Rebalancing Skyrim

[Mansh00ter]

Oh, this made me sad. I am playing a mage character and had certainly hoped that everything would even out in the end. Making me more powerfull. But according to your experience it's the other way around :/

 

I find that playing as a mage is more of a think-ahead game, as opposed to the melee types which just charge in waving big swords and axes - which is as it should be. That said, archery on player end is much too weak - again we have the repetition of the Oblivion problem with arrows being so weak you need to spend a dozen of them to kill stronger opponents (and I'm not talking dragons here). Melee is pretty good, although I'd like to see deadlier weapons and more meaningful armor (and protection for mages) so that "mashing attack key" is no longer a valid combat tactic when you're wearing skimpy armor. Block or get pwned.

[EvilDevil82]

I don't think that archery is to strong or to weak. When crouching and shooting arrows at enemies they were down at 4-5hit. Same for me, when they hit me.

 

Magic weak? Well i die pretty often on magical encounters with more than 2-3 foes. Like the witches.

 

Up to now, lvl 25, adept, i think the game is well balanced for the regular player. Most times it was fair or you were just ambushed by a horde of enemies and died or used all potions to win the fight.

 

THough with stuff like +100% destruction dmg, +100% mag regen, -50-100% mag costs, magicans become pretty strong. But that would require the max enchant perk with +2 enchants per item.

[Gabbemaster]

I find that playing as a mage is more of a think-ahead game, as opposed to the melee types which just charge in waving big swords and axes - which is as it should be.

 

I agree, I have nothing against the fact that mana depleetes fast, but I would like the spells that you do have time to cast to be more powerfull :) More like in dungeons and dragons.

[JimboUK]

I have to agree with the OP, I played a mage up to level six and wasn't having any fun at all, I switched to a warrior and now things are a lot better. On the subject of heavy armour, I don't think making people run slow is the answer, it may be realistic but it's not enjoyable, I'd have heavy armour nerf magic in some way instead.

[AdamScar]

Yup, I'd take that mod. Some things don't annoy me like the number perks.

But the variety of perks could have been so much wider and better. There are very few unique ones. Most are: reduce cost/ increase damage. >Nice but not Fallout level.

And yes to magic related things! It ist horrible in this game to go PURE mage. (Generally puring here isn't so good I think.)

[Tferr]

I never thought I'd miss the major/minor skills system from Oblivion.

 

As it stands right now I'm holding off leveling up while I skill my enchanting/blacksmithing so I don't gimp myself later on.

 

I really support everything the OP said, especially the part about more perks. While being able to pick and choose is neat and preferable to Oblivion's system, I really think they could have done so much more with it.

[Andazeus]

Allright, my thoughts on a few of the mentionings here.

 

First off: don't make rash statements. The game isn't nearly close to being fully explored yet and new strategies are coming up at every corner. Give the players a few weeks to come up with all the variety of options. I'm sure several playstyles are currently heavily underrated due to some of the mechanics only apparent later in the game.

 

 

Let's start with Archery. Op stated enemy archers would be too strong and others stated that player archers would be too weak. Playing an archer myself, I can only wonder about that statement.

Regarding the enemies: if an archer really kills you in a few shots flat, you might simply want to look into more defense. Improve your armor, invest a few points into it or, if you're a mage, make sure your defensive spells are up. Even if you're no mage... casting Stoneflesh before a fight is never a bad thing. Better put some use to that magicka. Don't let it sit at full. If you are mellee, you actually should have sufficient armor in order to safely make it to the enemy. If not, chances are, something is wrong Even if your equipment and perks are top notch - don't forget things like poisons or diseases. Especially archers love to poison those arrows!

 

As with player archery: stealth is the key. You are basicaly a hunter. Act like it. It is essential you keep the initiative at all times. If an enemy catches you off-guard, things are going to get rough. Observe the enemy routes, look for a good spot, that gives you a lot of vision while at the same time difficult to reach for the enemy.. and then strike. Stealth and proper positioning are what makes a brilliant archer. Also poisons and a good bow :)

 

 

I also think smithing is highly underrated. It's not about creating the armor and weapons... they are not better than the found ones. It's about improving. Don't forget you can enchant gear with +smithing and you can use +smithing potions. It all stacks! Buff it up and soon you'll be creating the sharpest things in all of Skyrim. This goes hand in hand with enchanting. Especially at 100, these two skills are completely crazy. You can don yourself in insane pieces of custom armor, all geared towards your specific playstyle. A set full of +archery together with a custom made, legendary improved bow and soon, you'll be one-shooting everything in sight. At least I do. Including giants. (Adept difficulty).

 

 

I have not played a full mage myself yet. But given what I said, I have a hard time imagining magicka problems if fully donned in crazy regen items.... (on top of my head, I think it should be possible to get over 300% regen).

 

 

TL;DR

 

Don't forget to improve and enchant your items, have a proper stock of potions and poisons (and learn to use them!) and bring some situational gear (for example elemental resistance works wonders vs. casters and dragons). Even when playign an axe-wielding barbarian... a little preparation WILL make your life easier (and longer!).

