Zefelius

Very, very helpful. Thanks. I like your approach: make use of what you need in a natural way---in terms of what helps. I myself tend to be anal retentive and think that I have to have a certain predetermined strategy for playing, but your way is more flexible and organic. Although I didn't necessarily think that perks and increasing skills were connected in a direct way... just in the sense that if you have perks invested in a skill then I would think that you could do better with it and thus increase it indirectly through successful fighting/practice. Also good to know that all the creatures level up with me. I didn't know that!

Yeah, that's one of the first things I noticed in this forum---how ephemeral the threads tend to be. I've been playing Civilization Revolution for the last few years, adding over 4,000 comments in that forum. There, players actually get a little annoyed with repeat questions, but here it seems almost inevitable since the threads disappear so quickly. Very interesting to see the different social dynamics!

During my first week of playing as an Orc, I used both two-handed and one-handed weapons (as well as several other skills)---and increased perks for both. Then I went back to the guide which comes with the game and I reread how increasing higher level skills helps to level up faster. That made me think that practising and increasing two skills which overlapped (as with two attack skills) spread me out too much. So when I started over as a Dark Elf I decided to apply perks to only a few skills in order to better focus on certain skills and be more efficient at leveling up. But now I think maybe I overthought it. Applying perks to only destruction, alchemy, and restoration seems to have left me weak in other areas. Now I'm thinking that it it could be okay to spread out the perks a bit and increase more skills---not too thin, but maybe within the range which typically fits your race, around 6 or so. Is that how you guys play it as well? I'm pretty much a noob, so my hunch is that the pros out there know the best path forward. I'd love to know if there's a typical good balance to achieve in this game, or if you think it doesn't matter too much. Thanks!!

That sounds about right. I think the spell traps also use that crosshair thing: when red no good, but otherwise okay.

Well, I do tend to backpedal a lot... ha! So instead I'll follow your advice and keep myself moving as much as I can. Good ideas... sounds like you play a smart game.

Thanks guys: really good stuff. It's obvious I have a lot to learn so I'll just keep at it and keep reading the threads for ideas. The spot I hit that was rough was in some kind of Elven ruins against combos of the Chuarus bug-like creatures alongside of Falmers. I find them to be pretty deadly. I'll prepare before a battle by, for example, putting on some oakflesh, poisoning my dagger in case I need it, and then equipping my destruction spells. I'll even set traps if I know they're coming my way with frost rune. But even all that doesn't stop them. And Lidia gets in the way of my line of sight making it tough to cast spells without hurting her or even sometimes killing her! ha! I haven't been using the ward spells too much b/c they drain magicka so quickly. So now I'm kind of cheating by lowering the difficulty level from the default position to apprentice. Kind of weak, but maybe that will help the first time through. And I'm starting to use a magic staff more as well so I don't drain the magicka too quickly. WIth my dark elf I've been increasing health and magicka at equal rates while totally ignoring stamina. I used stamina for my orc previously, but it doesn't seem necessary with the dark elf. And I've been focusing my perks on just a few skills like destruction, alchemy, and restoration b/c in the game guide it says that you level up faster when you increase higher level skills. Other than that, I think I'm doing what I should be: wearing amulets and enchanted robes to help out, making potions to get me through battles, and doing quests for the college in order to level up for the major quest. But I'm sure I could be doing more... Thanks again!!

I'm really enjoying reading the great comments. Lots of funny stories, which makes this game even more fun to play. Anyway, as I mentioned a couple days back, I'm basically new to RPGs so there's a LOT I don't know. But this game seems fun and I'd like to keep at it. So here's my question: are mages typically harder to play than, say, warrior type characters? When I first started playing this game a couple weeks ago I chose an Orc and got up to level 17 without much of a problem. Basically I enchanted a lot of my weapons and hit skeletons until they died and that was that! But now I'm a Dark Elf and I've reached a tough spot at only level 10. Maybe it's all in my head, but magic seems a bit harder. And one last thing: when I moved up recently from novice spells to apprentice ones, I found the latter to be worse in some ways. They have to charge up which means I can get hit in the meantime, they're smaller in scope (as with small fire balls versus novice flames) which means it's easier to miss the target, and they're not as continuous (the novice spells would keep hitting the enemy for as long as I had magicka). Also they take more magicka which means I can't use as much of them---although I guess that will improve once I get the right perks. Anyway, maybe it will just take me some time, but for now I find the Dark Elf to be more challenging.

