Elder Scrolls the MMO

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sat May 06, 2017 5:19 pm

Redfive wrote:
dbt1949 wrote:I finally found one......Hogeye.
What is your account name? The one that starts with '@'

You'll never guess.......dbt1949.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Sat May 06, 2017 9:25 pm

dbt1949 wrote:
Bad Demographic wrote:Hit Enter to enable the chat window.
To talk to everybody in the region, /zone
To talk to just your guildmates (us), /guild1
To talk to people you're grouped up with, /group

To look at your character info, c
to look at your skills and assign skill points, k
Thanks!

You can also just do /g1 to talk to the guild folks.

I've been having a blast with this game now that my build issues are fixed. My new build calls for necropotence set gear. That's not something that can be crafted, it drops in the Rivenspire zone. So, I've spent all day grinding public delves and anchors there. So much fun. So far I found 3 pieces there so I need a few more to get the full set bonuses. I also took 2 pieces from the guild bank that were near my level so I hope no one minds. I did also find three necropotence staves but just my bad luck that two were restoration staves. The other is an ice staff which I can actually use if I can just find a lightning one to go with it.

Up to level 23 now and moving right along.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Sat May 06, 2017 9:35 pm

I found a ton of Necropotence gear during my time in Rivenspire. Glad you're back on track.

Bad Demographic · Post by **Bad Demographic** » Sat May 06, 2017 9:40 pm

I have Necropotence gear but it's too high for you.

I can still make stuff for you.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sun May 07, 2017 1:06 am

Why am I collecting runestones?

Bad Demographic · Post by **Bad Demographic** » Sun May 07, 2017 2:08 am

dbt1949 wrote:Why am I collecting runestones?

Use runestones to make glyphs - for the Enchanting craft.
Use wood to make weapons - for Woodworking craft.
Use metal to make weapons and armor - Blacksmithing.
Use fibrous plants (jute, cotton, flax, etc.) to make light armor - Clothier.
Use leathers (from killing animals) to make medium armor - Clothier.
Use food & drink ingredients (flour, metheglin, etc.) to make food & drinks - Provisioning.
Use alchemical reagents (lady's smock, cornflower, etc.) and a solvent (water, grease, etc.) to make potions and poisons - Alchemy.

You will need to find somebody to train you in those - try the mages guild, I'm not sure where else. The game should tell you.

I recommend you skip Provisioning and Alchemy for now because you will pick up sooooooo many items for them.

The non-helpful answer to your question is it's a compulsion.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Sun May 07, 2017 8:51 am

Bad Demographic wrote:You will need to find somebody to train you in those

Actually, you don't need anyone to train you to start crafting. You can just craft away at a station right from the start. What the craft trainers will do is certify you after you do their quests and that allows you to do the crafting writs posted on the bulletin boards. I haven't bothered with writs so far. I recommend you stay away from crafting to start unless you have a subscription and thus have the crafting bag. Either that or stick to just one or two crafts to reduce the materials involved. Otherwise, your inventory and bank will be overrun with crafting materials very quickly. Alchemy is particularly bad for that as is Provisioning.

Bad Demographic wrote:I can still make stuff for you.

I may take you up on that at some point once I figure out everything my new build calls for. In addition to 5 Necropotence pieces (which can include jewelry and weapons), it looks like it uses pieces of the Infallible Aether, Elegance and Spinner sets in just about any combination you can get you hands on for the rest. I'm not sure if there are level restrictions on any of that. I'm also not sure if it drops or is crafted. I need to do more research.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Sun May 07, 2017 2:50 pm

It looks like the guy who created the build I'm using recommends leveling it with the Julianos set, which is a crafted set, combined with the aforementioned Necropotence stuff. Can anyone make Julianos ? It looks like it requires having one of the DLC to craft it so I'm guessing maybe not.

Bad Demographic · Post by **Bad Demographic** » Sun May 07, 2017 3:37 pm

It also requires having researched 6 traits.
I can do 3 and some 4 - and not necessarily traits you might want.

wire · Post by **wire** » Sun May 07, 2017 4:24 pm

ColdSteel wrote:It looks like the guy who created the build I'm using recommends leveling it with the Julianos set, which is a crafted set, combined with the aforementioned Necropotence stuff. Can anyone make Julianos ? It looks like it requires having one of the DLC to craft it so I'm guessing maybe not.