[theplagueman]

I heavily agree with you on the state of Perks. I do hate how some are must have (20/40/ect increase in damage and 50% less magicka cost.) I have a small suggestion, perhaps when you level up you get a perk and a "boost" (Not sure for a good name for it). The boost would include passive benefits that help you're playstyle, such as a small amount of magicka regen, a small boost to damage, ect. The thing to note would be small boosts. Not huge boosts that instantly make you more powerful at level 3 compared to level 2, but smaller boosts that suit your playstyle.

 

I believe perks should either 1) be more active or 2) Help "specialize" your character.. The boosts would give a small boost to your character's passive abilties and the perks would allow for more options

 

Example: Blah-blah-blah of the flame Atronach: Your flame atronach *something here*

Implementing a perk like this would give you an option to make your summon more specialized and more useful in an area, or perhaps you could have a more "jack of all trade" perk (One would heavily specialize a certain spell, or perhaps one would help all spells a little bit).

 

Just offering my input, which isn't thought-out thoroughly. Take it for what you will.

[Brendon123123]

This isn't WoW. This isn't RIFT. This isn't an MMORPG of any sort, so please, don't treat it as such. There's a way past everything you've mentioned, and several of your "balance" qualms are trivial to say the least.

 

1.Magicka shouldn't be an issue at all, if you utilize a potion or two correctly, and put some points into your Restoration tree. Going on level 24 on Adept difficulty, I've yet to encounter problems with Magicka.

 

2. They're mostly place-holders, meant to hold you off from the juicier talent bits until later. If you're so confident that you can make the easy choice of doubling your damage output, then make it. Five points into one tree all at once isn't as good for your class as you might think.

 

3. No, they don't. My level 24 main character is full-mage. This isn't Oblivion. Restoration tree. Potions. Buy more spells. Profit. Low-level spells are far from magicka-deficient, provided you've put the proper points into the proper trees. There should be an amped-up version of them, however.

 

4. I don't steal in this game. It's a waste of time, and barely yields much to begin with. Why steal, when you can just kill all that inhabit the house and take the stuff for your own?

 

5. I had my first horse at level 5. They're far from costly, and the emphasis on fast-traveling should actually increase their cost, not make them cheaper.

 

6. I laughed. You have got to be joking.

 

7. The increased move-speed from that perk is merely a convenience that you are rewarded with for dedicating so many points to that tree, which you really deserve for doing so. Movement speed has little effect on your actual combat potency, so your argument is void here. Reduced speed is not a major downside.

 

8. No one invests fully into a single tree until they've gotten to a point where the important perks are out of the way. Firestorm costing too much magicka? Stop rushing for it so early.

 

9. Staves make things easy, yes, but they don't get used forever. Actual Conjuration is a huge magicka dump and is hardly cost-effective. Not overpowered by any means, unless staves are used. Then again, there's a reason we can only summon one at a time. ;)

 

10. I wish there was more.

 

Above all, I think you're forgetting a few very important things; The game is still heavily influenced based on the gear you wear and use. If you have magicka problems, there's jewelry for that. Arrows killing you too fast? There's spells, and armor for that. Oh and, you know, utilizing your ability to SPRINT and use SHOUTS. ;) Also, if you find that your character is overpowered, try turning up the difficulty. That's what it's there for.

Edited November 15, 2011 by Brendon123123

[fourtylashes]

Edit: Also, Archers are OP? Sure, they do a ton of damage at the cost of being easy to dodge. Whose fault is it that you rambo'd into a fort without surveying the enemy location and just got plucked away by their "strategically placed" range?

 

I hardly rambo, if anything, I have my summons rambo for me. It's more that in some enemy types aggro later than others, so you don't notice them until they're killing you.

 

As for everyone else's points, they're a bit too numerous to reply to individually. All I can say is I respect what everyone has to say, though I must question some of the rebuttals to my ideas. Why don't you want more perks? More unique and interesting perks? Do you like the system of picking +100% damage and then leaving the tree alone until you have useless points sitting around that need to go somewhere? All of my points went into crafting after I put some points into +40% melee damage and reduced magicka cost on illusion spells, picking up 15X damage for sneak dagger attacks quickly, then not needing anything else until level 40 (Really, +60% damage from 1H weapons and 15X damage on a sneak attack means your 20 damage dagger is doing well over 400 damage, one shotting just about any enemy in the game).

 

I never tried to imply Archer PCs were overpowered.

 

"Cranking up the difficulty" is not a solution to balance woes. I do not enjoy whacking shield tanks for 30 seconds and getting instagibbed by a pair of mages. Enemy NPC mages can be strong, but I assure you PC mages are none of the sort.

 

I have never suggested Skyrim should be like WoW. I detest WoW and want nothing to do with it.

 

Updated my initial post with more specific, theorhetical "patch notes". Please give feedback on these ideas, as specific as you can. If enough people can agree a change is especially bad, I'm more than willing to rethink it.