Crafting armor and weapons has killed the game for me!!

[mojobechi]

This is EXACTLY how I feel man. I feel as if everything has become trivialised. It's shocking how easy it is to get awesome gear by doing hardly anything, and getting it so early on. It really does take away the feel of going exploring and finding awesome loot, when you can just made leather bracers for about half an hour and then all of a sudden look like Sauron. It's a bit of a joke, and I feel as if I'm cheating.

 

It's a trade off, sure you'll have great gear but you would've missed some combat or other perks in the process.

[Vagrant0]

It's a trade off, sure you'll have great gear but you would've missed some combat or other perks in the process.

This.

 

Having high end gear doesn't help much early on when you can only carry around one piece of it. Ebony, Daedric, Dragon, and even Glass are a fair bit heavier than what a low level player could run around in without heavily investing in stamina. To even carry around enough skins to powerlevel yourself up to that point at a lower level would almost certainly require cheating to get around the weight restrictions. Sure, if you want to be a level 20 character who's in high-end armor, but has almost no weapon skill and still has base health... that's your business. But you won't be fairing too well come level 30.

 

Elder Scrolls games have always had these sorts of things in them, if not through maxing out of non-major skills at a low level and grabbing some of the static loot lying around, then by allowing the player to use strong spells at a low level. The fact that there is any loot scaling at all is actually more unusual since there is no reason why there wouldn't be people walking around in full ebony or glass armor when you're level 1. Just because ebony is expensive, and supposedly rare, doesn't mean that there wouldn't be many people who have a set. The actual wrong bit is that you have this notion that there is a "high level" sort of armor to begin with.

 

Also... Some of the unique enchanted stuff totally changes the value of certain equipments beyond just how much they protect you. Physical protection, for instance, doesn't do much good against dragons and many other strong magic users. At level 40+, some of the priests and boss types are damn near deadly even in a full set of improved ebony equipment. Enchantment can't really be powerleveled in the same way as smithing since you need lots and lots of soul gem and gear to apply those enchantments to. And even then, some of the special enchanted stuff goes higher and stronger than anything you can make.

[bpestilence]

In Morrowind you could get full Ebony armor by simply stealing it. In Oblivion, you just had to be fast enough to outrun Umbra, and you could have the imperial guards kill her for you, then have the 2nd best armor (and best weapon) in the game. I was once able to defeat Umbra at level 3. These things definately gives a strong boost at first, but you should have seen the Magic Effectiveness of my level 3 Dunmer with Umbra's full Ebony set. (It was like 30%)

 

So, while some think smithing makes the game too easy, just wait. How many player levels do you go up just by getting smithing to 100? Now all the random leveled creatures are that much tougher, and they are only going to get tougher and tougher as you level up your "important" skills. You can probably beat a leveled bandit quite easily, but what happens when you meet strong magic users and you haven't built up your magical defenses?

 

On a side note, I really hope Umbra is in Skyrim somewhere. And what type of weapon will it be? Umbra was a male Orc with a ebony longsword in Morrowind, and a female Orc with a ebony one-hander in Oblivion. Maybe a dagger this time? On the same token, will Mehrune's razor show up? It has been a batleth (Morrowind) and a dagger (Oblivion)....

[Shantih]

After reading the entire thread I have to say that the people who "ruined" their game this way shouldn't complain as they brought it upon themselves. Seriously it's been said before but if you insist on crafting hundreds of daggers (one iron and straps each iirc) to boost one skill you really are missing out on the game.

 

The fact is these players should be happy that the game gives them an opportunity to get access to the good stuff after they've invested time and energy to get to 100% in this skill.

 

I like the skill system but if you start doing things that don't make much sense then you can't expect the game to keep track. In a pen and paper RPG the Game Master would have acknowledged ridiculous exploits like making hundreds of daggers for what they are. This is a computer game and a single player game so it's possible to get away with pretty much anything. I'm sure someone could get an armour skill to 100% by fighting mudcrabs. It may be easier and less time consuming to just use the console. IMO it's not the skill system that is to be blamed, if you deliberately choose to max out Smithing and reach a legendary level then you should expect your character to be able to use mud and clay to craft armours and weapons that would make the gods blush with envy.

 

The key here is roleplaying. Resist the temptation to powergame and exploit loopholes and you will make the game more rewarding. There is a lesson to be learned and that is the fact that human nature is never satisfied with what it gets but is always yearning for more. So friends don't be greedy and be careful for what you wish for because once you get it there is nothing left.