I can make Julianos cloth and leather armor and probably a piece or two of heavy. Post the build gear and I'll see what I can make for you.

Bad Demographic · Post by **Bad Demographic** » Sun May 07, 2017 5:43 pm

I saw Arkon in ESO - he may have only been on for 5 or 10 minutes. I said hi but, since I failed to identify myself, he may have just decided to avoid.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Sun May 07, 2017 6:27 pm

Bad Demographic wrote:I saw Arkon in ESO - he may have only been on for 5 or 10 minutes. I said hi but, since I failed to identify myself, he may have just decided to avoid.

With how frequently people drop in and out of playing, someone needs to set Members to be able to invite and edit notes.

As far as crafting, I can make any woodworking set (but I'm not going to the one in Imperial City) and about a month away for 8 traits in cloth/leather and blacksmithing. So I can piece together a 5 piece set in 8 trait but you probably won't be able to choose exactly what pieces you want.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Sun May 07, 2017 6:35 pm

Bad Demographic wrote:I saw Arkon in ESO - he may have only been on for 5 or 10 minutes. I said hi but, since I failed to identify myself, he may have just decided to avoid.

I sent him another email in game and I've PM'd him here in the past--don't want to spam his inbox.

Hopefully he's back or can bump someone else to GM so we can do some promotions and such.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sun May 07, 2017 8:34 pm

I'm getting tired of wearing heavy armor and flip flops!

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon May 08, 2017 7:50 am

dbt1949 wrote:Why am I collecting runestones?

The most correct answer I can think of is "To encourage you to buy a subscription"

Philosophically, I think there's two ways to play the game at lower levels. I can't speak for higher levels yet. I'm only up to Level 25.

Don't be a crafter. You'll never make your own swords, shields, bows, staves, pants, shoes, gauntlets, hats, potions, provisions, etc. You'll be able to survive off gear you find on displays, backpacks, creatures, bosses, and in chests - and conversely, these things are really all you care about. You won't waste time chasing resource nodes, crates, bags, plants, and barrels - all they ever have is crafting materials. You may engage in thievery to earn gold (the only real "for profit" venture in the game at low levels). You may opt to keep equipment you want to research in your bank vault, and slowly work through that list of research projects day by day. The big bonus here is that you don't need to subscribe to get all this, and if you want more content and adventures, you simply buy the right expansions to add to your account as one-off costs. You might decide to take up one or two disciplines - maybe Blacksmithing and Woodworking to cover Heavy Armor and all Weapon types - but you'll still be missing Enchanting to make your crafted gear top-notch.
Be a crafter. You'll be able to make anything you want, within reason. Some sets need to be farmed, but that's okay. You still need to engage in thievery to earn gold since no one buys your crafted goods and there's no auction house. You're dedicated to spending a lot of time opening every single container and checking every single resource node you see, and in fact, this takes about as much time as actually adventuring, so your time is split. The kicker is the HUGE list of materials you gather, and that doesn't count the stuff you've banked for research or need to carry just to get by (potions, Soul Stones, Provisions). You could probably pull this off as a non-subscriber if you had maxed out backpack and bank space, but you don't early on. No way. So you subscribe - and get infinite and instant storage for materials; no need to run to a bank at the end of every quest to offload materials. As a side bonus, you also get access to all DLC.
- For level 20 (Tier 2 out of 10) crafting:
- Alchemy: 30 different materials, harvested from specific individual resource nodes
- Blacksmithing: 2 Raw materials, 2 refined materials, 1 housing material, 4 Improvement materials
- Clothier: 4 Raw materials, 4 refined materials, 2 housing materials, 8 improvement materials
- Woodworking: 2 Raw materials, 2 refined materials, 2 housing materials, 4 improvement materials
- Enchanting: 16 Potence Runes, 20 Essense Runes, 5 Quality Runes
- Provisioning: 51 Raw Materials (plus, you need to learn recipes to make goods)
- That's 159 precious bag and bank slots to be a good general crafter at a low level. You can craft out of your bank inventory, so you store it all there. You also store researchable armors and weapons there. The cap for each is 110 Backpack slots and 240 Bank slots, for a paltry 820,000g. That's 82 days of careful Thievery, and doesn't even cover the additional materials you'll need to store for higher-level crafting (multiply the Raw & Refined for Blacksmithing, Clothier, and Woodworking by 5)... or you can subscribe for $15/mo and not fret over it.
- You also get to do Crafting daily quests each day to give you a specific goal and reward for crafting.

