Levitation : V - Skyrim

» Thu Dec 09, 2010 6:32 am

Well, if they are going to put levitation back, I say it constantly drains your magicka and quickly. So that probably an average time you can levitate is like 10 seconds. Also, don't allow you to levitate other objects or creatures. This limitation keeps you from abusing it like in Morrowind which is what got it removed. 10 sec is more than long enough imo, lets you get to the next ledge if you want but doesn't allow you to flee combat.

» Thu Dec 09, 2010 9:24 am

I wouldnt mind encumberance being a factor on levitation.

I dont know why people are always going on about levitation being overpowered, it really wasnt.
On morrowind it wasnt a cheap spell and it wasnt that easy to cast, lvl 50 for reliably casting the store spell, I believe, wich made you float very slow too.
You had to be a serious mage to be able to use it more than three times in a row.
Yes, if you designed your whole character to take advantage of levitation, or if you forked over enough money and chose to make a custom enchantment, you could.

But why go through all the trouble of tweaking your gameplay just to take advantage of levitation, and then complain its overpowered?
My warriors almost never used levitation. it was a 45 pt. spell and I only had 100 total. My warriors also would not make an enchant or use anything other than mazte or a potion of fools luck.

My mages were another story.

But, yes, encumberance a factor on levitation. Ok, if I can simultaniously cast feather to reduce my encumberance, fine.
If its anything as expensive as Morrowind, I would need close to 100 spell points for a 30 sec. levitation + 30 sec high feather. And an alteration level of about 60 should be good, I guess.

Handy for mage types, not really useful for anyone else, so hardly exploitable.

But your forgetting that magicka and combat were improved to where magicka can now regenerate and you can't fail a spell cast. Even when it could fail, the spell just by itself was broken. With the new systems, it could be reimplemented as just allowing you to levitate only yourself and constantly drain your magicka, fairly rapidly too.

» Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:38 am

I think being able to flee combat was one of the better things about levitate, I mean it only makes sense to want to be able to choose your battles sometimes.

» Thu Dec 09, 2010 9:33 am

I get what you mean but flying over the land, admiring the landscape ? ^_^ I miss that...

I would be down if they had more a "flight" spell or flight potion that essentially allowed for movement in 3 dimensions (think a faster version of the zero g stuff in Dead Space 2). It would of course have to have a time limit, and if you weren't on the ground when the spell/potion ran out :dead: (unless you had a slow fall as well). It just seemed weird to have to combine jump, levitate, and slowfall just to fly. I don't care either way honestly, I just hope they have SOME sort of levitation.

» Thu Dec 09, 2010 5:47 am

Make Levitation an extension of Telekinesis. At low power you can only levitate and move small objects. A little more power and you can use it to slow your descent (a less effective version of Slowfall) when falling, and use it to boost your jumping (rocket jumps without the rocket). A little more and you can levitate up to ledges for short distances and do a proper slowfall.

Make it an active spell that drains magicka and occupies one of your hands whenever being cast.

You'd eventually get all the needed utility but with practically no ability to exploit it.

As a non believer in levitation, this sounds pretty solid and something I can live with. Doesn't sound overpowered at all.

Now lets do invisibility. As a lvl 44 hunter I just did all the Aid for Bruma quests at maximum difficulty without a single kill. Stunted magicka or chance of failure would at least have made it interesting (potions galore). That being said, without invisibility, I didn't stand a chance at that difficulty. I'm all for options, but invisibility is very game breaking.

» Thu Dec 09, 2010 12:41 pm

Invisibility isn't difficult.

Active spell with a constant drain to limit time, sniffer creatures and the ability for creatures/people to hear you move. Intelligent NPC reactions to doors/chests/cupboards opening, or items moving (or co-workers dying). Magic detecting spells in sensitive areas or on high level guards. Active searching for the player if your activities are noticed (guards using pikes to prod empty spaces, or firing spells to flush out invisible enemies). Increased protection of important items when the alarm goes up rather than decreased protection.

Lots of ways to make invisibility a strategic decision, not a free pass.

» Thu Dec 09, 2010 8:53 am

Sounds all good to me.

» Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:39 pm

Just realized something.

If levitation's back in.
Knowing that spells take one hand, but can be cast to greater effect with both...

Two hands with levitation.
Can I freakin' fly?

I don't think you can cast to greater effect, just quick succession of spells.