Skyrim: Dying with a monotonous regularity

[Greywolf2375]

A shortage of dragons? I'd never have thought it possible! Everywhere I go, I seem to run into the buggers - practically every time I exit a dungeon, for example. (I exaggerate. But not by much.) Annoyingly, they often just fly about for ages, not getting close but not bloody going away either. I have to hit them with a couple of arrows or spells to get their attention, and I'm a terrible shot. Tried just hiding once: the dragon was still there hours later, even though it hadn't actually bothered to attack me before I hid.

Seriously...i think I've got 25ish dragon souls waiting, and I;ve activated each shout I've come across, even Etheral. they're almost worse than the random cave you find on your way somewhere - yeah, I know I need to get to Markath to talk to some guy about something ridiculous...but ooh...cave!!!!

I had lost Frosty (which makes me chuckle each time I think about our own dear Frosty v.10) after taking over one of the forts for the Imperials and geting on another horse by accident. Figured with the way the followers & bugs i'm running into were going that he was gone forever. After a while I got tired of regular old Brown Horse and went looking...found him sitting in the exact same spot, like a month later just waiting. Now if I could only get barding or something for him so he doesn't die when he runs head long into an ancient dragon breath again that'd be great.

Is there a way to drop quests on consoles? Right now J'Zargo (the mage student), Urog (for a misc quest), Repairing the White Phial and I think another quest are all bugged on me for various reasons. I had a Briarheart in my inventory for the White Phial and so it has me not being able to use them as ingredients or use it as a quest item even though it is marked as one.

Just bought my 2ndhouse - the one in Solitude and still have 120k waiting for...something....

[Underfoot]

Well, if you have the house in Markarth you have your own Arcane Enchanter, so there's no excuse for such laziness! :P

Hah, I have yet to shell out for that :P I've actually got all of my stuff off her (yay), but now she's decked out in enchanted ebony armor (legandary). Definitely can't leave her with that.

[Ser Dermett Corbray]

Funnily enough, my character was built with both Gregor Clegane and Tywin Lannister in mind after first seeing Game of Thrones and then reading the first book. A Nord with a shaved head and blonde whiskers (Lannister), fights in heavy armour and wields a huge two handed sword (Clegane). Can't imagine playing any other way, charging into battle and cleaving everyone in sight, occasionally retreating like a coward whenever some magic wielding wimp is crushing me but returning healed up to cleave them in half too.

Haven't hacked my own horse's head off yet though. But if I do I'll be sure to leave it in General Tullius' bed.

[Underfoot]

I'm having some issues with my game version. I guess the game must have gotten a patch (haven't played since Sunday), and now it won't start. I figured the issue was with the SKSE that I installed for my mods, so I downloaded the newest version that was on their site. Still didn't work. So I figured maybe my SkyUI mod was interfering, so I got the newest version of that as well, but my game won't load (all I get is an error message telling me that my game version is not supported, and says it supports the previous patch). It also won't load through Steam.

Do any computer whizzes know what the problem might be? I also have the mods SkyBoost and an HD texture pack installed. I backed up my files, so I can reinstall it if I have to.

[Zelgrath]

Did you update the skse for the newest skyrim patch that is only a couple days old? You need skse to run a lot of mode such as skyui.

[Underfoot]

I think the version that they had up last night matched the new patch. At least, the numbers seemed to match up, but I'm really not sure what I'm doing. I hate running the game through Steam. Makes things like this harder to figure out.

[Shaun Snow]

I think the version that they had up last night matched the new patch. At least, the numbers seemed to match up, but I'm really not sure what I'm doing. I hate running the game through Steam. Makes things like this harder to figure out.

I use a torrented crack to avoid Steam altogether. It'd hardly be stealing since you obviously bought the game fairly.

[Reny of Storms End]

Coccoman,

Do you have the three word shout for Unrelenting Force?

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

Coco - try Elemental Fury, it takes your melee from badass to godlike. Storm Call is also awesome if you're outside (don't use it in town!).

[mormont]

I like Ice Form, myself. But there's no Shout more entertaining than laying the old Fus Ro Dah on some poor unsuspecting wolf.

[Reny of Storms End]

Yeah, as it happens. And now that you mention it, I completely forgot it was there.

Gotta stop playing under the influence, haha

I love to send bears flying like ragdolls with a good UF shout.

My only problem with playing under the influence is gazing for long periods at the Northern Lights.

[mormont]

Question: I started off playing as a pure 'tank', heavy armour, 1H and shield, bow for distance work, plus shouts. Only spell I ever cast is Candlelight, when poking about the murky corridors to make sure I haven't missed any loot. I'm now playing alternately with a more-or-less pure mage, which is a good deal of fun. Only life seems to be much harder for this poor guy. He gets killed far more often.

