Rebalancing Skyrim

[RavingRavec]

 

-Odd thing is that where dragon's set (smith wise) is 100point perk (which should be best) is only best for light armor where heavy got 80p? daedric armor with better stats and may not care about weight due weight ignore perk.

 

-Shields are actually useless. Unless you plan on heavily investing in them which kinda makes it better to invest in offense(and armor) and just kill the enemy. Early game i found shield not effective enough. If i was at point when i needed to use it, it didn't offer enough protection to make it worth.

 

Smithing:

-I dont like how best heavy-daedric armor requires same mats as ebony +1 silly heart. This gives too easy access best gear.

 

 

Dragon armor is lighter so it makes less noise while sneaking.

 

Shields are useless? level 100 block perk? Alt + Right click = knocking a group of 5 enemys 20 feet in the air, then they remain on the ground for about 3-5 seconds.

Shield bash perk > Shield bash 1-2 shots most of my enemys on master difficulty.

 

In my 130 hours of Skyrim gameplay I found like 4 of those 'Silly hearts' unless you mod, idk about that easy access.

 

And another thing, you got 100 smithing and yet you are completely unaware of the fact that you can improve Iron/Steel armor up to the point where it reaches the defense cap (567 armor, 80%), so any gear you can smith yourself above steal is gear you make because you like the looks of it.

 

^ being said, the type of gear you wear doesnt matter when its heavy armor, with all the perks and 100 blacksmithing you can wear anything and you will be defense capped. My Dragonscale armor might have 1100-1200 armor VS my Wolf armor which has like 700, but it doesnt make a difference since armor stops being important after reaching the 567 cap.

[nic1357890]

 

The overpowered part comes from the ability to create enchantments that allow Alchemy potions to be 10-20-30-40-50-60% stronger, which in turn allows alchemists to make potions that increase the strength of enchants by 10-15-20-25-30% which then allows you to create even stronger enchants for Alchemy and even Blacksmithing, resulting in the f***ing stupidity: my own gear.

 

 

 

Well the +% Dmg perks are seriously retarded.

 

 

So a couple of quick n' easy things that could be put in a plugin the day the CS comes out could maybe be-

 

Replacing all instances of +% enchant strength potions with something completely unrelated, maybe a short-duration magnitude bonus to power of all current active effects for example

 

Reducing all damage and armor basic perks to something like 8-10% per rank (and maybe Stealth reduced to 4-5% per rank, Enchanter bonus reduced slightly to 15% per rank)

 

Quick fix for the overly high magic resistance and armor values im seeing by reducing maximum damage mitigation for both to around 75%

 

Reduce Bretonian magic resistance racial to 10%

 

reduce Alteration "Magic Resistance" perk to +5% per rank

 

adjust Dark Souls so you can put 2 points into it at +100 health at each

 

Reduce Lord stone to +25pts Damage Resistance; +5% Magic Resistance ( from +50; +25%), Apprentice stone to +100% Magicka regeneration, +25% weakness to Magicka (from +100%; +100%)

 

slightly increase minimum barter value, slightly lower maximum (i.e. better prices at lower end and it scales up a bit less)

 

do something about Lockpicking i dont know what

 

change Heavy armor Conditioning perk to "Heavy Armor weighs 50% less and doesn't slow you down when worn."

 

slightly reduce the effect of Shield Charge

 

reduce Elemental Protection to 30%

 

im not as high level as some posters in this thread but im starting to see some of the problems being raised, on the day the CS comes out i want to fiddle with some of the numbers and get the mod out, mainly as a quick day 1 way of attempting to address some of the balance issues.

Edited November 19, 2011 by nic1357890

[LunaWolve]

 

 

do something about Lockpicking i dont know what

 

 

I Could give some suggestions, if you tell me whats your problem with Lockpicking ^^

[nic1357890]

the problem with Lockpicking is its a dead perk tree except for roleplaying purposes; you can pick a Master lock with lockpicking at 15 with a bit of patience. Wax Key is literally useless to my knowledge, Golden Touch/Treasure Hunter are ok-ish but certainly no reason to invest in a defunct perk tree.

[RavingRavec]

 

The overpowered part comes from the ability to create enchantments that allow Alchemy potions to be 10-20-30-40-50-60% stronger, which in turn allows alchemists to make potions that increase the strength of enchants by 10-15-20-25-30% which then allows you to create even stronger enchants for Alchemy and even Blacksmithing, resulting in the f***ing stupidity: my own gear.

 

 

 

Well the +% Dmg perks are seriously retarded.

