The Inconvenience of Enchanted Weapons : V - Skyrim

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 11:17 am

Worse than that, the weapons are made of glass and wear down or break really damn rapidly. To use an enchanted weapon at all effectively, you've got to be a high level smith and enchanter to keep the pos in working order. I want Daggerfall's system where you don't recharge enchanted items.

Not to mention some of the weapons are actually freaking glass, which is hilarious. Ha. Ha... Ha.

This man has it right. And even worse! There's damn pop-ups to tell you that you're out of charges!

I loved Daggerfall's magic item and gear quality system. The only change they should have done was make magic items repairable at a proportionally higher cost to un-enchanted items.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 3:47 am

I like the recharging system in Oblivion. Gave me reason to spend big money. I welcome it back in Skyrim.

» Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:13 pm

I like the recharging system in Oblivion. Gave me reason to spend big money. I welcome it back in Skyrim.

There's a lot better ways to make players spend money than forcing them to buy a subscription to their weapon.

» Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:41 pm

Sadly, I hated the recharging of weapons. Hated it so much that they were basically just more junk to sell. Once my character was wealthy, and had nothing left to buy, everything became junk. I would leave it all where it fell. If enchantments lasted longer than a fight or two they might be useful but constantly searching for soul gems to recharge weapons with, or running into town after every dungeon just gets old.

For this reason I am going to assume that spending time using the enchanting skill is going to be a mighty waste of time. Why spend the time and waste the feats (perks) on a skill that has no practical use.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:43 am

Enchanting was fine. People are lazy. Beth stupidly removed natural recharge.

Main arguments there.

I agree with you that natural recharge would definitely be a good thing to have.

I also think it would be interesting for there to be other uses for soul gems. Maybe temporary steroids for a certain type of spell of your choice or something? Like, you use a certain amount of spell charge in a soul gem to amplify the powers of a spell/enhance the effect to some degree.

» Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:00 pm

Now that I think about it, it reminds me of magicka in Morrowind.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:03 am

i just hope maybe they also adjusted the charges, i mean 25 charges on a staff or whatnot was ridiculous, i was running around in OB (til i finally modded) trying to find creatures and monsters to charge up my soul gems rather than focus on the game. Its just a unnecessary distraction imo whether its part of lore or not..

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:13 am

My gawd, of all things they keep the terrible recharging system, "worked great" were me and bethesda playing the same oblivion? it was [censored] annoying.

This. It didn't work worth a crap. It took 20 swings to kill a single enemy, and my entire weapon would be sout of charge, necesating carrying large amounts of Varla Stones or Azura's Star for all my weapons.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:47 am

I never liked the recharging system. Better to have weapons with weaker enchantments that don't run out of batteries, like every other RPG. Magic users don't need any maintenance. Meanwhile, fighters have to worry about recharging weapons and repairing both weapons and armor.

» Wed Jul 06, 2011 7:16 pm

You know, I've never once had to repair an item in Daggerfall or Arena, for that matter. What was going on there? Do they not make weapons like the used to, in Tamriel?

It just wasn't as much of a focus back then, you could make it through a couple four hour dungeons without having a busted weapon and armor. Then you get a discount anyway on fixing it at the guild.

I loved Daggerfall's magic item and gear quality system. The only change they should have done was make magic items repairable at a proportionally higher cost to un-enchanted items.

I agree with you there.

I agree with you that natural recharge would definitely be a good thing to have.

I disagree with a natural recharge, it doesn't fit lore. You make enchantments by binding souls to an item, then you recharge them by leaving them alone? It's like claiming that touching yourself causes blindness, bad lore.

» Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:25 pm

So the king of Skyrim must have to soul trap every person and animal in the land.How else could his army use magic weapons in the war.

Ah well.

» Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:39 pm

I disagree with a natural recharge, it doesn't fit lore. You make enchantments by binding souls to an item, then you recharge them by leaving them alone? It's like claiming that touching yourself causes blindness, bad lore.

Gameplay shouldn't have to suffer because of a dogmatic adherence to the lore.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:20 am

I disagree with a natural recharge, it doesn't fit lore. You make enchantments by binding souls to an item, then you recharge them by leaving them alone? It's like claiming that touching yourself causes blindness, bad lore.

I'm afraid I fully don't understand the logic behind the lore...an item enchanted with a soul slowly weakens after use why? So each blow weakens the bond between the item and the soul and needs to be recharged using another soul, but each new soul used has no effect on the quality of the enchantment...and a passive enchantment never run out. Could someone explain this to me please?

