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Stick with swords until you get high enough in sneak to get Assassins blade (15x multiplier on dagger sneak attacks), until then, daggers get the same sneak bonus as swords (at least, I think), but are much less effective in straight combat. There are also gloves which give sneak attacks with daggers double damage, on top of all other multipliers, so if you use those gloves without assassins blade you get a 12x multiplier (assuming you have the 6x multiplier for one-handers), and a whopping 30x with assassin's blade. So unless you either have assassin's blade, or gloves that give double dagger sneak attack damage, swords are always better for sneak attacks due to higher base damage.

I need to quote myself on this, mostly because I completely forgot about gloves that double backstab damage (you don't actually have to be behind things, it basically doubles the backstab perk 6x bonus, and assassin's blade perk 15x bonus). But yeah, I was having problem 1-hitting things before because they survived the first sneak attack with a bit of health left. Long story short, I swapped my double damage gloves with +25% 1-hander and +25% lockpicking gloves awhile ago and forgot about the backstab gloves. So far, I haven't seen anything survive a normal dagger slash sneak attack (haven't had to use a sneak power attack yet), and thats going up against these machines in a dwemer(deep elves/dwarves) ruin.....which were one of the places I used to fear most, because machines tend to have a lot of armor or something vs a dagger to the back.

Then again, I guess that happens when you go from 420 damage a hit (excluding any armor) to 840 damage a hit.

Archery has been improved considerably over Oblivion. Dragons can be killed with 5-6 hits with Superior type Bows. Great Frostbite Spiders can be killed with max 2 hits and that too with only 50 archery skill. :woot:

Nice, my blacksmithing is still low (well, 50 isn't that low I guess) so I don't have any good bows, but I watched a video of a guy kill a dragon in 3 arrows.....it was dead before it even landed. But my archery is too low to try to level now (i'm level 30 with only 1 perk in blacksmithing, only 2 perks in archery), so I'll stick to daggers mostly for now. One thing I don't like about archery, is generally speaking you only get a couple sneak attacks before everyone in the area knows where you are, with the way many of these cave systems are designed, archery generally doesn't work too well in a lot of them. For big open areas it's great, though I guess if you are hitting as hard as you mention, you only need 1 arrow for each enemy but the champion/boss mobs.

If you didn't like Oblivion I doubt you'll like this. They're very similar games. Skyrim is leagues better, but they are very similar.

Well my main complaints with Oblivion were the oblivion gates that were incredibly boring, and the incomprehensible leveling system. I love the Fallout series, so I expect I'd like Skyrim a bit more.

I'm so glad I remembered the double sneak attack gloves....I just "fought" a dwarven centurion master (those huge mechanical guys). I did a power sneak attack (just to be safe, wasn't sure a normal sneak attack would have done it), and he just blew up in the one hit. Would have been a bad fight otherwise.

Booo.. some ******** (Draugr) used that shout that disarms you, the shield was still there but the sword is now gone... oh well, I took the time to buy another one just like it but added an enchant.. so thank you Mr. Draugr !)

By far the worst part of the game is managing your inventory, "realism" aside, why do stupid **** need to weigh so much, or at all ?

A Woodcutter's Axe should NOT weigh 10, that's retarded, it's a piece of wood with a piece of iron slapped for good measure, there are bows that should weigh more than that but don't.

Same for food and crafting materials, don't feel like cheating and giving myself 10000 weight limit but it's annoying as hell trying to sell your **** to different merchants, as they usually buy just a couple of types and not everything you have, also they have a very limited amount of gold.

:(((

Booo.. some ******** (Draugr) used that shout that disarms you, the shield was still there but the sword is now gone... oh well, I took the time to buy another one just like it but added an enchant.. so thank you Mr. Draugr !)

By far the worst part of the game is managing your inventory, "realism" aside, why do stupid **** need to weigh so much, or at all ?

A Woodcutter's Axe should NOT weigh 10, that's retarded, it's a piece of wood with a piece of iron slapped for good measure, there are bows that should weigh more than that but don't.

Same for food and crafting materials, don't feel like cheating and giving myself 10000 weight limit but it's annoying as hell trying to sell your **** to different merchants, as they usually buy just a couple of types and not everything you have, also they have a very limited amount of gold.

:(((

Every time I've been disarmed (only about 3 times), I've only ever dropped my dagger.....never the shield......but the weapon is pretty much always laying around the area somewhere, it can be difficult to find given the dark rooms and what not though.