 

 

So a couple of quick n' easy things that could be put in a plugin the day the CS comes out could maybe be-

 

Replacing all instances of +% enchant strength potions with something completely unrelated, maybe a short-duration magnitude bonus to power of all current active effects for example

 

Reducing all damage and armor basic perks to something like 8-10% per rank (and maybe Stealth reduced to 4-5% per rank, Enchanter bonus reduced slightly to 15% per rank)

 

Quick fix for the overly high magic resistance and armor values im seeing by reducing maximum damage mitigation for both to around 75%

 

Reduce Bretonian magic resistance racial to 10%

 

reduce Alteration "Magic Resistance" perk to +5% per rank

 

adjust Dark Souls so you can put 2 points into it at +100 health at each

 

Reduce Lord stone to +25pts Damage Resistance; +5% Magic Resistance ( from +50; +25%), Apprentice stone to +100% Magicka regeneration, +25% weakness to Magicka (from +100%; +100%)

 

slightly increase minimum barter value, slightly lower maximum (i.e. better prices at lower end and it scales up a bit less)

 

do something about Lockpicking i dont know what

 

change Heavy armor Conditioning perk to "Heavy Armor weighs 50% less and doesn't slow you down when worn."

 

slightly reduce the effect of Shield Charge

 

reduce Elemental Protection to 30%

 

im not as high level as some posters in this thread but im starting to see some of the problems being raised, on the day the CS comes out i want to fiddle with some of the numbers and get the mod out, mainly as a quick day 1 way of attempting to address some of the balance issues.

 

I think I didn't mention it in my post. But magic resistance is duplicative from each source, but multiplicative from different sources. Example:

 

-Max magic resistance from armor (including shield) 66% (ring, neck, shield all 22%)

 

-Breton racial: 25%

 

-Lord stone: 25%

 

-Alteration: 30%

 

-Shield Block: 50% fire, frost, lightning

 

A dragon comes up and does a 400 health damage fire breath. This is what will happen: Shield block removes 50% from the fire damage resulting in 200 damage left, then the stacked resistance from armor will cut that 200 by 66% making it 68 damage, then 30% from alteration will make it roughly 47, then the lord stone's 25% reduction will make that 33, then the breton racial will remove another 25% resulting in you taking 25 damage from the dragonbreath.

 

As far as I know the order of priority in magic damage reduction is : Flat damage reduction (like on the Spellbreaker artifact) > Elemental reduction > Magic % reduction.

 

So since the Bretonian racial can't stack with anything, I think that should just be left alone. After all, nords get 50% frost reduction which is a lot better considering this game has a lot of frost damage.

 

But I do agree on the Alteration nerf, 30% is overkill, even if it doesnt stack. Either make that 15-20% ish, or move it up in the tree so only expert/master alteration players can get it. However I do understand Bethesda's intentions with it being placed so low, so mages in their robes can get some resistances without sacrificing a whole perk tree of perk points for it.

 

Also, whats wrong with lockpicking? Asides from the 1/10th chance I ever encounter a master lock on which I break like 20 Lockpicks I really like lockpicking, and once you get the hang of it (try fiddling with it, just like real life locks) its quite easy - for the people that dont know, you can turn the lock and release the lockpick button to turn the lock a bit further in order to find the proper way to pick it and having your lockpick last longer (Don't know if that made sense, its hard to explain).

 

On a side-note, I don't think Bethesda intended players to reach the levels 70-80 when only on 30% of the main quest line (like me), because the minimum level to benefit from all the OPness mentioned here (armor and magic resistance caps) you need to have maxed out Enchanting, blacksmith, heavy armor, Block. After which only level 70ish players should have enough perks left to invest in something else like one-handed,archery, sneak.

 

EDIT: The most important thing right now is that they fix Nightingale Blade's highest level version (player level 42 to obtain this version i beleive, or 30+ something like that, google it) can not be improved, making the 'what should be' best weapon in the game a piece of s*** :(

 

Also, I've been looking forever to find a pair of boots with the Muffle enchant so I could disenchant and learn it, the thieves guild armor, nightingale, all that doesnt allow disenchanting since they are unique. Here's the pair I found from a bunch of Khajit merchants somewhere. Steel Plate Boots of Muffling > Item ID 00092a8e

Edited November 19, 2011 by RavingRavec

[Arredamaal]

Add some unlock spells to Alteration so my mage doesn't have a higher Lockpicking skill from opening chests than Illusion skill.

 

Remove the ability to 'improve' Daedric artifacts. (The ones from Shrines/Quests.) If I get a shield from a powerful cosmic entity I should not be able to improve it with a Dwarven ingot. But in return buff them slightly so they are still powerful.

 

The problem I have with Lockpicking is that it is player-skill based, not character skill based. Someone who is good at it can open a master lock from the beginning, but a player who is awful at it can run out of lock picks at 100. I liked in one of the recent Bethesda games where you couldn't even attempt a lock unless your skill was at a certain level. That way the way I make my character is more important than my skill at a mini-game. Change the 'easier' perks to allow you to open the next rank of locks early. So at 25 or whatever you could choose "Adept Lockpicking" which would allow you to attempt adept locks which would normally require 50 or whatever. (It is Novice-0, Apprentice-25, Adept-50, Expert-75, Master-100, right?)

[dra6o0n]

Sneaking is suppose to be overpowered, I mean if you slit someone's throat from behind, should they turn around and whack you?