Bear in mind that none of these crafting skills is essential. All of the equipment you'll find on your journey always scales to your level, and you can acquire level-scaled provisions by looting Cauldrons, Meals, and Kegs as you pass by them in dungeons and houses.

dbt1949 wrote:I'm getting tired of wearing heavy armor and flip flops!

That's a very personal choice.

The game doesn't penalize you for being any class wearing any armor. The armor itself is even largely irrelevant (except, of course, as defense) unless you've spent points in Armor skills to derive benefits from them. You only gain armor skill by wearing that armor type and gaining experience. You probably want to do something like Heavy everything, Medium Helm, and Light Belt until you're sure of which you want. Personally, I like sneaking, so I'm focused on Medium armor with a couple Heavy pieces and no Light at all.

Something that's hard to adjust to is that you've got everything open to you - anywhere in the world, any equipment, any crafting - right from the get-go. Your objective is to use skills, weapons, and armors to gain levels in THOSE things. Skill Points are all over the place (over 400 by the end of the game), and you can even farm them by hunting for Skyshards... so it really comes down to using your skills and equipment to create your character, not just gaining levels. You could even be level 5 and get Werewolf bitten so you can spend time working on that while you level everything else.

Be sure to check out some Add-Ons for the game, too. They can be absolutely vital. I couldn't live without my Minimap, Research Assisant (tells me which items I've already researched so I know which I can break down), and Skyshard locations. I've considered adding resource node logging, but don't feel it's a requirement yet (if at all) since I have no trouble finding enough of everything.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon May 08, 2017 9:08 am

At level 25, I'm still really enjoying my character - mostly because of the Werewolf aspect. Thanks DOS=HIGH!

I gobble down a Stamina boost for 35 minutes, then build up 400 Ultimate (cost diminishes with skill levels) and transform when opportune. I can rip through a "Delve" cavern a couple times before I exhaust myself, often trailing a couple people who seem happy to let me lead and are content to watch me devour corpses to reset my timer. I've dropped points into every skill in the tree (I'm a level 10 Werewolf and everything is open to me), so I've got the full run of abilities. It's nice that it's basically a complete functional skill line by itself (and a third hotbar), and you open up the skills for use quickly. Gaining levels as a werewolf isn't about experience - it's about kill count...

(Ultimate) - Transform - Become a killing machine for 30 seconds. Damage is determined by Stamina, and defense/procs seem determined by equipment (I love having setting foes on fire with my claws!). Swap out your normal hotbar for the Werewolf hotbar!
(Active) Pounce - Launch yourself at an enemy from 22 meters away to start a fight. A nice way to save a second or two of running and get in there fast.
(Active) Hircine's Bounty - Self heal, because healing keeps you alive.
(Active) Roar - Crowd control, sends neaby hostiles fleeing for a second - Pounce one to keep the fight rolling.
(Active) Piercing Howl - Instantly knock someone flat on their ass for a good mauling, also does good damage
(Active) Infectious Claws - Add a Disease DoT into your cycle of attacks for good measure.
(Passive) Devour - After killing an enemy, aim at the corpse and tap "X" to spend 3 seconds consuming the corpse. Adds 12 seconds to the Wolf timer (displayed under Magicka bar).
(Passive) Pursuit - Heavy attacks restore more Stamina (good for the attacks above).
(Passive) Blood Rage - Every 5 (Tier 1) or 3 (Tier 2) seconds, gain 3 seconds on your Transformation timer if you get hit. Keep the bloodlust going in a heavy boss fight if you get damaged!
(Passive) Blood Moon - Infect a willing player target once every 7 days
(Passive) Savage Strength - Add 9% (Tier 1) or 18% (Tier 2) damage to your claw attacks
(Passive) Call of the Pack - Increases Transformation timer based on transformed team mates.