Was it early in the game? Dragons will get harder as you level, and you'll see more colors! Some will even have proper names, though only shows in combat and not after the kill. Yeah, I'm always trying to help rabbits. I made the mistake of helping one tho that was stuck swimming upstream in a river and not going anywhere. I gave it a light one word shout which helped it escape but then it ran past Lydia, my follower at the time, who quickly killed it, saying, "That'll teach you!" Apparently, followers takes shouts as initiating combat. That's absolutely hilarious!! Kudos to you for such funny stories! :thumbsup: Edit: when I told my gf your story, she reminded me of one her funny experiences with a bunny. She doesn't actually play Skyrim, but once in a while I give her the controller and she runs around doing basically nothing. On this particular occasion, however, she fell down a mountain side for a very long time, rolling over and over and over at least 10 times and we were both laughing. But what really surprised us was that on the final bounce she landed right on top of this shocked looking rabbit and I think she killed it when she landed on it!!! It was totally random and cracked us up!

This is my first time through an RPG, so everything is new to me. Nevertheless, I was a little shocked when a cute little fox was killed right in front of me by a wolf. I tried to run up to save it but I was too late. It made me think of Darwin for some reason. I was perhaps even more surprised when fighting a dragon after it and a Wooly Mammoth started going at it as well. Before I knew it the Wooly Mammoth defeated the dragon. I didn't expect the dragon to lose, and now I have greater respect for the WM!!

This might sound dumb... but I thought mages didn't typically wear armor. I'm a bit of a noob, so maybe I just don't know. But my understanding is that magic robes are best for mages for amplifying magic and such---and you can still get defense through ward spells and alteration. Otherwise perhaps light armor would be a good bet since it doesn't sound like you're using weapons anyway...

Thanks Krawll for the extensive feedback... I went ahead and fought her a 3rd time from a saved game and lucky for me the 3rd time was the charm. I had my gf watch the book in the center of the room during the entire fight and this time it didn't disappear. How weird: I just don't know what happened the first two times! I googled it yesterday and apparently I'm not the only one this has happened to though... BTW, fighting her as a dark elf wasn't too hard... I used my fiery ancestor's rage and fought her with spells up close. That seemed to do the trick for me. But you guys are probably better than I am and play at a higher setting; since I'm new I keep the difficulty setting right in the middle. Thanks again!!

Thanks Skibblets... I think that may have been one of the sources I used yesterday for help---in which case maybe I'm screwed! But I'll give it another shot tomorrow to see if I can find out anything new. Thanks for the help.

Hey Guys... I'm new to the forum so I apologize if this question has already been asked elsewhere. I'm sure with time I'll become more familiar with the discussions. In any case, this is my first genuine attempt at an RPG. I started as an Orc, went to level 17, and now I've started over as a Dark Elf having learned a bit about the game from the Orc experience. But right now I'm confused about the Hitting the Books quest. I killed the Caller, which wasn't too hard, but can't find the third book. Other sites have recommended looking everywhere in the room for it since it may have been moved during the course of battle---but it's still nowhere to be found! And I also followed the advice of starting again from an earlier save to redo the battle---yet once again I can't find the 3rd book where it should be! Any advice?? Thanks again for your patience! Zef

Great thread. I'm new to RPGs (been playing Civ Rev for the last couple of years), so I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of these comments in this thread as well as the rest of the forum. Nicely done everyone!!

Point well taken... Just thought RokHere deserved credit! :biggrin:

Yeah, you can dual-cast flames and ice, or ice and sparks (which is the one I would've assumed should be deadly and thorough too, since it would drain health, stamina, and magicka from the enemy). And you do that by assigning sparks to right hand for example, and ice to the left, then holding down both mouse buttons as you would when dual casting flames to get the perk benefit. My question was not about the possibility, because I know it is possible to dual-cast (dual is two, not same) different spells; my question was about whether that stronger effect only happens when the same spell is used, and this is confirmed: we have to use the same spell to get the perk benefit, that's all. I think your question was absolutely legitimate. Indeed, I had the same question and since this was the first time I visited this site I was pleasantly surprised to find this thread so quickly. Strictly speaking, as you yourself seemed to recognize, the word "dual" is ambiguous as to its referent: it's linguistically open-ended. It could refer to two similar spells or to the exact same ones. And even if someone argues above that it could only refer to the same ones, what counts as the same is still equally ambiguous, as it might be the same exact spells or merely the same kind or group of spells. So that's why I don't think your question was at all silly or laughable.