From playing the beta and messing around with different builds without really knowing what Im doing, it seems quite easy to make a character that is very weak.

I can deal with making bad skill point choices, because I can just earn more skill points and fix it. But what about class/race. I really want to play an Imperial, but their racial traits seem weak unless you plan on a tank. If I played an imperial nightblade bowman, am I going to be at a huge disadvantage against a bosmer or khajiit archer? It seems racials are more important in this game than others.

Also does nightblade get any significant advantages with stealth? I know anyone can sneak, but outside the 2.5 second invisible trait, I got nothing that seemed to make me more stealthy than any other class. Outside the obvious racial bonuses for Bosmer and Khajiit which I dont plan on using.

i also am a little distressed by this! i think they could do away with a lot of the racial experience bonus perks. it worked in skyrim, but without it, it would really open up character creation and let players play what race/alliance they want without having to worry about losing that 15% experience bonus common in pretty much every race.

Racials mean little as you will hit the soft caps easily. Its time to step outside the box.

Increased HP and HP regen benefits all classes equally.

Now will some races have a slight slight slight bonus to certain things? yes, but not enough to make a difference.

If you want to Min Max your Race, you can but it will not be the reason you beat someone in PVP or do well or svck in PVE

Too weak? I felt overpowered. Even when I messed around with another character and didn't upgrade anything at all.

Imperials get a bonus to stamina and health, as well as a life steal type ability (not sure if it is in fact life stealing or just regenerating). They will be good for any class/spec using stamina as their primary stat.

We dont really know how easy it will be to overcharge stats at max level. Who knows, they could be the best class because they have the most raw stats.


Personally, im rolling a Breton Templar on AD.

Nah it is fine unless you are the extreme min/max type. Especially since there are diminishing returns on a lot of stats.

The combination of skills used against said bosmer/khajiit along with gear is going to have way more impact than racial difference, and this is only considering duels. Add in group PvP and racials are going to have very little impact.

This ^

The racial perks are just that, early game perks that you may or may not find useful.

I always play as a Dunmer Paladin so most of their racials in this game are useless to me but like Teroh has said with the soft caps it manages to keep everyone closer to the balance line. I'm not saying a Khajiit wont score a few points extra when attacking from stealth or that an Altmer wont have slightly better magicka regeneration. They will however due to the soft caps in place you can easily match their racial abilities without having to overspend to compensate.

thanks for the response guys. wasnt too aware of soft caps. the only thing that annoys me is 15% experience bonuses.

Does the experience bonus most races get actually mean anything? Does it just mean you move up that skill at a slightly higher rate correct?

Dont pick a race on the bonus experience alone. Once you get it maxed out, it provides no bonus at all.

IMO its unnecessary, just like racial perks are supposed to be. Some are just too good right now (like Kahjiit).

Why would it even matter 15% exp bonus to leveling one handed is nothing, your not gaining levels faster and ultimately doesn't mean anything once you cap that skill.

One of the things that conserns me, is that a Dragon knight with 2hander will be a better dps using medium armor

then using heavy armor. But that will also take away a lot of survivability due to the loss of defense.

So using less armor gives you more dmg ?.

Medium armor gives you increased crit chance and stamina regen , Heavy armor gives you more melee attack power so it offsets.

yes, and more survivability = more damage over time. I was in several dungeons where another dps was using medium armor

and got annihilated by mobs, while i could at times, offtank the boss with a 2hander and doing dps at the same time.

You could go for 5 heavy 2 medium and focus a bit more on health to become a tanky archer. The longer you live, the more damage you do.

I have a question about skills which I thought would be better placed here than creating a new thread. Is it possible as a Nightblade to eventually learn the Dark Magic skill line or other classes main skills? Or will we always be stuck with our 3 main skills, assassin, shadow, and siphoning?

I think the problem is were so use to being told you must wear all cloth/light, medium or heavy armour as a class to be successful that were not considering that in order to be successful here you must not only be a hybrid between the balance of stam to magicka but also must hybrid with the different armour choices in order to get that perfect mix.

I can't wait for the next beta to start from scratch again going with a 2/3 heavy light combo, all level up stats going into health and wielding sword and board as a templar using a mix between the crowd control skills offered from sword and board, heals from the templars healing tree and tinkering between the other magic and melee trees to get a better feel for how its going to play. Will it be successful? I'm not entirely sure, but right now my cookiecutter full heavy armour built templar paladin just doesn't feel like he can excel at any of the trinity, here's hoping this new mix offers something different to my traditional play style.

My personal experience was that I did feel weak until lvl 10-11 then my character started feeling powerful,and at lvl 17 I was owning people in 1v1 in Cyrodiil while I was questing. So I believe that everybody starts off feeling weak.

I approach this game the same way I do any other TES. This mindset actually applies to any game I play. For every character I make, I create initial choices, like race and class, based purely on the personality profile and backstory I created for them.

Literally any race and class combination can be a viable force in either PvE, PvP, group, solo or campaign. The single most important thing is to develop a primary means of damage and a means of defence. This can obviously be maximized by utilizing skills for damage and defense that share Magicka and Stamina cost. But that does not, or will ever, mean that any character cannot be owned by another character, no matter the opposition's choices.

In beta I found weapons and armor that had + exp for that weapon line or that armor type.

Xp gains are not that big of a deal. All it means is for that line you don't need a plus xp item is all.

You're locked to your 3 class skills. The skills from the other classes are not available for anyone but that class.

You are locked into your class and by that into the skill lines your class provides so no if you chose to play as a Nightblade you will never be able to take skills exclusive to other classes.

heh semms i got ninjaed to the answer:)

I ran Spindle this past weekend. We had a good group, me at level 13, a level 15 using a 2hander and level 10 healer and tank. I played an Orc NB in medium armor with dual wield, and when the tank died on some of the harder fights, it fell to me to take over and I held up very well. It helped that I could get healing via Siphon abilities and I used the lack of collision detection (while it lasts) to my advantage.

My plan is to plan an Imperial NB and really load up on self healing. For weapons, I plan to use a combination of dual wield, bow, resto staff and sword and board based on the situation (yeah, I'll be spending a lot of skill points on weapons). There are so many abilities that you can morph to add a healing component. My character may not be the ideal for any given situation, but it should be extremely flexible with high survivability.

Yey for soft caps and death of diversity.

The only uncapped stat is health and they are the race that get to have the MOST health of any other counterpart. 12% extra health for doing nothing but spending skill points

Tell me again how weak they are.