As for weight, the base limit is what like 300 or 350? A weight of 10 is only like 3% of your weight limit....its really not that bad. It is also much better depending on the perks you get. With pickpocket, you can get Extra Pockets which is an extra 100 weight, but I've found that as long as I don't carry around a bunch of useless crap, my weight limit is generally at around half of my max without extra pockets. The armor trees also let you get perks that make the armor you are wearing completely weightless, which helps a ton if you are using heavy armor. I personally only carry around 1 armor set, 2 daggers, a bow and a light shield......the rest is pretty much random stuff I don't really need, mostly things I've found and plan to use but haven't bothered to put it away in a chest yet (like random ore/ingots, books, etc).

At least it's better than Oblivion where arrows had weight....made it impossible to carry a decent amount of arrows for any sort of arching......I pick up any and all arrows I see in this game because they removed the weight from them.

Well my main complaints with Oblivion were the oblivion gates that were incredibly boring, and the incomprehensible leveling system. I love the Fallout series, so I expect I'd like Skyrim a bit more.

Ahh right, when you said you didn't find Oblivion very interesting I thought you meant as a whole.. Yeah the Oblivion gates annoyed me too.

In Skyrim, the random dragon fights can be quite annoying but they only take about 3-5 minutes, and that's only because I'm a warrior/battlemage-type. I don't have a decent bow or powerful magic to kill dragons quickly. My friend is an archer/assassin and can kill dragons really easily with his bow.

Levelling in Skyrim is great, you can direct your character in the way that you want to a lot more.

And to give you some idea of how massive the game is, after 30 hours I'm level 25. You can max out at level 70 something. This game is *epic* :D

Booo.. some ******** (Draugr) used that shout that disarms you, the shield was still there but the sword is now gone... oh well, I took the time to buy another one just like it but added an enchant.. so thank you Mr. Draugr !)

By far the worst part of the game is managing your inventory, "realism" aside, why do stupid **** need to weigh so much, or at all ?

A Woodcutter's Axe should NOT weigh 10, that's retarded, it's a piece of wood with a piece of iron slapped for good measure, there are bows that should weigh more than that but don't.

Same for food and crafting materials, don't feel like cheating and giving myself 10000 weight limit but it's annoying as hell trying to sell your **** to different merchants, as they usually buy just a couple of types and not everything you have, also they have a very limited amount of gold.

:(((

Actually, I have a "woodcutters" axe in real life. You're right it isn't realistic, mine weighs about 18 lbs. :p.

10 is fine, that is accurate for a small one. Also, in speech, at level 50 you get the merchant perk allowing any item to sell to any merchant. By far one of the best perks you can get. The gold can be fixed in the speech tree as well, though I don't find it necessary. Example:

I make an ebony warhammer, and temper it, it is now worth 1750g. I go to a blacksmith vendor, who only has 1100. I buy an elven sword, or glass dagger, and an ebony ingot, to bring him up to 1800g. Sell my warhammer, and take my glass dagger I bought for 500. Buy a refined malachite, temper the glass dagger and bring it up to 900g. Now sell that and the ebony ingot to a different blacksmith vendor. And voila, 2300g profit. Or 1600g profit, if you bought the ebony ingots to start with. If you enchant these weapons, with a common or greater soul gem, that can make it a 3000g profit easily. I'm just telling you the basics though.

Anyone came across "Challenger" yet?

He's a mage who randomly challenges you to a duel on the streets. Here's me in my big steel plated armour, ebony helmet and shield, and he's wearing what looks like a pair of dungarees and kills me in two hits!

Absolutely nuts, now I don't dare enter Whiterun!

Okay, backstab is overpowered. I just refined my dark brotherhood dagger (the one you get at the end of the quest chain), and it does 43 damage now. Throw the 30x multiplier I get on for sneak attacks.....1290 damage.

No clue how much health giants at my level have (lvl 33), but I was 1-hit killing them with normal sneak attacks before I upgraded my dagger (28 damage), which was only doing 840 damage. So now I can do 1290 damage as opposed to 840......no clue how much health normal mobs have, but I haven't seen a single enemy survive a normal sneak attack, let alone a power sneak attack....

Actually, I have a "woodcutters" axe in real life. You're right it isn't realistic, mine weighs about 18 lbs. :p.

10 is fine, that is accurate for a small one. Also, in speech, at level 50 you get the merchant perk allowing any item to sell to any merchant. By far one of the best perks you can get. The gold can be fixed in the speech tree as well, though I don't find it necessary. Example:

I make an ebony warhammer, and temper it, it is now worth 1750g. I go to a blacksmith vendor, who only has 1100. I buy an elven sword, or glass dagger, and an ebony ingot, to bring him up to 1800g. Sell my warhammer, and take my glass dagger I bought for 500. Buy a refined malachite, temper the glass dagger and bring it up to 900g. Now sell that and the ebony ingot to a different blacksmith vendor. And voila, 2300g profit. Or 1600g profit, if you bought the ebony ingots to start with. If you enchant these weapons, with a common or greater soul gem, that can make it a 3000g profit easily. I'm just telling you the basics though.

