The Elder Scrolls: By the VIII Divines

[NineThePuma]

Thread Title suggested by Osiris_Shadowblade

Previous threads:

Who's excited for Skyrim? (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=202414)
Skyrim II: A Dragon A Day Keeps The Draugr At Bay. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222730)
Skyrim III: Get rich selling protective knee gear! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12323418#post12323418)
Skyrim IV: Oblivion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228914)
Skyrim Thread VI: Dov Riders, AWAY! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=262708)
The Elder Scrolls VII: Do you believe in mod? (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=298127)


Handy things:
Official forums (http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/forum/117-v-skyrim/)
Perk calculator (http://skyrimcalculator.com/)
Some things you need to know about Skyrim (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12328428#post12328428)
The Wiki (http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Quests_(Skyrim))

Mods:
Aesthetic/interface mods
Inventory Interface mod (http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=667)

Fixes
Ebony Blade fix (http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1946)

Gameplay additions
Skyrim Online, the MMO (http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3592)
Dragon Souls to Perk points (http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2063)
Marriage/Companion mod (http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2176)
No Perk Prerequisites (http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1943)
Perk Reset (http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1876)
Speech improving Shouting (http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2318)

[GungHo]

Talos weeps.

[Landis963]

Dang, beat me to it.

[Sharoth]

You Stormcloaks and your rebellious ways. The Empire will defeat you. Then, after we are done with our upcoming war with the Thalmor, we will let you worship Talos again.

[Landis963]

I still think there's no point to that peace conference if you can't pull off an old-fashioned décapiter during it.

[JediSoth]

Well, I bit the bullet and joined the Dark Brotherhood. I figure I've already shown questionable morals on this playthrough already, so why not? Besides, it's not like it's a Bioware game where my choices with one faction will affect anything else. I've decided this playthrough (my 4th!) will be the Ultimate Playthrough of Ultimate Completion. I'm already Harbinger of the Companions and Dovahkiin. I'm going to work on becoming Thieves' Guild Guildmaster (and Nightingale), Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, Archmage, Thane in all the holds, owner of all the houses and builder of the three stand-alone houses, and slayer of Alduin.

Still can't support the Stormcloaks, though.

[Calemyr]

I'm probably stepping on a third rail, here, but I've gotta ask, has anybody looked into information on the Imperial Edition of Elder Scrolls Online? I'm just curious what the general opinion about it is.

[DemonicAngel]

so, mods?
something to make the combat a bit more fun, something to make dragons terryfing, and something to make me feel like trading through an icy wilderness like th elone wanderer that I am.

From the last thread. anyone?

[Ailurus]

From the last thread. anyone?

There are multiple combat overhauls. Skyre is probably the most well known, though it changes all the perk trees and other stuff along the way. On a more minor note, I like Dance of Death, which doesn't change any mechanics, but does let you adjust kill move frequency and variety, as well as letting them happen mid-fight too.

Dragon scariness, Deadly Dragons. More common dragons, random dragon spawns, multiple dragon spawns, dragons with higher stats, and above all a bunch of new dragons, including invisible ones and a super cool but super nasty steampunk/dwemer dwemer mechanical dragon.

Icy wilderness and such, there's Frostfall which was discussed over the last few pages of the last thread.

[Togath]

I'm probably stepping on a third rail, here, but I've gotta ask, has anybody looked into information on the Imperial Edition of Elder Scrolls Online? I'm just curious what the general opinion about it is.

I'm not sure what you mean?
As far as I can tell, it adds a mount, a non-combat pet(though why WoW has been the only game to give them a use so far[as far as I know] is beyond me, pokemon battles with vanity pets is fun =3 ), a "recruit a friend" bonus, and the ability to play any faction(which is a deal killer for me.. since it's pretty clear the company plans on it being a pay-to-win game given that).

I'd had some hope for it.. Until they revealed that the "special" edition gives you the pay-to-win-esc ability to play any faction as any race.
I'll be surprised if it lasts a year. Heck, I doubt it'll last even six months.

Unless I missed something about it, anyway.

[Antonok]

What all the Imperial Edition nets you:

~ Imperial Race
~ Imperial White Horse mount
~ Mudcrab Vanity Pet
~ Rings of Mara (bonus XP when questing with a friend)
~ 5 Days Early Access
~ Any Race in Any Alliance
~ Scuttler Vanity Pet
~ Bonus Treasure Maps



I'm not sure what you mean?
As far as I can tell, it adds a mount, a non-combat pet(though why WoW has been the only game to give them a use to far[as far as I know] is beyond me), a "recruit a friend" bonus, and the ability to play any faction(which is a deal killer for me.. since it's pretty clear the company plans on it being a pay-to-win game given that).

I'd had some hope for it.. Until they revealed that the "special" edition gives you the pay-to-win-esc ability to play any faction as any race.
I'll be surprised if it lasts a year. Heck, I doubt it'll last even six months.

Unless I missed something about it, anyway.

The any race/any alliance thing isn't pay to win by any means at all. I'd be more worried about the bonus treasure maps.

Still, I don't see it doing well with all the costs. 60 for the game, 15 a month sub, plus an in game cash shop for all your vanity items. Couple that with the rather steep (as far as mmos are concerned, most lower end systems that can play GW2, TERA, WoW, SWOTR, etc can't play it) system requirements and I don't see it having a very big player base either.

[Togath]

I more meant; it seems wrong for an mmo to have something that costs extra money(other than an expansion pack) that adds things that have an effect on gameplay, such as a race, or a removal of normal limitations(such as having any race in any faction, if that isn't the norm).

[Antonok]

Well, the faction specific races were a bad idea to begin with and they've been adamant about keeping it.

[Togath]

Aye, definitely.
Given the fact that you could choose any race in the main series games, They really should of known better.
On the plus side, Zenimax is not connected to Bethesda other than this game, as far as I know, so the production of the next main series game shouldn't have any significant delay from this failed spinoff.

[Divayth Fyr]

Well, the faction specific races were a bad idea to begin with and they've been adamant about keeping it.
Unless you give them your money in advance (preorder) in which case you don't need to care about that!

I really, really hope the thing fails miserably - if only because:

they talked so much about how the Imperials won't be playable because everyone hates them and how the racial division is important, now to drop all that for those willing to pay.
several unnecessary retcons and moronic changes to the lore
the fact that an island in Elsweyr has fauna which would work perfectly somewhere near the Morrowind/Skyrim border...

[Calemyr]

I'm not sure what you mean?
As far as I can tell, it adds a mount, a non-combat pet(though why WoW has been the only game to give them a use so far[as far as I know] is beyond me, pokemon battles with vanity pets is fun =3 ), a "recruit a friend" bonus, and the ability to play any faction(which is a deal killer for me.. since it's pretty clear the company plans on it being a pay-to-win game given that).

I'd had some hope for it.. Until they revealed that the "special" edition gives you the pay-to-win-esc ability to play any faction as any race.
I'll be surprised if it lasts a year. Heck, I doubt it'll last even six months.

Unless I missed something about it, anyway.

There's not much pay-to-win, although the mount and the recruit-a-friend are distinct advantages.

Play any race in any faction is the pre-order bonus, not the Imperial Edition. Not sure how I feel about that feature, but they already said that anyone who reached level 50 with a race could then play them in other factions, so it's not that big of a deal. A headstart, not a locked out feature.

The Imperial race is the big thing, I think. Supposedly their abilities are balanced to other races, so they aren't "I Win" buttons. The fact that they can belong to any faction is, again, unsettling, but the only PVP in the game is in Cyrodil, where they make pretty clear who's in what faction. They get their own armor style that seems a bit flashier than other styles, though any craftsman can learn it if they find a manual (same as the other racial styles).

It's not like enemy silhouettes will mean much anyway. Alliance and Horde had very different styles for all major roles, but anyone can wear any armor (and craft any style if they learn how), so playing a dark elf in the Daggerfall Covenent isn't really an advantage.

It's definitely a departure from standard convention, but I think they have to do so. If they play by Blizzard's rules, they're going to lose every time. The graves of dozens of MMOs will tell you that sad story.

[NEO|Phyte]

Not sure how accurate this is, but as I've heard it the game is a fairly decent MMO, but a terrible TES game.

[Antonok]

There's not much pay-to-win, although the mount and the recruit-a-friend are distinct advantages.


Oh yea, the mount is. Those things cost ridiculous amounts of gold.

Minorly breaking NDA here :smalltongue:: 15,000 gold for a %$#@$%^ starting mount

[Calemyr]

Oh yea, the mount is. Those things cost ridiculous amounts of gold.

Minorly breaking NDA here :smalltongue::

That's beta, though. They'll probably tweak the prices for the live game. They darn well better tweak the prices. (Blizzard had to do that as well, after all, and they sell mounts for cash as well). The point of a beta is to test things to make sure they work. Complaining about broken things in a beta is stupid. You might as well complain about the voice acting. Complaining about them when they still appear in live, however, is absolutely legitimate.

[Sajiri]

As far as I can tell, it adds a mount, a non-combat pet(though why WoW has been the only game to give them a use so far[as far as I know] is beyond me, pokemon battles with vanity pets is fun =3 ),

Hey now, they had a use in Ragnarok Online long before they did in WoW

[KillianHawkeye]

I thought there were nine divines? :smallconfused:

[mythmonster2]

Officially, the Empire says there's only 8, since Talos isn't supposed to be worshiped. Many people in Skyrim (with the exception of most Stormcloaks, obviously) have gotten used to it and swear by the Eight.

[druid91]

So, favorite use of a rune spell so far?

I'd have to say (And I think I've said this before) that putting a fire-rune on the balcony at Vittoria Vicci's wedding was my favorite way of accomplishing that mission.

[Winter_Wolf]

I'm a mad fire rune bomber. Stealth + quiet casting + rune master + throw voice shout = lots of explosions and flaming ragdolls. :smallbiggrin:

Trying to find anything in the aftermath is kind of a hassle at times, though.

[Gnome Alone]

I'm a mad fire rune bomber. Stealth + quiet casting + rune master + throw voice shout = lots of explosions and flaming ragdolls. :smallbiggrin:

Trying to find anything in the aftermath is kind of a hassle at times, though.

Maybe someone should mod a shout like Aura Whisper but that works for scorched bits of remains.

It could be called... Aura Whisper II: Not Just for Finding Your Horse Anymore.

[DigoDragon]

Well, the faction specific races were a bad idea to begin with and they've been adamant about keeping it.

My wife doesn't know much about ES, but she didn't like the fact she couldn't play an Altmer loyal to the Ebonheart Pact (She's watched me play Skyrim so she knows a little about that area).

[KillianHawkeye]

Officially, the Empire says there's only 8, since Talos isn't supposed to be worshiped. Many people in Skyrim (with the exception of most Stormcloaks, obviously) have gotten used to it and swear by the Eight.

Okay, it used to be nine before Skyrim, right? I mostly played the older games.

[Calemyr]

Okay, it used to be nine before Skyrim, right? I mostly played the older games.

Near as I can tell, it started with nine divines, but one (Lorkhan) sacrificed himself to serve as the physical plane during the creation of the world, so there were 8. Then Tiber Septim became the 9th. Then strongarmed the Empire into banning Talos worship. Now anyone who follows the official Imperial party line worships only 8. At least openly.

[Divayth Fyr]

Near as I can tell, it started with nine divines, but one (Lorkhan) sacrificed himself to serve as the physical plane during the creation of the world, so there were 8. Then Tiber Septim became the 9th. Then strongarmed the Empire into banning Talos worship. Now anyone who follows the official Imperial party line worships only 8. At least openly.
Nope - Lorkan was killed by others because he tricked them into getting bound to the world and the strongest of the spirits that were left after that became known as gods by the races of Tamriel (which obviously came much later). When the religion was created by Alessia it did consist of 8 divines (Akatosh, Arkay, Dibella, Julianos, Kynareth, Mara, Stendarr, and Zenithar) with other, "lesser" gods also being venerated but not included in the "main part" of the cult's doctrine. This included Shezzar (cyrodiilic version of Lorkhan).

Of course this is TES, so technically Lorkhan also WAS a part of the 8 divines cult (since Lorkhan is Akatosh) while not being there...


Okay, it used to be nine before Skyrim, right? I mostly played the older games.
Tiber as god was introduced in Morrowind (with a guest appearance in the game itself).

[Driderman]

Not sure how accurate this is, but as I've heard it the game is a fairly decent MMO, but a terrible TES game.

Been playing over the weekend.
It's pretty standard MMO fare. Graphically nice, but so was Age of Conan and look where that got it.
The game itself seems rather boring. It's very typical Elder Scrolls in the sense that the quests are so bland and uninspired you want to slit your wrists, but on the other hand it follows the dated MMO-design system of having quest hubs, so exploration seems like it's not really going to happen either.
To be honest, the game seemed hammy and uninspired. I guess it might be fun if you're just looking to switch your brand of MMO-drug, but it certainly doesn't bring much in the way of new ideas.
Well, the not-so-class-based classes I guess are slightly new-ish. Instead of choosing a archetypal class and being relegated to a few different options as per standard MMO style, you now choose between 4 archetypal classes with funny names (yes it's basically just Warrior, Wizard, Rogue and Cleric) and have the option to screw up your build by choosing abilities that doesn't complement your chosen class at all. At least, with the amount of skill points I had accessible(not a lot, that is), it certainly didn't seem like focusing on my summon and 2-handed sword was a particularly good idea. Still, the option is there and this is only a beta after all.

Overall, it seems to me like Elder Scrolls Online is mostly just a Zenimax attempt at making a cash-cow like World of Warcraft is/was, which would also explain why they're absolutely feel it has to be sub-based.
Most of it is standard MMO-design, with the added benefit of having none of the usual exploration freedom of Bethesda games, but all of the really bad writing.

[Duck999]

Well, I bit the bullet and joined the Dark Brotherhood. I figure I've already shown questionable morals on this playthrough already, so why not? Besides, it's not like it's a Bioware game where my choices with one faction will affect anything else. I've decided this playthrough (my 4th!) will be the Ultimate Playthrough of Ultimate Completion. I'm already Harbinger of the Companions and Dovahkiin. I'm going to work on becoming Thieves' Guild Guildmaster (and Nightingale), Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, Archmage, Thane in all the holds, owner of all the houses and builder of the three stand-alone houses, and slayer of Alduin.

Still can't support the Stormcloaks, though.

Don't forget to be a bard, gain the favor of all the daedra, kill Miraak, and beat the vampire or dawnguard questline. Also, take over as many cities as you can in the civil war. Take over all but 1, have a peace treaty, give the cities back, take them over again. :smallsmile:
My main account is doing almost the same thing. However, he refuses to gain the favor of Azura, because the black star is better for a thief. He is thieves guild master, champion of all but 1 daedric prince, beat Harkon, winner lf the war, defeater of Alduin and Miraak, builder of houses, bard, listener, harbinger, and on his way to being the archmage. He is not yet all the thanes, and has not bought all the houses. Anything I missed?

[Ailurus]

gain the favor of all the daedra

That's something I've never done in Skyrim, except for the achievement. Boethiah and Namira's quests both get too brutally cruel for me, even with Dark Brotherhood characters. (Seriously - hauling a guy halfway across skyrim and then either eating or sacrificing them is just plain wrong) And Vaermina's quest is hard too, though on some characters the Torpor makes offing Erandur somewhat easier (though still a scummy thing to do).

