Hi there, I tried not to make this post, I looked up in the forum (just the first page, wont lie) about difficulty, I googled it and still can't find a way around my problem. I recently bought Morrowind (full edition, don't know the name), I remember playing it at a friend's house when I was a kid, but my first ES was Skyrim, the only one I played till now. So when I started Morrowind I thought that everything was going to be ok.... well after dying misserably time and time again I figured out that this thing is beyond my grasp so I came here running like a scared little girl looking for some advice.

Now without further comments, into the point. My main problems are:

1-No instakill -> hard to make assassin/marksman gameplay.

2-Talking about marksman... I can't land an arrow and I'm sure it's not my aim.

3-When I went berserk and made a meele character, was fun with the first two bandits, then I couldn't hit anyone else, I think I keep missing again and again.... and AGAIN.

4-I can only beat naked bandits with butterknifes, anything else I encounter wrecks me into pieces. I don't want to be god, but at least be able to resist a hit so I can try to run away?

Well that's about it. I have no problems with finding quests, or with other stuff, my only real problem is combat, I can't understand it, any tips on how combat works, specially on HOW TO AVOID MISSING, is there sneak attack in this game, does it work with ranged weapons (cause that sneak is not working well for me, at skyrim I knew I couldn't approach too much to the target, in Morrowind I just can't have the guy in my screen cause he detects me)?

Btw, is there a way to become ordinator or to be in a tribunal related faction?

And let me be clear, I love this game, but combat wont make me enjoy the story since I get slaughtered by everyone but crabs... and butterknife naked bandits.

morrowinds combat is based waaaaay more heavily on a % chance deal than obliv and skyrim

in obliv and sky, you hit no matter what as long as you aim, just damage increases with skill level

thats not how it works in morrowind

in morrowind, the actual chance to hit AT ALL is based on the skill of the weapon as well as the damage if it hits

so you can shoot an arrow dead center in a bandits chest from 5 feet away, and if your skill level is low, you can 'miss' because the game is checking the skill chance to hit, not if you actually hit the target

only way to increase the chance to land a hit is to level up through practice and training

I believe agility is the main thing you want to have up because that effects the percentage that you will hit an enemy. Basically how the combat works is there is a dive roll in the programing that decides whiter or not your attack lands on a hit or a miss. Look at it like this "Morrowind's combat is a 20 sided die and there is 1 hit side and 19 miss sides when you first start the higher your agility the more hit sides get added to the die." So later in the game you won't have this problem if your agility is up and your weapons kill with one hit anyway. But this combat system really turned me off and I've never picked up and played Morrowind in about 4 years because of it. Hope this helps you.

Sincerely,

Prizrak

Well, first of all your not

For Combat, make sure you have the "Always use Best Attack" option checked. Don't stand toe to toe, and get your combat skills up over 50. They start being effective at 30, but your not going to feel like competent in battle until they are 50. BTW, this is how an RPG is supposed to be.

As for the Ordinators. All I will say is, no matter what you do, never wear their armor in Vivec, even if they give it to you.

Thanks for the fast replies! DD

Any tips on stealth play? Is it viable/easy to play (or learn to play) that way?

If you just want a melee type then take a Redguard with Strength and Endurance as favorites, the Warrior birthsign and Longblade as a major skill. This should give you a better than 50-50 chance to hit with a longblade type right from the start. Also, Redguard have the best racial bonus for a fighter, IMHO. Have an armor type as a major and wear that armor type.

When you swing to hit your opponent, the longer you hold the mouse key before releasing it, the more damage you do. So if you just click quickly to hit, then you are doing the least amount of damage that weapon will do even if you do hit.

Sujamma will boost your strength and thus your damage with a melee weapon.

If you are fatigued, then your chance to hit or do any other skill successfully decreases. If your green bar is empty, then you will probably fail at everything. So keep some restore fatigue potions and use them in combat. In fact, using potions to restore your health, boost your fatigue so that you increase your chance to hit and other effects is a great way to survive in combat. Alchemy is a great skill to max out.

Good luck!

Sneak is harder to level than Skyrim because you have to be much closer to your opponent to gain XP and you have to remain undetected which is hard until your sneak gets up around 50, and even at higher sneak levels, sneaking on bandits (who may themselves have a high sneak skill can be a challenge).

In order to improve sneak to a useful level (at least 50) You can practice your sneak on NPCs in town or mud crab in the wilderness. You can also pay for training.

Once you get sneak up a but, you can sneak up on things pretty well. However there aren't going to be the kind of insta kills you get in Skyrim. Skyrim can multiply dagger damage by 12 (twice that if you use dual attacks or DB gloves). In Morrowing, I think the sneak attack bonus is 4x. Way less than Skyrim. So insta kills only happen on weaker foes. Make sure to use the best attack forte weapon and have the weapon drawn all the way back before you release the blow to get maximum damage. An make sure you have a good skill in the weapon being used or you may miss your attack.

If you want to play a sneak character if recommend the MCP version 2.1 and the tweak for toggle sneak. The pickpocket tweak also makes pickpocket work much better.