meh i generally have 50+ lockpicks. not that concerned about raising the skill -- generally can get into any lock with only a few picks. i guess when you've got 100 the master locks are much easier?

12/1/2011 1:52:22 PM

^ yeah, as your level increases, the high-level locks require less precision to open

still, i'll keep my skeleton key and never run out until i get to 100, and then i'll go finish the thieves guild quest

12/1/2011 1:55:55 PM

While the subject is up...

Is there any point to any of the lockpick perks? Locks are generally easy to pick, plus I have a +50% easier to lockpick amulet that I equip for the harder locks. Even spending a few perks just to get at a really, really good perk somewhere higher up in the tree would seem like a waste, but then I haven't read up on all of them.

[Edited on December 1, 2011 at 3:07 PM. Reason : -]

12/1/2011 3:02:33 PM

The most useful lockpicking perks for me are being able to pick locks without being noticed, finding more gold in chests, and finding "special" treasure in chests.

Just killed my first ancient dragon. It was purple!

12/1/2011 3:08:57 PM

I did most of the lockpicking perks since I'm roleplaying my guy as a classic rouge/thief/rapist and I'm not concerned about going for the best possible stats in every category. But objectively, its probably one of the least useful perk trees, all things considered.

12/1/2011 3:17:08 PM

Talents felt like a complete waste of space. I probably blew 4 or 5 in that tree. Kinda annoying some are huge for increasing damage/survivability, and those are junk.

Oh I can have an unbreakable at 90 LP? Thanks!

But if you don't want to be invincible, some of these perks were okay. Increased gold/magic find is okay, I guess.

12/1/2011 3:49:17 PM

Dragons are far too frequent and far too easy compared to some of the other mobs

Did they not beta test this? This game is so buggy

12/1/2011 3:57:06 PM

^ Only thing I have been unable to kill is a Bear. Dragons, liches, no problem.

12/1/2011 4:03:11 PM

I think the dragons are okay. I just hate how they don't stay near you for fighting and are too ADD, going off hundreds of yards to fight a bear or firebomb a small village. It does get kind of annoying how one might get owned by a bear or giant when the dragons are so massive, but works for me.

12/1/2011 4:08:59 PM

Quote :

"Just killed my first ancient dragon. It was purple!"

Awesome. Just fast-traveled to Winterhold to complete some quest. Two dragons overhead. Killed a vanilla dragon. The second I started moving after I killed it, a bronze-red Ancient Dragon comes over. Thankfully, the other Mages helped me out. It got on top of a rampart above the College, and then somehow, fell all the way to the bottom of the gorge below the College. I tried to hit it with my bow, but had problems looking over the edge. I finally got on the edge of the stone bridge, and looked down. The dragon was on the ground with about 2% health left. As I drew my bow back, I noticed myself slipping...slipping...and then I started falling.


WOAAAAAAAH!!!!!

AIM FOR THE WATER, AIM FOR THE WATER!!!!

Yeah...the water I hit was about six inches deep.

Re-load to arrival at Winterhold, repeat.

The last time, the Ancient Dragon was above the rampart right above the College's entrance (right after the stone bridge). It was hanging out there with no more fire, so I was poking it with the bow. Once he died (on top of the rampart, above me), I was worried he would get stuck up there.

But then he fell at my feat.

Kachow!

12/1/2011 5:36:00 PM

Quote :

"I just hate how they don't stay near you for fighting"

once you get dragonrend, problem solved

12/1/2011 6:06:47 PM

so i equipped my companion with heavy armor and a greatsword. why is he still using a bow? he doesn't even have one.

12/1/2011 8:30:26 PM

companions were designed for people on consoles

12/1/2011 8:36:28 PM

companions were designed for people who like babysitting more than fighting.

12/1/2011 11:18:49 PM

what?

12/1/2011 11:42:23 PM

some followers favor certain skills.

12/1/2011 11:52:10 PM

^^ I am always far more worried about keeping Lydia alive than focusing on killing shit when she is with me in dungeon. So I just leave her alone.

The companions were pretty tough though and I didn't really have to babysit them.

12/2/2011 12:21:09 AM

I killed a dragon by accident tonight. I was behind a pillar, slashing at some Draugr Deathlords and the next thing I know, I'm collecting a soul and there's a dragon skeleton around the corner.