[Duck999]

That's something I've never done in Skyrim, except for the achievement. Boethiah and Namira's quests both get too brutally cruel for me, even with Dark Brotherhood characters. (Seriously - hauling a guy halfway across skyrim and then either eating or sacrificing them is just plain wrong) And Vaermina's quest is hard too, though on some characters the Torpor makes offing Erandur somewhat easier (though still a scummy thing to do).

My character has a simple code: If there is gain to be had and he believes it is worth it...
I am not Azuras hero though, being an assassin can make the black star helpful. For boethiah, I do the love letters quest, choose the guy that is not Faendal, and sacrifice him. :smallamused: Then Faendal assumes I am involved and thanks me. :smallsmile:

[druid91]

(Seriously - hauling a guy halfway across skyrim and then either eating or sacrificing them is just plain wrong)

As opposed to everything else in skyrim that's morally wholesome?

I don't do Namira's just because Namira creeps me the heck out.

[Avilan the Grey]

I don't play MMO's at all, as I have stated before, but I really REALLY don't think a full price subscription model (and for what sounds like a very bland copy / mix of both the "original" (WoW) and the other "original" (Skyrim / Oblivion) is going anywhere. I forsee a permanent closing within 24 months.

And that's not because I want it to go badly, but just analyzing the market.

[Driderman]

I don't play MMO's at all, as I have stated before, but I really REALLY don't think a full price subscription model (and for what sounds like a very bland copy / mix of both the "original" (WoW) and the other "original" (Skyrim / Oblivion) is going anywhere. I forsee a permanent closing within 24 months.

And that's not because I want it to go badly, but just analyzing the market.

Well depending on the scope of their ambition, it might continue to be supported. Not really sure how much money is invested in the production of this, but I'm guessing it's a lot so they'll want a lot of subs to recoup expense.
The Elder Scrolls fanbase is a bit of wild card for me, since I don't really get them. Maybe they'll be brand loyal enough to actually create a decent subscriber base, but to honest from what I've seen this looks like yet another uninspired attempt at "like WoW, just making money for us instead of Blizzard/Activision" and I wouldn't be surprised if it has a bumpy ride once the initial glamour wears off and it starts to bleed subs like pretty much every other MMO out there.

[DigoDragon]

Then Tiber Septim became the 9th. Then strongarmed the Empire into banning Talos worship.

Aldmeri Dominion I think is the noun you're missing (For the strong-arming part). :smallsmile:



Boethiah and Namira's quests both get too brutally cruel for me, even with Dark Brotherhood characters. (Seriously - hauling a guy halfway across skyrim and then either eating or sacrificing them is just plain wrong)

I generally kill two quests with one stone... err, dagger. >_>
I'll go ahead and sacrifice brother Verulus to Namira, gaining Eola as a follower, but then I'll drag Eola over to Boethiah's shrine and sacrifice her. So... it evens out for me.

...Yeah, I'm strangely evil. :smallbiggrin:

[Calemyr]

I don't play MMO's at all, as I have stated before, but I really REALLY don't think a full price subscription model (and for what sounds like a very bland copy / mix of both the "original" (WoW) and the other "original" (Skyrim / Oblivion) is going anywhere. I forsee a permanent closing within 24 months.

And that's not because I want it to go badly, but just analyzing the market.

We'll see. I like the combat and general style of ESO much more than any MMO since City of Heroes, the artwork and the soundtrack are gorgeous, the crafting and enchanting system is clever and very promising, and the voice acting, while not "excellent", clocks in at a solid "pretty darn good". The approach to classes (class accounts for about 15% of your available skill trees. 5% are racial, 50% are available to everyone, 30% are based on the guilds you join (mages, fighters, etc), and that's not including crafting skills) allows for excellent customization, as well, which is flat out gorgeous to my mind.

The downsides? The economy is currently very stupid. Things generally don't sell for 5% of their purchase value (and crafting requires a purchased reagent that costs more than the items themselves sell for during the first ten levels). Inventory is also very stupid, mainly in regards to crafting. By-item-type limitations on inventory is fine, but not when you can initially carry 50 items and there are so many varieties of crafting materials. Runes for enchanting alone takes up half my inventory.

Normal fights are pretty basic Elder Scrolls fare, but bosses can get tactical even in early fights. Not, you know, a lot, but some, such as kiting one enemy into patches of fire that fall onto the battlefield or destroying healing orbs that another enemy generates to keep herself in the fight. And this is in the level 8-14 range, not endgame.

I also have to say that they've got a very good balance of big picture perspective (like WoW) and personal story perspective (like SWTOR) to make me feel like I'm not just in a big, big world but also part of it. Hearing town criers go from declaring curfews and no-go zones (unfinished quests) to announcing to the world that said problems have been addressed alone is a nice touch.

Can this game last as a subscription-based MMO? That depends on factors that are not yet known. How fast will the support team fix bugs and balance errors? How readily will they add new content? Will they listen to their player base or ignore them? They're going to have to work like hell to earn that $15 a month, but I certainly feel they have the tools to do so.

Personally, I'm willing to pay the fee. For a few months, at least, to give them a fair shot.

[Blackdrop]

And Calemyr is apparently reading my mind. :smallbiggrin:

Nailed all of my thoughts on the matter perfectly.

[GungHo]

I thought there were nine divines? :smallconfused:

You should get your affairs in order. The Thalmor will be visiting you soon.

[Triaxx]

Yes, that's what we're counting on....

[D_Man_7733]

Since ESO scares me due to my distaste for non F2P MMO's, but my semi-loyalty to Bethesda (Skyrim side-quests strained that) makes me feel like I should play it first before passing judgement; I'm going to change the subject.

What was everyone's favourite SIDE-QUEST out of any of the Elder-Scrolls games and why?
Mine had to be An Unexpected Voyage from Oblivion. It was so sudden and I had no idea it was coming that I really enjoyed just getting whisked away out to sea because I was just there. The combat was the usual fare, but if you did things right then you could talk your way through it (until the boss fight). It had a nice backstory and characterised this throwaway character you probably never saw again, but it was nice they put in the effort.

[Calemyr]

Since ESO scares me due to my distaste for non F2P MMO's, but my semi-loyalty to Bethesda (Skyrim side-quests strained that) makes me feel like I should play it first before passing judgement; I'm going to change the subject.

What was everyone's favourite SIDE-QUEST out of any of the Elder-Scrolls games and why?
Mine had to be An Unexpected Voyage from Oblivion. It was so sudden and I had no idea it was coming that I really enjoyed just getting whisked away out to sea because I was just there. The combat was the usual fare, but if you did things right then you could talk your way through it (until the boss fight). It had a nice backstory and characterised this throwaway character you probably never saw again, but it was nice they put in the effort.

Unexpected Voyage was awesome, especially how you could play the bandits. It's an effective turning point from prisoner to badass if you feel the need to roleplay it. Having barely escaped the assassination of the Emperor, our hero finally stops running long enough to get a night's sleep at the cheapest inn he can find - the Golden Ghaleon. Trapped at sea, forced to improvise against superior numbers, the only way to survive is to stop being the prey and start being the predator...

My personal favorite, however, is either the Soul Cairn in Dawnguard or the Ebony Mine in Dragonborn.

The Soul Cairn is just this wonderfully creepy place, but what really makes it special to me is Serana stating flatly that a stranger she's known for mere days or weeks has been there for her more than her entire family. That made me feel like I was actually part of the story and I liked that.

The Ebony Mine just feels wonderfully epic. Wandering into unexpected ruins, finding a weapon unlike any other in the game, unlocking a massive door with it, and then finding and slaying a dragon priest in the last place you expected to find one? Yeah, I liked that one, too...

[Landis963]

My personal favorite, however, is either the Soul Cairn in Dawnguard or the Ebony Mine in Dragonborn.

The Soul Cairn is just this wonderfully creepy place, but what really makes it special to me is Serana stating flatly that a stranger she's known for mere days or weeks has been there for her more than her entire family. That made me feel like I was actually part of the story and I liked that.

Technically that's part of the Dawnguard "main story", but I guess it counts if DLCs are inherently sidequests.

[Calemyr]

Technically that's part of the Dawnguard "main story", but I guess it counts if DLCs are inherently sidequests.

That's why I included a backup. The Ebony Mine is a sidequest in a DLC.

[Kesnit]

That's something I've never done in Skyrim, except for the achievement. Boethiah and Namira's quests both get too brutally cruel for me, even with Dark Brotherhood characters.

Since I got Skyrim at release, I played a lot without Hearthfire. I always got the Riften house ASAP because it had almost everything, was easy to get, and not too expensive.

However, I dislike using companions. (I like playing stealthy, and allies often aren't. Or they walk into my magic. Or my arrows. Or all the above.) For this reason, I always left the housecarl in the house in Riften. Where she proceeds to eat all my food. (Seriously! Every time I come in, she is either cooking or eating!)

So every time I do Boethiah, I sacrifice the Riften housecarl. It always makes me feel better. (On my recently playthrough, I had all 3 Hearthfire houses, but still bought the house in Riften, just so I could sacrifice her...)

[Ailurus]

Favorite elder scrolls quest for me would be the Ultimate Heist from the Oblivion Thieves Guild chain. Not only is it a fun mission, but the components and conclusion of the mission are just beautifully put together as nearly every previous thieves guild mission ties together in the end.


For this reason, I always left the housecarl in the house in Riften. Where she proceeds to eat all my food. (Seriously! Every time I come in, she is either cooking or eating!)

So every time I do Boethiah, I sacrifice the Riften housecarl. It always makes me feel better. (On my recently playthrough, I had all 3 Hearthfire houses, but still bought the house in Riften, just so I could sacrifice her...)

:smalleek: remind me never to stop by and borrow some snacks....

[Silverraptor]

Guys, I need some help. I think I encountered a few bugs. I'm trying to get some children to adopt, so I first had the house in Whiterun. However, the bedroom is bugged and no matter how many times I try to buy it, I can't buy the bedroom or the childrens room. So, I decided to try Solitude, even if its pretty expensive. I was able to buy the bedroom straight up, and everything so far was fine. However, When it says "Purchase Kids Bedroom" the price says [...] and the guys says I don't have enough for it. Is this a bug, or a way to purchase children's bedrooms?:smallconfused:

[Duck999]

Guys, I need some help. I think I encountered a few bugs. I'm trying to get some children to adopt, so I first had the house in Whiterun. However, the bedroom is bugged and no matter how many times I try to buy it, I can't buy the bedroom or the childrens room. So, I decided to try Solitude, even if its pretty expensive. I was able to buy the bedroom straight up, and everything so far was fine. However, When it says "Purchase Kids Bedroom" the price says [...] and the guys says I don't have enough for it. Is this a bug, or a way to purchase children's bedrooms?:smallconfused:

First off... do you have enough money? :smallbiggrin:
Second, do you have the DLC that allows for children?
These should both be obvious, but I wasn't sure if you were forgetting something.

[Silverraptor]

First off... do you have enough money? :smallbiggrin:
Second, do you have the DLC that allows for children?
These should both be obvious, but I wasn't sure if you were forgetting something.

1) I don't know, it says [...] in terms of price.
2) Yes, I have the DLC.

[Duck999]

1) I don't know, it says [...] in terms of price.
2) Yes, I have the DLC.

As of what I could find, child's room costs 3000. If you have that now, but might not have at the time, try again now.

[Winter_Wolf]

Regarding the bedroom dilemma:
*Do you have the unofficial patches for Skyrim and Hearthfire (and Dragonborn if you've got that)?

*Do you have any mods that affect adoption? There are a few out there that do things like allowing more than two, or attempting to fix a problem when you want to move your kids/spouse to a new home. I don't use them, but I know they exist.

*Have you visited your home before buying upgrades? This was a problem with at least one of the homes not properly working with purchased upgrades. I only ever had problems with Honeyside in Riften, but I was not running the unofficial patches and I just outright bought all the home upgrades without even going to check out the house. In my experience it's not wise to purchase, say, the enchanting room and then in the same conversation purchase the children's bedroom in Riften (one overwrites the other). I suspect Breezhome could suffer the same if you went alchemy lab -> children's bedroom the same way.

*Do you have a mod that affects Breezehome? There are oodles of them.

On another topic, I discovered that trying to use banish daedra on my own summoned daedra lords doesn't work because they're apparently too high a level to be affected by it. Ironically after fixing up a mod that lets me reanimate any level of NPCs my current witch is less "necromancer" and more "consort with daedra." (I only modded the reanimation spells, didn't touch the summoning ones.) Ever since getting the twin souls perk, I haven't had to lift a finger against enemies as long as I summoned the daedric lords betwixt myself and mine enemies. Just hunting down trails of corpses and looting them. :smalltongue:

[Silverraptor]

I have the unofficial patches. I have adoption mods, but not installed. I have visited both houses since buying them. I have no breeze home mods.

[Fates]

Favorite side quest, mm? Here are my big ccontendors.:

The Moon Sugar Mystery from Bloodmoon
-Hee hee hee, ha ha ho!


The Naked Nord/Dastardly Witch quests in Morrowind
-I loves.


Sleepers Awake from Morrowind
-Technically more of an optional part of the main quest, but I love hunting down the sixth house bases and then feeling good about myself upon being thanked by the freed dreamers. The whole quest did a pretty decent job of making it clear just how bad news the sixth house was.


Also the aforementioned Unexpected Voyafe, for the aforementioned reasons.
Also liked the Invisible Village in Oblivion.

I don't much care for most of Skyrim's side quests, though. Are we counting daedric quests as side quests?

[Avilan the Grey]

I don't much care for most of Skyrim's side quests, though. Are we counting daedric quests as side quests?

The Hangover is the best quest EVAR.

[DigoDragon]

The Hangover is the best quest EVAR.

That's a fun one. Getting the goat from the giant is the best part of that I think. For me it always ends up requiring Benny Hill music.

Sneaky quests like Japhet's Folly and Lights Out are usually my favorite ones to do.

[Triaxx]

Light's Out is awesome, and so is the Silver Lining for the Thieves Guild quests. My favorite stealth quests.

My favorite quest over all would have to be Meridia's Quest. It's very fun, no particularly annoying puzzles, but nothing is too easy either.

[Sajiri]

Aside from the Hangover one, I dont think I've really done many sidequests at all (did Saadia's one, and returning the claw to Lucan..aside from that nothing I can think of) I pretty much just do the factions and main quest, then I get bored and make a new character to do a different faction. Not sure why, I think I just look at all the quests I gather in my log and dont know where to start.

[Silverraptor]

My favorite quest is the one involving the 3 brother's tombs where you collect the 3 parts of the amulet, bring it to another tomb, reassemble it and having to fight all 3 ghosts of the 3 brothers. Especially after defeating them, the father appears and royally tramps them and sends them to their room/soulgem.:smallbiggrin:

[mythmonster2]

Whenever I have that problem (which is quite often), I just go methodically and start with the oldest one and work my way to the present.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

My favorite quest is the one involving the 3 brother's tombs where you collect the 3 parts of the amulet, bring it to another tomb, reassemble it and having to fight all 3 ghosts of the 3 brothers. Especially after defeating them, the father appears and royally tramps them and sends them to their room/soulgem.:smallbiggrin:

That one is a really nice adventure, but the reward is so damn underwhelming.

