Scribblesix

I feel that level progression in Skyrim is a bit off if you play about at the beginning of the game and level up a lot of skills particularly non crafting ones at once you shoot up in level but your combat effectiveness does not, but once any skill gets near 70 the game becomes easy if you have complimentary skills in that range (say smithing and a fighting one) it's a walkover. I had a similar problem to you though I never even bothered to use any weapon better than ebony, To make the game more interesting I equip my heavy armour perked Nord in unenchanted fur and only use skyforged steel of less weaponry combat isn't difficult but no longer ridiculously easy. It's another thread I know but regarding balance, I feel that enchanted bonuses shouldn't stack or at best have a log drop off in efficiency, so four items with elemental reduction at 40%, the first is 40, the second 20, the third 10 and the fourth 5 ect. Smithing balance is also completely borked. item quality introduced at creation (smiths don't sell enchanted gear but rather items of varying quality (epic orc greatswords and the like) then degenerates with use requiring the need for workstations to repair them

Totally agree I find it baffling that this wasn't included in vanilla skyrim. the ability to switch between a civilian get up for wandering around town and a combat one would be extremely handy

Hey cool, have you thought about making a pistol? a front loading matchlock pistol might not be hard to animate and would have game utility... fire off one (highly damaging) shot then draw your sword.

'tis true. You actually CAN learn a lot of magic at the college, but you must STOP and talk to all the characters there. There is advice in every school of magic to be had by experts there and you can pay them to further train you. Students too will end up teaching you how to use scrolls and such. What's her name, (???) will become a fellow student friend after a kewl Harry Potter like scene where she experiments on you. So it depends on how you RP and whether or not you rush ahead. Yeah, I still wanted a lot more, but it wasn't a game focused on the college, so am happy the amount of stuff that was there was there. ^This. I managed to extend and make the College more fun and interesting by timing the parts where you get out of the main quest. For example, what I did was when they set me out to find the stolen books, I took some jobs that had me explore the world for more missing books. I return them and get rewards and stuff and look for more books. I became something like a travelling mage in search of lost valuable books. Of course up until I trashed him at level 22 in favor of restarting a spell sword mage for my blog (Merlin Project). LOL. I'm just hitting two birds with one stone. I used to love to read and write, so now I read for school, play at spare time, and write about my playing in other spare times. LOL. The simplest fix to a o of these problems is not to let the Player Character become leader. In every case it feels forced, unnatural and to be frank borderline insane. You have no interest in leading or organizing said guild, you don't need to be particularly talented nor have any experience at actually managing anything. One could understand if these where 'bought' posts (historically speaking many senior positions where purchased to allow one to extract rent or honour from the title), but they seem like important posts previously held by competent people. To my mind at most the PC should be elivated to a senior director level (member of the circle for the Companions for instance).

I suspect the developers went out of their way to make the Stormcloaks unappealing (which they clearly did) was to ensure the majority of the player-base sided with the empire thus making the official end to the 'Syrim saga' easier to enforce. As an asside.. the 'racism' (should that be species) present in Skyrim is almost non existent by historical and indeed present day standards. I can think of almost no examples where 'outsiders' have been accorded all the rights of the insiders. If you came from the wrong place, wrong parents, where the wrong religious denomination your chances of owning property, not having your monies seized by the king, receiving any kind of legal protection or even getting married to a 'local' where all very low. Even today such attitudes are pervasive, I recall my Chinese business partners horrified face when he had to shake hands with a black man and the sympathetic look our staff gave him as he immediately scrubbed his hand clean with ethanol gel. Non nords in windhelm can, marry locals, buy property, receive legal protection and are not subject to punitive taxes or pogroms. despite the thalmor being on the top of everyone's hate list an ALtmer merchant was able to infiltrate the local nobility within a few years by dint of charm and persistence.

I think the first level blocks work, I maxed them and take very little damage when blocking with a great axe now, the second level perk where times slows down when enemies power attack you definately works and is very usefull as you can easily run behind them and backstab/cut off their heads.

I appreciate the work as a proof of concept, but I'd save your energy 'till the C.K. comes out. it's so hard to make things attractive (which I guess is the purpose of your mod) without it. I personally much prefer Hjerim to proudspire as I find the latter too cluttered tough this might be as my version of Hjerim is bugged and the alchemy and enchanting stations never appeared. Through It occurred to me that the houses are themed to various character builds, Hjerim for warriors (lots of equipment display), Honeyside for alchemists ect. Personally I'd like to add a second floor to Vlindrel, or maybe even a trap filled dwemer danger room. Roll on Tuesday..