Partly it's the lack of any really devastating attacks: fireballs don't seem to faze a lot of the creatures I'm tackling, and they're a bit dangerous anyway in certain circumstances (they hurt my followers and piss off the guards in town). Partly it's the lack of armour; he's wearing Expert Destruction robes, though supplemented by a Dragon Priest mask, Epic steel bracers and Epic Elven boots (plus a matching shield when necessary) and of course, Stoneskin spells. This shouldn't really matter, of course, except that I get rushed all the time, even with Lydia out front in head-to-toe plate - she gets overwhelmed or people go around her. And partly it's the fact that I have to pump so many points into Magicka, rather than Health.

Is there something obvious I'm missing here that would toughen this guy up a bit? Or are mages just generally a harder row to hoe?

[TheEvilKing]

Question: I started off playing as a pure 'tank', heavy armour, 1H and shield, bow for distance work, plus shouts. Only spell I ever cast is Candlelight, when poking about the murky corridors to make sure I haven't missed any loot. I'm now playing alternately with a more-or-less pure mage, which is a good deal of fun. Only life seems to be much harder for this poor guy. He gets killed far more often.

Partly it's the lack of any really devastating attacks: fireballs don't seem to faze a lot of the creatures I'm tackling, and they're a bit dangerous anyway in certain circumstances (they hurt my followers and piss off the guards in town). Partly it's the lack of armour; he's wearing Expert Destruction robes, though supplemented by a Dragon Priest mask, Epic steel bracers and Epic Elven boots (plus a matching shield when necessary) and of course, Stoneskin spells. This shouldn't really matter, of course, except that I get rushed all the time, even with Lydia out front in head-to-toe plate - she gets overwhelmed or people go around her. And partly it's the fact that I have to pump so many points into Magicka, rather than Health.

Is there something obvious I'm missing here that would toughen this guy up a bit? Or are mages just generally a harder row to hoe?

Best advice I can give you is try not to get hit. Conjuring is also super useful. Lydia + an atronach or an undead then retreat to a safe place where you can throw fireballs at your enemies.

[matt b]

Question: I started off playing as a pure 'tank', heavy armour, 1H and shield, bow for distance work, plus shouts. Only spell I ever cast is Candlelight, when poking about the murky corridors to make sure I haven't missed any loot. I'm now playing alternately with a more-or-less pure mage, which is a good deal of fun. Only life seems to be much harder for this poor guy. He gets killed far more often.

Partly it's the lack of any really devastating attacks: fireballs don't seem to faze a lot of the creatures I'm tackling, and they're a bit dangerous anyway in certain circumstances (they hurt my followers and piss off the guards in town). Partly it's the lack of armour; he's wearing Expert Destruction robes, though supplemented by a Dragon Priest mask, Epic steel bracers and Epic Elven boots (plus a matching shield when necessary) and of course, Stoneskin spells. This shouldn't really matter, of course, except that I get rushed all the time, even with Lydia out front in head-to-toe plate - she gets overwhelmed or people go around her. And partly it's the fact that I have to pump so many points into Magicka, rather than Health.

Is there something obvious I'm missing here that would toughen this guy up a bit? Or are mages just generally a harder row to hoe?

I actually just "finished" a playthrough with a pure mage character, it really didn't go too bad once I got the hang of it. The trick is to max out your enchanting and alchemy skills, make some potions to fortify enchanting, which you then use to enchant a set of alchemy armor. I believe you can't do this more than twice before you've maxed out your fortify alchemy armor. After that, make the best enchanting potions you can, and use that to enchant a set of armor with fortify your favorite 2 magick skills (assuming your got the 2 enchantments perk, which you should have). You have 4 pieces of armor you can enchant with fortify a magick skill (ring, necklace, body, hand), each one will be 25-29%. You'll now be able to cast spells in those skills for free!

Until you get to that point, mage staffs are invaluable ways to save your magicka, plus dealing with the soul gems to keep them charged will help you get your enchanting skills up.

If you're going the destruction route, I would also recommend getting the impact perk, which causes enemies to stagger when they're hit with a dual-cast spell. Once you can cast spells for free there's no reason not to go dual casting, and impact means you have an easy method of crowd control. It becomes a little more difficult with larger crowds, but still do-able (combine the ice form or unrelenting force shout into the mix, and things become a lot easier).

