Oblivion levelling
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This game has one of the worst leveling systems I have ever seen, its practically impossible to level up unless you have exactly the right combinations of skills and you end up working up all your minor skills to get the +5 bonus to your statistics at level up. Why they didnt use a far superior exp system is beyond me. 
It was fine in morrowind which used basically the same system. The difference being enemies didn't level up with you. So you could either try and get three +5s every level to max everything out but you could still get by without doing that, you might just find you get to a point where you cant max your stats. The way it is in oblivion, a bad choice at the start can mean you're screwed the whole way through.
Im only at lv5 after 30 hours of play, what a joke this is turning out to be. At least my game is only crashing every couple of hours instead of every 2 mins like a lot of peoples. Nevermind beta testing it sometimes seems like playing the alpha version.
Energize said:This game has one of the worst leveling systems I have ever seen, its practically impossible to level up unless you have exactly the right combinations of skills and you end up working up all your minor skills to get the +5 bonus to your statistics at level up. Why they didnt use a far superior exp system is beyond me.
I don't understand what you mean by it being practically impossible to level up. All you need to do is increase a major skill 10 times. What's hard about that?
Crispy Pigeon said:
The fact that they hardly ever go up? You have to do the same action about 50 times over to level up 1 skill point, so very very boring... Lots of people on the bethesda forums have complained about this, repeition is very boring, exp is much better.
Interesting. That certainly explains why I've levelled up loads more than my housemate, in about half the time, considering I have acrobatics as one of my major skills. It also explains why he'sactually finding the game easier than me, because as I've been levelling up, I've been neglecting my blade stats in favour of speechcraft/acrobatics/sneak. Doh!
Energize said:
I find they just tend to go up as I play. Levels aren't that important in this game anyway with the monsters levelling alongside you. It's not WoW or anything, so just play at your own pace and enjoy the storyline, exploration and quests.
I'm level 18 on normal difficulty with about 30-40 hours of playtime, so I dunno, maybe I just chose a class that suits my style of play more.
What on earth did you choose for your major skills?
If for example your major skills were along the lines of blade, acrobatics, block, alchemy, hvy armour, restoration, speechcraft; and you played a jack-of-all-trades type character then you should find yourself levelling-up very quickly.
After my first utterly disastrous character (a default warrior who also levelled up extremely quickly) I created a custom adventurer based on the above major skills. Though once again, it seems to be equally ill conceived
Again I'm levelling up very quickly and again my ass is being handed to me on a plate. In fact five minutes before writing this not only my ass but also my horse was handed to me on a plate... by a mountain lion 
There's definitely something to be said for slower and more calculated progression!
If I had chosen a bunch of major skills which I hardly ever used then I could have had a much more powerful character by now. I could have concentrated on getting the maximum level-up bonuses by training and purposefully practicing certain skills instead of "accidentally" levelling up every couple of hours with very few bonuses. Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken but it looks like the easiest way to develop a powerful character is to pick major skills that you're hardly ever going to use in normal play. Kinda like reverse specialisation.
PS sorry to hear about your crashing problems. The game is rock solid for me with the exception of crashing on exit.
If for example your major skills were along the lines of blade, acrobatics, block, alchemy, hvy armour, restoration, speechcraft; and you played a jack-of-all-trades type character then you should find yourself levelling-up very quickly.
After my first utterly disastrous character (a default warrior who also levelled up extremely quickly) I created a custom adventurer based on the above major skills. Though once again, it seems to be equally ill conceived
Again I'm levelling up very quickly and again my ass is being handed to me on a plate. In fact five minutes before writing this not only my ass but also my horse was handed to me on a plate... by a mountain lion There's definitely something to be said for slower and more calculated progression!
If I had chosen a bunch of major skills which I hardly ever used then I could have had a much more powerful character by now. I could have concentrated on getting the maximum level-up bonuses by training and purposefully practicing certain skills instead of "accidentally" levelling up every couple of hours with very few bonuses. Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken but it looks like the easiest way to develop a powerful character is to pick major skills that you're hardly ever going to use in normal play. Kinda like reverse specialisation.