It's not as if I'm running around begging for coin, I have plenty and if I wanted to I could spend an hour or two making me even more, but I just don't like managing the inventory when it's always full and cluttered.

Potions + Books can weigh so much... Same for certain ingredients.

I don't purposely pick up retarded items like Battle Axe that will probably sell for 15g or something, and it weighs 20~, I pick up stuff that justify their weight in gold, but I can't ever sell them all at once because the traders run out of gold lol

At least it's better than Oblivion where arrows had weight....made it impossible to carry a decent amount of arrows for any sort of arching......I pick up any and all arrows I see in this game because they removed the weight from them.

This. The sole reason I am enjoying archery to the max in Skyrim. Yesterday I slaughtered the Forsworn camp near Sky haven temple with maybe a dozen arrows. :)

I accidentally sniped an Imperial Soldier out in the wild and then was attacked by the entire camp. Including some Legate that couldn't actually die, just go down into the submission state and then come back at me with full health. I think I broke the game :p

If the legate is who I think it is she's part of the legion quests, so killing her would break an entire questline, that's probably why :-P

I've been playing the game without fast travel for the past 100~ hrs of gameplay (yes, I've been playing this game constantly since release).

It really slows your progress and allows you to enjoy the game more, as well as enhancing immersion. I have been playing only one character for the whole time and I am only level 35. It really turns the game into something that's not just about combat and missions. It makes you prioritize based on how accessible locations are. You get to see much more of the landscape and find many more locations. It's a pain, but you enjoy that pain. I experience things most of my friends never see when they rocket through the game in 30 hours to finishing all guilds and main quest.

There is a carriage system, and horses can sprint (two majorly overlooked facts), so playing like this isn't exactly all traveling between locations. Locations between the Reach and Whiterun can be hard to get to, and between Whiterun and Riften is a lot of distance. But really you'll only have trouble getting to quests that are in those two criteria.

I've been playing the game without fast travel for the past 100~ hrs of gameplay (yes, I've been playing this game constantly since release).

It really slows your progress and allows you to enjoy the game more, as well as enhancing immersion. I have been playing only one character for the whole time and I am only level 35. It really turns the game into something that's not just about combat and missions. It makes you prioritize based on how accessible locations are. You get to see much more of the landscape and find many more locations. It's a pain, but you enjoy that pain. I experience things most of my friends never see when they rocket through the game in 30 hours to finishing all guilds and main quest.

There is a carriage system, and horses can sprint (two majorly overlooked facts), so playing like this isn't exactly all traveling between locations. Locations between the Reach and Whiterun can be hard to get to, and between Whiterun and Riften is a lot of distance. But really you'll only have trouble getting to quests that are in those two criteria.

I just can't be bothered to force the game to take longer, I've easily played 50 hours worth using fast travel as much as I can and I'm only lvl 33 and and still enjoying it, haven't gone past the main story line past 2-3 quests after the second dragon kill (the 2nd scripted kill, that is).

Once you've maxed out your level at 70 something is it, can you not add more perks and stuff?

Got attacked by two dragons, two necromancers, a giant and a pack of wolves today all at the same time..

Pretty much, once you hit level cap you get no more perks, but you do get to max out the actual level of all your skill types.

Yesterday, I got attacked by 2 dragons, who were harassing 2 mammoths, and 2 giants. The mammoths and giants luckily never attacked me, but unfortunately, only 1 dragon stayed and fought, by the time I killed it, the other one was nowhere to be found.

Wondering if it's really worth levelling up smithing, maybe in time I guess.

Definitely......I got my sneak to 100 and got all the perks out of it I really want (didn't go for shadow warrior but I might, it would make it easier), without power leveling lockpicking, pickpocket, or speech, they are all maxed out (no perks I want to get until I level them all up). Same way with light armor and 1 handed (being a thief, I use a dagger in only 1 hand, shield in the other for extra defense, only 1 perk from being done w/ one handed but I need to level it). Basically I am going around 1-hit killing everything I see (assuming I get a sneak attack), and I am just now starting to level blacksmithing.

Though I found out my dagger (blade of woe) doesn't use ANY materials to upgrade, and as far as I know, it ONLY needs to have the upgrade enchanted items perk from smithing to upgrade. But it went from 28 damage (with 4/5 armsman) to 43 damage, upgrading it to flawless.....over a 50% damage upgrade.

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