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The Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn |OT| Did you think you were the only one?

GhaleonEB

Member
And the way Bethesda times their announcements for Skyrim, they don't announce updates or a date until pretty close to release.

######

So, my character is at level 61, and my primary and supporting skills are starting to max out, prompting another play style shift in order to hit 78 and slay a Legendary Dragon (and then 80 for the Ebony Warrior). Enchanting, Smithing, Lockpicking, Sneak, Archery and One-handed are maxed out. Illusion, Alchemy, Light Armor and Block are close, and in total will only get me through a few more levels.

I was contemplating a shift to Two-Handed, when I ran into a Revered Dragon this morning, my first. The profile it cut across the sky above me was noticeably different from other dragons, so I knew right away it was a higher level one than I'm used to, even without seeing its name. I tossed on Stoneflesh, enchanted my sword (which only needs it for unusually tough fights) and readied my shield. I'm still working on getting Block to 100, so I figured going hand to claw with a dragon would hellp do it.

Pretty tough fight. I used Become Ethereal to dodge his attacks from flight, and had to chug a few health and stamina potions between bouts to keep going. It was nice to have something other than frost or fire breath to contend with, along with new shouts to produce it. The last, protracted fight on the ground was tough, but just before I land the killing blow, he does a power lunge that bounces off my shield and pushes Block up a level, which in turn levels me up (to 62). w00t

I loot him and find a Daedric two handed war hammer, enchanted with 30 points of shock damage. So not only did I level up, but I found just the tool to make my transition into two-handed combat with. Nice that with the expansions Bethesda added in better loot alongside the new enemies (which keep surprising me - new Spriggans, Falmer and more have popped up).

I've taken to using the warhammer until my health is low, then paralyzing the enemy and finishing them off, that way my armor skills get some love as well. (I wear a mix of Light and Heavy). Since the skill levels based on damage dealt, pounding a handful of bears to death leveled Two-Handed nearly ten times. :lol

At least it will catch up quickly.
 
And the way Bethesda times their announcements for Skyrim, they don't announce updates or a date until pretty close to release.

######

So, my character is at level 61, and my primary and supporting skills are starting to max out, prompting another play style shift in order to hit 78 and slay a Legendary Dragon (and then 80 for the Ebony Warrior). Enchanting, Smithing, Lockpicking, Sneak, Archery and One-handed are maxed out. Illusion, Alchemy, Light Armor and Block are close, and in total will only get me through a few more levels.

I was contemplating a shift to Two-Handed, when I ran into a Revered Dragon this morning, my first. The profile it cut across the sky above me was noticeably different from other dragons, so I knew right away it was a higher level one than I'm used to, even without seeing its name. I tossed on Stoneflesh, enchanted my sword (which only needs it for unusually tough fights) and readied my shield. I'm still working on getting Block to 100, so I figured going hand to claw with a dragon would hellp do it.

Pretty tough fight. I used Become Ethereal to dodge his attacks from flight, and had to chug a few health and stamina potions between bouts to keep going. It was nice to have something other than frost or fire breath to contend with, along with new shouts to produce it. The last, protracted fight on the ground was tough, but just before I land the killing blow, he does a power lunge that bounces off my shield and pushes Block up a level, which in turn levels me up (to 62). w00t

I loot him and find a Daedric two handed war hammer, enchanted with 30 points of shock damage. So not only did I level up, but I found just the tool to make my transition into two-handed combat with. Nice that with the expansions Bethesda added in better loot alongside the new enemies (which keep surprising me - new Spriggans, Falmer and more have popped up).

I've taken to using the warhammer until my health is low, then paralyzing the enemy and finishing them off, that way my armor skills get some love as well. (I wear a mix of Light and Heavy). Since the skill levels based on damage dealt, pounding a handful of bears to death leveled Two-Handed nearly ten times. :lol

At least it will catch up quickly.

Just go for 81 now that you're at it, hit the max level.

Revered Dragons look awesome: there's a particular moment during the Dawnguard questline where they really get their time to shine. I expect you to poop your pants in excitement.
 
Just go for 81 now that you're at it, hit the max level.

Revered Dragons look awesome: there's a particular moment during the Dawnguard questline where they really get their time to shine. I expect you to poop your pants in excitement.

Are you talking about
Naaslarum and Voslaruum in the Forgotten Vale? That was the toughest fight my level 56 ever had, their breath does ridiculous amounts of damage even on Adept.

