The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim announced

[Merlin5]

youre obviously getting a bit too attached to Lydia.. dump her and find a new follower I am using Eola, the cannibal one with the dodgy eye atm, and she is excellent!

My Lydia died on the first quest we did together, so I never got that attached

That's the thing. I am rather fond of Lydia. I hear people say this a lot, that Lydia is not a very strong companion. Am I really better off dumping her then?
But whoever I have, I still want to see their face, I find it reassuring and just nicer really.

 

[Ezah]

It depends on your own character I think. I always played melee/thief/archer and never used magic. I have tried many followers and they are all ok, but finding one with an opposite playing style (mage in my case) is actually more fun and rounds out your capabilities better than another similar class. It also shows me what mages can do in this game which is interesting if I ever re-roll.

Whoever you use you can always just leave the head armor off or give them a circlet.. I dont think it makes much difference really.

 

[Evilsod]

I would suggest that if you're playing on Master your first port of call should be to pick up the Animal Allegiance Shout. Impossible to die VS. any beasts, including Trolls.
And since Spriggans usually summon/or are in the vicinity of bears, it makes them a joke too.

I should be fine. I haven't found an animal yet that I couldn't affect with Fear spells and that gets rid of them nicely.

Had possibly the most ridiculous fight ever outside Riften. An Island with a bunch of Mercenaries on it (part of a quest, you'll know which one if you've done it). So standing outside I hit a couple of people with Fury... which means there are about 5 or 6 enemies just slaughtering each other in the entrance. Thin out the number by keeping up the Fury's and Flaming now and then while running off to heal (bloody archers), moment one of them goes down they get ignored so rarely die so I have to swoop in and finish them off with my absorb health dagger before running away again. Once it was down to one enemy I just hit him with Fear each time it wore off and chased him around the island

Apparently there are 41 crimsons in Blackreach and they respawn every 10 days. Gonna have to return there often on my ranger since they make the strongest Damage Health poison you can get (short of Jarrin Root but you only get one of those in the entire game).

 

[Narj]

I'm getting the hump with Lydia so I'm thinking of dumping her for J'Zargo. I thought he was a tool at first but now I've done some testing for him, he seems awesome and might suit my playstyle better. Lydia just keeps getting in the way and I'm bored of "I am sworn to carry your burdens...."

 

[strumpusplunket]

It seems Destruction Magic isn't the end-of as far as magic combat goes because its way underpowered once the top-tier enemies start spawning. After all, the Expert level spells w/ 2/2 Augmented will hit for less than a bow an equal number of perks invested and some of the later enemies take multiple 3x damage sneak attacks to kill.

Needs support from other sources.
[...]

Either way, it took me way too long to kill a single Draugr Scourge on Expert with a Storm Atronach and Adept Destruction and they aren't even the toughest Draugr.
[...]
Illusion is really easy to level too. Simply cast Muffle repeatedly or spam Courage on random targets in town. Not sure if Alteration works the same way or not, it might only work if you engage in battle.

Yes, destruction magic is both overpowered and underpowered, imo. Overpowered because of the stunlock from the impact perk. When you see an ancient dragon and just shrug your shoulders, pick your destruction element to match and idly look at the scenery while you stunlock it to death without taking a hit, then that's pretty powerful (yeah, even if it does take a while...).

However, I know what you mean about things like Draugr Deathlords taking too long with destruction. I switched from pure mage to battle mage at around level 40, with an enchanted ebony sword. Now to be honest, I only evey whip out the destruction magic for dragons and archers who I can't reach, or the odd occasion when I'm surrounded by deathlords/scourge.

So it's pretty situational for me, but an invaluable thing to have in your armoury simply for the ability to take down a whole room whilst guaranteeing you'll not get hit.

As for levelling alteration, you can do this by spamming detect life in a busy part of a town. It levels according to the number of beings detected, so in the marketplaces of Riften or Whiterun it goes up for me about 1 level per magicka bar (currently mid-60s).

 

[Narj]

I wonder if there will be mods to raise the skills cap above 100... It'd be nice to continue raising destruction tbh. Or alternatively, be able to make potions to increase damage.

 

[Ezah]

I guess you mean expansions/DLC?.. if there are, I want harder enemies, by the time you get to end game levels everything is a push over already without raising level caps.

 

[strumpusplunket]

I wonder if there will be mods to raise the skills cap above 100... It'd be nice to continue raising destruction tbh. Or alternatively, be able to make potions to increase damage.

There is a fortify destruction potion, which makes destruction magic X% stronger for a minute or so. I've got one in my inventory just in case, and you can make them from easily-available ingredients (beehive husk, glowing mushrooms, ectoplasm, nightshade, wist wrappings).

 

[MaX_PoWah]

I ended up with the women from one of the companion quests following me round for ages because i couldn't kill a guy at the end of one of there quests lol, good that she couldn't die, but annoying because i couldn't give her anything and she wasn't particularly hard.

Lydia is in my house, i am using the dunmer from whiterun, she seems quite good but companions seems to die a lot around falmer which is odd.. she also has a lot to say when your in dwemer ruins.