I really like the Aetherial Crown questline... Lost to the Ages, I think? Sheer dungeoneering awesomeness.

[Duck999]

The reward is actually great. 30 of each stat? Plus the loot you get in 4 dungeons? That is pretty good.

[Silverraptor]

So guys, just wondering, but how many of you didn't know the dragons were randomly spawned until the first one appeared? I don't know why, but I thought the dragons were restricted entirely to the main quest until the first random one showed up in an epic manner for me.

[Avilan the Grey]

So guys, just wondering, but how many of you didn't know the dragons were randomly spawned until the first one appeared? I don't know why, but I thought the dragons were restricted entirely to the main quest until the first random one showed up in an epic manner for me.

I knew about it, but it still took me by surprise, because I was distracted by chasing Meeko.

[DigoDragon]

My favorite quest is the one involving the 3 brother's tombs where you collect the 3 parts of the amulet

That one isn't bad, though I never found much use for the amulet itself. The loot from the dungeons is usually nice. The final battle can be fun, assuming you like dodging shouts and arrow (I sort of do).

[Triaxx]

Usually by the time I'm capable of completing that quest, my character is sufficiently strong that the amulet isn't worth it. Blood on the Ice has the same problem, though as usual that's solved by a mod.

[Winter_Wolf]

My only use for Blood on the Ice is that you have to do it to get Hjerim. Although that alone isn't enough and I don't like that you have to finish the civil war to get a property there, no matter which side you choose. :smallannoyed: Seriously, Stormcloak? You damn ingrate.

[Sajiri]

I did Blood on the Ice wrong, I accused the wrong guy...I read that I could continue it on after that by doing...stuff I forget now, but I guess my game was glitched out and that was as far as I could go.

[Togath]

I did Blood on the Ice wrong, I accused the wrong guy...I read that I could continue it on after that by doing...stuff I forget now, but I guess my game was glitched out and that was as far as I could go.

If you accuse the wizard via talking to the steward, you can come back three days later, after a second murder, and talk to him in the prison to get the rest of the quest.

I have always found it a bit odd how he dodge your accusations of murder by saying that he's from the college of Winterhold, which doesn't allow necromancy.. despite the fact that it does allow it is one of the first things you're told upon joining:smallconfused:.

[druid91]

If you accuse the wizard via talking to the steward, you can come back three days later, after a second murder, and talk to him in the prison to get the rest of the quest.

I have always found it a bit odd how he dodge your accusations of murder by saying that he's from the college of Winterhold, which doesn't allow necromancy.. despite the fact that it does allow it is one of the first things you're told upon joining:smallconfused:.

No, you're told that it hasn't been banned since the before the oblivion crisis. And Wuunferth is a very, very, old wizard.

It's not like they call him Wuunferth the unliving for fun.

[Winter_Wolf]

I did Blood on the Ice wrong, I accused the wrong guy...I read that I could continue it on after that by doing...stuff I forget now, but I guess my game was glitched out and that was as far as I could go.

Heh, don't worry about it too much. I killed the victim as I was trying to save them. I make a point of NOT using a greatsword in Windhelm anymore. I did get the killer, though. And lauded a hero for it (despite what I'm sure was collateral damage). The worst/best part of it is, I triggered a kill-cam so I got a very cinematic view of the whole thing. :smallredface:

[DigoDragon]

The worst/best part of it is, I triggered a kill-cam so I got a very cinematic view of the whole thing. :smallredface:

Awkward. :smallbiggrin:


If I have the Slow Time shout, I usually hit it first so I don't accidently kill the victim. Then I'll forget what weapon I have equipped and bow-lap the killer into the market stalls.

[Sajiri]

If you accuse the wizard via talking to the steward, you can come back three days later, after a second murder, and talk to him in the prison to get the rest of the quest.



That was the glitch, it never let me finish it after those three days. I tried waiting longer, I tried resetting, I tried doing other stuff and coming back, I tried using console...I can't remember what the problem was. Either he wasnt there, or when I tried to talk to him he said nothing.

[DemonicAngel]

So, I was doing Hircine quest, and altough I wanted to save the werewolf fellow, he turned on me. so now I have the saviour's hide, which is nice. still wish I could save him tough.
oh well. back to a A Night to Remember

[The_Jackal]

I don't play MMO's at all, as I have stated before, but I really REALLY don't think a full price subscription model (and for what sounds like a very bland copy / mix of both the "original" (WoW) and the other "original" (Skyrim / Oblivion) is going anywhere. I forsee a permanent closing within 24 months.

And that's not because I want it to go badly, but just analyzing the market.

Well, I think 24 hours is a bit abrupt, but yeah, I can't see this game commanding a sufficient player base to be sustainable in the state in which I've seen it. Really, the problem with an MMO is that its fundamentals stand directly in the way of what makes Elder Scrolls games fun: Wildly imbalanced sandbox play.

[Driderman]

Well, I think 24 hours is a bit abrupt, but yeah, I can't see this game commanding a sufficient player base to be sustainable in the state in which I've seen it. Really, the problem with an MMO is that its fundamentals stand directly in the way of what makes Elder Scrolls games fun: Wildly imbalanced sandbox play.

He said 24 months though, which is a lot more realistic projection :smallbiggrin:

[mythmonster2]

A game managing to screw up so badly it was closed in a day would be impressive, though, if for all the wrong reasons.

[Corvus]

The Elder Scrolls Online NDA has been lifted.

[NineThePuma]

Give Me Details

[Togath]

The Elder Scrolls Online NDA has been lifted.

what anyone really respecting it before it was? :3

[Blackdrop]

Well, speaking as someone who loves the hell out of Morrowind and Skyrim, I enjoyed it. The character creation is amazing (almost on par with the character creation in Star Trek Online), the few quests that I did were decent enough (reminded me of some of the misc quests from Skyrim), and the way the implemented skills is imaginative (more on that in minute). Most of my complaints can likely be attributed to it a) being a beta, b) a stress test, c) my laptop melting down (I had metric ton of graphical hiccups, voice-overs weren't synced correctly with the speakers mouth and the UI kept breaking). My only complaints that can't be excused, however, are:


I'm not a big fan of interior areas such as tombs/mines/caves not being individually instanced (ala quest areas from SWTOR). It's not that big of deal for me, but it is immersion breaking and likely will bother some people
The stealth mechanics don't seem to work all that well. It's entirely possible that I was doing something wrong, but I could never seem to actually sneak up on people.
Equipment gathering that didn't involve crafting is a bit too MMO like for my taste.


Now as for classes/skills, I'm gonna preface this by saying I only got up to level 6 in one class, so I may be missing information. Now my biggest concern going into ESO was that there wasn't going to be a lot of leg room when it came to building your character, that Zenimax was going to go for more rigid classes that were more MMO-like and only pay lip service to the franchise's rich character customization and I'm happy to say that I believe my concerns were unwarranted. Now is it like any other Elder Scrolls game? Absolutely not. Is that a bad thing? No, if no other reason then the mechanics of earlier TES games simply would not translate well to an MMO environment.

[Togath]

Well, speaking as someone who loves the hell out of Morrowind and Skyrim, I enjoyed it. The character creation is amazing (almost on par with the character creation in Star Trek Online), the few quests that I did were decent enough (reminded me of some of the misc quests from Skyrim), and the way the implemented skills is imaginative (more on that in minute). Most of my complaints can likely be attributed to it a) being a beta, b) a stress test, c) my laptop melting down (I had metric ton of graphical hiccups, voice-overs weren't synced correctly with the speakers mouth and the UI kept breaking). My only complaints that can't be excused, however, are:


I'm not a big fan of interior areas such as tombs/mines/caves not being individually instanced (ala quest areas from SWTOR). It's not that big of deal for me, but it is immersion breaking and likely will bother some people
The stealth mechanics don't seem to work all that well. It's entirely possible that I was doing something wrong, but I could never seem to actually sneak up on people.
Equipment gathering that didn't involve crafting is a bit too MMO like for my taste.


Now as for classes/skills, I'm gonna preface this by saying I only got up to level 6 in one class, so I may be missing information. Now my biggest concern going into ESO was that there wasn't going to be a lot of leg room when it came to building your character, that Zenimax was going to go for more rigid classes that were more MMO-like and only pay lip service to the franchise's rich character customization and I'm happy to say that I believe my concerns were unwarranted. Now is it like any other Elder Scrolls game? Absolutely not. Is that a bad thing? No, if no other reason then the mechanics of earlier TES games simply would not translate well to an MMO environment.

I.. may actually try the game then.
The caves thing in particular is actually a draw, assuming more standard dungeons still exist in it, anyway.

[Corvus]

I only got to play in the most recent beta weekend so I've had limited time to exolpre it.

My main concern is realted to balance. That may be improved at higher levels, but as it stands it is to close to release to really do anything about it.

Magic vs weapons.

The way it works, all four classes use magicka to power their special attacks. Stamina based attacks use physical weapon powers. From what I've seen, for the most part the class powers are much more effective than the weapon powers. My preferred style of play in TES games is to hit things weith weapons. My magic ust is limited to non-existant. You can't really get away with that in TESO. Unless you are using those magic powers you are going to fall behind.

Weapon types

There are four main physical weapon types - bow, 1 hand & shield, dual wield and two-hander. (There are also two staff weapons - destruction and restoration, which use magicka to power their attacks, but I didn't get a chance to experiment with them). Weirdly, to me, the big 2H weapons felt the least powerful by a long way. Bow also ahs the added bonus of being able to pull off stealth attacks much easier, causing rather large amounts of burst damage right off the bat. The 2H style seems to be more about splash damage, not hitting things so hard their head falls off.

Factions

My aim is to play the Ebonheart Pact (Nords, Dunmer and Argonians). The problem is, at least for me, that their starting area is so dreary and depressing compared to the other two factions that it might stuggle with numbers - and running alts through there is not going to happen nearly as often.

For the Dominion (the racist elves, canibal elves and furries), they have the largets of the starting zones, with plenty to do. You run around helping the Dominion fight off Sea Elves and then bring an entire island into the alliance, all the while working alongside one cool cat. Then you go on to rescue the queen herself (voices by Kate Beckinsdale).

For the Daggerfall, you get to battle pirates, go on a treasure hunt, explore a dwemer ruin and generally have fun, all the while helping agents of the Covenant overthrow the local ruler.

The Ebonheart sees you run away from your starting island, saving just a handful of those that lived there - and then in the next zone half die, and you have to choose which half. Its depressing when you compare it to the other two zones.

[Kesnit]

I was...underwhelmed. I didn't play a lot, so take my opinion with a grain of salt... (I didn't play much because when I did play, I wasn't impressed.)

1) Togath touched on the poor stealth mechanic. As he said, I'm not sure if I was doing something wrong, but I never seemed to be able to sneak up on something. And even when I did get a shot off without being detected, it didn't seem to do any more damage than a non-sneak attack.

2) Equipment drops are poor. I never did get a complete set of Medium armor for myself. Light and Heavy dropped, but I could not get Medium boots to drop. So I was running around in my ragged shoes the entire time because...

3) The merchant economy is screwed up. You sell for about 10% the buy price of an item. If you want to be able to buy what the initial merchants are selling, you will have to grind like crazy in order to get enough gold.

4) If there is a way to hotkey potions, I never found it. I tried adding them to my hotbar, but it seems only powers/abilities could be added there. Since obviously opening your inventory doesn't pause, the act of trying to get a potion means monsters are chewing on you.

5) You do not gain the ability to swap weapons on the fly until LVL 15. This in and of itself isn't a problem, but the way I like to play is "snipe with a bow, then switch to 1-hand." You can't do this to start. I ended up getting my bow to LVL 6, then switching over to 1-hand to start leveling that. (I didn't get to 15. Maybe if I had, everything would have worked out.)

6) Also as Togath mentioned, interior areas are not instanced. This leads to people standing around, waiting for the boss to respawn. Also, several times I was told to "talk to NPC." Before I would "talk to NPC," though, someone else would, and my quest would complete. This made it difficult to follow all the questlines because I never heard what I was supposed to hear.


Overall, ESO isn't a bad game. If it was single-player, it would probably be awesome. But it is an MMO, and is competing against all the other MMOs out there. Worse, there is a subscription fee. If the game was F2P (or "purchase and then F2P"), it would be fine. But I cannot see myself spending $15/month on the game, when I can play TOR, Secret World, or GW2.

[Closet_Skeleton]

The reward is actually great. 30 of each stat? Plus the loot you get in 4 dungeons? That is pretty good.

Its one of the better items in the game but pretty much everything you don't craft for yourself at 100 enchant actually kind of sucks.

Since Amulets of Talos are the only way to reduce shout time they're generally better.

I wore the Gaurdur Amulet because I didn't have anything better for the slot unless I was over carrying capacity and needed the Locket of St Jiub.

You can't actually recreate the Gaurdur amulet since you can only add two enchantments, but bonus Magicka is bad compared to spell cost reduction so you won't miss it if you make a better item that only boosts health and stamina.

[Sajiri]

Worse, there is a subscription fee. If the game was F2P (or "purchase and then F2P"), it would be fine. But I cannot see myself spending $15/month on the game, when I can play TOR, Secret World, or GW2.

In my opinion, F2P is a death sentence for the quality of any mmo. I'd rather pay $15 a month on a game and get actual content, rather than not HAVE to pay a fee but then have most content delayed or diminished in favour of the cash shop bringing out new outfits and charging you to unlock your full inventory and such.

It is only a beta, some of the things mentioned might be changed- not being able to put potions on a hotbar sounds silly to me, could even be a bug. But then, I also feel no mmo is really worth playing at first with all the competition out there. Give it a few updates to get some content out then I'd play. Although ESO is tempting me, I didnt get to play the beta, if I wanted to play an mmo before the first content patch I'd wait at least a month so that when I do finally get in, the starter areas arent mass crowded and its given them time to work out the inevitable bugs that wouldnt be seen without the numbers the release provides.

[Corvus]

2) Equipment drops are poor. I never did get a complete set of Medium armor for myself. Light and Heavy dropped, but I could not get Medium boots to drop. So I was running around in my ragged shoes the entire time because...



From what I saw, you are better off crafting gear. It doesn't take much to get a full set of armour and a weapon that are better than all but a few of the quest rewards during the initial couple of zones.

[Kesnit]

From what I saw, you are better off crafting gear. It doesn't take much to get a full set of armour and a weapon that are better than all but a few of the quest rewards during the initial couple of zones.

Crafting was never an option. I never got any starting recipes, or found where to craft anything. (Except food. But I didn't have all the necessary ingredients.)

[Corvus]

Crafting was never an option. I never got any starting recipes, or found where to craft anything. (Except food. But I didn't have all the necessary ingredients.)

You start knowing them all (except for cooking).

Each town hub has a crafting area where all teh crafting benches are. They are marked on the maps.

[Calemyr]

In my opinion, F2P is a death sentence for the quality of any mmo. I'd rather pay $15 a month on a game and get actual content, rather than not HAVE to pay a fee but then have most content delayed or diminished in favour of the cash shop bringing out new outfits and charging you to unlock your full inventory and such.

