Does anybody know if they're planning to fix the broken fortify skill system Oblivion used? As I'm sure most of you know, raising a skill above 100 was pointless on every skill but athletics and acrobatics. You didn't hit harder with 120 sword, an electrocute spell cost the same at 100 or 130 destruction, and fortify alchemy never worked at all. Similar problems with strength and agility and the general uselessness of luck, though that won't be a problem in Skyrim. Most late-game equipment (Necromancer's Amulet, Bloodworm Helm, SI items, etc) had fortify skill enchantments on them. If your character used the skills fortified by the item, he'd probably have maxed them (or near maxed them) by the time he got his hands on the item. My mage had 100 conjuration long before the Necromancer's Amulet.

Bethesda seems stuck on the "100 is the max, period" system they've been using in Fallout and TES, which really hurts their games. 100 should only be the highest naturally trainable to, not the cutoff point when anything related to boosting that skill becomes pointless.

I'd prefer to get rid of "fortify skill" effects. Having none is the correct number.

As for 100 being the max, I think they should leave that a little more up to the races.

Fortify skill could potentially add a new dimension of complexity to the game. Healer's robes fortifying restoration at the expense of destruction, Akaviri blademaster garb that gives minimal defense but huge bonuses to sword, etc.

The mechanic itself isn't bad, because it allows further customization of your character's equipment beyond fortify magicka or elemental shield everything.

I thought everyone knew that allyou had to do was enchant all of yoru gear with chameleon and you could do go anywhere and do anything no matter how much skill your character lacks.

Heh, yeah. Exactly the reason I never used chameleon anything.

Another reason you should be able to delete spells from your list, having to scroll through loads of defunct fortifies when you are maxed out.

I disagree, it becomes too easy to cheese for one (for example a fortify alchemy for 1-2 seconds since the alch screen isn't real time...), but also I don't think skill is something that should be determined by equipment anyway - skill is knowledge and experience and talent - it's mainly mental, not at all the same as making yourself physically stronger through magic. IMO only physical attributes should be able to be fortified.

Cheesing out with 1 second charms and fortifies can be fixed with making those activities real-time (as they're already doing with conversations). Worst case scenario, prevent the making of custom fortify effects.

If you're concerned about the lore explanations behind fortifying skills, there's plenty of room for a conjurer's amulet that gives the wearer a closer connection to Oblivion, reducing the cost of conjuration spells or whatnot. From a gameplay standpoint, TES V only stands to gain by fixing fortify effects. I know I'll just wear fortify magicka on everything if I can't get some decent destruction bonuses on my mage's gear.

I fully agree, the fortify system is conservative and meaningless if you had your skills at 100. I think they should eradicate the fortify system. Replace it with races, enchantments or equipment.

I honestly don't see how it's really a gain, IMO all fortify spells could be removed and it would be better for the game. They're just unnecessary and boring, TES's magic system could use some trimming of redundant/bland spells and that's what the fortify spell effects are to me. If you want enchants that increase magic damage, I'd say have +fire damage, +frost, etc. instead.

I also think they should just do away with this effect altogether. Of all the "exploits" people have complained about regarding magicka in the ES series...levitation, chameleon, etc....fortify skill is IMO the most exploitative. Definitely the most cheat-like game feature. I think fortify ability (fortify strength etc.) should be the extent of the "fortify" spells. PERHAPS include some (but not all) fortify skill effects in alchemy ingredients or something.

You do know fortify destruction doesn't raise damage, right?

If it's possible to completely replace fortify effects with various plusses, I don't have a problem. I don't think it's likely, though. Any effect has to compete with powerhouses like feather, shield, fortify magicka/health/fatigue, absorb or reflect, etc.

Please explain how it's more exploitive than 100% chameleon.

....Uhhh....because it allows you to be more uber than you are at anything you want to be for long enough to do something you shouldn't be able to do at that level?

Balance issue to be worked out in beta. Heaven forbid restoration is useful for anything but a poor substitute for alchemy.

Next.

You can't get rid of the fortify system, and yes the hard cap of 100 is terrible...

Fortify is how attributes and skills are artificially raised for a short time, and what rpg would be complete without spells that make you have the strength of Hercules?
It is poorly implemented, but and it should be fixed. Personally I think it would be more useful if the difference in attributes, lets say strength for instance, were noticable.
I could fortify acrobatics by 100, and jumping felt the same. Should it have had an extreme jump height, not necessarily, but it should have felt like I was a master.
Just because it is implemented poorly doesn't mean remove it, it means fix it.

And why is the hard cap terrible? I was a mage with all spell schools maxed. I worked so hard to complete all of the daedric shrines to do Herma Mora's. I finally completed it, and I used it to become the greatest mage the world has ever seen, except my coveted bonus didn't do [censored] because it was right after that I learned increasing past 100 does nothing. Making an rpg where you cannot create an epic character is bad design and implementation...

Yeah cause you get to decide what issue we discuss. Nice try.

Because it is so cheap you can manipulate the game into getting many perks you need to invest hours in normally. Fortify Armorer 100 for 1 second will give you an unbreakable hammer that you can use to repair all your gear to 125. A level 1 with a 25 restoration skill should not get that perk. Same with investing in a store at 75 mercantile, the huge drop in store prices for 100 Mercantile and Speechcraft (Arguably fixed in Skyrim, unless the store menus and speechcraft game (if there is one) are still frozen in time). Get 100 Acrobatics for 5 seconds and you can jump across any gap, even across lakes.

Both are game breaking in Oblivion in different ways. Chameleon lets you kill anyone or go anywhere while Fortify Skill lets you get whatever you want from NPCs without killing them. The worst part about it is that you can use Fortify Skill with 100% Chameleon and utterly crush every game mechanic.

As far as fixing Fortify Skill and Fortify Attribute it is easy. Just up the Base Cost to something higher than .6 If it was around say... 3-5 it would cost a lot more magicka to cast and high spells wouldn't be until later levels. One last thing to fix it is to cap how high it can go.

Side Note: Something that many people overlook is that even being able to make Fortify Skill spells was an oversight by the developers. It was never meant to be used besides some apparel effects or the odd Doomstone.

Conversations are in realtime, they can make this realtime too...
And about jumping, sure you can jump about 3 feet higher, but landing hurts...
Don't say its the spell thats broken when its the system.

I for one love the fortify skill spell effect. It allows you to roleplay a weak character using enchantments and spells to make themselves much more powerful than they would ordinarily be. I think that's a valid and lore-supported roleplay choice. I do wish that fortifications beyond 100 actually mattered, though. And I do think it should be almost prohibitively expensive and/or difficult to become truly god-like via enchantments and spells alone. (But still doable for those who want it.) The idea of being able to transcend mortality into godhood - however false it may have been - like Vivec had was one of the things I loved about Morrowind.

Yeah I did the same thing with the Ohgma Infinium and my warrior. I managed to raise his strenghth to 156 thinking I might be able to kill a goblin chief in under 20 minutes, but noticed it wasn't doing much so I checked the Wiki and found out it only applies to some skills/attributes and was pretty choked.

Edit: I agree with OP.

I only very occasionally used it in Oblivion, and then it was to get the decimal edge needed to beat a monster on an early level and when I happened to have random access to any means of skill fortification. I only did it out of desperation, and it isn't the most effective thing in the world either.

No idea whatsoever :shrug: This isn't as an important a feature to mention in an interview.