Random poll question: What's your favorite piece of music from Skyrim? Other than Dragon Fight, of course.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
So not clicking. Thanks for the tags. :)

Just go for 81 now that you're at it, hit the max level.

Revered Dragons look awesome: there's a particular moment during the Dawnguard questline where they really get their time to shine. I expect you to poop your pants in excitement.

I'm looking forward to it.

RE: level 81. Thing is, just grinding to a number doesn't really motivate me. It's why I never got past level 50 (for the achievement) on any of my earlier characters: I would create them with a specific set of goals in mind (say, Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood) and then retire them when they got there. The moment I felt like I was just wandering around grinding skills, they got retired.

I'm preventing that by taking this character through a series of "career" arcs. I did the sneaky archer thing through the Thieves Guild, and am now doing sword and board through the Civil War and main quest. In the middle of that, I'm also toggling to Alteration/Illusion usage as I work through the College of Winterhold quest line (augmenting sword and board). I started the Dark Brotherhood to help with my one-handed (back stabs galore) but am going to finish it up since I've added Illusion to the mix on those quests (Invisibility and Muffle). I plan to transition to more two-handed through the Companions, and just tank up and bash the crap out of stuff when doing those quests. So I've gone from career paths to alternating play styles depending on the quest line I'm working on, just to prevent it from feeling like a grind (even though it really is).

My goal all along has been to slay a Legendary Dragon, but I've got other goals such as that ghostly bastard on Solstheim, and now the Ebony Warrior. I've got a spreadsheet with my final perks all planned out from level 62-80 specifically so I can take out those three foes in the style I want to use.

Without those goals, I'd have stopped playing this character a while ago. And if I find I'm just grinding away and not enjoying it at any point, I'm retiring them and spinning up a character for Dawnguard. So just hitting 81 doesn't do anything for me, no in-game sense of reward or accomplishment.

Now, if you tell me some ultra-bastard spawns in at 81 and I need to prep for them, well, that's something else entirely....:p
 

Slermy

Member
Are you talking about
Naaslarum and Voslaruum in the Forgotten Vale? That was the toughest fight my level 56 ever had, their breath does ridiculous amounts of damage even on Adept.

Random poll question: What's your favorite piece of music from Skyrim? Other than Dragon Fight, of course.

What's neat, is that
encounter doesn't happen if you have not progressed the main quest far enough to start dragon spawning
.

My favorite Skyrim music is probably the main theme. The rest is good, but the main theme is just perfect.

Now if we were talking about Oblivion, that'd be something else...
 
Are you talking about
Naaslarum and Voslaruum in the Forgotten Vale? That was the toughest fight my level 56 ever had, their breath does ridiculous amounts of damage even on Adept.

Random poll question: What's your favorite piece of music from Skyrim? Other than Dragon Fight, of course.

Yeah, I am. I remember
cautiously crossing the ice lake and suddenly hearing it crack behind me as one of the two dragons just burst free, followed shortly by its brother. Such an amazing fight.

As for my favorite music, definitely Watch the Skies. I also love Standing Stones, A Chance Meeting, Solitude, ... Almost all of them, really.
 
Can I post about non-DLC Skyrim in here?

I got the notion to start playing again on Sunday, and decided that before I did, I'd upgrade from Windows XP. Windows 8 upgrades are currently $40, so I leapt on that deal. Well 3 nights later, I finally got Win8 running correctly in 64bit flavor with Bootcamp. And then installed all my mods again, and a bunch of new ones. I hadn't played in 9 months, so there's a lot of great work out there.

Anyway, last night I just reveled in being in the world again. I took my Horse and rode from Windhelm to Solitude to Whiterun. The beauty of Skyrim never ceases to amaze me. I did a few quests in the Solitude area and then called it a night.

8387952713_693a63e90f_b.jpg

It's good to be back.
 
Sorry to get off topic, but where is this?

Right here. Offer only valid until January 31.

The three days of trying to get it to work were because I was going from XP to 8 on my Mac. As a result, the upgrade a) installed 32bit Windows 8 instead of 64bit. And b) the Boot camp drivers were out of date. Windows 8 installed and ran just fine and has performed very well (aside from being awkward to use in it's new Metro layout).
 

curlycare

Member
Gstaff said:
Content will not be releasing this week, but I'm working to get a clearer picture for everyone by the end of the week. Should have good news to share.
Aaand my heart is broken.

