Actually, I use Alteration, Illusion, and Conjuration. Conjuration is actually excessively easy to ramp (The magicka-based mod for Progress fixes that!), while Illusion is admittedly difficult to ramp.

Feather, Chameleon, Bound Dagger -> Summon Dremora = High level

That may be, but if you don't know how to cast any useful spells, when will you use the school except in monotonous practice? There are many low level spells in Destruction, Conjuration, and Restoration that are immediately useful. While they aren't very powerful, a typical mage will use them constantly. The "point in leveling up" is to gain access to more powerful forms of these spells.

Spending all your time training with spells you almost never use in practical situations seems silly, and you can only train five times per level - it takes a long time to reach Journeyman. An Apprentice Illusionist *should* be fairly useless, but she should still encounter plenty of practical situations in which her skills can be put to use. Even if you can only paralyze an enemy for an instant, or make an enemy behave aggressively towards its allies for a few seconds, it can still be enough of a distraction to make the school worth using.

The option for cannibalism right out of the box not a perk like fallout. Deer and bear drop meat, why not the walking lizards and cats?

When should someone who has no experience or interest in a school decide to suddenly use the school they've never cared for before? Classes are supposed to be a basic background for your character. If I create a mage, the chances are he's been in study for years developing his skills. If I make a warrior, chances are he's not very smart and likes to drink. The "Jack of all Trades" type of character is supposed to be hard to reach. It's one of those things you should get to once you've got yourself to a good standard as your default class. When I create a thief, I should be encouraged to use thief techniques. I shouldn't be able to cast a bunch of spells I have no idea about, just like you wouldn't expect a mage to carry around a warhammer.


Hence, Morrowind's system should make a comeback. expensive, unlimited (up to the NPC's level) training is what we should have. As I said, great economical balancer, and lets my characters get past the initial rubbishness of the early levels.


An Apprentice Illusionist an cast plenty of spells. I wouldn't expect a Novice to be able to cast many, though. It's the way it should be. You wouldn't expect a random mage to start beating skulls with a warhammer with ease, would you? Also, we should go back to the chance to cast system. It's a better in game feature, and a more realistic method. In game, you will have a chance to cast the spell depending on your level. Your warrior that want to learn magic cheaply can create a smaller version of a spell and have a good chance to cast it. It can be practical, and can help train up your levels. Realisticly, lore says that magic is done by speaking words and wiggling your fingers. Someone can teach you to do this, but you may not be experienced, and not be able to remember spells well. You may forget a word in the middle of the spell, but may replace it with a random word that can, by chance, be correct. It's just like how there's a chance I have a typo somewhere in here, as I haven't run this through a spell checker. I know fluent English, and have been doing it for years and years, but I can make a mistake.

Your point being...? If this thief wants to cast some spells, he'll still have to learn some and certainly won't be very good at it. Your mage who's been in study for years, on the other hand, can't even cast 5% Chameleon on himself for a single second (he could if there were any such spell available, of course, but his options are sadly limited.) He'll have to cast Charm at the wall for about six hours to learn the simplest spell available.



No, but I'd expect the mage to be able to swing the hammer. He might not be able to do so very effectively, but he should still have the ability. If this mage decides he's bored of setting things on fire and wants to become a master with blunt weapons, he can start training by killing rats and other other low level creatures.

Probably said a dozen times but I'd love to see more epic and unique monsters. A cave troll around the size of a super mutant Behemoth would be nice.

I thought it would be neat to have sort of a seamless leveling-up system. The things that you level up in are the things that you have been using most. There would be no "choose what attributes you want to improve" screen when you level up, you would just gradually get better. Of course, not every player would like to level up without knowing it, so maybe present this as an option you can turn on?

Yes that would be cool, some really huge monsters, like mini-bosses.

There should be more ways to make money than looting dungeons and alchemy. I think some "trade skills" similar to alchemy, like cooking, fishing, farming, crafting, blacksmith, mining, textile worker, etc. could be implemented in game and would provide more things to do than quests. These skills when properly developed should net the player quite a few bucks. NPCs could do these things also to a limited degree for immersion.