It is only a beta, some of the things mentioned might be changed- not being able to put potions on a hotbar sounds silly to me, could even be a bug. But then, I also feel no mmo is really worth playing at first with all the competition out there. Give it a few updates to get some content out then I'd play. Although ESO is tempting me, I didnt get to play the beta, if I wanted to play an mmo before the first content patch I'd wait at least a month so that when I do finally get in, the starter areas arent mass crowded and its given them time to work out the inevitable bugs that wouldnt be seen without the numbers the release provides.

Preach it.

I always tell myself I'd prefer a F2P game so that I could enjoy it as I liked guilt-free... but it never is worth it. Micro-transactions and in-game cash stores shove themselves firmly in the way of immersion, making it only viable to get anywhere through immense mindless grinding or paying out the nose for everything. Then any new content is buyers only and the quality of it frankly sucks. When a game goes F2P, it stops being about the game and more about getting every last penny they can before they pull the plug. And they can, with little warning and no refunds for the cash you had in your account even if you hadn't spent it yet. (City of Heroes in my case.)

If a game is properly supported, properly managed, properly expanded, and properly balanced, then I'll be properly pleased to pay them their proper wage. It's only proper. I would far, far rather have a subscription fee than to play as a second-class citizen in a game that has long since given its integrity in favor of in-game cash shops and pay-to-win* gimmicks.

* I don't count the Imperial Edition as pay-to-win. The Imperials are meant to be perfectly balanced with the other races, just with a little flashier armor style (which anyone can learn if they find the right manual). The Imperial Charger horse is definitely an advantage, but nothing other players can't match or outdo. (I expect the betas had the economy screwed up on purpose to encourage crafting, so the price of the horses shouldn't be quite so insanely unattainable in the released game. At least, that better be the case.)

[Sajiri]

I'll also leave this here, it's quite long and was meant for FFXIV, but it's relevant for the f2p vs p2p stuff

There are many different types of MMOs. There are two big types or groups that we see. You have one group with games like your Rift or your Star Wars, which are very large-scale MMOs with established IP. Then you have your smaller MMOs, which are maybe new IPs that don’t need as big a user base to be successful. So we can start off with the big group, the large-scale MMO group, with your Rift, your Star Wars, your Guild Wars, your Age of Conan and The Lord of the Rings. These games all started out on a subscription model, or were planning for a subscription model when they were in development. Then, partway through, they switched to free-to-play.

Then again, you have games like Rift and Star Wars. Even though people have been saying that yes, there is this change in the market, everything’s moving to free-to-play, they still – up until recently – were developing a system that would be subscription-based. Even though everyone is saying the industry is going free-to-play, they still were developing these huge games with subscriptions in mind. Again, we’re not saying that one is better than the other, that free-to-play is better than subscription or subscription is better than free-to-play. But for a large game on that scale, what’s most important – more important than making a lot of money – is making a stable income, a stable amount of money over a long period of time. And so to develop a large-scale MMO like this, you need to spend a lot of time with a lot of resources and a lot of staff to make this game.

To do that, you need a lot of money, and to get a lot of money to do that, you usually need investors to invest in your game. Because you’ve spent a lot of money on getting this game ready and borrowed a lot of money from these investors, when you release the game, the investors expect to see returns. If your game gets a lot of users and a lot of subscriptions right away, your investors will be happy and you can pay them. But what happens if you don’t hit that number right away? You have a bunch of staff members waiting to get paid. You have a bunch of investors waiting to get paid. You have a bunch of contents that needs to get made because you have to have updates, but you can’t do it because you don’t have enough money, because you didn’t hit that number you were aiming for. And so what do you have to do? One option to get instant money is free-to-play, or selling these items. To get that money so you can pay off your staff, pay off your investors, and start making new content, switching to free-to-play, selling items, and using that money is one way to do it.

So why didn’t Rift or EA with Star Wars do this from the beginning? Why didn’t they start with free-to-play? There’s a reason behind that. With free-to-play, because you’re selling these items, you’ll have months where you sell a bunch of stuff and you make a lot of money in that one month. But it’s all about what happens during that month. Next month, the person who maybe bought $100 worth of items in the last month could purchase nothing at all. You don’t know what you’re going to be getting, and because you don’t know what you’re going to be getting, you can’t plan ahead. You don’t know how much money is coming in. If you can’t plan ahead, then you can’t keep staff, because you don’t know if you’ll have enough money to pay the staff next month.

With a subscription base, if you get maybe 400,000 members, you know that you’re going to have the money from that monthly subscription for the next month. You also know that you’re going to have 400,000 this month, and it’s not going to go down to 200,000 users next month. That type of jump really doesn’t happen with a subscription model. So you know that you’re going to have a steady income. Because you have a steady income, you can plan ahead further. You can make sure you have staff members to create that new content. By creating new content, you’re making the players happy. If they know this game is going to keep creating new content, they’ll continue to pay their monthly subscription fees. So rather than going for the huge $100-million-a-month hit that you might get with the free-to-play model, having that steady income allows us to provide a better product to the players.

Now, you have Blizzard and you have Square Enix. We’re the only two companies in the industry, basically, that are making MMOs with our own money. That gives us an advantage, because where other companies have to get money from investors and have to pay that back, we don’t have a lot of time to build slowly and be able to pay that back. Investors want their returns right away. With Square Enix and Blizzard, because we’re putting our own money into it, we don’t have those investors to worry about, and that means we can release something and maybe take a little bit of a hit at the beginning, but as long as we’re increasing the amount of people we have, then we’ll get that money and make the players happy. We’ll get into that cycle I talked about before, where we’re creating good content and have that steady income to keep the cycle going.

With version 1.0, even though we call it a failure, we still had a user base. During the time that we were developing this game, 2.0, we were able to increase the amount of subscribers threefold as well. Again, it takes time. It takes showing the users that we’re really into this and giving them that new content. But we’re able to see a rise there. That’s what we’re looking for in this. Again, we’re not saying—The market didn’t change. It’s that there are two different types of models. Choosing the model that’s right for your product and being successful with that is what’s important. We believe that the bigger the game, the larger the scale of the MMO, it’s going to be better for the game if it’s on a subscription model.

That’s why you see a lot of companies that chose the subscription model, that wanted to do what we were doing, but were forced to free-to-play. They didn’t go to free-to-play by choice, because if that was the case, they would have gone free-to-play at the beginning. They’d develop it for free-to-play, not full subscription, instead of being forced to go free-to-play. We hear a lot of people saying, “Star Wars is free-to-play now, it’s great!” But then you ask them if they’re playing free-to-play Star Wars and they say, “No, not really playing it.” Everyone talks about how great it is that it went free-to-play, but then you ask around and really, there aren’t that many people who are playing it since it’s gone free-to-play. If you spend all that money on a game ,release it, and it’s filled with bugs and you don’t have enough time to do your updates, people will leave. Players need that new content. Not being able to provide it is fatal. If they were able to produce as much content as players wanted, then people would have stayed there. We don’t really believe it’s a problem with the business model. It’s how that’s handled.

F2P games can be okay, if they're designed originally to be F2P, and I've played a few really good ones where the cash shop wasn't intrusive and only sold vanity things that could even be resold to other players in game (unfortunately those ones never lasted). If ESO is being designed to be P2P, the last thing I want to see is for it to later go F2P, it means it's failing, it means they messed up somehow, it means any content in the future is not going to be of the quality of what there already was, which if it had to go F2P, probably wasn't very good to begin with.

[Vaynor]

4) If there is a way to hotkey potions, I never found it. I tried adding them to my hotbar, but it seems only powers/abilities could be added there. Since obviously opening your inventory doesn't pause, the act of trying to get a potion means monsters are chewing on you.

You can hotkey potions by using your quickslot (for item use). This is accessed by going to your inventory, selecting an item, and holding Q. You can change your quickslot item outside of the menus (you can set around 10-12 items to quickslot in your inventory menu) by holding Q, and use the selected item by tapping Q.

Here's a really cool video about the group instanced dungeons in ESO. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC4GVM1kCnA&feature=share)

I've participated in a few beta events (5-6) in the past, including the more recent ones, so if anyone has any questions about the game I'd be happy to answer them. I've pre-ordered the game and look forward to playing with any of you guys that decide to buy the game. I'll be playing in the Aldmeri Dominion.

[Togath]

Skyrim thing;
I was walking along.. and suddenly everything went black.
even the menus weren't visible.. but it still seemed to be running..
Any ideas what the heck happened? It was a gradual fade to black over about 2-4 seconds.

[Duck999]

Skyrim thing;
I was walking along.. and suddenly everything went black.
even the menus weren't visible.. but it still seemed to be running..
Any ideas what the heck happened? It was a gradual fade to black over about 2-4 seconds.

Was this happening on the computer version, or the XBox one?

[Togath]

Was this happening on the computer version, or the XBox one?

PC.
I managed to jump out of Whiterun and into the semi-there plains around the city instance, and was circling the city to see if I could jump back in, or if I had to use no-clip or fast travel.

[Duck999]

PC.
I managed to jump out of Whiterun and into the semi-there plains around the city instance, and was circling the city to see if I could jump back in, or if I had to use no-clip or fast travel.

Ahhhh, that is always fun... until it crashes. I know on the xbox my skyrim crashes at random intervals. My friend has the PC version, but I have never seen it craft.
My best guess is that since the semi-there plains are not meant to be walked in, the coding is not complete. A hole in the coding could be the reason for a crash like this. I am no expert, so I am not sure.

[Togath]

Ahhhh, that is always fun... until it crashes. I know on the xbox my skyrim crashes at random intervals. My friend has the PC version, but I have never seen it craft.
My best guess is that since the semi-there plains are not meant to be walked in, the coding is not complete. A hole in the coding could be the reason for a crash like this. I am no expert, so I am not sure.

Could some sort of mod issue destabilize the area further? I was running(or at least had loaded) a large(100+) number of them at the time.

[Duck999]

Could some sort of mod issue destabilize the area further? I was running(or at least had loaded) a large(100+) number of them at the time.

Very possibly. It tries to load the mods, but there is a hole in the coding and uncoded areas. I can see how that could cause a problem. Still not completely sure though.

[DigoDragon]

Skyrim thing;

Wiggy. Never had that happen to me. If you can duplicate it, then maybe you can see if there's a mod that edited that particular area you were in.

[Triaxx]

My laptop does that, when it's trying to render too much. I have to set uGrids to 3 to play it. Technically the game shouldn't run at all, but it does do that. Have you bumped your uGrids at all?

[Duck999]

But when you enter the semi-there plains there isn't anything to render, which I guess could be the source of the problem...

[sana]

I was browsing through the nexus searching for some fun mods to try and stumbled across this one: Gypsy eyes caravan (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33219/?) I now have the sudden urge to make a khajiit grab Inigo and j'zargo as followers and make my own private khajiit caravan.

Now if there where just Khajiit children to adopt...

[Sajiri]

I was browsing through the nexus searching for some fun mods to try and stumbled across this one: Gypsy eyes caravan (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33219/?) I now have the sudden urge to make a khajiit grab Inigo and j'zargo as followers and make my own private khajiit caravan.

Now if there where just Khajiit children to adopt...

There is at least one khajiit adoptable child I think. Misha or something

[Silverraptor]

Well, its official. My game is bugged to hell that I can't build a child's room in any of the regions, despite having the unofficial patch. I've decided to just do the imperial legion missions and start over with a different character.

[Triaxx]

Did you try fixing the game? Steam, Skyrim Properties, Local Files, Verify Cache?

[Silverraptor]

Did you try fixing the game? Steam, Skyrim Properties, Local Files, Verify Cache?

Everything I can think of I tried. I think that its this particular save file itself that's bugged. My first playthrough had a bug when at the forge, the metal bar that your character grabs and bangs on the anvil was sticking through his hand and all the way up to his elbow, pointing a different way from the anvil, so my character effectively was only hitting air. But every other character after that the metal bar was fine.

The only thing I haven't tried is entering manual code with the "~" button, because I don't know what code would need to be used to try and 'cheat/activate the houses'. I mean, I paid for each child room, but the damn game won't give them to me!:smallmad:

[Winter_Wolf]

Every once in a while you just have to do a clean install from scratch. Yes, I know what a hassle that is, I had to do it because my installation of Skyrim LE was borked. And that was really the only thing that worked. After four attempts, so there's not any guarantee it will work the first time (or even the third).

Works perfectly well now, though. Only CTDs I encounter are bugs introduced by mods and the unofficial Skyrim patches, like trying to enter Labyrinthian in the Eye of Magnus questline—which is apparently specific to UKSP for Skyrim in v2.0.0. :smallannoyed: Yay console codes and spawning inside the cell without passing through area transition!

[Ailurus]

Everything I can think of I tried. I think that its this particular save file itself that's bugged. My first playthrough had a bug when at the forge, the metal bar that your character grabs and bangs on the anvil was sticking through his hand and all the way up to his elbow, pointing a different way from the anvil, so my character effectively was only hitting air. But every other character after that the metal bar was fine.


Well, don't know about the rooms issues, but that's an issue with Bethesda's animations. If your last used weapon combination had a shield in the left hand, the metal bar will do as you described. If your last used weapon combo was anything that did not use a shield, the animation will work properly. So, hotkey a bow or something, equip it and pull it out right before smithing, and the animation gets fixed.

[GungHo]

Everything I can think of I tried. I think that its this particular save file itself that's bugged. My first playthrough had a bug when at the forge, the metal bar that your character grabs and bangs on the anvil was sticking through his hand and all the way up to his elbow, pointing a different way from the anvil, so my character effectively was only hitting air. But every other character after that the metal bar was fine.
That just happens. That's not a sign of any corruption. As Ailurus notes, it's usually a shield or something else off-hand that causes that. Note that Dual Sheath Redux doesn't really fix this one, even though the shield models get moved to the back. The hand is still "holding" the shield as far as the game is concerned.

[Silverraptor]

Well, then I don't know what to do about the child adoption part. My first run with it without modding worked, but apart from the unofficial Hearthfire patch, none of my mods should affect the status of buying homes and decorating them.

[JediSoth]

If you've never killed Harkon mid-monologue before, I highly recommend it. I never noticed before that I was free to move around and sneak behind him while he was berating Serana. One backstab later and he teleported to his altar and crumbled to red ash.

I even forgot to change into my Shrouded Armor before doing it! Mehrune's Dagger might have helped, but even 15X damage is a lot for a lone NPC to soak.

[Calemyr]

If you've never killed Harkon mid-monologue before, I highly recommend it. I never noticed before that I was free to move around and sneak behind him while he was berating Serana. One backstab later and he teleported to his altar and crumbled to red ash.

I even forgot to change into my Shrouded Armor before doing it! Mehrune's Dagger might have helped, but even 15X damage is a lot for a lone NPC to soak.

Priceless.

"What? Should I have let him finish? I probably should have let him finish..."

Edit: I'm going to have to try that with an "unarmed" dagger (modded dagger with no model and hand to hand animations). Suplex the megalomaniacal vampire! Next time: a train!

[Duck999]

If you've never killed Harkon mid-monologue before, I highly recommend it. I never noticed before that I was free to move around and sneak behind him while he was berating Serana. One backstab later and he teleported to his altar and crumbled to red ash.

I even forgot to change into my Shrouded Armor before doing it! Mehrune's Dagger might have helped, but even 15X damage is a lot for a lone NPC to soak.