I'm kind of a big deal.

12/2/2011 12:56:08 AM

Creation Kit in January.

12/2/2011 3:06:24 AM

Quote :

"so i equipped my companion with heavy armor and a greatsword. why is he still using a bow? he doesn't even have one."

Companions have a "secret" inventory. Basically a set of items that they have but are not shown when you go to their inventory screen. All the stuff they already have before you give them their first item. You cannot access this via the in game menu, but I believe you can remove them via console commands? I haven't researched that though. Maybe they made some stuff non-removable to prevent people from having companions running around in their underwear or something, I have no idea why the secret inventory thing was done. I think it counts to their carry weight as well, making it that much worse of a feature. So they essentially carry two full sets of armor (or whatever) the entire time.

I haven't figured out what triggers them to equip items that you give them. For example, I have Lydia and she uses heavy armor. I gave her an entire set of superior steel heavy armor and she equipped it all... except the gauntlets. From time to time I'd give her another set of gauntlets because I found different types (nordic/imperial). She equipped one of them, I forget which, so I decided to take it back, upgrade it, and let her reequip them. No dice, she didn't equip them again, so she was again sitting there with a full set of steel armor except for her iron gauntlets. She really liked those. She would use the better gauntlets from time to time, but she would only equip them when you first give them to her and it seemed like there was a 1 in 10 chance that she'd equip them.

Also, she did equip the full set of dwarven armor I gave her. I think I still had the I <3 my iron gauntlets issue with some other high end armor, but she uses the full set of dragon armor. I've also noticed that she isn't a shield user so it won't matter if I give her one of those. If I give her some awesome staff she'll go off with the thing. I realize it may be asking a bit much but it would be nice if the AI were smart enough to have companions maybe stick to the sword for lesser enemies and only use the enchanted, limited use uber-weapons on harder enemies.

I imagine they'll either fix the companions at some point so you can tell them what items they will use or a mod will address it. Also I can't help but wonder why they didn't make the companions such that they level certain skills and allow you to select perks for them as they go up character levels. I'm thinking that they do level skills, but I haven't seen a way to see their progress, like go to a menu and see that they are level 52 with dual handed weapons. Of course for that to really work you'd have to have complete control of what they had equipped so you could dictate which skills they worked on by the items you gave them. In that scenario they'd have to have a section for items that you want them to equip and a section of items you want them to just haul around. That way they wouldn't inadvertently equip and use a greatsword just because you wanted to offload some weight.

^I guess things will really start to get interesting then. Looking forward to:
1) Riding dragons
2) A spammable ni thu'um. "ni" "ni" "ni" Maybe an order of knights that you can join that all use it.
3) And to sate my infantile side, make one thu'um a fart - poison damage, bonus damage if lit with a torch.


[Edited on December 2, 2011 at 7:53 AM. Reason : -]

12/2/2011 7:39:48 AM

^
Nice, thanks! Seems like they should just allow you to equip items for them rather than just drop them in their inventory. I have a dude with full heavy armor to tank for me, and it's pretty annoying when he hangs back and twangs away with his bow.

12/2/2011 8:01:54 AM

I also had issues with Lydia not using better armor when it was steel and such, but once you get Dwarven and above she'll use those. What's irritating is that she doesn't care about enchantments, so if she's wearing enchanted Orcish armor and you give her unenchanted Orcish armor, she'll switch to the new stuff. Its a bigger issue with weapons, as I think she completely disregards the weapon quality and enchantment and will go with which one has a higher tier (she has an exquisite dwarven fire enchanted greatsword, and she switches to the normal glass greatsword). Same thing with jewelry, she doesn't know enchantments. You have to micromanage them a little bit, but its not that big of an issue honestly.

For her to use a sword and shield, she has to have a really good sword. She'll bust out the better shield, but she almost always prefers a two-handed weapon.

I too had issues with her and staffs . I ended up guessing that a high end bow and good arrows would out DPS a staff generally anyway. Another good thing about giving your follower good arrows is that they never run out of them, so I gave Lydia a few glass arrows and she fires nothing but them, and I recover her infinite glass arrows from enemies.

