I still have one charater, but I don't want to start over.
but what I wish I had done was not re-load a save to join the DB and join it the first time they came to me.

I would plan my perks better. I had trouble with picking locks with my first character and took perks in that tree. I've since mastered the skill, but my mage still has several perks wasted for picking locks.

DON'T use the easy outs to level up smithing and things like that, it'll raise your enemies levels, but your battle skills will be sorely uneven, and you'll get owned in most battles you find yourself in, if you don't level up atleast somewhat evenly.

DON'T even acknowledge the main quest until you're level 20ish. fighting dragons right off the bat may seem fun, but after 60 fights, it becomes repetitive and dragon bones take up way to much of your carry weight especially early on in the game.

Search for known glitches BEFORE you begin a major quest line (guild, MQ, civil war, and so on) to find out what you can expect, and any easy ways to avoid major problems. Most of them seem to be fished out with the patch, but you can never have too much info.

Try to finish quest's as you get them, leaving early acquired quest's unfinished for 20-30 levels leaves greater room for glitches and bugs. I came across quite a few issues when I left 5 or 6 earlier obtained quest's until I was in the 50's, I'm trying to do my quest's from the bottom up on my 2nd play through, even if it's out of my way or not the #1 thing on my list.

and wht the above guy said, plan your perks! I usually save my perks in bunches of 5-8 @ a time, that way I have perks ready when I hit certain cap requirements.

My first playthrough I wasted atleast 9 or 10 perks on things I never used.

Ah yes. Forgot about this one.

If you end up with two or three different characters, try not to end up doing the same questlines at the same time on two characters. Blackreach is unique and interesting and wakes everyone go WOW, but it can get very tedious (especially if you get confused and restart the wrong character after a day at work )

i have started about 20 characters and i have restarted my current character twice.

use and perk skills that your character does not normally use and don't worry about skills that you always use.

my fighter perks all magic at least the first perk and then works on sneak and archery etc.

I try to have my character able to do everything well currently she is 30 - 50 in almost all magic skills.


before you go to a dragon peak area get the quest from the steward or jarl from the nearest town.


go everywhere and do everything and most of all have fun.

There are a few rare objects that I would look out for in order to progress quests and stuff, including, dwemer cogs, unusual stones, nirnroot, icewraith teeth, jasby graqes,

I would probably just make A LOT more save slots.

manage my perks better, instead of putting any in destruction (i used it early on to fight dragons) i would have put them into conjuration or enchanting, also i would have picked two handed because its more fun and now i've wasted tons of perks in onehanded and block that i never use anymore. Also when i spammed those iron daggers to max my smithing i would have enchanted all of them after ward instead of taking a huge loss financially

also i would have hung around the hall of valor for more than 15 seconds to really scope things out, feels lame to have been in sovengarde for all of twenty minutes :/

1) Never grind. Like others have said, it just cheats you of fun. Do quests!
2) Do spend your money on training, as soon as you can afford it.
3) Have a perk plan, and stick to it.
4) Be sneaky. This game's best content is reserved to stealthy characters.
5) Keep your tradeskills at or below your combat skills (armor, weapons). Otherwise things get dull too early.

Um. I start a new toon every couple of days. Right now I have 12, in various stages of various things. Some of them I'm likely never to play again (the ones that got partway into the civil war questlines - one from each side; and I've already deleted the toon that completed the MQ, which I'll never bother with again on ANY toon....)

There's always something else to do, some other way to play. The only things I do differently are use an altstart setup so the MQ isn't part of ANY toon's story; and never mess with the civil war at all.

I might have a go at being a mage.

I will stay neutral throughout. Maybe choosing at the end (LOL though choose is not really appropraite as I do not think I will ever be able to have a character that wants to join the Legion )

I am going to have a bad character as that is not something that I do at all (I might just have to create that now and run that game alongside my main character)

Sandboxers won't agree with me; don't go into locations that you have not been given a quest for. Map them, but walk on and attend to what you were doing in the first place.

This game has too many breakable quests.

It is a lot more fun to know WHY that amulet is so important, and WHY you can't drop it from your inventory.

R

Don't forget Deathbell, Nightshade, and Firesalts.

ive never done the civil wars, but I totally agree with overpowered = boredom... its amazing how even if you cheat and get everything in the game, you can bring back the fun of it by starting over and doing it the hard way. I actually dont fast travel anymore, even cart riding. it's added so much play time to the game.