That's great, one of my big problems with Skyrim conceptually is how little economic activity there is. Everything present is simply designed to further or convenience the player. Other things... A slaughterhouse/butchers where the player can buy and sell meat (though this might be difficult to do with current models). rather than an alchemist what about a local produce stall where in addition to fruits and vegetable they sold local alchemal ingredients (lavander, chickens eggs, mushrooms mountain flowers ect). I've never worked on a tes game before but I don't imagine creating a new merchants list should be too difficult.

If you're gonna do conan, make him look the part: Sorry Youtube is blocked where I live (Red China) whats the clip of?

Nord conan derivative. obsessed with cooking and smithing, Wears fur armour accessorized with Wolf armour boots and gauntlets topped off with the dragon mask that gives you elemental resistances. First play through so perks are in all manner of stupid stuff esp smithing as he never uses anything better than steel. Fights with unenchanted Great nord axe and a Hero bow. Very unoptimal but then the game is a little easy...

A guard in winterhold was giving me the speech about keeping an eye out for dragons, as they can attack at any moment when one dropped out of the sky behind him hit him with a blast of fire then shook him to death... I don't think he even had time to turn around.

I think that you neec to think about what your asking for here... should people be able to shrug off weapon hits? obviously no but should combat last for seconds? again, obviously no. The trouble is that skyrim does a very por job of simulating combat; parry and reposte have been replaced by damage meters. So one needs to find a way to make 'wounds' more dangerous without making combat instananeous. Perhaps increase armor's utility, make it able to deflect not just degenerate hits, block or at least the shield version would need to be considerably improved and maybe a dual wielding block implemented.

The lack of dialogue options in particular irks me no end. there really should be a lot more options to talk out conflicts. as it stands 90% of random encounters are hostile. Even just a demand for money or for you to leave, likewise one would like to see small groups of bandits fleeing or backing away from high level characters. It seems that a sensible highwayman might choose a better target than the mounted knight dressed in the bones of slain dragons wielding a daemonic sword of fire. Likewise it would have been wonderful if surrendering foes actually surrendered rather than put their hands over their heads for 5 seconds then stab you in the back. I hate that you are forced to kill rather than accept surrender.

I also largely agree with OP's points. I think a large measure of peoples disappointment with Skyrim is that it came after New Vegas and The Witcher 2 which showed what could be done regarding immersion and role-play. Now if Skyrim was just meant to be a tech demo... fine but the engine still isn't great. The combat is pretty terrible (compare to mount and blade). Still I enjoyed playing it and it was worth the money.

But what if the player is a beast race....

DLC content I'd happily pay money for; -Some good NPC's add a few New Vegas quality NPC's to the game. People with a past,with motivations and a personality. At the moment even the 'best' NPC's are just pack mules who will follow you to their death after you fish something out of a dungeon for them. -Hardcore mode: hunger/starvation buggers your skills and regeneration rates. Exposure if your not properly dressed being up a mountain/next to the sea or in a snow storm should do cold damage. (Water is plentiful enough in skyrim to not bother with thirst I think but others might disagree) -Factions. please. added to which anonymity and disguise. both of which would work perhaps like the sneak meter... you can pass your an imperial in the distance but the closer you get the more chance of someone figuring out who you are. Likewise it would be nice if people didn't necessarily recognize who you are if your wearing a full helm. (Though if you appear in your famous daedric plate that should be a give away) -Mount and Blade . Fighting on horses please. While your at it, talking to people on/from mounts would be great too. While at it... lances and spears! To be honest I'd rather see more changes to skyrim than go to another part of tameril, Skyrim is wonderfully built but sparsely populated and very static. No matter what you do nothing -really- changes. An post civil war aldermeri invasion and take over of say winterhold would be fun (if the empire won the pretext could be hunting the dragon born down for the embasy icident perhaps more easily they could fabricate a "mukden incident") Lets face it who doesn't enjoy killing the Thalmor. On a less violent note; what about a 'domestic' DLC. I've noticed a lot of people really enjoy the 'sim like' aspects of skyrim. A small expansion where you get to build up your own keep/farm/manor/thieves den/wizards tower might go down very well. Aside from training hiring guards/miners ect one could also work a bit on the whole marriage aspect. Giving wearable apparel buying your spouse a business (an inn say) or just rescuing him from dastardly kidnappers.