HAHA! I love it when you can do that. Fighting Miraak, who has 4 lives, I sneak attacked him mid monologue and he lost his first life. Along with 2x one handed damage, I dealt 30x damage. That is also how I assassinate. I have an enchanted ebony dagger. If target dies within 1 second, the soul is absorbed. Assassinate someone in 1 hit and get a black soul.

[Winter_Wolf]

Ah, black soul gems! They're so hard to come by even with certain merchants that I reserve them for enchanting my "pinnacle" gear: dragon scale or plate, evil sword/axe/mace of fiery souls and/or one of the absorb enchants, basically anything that I can say, "this is the last one of these I'm ever going to make for this character.

I know that functionally they're just grand souls, but the flavor of suffering is so tasty. My dragonborns are all monsters, it seems.

[mythmonster2]

Chumps use black soul gems. Winners use the Black Star :smalltongue:

[Duck999]

Black soul gems hard to come by? Not that uncommon for me. Even if they are, just get Azura's star and keep it as a black soul gem. I am not the champion of 1 daedric prince because of that. Only one, and it is worth it.
Ninja'd: No, winners use the star and black soul gems. Otherwise you can only store 1 black soul at once. If you only use the black star, you are doing something wrong.

[Winter_Wolf]

Black star is a good rechargeable battery for on the fly reloading. I just always picture in my mind equipment with the actual black soul gem attached to the gear and pulsing with the agonized soul as it is being devoured to power more bloody rampages. Plus I tend to get the black star pretty late in the game. The image breaks down if I'm using the Star to create defensive gear.

[Duck999]

But imagine those souls absorbed into your armor. Perpetually fused into your armor or shield. Every time you take a blow, imagine the pain it causes that soul. MWAHAHAHA!!!! Death, destruction, and pain to all before me!

[Silverraptor]

The dawnstar is nice to get, especially getting it early like level 12.:smallcool:

[RabidKoala]

Okay so I haven't posted in quite awhile but a thought occurred to me the other day when I was playing Oblivion.

So while it's pretty safe to assume that Martin Septim had no children, it does not state it specifically in the game. We know that the entire Septim bloodline was Dragon-Blooded and that we don't know who the Dragonborn's official parents are. So is it at all possible that the Dragonborn is a distant relative of the Septim family?

Probably just a crazy theory, but I still wanted to ask.

[Divayth Fyr]

So is it at all possible that the Dragonborn is a distant relative of the Septim family?
While it can be possible (who knows what children the Septims had outside their official life), keep in mind that being a Dragonborn isn't something you just pass on to your children.


The dawnstar is nice to get, especially getting it early like level 12.:smallcool:
I'm not sure you can get a city (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dawnstar) ;P

[Silverraptor]

I'm not sure you can get a city (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dawnstar) ;P

Of course you can, you're the dragonborn. :smalltongue:

In all seriousness, whoops, I meant dawnbreaker.

[NineThePuma]

Windhelm, Helmet of Wind! Dawnstar, Sword of the Rising Sun! Solitude, Shield of Skyrim! Winterhold, Gauntlet of Ice! Whiterun, Boots of Whiteness!

By your powers combined I AM DOVAHKIIN!.

[AdmiralCheez]

Let us not forget Falkreath, the wreathe of Falk, or Markarth, the bow of marksmanship! And of course Morthal, the, uh... cup of... more Thal?

[NineThePuma]

Morthal, the amulet of swampiness!

[Driderman]

And of course Morthal, the, uh... cup of... more Thal?

Obviously, the cup of the Thalmor.

[Landis963]

Obviously, the cup of the Thalmor.

Mmm, Thalmor juice.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Obviously, the cup of the Thalmor.

I cannot believe I never noticed Morthal is just Thalmor with the syllables swapped around.

[Silverraptor]

:smallbiggrin:

I am amused at what I started.

[DigoDragon]

So is it at all possible that the Dragonborn is a distant relative of the Septim family?

I myself wondered if the dragonborn is Septim reincarnated.



In all seriousness, whoops, I meant dawnbreaker.

On the other hand, DawnStarBreaker should totally be the name of the ancient dragon that attacked me there. I think half the population was on fire when I finished it. ...I reloaded. >_>

I was thinking of starting up the DawnGuard quests, but I'm level 78 and wonder if I shouldn't make a new character for that... then again, I could just pick up my older (less epic) equipment for the job so I'm not breezing through the game. :smallbiggrin:



I cannot believe I never noticed Morthal is just Thalmor with the syllables swapped around.

I just noticed that too, so don't feel alone. :smallsmile:

[Ailurus]

On the other hand, DawnStarBreaker should totally be the name of the ancient dragon that attacked me there. I think half the population was on fire when I finished it. ...I reloaded. >_>


Which ancient dragon? :smallcool: Cause Dawnstar consistently has (the equivalent of) a big, neon sign saying "WELCOME DRAGONS, FREE SNACKS HERE" on it in my games. Probably at least 2/3 of the times I take a carriage into Dawnstar its followed seconds later by a roar. (does lead to it being a good dragon soul-farming source though)

[Omeganaut]

To be honest, the reason that Dawnstar is such a dragon magnet has to do with there being a dragon mound nearby and the fact you tend to visit the city itself more than the other cities in the world-space.

As for doing the Dawnguard quest late-game, you can make it more exiting by limiting yourself to fighting in the werewolf/vampire lord forms.

[DigoDragon]

Cause Dawnstar consistently has (the equivalent of) a big, neon sign saying "WELCOME DRAGONS, FREE SNACKS HERE" on it in my games.

Granted it's the second most attacked town in my game, but usually I get there at night so most folks are inside asleep. I just happened to carriage in on "Wear Your Oily Rags" day during the lunch rush. :smallbiggrin:



As for doing the Dawnguard quest late-game, you can make it more exiting by limiting yourself to fighting in the werewolf/vampire lord forms.

Hmm, I suppose that's an idea. Werewolf.
I think I have Hircine's ring somewhere.

[Winter_Wolf]

One of my characters hated going to Dawnstar, because he was constantly trying to save the people from dragons. Unfortunately he had a lot of business to attend to there. Didn't get more than one random dragon spawning until yesterday, though. The newcomer died, but the other flew off after. Quite possibly thinking, "oh screw this! Let Alduin take this one himself!"

More recently, I had a dead dragon spawn inside Windhelm, at the gates to the city. Woke up bright and early, stepped one foot outside Candlehearth Hall, and the first thing my Dragonborn sees is a dragon ragdoll out of the sky and block the city gate with its corpse. It did not decompose, either. Very nearly had her turn around and head back to the inn to sleep it off; "Raining dragons, eh? Yup, good day to stay indoors." :smallsigh: Not one NPC even blinked, everyone just carried on with their routine as though it happened all the time. One of the better game glitches I've had.

[Duck999]

The best thing to do with a dragon corpse
Wabbajack it. The wabbajack tries to reanimate it, but the game won't let dragons come back to life, so when the charge hits, the dragon goes flying backwards.

[Triaxx]

So with the Amulet of Kings gone, would being dragon-blooded even matter? Or would it be necessary to take the throne the old-fashioned way. IE by brutally murdering anyone who disputed your claim?

[Avilan the Grey]

So with the Amulet of Kings gone, would being dragon-blooded even matter? Or would it be necessary to take the throne the old-fashioned way. IE by brutally murdering anyone who disputed your claim?

Assassination != Brutally murdering. Well you know, at least not always. :smallbiggrin:

Seriously though, Thalos didn't have the amulet from the beginning, did he? It was forged after the fact?

[qwertyu63]

I hope talking about bugs is ok here, as I have one to talk about.

I'm having an issue with Hearthfire. I told my wife (Brelyna Maryon) to move from Breezehome to Heljarchen Hall, and move she did... but our kids (Runa Fair-Shield and Lucia) stayed at Breezehome :smallsigh:. Has anyone else hit this bug before? Does anyone know how to fix it?

EDIT: Crap, forgot to mention: I have the unofficial patches for both the base game and Hearthfire installed. I have the files for the other two expansions where I could install them, but I haven't. I also have "The Paarthurnax Dilemma" installed.

[DigoDragon]

Quite possibly thinking, "oh screw this! Let Alduin take this one himself!"

LOL, I often say the same thing myself with Riverwood. I love the little town's scenery so I'm passing through it often. But with the last four visits having theives running about and the 4th getting interrupted by a named dragon... Yeah. Nothing like a flying lizard setting thieves on fire as they're trying to loot the place.

I... stopped passing through Riverwood.



The best thing to do with a dragon corpse
Wabbajack it. The wabbajack tries to reanimate it, but the game won't let dragons come back to life, so when the charge hits, the dragon goes flying backwards.

I'll have to remember that one. :smallbiggrin:
I usually see a dead dragon spawn in solitude and wouldn't mind tossing that one off the side of the city wall for fun.



Seriously though, Thalos didn't have the amulet from the beginning, did he? It was forged after the fact?

Here is a bit of lore (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Amulet_of_Kings) on the amulet. The thing is over 4000 years old, so it's been around since... like forever I guess. :smallsmile:

[Winter_Wolf]

I had that trouble with hearthfire, but I did not have any unofficial patches, and hadn't bothered to try moving household with any of the other characters' adoptees and spouse after installing it. There is a mod at skyrim nexus that addresses the moving bug, but I can't really find it while using the tablet. Damn virtual keyboard makes things take way too long and prone to "oops, didn't want to touch that" syndrome. :smallsigh:

Anyone notice that random acts of explosive spell casting don't result in more than "hey stop that," in a settlement? Even ones that havoc fling clutter and items in the entire area. Something like bane of the undead has a (moderately violent) push effect and the market square at Whiterun looks like the aftermath of a hurricane. Scatter everything at Carlotta's stall after helping her once, and she's still saying what a fine day it is with you around. That is some forgiveness right there.

[DigoDragon]

"oops, didn't want to touch that" syndrome. :smallsigh:

I used to get that a lot when walking up to folks behind cluttered store counters. I click on them to initiate conversation but oops! I accidently swiped that object on the counter instead. Cue shouts of theft, the guards showing up, my companion putting her dagger through the guard's back, me wanted for murder, and the game degenerating into chaos until I reload. :smalltongue:

So now whenever I enter a shop, I'm admiring the shopkeep's nice ceiling.

[Winter_Wolf]

I, uh, well I was talking about real life fingers and tablet screens and just trying to type on the things. But yeah, I've accidentally stolen things right in front of the owners in-game. Usually when I think, "well let me 'immerse' myself a bit: character sits and then—no dammit, don't steal that fork!" At the semi-crowded in, during the town's dinnertime, with virtually all settlement NPCs there to watch.

I was mildly disappointed by a mod which I thought would add at-command idles for my dragonborn, but turned out only to be hotkey commands to tell followers to do things. It seems ludicrous when I think about it: "you there, follower! The Dragonborn cannot be seen to appreciate music or revel with mere mortals, you will applaud the bard and drink in my stead! I shall stand here stoically and be unmoved by mortal concerns such as enjoying music or hefting a tankard (even though I'm a bloody Nord and actually want to do these things)."

[Triaxx]

I don't know of one that does it on-command, but there's always Dragonborn Relaxes Too.

As for tables, a carefully calculated Fus, or precisely applied Fireball usually makes it safe. And of course there's always the entertainment value of launching all the silverware in Dragonsreach into the rafters with Telekinesis.

Did anyone else ever read the book in the game, 'Where were you when the Dragon Broke?' Anyone else ever realize that the games take place in one massive Dragon Break? From Alduin's initial casting out, to his return and defeat in Sovngarde, it fits most of the criteria.

[Omeganaut]

On the subject of dragons corpses, many spells and shouts actually can send them blasting off again depending on height. Re-animate spells tend to cause the most extreme effects. Although if you really just want to see some crazy glitches look up the skyrim playlist on gamefails on youtube.

[Landis963]

Did anyone else ever read the book in the game, 'Where were you when the Dragon Broke?' Anyone else ever realize that the games take place in one massive Dragon Break? From Alduin's initial casting out, to his return and defeat in Sovngarde, it fits most of the criteria.

The problem with classifying the games as "one massive Dragon Break" is that a) a Dragon Break is explicitly a singular temporal or Akatosh-related shenanigan (e.g. the one mentioned in the book, which was the aftermath of Daggerfall) and b) it makes the Dragon Break large enough to encompass all the others. It would probably be more accurate to say that Skyrim's Dragon Break was Alduin being sent to the future by the ancient Nord heroes, leaving behind the Time-Wound. The consequences of that one, like the one mentioned in the book, make no sense temporally, but there they are.

[Duck999]

I really like the whole story behind how Alduin was sent to the future. It is really interesting. Always liked the flavor in Skyrim. :smallsmile:

[Triaxx]

That's just it though, if Skyrim's Dragon Break began with that original one, all the other games have taken place within that main one. It all at once explains why the other Dragon Breaks can occur, and why the Elder Scrolls seem so confusing. Since Breaks like the Warp in the West can occur, it seems as though only the Elder Scrolls could be potent enough to describe the events within them. It means each game has been an Elder Scroll of a particular event of the Dragonborn Prophecy. Which explains why Moth Priests go blind upon reading them, because they're seeing every possible path and event each 'Dragonborn, Neverarine, Champion, Agent, or random dungeon guy' take part in, or alter.

[DigoDragon]

Which explains why Moth Priests go blind upon reading them, because they're seeing every possible path and event each 'Dragonborn, Neverarine, Champion, Agent, or random dungeon guy' take part in, or alter.

I thought it was because they get a glimpse of all those naughty armor mods on Nexus/Steam. :smallbiggrin:


So, I've finally got Dawnguard and decided to join the new order of vampire hunters (because dang it, I can't take a nightly stroll anymore without getting jumped by one. Or three). I got the crossbow and left for the first cave of the questline. As I get there, I'm thinking "Gee, this crossbow doesn't even do half the damage of my ebony bow. Probably just sell it."

Still, I figure I try it out. So I get into the cave and shoot the first vampire I see.
*KA-CHUNK!* *SHINK*

And then I fell in love with the sound it makes. :smalltongue:

[NEO|Phyte]

I thought it was because they get a glimpse of all those naughty armor mods on Nexus/Steam. :smallbiggrin:


So, I've finally got Dawnguard and decided to join the new order of vampire hunters (because dang it, I can't take a nightly stroll anymore without getting jumped by one. Or three). I got the crossbow and left for the first cave of the questline. As I get there, I'm thinking "Gee, this crossbow doesn't even do half the damage of my ebony bow. Probably just sell it."

Still, I figure I try it out. So I get into the cave and shoot the first vampire I see.
*KA-CHUNK!* *SHINK*

And then I fell in love with the sound it makes. :smalltongue:

Be sure to do the radiant quests to get schematics for the upgraded crossbows.

[Triaxx]

The Crossbow is pretty amazing. Perfect fit if you're in Heavy Armor.

If anyone is noticing a lot of crashing in towns while playing with SkyRe, open your Skyrim/Data/Scripts folder and pull out xxxSpeedActuator.pex. I couldn't even get into Whiterun, because it was spazzing out and crashing as I crossed the bridge just inside the gates. Pull that out and the game runs a lot better.