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 3:11 am

I'm afraid I fully don't understand the logic behind the lore...an item enchanted with a soul slowly weakens after use why? So each blow weakens the bond between the item and the soul and needs to be recharged using another soul, but each new soul used has no effect on the quality of the enchantment...and a passive enchantment never run out. Could someone explain this to me please?

A transfer of energy in active enchants?

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:42 am

Gameplay shouldn't have to suffer because of a dogmatic adherence to the lore.

Then why make that recharge crap into lore?

I'm afraid I fully don't understand the logic behind the lore...an item enchanted with a soul slowly weakens after use why? So each blow weakens the bond between the item and the soul and needs to be recharged using another soul, but each new soul used has no effect on the quality of the enchantment...and a passive enchantment never run out. Could someone explain this to me please?

I don't know man, I don't like this situation the way it is. I don't want souls to be trivial things like batteries for electric weapons.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:18 am

A transfer of energy in active enchants?

Isn't a soul different from regular energy (ie. magicka) as it's more...permanent? Why couldn't the enchantment "rebond" with the item on it's own, or be reapplied/stabilized using magicka?

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:48 am

It's not a big deal at all. People will just do 100 Fire 1 Second Of Soul Trap like Oblivion if the system's unchanged.

Something tells me we won't be able to do this but I guess we'll have to see.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:00 am

I don't really mind it. even when they had no charge left, I could still hit ghosts with them. Was really my only reason to enchant one.

But yeah, making the enchantments last longer would definitely make it better. Especially for pre-made weapons

Yeah, but they could at least make it to where the annoying "Your weapon is out of charge!" or w/e message didn't show up every time you hit something. I think you'd notice the enemy not rag-dolling into the air in a burst of weird swirly things.

» Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:06 pm

I like the recharging system in Oblivion. Gave me reason to spend big money. I welcome it back in Skyrim.

I wouldn't mind it if it were about draining cash... but the way Oblivion handled it, it was horrible:

You either had to pay an outrageous sum to get it by a a Guild Enchanter, or you could hope to find a merchant selling pre-filled soulgems to carry, and go inventory-diving whenever your weapon's parking meter hit empty... Or, you could become a half-mage, investing in the wierdest Magic School just to play the damn game, and keep even more soulgems on hand, unless you had a powerful Daedric Artifact. And... it was all a mess only a Tax Accountant could love.

Magic items in Oblivion were way too "Spread-Sheety".

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 4:22 am

Isn't a soul different from regular energy (ie. magicka) as it's more...permanent? Why couldn't the enchantment "rebond" with the item on it's own, or be reapplied/stabilized using magicka?

The power of the soul is not infinite. One a passive enchant, that energy continuously resides in the object, maintaining it. On an active enchant, it converts some of that energy to, say fire, and transfers it to the person you strike as damage. And with each transfer, the energy diminishes.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 2:50 am

What if on use a soul gem was emptied and not destroyed? Would that be better than Oblivion's way?

Instead of being unique in this regard perhaps Azura's Star (if in) could hold multiple souls or something.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:56 am

Strangley never bothered to use enchanted weapons. Kept all my uniques in my house for display and got by fine with a good sword. I would say though, that is in part due to the inconvienience of it, and most enchanted weapons not really being big enough powerhouses to bother with it. The same issue may come back, but I think a good solution would just be to make enchanted weapons actually worth the trouble

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 2:22 am

Strangley never bothered to use enchanted weapons. Kept all my uniques in my house for display and got by fine with a good sword. I would say though, that is in part due to the inconvienience of it, and most enchanted weapons not really being big enough powerhouses to bother with it. The same issue may come back, but I think a good solution would just be to make enchanted weapons actually worth the trouble

I always found combat too long and drawn out without a decent enchantment on my weapon. The problem was, they never lasted even for a single Oblivion gate, so I often carried two or three with me. It was a pain to try to keep their charges full, too. You needed a steady supply of soul gems and souls and it got really annoying. So I modded it away.

» Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:25 pm

I would vote to leave enchanting the way it is, in a game like this less content to experience is a bad thing and takes away from to game.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:30 am

mod in a passive effect for enchantment charge trickle.

Alternatively, I'm speculating that an enchantment perk set will include a minor recharge trickle over time, or reduce the charge cost per swing or shot. A perk may also exist to increase the amount of charge gained for the same level of creature in a soul gem. Trap more of its essence in the same size gem etc. If not, I'm sure these can be modded in without hastle.