Since there is no experience cap and with the video today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsFpH4jm-QI

we learn we can put perk points into any Special, i guess that means with enough perk points we can get 10 in all specials.

So between bobbleheads, magazine collecting and simple perk points we can max out all Specials.

This sound correct? Just want to confirm will Y'all.

From what I've seen so far, that is correct but you'll miss out on a lot of perks if you do. Some perks also need multiple ranks to be able to utilise them well. Proficient at many master of none and all that.

Yes. but it would take quite some time to max them all... 30ish levels... and would probably gimp your character if you opt out of perks until then.

I wouldn't be so sure. There may be a limit to the ranks of each perk.

Nevermind, I'm stupid. Ya, it looks like we could theoretically get 10 all across the board.

Seems that way. Im sure it'll be balanced that you'll have put 300 hours into the game before you reach that point though. It was like that with New Vegas and Fallout 3, you could easily get 100's and 10's everywhere with the DLCs expanding the level cap. But that took about 150 hours while here even getting to 50 seems like it will take a much longer time.

Depends on the soft cap.

You start with 28 points, so it'll take 42 more points (ie levels) for you to max out your SPECIAL no matter what (or 35, if bobbleheads still bump up SPECIAL). And if you've taken nothing but SPECIAL boosts up to that point, you'll be at a considerable disadvantage - especially when you factor in level scaling.

The article also states that some subsequent perk slots are level based.. in the example he states "Paralyzing Palm (paralyze enemies through hand-to-hand), now becomes the Rank 5 Perk for Iron Fist. But you need to have chosen the previous 4 ranks of Iron Fist and be level 46." We can kind of theorize that level 46 would be close to what they might consider an "end game" perk. If that's the case, Level 50 might be around where you'd end up if all you did was the main story. At any rate, yeah.. it doesn't look like it'll be especially easy to max out a character.

You get 28 points during character creation for SPECIAL stats, meaning you'll need to get 42 more points to max out your SPECIAL stats. There are 270 perk ranks in total, meaning you'll need 312 points in total to get everything if you don't get any bumps from bobbleheads. Magazines will give special perks, there's 100 of them so I assume you need to collect each series of magazines to get the full rank of the perk they offer. Have fun grinding!

You don't need to be any level for the 70 standard perks. You can see in the recent video showing off a number of perks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsFpH4jm-QI

So yes someone who farms enemies could max out all their SPECIAL and then unlock all the perks, but from that vid I don't want to max out most of the perks.

From the video you can see that some perks are level locked (I remember one perk needing level 49 in the video), so people will have to grind to make their build, which is a shame imho.

It was that or gimping the perks overall.

That is incorrect. In the article BGS states that with the new system leveling will happen much faster. Similar to leveling skills in skyrim.

Also, 10 in every special was always possible. One could argue despite this new faster unlimited leveling system this game will be much harder to max than FO3

Yep, that sounds correct.

You start the game with 28/70 SPECIAL points and it has been suggesed that 2 SPECIAL points per attribute can be collected by bobbleheads/magazines).

So 28 + 14 from collectibles leaves 28 SPECIAL points to reach max SPECIAL.

I could just dump all my level ups into SPECIAL, so by Level 29, I'd be done, but that's hardly very balanced.

Let's suppose I want to eventually max SPECIAL.

I think I'd take a perk point every 4th level, taking perks the rest of the time.

So I'll take a SPECIAL point on reaching levels 4, 8, 12 etc - reaching max SPECIAL at Level 112.

(assuming the magazines theory is right and I picked up the bobbleheads along the way)

I would also by then have distributed 83 perks (nice)

This is not going to be a fast process I suspect...

Level 299 before you max all your perks *.

* This assumes you first get a perk point on reaching level 2.

I see this type of concern as unfounded (tho I admit to having wondered about it myself) and attribute much of it to the popular vision of a RPG character reaching some envisioned Final state as the ultimate goal of these open world games. My take on that "goal" is that it ruins the REAL reason open world games like these are actually so potentially enjoyable.