Take fishing for example:
-Types of fish dependent on location/season
-different types of fishing rods, or craft your own with the Crafting skill
-Fish could be cooked (cooking skill) and eaten or sold
-A few rare, "collectible" catches

These skills all tie into each other nicely and I think would add depth to the game.

Why?
-Gives the player more things to do
-Provides a sense of economy
-A lot of the raw materials could be found in the wild, making a more interesting environment and monster drops
-more varied set of items

Thoughts?

I wouldn't be opposed to this sort of thing if they do it well. They need to create in-depth systems for each skill and come up with original and creative ways of making the skills worthwhile. There should never be hardcoe grinding in a TES game and I fear that skills like mining and fishing would be extremely monotonous. Now if these weren't level-able skills but merely extra activities, then I think it could work. Say you still have certain ranks of ability in each category, to separate more knowledgable/experienced characters from beginners, but no levels and no grinding.

Maybe reading books about fishing, or talking to people about good methods or locations, would help make you better at it. Or as you catch more of a certain type of fish, you naturally get better at it (i.e. they come in faster and you don't lose them as often). Or there could be a sort of perk system, so you start out as a beginner, but there are say five perks gained by accomplishing certain tasks. Each tier unlocks certain hidden benefits (i.e. new types of minerals to mine, faster extraction method, ability to trade with a certain NPC, access to a special guild, etc.).

Example of this tiered perk system:
- tier 1: mine 10 different types of mineral
- tier 2: read 10 books on mining
- tier 3: mine 250 samples
- tier 4: access veins in 30 different locations
- tier 5: read every book on mining, mine every type of mineral, mine in every available location, and collect 2,500 samples

These tiers could be achieved in any order (although tier 5, the master tier, would obviously be last). This way you aren't grinding, and you can become an expert without too much repetition. Those who wish to become true masters will have to take a lot of time to reach that final tier, but the first four tiers will require more exploring than grinding, and many characters will just naturally achieve those tiers as they go about their everyday business.

In sum, these systems should be accessible to all and they should not require hours of monotonous grinding to make the character a master. They should be activities and not skills, and they have to be implemented in a unique and original manner. Otherwise I would not like their presence in the game.

Totally agree. First of all, I think some quests should be skill based. Like killing rats for the FG. Good idea if your general fighting skills are low, boring if they are high, especially if you've done it with a different character.

Chopping wood increases your axe skill, fishing would increase your spear skill (or other skill if you used net or pole) smithing would improve your blunt skill...etc.

So it's just a different way for one character to level skills, be given a background, and make some gold.

They need to make it so that you can be on the bad side. what i mean is that you have all of these good guilds like the mages guild and the fighters guild, in TES V you should be able to like join the necromancers and fight the mages guild, or they create something new like the blackwood company so you can be against the fighters guild. That would be awesome! and they can make it so that you join the Guards and fight the dark brotherhood or the thieves guild.

Just some thoughts...

and they definitely need to let you learn necromancy magic!

I agree with everything here, especially the no grinding part.

On a completely separate note:


My thoughts about the scaling system:

While a scaling like Oblivion obscures a sense of the player's growth, no scaling at all would mean that eventually nothing will provide a challenging battle, which honestly isn't that fun. I think something between these extremes would be the best.

Suggestion: The difficulty of enemies are dependent on their location from civilization.

Civilization in this context means all places where the general public travel/reside in: cities, towns, roads, whatever.


Each enemy would have 2 values: a base level and a scaling factor.

Base level would be the minimum level an enemy would normally have.
(All values are made up in 2 minutes and are only meant to give an example)

Examples:
Rat = 1
Bandit = 4
Ogre = 10
Lich = 20
Ice Drake = 40

In addition, a scaling factor dependent on the player's level is added to the base level.

