[WytchDokta]

Well, I hope one of the inn-keepers will put out a new search and rescue request out to one of you adventurers soon - 'cause like, due an apparent game killing bug, I'm now stuck inside a Draugr lair with no way out. You see, there's this ring-locked door in Dead Man's Respite that refuses to open - I have the Ruby Dragonclaw and the correct unlock sequence for the rings (Wolf - Eagle - Wolf, it's printed on the underside of the Dragonclaw). But that's not the problem. The problem is that for some reason the rings DO NOT turn when interacted with, yet the claw can be inserted into the lock as normal. And of course, such was Bethesda's initiative for awesome level design that they decided to make it so that in order to reach the ring-locked door, you first need need to drop down into that area through an old disused well shaft from the floor above - which means you can't get back to the entrance. It also means the only exit is on the other side of the seemingly inoperable ring-locked door. So I'm like stuck, in a like Draugr lair, with like no way out, like. So if any of you adventurers out there could head down to Dead Man's Respite to help it would be appreciated, I've even cleared out the Draugr up to the ring-locked door. The only thing you'll need to bring is a rocket launcher to blow through the door. Laugh all you like, I am in much peril.

[RileyFletcher_01]

Laugh all you like, I am in much peril.

[WytchDokta]

I'm not sure you guys fully understand the seriousness of this predicament.

Quite possibly it's something to with the associated quest that takes place in that Draugr ruin. The problem with that was, I didn't even have the quest at that time. I liked the sound of the ruin's name, so went ot check it out, only to find the ring-locked door is bugged (without the quest atleast)

Started those rebuilds with focus on upgrading the skills I never really used before, such as Alchemy, Pickpocket, Lockpicking and Speech. I'm using magicka more across all rebuilds, although I haven't invested any perk points in any magic school for one rebuild (yet). I got a Nord Warrior/Trader with a focus on trading (Speech skill); Argonian Thief/Healer ('Spellsword' I think is the term for half Thief half Mage) with a focus on stealth/Thief skills whilst harnessing the Argonian racial Restoration skill boost; Imperial Battlemage (half Warrior half Mage build, with heavy armour) with a focus on offesnive magic (Destruction) and healing (Restoration), with a little Enchanting on the side. The Imperial character is the one currently MIA in Dead Men's Respite (due to a game killing bugged inoperable ring locked door), awaiting rescue from fellow adventurers - or atleast, was MIA.... Until the discovery of the mystical Autosave upon entry feature.

[WytchDokta]

Hmmm, seems this is a bug, although I don't know what the trigger event is. Just had the same thing happen Bleak Falls Temple. In the first puzzle room, the pilllars would not rotate when interacted with. This was with a separate character build. Again, loading an earlier save fixed it.

[RileyFletcher_01]

Maybe one too many drinks?

[WytchDokta]

The Alchemy skill can be fun - now if only it would increase faster. It increases at the slowest rate out of all skills, much less Restoration does. I'm making widespread use of the Alchemy skill with my Wood Elf Ranger/Scavenger stealth build. This character has a certain harmony with nature - lives off the land and takes what they want, turning plant ingedients into deadly poisons to use against the enemy. For this character I always carry around seven types of arrows for different purposes. I use Falmer/Forsworn arrows for hunting small/medium game; Steel/Ancient Nord arrows for general purpose situations and two types of more powerful arrows for tougher enemies (whereby one type is to back up the other type if I run out); Iron arrows are reserved primarily for 'hold out' situations. For the toughest enemies, I'll even poison my arrows first, using relevent poisons for types of enemies faced - Damage Health for general purpose, Damage Magicka for mages and Damage Stamina for high level Bandits. Due to my Archery and Sneak skills (along with respectable perks, and relevent arrows), I can drop even Trolls with a single arrow. If any Bears/Wolves or Sabrecats get too close I'll use the Animal Allegiance Dragonshout to mind controll them, then kill them whilst they are under my command (Animal Allegiance is, for all intents and purposes, a legendary version of the Wood Elf greater power). I've also invested a few points into Illusion for this build, because that school of magic can greatly benefit stealth builds - Illusion has invisibility spells etc. Plus, spamming the Muffle spell greatly increases the Illusion skill. Anyway, who needs invisibility spells when you have the ingredients to knock up invisibility potions en masse? See, Alchemy has major benefits, it just takes so long to grind out the skill.