When I'm transformed, I move through enemy groups like they're made of tissue paper, magnitudes faster than I can with my 2H sword and Bow. Since I figured out that I could see the countdown timer, it's only ever run out when I ran out of bodies to eat.

My only wish is that I could be a Werewolf more often. As the Transformation skill increases in level, it seems to decrease in cost - so that helps. 400 Ultimate became 375 at level 2. I'm wearing a full Werewolf Hide armor set for +5 Ultimate every 5 seconds in combat, but it still takes so long to fill up that bar.

Somewhere I have a skill that adds 10 Ultimate for each Potion I consume, so I might just find myself crafting dozens of potions to drink continually while I run around.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Mon May 08, 2017 10:10 am

Paingod wrote:
dbt1949 wrote:Why am I collecting runestones?
The most correct answer I can think of is "To encourage you to buy a subscription"

Philosophically, I think there's two ways to play the game at lower levels. I can't speak for higher levels yet. I'm only up to Level 25.

**Lots of helpful information***

The only thing I would point out, since you kind of stressed it a couple of times, is that you absolutely can make a lot of money at low levels selling those crafting materials (especially for Alchemy) by joining a trade guild and selling those items on a guild store.

Didn't we discuss this at length above?

I don't want to say you must be forced to join a trade guild and in the discussions above people noted their resistance to it, but it really is quite painless and can be very profitable from level 1.

The guild I can give you access to has one very easy requirement to meet: just make sure you log on at least once every two weeks.

I can respect the difference of opinions on trade guilds vs. auction houses, but you really are leaving money on the table if you don't join one at an early level.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon May 08, 2017 10:15 am

As someone who's subscribed for the benefit of unlimited crafting inventory (if not additional content), I never have any intention of selling off those hard-earned materials if I can help it - and completely forgot it was an option for others! I was just remembering that they're worthless to vendors.

I still don't know what I'm going to do with the pile of increasing housing materials I have. I expect someday I'll own a hovel somewhere and will decorate it extensively.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Mon May 08, 2017 10:30 am

Yeah, I firmly believe that the crafting bag is worth the subscription alone.

You can certainly play the game without it but the quality of life issue improvements with the crafting bag cannot be understated.

Hanging on to everything you pick up is perfectly fine--if you feel you want to craft everything available.

I bought the game at launch and played my Dragon Knight until about level 30 and then took a break for almost a year or maybe 15 mo. When I came back I finished leveling to 50 (this was in the days when veteran ranks were still in the game) I still collected most of the crafting materials available while simultaneously working on Blacksmithing. It wasn't until One Tamriel and the advent of upcoming housing that I decided to try to make money via a trade guild. I listed most of the non-smithing materials that I'd been collecting and in 1 day made well over 150,000 gold.

I was lazy about crafting though and hadn't done any research on researching gear so I had no idea you had to have 'x' number of traits to craft several sets so I'm behind the curve on that for sure.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon May 08, 2017 10:43 am

Redfive wrote:I listed most of the non-smithing materials that I'd been collecting and in 1 day made well over 150,000 gold.

That doesn't seem like enough to me.

I could log in each evening for 4 hours and earn 10,000g in theft fencing (or more), and a couple thousand in daily crafting quests and still have time to do a couple Delves and harvest some materials. In 15 evenings, I could probably have 150,000g without having to unload everything I've been hoarding.

Redfive wrote:Hanging on to everything you pick up is perfectly fine--if you feel you want to craft everything available.

I never know what I'll want to go craft, and I don't want to have to spend time and money re-collecting things I sold off for a quick buck earlier ... and I also hoard in games and feel almost obsessively inclined to collect everything I can while playing. So I'm a terrible gauge.

It's funny. In real life, I could live in one of those MicroHomes with just a cot, toilet, stove, and computer desk. In games I consistently need maximum storage for all the crap I accumulate. I still have 4 kinds of Bandit disguises because I couldn't bring myself to toss them.

Bad Demographic · Post by **Bad Demographic** » Mon May 08, 2017 11:09 am

Paingod wrote:
Redfive wrote:... and I also hoard in games and feel almost obsessively inclined to collect everything I can while playing.