Examples:
Rat = 25% (For every 4 levels the player gains, the rat gains 1)
Bandit = 33%
Ogre = 45%
Lich = 60%
Ice Drake = 72%

Therefore:
If player = level 1
Rat = 1 + (.25 * 1) = 1.25 = 1
Bandit = 4 + (.33 * 1) = 4.33 = 4
Ogre = 10 + (.45 * 1) = 10.45 = 10
Lich = 20 + (.60 * 1) = 20.6 = 21
Ice Drake = 40 + (.72 * 1) = 40.72 = 41

If player = level 10
Rat = 1 + (.25 * 10) = 3.5 = 4
Bandit = 4 + (.33 * 10) = 7.3 = 7
Ogre = 10 + (.45 * 10) = 14.5 = 15
Lich = 20 + (.60 * 10) = 26
Ice Drake = 40 + (.72 * 10) = 47.2 = 47

If player = level 40
Rat = 1 + (.25 * 40) = 11
Bandit = 4 + (.33 * 40) = 17.2 = 17
Ogre = 10 + (.45 * 40) = 28
Lich = 20 + (.60 * 40) = 44
Ice Drake = 40 + (.72 * 40) = 68.8 = 69

I think you get the point. This system would allow for a sense of progress while still retaining some challenge.

For more variety, the level of an enemy could vary by a value that's 10% of the player's current level, applied on top of the base level and scaling.
So if a level 40 player meets an ice drake, its potential levels would be 65 ~ 73.

Thats pretty well thought out, though distance from a city should not be the only thing to determine the zone level. Some cities might be less well kept from others. Some forests might be more mundane than magical.

Whicch is pretty much the same as casting charm at a wall.

Seeing as how I play on a console, I would like a way to get mods. I really wanted the Construction set as well. So a way for people on consoles to get mods would be nice. I highly doubt this will happen though because it sounds rather difficult to do. But if they found a way, I would be very excited for this game. Other than that:

New armors/more pieces
New weapons
Bigger/More detailed map
A graphics boost would be a plus
Smarter AI
AI that don't randomly die (I'm sure I'm not the only one that has gotten a random "Quest Completed" because a character you haven't even met has died)

Totally agree, though I doubt it will ever happen too I've even considered buying a new computer just so I could play games like ESIV with the mods - only the whole "money" aspect has stopped me so far!

Dangers

If theres 1 thing that rpg's aren't good at, its dangers. When it comes to making a difficult area in a game, its basicly just stronger monsters and a few traps. There is many things that could make the game more exciting to play by adding alot of dangers instead of "Don't go there, the cave has undead!" - This isn't good enough.

Dangers in TES:V (assuming its in Skyrim)

- Frozen Lakes - The more items in inventory, the bigger chance of ice on lakes will break.
- Cold Water - In some areas of Skyrim (mostly where snow is everyday) - falling into cold water in lakes and rivers will weaken the players fatigue and movement.
- Avalanche - Noises from spells, creatures or from fighting may start an avalanche (only in mountains).
- Ambush - The player can be ambushed when fast traveling (or other traveling services)
- Traps - Just make new ones.
- illness/Disease - The player can get ill by walking too long in the blizzards, by staying too long in cold waters, or by curses. Drinking hot drinks, potions, or some of the mead will protect against illness.
- Wilderness - Some areas of Skyrim will have powerfull enemies.

I just wanted to throw one thing in.

I suggested Locational Damage before and I'm not just for the "body does some damage, head kills you" ones, I'm actually in favor of a really detailed one.
Also for effects that damaging a certain zone has, not just "HP damage modifiers", in fact I'm against using them as modifiers as a whole. Getting hit in the arm would not mean "you lose more/less HP", it means you bleed and depending on the injure more or less and your arm will be weaker. Getting hit by a strong force can break your arm. And also "organ damages", those being a "chance of hit" more or less though, however based on factors rather than just a random roll.


Anyway, the point is many people say "that system is too detailed/complicated", so I just wanted to explain why I think such a system is almost necessary if you want to make something believable.