It's the Journey, not the Destination.

Don't worry so much about where your character will end up, but enjoy the path you take to get there (wherever "there" happens to be).

I certainly greatly enjoy the early levels of character development more than the end game, uber-character I often end up with, but maybe that's just me.

In terms of the mechanics of reaching SPECIAL = 10 ALL, I think it should difficult to reach 9 in a score and almost impossible to reach 10. Granted, the perk system tied to those scores kind of nixes that idea, so that leaves MIN/MAXers with the goal of obtaining the perfect Demi-God character telling everyone else that their "builds" are interior.

It's a cliche, but you're right. Even if I maxed out the perk chart on every character I made, and went through the same game content in the same order each time to do it, I could still take those perks in almost any order and get a vastly different experience each time.

The way I read the article, there are going to be 10 ranks of Intense Training again. I guess I missed where they said you could just put all perks towards SPECIAL if you choose. ?

What article did you read? The blog post on Bethesda.net is your best source for accurate info, and based on that video and what they say in the post it's more like each SPECIAL attribute is it's own 10 rank perk.

They did say there were 100 books/magazines in the game and each gave a perk.

I wonder if each book provides a unique perk or one from the perk chart.

For example a Grodnak the Barbarian comic could give +5% melee damage +5% melee attack speed.

Get all five and you have +25% melee damage and +25% melee attack speed which would be nothing to sneeze at.

Or maybe it provides a mixture of both.

This is very much what I do as well. I may bump a few stats along the game to meet minimum requirements of a specific must-have perk, but other than that I'll very much just be enjoying putting a fun compilation of perks together.

I'm all about the early game, too. I tend to disband my characters when they hit the upper levels, unless I nerfed myself somehow and feel like I'm still being challenged. To me there's nothing worse than cruising through the wasteland with no challenge whatsoever.

I'm hoping the some of magazine perks are actually abilities and nit just straight passive buffs another feature I hope makes a come from FO3 is bonus perks as quest rewards.

So we start with 28 Special stat points.

We know the Institute has cyberware so say at least 7 more Special stat points.

We have the Special Bobble heads which is 7 more Special stat points.

So total of 42 Special Stat points out of 70 before any perks are spent on it.

That is an average Special Stat of six.

I think we get 3 perks to spend as tag skills (some of the SS have been level one but had 31 points of Special stats).

We also have the Skill Bobble Heads which is 13 more perk points.

We have 100 Books each providing a perk.

Lets say on an average play through we will get all of the Bobble Heads and 2/3 thirds of the books.

That is 67 of the books with 3 tags and 13 skill perk Bobble Heads, we have a total of 83.

Say the soft cap is 50 before we add in any DLC so 49 perk points.

That is a total of 132 perk points out of 275.

That is not counting any quest related perks it might be possible to earn.

Give that some of the skill perks are kinda of mandatory and there will be some overlap, I'd say it would take at least 3 play throughs to try everything out.

Add in roleplaying, different play styles, variations due to the order the perks are taken, and male/female SS, and you have a lot of play throughs to look forward to.

They said that there are 10 issues of Grognak the Barbarian, and they add ranks of the Barbarian perk which improves critical damage with melee weapons. Who knows if that's all the 10 ranks do, though.

Me too. Hopefully some of them add new crafting recipes, or maybe new melee attacks to use in VATS, or something.

The real irony of grinding to get a maxed SPECIAL(and all perks) is in order to reach that you'd need to have completed, most if not all, of the quest. So once you reached your Uber status, what would you use it on?

Cool!

So the books don't add perks from the perk chart, but rather add buffs and possibly other advantages.

That makes finding books really fun without endangering the replay value and game balance.

I wonder if recipes and schematics will make it in to the game?

it was fun making every thing from Mirelurk stew to Nuka grenades.

Done right, it is a lot of fun to find a unique recipe or schematics provides there is a good base of common recipes and schematics to start from.

I liked how finding different copies of the schematic let you upgrade it.