Drastic changes from oblivion... for the good?

[oldspice2625]

WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!

 

Okay, so I've delved into all three main builds, magic, stealth, and warrior... and for oblivion, my opinion was that warriors got the short end of the stick... with stealth, I don't even need to back up that it was rediculously over powered with alchemical potions and backstabing invisible ninja gaiden like combat and infinite stealth arrow attacks...

 

Mages had a spell for 100/100/100 frost/fire/shock damage with weakness to all three for 100pct for 3 seconds and spam it over and over to kill anything in game... warriors had nothing really beneficial to them.

 

In SKYRIM, the tables have turned for mages, or so I think... and warrior/stealth are neck and neck.

 

here's my reasoning, feel free to disagree, that's totally up tp you, more power to you if you love mage, I think they nerfed it super low for the PC, super high for enemies...

 

Reasoning for stealth: you have a REDICULOUS set of perks for stealth that make it so OP it's LAUGHABLE to kill a dragon in ONE hit with a DAGGER, a regular dagger... not even the best dagger. Why? you have 15x damage, and then DOUBLE with the dark brotherhood glove for a WHOPPING 30x damage with a dagger that does over 50 dmg, dual wielded for 100 dmg. WITHOUT POISONS. sickening.

 

Warriors: they get a TON of amazingly powerful skills. A warrior need only invest in onehanded blades and shields as well as a few points (three) to dual wield like a boss. Dual wielding DESTROYS drauger deathlords and makes dragon blending a snap. I killed an elder dragon no joke in two seconds with the Elemental Fury shout maxed out. For mages? NO biggie, just whip out your shield, and if you picked breton with the lord birthstone you're in luck, they can cast all they want, but nothing will hurt you... invest in a little alteration, and you're the mage killer from oblivion. Shield bash and stun, elemental protection, shield charge to knock down foes, quick reflexes to kill big enemies like giants... dual wielding to destroy and TONS of armor... you are near unkillable in Daedric at Legendary and enchant it for further god mode like abilities.

 

Both stealth and warrior skills are simple to level up too. They are cheap as well, even the smithing can be pretty cheap, much cheapter than finding or buying armor, until you get to daedric... even dragon will suffice and is easily available.

 

 

BUT MAGES? what do they get? Super high magicka costing spells that you can only double cast three or four times with the associated mastery perk and you are done, dead, finished.... unless of course you have the coin at early levels to make tons of mana potions, and of course, enchant your armor with magicka regen with the semi-buggy ruin your game enchanting skill (frozen to table). The spells do NOT compare in damage to melee and stealth potential... you can argue all you like but 30x 100 dmg is far more than any spell in game without mods can do, also, stunlocking them and blending them a lightspeed is overpowering to spells as well, when you can fast heal your stamina back in a jiffy.

 

 

so in my opinion, in oblivion, mages and stealth ruled... in Skyrim, unless you are an assassin mage, you are going to be in for a world of hurt, or be prepared to cheat with console to get the money to make potions and good enchants early on.

 

 

 

these are just MY experiences with the three major "classes" or playing styles. I think mage can become powerful enough, but it will NEVER be as good as melee and stealth, never... it's GOOD, but the other two are REDICULOUSLY more powerful and EASIER to maintain than magicka based characters are. At least early on...

 

THIS IS MY OPINION TAKE IT FOR WHATY OU WILL IF YOU LIKE MAGES IN SKYRIM AND LOVE WHAT THEY DID, GREAT FOR YOU!!! I'm just sayin' what i've been experiencing so far, and I don't like my mages nerfed while the enemy mages canspam ice storm and ice spike like therei s no tomorrow :(.

 

EDIT: That's not even saying about onehanded's attack power skill with five ranks, and BLADES getting higher crit chance per strike... just sayin... as well as aditional power attack passive buffs...

 

Archery too!

Edited November 22, 2011 by oldspice2625

[Skevitj]

It depends entirely on how you use it. Relying solely on destruction is like running at someone with a single dagger, not sneaking. I do miss the weakness spells, but it's certainly not the death of the class, you just have to rely on multiple schools simultaneously far more than in Oblivion.

 

As for higher levels... being able to cast from both destruction and restoration completely free of charge (take your pick of any two, eg, restoration/conjuration and two frost storm staves), having two storm thralls backing you up, and using heavy armor... you're practically invincible. Sure you don't have the single massive sneak hit, but your defense is superior to any warrior typed character and spells like lightning storm are more than sufficient for taking out any single large enemy given the range you can use them at, multiple targets was never a problem.

[vertex23]

If you're spamming out dual casted Fireballs, you're doing it wrong.

[Vindekarr]

I really like what they've done here. Destruction is... it's better balanced for sure, but the greater variety in spells, the way they're cast, and the way they look and feel, is a huge improvement. in Oblivion, the master-level Immolating Blast had the same effects as the novice level Flare, now, strong spells LOOK as strong as they are-there's no mistaking mid level Ice Storm for Novice level Frostbite. And it's not confined to destruction either, Conjuration's changes, especialy to necromancy, are very welcome-making zombie chickens never gets old-and the irony of a zombie bandit cheif cutting through his or her own men isn't unwelcome either, though the really improved class is Restoration. Restoration's heals are now mostly, if not all, maintain spells, making it infinitely less annoying to heal a lot with a low level spell, just time consuming, while the Ward, a regenerating energy shield, adds a new layer to Wizard VS Wizard battles. Illusion has suffured a lot-as has Alteration, but for the most part, I really like the magic changes, especialy from an outsider's standpoint.

 

As a Warrior I feel well and truly happy with Skyrim-the Heavy armour looks absolutely gorgeous at higher levels, especialy Ebony and Daedric, aswell as Dragon, and the addition of Smithing, I atleast, really enjoy. It's a controversial feature but one I like a lot. I find it relaxing, when I get a bit stressed out after a major battle or close call, smithing's relaxing and rewarding in equal measure. Bring Enchanting and Potionmaking into the picture, and you have one of the core reason I like Skyrim so much. The ability to take a ten minute break, make some new gear, and customise it, aswell as giving a welcome new source of income, is something that is both something I personaly like, and have benefited from greatly as a player, as it allows me to venture into much higher dificulty levels.

 

The combat, for warriors, is OK. It's not bad, certainly an improvement over Oblivion, and the fact that Archery is no longer a pure-stealth skill(and thus agonisingly slow to level), is a very welcome change indeed. Heavy Armour feels weighty, and it's diverse new bonuses make it extremely useful-the abiliy to become a knockdown-proof juggernaut by level 100 is something I rather like, and you really do feel like a big, tough knight when you go sword N board with the higher leveled gear. Dual wielding though is a bunch of fun, it's only situationaly useful, but with Dual Flurry, it's spectacularly effective against large groups of smaller enemies, or for tearing the guts out of enemies with a slow attack rate, like giants.

 

Stealth benefits from many of the warrior improvements, but the top-level stealth perks are so powerful that you truly feel like the Altair of Skyrim, which is perhaps appropriate. You won't have much to be afraid of when you're in the shadows, save discovery, and this gives the feeling of being the ultimate predator, something I entirely approve of. You're quite reliant on your stealth unless you spec like I did for a ranger archetype-adding some basic ability for a stand-up fight, but if you can strike with stealth, very little gets in your way.

Edited November 22, 2011 by Vindekarr