While it may sound old I just have to mention the "kill someone by stabbing him in the foot" problem, it should just not be possible to do that. However stabbing someone in the foot would inhibit him from running or even moving too well giving you a advantage, hitting his hand with can cause him to lose grip on his weapon. Punching him in the stomach will exhaust him faster or possible even cause inner bleedings. Hitting him in the eyes with a fireball will not only hurt like hell but blind him and so on.
It's just that hits in the right spot will have appropriate effects.

Also there is bleeding which in my opinion should be represented by health loss, the more severe a wound is or if it hit a "vital" area (like a main artery or inner organs) it will bleed heavier causing more health loss and your opponent to become weaker. That way weapons don't do more or less HP damage, they just cause more or less physical damage based on how and where they hit.


Why is this important now?
Simply think of this, how would you do arrows? If they have very little HP damage they're almost useless, if they have a ton of HP damage they seem unrealistic, how could a arrow kill someone in full plate armor by hitting him in the knee?
If you have locational damage a arrow in the leg won't kill someone but definitely slow him down, a arrow that went deep into his guts will cause a strong inner bleeding that may cause your opponent to be severely weakened, maybe so much he'll give up.
Simply said instead of giving weapons ridiculously low or high damage values or armors silly protection values things can simply be based on factors that add up into values. Different weapons can cause different wounds, this would actually make a blunt weapon effective on plate armor since it can knock your opponent around harder and the blunt force would carry through the armor while a cut could not get through it.

This is another point, there are simply more factors to base a opponents actions on, when they keep up the fight and when they surrender or flee. Someone who's legs are slashed will simply not be able to run away anymore or stand up and fight, you could force him weapon drawn to surrender.
It simply allows you a lot of more fights that DON'T end in killing, and that would in my book at least definitely be an improvement over "kill only solutions".


And to clear up something in advance, no a hit in the head would not mean automatic death, a projectile still need enough force to get through the skull and a "brainshot" does not necessarily have to mean death, it can mean a fast KO though.
And a computer would have no problem with calculating all the factors necessary for this, it is not a pen and paper RPG after all, and the computer already DOES keep track of thousands of factors.



Anyway, I just wanted to clear up some points, I know while many people are for a LD system the detailed ones are still too "strange" for most.
But in my opinion it would add a lot. It does require to get off the "Morrowind/Oblivion did this" thinking, it DOES require to think outside the box a bit.
In my opinion there are a lot of things that need changing, drastic changing, otherwise we simply won't get over some problems. The level scaling for example, with the detailed LD system this simply wouldn't be necessary, you ALWAYS have a challenge this way. A challenge that wouldn't feel fake in my opinion, you'd always have opponents that are dangerous without making them harder, you simply become more ABLE to withstand them.
But I think this got way too long already, I just say it's something that should be thought through and not done off with "This is a RPG/TES, it doesn't fit". In my opinion it fits very well and could add a lot.



I agree 100%, maybe not on all the dangers you listed and how they affect you (mostly though) but the natural dangers as a concept, yes, those are definitely missing.

That's pretty well thought out. A much better suggestion than the people who say there should be no scaling at all. Some scaling is alright.

One suggestion I have, though it may be a little late, is that the Arena faction (if there is one) should be more interesting. For the Dark Brotherhood, you have to kill someone in order to join. It should be the same for the Arena, where you have to get in a fight with someone. Then, if you get noticed, you join the local "fight club". I think at low levels, it should just be where it's just a ring surrounded by a crowd, and the higher up you get, you start fighting in professional amphiteatres and stuff like that.

Also, every match shouldn't be a fight to the death. It just isn't practical.

In response to some of the ideas about balancing damage:

You really need to be thinking less about attack and more about defense. It would be wonderful if everything had a weakness to a certain type of damage again. For instance, a rock monster would be hardly hurt by arrows and bladed weapons but would be vulnerable to blunt weapons and certain types of spells (I'm thinking frost) while a zombie would be less inclined to blunt-force trauma and arrows while highly put on the endangered species list by hacking weapons and blades along with fire spells. This could also work for armor types, meaning that you would have to plan out each fight: maybe an insulated set of armor with thick padding would be more protective against frost and blunt damage while hurt by arrows and blades - really, it is the person on the business end of things that settles how dangerous something is or isn't. Sure, you'd have minor improvements to your gear and magic as you increase in skill, but you'd have to have certain modifiers in place if you wanted to be versatile enough to fight everything without carrying an entire armory on your back. This means archers would need to carry different types of enchanted arrows/ arrows that have heavy, blunted ends and melee fighters would have to hold a blunt, blade, and hacking weapon while a mage would need to use spells that sacrifice their elemental damage for physical damage (IE: sharpened ice, electrified thrown weapons, high-impact fire-balls). The possibilities really are endless for how this would work out.