Excellent and exiting ideas here. If I might add a suggestion of my own; dark age/medieval dwellings where much more communal than the contempory houses Skyrim models. (12-16 people in a single story manor/hut would be unexceptional) perhaps adding servants quarters and servants to the 'noble houses‘ would be an easy and quick way to add NPC living space. Likewise upping the number of workers in and around the various lumber mills and mines. I agree that that is definitely missing is a sense of regional identity but aside from a unique style of architecture the holds also lack economic definition. why is that settlement there and what purpose does it serve? Malacath is obviously mining but given the only mine in town is a prison I feel thats a bit lacking. Adding a second mine and large scale smelter would do wonders here particuarly if the warrens could be expanded upon. a look at the Edinburgh Vaults might provide inspiration here. Solitude is a trading/ administrative center but has few bureaucrats and a tiny port. Whiterun is a farming/trading hub but again has little of either. more farms, a cattle market and grain depot would definitely help. I don't know the rest wel enough to comment.

Two small things to consider; the non Nordic races don't really contribute anything in terms of primary production (farming and the like), though they may produce significant amounts of manufactured goods and are unquestionably important in trade. Those good at these jobs are unlikely to be driven off given the minor level of 'racism' on display. Secondly why would distant kings care what happens to distant emigrants (as long as their not being massacred) i doubt non argonians get equal treatment in their lands either.

I rather like the the first posters ideas. Smithing is definitely rather poorly implemented and could do with an overhaul. Personally I would take put advanced armor in the middle next to magical items (It's annoying for those who want to make plate to specialize in elf armor and makes next to no sense logically), then as flobalob suggested put daedric crafting above dragonplate. However for a complete overhaul i would transfer the 'honing' bonuses to smithing (ie a sword is made as a "flawless iron great-sword" at the time of crafting) the grindstone and armor tables would then e used to repair weapon degradation that has occurred through use but would be unable to take it beyond the swords initial rating. Making obtaining the smithing perks contingent on completing a radial quest might be good also. (Help an Orc blacksmith to receive orcish smithing training ect)

This talk about the Empire allying itself with the Aldmeri Dominion is ridiculous. It's like saying that the United States in the 1960s had a chance of an alliance with the Soviet Union. Tamriel in the early Fourth Era is mostly divided between two major powers (The Empire and the Dominion) with two smaller buffer states (Hammerfell and Blackmarsh/Argonian-occupied Morrowind) on either flank. Under these circumstances, does it stand to reason that the two major powers would ally together against the buffer states? Of course not. If you don't understand why not, read 'The Prince' by Machiavelli (particularly the example of the Venetians in chapter 21, 'How a Prince Must Act to Win Honor'). Again, as I said, its just a possibility, depending on who becomes emperor. The Aldmeri may have enough influence behind the scenes to work it out they get an ally or asset there. I'm not saying it WILL happen. I'm throwing the possibility. Or maybe I just read too much Song of Ice and Fire. The US and Soviet analogy is flawed though. Even before WWII they already hated each other, but became allies in the face of a common enemy. It's sillier than you think, the Thalmor would have to march through the empire to get to Skyrim, which is a very high risk strategy for both parties. The Crusades illustrate this point very well. The European kingdoms who suffered the crusading 'armies' to march through their territories saw their lands ravaged and cities often sacked. Likewise the crusaders themselves where often subject to imprisonment and ransom. Politically it's just daft; imagine the USSR having just a humiliating war to China and having the latter dictate a new communist manifesto invite the PRC to march through retake the Ukraine. or 1930's Germany ask the french to attack the Sudetenland. beggars belief.

1. The Thalmor likes the war Ulfric made in Skyrim. It essentially prevents the Empire from recovering, and splits the army into two, a part in Skyrim and a part in the border with the Dominion. The Empire thus cannot attack the Aldmeri because its standing army is torn 3 ways -> Nords divided between legion and stormloack, soldiers stationed in skyrim, and soldiers at the border. 2. Siding with the Empire effectively eradicates the need for a large standing force of imperial soldiers in Skyrim, so they can send much of the army back to the Aldmeri Dominion. If the new emperor has enough guts, he'll rally the Bretons and Skyrim to make war with the Aldmeri. Even those who weren't soldiers before would join due to the Thalmor oppression. Humans breed like rabbits compared to elves who breed slower, so the human army would have recovered more than the Aldmeri. 3. Basically the choice is breaking the Empire for each province to stand for themselves, which may or may not be applicable (however against a fully recovered Dominion, the provinces can't stand alone), or help unite the Empire, and be strong enough to destroy the Domnion NOW, provided of course on the Emperor's wishes. Remember, if the Stormcloaks win Skyrim, you could be looking at the combined forces of the Aldmeri Dominion and the Cyrodiilic Empire to go up against. The Aldmeri will retaliate for the destruction of their Embassy and their fort, and the Empire will of course try to take the land back. That's something I don't think even a Dragonborn led Nord army will be able to stand up against: The combined forces of Elves, Khajiit and two races of Men. Well. assuming we're still applying real world logic here... no. The Almeri cannot invade skyrim as they don't share a border with it; they would have to march through the empire. The empire still faces an existential threat (the Almeri) who are one assumes massively unpopular with the local populance. So assuming a Nord victory you have three scenarios. 1) as before but Skyrim is independent. the elves sit back to lick their wounds (don't forget they have a much lower birthrate so the losses incurred in the last hundred years take centuries, not decades to counter) the Empire continues to disintegrate. 2) The Thalmor assume control of the Empires ruling apparatus and the empire goes to war with Skyrim. The nods probably lose the empire is weakened and brought fully under the control of the Almeri for the next few decades at least. 3) The Almeri attack through the empire and loose horribly, the empire declares war, the Almeri expeditionary force is annihilated and the WhiteGold concord is renounced. Cold war resumes no side is strong enough to attack the other, skyrim empire alliance. Why would the empire ally with the Almeri to retake Skyrim, they have nothing in particular to gain and a lot to lose.

