The Elder Scrolls XIV: Good? Bad? I'm the one with the Thu'um!

[ShneekeyTheLost]

This is true for Oblivion, but believing this in Morrowind is a good way to get your character killed. 50 points of spell absorption from Atronach plus 50 points of spell absorbtion from other sources only absorbs at most 75% of incoming magic in Morrowind, and if your 50 points from other sources is split between multiple other sources more of the incoming magic will get through. If you wanted to be immune to magic, you'd need to have a way to get 100 points of spell absorption from a single source, or you'd need a total of 100 points of reflect from any combination of sources (note: does not protect against your own spells if they get reflected back at you), or in theory you could get 100% resistance to each of the four elements and magicka.

Seemed to work just fine for me in my mumble-hundred hours of playing Morrowind. Never played Oblivion, so I don't know how it works there.

Even if you used all eight non-weapon, non-armor slots to get Sanctuary, you'd need on average 12.5% Sanctuary per slot. Assuming we're talking about constant effect items, that's about 65 enchanting points per item, or -325 percentage points to your enchant success chance. With 100 skill in Enchant, 100 Intelligence, and 100 Luck, you're looking at a -187.5% chance of successfully creating that item without going to an Enchanter. Even with Fortify Enchant 100, Fortify Intelligence 100, and Fortify Luck 100, you're still looking at a -50% chance of successfully creating that item yourself, and you'd need another 200 Intelligence before you hit a 0% chance of creating the item successfully on your own.

It isn't literally impossible without hacks or cheats because Alchemy and Enchant have positive feedback loops that you can exploit, but I strongly suspect that making something like that without exploiting those positive feedback loops (particularly Alchemy's for potions of intelligence +lots) would be very nearly impossible and probably have a success rate so low as to be effectively impossible, and crafting it through an Enchanter would be exorbitantly expensive.

Umm... really not that hard, man. At least I never had any troubles with it. The trick is that you don't need on average 12.5% per slot. The trick is that you do constant effect Sanctuary 1-15. Then equip and unequip until you get the 15%. Rinse, wash, repeat. Much cheaper, much easier, much more effective. And it's not like you're ever going to unequip it. And because of the enchantibility of Exquisite clothing... not really all that difficult.

I mean, yea... the alchemy feedback loops are stupidly good, and a good way to 'brute force' it, but not really necessary.

You also seem to think I am speaking theoretically. I'm speaking from practice, and having done it many, many times. Granted, I generally wait until I have Azura's Star and Summon Golden Saint to power it less expensively, but it is theoretically possible the first time you roll into Balmora, if you do exploit those loops you mentioned.

You sound like you're talking about something by looking up the Wiki on enchanting and quoting stats, never having actually played with the mechanic yourself. Which isn't surprising, the game probably lost popularity before you were even born. But trust me, it works. It works very well.

[Triaxx]

I would say it's strange you've never played Oblivion... but I can totally understand why you haven't.

[Balmas]

Concept for which I would instantly buy a $600 VR headset: Morrowind VR, with modern graphics, done by the people who did LA Noir VR.

You sound like you're talking about something by looking up the Wiki on enchanting and quoting stats, never having actually played with the mechanic yourself. Which isn't surprising, the game probably lost popularity before you were even born. But trust me, it works. It works very well.

I mean, Aeson did do that playthrough with Mary around the time I was doing Carltmer, so it's not like (s)he's a noob...

Thanks for the advice with the save.

[Caelestion]

Well, if you want to totally break MW's crafting system, go to town (really!), but I am unlikely to be joining you or extolling the virtues of doing so.

[Aeson]

Seemed to work just fine for me in my mumble-hundred hours of playing Morrowind. Never played Oblivion, so I don't know how it works there.

Then you were very lucky.

Umm... really not that hard, man. At least I never had any troubles with it. The trick is that you don't need on average 12.5% per slot. The trick is that you do constant effect Sanctuary 1-15. Then equip and unequip until you get the 15%. Rinse, wash, repeat. Much cheaper, much easier, much more effective. And it's not like you're ever going to unequip it. And because of the enchantibility of Exquisite clothing... not really all that difficult.

One, I'm not much for self-inflicted tedium. If you are, good for you.