[darkjedi73200]

I think that the blacksmithing system, while fine for that exploratory first play through, is in need of work. It feels like something out of an MMO at the moment, because it's in effect a money sink. Really you should be making money as a blacksmith, not losing it. There's something fundamentally out of whack with that dynamic.

(You never played AION then /snicker. I do agree however. However I do wonder if you get your speech skill to 100 if when you sell armor you in fact could make a profit? Also I think it is more a time sink then a money sink if you are gathering all the mats yourself while out wandering.)

 

The game also misses item condition levels. I didn't miss them at first, but I think as you go through the game having invincible equipment does affect the long term balance of items.

( Again I have to agree that if they are going to bother with introducing the ability to mine ore, they should introduce the concept of armor repair and durability. This then would at least keep you hunting for raw mats to keep your armor from breaking. I also feel that if your armor breaks it is GONE. This would give a much greater concern for your ability to manage your gear. There would however be NPCs in town who could repair your gear for you, and based on the quality of their skills they may or may not repair it to full. ( Think Star Wars Galaxies armor. )

[Deleted3158906User]

Don't smith so much, simple, nuff said, end of conversation.

[domdomdom]

I have to say I am actually rather enjoying smithing.

 

I'm at work at the moment so can't tell you how many hours I have put into the game, however I'm ~ lvl 15.

 

I know it's the cheap&nasty way of going about leveling smithing however I am also just spam producing leather bracers. But I'm not buying the leather. Roaming the plains with a bow & arrow and hunting deer/wolves/bears etc is crazy fun! Shooting lighting at a deer and watching it fly 30 feet never gets old either. While doing that catching butterflies and picking flowers. I mean what's not to love (lol sounds mad gay but I'm thoroughly enjoying it)

 

When doing so randomly getting attacked by dragons, running through ruins with peeps trying to kill you. I think it's a fantastic addition to the game. It's not like a quest were you have to travel HERE kill HIM/obtain THIS - there's more choice and freedom.

 

My 2 cents anyway - I think it's added an extra depth to the game =). And if you've just bought everything, fast traveled everywhere to do so...the game is what you make it.

 

Dom.

[Dreadarm]

I have put 40 hours into this game so far and loved it!

 

Then tonight I though I would take my first stab at smithing. I saw it was easy so spent like 8000 gold on materials and power leveled to 100! Made dragon heavy armor and a daedra sword! A big upgrade from the glass sword and steel plate armor I had. Finding loot is the main thing to me in this type of game, I love finding new stuff to use. But since I basically have the best stuff available to me which only took 30 minutes to do I have killed the game for myself which I am annoyed by. It isnt the games fault I abused the system but was wondering if anyone else made the same mistake?

 

Actually I did this and by level 10 had a full set of plated steal at flawless, however, I am in no way better than everything in the game. I find that many of the non crappy npcs have ebony weapons or dwarven even elven weapons all enchanted and F my day up. its actually a hindrance in my game because it is extremely hard to contend with some of the stuff the scale system throws at me now that i have such a high skill in smithing and not really in combat.

[Pineapplerum]

Wow, maybe you've gone a little too gong ho with it too soon then? I'm still wearing steel armor, superior, but still just steel. I think if you went out of your way to get the best armor possible by cutting right to the chase than you've ruined it for yourself and it was not the game's fault.

I don't know how you leveled up your smithing skills that quickly. You said a half hour? And don't you need special ores and ignots to make the armor? Well, that requires going out and hunting for them. I just got Dwarven materials, haven't even stopped by to smith armor yet for them. I'm more focused on doing the quests. I can't get mad at the game if I finish the main mission in the first day because all I did all that day was focus on the main mission. Of course it's going to go by too fast.

I did nothing else but the main mission.

I don't understand how you had all the necessary materials to craft and level up on smithing in a half hour. I think you may exaggerating or you cheated to get to the dungeons or something because it took me a couple of hours just to get through the one Dwarven ruin where I get the elder scroll. And it was fun. :D

Maybe you can focus more on the game instead of the armor and weapons and let things play out the way they're supposed to instead of forcing things to happen right away. You asked for the best armor right away and you got it. So, why are you complaining about it? It was your choice. Not the game's fault.

[AaronJBC123]

Really? I played an Archer as first character, I think around 20 hours in and I gave up. I smithed when I could, went out hunting, brought back leather. Sitting at a little above level, I was absolutely dominated by everything but the lowliest bandits in combat.

 

Smithing ruined my game in the opposite way..