end-game predicament

[foxhoman]

Hey.

 

So I have a level 30 heavy armor/2h weapon warrior, who has killed Alduin, Ulfric Stormcloak, the Dark Brotherhood, Completed the College of Winterhold's quest line, have Konahrik (sp?), am thane in nearly all holds, finished DawnGuard, don't own DragonBorn, maxed out werewolf, done a load of bounties, am Harbinger of the Companions, and so on.

 

But my predicament is that I've never been this far before, and am stumped on what to do next. more bounties? Start a new character? Is there another quest line I can do? (apart from the thieves guild, as a heavy weapon/heavy armor character isn't that sneaky) Should I just explore as much as I can and clear out all the caves and forts? I've tried googling what to do, and all the things I've seen result along the lines of: There isn't much else to do.

 

Since I've invested quite a bit of time in this character already I'd be fairly disappointed if all that's left is to 1-2 hit draugr/bandits.

 

So if any one can point me in just about any direction, that would be fantastic.

 

Sincerely,

FoxHoman

[gsmanners]

In my experience, my sword-n-board characters quickly run out of things to do in this game. They quickly turn into sword-n-bored characters, but that just opens the door for you to redefine them in some more personal way. I think if you want to slow down and really take your time with a character, it really needs to be a sneaky type of thief character. That's just the way this game was designed.

[sisterof]

Agreed and disagreed with gsmanners.

There is no "way this game was designed".

I do agree that it's terribly boring to simply Hulk smash everything before you (with weapons, spells or sneakily). The only way I found to make Skyrim really amusing and not just an exercise in repetition was to not complete any quest that goes against my character's personality. And to not skip dialogues and so on. So my advice is - make a character, trace a personality and stick to it. This "master of all trades, leader of all guilds" simply makes the character utterly unbelievable and the game completely mechanic - it gets down to fetching objects, killing people with quest markers over their heads and doing everything for what? For a bigger number in level/skill? Flawed, limited characters are much, much more fun to play, in my humble opinion. So if you're making the heroic kind but get curious about, say, Thieves Guild... then you make another character who's a thief, play both separately, and both coherently.

The Profile Manager mod is excellent for that - it groups your savegames per character, so when you launch the game, you choose which character you'll be playing and don't have to use that long list of savegames - only the ones related to the character chosen at startup appear. It's something every single game that calls itself RPG should have by default, but Bethesda is... Bethesda. :dry:

[Jaradin]

My advice: diversify. If you don't want to play other styles, go Legendary on your skills and start fresh. Run some modded quest lines like Wyrmthooth or Moonpath. Run around without a cause. See if you missed anything!

[breakwind]

I find that when I try to have sneak thief type of character, they usually end up becoming a sword or axe warrior type, that is just the way the game is designed....for me

[foxhoman]

Thanks for all the advice. I've made a mage and a thief now :) And life, once again, is good.

[MightyZ0G]

one thing I find that helps keep the game fresh is to turn off all the HUD elements including the compass and floating quest markers.

 

it is amazing how much more attention you pay to your environment when there isn't an arrow on the screen telling you which way to go.

 

it also ups the tension when you can't see how quickly your or your opponent's health is dropping in a fight and you have no idea which of you is winning.

this tension is increased using Mighty Dragons and Dragon Combat Overhaul. you don't know if the dragon is on the ground because he is injured or because he actually wants to stomp on you then bite chunks out of your head.

 

don't let yor game become a routine of chasing after quest markers. get rid of the markers and navigate by looking at the map then setting off in the general direction and see what happens on the way. you could get lost but end up having much more fun

[ShannonRutherford]

The True End Game is Thalmor/High King-Queen DLC but Bethesda is really silent on that one.

[foxhoman]

I can't say I blame them for saying nothing. Apparently, according to what I've read, the werewolf was supposed to be the game secret surprise, but then some game rating company or something screamed about it and ruined the secret.

 

Also @mighty zog, I've stopped fast travelling, but I'm keeping my compass for now since I used to fast travel everywhere, and I get hopelessly lost. So I'll keep it till maybe the end of this character then try playing without it.

[MightyZ0G]

getting rid of the compass was the best thing I ever did :)

it also gets rid of the "radar" so you have to really pay attention to where enemies are instead of turning to face the red dots.

 

getting hopelessly lost is part of the fun.

look at map to get the basic direction you need to go then head off that way and use landmarks in the distance to keep on track, but even then you find yourself wandering into bandits and forsworn with no warning.