I'm very new to this game and I love it so far. I've just done a quick and simple nord playthrough to get the feel for everything (all the combat, how to approach things, combat styles) Now I've started an Imperial, I've put my main two major skills as Strength and Endurance (good for heavy armor and blades I assume) but just for the heck of it I tagged heavy armor and light armor in my 7 minor. Should I be approaching this with heavy armor or light armor? Or does it really not matter at all, I should just work towards whatever I want too and it won't really affect it? I prefer heavy armor so far, I've done Nights of the Nine DLC and love the crusader's armor But I plan on doing all the rest of the DLC ( just did fighters stronghold on the imperial play) and I really REALLY want to have the madness armor from Shivering Isles bliviongate: :celebration: :icecream:

There's not really any sense in using both heavy and light, better to go for one or the other. Madness Armor is always heavy, but Crusader armor will adjust to whatever skill is highest, so if Heavy armor is higher when you start the quests, you'll get Heavy Crusader armor, if Light is higher, you'll get light armor.

Heavy Armor is best to use if you plan to go for melee combat, Light Armor for pretty much everything far away.

Thank you for the clear up. I know when I do marksman and mage I'll be usin light armor, but I do really enjoy heavy armor I've heard shivering isles is quite unique to the other DLC. Do you enjoy it?
Ahhh thank you. I knew I'd be using light armor when

Yeah, Shivering Isles is huge and very unique and creative. I think the main story is good enough to rival that of the main story from Oblivion. It's excellent, and probably the best expansion I've ever seen for a video game.

Man, that description is what's going to make school go by so slow tomorrow

Shivering Isles is awesome and personally there is in my view only 3-4 FULL Games that beat it. (MW, OB, FO2 and maybe HMM2)

Like Velorien said Heavy Armor for anything Melee and I suggest either Orc/Redguard/Nord/Imperial for a Melee character although if you are going to use some Magic I would use Redguard/Imperial.
Light Armor for anybody that plans on Sneaking or taking a Stealth approach, using either a Khajit/Dunmer/Bosmer/Argonian with Dunmer and Argonian being better for some light Magic use within this skill set.
Either no armor or very little for a pure Magic user as it will hamper how good your spells are. I'd suggest using Altmer/Breton for any pure magic user taking a Breton if you are worried about dying a lot.

Thats how I personally look at the armor skills within Oblivion but thats just my own view.

I play purely for looks these days. I often mix heavy and light armor, leather cuirass and dwarven greaves look good on my female archer.

It seems like the challenge to the madness armor will be getting the ore in Shivering Isles haha. Looks are very important to me rather than armor abilities. I don't wanna look [censored] when I kill :celebration:

:verymad: I USE BOTH! :verymad:

When I have played characters who routinely wear armor, they have used a mixture.

As Velorian says, it does not really make any sense. If you want to focus on efficiency of play, you are indeed better sticking with one kind. The game is easy enough however that if you want to go for looks and like the idea of wearing whatever/whenever you want (like I, mpls Big Daddy, lolzz and others do) it can certainly be done. When I played such a character, I would generally buy training in whichever is lower each level and try to keep the two armor skills somewhat balanced. It takes longer obviously, and you give up some of the perks, but I'll let looks and flexibility trump all that efficient stuff every time. :tongue:

This.

I used to specialize with my characters, but I really don't see much of a need, and I'm tired of the default sets. They'll generally end up with sufficient armor skill eventually anyway, and anything they're short, they can make up with enchantments. Plus I almost never play characters who just stand there and get hit - I tend toward lightly armored stealth characters, and they're better off moving around a lot and avoiding attacks rather than just standing there and letting the armor soak them up.

My basic starting gear for an armored character is leather boots, iron greaves, iron gauntlets and... some sort of cuirass (or maybe even no cuirass). The cuirass (or lack thereof) just depends on the character, the skill they most want to increase and the look they want. And from there, there's no telling which way they'll go. Most often toward light or no armor, but they'll still mix in a heavy piece if it looks good. I tend to avoid heavy cuirasses, just because they're so bulky and so heavy, but heavy greaves and gauntlets are often nice, and sometimes even heavy boots once their sneak skill gets high enough that the weight doesn't matter any more.

That said though, from a purely practical standpoint, yes - you're best off to pick one or the other and stick with it.

Depends. If you prefer meele CQC, Heavy Armor is more practical.

If you prefer to be mobile, Light Armor is best.

But in the end, it's all personal preference...