Two, CE Santuary 1-15 is still 40 enchantment points, or -200 percentage points to your chance to successfully create the item without going to a vendor. With 100 Enchant, 100 Intelligence, and 100 Luck, you're still at a -62.5% chance to successfully create the item. It can more reasonably be created than a CE Sanctuary 13, but it's still not what I'd call "ridiculously easy."

You sound like you're talking about something by looking up the Wiki on enchanting and quoting stats, never having actually played with the mechanic yourself. Which isn't surprising, the game probably lost popularity before you were even born. But trust me, it works. It works very well.

Seeing as you have no idea how old I am, what games I have or have not played, how much I have played them, or really anything else about me, and that the same is true for me with regards to you, and for most people posting in or reading this thread with respect to any other person posting in or reading this thread, I would suggest that arguments based on unprovable claims to superior age or experience and unfounded and unprovable assumptions about others' lack thereof are at best poor form and at worst a combination of an ad hominem attack and an appeal to authority.

I mean, Aeson did do that playthrough with Mary around the time I was doing Carltmer, so it's not like (s)he's a noob...

I wasn't the one who posted the Mary playthrough; that was Illven.

[Triaxx]

I assume there's some reason you can't just create a 100 Sanctuary on one Item at a vendor? And is a vendor a 100% chance?

[Balmas]

I assume there's some reason you can't just create a 100 Sanctuary on one Item at a vendor? And is a vendor a 100% chance?

Each item has a limit of how much enchantment it can hold. As a general rule, amulets, rings, and clothing are more enchantable--that is, they can hold a more powerful enchantment--than armor. You also get better enchantments with higher-tier gear, ie. you can fit a larger enchantment in an exquisite amulet than a common one, and more in Daedric than steel.

Constant effect enchantments can only be obtained with a Grand Soul gem, meaning you need to soul trap either a golden saint, one of two unique creatures, or Vivec himself to have a constant effect enchantment. Since you can summon and soul trap Golden Saints, that's probably the most practical enchantment. Grand Souls provide 400 enchantment points, of which you can fit at most 120 in a high-quality amulet/ring.

Enchanting on your own can be done, but it's ridiculously difficult, with low odds of success unless you're abusing potion loops to get Fortify Intelligence +Lots. Enchanters have a 100% chance of creating the item you want, but their services are prohibitively expensive, on the order of tens of thousands of septims when most merchants only have a few hundred septims available for sale of items.

The limiting factors are how enchantable the items are. What I'd really like is a mod that makes the limit more about the soul gem, so you can actually get all that goodness on one amulet.

[Triaxx]

Ah, that seems somehow more sensible than Skyrim limiting what can be enchanted on what.

[LibraryOgre]

37th lesson of Vivec: thou shalt save scum for thy life depends upon it.

I didn't mean as a chance effect, but as a bonus power on top of the protection already offered.

I didn't get the power of CHIM just to NOT save scum. ;-)

And, of course, there's an additional benefit to playing a Breton who likes light armor: The Boots of Blinding Speed. Get 50% another magic resistance, even for an instant, and slap those speedy boys on your feet. Who cares what magnitude your levitate is at when you've got a 250 speed?

[Keltest]

I didn't get the power of CHIM just to NOT save scum. ;-)

And, of course, there's an additional benefit to playing a Breton who likes light armor: The Boots of Blinding Speed. Get 50% another magic resistance, even for an instant, and slap those speedy boys on your feet. Who cares what magnitude your levitate is at when you've got a 250 speed?

Plus, it sounds like youre tap dancing your way across the environment, which is an amusing enough image on its own.

[Balmas]

*Don't Stop Me Now echoes in the distance as Chord zips past*

I mean, if you're playing a Breton bard with the boots of Speed, it's your solemn duty to have only the best tunes around.

[Keltest]

*Don't Stop Me Now echoes in the distance as Chord zips past*

I mean, if you're playing a Breton bard with the boots of Speed, it's your solemn duty to have only the best tunes around.

Are you still updating that BTW? I found Chord's tired dismay at being the Chosen One greatly amusing.

[Balmas]

Are you still updating that BTW? I found Chord's tired dismay at being the Chosen One greatly amusing.

Working on getting it online again. After my PC bricked itself, I managed to save the files, but I'm still in the process of installing mods, troubleshooting, and getting things to a state where I can record stably.

Step one: Get MGSO working in such a way that I don't crash every time I go too fast with jumping.