QTF!
I had to consciously wean myself from checking every barrel, crate and sack and harvesting every alchemical plant. I've also stopped taking Runestones - at least until I have time to enchant like crazy to use up some of the runes I have 190+ of.
I plan to raise my alchemy and provisioning one of these days specifically to be able craft furniture for Redfive's house. And for mine. I plan to buy Sleek Creek when I complete the required quest line.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon May 08, 2017 11:15 am

That obsession is what drove me to make this house for Skyrim, which is a tiny shack with storage for every item type. I kept meaning to get back in and update it to include an auto-sort like some other homes had, but never got into the game enough again to warrant it.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Mon May 08, 2017 2:54 pm

Like I got rabbit guts. Highly useful I'm sure.
How do you drop items, or not collect them when you check dead bodies?

Bad Demographic · Post by **Bad Demographic** » Mon May 08, 2017 3:38 pm

dbt1949 wrote:Like I got rabbit guts. Highly useful I'm sure.
How do you drop items, or not collect them when you check dead bodies?

It's probably better to just take all, that way things respawn. For instance, if you're collecting alchemical reagents (plants) or fibers (also plants) and would take worms as well as the stuff you want, just take the worms. Otherwise the plant will stay and only yield worms for the next person. (Same for pretty much everything, including chests and thieves troves).

Guts - you can use them as fishing bait (also worms, etc.)
To get rid of the stuff:
a) you can "sell" them to merchants for 0 gp.
b) you can right click on them and mark as "junk", then sell all your junk at once - you can even do this with stuff with value
3) you can save up big piles (max 200) and sell them through Redfive's trading guild - that guild even has a weekly fishing contest so people actually do buy bait.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon May 08, 2017 3:47 pm

Bad Demographic wrote:To get rid of the stuff:
a) you can "sell" them to merchants for 0 gp.
b) you can right click on them and mark as "junk", then sell all your junk at once - you can even do this with stuff with value
3) you can save up big piles (max 200) and sell them through Redfive's trading guild - that guild even has a weekly fishing contest so people actually do buy bait.

The game could certainly use a filter for "junk" items - things with absolutely no intrinsic value shouldn't require player interaction to mark them for sale.

Something else the subscription does is stow all the fishing goods with the other materials. I've probably got a huge mass of old Guts, Worms, Bug Parts, and Centipedes sitting in a box somewhere...

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Mon May 08, 2017 7:29 pm

wire wrote:I can make Julianos cloth and leather armor and probably a piece or two of heavy. Post the build gear and I'll see what I can make for you.

I'll see if I can find something more specific. The build creator didn't list anything for leveling so someone in a forum post asked him how to level it and he said basically "use Julianos". I'll see if I can find any other posts about it there with more detail. In any case, I've gotten 5 pieces of Necropotence so I'm set there and I've gotten a few pieces of the Queen's Elegance set to go with that. A few more and I'll be set and won't need Julianos at all. What I do need for sure though is 2 lightning staves with the sharpened trait if anyone can make those for level 28. It is amazing to me how rare lightning staves are in this game. I find ten of every other kind for every one lightning staff.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue May 09, 2017 8:46 am

Is equipment really that helpful for a caster? I always assume that I'm going to quickly outlevel anything I've got and don't worry about it much. The only things I'm looking for is "Werewolf Hide" for basically +1 Ultimate per second in a fight, and equipment with +Stamina for extra damage as a Werewolf. I think half my gear is 5-10 levels behind me just because I don't want to lose that Werewolf Hide bonus.

Despite that, I do okay in regular hand to hand combat against normal and strong foes when I'm a pitiful human. It seems like things are taking longer to kill as I level up, or maybe I'm not fighting as smart as I should be and am just spamming abilities until fights are over.

ColdSteel wrote:The build creator didn't list anything for leveling so someone in a forum post asked him how to level it and he said basically "use Julianos".

Interesting set, though - Spell Crit, Max Magicka, Spell Crit, Spell Damage. Necropotence is all Max Magicka, it seems.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Tue May 09, 2017 9:36 am

I'm still holding on to a few pieces, chest / legs / helm specifically because of the stamina bonuses they confer.