Edit: Gstaff promises news for tomorrow if all goes well. Better than nothing I guess..
 

Wallach

Member
So with Dawnguard and Dragonborn, is the DLC sort of set for an expected level? I am starting a new game on Skyrim and kind of forgot there was DLC at all; the crossbow additions in Dawnguard sound useful for my warrior type guy, but I'm curious if I should get it now or if I shouldn't bother until I get this character farther along.
 

curlycare

Member
So with Dawnguard and Dragonborn, is the DLC sort of set for an expected level? I am starting a new game on Skyrim and kind of forgot there was DLC at all; the crossbow additions in Dawnguard sound useful for my warrior type guy, but I'm curious if I should get it now or if I shouldn't bother until I get this character farther along.

If my memory serves me right, the level requirement/recommendation for Dawnguard was 10. Dunno about Dragonborn.
 
I realized tonight that my Skyrim character is basically an adult Katniss Everdeen.


I'm remembering now why I stopped playing in the first place. I wasn't getting anything done. My office is a wreck right now, but hey, a little Skyrim couldn't hurt, right?

Last night, I joined the Empire, and met Ulfric to deliver a message for the Jarl of Whiterun. And then I thought, why are we making such a big deal of this rebellion? I'll kill him right now. FUS RO DAH! Three arrows and done. Oh, wait. He's just kneeling. and now he's back up. Not good. He FUS RO DAH'd me right back and then slammed his axe into me. Dead. Now I remember that you can't kill quest characters early. :-/ Good thing I saved first.
 

Effect

Member
Been going through various quest after I finished the main story and mess around with Hearthfire some. Don't really like that bit of new content. Some of the housing modes are so much better. I think I'm just going to download this one castle mode I saw that seemingly had everything I wanted. Also don't like that the plot of land you can buy is out in the middle of nowhere at times. They seem to like they would function better as a hideout then an house home for you to relocated your character's spouse and children. Been keeping them in Whiterun because it just more sense then having them out in the wild and possibly be killed if they leave the building.

Finding that my game really slows down after a few minutes when I'm outside of dungeons. To the point it can be come a slide show at times. Then it will go back to normal and then slow down again. I have a few saves at a time but I overwrite them. So the number count keeps going up. When I got into the 900s is when this started to happen. I'm on PC.

Is there anything I can do to address this?
 
SO MANY IMPERIALS. AGGGGHHHH

Finally got my character on my main profile up to Dragon Smithing last night. I'd been stockpiling Dragon Bones and Scales, so I went around Skyrim to all my houses, collecting as many of them from storage as I could. Crafted a Dragonscale cuirass and boots at the Skyforge, then went over to sacred Windhelm, where I'd stored 9 bones and 7 scales. Made a helmet, shield, and Dragonbone bow from those, then put on some appropriated self-enchanted Penitus Oculatus Bracers (+8% Smithing), captured Ring of Major Smithing, (+20% Smithing), and chugged a homemade potion of Smithing (+17% Smithing). Final combined armor rating, without Matching Set perk or final two basic Light Armor perks: 693.
Slapped a Fiery Soul Trap on the bow, though unfortunately I couldn't improve the Pale Blade beyond Epic, even with all that extra potency. Should be ready to take on the rest of Dawnguard (this character's about halfway through that), and then Dragonborn after that.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
SO MANY IMPERIALS. AGGGGHHHH

Finally got my character on my main profile up to Dragon Smithing last night. I'd been stockpiling Dragon Bones and Scales, so I went around Skyrim to all my houses, collecting as many of them from storage as I could. Crafted a Dragonscale cuirass and boots at the Skyforge, then went over to sacred Windhelm, where I'd stored 9 bones and 7 scales. Made a helmet, shield, and Dragonbone bow from those, then put on some appropriated self-enchanted Penitus Oculatus Bracers (+8% Smithing), captured Ring of Major Smithing, (+20% Smithing), and chugged a homemade potion of Smithing (+17% Smithing). Final combined armor rating, without Matching Set perk or final two basic Light Armor perks: 693.
Slapped a Fiery Soul Trap on the bow, though unfortunately I couldn't improve the Pale Blade beyond Epic, even with all that extra potency. Should be ready to take on the rest of Dawnguard (this character's about halfway through that), and then Dragonborn after that.