[WytchDokta]

Bethesda really need to fix the inoperable rotating pillar/circle door bug on Xbox. Just got it again, don't know what triggered it, but this time loading a previous save didn't work. So now I have to rebuild my Nord merchant/combat master again from the ground up. Sigh. I reckon the game didn't like the fact my Nord had a William Wallace thing going on with appearance (including the blue 'woad' warpaint) and with the fact of exclusively using Greatswords. Let's see how the game takes it if my Nord rebuild was to have a 'Boudicca' thing going on.

Seriously, Bethesda, sort this bug out, it's not funny anymore.

[WytchDokta]

I've recently set up yet more new builds, with the intention of these being the most adventurous and challenging builds I've made to date - inspired by the Thieves Guild questline. You notice there's no beast races (Khajiiti/Argonian) in the Thieves Guild despite their starting boosts to Sneak?

There are 10 races in all but I'm creating nine of these builds, one of each race. Each build will have points invested into Light Armor, Archery, Sneak, Pickpocket, and Smithing. Each build will have points invested in other skillstoo, relative to the build. Aside from this, each build will have a couple points invested into Illusion (as a secondary magic school) to augment the stealth side of things, and they will also have 5 or 6 points invested into a primary school of magic, either offensive or defensive. The primary school of magic MUST be relative to the respective races' greater power or resistances, either directly or indiirectly. And of course, stealth MUST be paramount (resorting to magic when stealth is compromised). Overall, going for an all round thing, but with an emphasis on stealth.

This is what I'm talking about - two of such builds have been deployed so far:

- Nord build. Their resistance to Frost serves as as weapon, this Nord uses Frost Destruction spells. While some see Frost as impractical due to many enemies having resistances to Frost (including Draugr (which are for all intents and purposes the ancestors of the Nords), Dwemer constructs, etc), it still slows enemies down, giving time to switch to melee weapons and finish them off. That brings me on the next thing. I really pushed the level of challenge of this build by utilising the Nord +10 starting boost to Two-Handed. For a long time, I wanted a Warrior build that would use Two-Handed weapons (my inner Celtic Warrior from my heritage wanted to come out to play), and Nords receive the biggest starting boost to Two-Handed, so it made sense. But it also doesn't make sense your now saying to yourself because you don't get any Critical Hit bonuses from Sneak attacks with Two-Handed weapons. True that, but that's the point, it's all part of the challenge. Besides, I've got a bow for Sneak Critical Hits. Only got detected a couple of times on deployment to Dustman's Cairn with the Companions Guild, result. Seems that having a Battleaxe drawn or slung over your back reduces your chances of successfully sneaking (didn't get detected once with a drawn bow, or a bow slung over the back, could just be coincidence)

- Orc build: I've decided to ignore their +10 starting boost to Heavy Armor. Blasphemy I know, but stealth and Heavy Armour don't mix. I chose to invest in Alteration as a primary magic school for this build, to augment the damage resistance of their Berserk greater power. Using One-Handed weapons, Maces primarily, for the highest damage output. Also stress tested in Dustman's Cairn, and actually performed better than the Nord build. Seriously, Orc stealth Warrior build using Light Armour you ask? This build has got nothing on my yet to be deployed Light Armour High Elf stealth Mage build.

Non-deployed but created builds: Dark Elf, Khajiit, Argonian, High Elf, Redguard, Imperial, Breton.

High Elf and Khajiit builds - tryna figure out what magic school would best augment their greater powers/resistances. Both have no resistances. Khajiiti Night Eye power is more of an ability (can be spammed unlike the once per day use of the powers of other races, other than that they start with a +15 boost to melee damage, which can actually be augmented by a certain Heavy Armour perk, which goes against the stealth side of things. As for the High Elf, Restoration could augment their High Born power - there is a perk that increases magicka regeneration rate. However, I plan the Argonian to use Restoration as a primary school of magic so as to augment their Histskin greater power. I don't mind re-using the same primary school of magic for a couple of builds, within reason - like my Nord uses Frost Destruction spells and the Dark Elf will use Fire Destruction spells. Same magic school, different branch. Restoration does not offer the same flexibility in that respect. (likewise with Conjuration, there are 3 different branches - Atromancy, Necromancy and Binding)

So guys, tell me, what magic school do you think would best suit a Khajiit and a High Elf? If possible it MUST be relevant to their greater powers, this is part of the challenge of these builds. Also with the Redguard, thinking outside the box, Frost Destruction could augment their Adrenaline Rush power. Think about it - Adrenaline Rush allows them to regenerate stamina 10x faster for 60 seconds, and Frost Destruction spells drain the stamina of the target. So Frost Destruction again makes sense here, BUT, I'm already using this for my Nord build and would rather not re-use unless absolutely necessary. Might have to go down the non-conformist route with the Khajiit and High Elf, which of course, is all fine with my inner non-conformist.