They are way below my level but every time I find an individual piece that is better than what I have in the slot it is not enough to overcome the loss of the set bonus.

I'm not too worried because, as you mentioned above, leveling gear just doesn't really matter that much and in my opinion what I just relayed proves that. I have no issues at all--not even close--while fighting packs of normal mobs even though I have significantly out leveled half of my gear.

I'm the world's worst MMO researcher. I don't pick / stick to goals and as a result I kind of just keep questing, assuming that when I reach CP 160 (I think? LOL) I'll start getting serious about gear.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue May 09, 2017 2:18 pm

I'm kind of going for a Nord tank. Don't know if I'll still be trying for that 20 levels from now but I like the idea anyways. I'm putting half my points in stamina and half in health. Should I go for just one or the other?

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue May 09, 2017 3:23 pm

While I've never tried, I hear you can pretty much roll everything about your character back - for a cost in Gold. So stats and skills aren't permanent and you don't need to stress about breaking yourself.

Magicka and Stamina are spent on different things, and you'll need to sort out which you're using more of. Health can't hurt either and will help stop the dying too frequently. There's a lot of food & drink you can consume (and make) that buffs Magicka, Stamina, and Health by large percentages (like 5000 points) where a single spent point in stats provides 111 points (at level 50 that's just barely more than a Level 10 food item gives as a buff). I don't think you can hurt yourself too badly one way or another.

I've personally dumped all 25 levels worth of skill points into Stamina, but I did that for the damage it gives me in Werewolf form than for any other good reason.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Tue May 09, 2017 4:05 pm

Both of my higher level characters (one is a dragon knight) have had all of their points put into Stamina.

Weapon skills run off of stamina and class skills (the 3 lines every class gets) run off of magicka.

If you are swinging swords for most of your damage then a lot of stamina is good. Health, while not a bad choice, is usually augmented by gear (but not always).

I would not split between stamina and magicka (not that you were saying you would). That I think is a pretty reliable way to gimp yourself.

You can reset those items for gold as was mentioned. You are Ebonheart Pact so you'll do it in the capitol of Mournhold which is in Deshann (the next zone after The Stonefalls).

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue May 09, 2017 11:54 pm

I'll probably go with the stamina from now on.
Just reached level 9. Damn but that took a long time.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed May 10, 2017 7:15 am

dbt1949 wrote:Just reached level 9. Damn but that took a long time.

With the recent trend of MMO's throwing levels at you like candy, this one seems unacceptably skewed - but remember too that everything scales. Creatures, equipment, loot. The -only- thing that you really get for leveling is a Stat point and a Skill point. Skill points are abundant - there's something like 400-450+ in the total game. You can even find them laying around on the floor in the form of Skyshards. In most MMO's, equipment is level-based, zones are level-based, bosses are level-based... but not this game. It's a very flat scale with a slight incline. I'd play it like Skyrim and worry less about levels and more about questing, looting, and exploring.

If you feel like you're really dragging, you could try equipping a few "Training" items for +% Experience on kills and go on a murder spree. You could install the Skyshard location Add-On and then scour the world, hoovering up skill points or banking them for later use (you won't be able to use them until your skills hit an adequate level).

The biggest thing to do is keep skills in your hotbar that correspond with spheres of knowledge you'd like to get better at. The skills in the hotbar gain experience anytime you do, and the sphere of knowledge seems to gain experience anytime one of the skills does.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed May 10, 2017 7:56 am

I think probably altho I killed a lot and I started a lot of missions I didn't complete them as fast as I could.
But then again things get very confused when you get arrows showing the way to complete a mission and arrows showing you new missions. And then finding myself far far away from where I need to be all the time.
This game does not follow Skyrim (and it's rules) very closely. Not much more than just names I think.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed May 10, 2017 10:31 am

dbt1949 wrote:I think probably altho I killed a lot and I started a lot of missions I didn't complete them as fast as I could.
But then again things get very confused when you get arrows showing the way to complete a mission and arrows showing you new missions. And then finding myself far far away from where I need to be all the time.
This game does not follow Skyrim (and it's rules) very closely. Not much more than just names I think.

