Armors are bad in skyrim

[POWNCH]

So wait let me get this straight... if you forge your own armor there is NO point to taking heavy armor perks? since full smith (with potions and enchantments) Daedric Armor yields over 600 Armor rating... so I've wasted 6 perks? Gee thanks Bethesda. While I realize the point is to allow you to wear any armor you like for players like me who love standing there with 8 enemies on you on MASTER difficulty and not giving a crap finding out my 1500 armor rating is around 900 armor rating not doing squat is very disappointing.

[scottym23]

The problem you're experiencing is that your level isn't high enough for NPC's to carry or have high level armor equipped. Also chests and other loot-able containers aren't going to have high level loot either. NPC's and chest loot scale to your level. A bandit chief will have iron armor or regular steel armor at a low level, but coming back to that exact bandit chief at a higher level will be wearing different and better armor, most likely steel plated armor. I tested that out with console commands, went into a room with a bandit chief who had steel armor, went out of the fort, used console commands to make my level higher, entered the fort again, and the chief was wearing better armor and even a better weapon. Be patient and level up quickly either by getting multiple skills up or getting a few skills very high. I do agree though, because for Daedric armor to drop at all you have to be an absurd level, and even then it's extremely rare. Oblivion got it right being a medium level and having random NPC's have high grade armor. Either a mod or an update should fix this, but for a mod you'd have to probably wait until the CK came out until anyone would make an effective mod.

[BCbrad]

On adept (lvl 58) I get a few nice drops. Picked up some deadric boot with 70% reisitance to shock. Also got an ebony shield with 40% fortify block. I don't think I was getting high end armor until lvl45 or so.

[redhorizon09]

Some of this gear, such as Ebony and Glass are both rare and expencive. Trade in Ebony was, for centuries, restricted solely to the East Empire company, and a full suit of Ebony Armour was worth a good sized town. Glass is supposed to require months of alchemical tempering before you can work it without it shattering. Then the construction of Daedric armour is supposed to involve a complex ritual where you bind a living Daedra to the Ebony as your forge it. Well, or you can go to Oblivion and try to take it off a Dremora...

 

Personally, it always pissed me off in Oblivion when when i'd run into bandits who are wearing gear worth more than Whiterun's quarter-century tax income. Even Steel Plate is a complex and expencive armour, and i feel its more than appropriate that the instances of it are rare.

 

The forging system has its own issues... I'd much rather time lapses when forging. A dagger should take an hour or so, and a full suit of Ebony armour should put you out for at least a week. Regardless, actually having to gather the materials and forge these rare and potent armours is much more realistic than finding some random bandit in full Daedric with a glass battleaxe.

 

I agree with you completely. I'm glad that Skyrim didn't follow in Oblivion's footsteps and have almost every able body of bandits, marauders, and other NPCs besides the guards wear expensive and supposedly uncommon or even rare armor sets when you're high level. Maybe a random bandit boss or boss creature of a dungeon might have a small chance at possessing an uncommon set of armor such as ebony, but to have a whole gang of bandits outfitted in ebony, glass, and daedric? No thanks. In fact, even with Skyrim's changes in the level list of gear for NPCs, it's still fairly easy to obtain gear made of ebony, glass, and daedric. This doesn't provide any sort of accomplishment or value in obtaining these supposedly rare equipment and materials. It's like "Oh crap I just lost my ebony sword because that bastard disarmed me. Oh well, I can just forge another one with the 200 ebony bars I have back at my house."

 

One thing that does bother me in Skyrim is that at higher level, all the blacksmiths seem to almost always have a healthy supply of rare and uncommon material like ebony. This sort of stuff should have been rare for blacksmiths to even have in stock considering how uncommon or rare such materials are said to be in the first place. If blacksmiths can easily fill their supplies with ebony, gold, silver, and glass, then there shouldn't be any problems making gear out of this stuff for the majority of the town guards. These materials should have been like the daedric hearts: hard to find but worth it.

[teklanika]

All you can do on Master difficulty is either play ranged or sneaky - which removes the point of using heavy armor!

 

I have a warrior type character using Wolf Armor on Master, and I do just fine. I'm not forced into being ranged or sneaky; I use sword and board and dual wield without issue. I only have 1 point in Smithing.

 

However, I do agree with your main point---there should be a tad more variation in late-game play. I suspect there will be a remedy to this following the release of the Creation Kit.

[Akon2009]

Thanks everybody, I have gotten some insight in some game mechanics and lore. It is now obvious that had I been playing on Master then the level of my character would have increased much more, which in turn would have given me better drops.

 

Ok, any suggestions for my new character?