^Your follower generally will use the same weapon range that you are. That is, if I'm using my bow, Lydia will take out her bow...even if we're just 10 feet from the enemy and they're closing fast. She will switch if she gets attacked I think. Its another micromanagement issue, but you could probably charge out with your sword, let them engage, then back out and use your bow. That, or you give them a command to go attack the enemy and just hang back yourself. I've definitely had issues when I'm in close with my sword/shield and Lydia is hanging shooting arrows despite her greatsword, but its not that common. Usually I just run back to her

I gotta say I love the companion system for the most part. I played the shit out of Morrowind and you're generally solo in that game, so its cool having a follower that you can offload loot onto plus have a partner in difficult fights.

Quote :

"so i equipped my companion with heavy armor and a greatsword. why is he still using a bow? he doesn't even have one"

Also, depending on your follower, they might just really like to use bows and suck in close combat. You can probably check the Elder Scrolls wiki on that character and see what people have said about him.

[Edited on December 2, 2011 at 8:44 AM. Reason : lkj]

12/2/2011 8:39:24 AM

i haven't used a follower at all in the game so far. i got lydia but she's been sulking around my whiterun house as i go off and adventure, i think she'd just be in the way or giving away my position as i'm stealthing though...

12/2/2011 8:45:47 AM

i've never even met lydia...don't have a house, yet

12/2/2011 8:47:44 AM

i think you get her pretty early into the main quest line or when you buy a house

12/2/2011 8:48:58 AM

Quote :

"^Your follower generally will use the same weapon range that you are. That is, if I'm using my bow, Lydia will take out her bow...even if we're just 10 feet from the enemy and they're closing fast. She will switch if she gets attacked I think. Its another micromanagement issue, but you could probably charge out with your sword, let them engage, then back out and use your bow"

I don't even own a bow I usually just LOS enemies and force my companion into close-combat.

Quote :

"Also, depending on your follower, they might just really like to use bows and suck in close combat. You can probably check the Elder Scrolls wiki on that character and see what people have said about him."

I'm using Erandur. He was carrying a greatsword when I hired him, then in combat he starts using a dinky little bow (even though I gave him an even better sword). Haha, oh well.


[Edited on December 2, 2011 at 8:55 AM. Reason : .]

12/2/2011 8:50:25 AM

Yes, certainly helpful in the beginning but now I'm thinking of making her wait in my house. She's not as useful anymore and I find that now I'll only have to reload because she died. Plus from time to time she'll just get lost in a dungeon, to the tune of her never, ever coming back (via loading a new map, waiting, or fast travel) unless I visit the specific map that she got hung up on. This only happens in dungeons and has probably only happened twice. It's usually when I go down or up some portion of the level other than the path that is provided. Companions, absolutely terrified of that 4 foot fall... uh, you know what? I'm going around (the entire mountain), I'll catch up.

One time when that happened I decided to use it to my advantage and just use one of those giant dwarven robots to level my block and heavy armor about 30 times. Ordinarily she would have prevented that sort of thing by killing the enemy, but with her gone I was able to just stand there and let the thing dish on me for about 10-15 minutes.

Companions are very nice in the beginning though but I'm half expecting a mod or expansion to really boost the usefulness of companions.

[Edited on December 2, 2011 at 8:56 AM. Reason : -]

12/2/2011 8:52:36 AM

I never use the companions. I prefer to do my adventuring alone.

12/2/2011 9:02:07 AM

i started a paladin style character and just leaving him at lvl 1 for awhile. will consider leveling after he's got enough to be a level 30

12/2/2011 9:02:45 AM

I thought about that and mentioned that I might try that strategy in order to keep the spawns at the lowest possible level but I think that may actually be the harder path. Tough enemies are still going to be tough and you need the perks to get your weapons out of the nerf class, even with a 100 skill level. Like the perk that adds 20% damage that you can take 5 times for the weapons or the perk that halves the amount of magic needed for spells.

You are not going to enjoy a frost troll at level 1. Heck I remember my first encounter at level 7 or 8 and that it took nearly 20 minutes to whittle one down. My weapon just didn't cut (pun) it. Maybe a heavy armor skill at 100 and a block at 100 would have made the difference though, so it may be possible.