 

Archery + Sneaking needs a revamp though, because while the multiplier is low, it works at a 50/50 chance to enemies at your levels but I can see it being better with 'hitbox for headshots' so you instant kill them.

 

So basically you can make enemy archers weak but dangerous as they can do lower damage if they shot you anywhere that's armored, but if they shoot at your head and you didn't wear a helmet, you will likely take a deadly hit.

 

Of course, enemies using bows isn't sneak attack so technically you are expecting them and shouldn't get 'one-shotted' by arrows to the head all the time... It's just there as a 'screw over' when you are low on health and didn't realize a archer ends up taking a shot at your head from afar.

 

Having bow and arrow losing damage against heavy armored targets, up to a maximum of 50% if it hits a body part that's armored?

 

This makes archers not so effective against you if you are wearing full heavy armor sets, and not the smithing level 100 kinds, I mean any heavy armor.

Edited November 19, 2011 by dra6o0n

[RavingRavec]

Here's some things I recently found out

 

-If you are wearing a shield while sneaking and you raise it in front of you, it allows you to walk at normal movement speed, or even slightly faster. I'm not quite sure.

-If you then press the sprint button (PC Alt) and got the matching 100 block + the perk allowing you to shield charge, you will shield charge in stealth mode running insanely fast while remaining undetected, and you are able to use the mouse to make a 360 turn as if you were a balerina.

-If you are in the outside world and you crouch, pull your shield, right click to hold it up, then press sprint, let right click go, then let sprint go you will have an infinite sprint+autorun, even if your stamina bar depletes you will still continue the automatic forward + shield charge sprint.

 

Oh, and here's a screenshot of a dungeon on master difficulty. Pretty much every single one of those mobs could one shot me with magic (I was wearing my damage gear, not magic resistance)

 

 

[LunaWolve]

the problem with Lockpicking is its a dead perk tree except for roleplaying purposes; you can pick a Master lock with lockpicking at 15 with a bit of patience. Wax Key is literally useless to my knowledge, Golden Touch/Treasure Hunter are ok-ish but certainly no reason to invest in a defunct perk tree.

 

 

Just came back from Dinner.

So got some suggestions:

 

The problem I have with Lockpicking is that it is player-skill based, not character skill based. Someone who is good at it can open a master lock from the beginning, but a player who is awful at it can run out of lock picks at 100. I liked in one of the recent Bethesda games where you couldn't even attempt a lock unless your skill was at a certain level. That way the way I make my character is more important than my skill at a mini-game. Change the 'easier' perks to allow you to open the next rank of locks early. So at 25 or whatever you could choose "Adept Lockpicking" which would allow you to attempt adept locks which would normally require 50 or whatever. (It is Novice-0, Apprentice-25, Adept-50, Expert-75, Master-100, right?)

 

 

Like Arredamaal said, possible add perks that allows you to Pick the locks faster. (Needed a new Lockpicking system.)

 

For the other perks (others than Adept Lockpicking, Master Lockpicking....) there are many possibilities:

 

- Show health of current pick.

- Preview for the Chest (whats inside, like 50% of the items, so you know if you WANT to pick it or not)

- Improved lockpicking, makes a sound when you are near the right point. (to pick the locks easier)

- Stronger Picks. (Picks get more health or dont lose that much cause you have improved the feeling of not opening the lock, so you can take it away faster)

- Lock Knowledge (Let you destroy a lock, one a day or something like that, so you dont need to pick it. You can do that because you know much about that Lock, the weaknesses and stuff)

- Knowing how to Pick. (Let you use other items than Picks to pick a lock [if you lost all of your picks] for example... arrows. Like you break them and try it with them, for example.)

 

 

Most of them are usuable even if you just need Player-Skill instead of Lockpicking-Skill, for example the preview of the Chest.

So the skilltree wouldnt be 100% retarded and useless.

 

If you go ahead with thinking you could add perks into that tree, that takes advantage of your skill in using your hands to create better items. (Smithing, Jewelry)

Although you could think about the skill to hear things (like the lock clicking, if you are at the right spot), to add perks for Stealth (you can hear enemys further away, makes them appear at the minimap, for example).

 

 

So much possibilities. Hope thats enough for just a quick summary of ideas.

Maybe you can do something with them

Edited November 19, 2011 by LunaWolve

[RavingRavec]

the problem with Lockpicking is its a dead perk tree except for roleplaying purposes; you can pick a Master lock with lockpicking at 15 with a bit of patience. Wax Key is literally useless to my knowledge, Golden Touch/Treasure Hunter are ok-ish but certainly no reason to invest in a defunct perk tree.

 

 

Just came back from Dinner.

So got some suggestions:

 

- Improved lockpicking, makes a sound when you are near the right point. (to pick the locks easier)

 

 

If you ask me, of the things you listed this is the only reasonable one, either like a sound, or something like the sneak detection eye, something that lets you know if you are in the right area. Because if you ask me, and I reached 100 lockpicking about 20 game hours ago, I break about 60-70% of my lockpicks finding the right place to put it in, not the process of picking it.