Because Hammerfell was fighting an Almeri army severely decimated by the wars with the empire. The empire actually destroyed the standing army of the Dominion, but the Empire itself was too damaged land-wise that there were not enough resources to support the army. Remember that the Aldmeri were able to sack the Imperial City. So they sued for peace and let the Redguards go to defend themselves against a highly arrogant force which tried to take over Hammerfell territory even if they had no standing army left. Doesn't that support the stormcloaks cause? If the elves are too weak to take hammerfell they are too weak to take Skyrim(unlike the with the empire/hammerfell they don't share a border so would have to invade by sea this is almost always unsuccessful. They could hardly march through the Empire (the empire could turn on them and without supply lines their army would be wiped out) So essentially you have a choice between a thalmor controlled empire province and a thalmor neutral skyrim. If there was an option to unite the two sides, kill the principles and in turn set out to liberate the empire, that would be preferable, but it's not there so...

Whilst I agree that leveling breaks immersion one must consider game balance. I found Skyrim challenging unto around level 12 or so (I suspect mostly because I practiced non combat skills rather than the combat orientated ones. But after that the game has become very easy; despite playing a far from optimal 'build' on the hardest setting (Conanesque barbarian using no equipment more advanced than steel and no magical items) I barely die to anything than elder dragons. Without leveled enemies this game would be rather boring, especially as you are asking for the perk system to be buffed. i suspect most players would prefer a comprehensive mod that makes the game more not less challenging. anyway to evaluate your primary point. 1) Enemy level scaling/Sense of progression -Tweaking the scaling system so that levels matter more. -Powerful enemies impossible to kill at lower levels. -Weak enemies remain weak. -Keeping the game challenging (maybe making it even harder) while revamping the enemy scaling system. The last is the most important some ideas off the bat: Halve health and stamina gain, halve combat skill gain. Reduce non-combat skill effectiveness. Completely overhaul blacksmithing. I would like to keep 'vanilla' bandits challenging (in groups perhaps) as you level. 2) Item scaling yes, this is horrible glass and ebony items should be incredibly rare, and never available from ordinary merchants without a radial quest of some kind and even then only a few merchants should stock them. They should only ever be dropped by high level bosses and very rarely found in chests. (keep Excalibur locked in a cupboard whilst you wield a pig iron club...) . I think overhauling smithing also ties into this. I would make each smithing 'perk' accessible only after completing a relevant radiant quest. 4) Realism & other things a-Adding adjustable primary needs. b-Adding a sense of danger to the winderness by populating it with more encounters or random events. c-Removing skill-ups for lower level items (like iron dagger or leather bracers from blacksmithing - atm it's ridiculous how easily you can raise it) d-Adjustable skill progress speed. e-Weather condition affect you. -Fixing dialog lines in the game a) I think you mean a New Vegas like hardcore mode. Yes. very much wanted. b) http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=6176 but not to everyone's taste; it makes the game much more arcady. c) good idea, perhaps working with iron, or petty soul gems can get you to skill 40% or so..... d) Good idea. e) Hypothermia would be fun something like fallout's radiation perhaps, every item grants a degree of cold resistance (though functioning more like a DR than a % decrease) certain areas and weather conditions are then associated with an environmental cold damage, a snow storm on the plains necessitates a full suit of clothing or nord blood, The throat of the world might need fur lined apparel. whilst swimming amid ice flows magic.