[Landis963]

That's just it though, if Skyrim's Dragon Break began with that original one, all the other games have taken place within that main one. It all at once explains why the other Dragon Breaks can occur, and why the Elder Scrolls seem so confusing. Since Breaks like the Warp in the West can occur, it seems as though only the Elder Scrolls could be potent enough to describe the events within them. It means each game has been an Elder Scroll of a particular event of the Dragonborn Prophecy. Which explains why Moth Priests go blind upon reading them, because they're seeing every possible path and event each 'Dragonborn, Neverarine, Champion, Agent, or random dungeon guy' take part in, or alter.

I think our major disconnect comes from our separate interpretations of "Dragon Break." For myself, I assumed that it was a singular event that could not happen with normal causality. The Nord Heroes sending Alduin to the future would be a Break, but Alduin's return would be either a separate one or would not be one. Similarly, the Warp in the West started with the completion of the Numidium, leading to the Agent (or whoever the protagonist of Daggerfall was) offering it to everywhere at once. The fact that the Scrolls spawned a series of omens leading to Alduin's return has no bearing, I'd say, on whether the two breaks were one and the same.

[Calemyr]

The Crossbow is pretty amazing. Perfect fit if you're in Heavy Armor.

If anyone is noticing a lot of crashing in towns while playing with SkyRe, open your Skyrim/Data/Scripts folder and pull out xxxSpeedActuator.pex. I couldn't even get into Whiterun, because it was spazzing out and crashing as I crossed the bridge just inside the gates. Pull that out and the game runs a lot better.

The crossbow is very satisfying indeed. The only downside is that the radiant quests don't always select local places. If you have Dragonborn, or mod packs like Falskaar, Wyrmstooth, or Moonpath to Elsewhyr, you'll almost always reach a point where your objective is in another worldspace but darned if you know which.

Also, I made a mod that creates a line of weapons that have no models and unarmed attack animations. They've got the same power as their equivalent dagger, but with a longer reach (1 rather than .7) and counts as both a mace and a dagger (so you can get the 15x backstab and the armor reduction). They're also weightless, because they're meant to be more like special stances than actual weapons. Fully craftable, fully temperable, fully enchantable, and including dragonbone, nordic, and stahlrim variants. Only downsides are due to having no model. When browsing your gear, it applies the model of whatever you looked at last so your Fist of the Orsimer may have an inventory model for firewood. Also it's nigh impossible to pick up if it gets dropped, meaning that draugr can effectively strip you of your martial arts with a shout...

I dunno, is that worth putting up on the Nexus?

[Dhavaer]

I started up Morrowind for the first time in ages, and realised I've never done the DLCs. What level are they meant to be done at?

[Divayth Fyr]

What level are they meant to be done at?
Mid to high level (with Bloodmoon meant for stronger players) - the power of characters can differ so much (between chosen skills and equipment) that it is hard to give a concrete number.

[Vaynor]

New ESO beta this weekend. Let me know if any of you want to play together. I'll be playing on the aldmeri dominion. I also have a spare friend key if anyone wants one.

[Ailurus]

The crossbow is very satisfying indeed. The only downside is that the radiant quests don't always select local places. If you have Dragonborn, or mod packs like Falskaar, Wyrmstooth, or Moonpath to Elsewhyr, you'll almost always reach a point where your objective is in another worldspace but darned if you know which.


Yeah, that's kinda annoying, which is why I save right before picking up the quests, and then reload if it sends me off to Solstheim (since I want the upgraded crossbows ASAP).

But, yes, a fully upgraded dwarven crossbow is just nasty. Rate of fire is less than bows, but I believe the raw damage (bow + ammo) is about the same as ebony, plus it ignores 50% of armor. And you can get the exploding bolts which while not super effective for the price are still fun.

[DigoDragon]

Be sure to do the radiant quests to get schematics for the upgraded crossbows.

I'm sure I will. I hear exploding bolts are the bombdiggity. :smallwink:



The only downside is that the radiant quests don't always select local places. If you have Dragonborn, or mod packs like Falskaar, Wyrmstooth, or Moonpath to Elsewhyr, you'll almost always reach a point where your objective is in another worldspace but darned if you know which.

I suppose one option is to save before picking up the quest, and if it's in some other worldspace, just reload and try again. I used to do that with some radiant quests so that I wasn't always going back to the same darn bandit cave to find X.

I'm looking at you, Swindler's Den.


I dunno, is that worth putting up on the Nexus?

It certainly sounds interesting and not something I see there already.

[Eldan]

I started up Morrowind for the first time in ages, and realised I've never done the DLCs. What level are they meant to be done at?

15 and 30, at least that's what my manuals said.

Tribunal sort of continues the main quest. It's a bit weird if you haven't done it yet. I started it before I ever got very far in the main quest the first time, and it was really strange, the way the gods reacted to me. I didn't even know why. It's not bad, as such, but be prepared to spend a lot of time underground and in ginormous dungeons.

Bloodmoon is really, really good, in my opinion, if not really connected to the main game at all. Especially some of the side quests. It adds an entire new mythology for you to explore.

[Calemyr]

New ESO beta this weekend. Let me know if any of you want to play together. I'll be playing on the aldmeri dominion. I also have a spare friend key if anyone wants one.

I'll probably be trying the dominion myself. I always play covenant in the betas, but I've heard good things about dominion's regions. Besides, I've never seen Elsewhyr, the Valenwood, or the Summerset Isles. Just not sure what race to play. No humans in the faction.

I'm curious if they're going to expand the access this time. Perhaps allow us to progress into the rescue of Titanborn, or allow those who have pre-ordered access to the any-race-any-faction bonus or imperial race.

[Blackdrop]

So many Dominion dogs on this site. Tsk tsk tsk. More blood for my axe, I suppose.

[Calemyr]

So many Dominion dogs on this site. Tsk tsk tsk. More blood for my axe, I suppose.

Eh. I've spent WAY too much time in Skyrim and Morrowind, and played through the first ten levels of the covenant half a dozen times over the betas. Not fond of the races in the dominion, but a change is called for. I may have to try to kill Jakarn on principle if I end up playing covenant again.

Besides, I recall Angry Joe's review on ESO. Love or hate elves, the Summerset Isles are a smaller landmass than the other ~10 zones. That might sound like a down side, but the downside of High Rock was having to spend either a lot of time or a lot of coin travelling back and forth through it to find the next quest or (more likely) to check if one of my current quests stopped being bugged. (Really, I had about five of them I had to cycle through because I couldn't progress anywhere without at least one of them.)

Since this one's an open beta, I'm hoping the bugs and the system tweaks are now pretty much taken care of and this will be a genuine peak at the game to come.

[Corvus]

I tried out all the starting zones on the last beta weekend, and the Dominion probably have the best starting zone. I'd not play it when ESO goes live cause I'd never side with those rascist high elves, but beta is about testing.

I think, given the state of the starting zones, they may end up with a numbers balance problem. The Ebonheart Pacts starting zone is bleak and depressing when compared to the other two. I can't see a lot of people wanting to run through it more than once, but the other startign zones they will.

[Avilan the Grey]

I just noticed that ESO has turned Elves from unique-looking alien people to WoW pinup dolls.

[NineThePuma]

Hilariously, I thought they were sexier before now.

[Calemyr]

I tried out all the starting zones on the last beta weekend, and the Dominion probably have the best starting zone. I'd not play it when ESO goes live cause I'd never side with those rascist high elves, but beta is about testing.

I think, given the state of the starting zones, they may end up with a numbers balance problem. The Ebonheart Pacts starting zone is bleak and depressing when compared to the other two. I can't see a lot of people wanting to run through it more than once, but the other startign zones they will.

The high elves are not usually monsters. It's just the Thalmor that are the enemy. Most of them are just rather arrogant and self centered like the other races.

The Thalmor only manage to take control of the Summerset Isles during the Oblivion Crisis. Since it takes place 800 years before that, I don't think the ESO Dominion is run by the Thalmor (who are not popular even among high elves).

I can only hope that ESO goes to some length to redeem the altmer and show them to be something more than omnicidal cultists with a grudge against reality itself, in the same way that dunmer are not all death-worshiping fops or gravel-voiced xenophobes.

[Vaynor]

A few things: this beta does not use the most recent build the private testers are using, and will likely be in for the next beta test (this one will be pretty much the same as last time), they're adding the option to skip the starting zones, and I've heard the ESO dominion is actually quite likeable (especially their queen).

[Avilan the Grey]

Hilariously, I thought they were sexier before now.

Seriously though this bothers me a lot. Even though i know this is mostly done to lure in players from other games, I fear they will abandon their own style in future TOS games.

I notice they also remade the design for the Frost Atronarch completely, but kept the "sexy" Fire Atronarch.

[Landis963]

It's an entirely different studio(Yes, under the Bethesda umbrella, but still). I wouldn't worry too much about cross-contamination.

[Antonok]

It's an entirely different studio(Yes, under the Bethesda umbrella, but still). I wouldn't worry too much about cross-contamination.

To expand a bit, ESO is being devolped by Zenimax Studios who is the parent company of Bethesda. Beth had very little devolpment input from what I gather.

Also I got a friend code for the beta if anyone wants it. Just send me a message or post (theres multiple sites giving out beta codes too, this is just for the lazy lol)

[Blackdrop]

I have an additional key as well.

RE: The Look of the Mer races.

In all honesty, I like the look of the elves. They're very clearly human-ish, but with just enough things off to make them look...off. Their skulls are just a bit too long, the features at just the wrong angle.

I never liked the dough-faced derpiness of the Mer in Oblivion, and while I didn't mind the look of them in Skyrim, as I understand it, their looks were a common complaint. If anything they look rather similar to the Elves in Morrowind, granted with an 11-years(!!!) worth of graphical improvements.

[Landis963]

I have an additional key as well.

RE: The Look of the Mer races.

In all honesty, I like the look of the elves. They're very clearly human-ish, but with just enough things off to make them look...off. Their skulls are just a bit too long, the features at just the wrong angle.

I never liked the dough-faced derpiness of the Mer in Oblivion, and while I didn't mind the look of them in Skyrim, as I understand it, their looks were a common complaint. If anything they look rather similar to the Elves in Morrowind, granted with an 11-years(!!!) worth of graphical improvements.

I think there was a complaint about the Altmer skin tone (i.e. they looked like pointy-eared humans rather than pointy-eared humans with jaundice), but I don't know whether that's been fixed or not.

[Duck999]

The look of the mer

The only one I have a problem with is the orsimer because they look so different from the rest of the mer.

[Calemyr]

The look of the mer

The only one I have a problem with is the orsimer because they look so different from the rest of the mer.

I'm pretty sure that's intentional. When Boethiah ate/corrupted Trinimac into Malacath, his followers were corrupted to. Fortunately the corruption is similar on both fronts: Malacath is not one of the great evils even though he looks like he should be, and the orsimer are not the monsters they look like.

Like Malacath, the orcs are in a position where they are not accepted by any group. Malacath is not accepted by the Aedra or the Daedra ("Malacath is NOT popular at parties.") and orcs are rejected by man and mer alike. They are the pariah race, and it's not their fault at all.

[DigoDragon]

Was playing Skyrim last night and was entertained by the game's inability to kill people correctly anymore (likely because of the large damage output I have with my bow). If I hit someone hard enough, instead of tumbling back and ragdolling, they stiffen up and fall forward. Or sometimes... bounce a bit on the ground. Whatever melee weapon/shield they had in their hands will get frozen in the air at the point the character died. Bows go flying straight up while shaking like Jell-O.

Quite hilarious really.

Well the final straw was out in the plains just east of Rorikstead. I picked a fight with a wandering giant (because, why not). My companion and I it him hard enough that he went tumbling up hill into town.

I can only imagine how that would have played out if the residents could react. :smalltongue:

[Winter_Wolf]

You're sure you don't have any kind of paralyze effect going on there? Once I had a super-damage weapon but for some reason I enchanted it with paralyze. Even though I'm pretty sure I could one shot Alduin four times over. The ones that died often did weird things with floating weapons and falling stiffly forward.

Today my character had a Darwin moment. She put herself directly between a draugr deathlord and the cliff directly behind herself. And then the shouting started. :smallsigh: Note to self: it's only awesome when you're the one shouting others into the abyss. Although, I now have a pretty good idea the last thing most of my previous victims saw as they hurtled into space.

[Antonok]

Today my character had a Darwin moment. She put herself directly between a draugr deathlord and the cliff directly behind herself. And then the shouting started. :smallsigh: Note to self: it's only awesome when you're the one shouting others into the abyss. Although, I now have a pretty good idea the last thing most of my previous victims saw as they hurtled into space.

I believe I can fly? (http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view6/2604937/i-can-fly-crash-ice-age-o.gif)

[Winter_Wolf]

Ha! But yeah, just about. I actually had enough time to form the complete thoughts:
What the hell?
Well, I did not see that coming.
I'm sure I'll be hitting the hill and rolling any time now.
Wow, this is a really long drop.
Man I hope the game didn't freeze—*whump*, crunch.
It was a good 5-6 seconds of real time just in free fall. Wasn't a whole lot of ragdoll, I basically stuck the landing. Face first.

The location was the watchtower outpost past the wall at Arcwind Point, and not the part closer to Froki's house. Just north up the stairs and a little east. (http://srmap.uesp.net/?centeron=Arcwind+Point) Must have got some serious horizontal momentum because I think I cleared/clipped through at least one of those ridges. Figure I launched north by northwestward, judging from the map.

[Antonok]

Only times I've been sent flying is from giants when I'm low lvl. I still remember my first time encountering them. I didn't know about the giants defending the mammoths and didn't see him. Was just running around shooting it trying to lvl archery

*screen starts shaking*

Huh? Whats that?

*turns around and WHAM*

Instant killed me and I was still going up when the load screen hit.

Will say giants are still the best way to lvl up your block skill provided you have enough mana/heal pots to survive.

[Eldan]

Will say giants are still the best way to lvl up your block skill provided you have enough mana/heal pots to survive.

THat's the most viking hero way of doing it. I'm imaging it now.

Bjorn Ironshield is standing in the courtyard, training.
"I NEED TO TRAIN MY SHIELD ARM! BRING ME YOUR STRONGEST MAN!"
Ulfrik Thunderarm steps out. His hammer is as tall as he is.
"I AM THE STRONGEST MAN IN THIS HOLD!"
"THEN SWING!"
Thunderarm swings. Bjorn blocks and yawns.
"I SAID "STRONG MAN"! NOT A MILK-DRINKING WEAKLING! NOW; WHERE CAN I FIND SOMEONE WHO IS ACTUALLY STRONG?"
A light dawns on his face as he has an idea.

[Duck999]

Skyrim is so realistic. A giant could swing down on your head, and you can get launched extremely far into the air. :smallconfused:

[Avilan the Grey]

Skyrim is so realistic. A giant could swing down on your head, and you can get launched extremely far into the air. :smallconfused:

There are also flying immortal lizards, functioning magic and wolves attack armed people in groups just for lols.

:smallconfused:

[Triaxx]

Let's be fair though. Wolves have never been afraid to attack armed people in groups, even in real life. That's why they're such feared predators.

I got caught the other day, trying to fight a Dwarven Centurion Master. He hit me and sent me flying. Then as I was getting up, he'd hit me again. Since I was in the underdark eventually I attracted the attention of the Falmer and ended up shot to death. My orc was NOT amused. It was then Crossbow time.

[DigoDragon]

You're sure you don't have any kind of paralyze effect going on there?