[WytchDokta]

So, the horseback combat has been added in patch v1.6. I now have reason to purchase a horse (plus they will attack enemies too (only if you dismount first), acting as a follower as it were)

It's pretty cooul stuff and perfect for hit and run attacks, however, while on horseback:

- The left hand is redundant, seemingly superglued to the reins. You attack only with your right hand, pressing attack button for left hand will still result in a right-handed attack - over the left side of the horse. Weapons and torches can still be equipped to the left hand, but they can't be used. Thanks Bethesda, now I can't see where I'm going at night.

- You cannot cast any spells whatsoever, much less, Dragon Shouts cannot be used. Bows and one-handed weapons can be used fine though. I have not yet tried using two-handed weapons from horseback, but judging from the above, I don't think they can.

- Objects and people cannot be interacted with.

- You can climb impossible rockfaces. Skyrim's horses have and insane climbing ability, and in some cases can climb almost vertical embankments. This is possibly a glitch.

Nevermind though, the first DLC - "Dawnguard" - will be out in a few weeks. I hear you can transform into a swarm of bast at will and fly around the game world. Mind you, that was after I'd had six beers.

[WytchDokta]

While I love this game, the AI is hilarious sometimes and posses no ability to reason. In a random encounter, I saw two low-level Hunters (the poacher/game hunter type) try to take on two higher level Giants and their herd of Mammoths. There was no way the Hunters could win, but they still charged straight it and both were killed with one hit from the Giants. This is why you avoid Giants, atleast until you have learned the ability to summon Odaviing or Durnehviir.

Then I go up against a mage, and she keeps repeating "You'll burn" and all that. Funny she should say that considering she was using Frost magic, not Fire magic. Mages don't even recognise what magic element they're using.

[WytchDokta]

High stealth builds FTW. Putting my Khajiit pathfinder/master pickpocket/alchemist though the Dawnguard DLC right now. Just took Durnehviir down with four bolts from a Crossbow upgraded to Exquisite level. I have a lot of points invested in Stealth and Archery and that really paid off. I didn't even poison the bolts first. Four bolts to take down a Dragon? Yeah baby, that's how I roll.

Also completed that DLC with my Dark Elf destructor the other day too. What I like about the Ancient Falmer Armour is not only does it provide the same level of protection as glass (and you can get a set of the armour for free), but the female armour is like the only armour with a correctly modeled breast plate for female characters - such breast plates would realistically not be molded around the breasts, it would like the male breast plate. Think of real world military flak vests.

Should be able to make it through the caves later in the DLC without a problem thanks to the Khajiiti Night Eye low light vision ability. Damn dark in there, and I won't have to use torches to be able to see the way ahead, thus compromising my stealth.

[WytchDokta]

Just experienced a bug that never happened to me before....

 

So I'm doing the Companions questline and I'm on the 'Proving Honour' quest as my Dark Elf destructor/atromancer when this bug pops up. Now, with these Companions main quests, you are not normally allowed to bring along your follower(s)/hireling(s), instead these are replaced by a Companion member for the duration of the quest. But therein came the problem this time around - Serana followed us into Dustman's Cairn, and stayed with us through the entire quest. Of course, this made for some good fun in the final room of the Draugr lair, where like, you get like spammed, by like 200 Draugr like - I'm dropping Flame Cloak/Fire Rune spells followed by Conjure Mistman/Conjure Wrathman/Conjure Boneman, Serana is using Conjure Flame Atronach/Conjure Frost Atronach and resurrecting the defeated Draugr (to fight on our side) as Farkas and I were dropping the Draugr with melee attacks.

Edited by WytchDokta, 28 January 2013 - 05:40 PM.