The most important thing, in my humble opinion, is that Bethesda needs to add several new means of doing damage. As of now, it is pretty restricted. I'd like to see player-made traps, the ability to cause brush-fires, perhaps destructible environments and weather control. I'd like to see more ritualistic spell-casting as well. Anyways, these are just my two Septims.

Also, I think the idea of locational damage is wonderful along with bleed damage based on the severity of wounds. I'd also like to see factors such as frostbite and burn/nerve damage come into play. One of the most appealing things to me is a trauma zone and an appropriate ailment to go along with such things. I'm thinking that if an arrow hits you in the knee, you may not suffer much damage but you will be subjected to movement-speed impairment, while getting hit in your weapon arm would reduce your damage with melee and your accuracy with spells. A blow to the skull with something heavy should cause you to go loopy and reduce the potency and accuracy of spellcasting and the general aim/accuracy of ranged combat. A hit in the neck (not easy to do) would definitely cause some pretty severe bleeding. Groin: well, we can be sure to see a stun there. A hit in the back with something sharp should cause a good, devilish bleed that has to be waited out (since most people cannot bandage their own backs). I think the idea of internal bleeding is also a decent one that deserves attention: a hai with an epee straight through the heart would be a deathblow, while a stab in the lung would cause enough damage to set up for one. Non-lethal endings to fights would be beautiful as well - it leaves room for duels that don't leave a man in the grave and capturing a person alive. I could see knocking someone out with a shield or hammer and dragging their sorry ass to point X. That'll be another two septims.

Wonderful! If Bethesda could integrate the survival factors of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with the fun RPG elements of Oblivion, we'd be looking at a true chef d'oeuvres of a game.

A little addition to the LD system i submitted before.

Magic would actually be a lot more efficient, even on low level.
Firing a fireball in someones face can burn him painfully and singe his eyes blinding him, freezing someones legs makes him hobble as his leg is either too cold to move or even frozen, lightning can cause spasms and such.

This is the point, you don't need super powerful spells just to cause something, the super powerful ones can really be deathblows more or less.

Suddenly, I wonder if we could do away with hitpoints completely and replace them with percentages. It would be so much easier if spells did a certain percentage of damage because there would be no need for spell ranks - just different ways to use a spell. The chargeable spells mod for IV represented this well - you could charge up your spells and choose to have them do single-target or multi-target damage and they leveled with your skill instead of requiring you to buy new attacks every level. Then again, I may just be an idiot. But hitpoints do get kind of annoying - percentages of protection versus percentage of life damaged would eliminate the need for 'boost life' buffs on armor and in spells and would simplify the system a bit (in a good way). Boss fights would also become more challenging, since your damage would remain the same to them at all levels, though higher skill ranks would deal more percentages of damage versus their percentage of defense. Weaker enemies would still have, say, a 3% base damage reduction when you are at level 5895387 and do 98% damage + armor penetration. Factor in locational damage and damage-over-time and I see this as a lot easier than implementing a bigger number every time. 1-100 seems a lot easier to work with than 1-X.

Also, we would still have armor degradation and such, so wearing down enemies would be just as important as actually damaging them. A boss could start with 99% protection + specific resistances and be whittled to 10% as you are dealing your hits. Though this could be expanded upon in a way that not all fights start out with the small guns first, I can see this working out. Hell, you may even be able to get rid of that health bar completely, if people were able to tell by the graphic filters how hurt they were. Less HUD = More immersion. I need to think more about this...