I have the archery perk that gives you a chance to stun the target, but in practice that never took effect more than maybe once every 7-8 hits. This funky death glitch is 100% effective with my strongest bows. If I switch to a really weak bow, the glitch doesn't happen. At least it's otherwise harmless.
I killed a bear outside Ivarstead while he was standing and he froze in that place. :smallbiggrin: I dragged the body to the town's bridge and left it there like a monument.


Odd moment for me~
I stumbled upon a novice necromancer who looked like he was... enchanting chickens. After I killed him, one of the chickens was... smoking. It had no name or anything and after a minute it made a "SQUAWK!" and then keeled over dead. I guess it was an undead chicken? Didn't disintegrate into ash though.

[Avilan the Grey]

I have the archery perk that gives you a chance to stun the target, but in practice that never took effect more than maybe once every 7-8 hits.

You must have a bug then. If you take the perk you stun 50% of shots, so it is perfectly viable to stunlock enemies if you shoot quickly enough.

[DigoDragon]

You must have a bug then. If you take the perk you stun 50% of shots, so it is perfectly viable to stunlock enemies if you shoot quickly enough.

Yeah, what I have feels like a bug. Still, mostly harmless and somewhat amusing.



Let's be fair though. Wolves have never been afraid to attack armed people in groups, even in real life.

I was recently chased down by a wolf. I ran into a pass thinking I could lose him, but I turn around and then there were three of them now! So I ran halfway through the pass and got attacked by cultists. Despite lightning, ice storms, and an exploding Flame Atronach, those darn wolves did not deviate from my fleshy and delicious throat! :smalleek:

[druid91]

Was playing Skyrim last night and was entertained by the game's inability to kill people correctly anymore (likely because of the large damage output I have with my bow). If I hit someone hard enough, instead of tumbling back and ragdolling, they stiffen up and fall forward. Or sometimes... bounce a bit on the ground. Whatever melee weapon/shield they had in their hands will get frozen in the air at the point the character died. Bows go flying straight up while shaking like Jell-O.

Quite hilarious really.

Well the final straw was out in the plains just east of Rorikstead. I picked a fight with a wandering giant (because, why not). My companion and I it him hard enough that he went tumbling up hill into town.

I can only imagine how that would have played out if the residents could react. :smalltongue:

Yep. That's similar to what happens if you enchant gloves to make your fists do tens of thousands of damage. They just sort of spin and fall.

[Duck999]

Ahh, dwarven centurions. I once killed one with my bow. I got that awesome kill cam that shows the release, then follows the arrow in slow motion all the way to the target. That kill also always sends the target backwards. The Centurion went about 2 feet backwards before falling onto the ground. :smallsmile:

[D_Man_7733]

I hate the damn Magic kill-cam... I was in a hallway, throwing fireballs at a skeleton, and EVERY TIME it went into the kill-cam and made the fireball spin, and EVERY TIME it hit a wall or cart (with cabbages in it, because: dungeons) and cancelled the animation, leaving the skeleton alive. It was hilarious and frustrating at the same time.

[Duck999]

That is not a kill cam. That happens sometimes with any ranged attack. It thinks you hit, enters kill cam, realizes that the enemy moved, then shoots at whatever was where you aimed.

[Winter_Wolf]

It's the other cousin of kill cam, "rob-you-of-a-kill" cam, and normally it will happen only once in a while. I had it happen to me three times in a row, against the same bear in the Reach. Or was it the Rift? Someplace along Skyrim's southern borders. Finally I just stood directly in front of it and took a couple claws, but I pumped arrows into its skull as quickly as they'd get onto the bow. It was most decidedly dead for a few of those shots. :smalltongue:

[Duck999]

You mean the "can't touch this" cam? When an enemy moves around enough, all your shots miss. It would have hit when you shot, but it isn't programmed to take their movement into account.

[Fates]

I once was fighting a mammoth on my alchemist character when he was only level 5 or so, and it got to the point where I couldn't even kill the mammoth, because every single shot was a killcam. Even though the arrows hit every time, the mammoth regenerated enough health by the time the arrow hit that it wasn't killed. I went through at least a dozen of these until I decided to start a fight with a guard so that the killcam wouldn't activate when I shot the mammoth.

[Dhavaer]

I have a spider removing mod that changes all the frostbite spiders to dwemer spiders. Unfortunately it doesn't change the kill cams, so killing a spider in melee causes it to bug out and become immortal. For some reason the attacks of immortal spiders give an enormous amount of armour xp, so my last character ended up with 116 light armour and everything else below 50.

[Duck999]

Glitch glitch glitch
Otherwise you can't get 116, because 100 is the max... Unless you used console or mods. Or if you had enchantments to add to it.

[mythmonster2]

I would just guess he's using the Uncapper mod, since that one seems fairly popular as things go.

[Dhavaer]

Yep, uncapper. Much better than Legendary skills.

[Duck999]

I don't play modded. Even if I had it on a computer I wouldn't. I like playing the game how it was made, and not making anything easier or adding to what is there.

[Kesnit]

Time for a stupid question...

One of my PCs (I have 3) became a werewolf. Last time I played as a werewolf, it was on the 360 and it was when the game first came out. (No DLC, so no werewolf perks.)

I got pop-ups that I have leveled up "werewolf," but have no idea how to see the werewolf perk tree or anything like that.

Help..?

[NEO|Phyte]

Time for a stupid question...

One of my PCs (I have 3) became a werewolf. Last time I played as a werewolf, it was on the 360 and it was when the game first came out. (No DLC, so no werewolf perks.)

I got pop-ups that I have leveled up "werewolf," but have no idea how to see the werewolf perk tree or anything like that.

Help..?

If you have Dawnguard, werewolf gets a perk tree, accessible by hitting tab while a werewolf.

[Kesnit]

If you have Dawnguard, werewolf gets a perk tree, accessible by hitting tab while a werewolf.

Thank you. I knew it wasn't in the normal perk trees (and I looked), but I couldn't figure out how to get to it.

[DigoDragon]

I got that awesome kill cam that shows the release, then follows the arrow in slow motion all the way to the target.

I always laugh when I see that cam and the arrow ends up missing it's target by a wide margin. I be like "What were you even aiming at? The clouds?!" :smalltongue:



and EVERY TIME it hit a wall or cart (with cabbages in it, because: dungeons)

Avatar: The Last Dragonborn?
http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/045/d/1/my_cabbages__by_kiptay-d5uznh6.png

[Duck999]

I always laugh when I see that cam and the arrow ends up missing it's target by a wide margin. I be like "What were you even aiming at? The clouds?!" :smalltongue:




Avatar: The Last Dragonborn?
http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/045/d/1/my_cabbages__by_kiptay-d5uznh6.png

You were aiming at the wall. :smallbiggrin:
Noooooo! Cabbages why!?!?!?!?

[Winter_Wolf]

Well, I jumped the gun on curing my character's lycanthropy and now the twins are kind of stuck with it, apparently. Seems you can't start the purity quests unless you're one of them. Would have been nice to know that before I went to Ysgramor's tomb that first time. And of course even though I have like 9-10 rotating saves, none of them is pre-cure. Seems like kind of a weird decision on the part of the developers. Kind of like a, "well once you cure yourself you simply don't give a crap about the welfare of the rest of the Circle or their wishes in the matter." Sorry, boys. :smallannoyed:

Also for some reason the Launcher keeps doing weird things with my graphics settings, but with no rhyme or reason. Freaking laptops and Intel HD/Nividia GPU pairings. Now I have to dig around and figure out how to get shadows not to be complete crap again. Freaking ENBoost injector.

[NEO|Phyte]

Well, I jumped the gun on curing my character's lycanthropy and now the twins are kind of stuck with it, apparently. Seems you can't start the purity quests unless you're one of them. Would have been nice to know that before I went to Ysgramor's tomb that first time. And of course even though I have like 9-10 rotating saves, none of them is pre-cure. Seems like kind of a weird decision on the part of the developers. Kind of like a, "well once you cure yourself you simply don't give a crap about the welfare of the rest of the Circle or their wishes in the matter." Sorry, boys. :smallannoyed:

If you have Dawnguard, I'm pretty sure Aela offers a one-time re-lycanthropy.

[Sajiri]

Its been too long since I played skyrim because of all the CTDs. I decided yesterday to go through my mods and turn off a bunch of the ones I wasnt using, I figure I probably had too many scripting mods in. Either way, it caused me to go back to nexus and I found this.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50698/?

Might as well be skyrim's version of pokemon :p

I had the original version of this mod which let you tame beasts, but this one looks way more interesting (I always prefer pets over humanoid companions, easier to shoot over them and they dont try to suicide via my arrows)

I realise I intended to remove mods and just added one instead <_< Didnt get around to trying it out, since I'm still trying to decide which mods I can live without.

[Divayth Fyr]

Its been too long since I played skyrim because of all the CTDs. I decided yesterday to go through my mods and turn off a bunch of the ones I wasnt using, I figure I probably had too many scripting mods in. Either way, it caused me to go back to nexus and I found this.
You don't plan to do that using an existing save, do you? Because that's more likely to cause (sooner or later) even worse corruption of the save than help... Unfortunately Skyrim's scripting system is terrible in that regard and keeps scripts baked into your save...

[Sajiri]

You don't plan to do that using an existing save, do you? Because that's more likely to cause (sooner or later) even worse corruption of the save than help... Unfortunately Skyrim's scripting system is terrible in that regard and keeps scripts baked into your save...

I only just started a new save last time I played and CTD'd multiple times before I even made it to Riverwood, which is why I decided to do some cleaning out and just start over. I know not to go back to old saves after this.

[DigoDragon]

Sorry, boys. :smallannoyed:

I've misplaced the remaining witch heads. SOMEWHERE in Skyrim there's a treasure chest with the heads in it. Darn if I remember where, though I suspect it's in one of the many houses I own.

I feel bad for whoever cleans up the place. :smalltongue:

[Calemyr]

I've misplaced the remaining witch heads. SOMEWHERE in Skyrim there's a treasure chest with the heads in it. Darn if I remember where, though I suspect it's in one of the many houses I own.

I feel bad for whoever cleans up the place. :smalltongue:

Now I'm just imagining you adopted a pair of kids and they're playing hide and seek. One of them decides a chest might be a good place to hide...

"Dad! Found those heads you were looking for!"

[Ailurus]

Well, I jumped the gun on curing my character's lycanthropy and now the twins are kind of stuck with it, apparently. Seems you can't start the purity quests unless you're one of them. Would have been nice to know that before I went to Ysgramor's tomb that first time. And of course even though I have like 9-10 rotating saves, none of them is pre-cure. Seems like kind of a weird decision on the part of the developers. Kind of like a, "well once you cure yourself you simply don't give a crap about the welfare of the rest of the Circle or their wishes in the matter." Sorry, boys. :smallannoyed:


Where are you getting that its unavailable? You should be able to get it from them assuming you have a witch head in your inventory when you talk to them. (There is a quest that locks on cure, but that's Aela's 'collect totems of hircine' radiant quest).

[Winter_Wolf]

Where are you getting that its unavailable? You should be able to get it from them assuming you have a witch head in your inventory when you talk to them. (There is a quest that locks on cure, but that's Aela's 'collect totems of hircine' radiant quest).

Hrm, well it wasn't coming up after a few radiant quests, even with the witches' heads in my inventory and looking around on several sites said it was tied to still being a werewolf. Maybe I was impatient. Also I've been taking a few days off since a couple of applications have conspired to screw with my graphics settings for the game and now I can't figure out what exactly I need to manually change in the .ini files to get it back to looking right.

The minor situational increase in FPS was nowhere near worth the sheer constant ugly that greeted me on the last time I opened Skyrim. I got greedy for more FPS, and discovered the hard way what Nvidia Optimus is. :smallannoyed:

Update: I had a moment of reading incomprehension when I thought I had to be a werewolf to activate the purity quests. Turns out I was just impatient, Farkas is cured. Vilkas is apparently bugged somehow. Mostly sorted out my graphics situation back to normal. Still cursing Nvida Optimus, dual GPU laptops, and Intel HD integrated graphics. Apparently I have about a 50% chance of my 610m actually kicking in when it's supposed to, but at least it explains why sometimes my computer seems to be ready to combust and other times stays cool for hours during gaming. :smallsigh:

[DigoDragon]

"Dad! Found those heads you were looking for!"

LOL!
"Good job son! Come on, let's go cure Farkas!"

[NEO|Phyte]

Stuff like missing heads is why I always start a given playthrough by doing nothing but work my way towards one of the HF homes, then stash all my important stuff at that home and only that home.

[Duck999]

I finally became thieves guild master after my brother repeatedly assured me that I had a glitch that kept me from doing so.:smallfrown: I didn't.

[NineThePuma]

I finally became thieves guild master after my brother repeatedly assured me that I had a glitch that kept me from doing so.:smallfrown: I didn't.

There -is- a bug: if you complete the quest line 100% before restoring the thieves guild, you won't properly become Guild Master when you should and it has a chance of stopping you from ever becoming guild master.

[Duck999]

There -is- a bug: if you complete the quest line 100% before restoring the thieves guild, you won't properly become Guild Master when you should and it has a chance of stopping you from ever becoming guild master.

My brother told me there was a bug that made it so Brynjolf always said he was busy, even after finishing everything, which I believe there is, but I didn't have the bug, which is where my brother was wrong.:smallsmile: I found this out when I got the summerset shadows quest, after being bored and doing a ton of thieves guild quests. So now I am guild master, but I still use nightinggale armor, which happens to look awesomer too (in my opinion).

[DigoDragon]

I'm wondering if the game is hinting that I should join the Imperial side of the war? It seems like a third of the Stormcloak camps don't like me anymore. But it's only just a third of them. They'll draw weapons and give me till the count of three to turn around and walk away. The other Stormcloak camps are like "Hey buddy, got any cool weapons to sell us today?"

The one thing in comon of the camps I'm not welcome in is that they all seem to have a female nord leader.

[Mobius Twist]

I'm guessing you've gone through the "Season Unending" quest and

negotiated certain provinces to switch sides

without having started/finished the Civil War quest lines for either side.

That seems to be what happens; the camps in affected provinces don't seem to like you after that.

[DigoDragon]

That seems to be what happens; the camps in affected provinces don't seem to like you after that.

Oooooh. That must be it. ...of course I forget which ones were exchanged in the deal so now I gotta back through my memory on that part of the storyline.

[Winter_Wolf]

For the first time in I don't know how many trips through the general area, one of my characters stumbled across a Nord couple skinny dipping in the hot springs somewhat north-west of Bonestrewn Crest. Dunmer pyro running along and stumbled across some empty tents. Okay, so hunters to trade with somewhere—oh, hello there. My that's a deep pool you're standing in—ah, no I guess you're sitting in the water. Naked. Don't you know there are giants and sabercats around? Awkward.

Somewhat prior to that, after leaving an empty Boethia shrine, I come across a camp up in the foothills and kill a troll. After which, all the hunters in the camp sprint away faster than I can keep up and keep heading well past Kynesgrove before I lose sight of them all. Must have been hopped up on something, because they all started screaming about how they were going to kill, uhm, something. I never did see what they lit off after, and they didn't even start mobilizing until after I'd hacked and burned the troll.