[Ser Greguh]

I have had this game for a while, but only just began to get into it to the degree that I've wanted to because I've been on a business trip for several months. I bought a second XBox and 2nd copy of the game just to play it on the road, please don't judge me :P

Interestingly I've been trying out a pure blasty-mage and loving it; while it's not anywhere near the invulnerability of a pure tank in epic armor, there's something inherently satisfying about taking out a dragon in one mana pool worth of lightning bolts. I'm only level 16 but so far my tips are:

1) Embrace your status as a pure glass cannon. Put everything into Magicka, and just be cautious and don't get hit unexpectedly by mobs you didn't see coming. Gotta be smart, but once you get the hang of it isn't bad.

2) If you do get hit by something you weren't expecting, run. Most mobs won't keep up with you when you sprint, and you can swap to a dual healing spell if you dropped down to critical.

3) The game really starts when you get the perk that staggers your enemy on a dual-cast spell. Until then you actually have to tank some damage. Use this effectively, combined with embracing the mantra of #2, and you can take out some fights that are *way* above your level.

4) Some fights you just gotta blast everything into the primary baddie, suck down some magicka potions, and repeat. The fight for Azura's Star / Black Star is an example of this (you can't run). Alchemy is your friend. Most fights, though, you can just adhere to the "Stick and Move" mantra.

5) If you're in melee range against a dangerous foe, you've done something wrong.

6) Though I'm not a big fan of abusing the fortify-skill crafting feedback loops, maxing out gear that either reduces the cost of your Destruction magic, or just greatly increases your magicka regeneration, is very helpful. The Restoration perk that gives a bonus to your magicka regeneration is an absolute must.

7) Dual-cast everything offensive. Lightning Bolt is your friend. The key is punctuated damage while staying safe, not pure magicka efficiency.

I haven't bothered with a companion, I think I'd probably just kill them. Perhaps an archery-based or destruction-based companion wouldn't hurt. Really I think they'd just get in my way.

I think that when I get bored with this build I'm going to try a pure tank build with a conjuration/restoration focus and rely on summons / a companion (that I will focus on keeping alive) for the majority of my dps.

[Sivin]

Decided to start up my reboot save from a few weeks back. I wanted to become a werewolf, so I did. It took all of 20 minutes, and I rather enjoyed it. I like going around murdering people... is that a bad thing?

[Underfoot]

I have had this game for a while, but only just began to get into it to the degree that I've wanted to because I've been on a business trip for several months. I bought a second XBox and 2nd copy of the game just to play it on the road, please don't judge me :P

I don't think anyone here has room to judge you :P Those were some nice tips, too. Right now I'm (What's the word you guys use, tanking?) tanking it with heavy armor/block/one-handed with occasional archery involved, and I'd be scared shitless attempting anything solely mage based. I'll have to try it out when I'm done with this play through, though that will be a long time. I haven't been able to play for about two weeks (why do work and school exist?).

[mormont]

Some cool tips, guys. Thanks! I actually have been summoning flame atronachs for extra protection, but they're starting to get a bit outclassed and having specialised in Destruction (and spent lots of perk points there), I find the magicka cost is quite high. I have a Staff of Zombies in a chest back in Whiterun, but with high-level opponents it doesn't work, of course. (What I really need is the rose that lets you summon Dremora. Maybe I'll go find Sam.) The 'offensive' staffs (staves?), I find really difficult to aim, for some reason, so I've tended to drop them.

I actually already did the Azura's Star quest, fairly early on, and on that and a couple of other quests I've ruthlessly gone for the 'take out main bad guy' tactic - there are at least two others I can think of where that's paid off, the assorted draugr etc. surrounding me collapsing once the main bad guy goes down. Dual-casting with the stagger perk is worth a shot, for sure.

I've tried adventuring without a follower and it's just no fun. I like some company. :P But that does make running away, for example, a pain - as well as the obvious problems with fireballs, fire runes, etc.

My 'tank' character finally reached the stage of making dragon armour last night: bit of a disappointment, I have to say. It's ugly and not much of an improvement over my current ebony gear. Think I might stick with the cooler look, even if it costs me a few armour points. ;)

[Daeric]

I found Daedric gear to be better for tank characters then Dragon for whatever weird reason, and you also get to look good wearing it as well.

[devotee]

My 'tank' character finally reached the stage of making dragon armour last night: bit of a disappointment, I have to say. It's ugly and not much of an improvement over my current ebony gear. Think I might stick with the cooler look, even if it costs me a few armour points. ;)

I found Daedric gear to be better for tank characters then Dragon for whatever weird reason, and you also get to look good wearing it as well.

I found the same. Dragon armor is too ugly, won't even let my companion wear that. Looks like rags, made of bone. Just shell out some money for Daedric Hearts if you haven't found enough, more powerful and better looking.