Follower Fail

[Dukkah]

So I recently crossed the level 40 mark. Up to this point, my followers have been excellent meat shields/ arrow sponges/ pack mules, but that time seems to be over.

 

Take Farkas, for instance. Just the other day I decided to send him home after traveling with him for the last 5 levels or so, but when I went to get him back today, he sucked! Equipped him with the same set of Ebony armor I give all my friends, but he fell to two hits from a bandit! Two?!

 

This is the same guy who, just a while ago, could tank two cave bears and a spider while I played my usual summoner/destruction Mage role from the background. Now he's in recovery mode after a frost troll hits him once!

 

Is this a glitch and is there a way to fix it?

 

Edit: BTW, I'm playing Master difficulty. Don't know if that's related, since I've been on master since about level 25.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Dukkah

[WhipDiddyWhip]

it's no glitch

 

 

your enemies level with you but it seems no one else does

 

 

bethesda aren't very good when it comes to a leveling system, take the loot for example, whats the point of going through a tough cave at level 5-10 just to know that at the end of it there will be something crappy like a potion it a chest, simply because loot scales with your level, makes you think "why am i bothering to go through these caves"

[Dukkah]

Fantastic...

 

But if followers level with you, does that mean people you've never traveled with will be stronger? My experience says no (e.g, that Dunmer in the Companions who went into recovery mode even faster than Farkas, hence why I decided to switch back), but perhaps that's just because I did the Companions early and their levels are fixed?

 

But then why was Farkas acceptably strong just a few levels ago?

 

I'm confused. :facepalm:

[Perraine]

Until Bethesda fix the broken follower scaling, there level is forever locked there current level when you first enter the map cell they are in ! You don't even have to have met or even seen/spoken to them, this is why Lydia and most of the companions suck later in the game, because you will generally go near / meet them quite early ... The Orcish chick "Candy Ballbreaker" or whatever her name is (can't remember ATM) Is sometimes a good choice because her 'Stronghold" is out of the way, to say the least, so you normally haven't influenced her level by being in the same cell.

[BrknSoul]

PC Follower Scaling Workaround;

 

 

1) Unequip follower

2) Tell follower to go home

3) After follower starts walking home, open the console and click on the follower

3.5) type 'getav <mainstat>' where <mainstat> is something like "lightarmor", "heavyarmor", "onehanded", "twohanded", "destruction", "marksman", etc

4) Type 'disable' and then 'enable'

5) Talk to follower and ask them to follow you again (This may require you to pay the hiring fee again for hirable followers).

5.5) type 'getav <mainstat>' again, you should see an increase in the previous number

 

The half-steps in italics are optional steps.

 

This should re-scale the follower to match your level.

[Perraine]

PC Follower Scaling Workaround;

 

 

1) Unequip follower

2) Tell follower to go home

3) After follower starts walking home, open the console and click on the follower

3.5) type 'getav <mainstat>' where <mainstat> is something like "lightarmor", "heavyarmor", "onehanded", "twohanded", "destruction", "marksman", etc

4) Type 'disable' and then 'enable'

5) Talk to follower and ask them to follow you again (This may require you to pay the hiring fee again for hirable followers).

5.5) type 'getav <mainstat>' again, you should see an increase in the previous number

 

The half-steps in italics are optional steps.

 

This should re-scale the follower to match your level.

 

OR ... If your gonna' use the console, just create a text file called "leetfollower.txt" or something like that and then edit the file to your hearts content with the " setav <actorvalue> <level> " command and/or " addperk <perk id> " and/or even " equipiem <item id> " you can pretty much put any number of lines you want, then save the file in your Skyrim directory, Once in the console click to select the follower type " bat leetfollower " (without quotes) and away you go ... It's really cool watching Lydia do the stealth mode combat roll thing BTW

[BrknSoul]

 

 

OR ... If your gonna' use the console, just create a text file called "leetfollower.txt" or something like that and then edit the file to your hearts content with the " setav <actorvalue> <level> " command and/or " addperk <perk id> " and/or even " equipiem <item id> " you can pretty much put any number of lines you want, then save the file in your Skyrim directory, Once in the console click to select the follower type " bat leetfollower " (without quotes) and away you go ... It's really cool watching Lydia do the stealth mode combat roll thing BTW

 

There's a difference between using a workaround for a glitch or bug, and outright cheating.

[InuyashaFE]

 

 

OR ... If your gonna' use the console, just create a text file called "leetfollower.txt" or something like that and then edit the file to your hearts content with the " setav <actorvalue> <level> " command and/or " addperk <perk id> " and/or even " equipiem <item id> " you can pretty much put any number of lines you want, then save the file in your Skyrim directory, Once in the console click to select the follower type " bat leetfollower " (without quotes) and away you go ... It's really cool watching Lydia do the stealth mode combat roll thing BTW

 

There's a difference between using a workaround for a glitch or bug, and outright cheating.

 

It's called modding.

[surg23]

 

Whats the point of going through a tough cave at level 5-10 just to know that at the end of it there will be something crappy like a potion it a chest

 

 

Because at level 5 the prospect of a potion is actually pretty good. If you got handed epic loot at low levels (even though you earned it) it would harm the longevity of your game. It would be like playing World of Warcraft and getting the best tier gear in 1 hour, then what do you have to look forward to ? ... Also this would mean any further progression, would come effortlessly, without challenge, without purpose.

 

I'ts the whole point of an RPG to have this slow progressive nature, always something to look forward to, always looking for that next weapon or armor that might be better than the one you have got. That is the mentality that keeps millions of people playing RPG's and especially MMORPG's where it is a necessity to structure the game that way, to ensure people keep playing, and they do.

 

I would agree the loot scaling system could be better, perhaps like MMM did it for Oblvion. But i really don't see it being that much of a problem. Probably the least of the games problems,

[Perraine]

 

 

OR ... If your gonna' use the console, just create a text file called "leetfollower.txt" or something like that and then edit the file to your hearts content with the " setav <actorvalue> <level> " command and/or " addperk <perk id> " and/or even " equipiem <item id> " you can pretty much put any number of lines you want, then save the file in your Skyrim directory, Once in the console click to select the follower type " bat leetfollower " (without quotes) and away you go ... It's really cool watching Lydia do the stealth mode combat roll thing BTW

 

There's a difference between using a workaround for a glitch or bug, and outright cheating.

 

So by your definition, if you use the disable/enable console command and Aela gets an Archery level of say 80, that's ok because your just using a 'workaround' for a bug .. But if you use the console command setav Marksman 80 on Aela, to 'workaround' the bug, that's 'cheating' ... Sorry, but that's just semantic bull****.

 

You could just as easily say that followers not leveling is not even a bug, that Bethesda purposely intended for you to only visit certain area's (by following some seemingly ethereal, pre-determined notion they have of what your progression in the game should be) once you had leveled up, so that any potential followers in progressively newer or remote areas leveled only when you finally got there.

 

Just opening the console for ANY reason could be considered 'cheating' so let's not bring any soapboxes in here.