I'm new to daggerfall, never played it before and on my first try as a warrior (i always make warriors first time around) I had no trouble taking down enemies once I got used to the controls.

Infact the toughest enemy had to be the orc's, bar none. They hit hard and fast but by level 2 they were easy as pie. I'm now level 4 and in another dungeon and not having much difficulty. Why do people think the first dungeon is so brutal?

Because they don't play as a warrior?

If the strength is low, the beginning is noticeably harder.

Yeah, on my warrior character, I had no trouble at all. On what is now my main, imp and wraiths are terrifying! If a human target swing enough times, I die quite easy.

Two words:

Ebony. Dagger.

If you get the option to take it during background generation, TAKE IT.

200 gold sounds nice, but with the ebony dagger, you can paste most enemies fairly easy and make 2x the money that much more quickly.

Easy. If this is the first time they play it and they did not pick and hard cored melee class, nor not have weapons to defeat the imps, then death is highly possible.

Still is easily possible, even with those things if you get careless, run into some bad luck of hitting someone, receive a full blast of imp magic, or run into a wraith.

It's not really actual difficulty that makes people claim Privateer's Hold is hard, it's usually just:

1) They are using Arena's control scheme and can't look down in order to kill the first rat. They die, otherwise:

2) They go into the Imp room and don't have the ebony dagger. They die, otherwise:

3) They faint when they encounter the Skeleton in the throne room. Their character dies while the player is comatose, otherwise:

4) The throne elevator bugs and sends them hurtling into the void. They ragequit, otherwise:

5) They get mauled by a bear. Otherwise:

6) They get killed by the second Imp, the one guarding the exit.

:nod:

The only places where I always still save today, are before the three imps encouters and the skeleton. My current character, a Khajiit Acrobat, had a tough time in Privateer's Hold (And, I put the game on the hardest difficulty). Kicking a skeleton to death took a long time.

One thing about this game is that you don't have to kill to level, and there's enough treasure laying around on the floor you don't even necessarily have to kill to get enough money to survive (especially if you don't need to buy expensive weapons or spells). Were I playing an acrobat (and I have, back in the day), I wouldn't bother trying to kill that skeleton. I'd jump up on the throne, throw the switch, and laugh at it as it rages at the wall.

i took a battlemage class because it was recommended as an easy class. its not really that easy i find.
whilst i can kill some things easily, some bats, bears, archers, orcs, imps can kill me real quick. i have to rest after every fight and if i cant rest because of enemies near then i pretty boned and will die at the next encounter.
ive only got 3 spells (which came with the class - i had no option to choose), 2 of which are useless for damage (one is bouyancy, forget the other now) and casting the only offensive one i have (spark) seems to do nothing. certainly no lightning or anything shoots out across the room.

That was going to be my other veteran tip, actually. The ebony dagger is a godsend for those first shaky days. Way more valuable than anything else the background generation offers.

why is the ebony dagger best at the start?

its damage isnt that good. (maybe something like 2-12 if i recall from using it a couple times)
ive got longswords/cutlasses right near the start with better stats.

Because there are enemies that are immune against iron and steel weapons, like the imps in the first dungeon.

i found one imp in a circle of candles with a little pedestal near it and killed it with my bog standard longsword. cant be totally immune then?
it nearly killed me, but that was probably cause it was firing some spells off at me and they hurt.

Imps are only immune to iron.
Your sword must have been steel or better.

The dungeon was not hard, it just a wall. Which is easy to climb once you figure it out.
If you have played Arena, you will know what you must do(stay at high health unless you are a pure killing class).
The main problem is the layout, the bats and the rats are the only thing that is killable straight on. The bear, imps and skeleton along with the orcs is the definition of "run for it!". Atleast they did not put scorpions there.

My ebony dagger does 9-14 points of damage, versus only 1-6 points of damage for its steel counterpart. Even if there are weapons with higher potential damage output, such as an iron dai-katana I saw that did 1-19 points of damage, the ebony dagger often comes out ahead at the start. It's impossible to roll less than 9 points of damage on a hit with the ebony dagger, and it will average out to 11-12 points per hit over time. The iron dai-katana will only average out to 10 points per hit over time, and can't damage certain enemies. Most steel weapons the player is likely to encounter early will be comparable to the ebony dagger on the top end of the damage range, and far inferior to the ebony dagger on the bottom end.

If you cannot finish the easiest dungeon in the game, chances are you won't have much chance in the later dungeons.

I had a dungeon that took about 90mins to complete. I've done Privateer's Hold so many times now that I just skip through the entire thing in about 10mins.
The very first time I did Privateer's Hold, I died. Many times. The hold is just a hurdle, that once you get the hang of it, you'll have no issues travelling over it to experience the true magnificence of this epic game.

I'm pretty sure your damage stat is wrong there, but the other thing is that not only does the ebony characteristic add to your damage roll, it also adds to your "to hit" roll. Meaning you can hit pretty regularly with the ebony dagger what you'd just whiff if you were swinging something else.

One thing that helps immensely is to know what your skills are, and to buff up one particular weapon skill at the start... and then use the proper weapon. Seems pretty basic, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of folks, used to being able to always hit in Oblivion, don't realize just how vital it is to use a weapon your character has skill with.

That skeleton scared the [censored] out of me
And the throne was an elevator?
I just climbed the wall.

I climbed the wall my first time, too.

Still fell into the void. :mellow:

First couple of times I tried Privateer Hold I died. Finally got through and ran most of the way. Second time through successfully I casually cleared out the whole thing without problem. Experience with the game mechanics is a major part of it. Also, customizing the controls to be like Morrowind/Oblivion helps a lot.

I never used the throne OR climbed the wall. In the room with the large staircase there's a hidden door on the side of the stairs, and that leads to a few back paths...

....Yeah I like to explore....

Took me three tries to get something ok to play in there. Messing with armour/material restrictions had me unable to wear helms even though I'm pretty sure I didn't click that one. Heh, and I've played Daggerfall before.

I climbed the wall in the throne room too. No patience for mechanical contrivances!

Anybody know what's up with the room containing bookshelves? Climbing them I noticed a pile of treasure back there but I couldn't figure out a way to get to it.

There's a switch in the room that doesn't look like a switch. Try clicking the small table in the room. Don't forget to crouch when you try to get the treasure, otherwise you won't fit through the opening.