Just when I think it might be time to take an extended break, I get a fun little surprise or three. Those two were loads better than Riften as ghost town. I guess that was a pretty persistent glitch, everyone huddled inside the Bee and Barb for no discernible reason, even folk who never go into the establishment.

[Avilan the Grey]

For the first time in I don't know how many trips through the general area, one of my characters stumbled across a Nord couple skinny dipping in the hot springs somewhat north-west of Bonestrewn Crest. Dunmer pyro running along and stumbled across some empty tents. Okay, so hunters to trade with somewhere—oh, hello there. My that's a deep pool you're standing in—ah, no I guess you're sitting in the water. Naked. Don't you know there are giants and sabercats around? Awkward.

Somewhat prior to that, after leaving an empty Boethia shrine, I come across a camp up in the foothills and kill a troll. After which, all the hunters in the camp sprint away faster than I can keep up and keep heading well past Kynesgrove before I lose sight of them all. Must have been hopped up on something, because they all started screaming about how they were going to kill, uhm, something. I never did see what they lit off after, and they didn't even start mobilizing until after I'd hacked and burned the troll.

Just when I think it might be time to take an extended break, I get a fun little surprise or three. Those two were loads better than Riften as ghost town. I guess that was a pretty persistent glitch, everyone huddled inside the Bee and Barb for no discernible reason, even folk who never go into the establishment.

Mods?
The last part sounds like what can happen if one of those AI mods that makes people take cover if vampires or dragons are about bugs.

Also, they are not naked unless you have a nude mod. Otherwise they are in their umentionables, because showing people actually bathing nude is a sure way of getting your rating up too high and lose sales :smallsigh:.

AI shases can be fun sometimes. I once, on the road to Ivarstead, was passed by by a goat, a bear and Aela. The bear had triggered on the goat, and Aela has scripted random encounters where you can find her hunting big game (most often bears). I guess it was a "dog on the cat on the rat" situation. All three of them even swam across a river.

[Duck999]

That is amazing. Almost as good as one time I ran across that guy that gives you his spoon if you say you are the Gourmet. Right behind him was a force of warriors. After getting the spoon, the warriors attacked me and killed the other guy. I was so sad, I loaded a save.:smallfrown:

[DigoDragon]

I was traveling through the mountains west of Dragon's Bridge when two wolves jumped me. They pretty much can't hurt me, so I thought to have some fun with them. I lead them both to the little waterfall by Dragon Bridge's... uh, bridge. I FUS-ROF-DAH'd the first wolf over the waterfall (fun) and watched fall. I turn to deal with the second one, but then the goat at the town ran up and headbutted the second wolf.

And killed the wolf.

Wow, that goat doesn't kid around. :smallbiggrin:



For the first time in I don't know how many trips through the general area, one of my characters stumbled across a Nord couple skinny dipping in the hot springs somewhat north-west of Bonestrewn Crest.

I know the one you're talking about. I bumped into them too near Bonestrewn. And then a dragon attacked me so those two jumped out of the water and charged the dragon. In their skivvies. :smalltongue:



Those two were loads better than Riften as ghost town. I guess that was a pretty persistent glitch, everyone huddled inside the Bee and Barb for no discernible reason, even folk who never go into the establishment.

Happened once to me, but I forget which town. A dragon triggered in the area and for some reason it lagged on showing up. But because it triggered, the mod I had that tells everyone to run inside during a dragon attack was already ongoing. So basically I get to the town, everyone's gone, and I scratch my head for 15 seconds before I finally hear 'RAWR!!' over my head.



That is amazing. Almost as good as one time I ran across that guy that gives you his spoon if you say you are the Gourmet.

I finally bumped into the old lady that begs you to use the Wabbajack on her. I didn't have the staff on me at the time so I ran off, and she chased me for a good distance until she gave up. That was creepy.

[Thialfi]

Wow, that goat doesn't kid around. :smallbiggrin:


Ugh. That's a 15 yard penalty for unboardsmanlike conduct for cruel and unusual PUNishment of fellow posters.

[Winter_Wolf]

@Avilan: yeh, they were Skyrim nekkid, not naked naked.

I do Indeed have a version of when vampires attack. Normally it never acts up, but this run through must have been at the vampire random attack sweet spot. It wasn't a permanent glitch, thankfully. I did have to leave the area as far away as southern Eastmarch hold, though.

I found Balbus the gatherer dead at the hands of a Thalmor death squad, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't mod related. I avenged him, though probably only because it was Thalmor that got him.

It took me a really long time to find out Anise's secret. Like four games before I ever wandered into her hut at all. She was always a creepy old woman just for living by herself outside a settlement. Nothing suspicious about that at all.

[AdmiralCheez]

That is amazing. Almost as good as one time I ran across that guy that gives you his spoon if you say you are the Gourmet. Right behind him was a force of warriors. After getting the spoon, the warriors attacked me and killed the other guy. I was so sad, I loaded a save.:smallfrown:

"Please, master Gourmet! I don't have much time; they'll soon be upon me! I want you to take this spoon; it is my most prized possession. Now, go! Run! And remember, you must get my spoon to safety!"

[Avilan the Grey]

It took me a really long time to find out Anise's secret. Like four games before I ever wandered into her hut at all. She was always a creepy old woman just for living by herself outside a settlement. Nothing suspicious about that at all.

Apparently evil witches don't hire carpenters to fix their wall.

Speaking of her... The three skeletons that wanders the forest just north of her hut...are they supposed to be hers, or are they connected to the Barrow?

[Duck999]

Who wants you to use the wabbajack on her? Why does she want this? Who is she? WHY HAVEN'T I FOUND HER?????

[DigoDragon]

Ugh. That's a 15 yard penalty for unboardsmanlike conduct for cruel and unusual PUNishment of fellow posters.

Worth it. :smallsmile:



It took me a really long time to find out Anise's secret.

I have yet to go through a game where she's not viciously murdered by bandits (There's a group of them just east of her hut toward the river). So I learned pretty early that she was a spellcaster (and her secret since I figured she didn't need that food where she went).

Course then I got jumped by some bandits hired by her post-mordem to beat me up for robbing her house. O_o` Outside Whiterun at that. Where's a guard when you need one?! Seriously, on the steps of the meadery we were fighting it out! A fight which dragged onward to the farm next door and then over to the horse stables. Not ONE passerby in sight.

I think the dude that sells horses was just watching and laughing at me. >_>



I avenged him, though probably only because it was Thalmor that got him.

I never needed an excuse to attack Thalmor. :smallbiggrin:
Besides, they attacked me first. What? No i'm just minding my own business here at this shrine of Talos.
White-Gold Concordant? What's that?



Who wants you to use the wabbajack on her? Why does she want this? Who is she? WHY HAVEN'T I FOUND HER?????

Some random girl out in the wilderness. I only met her once, along the north shore of the Sea of Ghosts. A little bit west of Solitude's lighthouse. She's about as random as they come. Literally.

[Winter_Wolf]

You mistake me, sir. Thalmor are on the crap list permanently. The fact that those guys were Thalmor is why they died. If they'd been bloodthirsty Imperials or Stormcloaks I *might* not have made them into wolf chow. As I didn't know the frenzy/fury/mayhem spells, I couldn't just have them take care of each other. It was fun crashing the embassy party when I did have a mayhem incantation, though.

The only Thalmor that manage to survive the first encounter are Elenwen because I can't kill her and those guys camping out inside Markarth's keep.

[Landis963]

The only Thalmor that manage to survive the first encounter are Elenwen because I can't kill her and those guys camping out inside Markarth's keep.

still don't know why you can't pull a decapiter during seasons unending, grumblegrumble

Those Markarth guys are as harmless as a Thalmor can get, and so they can stay there until their presence becomes a liability.

[Ailurus]

Those Markarth guys are as harmless as a Thalmor can get, and so they can stay there until their presence becomes a liability.

On my next playthrough I am going to try to gank those guys. Not sure how I'm going to pull it off w/o a massive markarth bounty, but whatever.

[druid91]

On my next playthrough I am going to try to gank those guys. Not sure how I'm going to pull it off w/o a massive markarth bounty, but whatever.

Sneak + Fire Rune.

[Duck999]

Sneak + Fire Rune.

Or ice rune, but probably fire rune. If you want to do it before you have good sneak, get muffle.

[DigoDragon]

You mistake me, sir. Thalmor are on the crap list permanently.

Oh, well in that case you got my respect! :smallcool:
Crashing the embassy party was one of the best quests ever. I didn't even bother sneaking when I got outside to head to the other building. Just walked out and knocked over the first elf I met to draw attention. "HELLO!"



On my next playthrough I am going to try to gank those guys. Not sure how I'm going to pull it off w/o a massive markarth bounty, but whatever.

I took the bounty when I was working for the Wanted achievement (where you get a 1000 gold bounty in all nine holds). Course, I did get a bit overzelous killing everything in Markarth and my bounty ended up being something like 20 grand... :smallcool:

[Triaxx]

The one upside to Markarth, is that you can murder those Thalmor in the open and only pay a fine for assault, IIRC.

[druid91]

But... It's fun to do season unending as a High Elf in Thalmor robes.

[Silverraptor]

Oh, well in that case you got my respect! :smallcool:
Crashing the embassy party was one of the best quests ever. I didn't even bother sneaking when I got outside to head to the other building. Just walked out and knocked over the first elf I met to draw attention. "HELLO!"


I went further. When I first did that quest, I was a werewolf, though without the perks since none of the DLC came out. To sum up what happened in a nutshell, my character said this as he entered into the courtyard.

"I'm Having Flesh Tonight!!! RAWR!!!"

[Togath]

Werewolf form can also be used on the Markarth Thalmer :3(in fact, I slaughtered them, and all of the guards, in Markarth when doing the Cidna mines quest, though part of it was in human form)
I then took the Silverblood ending. And promptly killed him as he was walking away after giving me his ring.

[Duck999]

If you look at my stats under crime, it is actually fairly funny. I have a total bounty ever of over 35000, current bounty of nothing, and only about 5000 fines paid. Yes I got out of paying 30 grand. :smallcool:

[Silverraptor]

So, I've been doing the empire war mission from the start. Whenever we're trying to invade a fort, after you kill the number of stormcloaks needed, the rest run and scatter. I always hunt them down and so far have a perfect record. But the other day, one stormcloak ran out of the fort and I chased after him. He had a decent head start as I was chasing him down, but I ran out of stamina. As I looked into my potions bag, I only had 2 potions of minor stamina, which was no where near enough to catch him. Not wanting him to get away, I looked down a bit and found 1 potion of paralysis of 3 seconds. I apply it to my bow, chug the 2 stamina potions, and chase after him. He was running in a straight line, but then began to curve with the road at that exact moment, making sporadic movements. I then saw the road fork right when I ran out of stamina again. I took out the bow, pulled back, and aimed to the right of the stormcloak. The moment he started down the second path, I move the ridicule to the right a little more and let the arrow loose. In what felt like slow motion, the arrow flew through the air, arcing, and then landing onto the stormcloak that was sprinting at one of the most incredibly hard to hit angles there is and he stumbled over onto the ground. That gave me enough time to calmly pull out my sword and shield and walk over to him just as he got back up again, only for me to put my sword in his back.

The reason this story is significant is, I don't normally use the bow. From what little I've used of it and when NPCs use bow and arrow has given me enough information to accurately predict where the stormcloak to be, and what angle I need to put the arrow at in order to hit him. I was amazed when I made the shot.:smallcool:

[Winter_Wolf]

Enjoy it. Awesome kill shots are far fewer than frustrating "haha, psych!" misses. Like the bloody mage that was magically shifting left or right even though he couldn't see me or even really have a good idea where the shot was coming from (I was moving after each shot and the trajectory was significantly different). Said mage was shortly thereafter brutally bludgeoned to death by "assailant, unknown".

I discovered last night that you can't get away with sucker punching at the start of a brawl, because I was promptly attacked by the city guard for assault and the brawler kept the gold. It's not enough for them to take the gold, you MUST get the objective for brawling before you start swinging. And there I was trying to start the fight before the NPC wandered into the crowd and got some innocent bystander hurt. I might have clipped the bard in the Bannered Mare as he tried to dash between me and Uthgardt during the brawl. That apparently did not register as assault, though.

[Avilan the Grey]

Werewolf form can also be used on the Markarth Thalmer :3(in fact, I slaughtered them, and all of the guards, in Markarth when doing the Cidna mines quest, though part of it was in human form)
I then took the Silverblood ending. And promptly killed him as he was walking away after giving me his ring.

I plan to use it more this time since i am actually playing a non-mage (mostly) Nord "Ranger" character. I love using it on Astrid though. Kind of ironic when her boyfriend is a werewolf using his form to kill marks. I have eaten her a number of times in that shed.

...And that didn't sound weird at all.

[Duck999]

Does anyone have any idea how you could be an assassin when you turn into werewolf form? It's not at all sneaky...

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Does anyone have any idea how you could be an assassin when you turn into werewolf form? It's not at all sneaky...

Strictly speaking, assassins just need to not get caught. 'Sneaky' just is the usual way to achieve this. It's like using Fire Runes. Sneaky? No! But do they know whodunnit? Nope! :smallbiggrin:

[DigoDragon]

"I'm Having Flesh Tonight!!! RAWR!!!"

LOL, that's pretty brilliant. My last playthrough of that quest, I took advantage of AFT mod by posting one follower (J'Zargo) at the front gate while I took Lydia with me inside. When I started attacking the Thalmor in that central courtyard, J'Zargo went into combat mode and blasted all the guards at the front entrance.

Particularly funny because J'Zargo was wearing my old Daedric armor while standing around.
"A Kajiit in daedric? Nah, must be harmless."



And promptly killed him as he was walking away after giving me his ring.

Right on. :smallbiggrin: I never liked that guy.



I was amazed when I made the shot.:smallcool:

THAT is an awesome shot. :smallcool:

One time I happened upon a skirmish between Stormcloaks and Imperials, so I decided to fire a shot into the crowd. Got the arrow cam and watched my shot fly in between the soldiers, past the skirmish, and then nail a tiger that was hiding in some brush past the fight. I didn't even know that tiger was there. :smallredface:



I discovered last night that you can't get away with sucker punching at the start of a brawl, because I was promptly attacked by the city guard for assault and the brawler kept the gold.

Yeah, I've had that happen. I will usually let my opponent take the first swing to ensure I don't get charged with assault. Last time it happened everyone turned on me and J'Zargo went nuts with lightning bolts all over the tavern like he was emperor Palpatine or something. :smallbiggrin:

[Triaxx]

J'zargo is surprisingly dangerous in an enclosed space. Sometimes to the enemies even.

[AdmiralCheez]

J'zargo is surprisingly dangerous in an enclosed space. Sometimes to the enemies even.

Especially if you're testing the scrolls he gives you.

[GungHo]

Does anyone have any idea how you could be an assassin when you turn into werewolf form? It's not at all sneaky...
If there are no witnesses (alive) to see you/report you transforming, it's perfectly valid for assassinations. All they know is that a werewolf ran in and tore everything up and then ran away.

[Duck999]

If there are no witnesses (alive) to see you/report you transforming, it's perfectly valid for assassinations. All they know is that a werewolf ran in and tore everything up and then ran away.

Oh yeah! That is the same way I got away with massacring Falkenrath with no bounty, except as a vampire lord. Oh that was fun... But I loaded a save.