[Triaxx]

How exactly did it brick itself? I never did find out what happened.

[Balmas]

I don't even know, man. It just bluescreened one day, and nothing but a fresh Windows install could get it on its feet. Nothing wrong with the hardware, that I could find, and I could never pinpoint a software cause either.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

If ESVI has stupid advertisements in the opening screen like Skyrim SE does, I'm going to seriously consider not buying it. Seriously?!! It's bad enough getting that garbage in ESO, but at least ESO has the excuse that it needs to keep the servers running! Next thing you know they'll have advertisements in-game!

[The_Jackal]

If ESVI has stupid advertisements in the opening screen like Skyrim SE does, I'm going to seriously consider not buying it. Seriously?!! It's bad enough getting that garbage in ESO, but at least ESO has the excuse that it needs to keep the servers running! Next thing you know they'll have advertisements in-game!

I didn't realize they were hyping Elder Scrolls VI yet.

[Triaxx]

They're not. Supposedly they've not even bothered to start on it.

[Inarius]

Yeah rumor has it their next game out will be a sci fi game called Starfield. Then they're going to release another full sized game and then eventually they'll get around to TES 6. So like 4-6 years away if their next game releases this year.

[Triaxx]

Hopefully what shows up between now and then is actually good.

[factotum]

When did they add adverts to the loading screen of Skyrim? I've never seen one.

[veti]

The initial launch screen of Skyrim Special Edition features about 4 lines of text in the upper right-hand corner, which is generally used to plug some tat from their "paid mods" store.

It's tiresome, but not that bad. It could have been on every loading screen...

[Triaxx]

I'm willing to bet, that like Fallout 4, there's a mod for that.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Thing is, if they have four years before they officially start working on it, then they have four years to plan for all kinds of microtransaction garbage to be baked into it between now and then.

Which is why I'm venting now. I can go back to normal-version Skyrim for an add-free experience, but ESVI might not have that option. A single player game should not be subjecting me to this.

[DigoDragon]

It's tiresome, but not that bad. It could have been on every loading screen...

Unless it could cause breakage of certain mods when the ads update like it was doing in FO4?

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Enchanting on your own can be done, but it's ridiculously difficult, with low odds of success unless you're abusing potion loops to get Fortify Intelligence +Lots. Enchanters have a 100% chance of creating the item you want, but their services are prohibitively expensive, on the order of tens of thousands of septims when most merchants only have a few hundred septims available for sale of items.

There's also the Creeper, and a certain mudcrab. Doesn't take long to bankroll yourself to the point where you can max-enchant clothing and jewlery, even without any enchanting skill whatsoever. In many ways, it's easier than grinding up to 100 enchanting, you can do it in very short order, especially if you know how to cheese Ordinators. Understanding certain barter concepts can help you get the most out of items that supposedly are more expensive than any vendor anywhere in Morrowind can afford.

What I'd really like is a mod that makes the limit more about the soul gem, so you can actually get all that goodness on one amulet.

Interesting idea. I'd go for that.

[The_Jackal]

They're not. Supposedly they've not even bothered to start on it.

My understanding is that they're working on the game engine. Given that Bethsoft and Id software are both owned by Zenimax, I expect their next engine to be a custom implementation of IdTech6.

Thing is, if they have four years before they officially start working on it, then they have four years to plan for all kinds of microtransaction garbage to be baked into it between now and then.

Which is why I'm venting now. I can go back to normal-version Skyrim for an add-free experience, but ESVI might not have that option. A single player game should not be subjecting me to this.

The problem is that microtransactions are really, really profitable. Look at Eve Online, or GTA Online, or League of Legends, and you can see just how much cash you can soak people for. Honestly, I attribute much of Bethesda's success to bucking industry trends and just offering a good, solid, single-player game without any BS. You would think that they'd be able to convince Zenimax of that fact. We'll see whether they wise up.

[Triaxx]

What's the clue to finding that Mudcrab? I can find Creeper, but the crab eludes me.

[factotum]

What's the clue to finding that Mudcrab? I can find Creeper, but the crab eludes me.

If I remember right, the Mudcrab lurks in that area of small islands to the east of Vivec City.

[Caelestion]

I don't know why people bother with the mudcrab. Given that it's a monster and therefore doesn't barter, you might as well just add the cash into your inventory via the console and then dump whatever items you think fair. It's no less cheaty, after all.