I fancy swapping her for the mage guy in riften

I have also started using a bit of magic + one handed sword as i have joined the mages college, starting to wonder if i would have been better making an all out mage character though.

 

[Neil79]

I've got the jester with me , when I go on a killing spree he sounds so psychotic and really adds to the game

 

[Narj]

There is a fortify destruction potion, which makes destruction magic X% stronger for a minute or so. I've got one in my inventory just in case, and you can make them from easily-available ingredients (beehive husk, glowing mushrooms, ectoplasm, nightshade, wist wrappings).

Thanks, I'm doing quite well with alchemy now so that's good to know. I only just discovered how good an idea it is to just mix 3 random ingredients to discover new potions.

 

[LizardKing]

I've got the jester with me , when I go on a killing spree he sounds so psychotic and really adds to the game

Jester companion?? that sounds pretty epic, where did you get him from??

I'm so sick of hearing, "im not sure this is a good idea" and "A cave?, i wonder whats in there" as we just exit the cave.........

 

[agnes]

I got royally owned last night

I was doing one of TDB quests, one where you take instructions from a guy in a cave to kill several people before killing one main target.

Anyway, picked up the other quest to open up the door with the 2 weapons within the cave. Done, sneak into the room. Oooo, a ghost! First one I have encountered apart from the fraud guy who is held up in the barrow by the town near the grey beards.

Go ahead for a sneak attack, his health went down no less than if I had nipple twisted him. Within seconds I was on the floor waiting to reload

Guess I will come back later! Although according to the strat guide, there is a shout to see enemies through walls and stuff... Which as an assassin would be VERY helpful!

 

[Narj]

I got royally owned last night

Guess I will come back later! Although according to the strat guide, there is a shout to see enemies through walls and stuff... Which as an assassin would be VERY helpful!

I got owned by a Spriggan last night, the first one I ever encountered. Methinks I'll be learning a few new spells before I go anywhere near one again...

Also I needed a few attempts at an epic fight... Me, Lydia and some other guy vs a load of mages. I ended up quaffing shedloads of stamina potions so I could power attack them and take them down.

I know I should really use a ward against mages but it just seems like too much hassle, and as it's not on one of my hotkeys, I can't be bothered.

 

[Ezah]

Within seconds I was on the floor waiting to reload

Guess I will come back later! Although according to the strat guide, there is a shout to see enemies through walls and stuff... Which as an assassin would be VERY helpful!

I think its Aura Whisper

 

[Andy90]

Are you finding nirnroot for a different quest then, other than ingun black briar? As well as the glow, I listen out for nirnroot since they make a humming sound. Great that you're finding dragons now!

There are two different types of Nirnroot in game. Normal Nirnroot and Crimson Nirnroot, used in different quests. Both glow and make that ringing noise.

 

[Evilsod]

Guess I will come back later! Although according to the strat guide, there is a shout to see enemies through walls and stuff... Which as an assassin would be VERY helpful!

Aura Whisper - Volunruud. You either get 'letters from a friend' or talk to the Greybeards and they point you to the ruin or you can follow the DB questline and 1 of the quests takes you just inside the entrance.

Pretty much the only shout I ever use on my sneak ranger. Puts the Detect Life/Dead spells to shame. Detects absolutely anything at a range of 300ft inside and 500ft outside and is a whisper as the name implies so won't alert anyone to your where-abouts, whereas the Detect spells emit light and noise and only work at 100ft inside and 200ft outside and can't detect the undead or the living and neither can detect automatons and daedra.

 

[agnes]

Aura Whisper - Volunruud. You either get 'letters from a friend' or talk to the Greybeards and they point you to the ruin or you can follow the DB questline and 1 of the quests takes you just inside the entrance.

Pretty much the only shout I ever use on my sneak ranger. Puts the Detect Life/Dead spells to shame. Detects absolutely anything at a range of 300ft inside and 500ft outside and is a whisper as the name implies so won't alert anyone to your where-abouts, whereas the Detect spells emit light and noise and only work at 100ft inside and 200ft outside and can't detect the undead or the living and neither can detect automatons and daedra.

Yep, it's a god send. I might just sneak past tonight and pinch it then leg it back out. It will be worth having as I am still trying to force my self to use 3rd person when sneaking. I agree it's 10 times easier to sneak in 3rd person but I can't fight in 3rd to save my life!

 

[Amraam]

Yep, same with my daedric helmet, completely faceless. I'm surprised the guards are still cheeky to me tbh, they should be scared.

Are you finding nirnroot for a different quest then, other than ingun black briar? As well as the glow, I listen out for nirnroot since they make a humming sound. Great that you're finding dragons now!

Yup a different quest, but you won't receive it until you pick one out of the ground in blackreach. They are the same, but a crimson colour. You won't miss the first one.

Was strange seeing two dragons at once, but was awesome!

 

[Deception]

I've got the jester with me , when I go on a killing spree he sounds so psychotic and really adds to the game

I was always a loner.. my companions kept 'disappearing'. Saying that, I didnt know I could suit them up.. Wish I did now! Might have to give the game another bash through.