[Edited on December 2, 2011 at 9:20 AM. Reason : -]

12/2/2011 9:18:48 AM

Quote :

"I never use the companions. I prefer to do my adventuring alone."

Quote :

"roguewarrior"

Never saw that one coming

12/2/2011 9:22:50 AM

^^ well, i figure i'll have some dragon armor made so when i do level up i'll be in good shape to try it.

its kind of experimental as i was able to do it more on the stealth/archer when i leveled up too fast for the main quest. so far i've only gotten as far as the greybeards and its completely different from when i was getting to them at level 14 on the archer.

12/2/2011 9:26:07 AM

Quote :

"i think you get her pretty early into the main quest line or when you buy a house"

The game starts you off in Helgen. You escape there, and are told to go to Riverwood. After that, you are told to go talk to the Jarl in Whiterun. While talking, they announce that a dragon is at one of the watchtowers. You run there with the Jarl's protector and defeat the dragon. When you return to the Jarl, he grants you the title of Thane and "gives" you Lydia.

12/2/2011 9:40:19 AM

yeah i thought it was right after killing the dragon but i got the house around the same time my first playthrough

12/2/2011 9:45:49 AM

Quote :

"i think you get her pretty early into the main quest line or when you buy a house "

i'm pretty far along in the main questline (though i took a detour to finish the mages college questline when the main questline sent me up there)...i just never stuck around whiterun

Quote :

"When you return to the Jarl, he grants you the title of Thane and "gives" you Lydia."

i thought he told me i could buy a house in town...i don't remember "thane" specifically...and was lydia supposed to be there hanging out when he tells me this? because i left whiterun immediately and did my own thing...was i supposed to pick her up somewhere?

[Edited on December 2, 2011 at 9:52 AM. Reason : .]

12/2/2011 9:48:27 AM

you dont have to buy a house to get her. You do have to talk to her and say follow me though. If not she should be at the castle in whiterun eating or something waiting for you to come acknowledge her.

12/2/2011 9:54:52 AM

she'll be in dragonsreach if you haven't bought a house i think.

and she comes with the axe he gives you, kind of a consolation prize

12/2/2011 9:55:26 AM

oh, yeah, i probably just ignored her, then

12/2/2011 9:56:26 AM

apparently i've missed on the chance to get a couple different companions now with my choices. whoops

12/2/2011 10:07:01 AM

If you're finding companions aren't as useful as they once were and are dying easily, and you're on PC, there's an easy way to have them level up to your current level.


First, tell them it's time to part ways. Then open the console with the ~ key. Click on your companion, type disable, then type enable and close the console. Then you can ask them to follow you again and they will be the same level as you.

12/2/2011 10:35:46 AM

Wow. Thanks.

12/2/2011 10:39:52 AM

might try this out and hook up the follower with some nice gear then.

12/2/2011 10:45:59 AM

Gon make me a Dragon Priest maskkkkkk.

TO THE MILL!

12/2/2011 10:56:26 AM

this game would be the tittyballs if you could quest together on live

12/2/2011 11:17:44 AM

^^,^
fuck yeah

12/2/2011 11:19:39 AM

I think in PC you can console, click on a character, and do removeallitems to get rid of their old inventory.

I used Aela and she kept switching to her shitty wooden bow, and not the 65frost/fire bow of carnage :/

12/2/2011 11:23:36 AM

just beat morokei by doing...nothing

summoned a fire atronach, which kept his attention, but he never even fought her...i went right up to him (in melee range) and just fireballed him to death

how very anti-climactic

12/2/2011 1:04:24 PM

I wish you could have more than one follower at a time. It would be neat to hire an army to go raid a dungeon. They could beyond your first follower have some sort of mercenary system. Therefore if you wanted to have more followers it would cost you gold. That way I'm only rolling deep if I really need the muscle, otherwise it gets expensive.

12/2/2011 1:07:06 PM

Quote :

"just beat morokei by doing...nothing summoned a fire atronach, which kept his attention, but he never even fought her...i went right up to him (in melee range) and just fireballed him to death how very anti-climactic"

Same situation. Used my bow (Legendary Glass Bow with 2 seconds of Paralyze) and some glass arrows on him.

Meh.

12/2/2011 1:18:14 PM

set 'em up

12/2/2011 1:18:57 PM