Great thing about Dragonborn is, even with that kind of beefed up gear, you'll still find loot you want to use. I'm still rocking two pieces of gear from Solstheim, amidst my dragon gear and weapons. Not for the armor rating, but for the enchantments.
 

Slermy

Member
Dates for the other platforms:

Bethblog said:
PC and PS3 fans, prepare to cast off. Next month, you will travel to Solstheim, home of Skyrim’s latest add-on, Dragonborn. PS3 fans can expect an expanded itinerary – with stops at Fort Dawnguard and Castle Volkihar – before heading back to the home of your dreams. Details below:

PC: On Tuesday, February 5th, Dragonborn will be available on Steam, including the English, French, Italian, Spanish and German versions of the content.

PlayStation 3: Dragonborn will be the first add-on arriving on PSN in February. Hearthfire will release next, followed by Dawnguard, and all three should be out in February. The 1.8 update will also release, just prior to Dragonborn. We’ll keep you posted as release dates get finalized both on our end and with Sony for each and its various languages. Last but not least, each one will be 50% off during their launch week on PSN.

Over the last year, it’s been a treat for us to work on new content for Skyrim, and we’re excited that it will soon be available for everyone to explore. Thanks for all your support and sharing your adventures with us.
 

Kadey

Mrs. Harvey
Dark brotherhood gear is so nice looking but Daedric heavy armor set just blows it away in defense and being able to add two enchancements. Life is so unfair. I hate how most of the stuff doesn't look all that attractive.

Had a rare event where I ran into two Dragons at the same time. But they were still no match for me.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Is that possible?





Did you just murder her?

I think you can tell them you're parting ways.

I have my own way of doing that, but BlueNinja is a gentleman.


I'm level 66 and it's starting to feel like a grind. I found myself standing between two mud crabs casting a healing spell to level my armor and Restoration skills last night. Aside from Alchemy and Two-Handed, nearly every skill I actually use is maxed out.

My pickpocket spree began last night as well, and as soon as I figured out that it levels based on value, not objects taken, I went from 26 to 48 in 20 minutes. So I'll get a few levels out of it now that it's actually doing decent contributions to my overall level. But not much.

Alteration, Restoration, Destruction and Conjuration languish, with Heavy Armor in the mid 50's; everything else is maxed or a level or two from being maxed. I can't think of a way to keep going and make those fun. The whole standing between two mud crabs healing thing was a perspective check for me.

In hindsight, I should have use the skill trainers to level five skills every single level. I only started doing that around level 40 or so, and it could have gotten a couple of those I don't use maxed out in that time; I'd almost be there.

Luna might be near retirement.
 
I think you can tell them you're parting ways.

I have my own way of doing that, but BlueNinja is a gentleman.

Except when it comes to those damn mercenaries picking on me. They call me a milk-drinker, I make them drink their own blood.

And about your 'problem', yeah, I'm only halfway through the main quest and my main skills are already nearing max level. I still have Dawnguard and Dragonborn to do, and I don't intend on mixing things up. I like my characters to be consistent.

I wanted to rush through Skyrim and see a lot of progression throughout Dragonborn, but this damn game keeps finding ways to make me do stuff. "Oh, another cave? Sure, I could use the loot."
 
So I now have a catastrophic bug in my Skyrim.
Every time I try to save the game it crashes. What the hell? Came out of nowhere.

Edit: Wait, it doesn't affect transition saves, thank God. Maybe it's only related to Nightcaller Temple?

Edit 2: Doesn't affect fast travel saves, either.

Edit 3: It appears the crash-whenever-I-save bug was indeed restricted to Nightcaller Temple. Scared the crap out of me. Be warned if you ever try and do Waking Nightmare.
 
So I now have a catastrophic bug in my Skyrim.
Every time I try to save the game it crashes. What the hell? Came out of nowhere.

Edit: Wait, it doesn't affect transition saves, thank God. Maybe it's only related to Nightcaller Temple?

Edit 2: Doesn't affect fast travel saves, either.

Edit 3: It appears the crash-whenever-I-save bug was indeed restricted to Nightcaller Temple. Scared the crap out of me. Be warned if you ever try and do Waking Nightmare.

Yeah, I made a note of it a few days ago. It's a new bug, you can't save anything in Nightcaller Temple, so be wary when you have menu-autosaves turned on.
 
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