PS sorry to hear about your crashing problems. The game is rock solid for me with the exception of crashing on exit.
i'm an Imperial, born under the sign of the mage... using a custom class (Adventurer)
major skills:
armor
blade
conjouration
destruction
light armor
mercintile
speechcraft
(excuse poor spelling its late
)
i'm leveling up at a reasonable pace but certainly nothing too fast/slow.
major skills:
armor
blade
conjouration
destruction
light armor
mercintile
speechcraft
(excuse poor spelling its late
)i'm leveling up at a reasonable pace but certainly nothing too fast/slow.
Anyone know what governs what minor skills you get? In morrowind you could pick them manually when you did a custom class. I'm not sure what determines it here. I've already restarted once when I realised I had a bunch of useless minor skills. The second character had much better ones, but I still don't know what decided that
There are 21 skills in total. Any that you don't choose as major skills you get as minor skills automatically.
If I remember correctly this is different to Morrowind, as in Morrowind you had Major and Minor skills, and then others/misc.
If I remember correctly this is different to Morrowind, as in Morrowind you had Major and Minor skills, and then others/misc.
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It seems the way to 'beat' the system is decide what sort of character you want to play as and decide what 7 skills you are likely to use all the time. Then DON'T PICK THESE 7 as your major skills. For major skills pick ones that you have to actively use, like armourer and alchemy. That way your minor skills will keep going up on their own and you get max level bonues and you can control when you want to level up you can train the skills up to match. I've only just wandered about the City and not done too much yet so am thinking about changing my character again.
Best way I've found is to have all the skills that are easy to level up like sneak and Alchemy off the list, put some things that you'd like to be good on in there. I have block, light armor, blade, destruction, restoration, security and armor. These give me some things that I can level up easily and things that I use in the background to give me a few +5 things.
Jim
Jim
I'm still unsure about exactly how good/bad the levelling monsters is, I finally went back to retake Kvatch yesterday at level 15, and without my high-damage area-effect fire sword I couldn't have done it, all my guard allies died straight away to the daedroths and clannfears so I was left on my own. Its pretty lame now at level 17 when the bandits in caves have ebony armour on, I agree.
I think I prefer Morrowind's system, but that previous idea of some kind of inherent difficulty for different areas would be a good addition.
Actual levelling up hasn't been an issue, I'm mainly a warrior with a strong minor in sneaky stuff - Major skills are Security, Block, Mysticism (useless), Speechcraft, Blunt, Destruction and Light Armour. I can control my levelling up pretty easily and make sure I have +5 modifiers each time, but if I started again I'd probably pick Conjuration and Illusion instead of Destruction and Mysticism.
I think I prefer Morrowind's system, but that previous idea of some kind of inherent difficulty for different areas would be a good addition.
Actual levelling up hasn't been an issue, I'm mainly a warrior with a strong minor in sneaky stuff - Major skills are Security, Block, Mysticism (useless), Speechcraft, Blunt, Destruction and Light Armour. I can control my levelling up pretty easily and make sure I have +5 modifiers each time, but if I started again I'd probably pick Conjuration and Illusion instead of Destruction and Mysticism.
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I'm basically a battemage (customised one) but i'm level 12 and my major skills are at:
46: blade
46: alchemy
54: alteration
53: conjuration
58: destruction
52: illusion
57: mysticism
Of the minor skills these are the ones that are high:
48: athletics
36: block
41: heavy armor
38: restoration
I'm also trying to level up my armorer skill which is at 22 atm. So, i don't think i'm doing too badly skills balancing wise. I don't see the point in sneak, speechcraft and security, since i can use spells for to do almost the same thing. Mercantile is useless aswell imo. The only skills which i'm lacking, which i would like to improve upon is marksman and light armor whcih are just above 12 atm
EDIT: i find mysticism quite usefull against casters (dispell). Also, if your not a decent marksman, then the telekinesis could come in handy, as could life detection if your a stealth person. I guess you also need to use the soul trap spells for enchanting items or recharging magical items too.
