really burned out with this game, but reading on this forum about people that play this game more than 200 hours with ne character... i don't know how they can do that... I was really impressed about that... I don't know if this game was made to DESTROY your social life, but when i read about people that try to impersonate (roleplay) a character in skyrim i really thinked that!!... So if, rpg = impersonate someone = no more social life, i thinked i can't play this game, i don't want to become addicted.
But the game is REALLY GOOD DESIGNED, and when i saw a video on youtube about this guy, Toby, called Tobuscus in skyrim i don't know what to think about this game...
I really want to know the secret to enjoy the game as him, really, he take all easy without thinking about where put the next perk or thing like this...
Now i'am waiting for the next 1.5 patch that brings me more time to level Smithing (i really need this), and killcams to make the game more and more interesting.

Yay!
Did you get this from the invisibility thread right?
I am a difference maker!

Yep, I can't remember which thread it was but I remember talking with you about nightblade builds when I was first creating this character a few months ago . . .