Most important... I will NEVER do the Louis Letroush quest again! And I recommend that none of you do it too, unless you've found a way to make him stop getting assassinated and multiply over and over again. seeing 5 louis letroushes waiting for me outside whiterun is pretty gross.

I just found out that the deflect arrow perk blocks all attacks and not just arrows. As a result, that makes the shield wall perks pointless. If I had known in advance, I wouldn't have gotten 5/5 with the shield wall perks.

I might have also gone with light armor over heavy with my Nord, as light armor gets a perk that boosts stamina regen by 50%.

REally, I've done that quest twice and I've never found him afterwards

If your're talking about the theives and Dark Brotherhood guilds, I find having a merely decent sneak skill can get you through it just fine as long as you're careful, I mean, on my main character, I played a warrior archetype but I still beat those two questlines (at sneak 40 something)

wow alot of great tips and directions....im finding perks the biggest part of any of my decision making ...which appearently falls right in line with what u guys are saying...and the saving tip was great after i lost my second horse or i glitched out yet again on a quest

I would NOT console-complete bugged quests like Alduin's Wall or Blood on the Ice.
Because now, Sky Haven is locked (I have to TCL my way up from the standing stone near it) Esbern talks like he's still in the Ratway, and the Windhelm murderer is running loose.

Role play!
I find Skyrim much more fun if I choose a character and re play them.
I am partial to Bretons and I have two going now, male and female. The male is more of a thieving spellsword who usef a lit of enchanting, smithing, alch, and the female will be a pure thieving assassin with alch, sneak and archery.
I also played an imperial ha 1h battlemage who does not steal or murder.
Pick a role and have fun!
Some things I have learned:
-put no perks in block, they are a waste
-stay away from whiterun until you are level 15 or even higher
-avoid the MQ and do other things
- even as an la player I do only the ha side of smithing for better weapons and money. I think all the la looks like crap except for the NG stuff.
- don't buy a house for a while. Since I found the alchemist shack I use that il I am ready to buy the riften house.
Only buy 1 house. Pick one you like and pursue it. Makes your files a lot smaller on the ps3
-don't wreck smithing with iron daggers unless that is a rp choice. I prefer to make and improve all I can until I get to the dwarven perk then I will star doing quests where I canloot the dwarven ruins. I can make cash, nice bows and level my smithing as I need it.
- use gold and silvwr when leveling smithing
Hit up the gold mine and make rings. Good for cash and leveling speech also.
I think my hot little breton will try to marry sylga if I can woo her with another chick. She will live in sylgas house and have a smithy available while she avoids the cities for a while.

The key to sucess is to wisely use your perks.......first u need to be sure how ur gonna play the game (entire game) and then decide what skills and perks u will use ..do this before starting make sure u know where and how u want to approach combat ...this will help you a lot trust me DO NOT!!! go spending perks left and right just because the perk is bad ass or its fun....make sure u have a defined plan for your game....before u start...

If I actually had to restart a character right now it would be completely different experience (relatively) from my first playthough just cuz of mods.

I always fall in love with my first character. I still go back to play him from time to time. I started a second player and a third player. I primarily use my third and first.

Lessons learned: For me I enjoy seeing how the player fleshes out the first run through without any "do overs" given time every character becomes unique and has an individual charm. All of them become powerful.

When I did it a second and a third time I didn't take death so lightly. I killed people my first time through that I wish I hadn't. I allowed characters to die that I later wished I hadn't.

I stuck with the same follower far too long the first time. I wish I had changed up more as I learned later that different followers have different techniques and sometimes you may be in the mood for one thing and in a different mood a different time. Figuring out which follower fits your playing style mood dependent is sort of fun. Sometimes I want a follower opposite of me. Sometimes I want a carbon copy. Sometimes I want a hot babe. Sometimes I want a pal around buddy. Sometimes I just want to do it myself, a little alone time can make a ho hum bandit cave just a little bit more exciting (challenging)

My second run through I didn't do the Companion story line right off the bat. I did the thieves story line and had a lot of fun with that. My second run through I power-gamed. It turns out you can get pretty powerful pretty quickly. It was less than fun. So I started a run #3 and am back to role playing it rather than power gaming it. I enjoy that a lot more.

There are always things you will want to change. Part of the fun for me is making the mistakes work. I tend to fall in love with each unique character and save them all for trips down memory lane.

0 perks in Lockpicking.