46: blade
46: alchemy
54: alteration
53: conjuration
58: destruction
52: illusion
57: mysticism
Of the minor skills these are the ones that are high:
48: athletics
36: block
41: heavy armor
38: restoration
I'm also trying to level up my armorer skill which is at 22 atm. So, i don't think i'm doing too badly skills balancing wise. I don't see the point in sneak, speechcraft and security, since i can use spells for to do almost the same thing. Mercantile is useless aswell imo. The only skills which i'm lacking, which i would like to improve upon is marksman and light armor whcih are just above 12 atm
EDIT: i find mysticism quite usefull against casters (dispell). Also, if your not a decent marksman, then the telekinesis could come in handy, as could life detection if your a stealth person. I guess you also need to use the soul trap spells for enchanting items or recharging magical items too.
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Fx-Overlord said:
I have detect life gauntlets and a soul trap sword, and fighting magic folk I just get to close quarters and hammer them, so that's probably why I never use it.
I think I'll play a mage character sometime, should be different at least
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AndrewP said:I have detect life gauntlets and a soul trap sword, and fighting magic folk I just get to close quarters and hammer them, so that's probably why I never use it.
I think I'll play a mage character sometime, should be different at least
I guess that's one of the reasons oblivion is so playable, that depending on the way you play, or the items you have, each skill has more use than others.
As a battlemage, I get to do the melee stuff and caster stuff
. The magic stuff is so annoying when your fighting since you always have to tab out and select a spell (9 hotkeys isn't enough!). Sometimes, i just say to myself, stuff it, a few guard spells, then RUSSSH with my sword and shield. Although, i have to say, when i do that i get kinda wasted .While struggling to level my own character properly, conversely I'm also rapidly losing interest in the game because of the level scaling; of both monsters and items.
People have been defeating the Arena with a lvl 1 pc. Ok by the time they've done it they're at lvl 3, but it's still utterly ridiculous that you should be able to do that at all.
Likewise you can go into all sorts of other places which are supposed to be populated with powerful creatures and kick their collective butts when you're only just starting out and have a very weak character.
What's the point? You'll never become a hero because almost everything else will always be at a similar level to you. It's all well and good having a world that grows with you, but not one that is a clone of you.
At whos behest was Oblivion made this way? Was it Microsoft? Or did Bethesda's marketing peeps decide they would sell more copies by doing it this way. Does the game appeal to their notion of who a console player is (the pc version was obviously designed for a console and not a pc at all imo)? Someone who alledgedly picks up the game for five minutes and needs to be right there in the thick of it without having made any effort or investment in their character?
I don't know, maybe I've missed the whole point of the game
I found Morrowind difficult to get into at first but then found it very rewarding once I could see myself progressing and becoming stronger. I'll keep playing Oblivion for a while in the hope that the same thing will happen, but from what i can see going on around me I seriously doubt this will happen because like I said, I'll never be a hero. So far the exact opposite to Morrowind is happening: started out loving it but the farther I get the worse the gameplay and logic becomes.
People have been defeating the Arena with a lvl 1 pc. Ok by the time they've done it they're at lvl 3, but it's still utterly ridiculous that you should be able to do that at all.
Likewise you can go into all sorts of other places which are supposed to be populated with powerful creatures and kick their collective butts when you're only just starting out and have a very weak character.
What's the point? You'll never become a hero because almost everything else will always be at a similar level to you. It's all well and good having a world that grows with you, but not one that is a clone of you.
At whos behest was Oblivion made this way? Was it Microsoft? Or did Bethesda's marketing peeps decide they would sell more copies by doing it this way. Does the game appeal to their notion of who a console player is (the pc version was obviously designed for a console and not a pc at all imo)? Someone who alledgedly picks up the game for five minutes and needs to be right there in the thick of it without having made any effort or investment in their character?
I don't know, maybe I've missed the whole point of the game
I found Morrowind difficult to get into at first but then found it very rewarding once I could see myself progressing and becoming stronger. I'll keep playing Oblivion for a while in the hope that the same thing will happen, but from what i can see going on around me I seriously doubt this will happen because like I said, I'll never be a hero. So far the exact opposite to Morrowind is happening: started out loving it but the farther I get the worse the gameplay and logic becomes.
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