No, the game isn't anything like Skyrim - but I suppose it depends on how you play. I tended to just play and use what I wanted to use, and my skills followed suit.

If you find quests are a mess, hit "J" to see the quest list and select your region and quest you'd like to make "active" (white indicator). The map can also tell you where to go, which can help if you're looking at something in a different zone.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Wed May 10, 2017 11:29 am

Paingod wrote:With the recent trend of MMO's throwing levels at you like candy, this one seems unacceptably skewed - but remember too that everything scales. Creatures, equipment, loot. The -only- thing that you really get for leveling is a Stat point and a Skill point. Skill points are abundant - there's something like 400-450+ in the total game. You can even find them laying around on the floor in the form of Skyshards. In most MMO's, equipment is level-based, zones are level-based, bosses are level-based... but not this game. It's a very flat scale with a slight incline. I'd play it like Skyrim and worry less about levels and more about questing, looting, and exploring.

Passive skills can have a big impact on your power level in this game, as can the bonuses you get from equipment sets. I've found that those two things make a big impact. The other thing is not to forget to allocate your attribute points when you level up. Adding to my magicka attribute really increases the damage my skills do a lot and for a while there I had forgotten that you get more attribute points when you level. I think that's why it's important to be following some sort of build plan when leveling, no matter how vague, so you're increasing the right things.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed May 10, 2017 2:00 pm

My build plan may be too vague.

"Stamina = Werewolf Damage"

... Every point I get, and every piece of equipment is +Stamina.

Hand to hand combat takes longer than I'd like but when I shift into a wolf I rip things limb from limb in seconds. It's just delicious.

I'm actually a little bummed out that I'm already a "Max Level" werewolf (Skill Level 10). All that's left is morphing the (very) slowly increasing combat skills.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Wed May 10, 2017 3:26 pm

Thank you very much to whoever sent me the lightning staves (Lumina Suntouched?).

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu May 11, 2017 1:26 am

I made the mistake of trying to sneak into a manor with a thief. Got caught up in a never ending loop and could not escape. Ending up paying the 60 crowns. Thief was absolutely useless. And I mean that in the worst way.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu May 11, 2017 8:56 am

dbt1949 wrote:I made the mistake of trying to sneak into a manor with a thief. Got caught up in a never ending loop and could not escape. Ending up paying the 60 crowns. Thief was absolutely useless. And I mean that in the worst way.

Plundering is, sadly, not a great group activity.

When you enter an instance you share resource nodes and chests with other players. Each person gets their own Wardrobes, Dressers, Nightstands, Barrels, Sacks, Backpacks, Trunks, Crates, and other unlocked containers to loot. It's kind of a dick move to loot everything but leave one crap item in one of those shared containers because it doesn't respawn until after it's been completely emptied. I've run up to eagerly loot a rare resource node in the wild, only to discover that someone took the plant and left the Worms in it.

The best stuff to find is what is shared, and you've basically got to race the other players to get there first. The rest is kind of junk, but can yield a lot of crafting materials (which need to be Laundered at a Fence to bank or not have the guards take back when they catch you).

Cat burglary is an artform that involves getting to know the timing and routine of NPC's and staying hidden (crouch, default "Control" key). It's a mechanical skill you learn that transfers to some quests later on. If you have the Dark Brotherhood DLC (by subscription or purchase), I've found it very helpful to know how and when to pilfer a chest in safety or avoid a guard patrol.

What's nice about theft, aside from the cash, is that the activities scale with your level too. You get more experience for picking locks as you level up (which also increases weapon and class skills). The items in the chests scale with your level as well. Around level 20 I started finding "Blue" items worth 250g each at the Fence. You can actually gain a lot of experience just by picking door locks and chest locks, as well as earning a good bit of coin. It's safer than getting into fights, as long as you're sneaky and avoid detection.

I now, too, understand why I was finding so many dead bodies in locked houses. When you join the Dark Brotherhood, you're immediately granted a silent kill takedown. This lets you murder any non-essential, non-boss NPC in one click and without generating bounty (assuming you weren't spotted). This not only simplifies looting a house (since you can't be ratted out by dead occupants), but provides a little Dark Brotherhood experience as well. Win-win, just not for the poor homeowners.