I can't stick to one character...?

I so agree with this thread title. With me, it's usually not about boredom, it's about some catastrophic glitch (like a Nord who gets attacked by Athis and Torvar for no reason and then has to kill them (I mean literally - they died!) and then the Companions he so wanted to join won't let him. Or: becoming Arch Mage and everythings just ducky until I return and then the whole college starts to attack me. Or: Doing Dawnguard and becoming a vampire but Harkon's folks won't have anything to do with me and try to kill me and so do the Dawnguard.

Sheesh - restart, restart, restart - it's getting old.

At this point I've decided to stick with my current 4 and deal with the glitches from an RP perspective:

1) Ingin Thorne - Nord Necromancer/Storm-mage
2) Urug'Hai - Orc warrior/Imperial sympathizer
3) Den Moria - High Elf Mage/Summoner/Hero
4) Kel Murat - Khajit Assassin/Thief

I'll see where it all goes. At least with these 4 I have a backstory to call upon for the RP aspects.

Daelon DuLac said:

I so agree with this thread title. With me, it's usually not about boredom, it's about some catastrophic glitch (like a Nord who gets attacked by Athis and Torvar for no reason and then has to kill them (I mean literally - they died!) and then the Companions he so wanted to join won't let him. Or: becoming Arch Mage and everythings just ducky until I return and then the whole college starts to attack me. Or: Doing Dawnguard and becoming a vampire but Harkon's folks won't have anything to do with me and try to kill me and so do the Dawnguard.

Sheesh - restart, restart, restart - it's getting old.

At this point I've decided to stick with my current 4 and deal with the glitches from an RP perspective:

1) Ingin Thorne - Nord Necromancer/Storm-mage
2) Urug'Hai - Orc warrior/Imperial sympathizer
3) Den Moria - High Elf Mage/Summoner/Hero
4) Kel Murat - Khajit Assassin/Thief

I'll see where it all goes. At least with these 3 I have a backstory to call upon for the RP aspects.

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Damn, I've only had one serious glitch like that, and it was with the Dark Brotherhood. Everytime I tried to leave the abondoned shack, it would completely freeze and I'd have to restart. I loaded a previous save, didn't work. And since I had never done the quest, I wanted to, so I had to restart (especially since my character was gonna be an assassin...).

I've had problems with the Companions, but they normally started once I finished the whole quest line. It would be Vilkas constantly following me and things like that (I killed him). So that really sucks about your glitches, I'm sorry.

But yeah all you can do is either load a previous save or completely restart. Ohhhh Bethesda.

Nice to see I'm not alone, I've never taken a character beyond level 48 and only once bothered finishing the main quest. I play on master and somewhere around level 40 it tends to become too easy and I get the itch to try a new build. For me, that's the fun of the game; starting a new type of character and struggling to get them through the early and middle levels to the point where you're an unstoppable monster. For a short time it's fun to run through some dungeons annihilating everything that dares cross your path, but only for a short while.

This time I'm playing without enchanting which is making things a bit more interesting, and also saving a lot of time I would otherwise have been using filling soul gems, enchanting items and then trying to sell them. I'm also putting perks into speech to help sell stuff faster

The objective with this game will be to collect all of the unusual gems or all of the dragon masks. I haven't decided yet

Snake Tortoise said:

Nice to see I'm not alone, I've never taken a character beyond level 48 and only once bothered finishing the main quest. I play on master and somewhere around level 40 it tends to become too easy and I get the itch to try a new build. For me, that's the fun of the game; starting a new type of character and struggling to get them through the early and middle levels to the point where you're an unstoppable monster. For a short time it's fun to run through some dungeons annihilating everything that dares cross your path, but only for a short while.

This time I'm playing without enchanting which is making things a bit more interesting, and also saving a lot of time I would otherwise have been using filling soul gems, enchanting items and then trying to sell them. I'm also putting perks into speech to help sell stuff faster

The objective with this game will be to collect all of the unusual gems or all of the dragon masks. I haven't decided yet

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That's really funny because I've actually stopped at level 48 a few times. Must be something with that level. But I'm trying to think of something I haven't done. It would be nice not to worry about enchanting and smithing. I always get hung up on this because let's say I don't go the enchanting route or smithing route, then typically I pick either Ancient Shrouded armor or the Nightingale for light. But once you get higher into the game, the armor rating is pitiful....

Gigapact said:

Yeah, I try to keep it even. If I don't have a long time to play, I use fast travel. If I have a lazy day, I do like you said, typically no fast travel.

About the Legendary, I really kicked myself in the ass in my previous game with that whole concept. I got my smithing to 100 (and some other skill), and didn't really think it through when I made those legendary and saved my game a little while after. Then, I really needed those skills and the perks in the upper part of their tree, and it took FOREVER. Do you know that once you make it legendary, if it now takes even more time to level them up? Even starting from 15 again? Or does the process completely reset with leveling it up?

The way I look at legendary is, if I really invested that much time to get a skill to 100, chances are I really need/use it. Even not combat related skills like smithing and enchanting. If I want a brand new set of armor and enchantments, I want to be able to do it. And things like Sneak are just too useful. So I haven't really found one to make legendary.... which ones have you?

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At times I have felt handicapped when I've made skills legendary (particularly with smithing, when I lose the mage smith perk, and enchanting when I lose the double enchantment perk) but since you seem to be losing interest in your characters in their 40s, i would think that you'd welcome the new challenge, as it is kind of giving your character a chance to refresh and feel new again.

I think the leveling up process does reset after using legendary. I've done it with enchanting and Illusion before, and it happened quite quickly.

One skill that doesn't suffer too much is Alchemy. A lot of the perks aren't that useful (for example, the experimenter perk - once you've tasted every ingredient and discovered all of its properties, you never need to do it again) and there's always going to be ways to rebuild your alchemy skills, especially if you have your own garden/greenhouse.

Another option is when follow the Dragonborn quest on Solstheim - there's a book that allows you to take away perks and swap them around without reducing any of your levels.

sticky runes said:

Gigapact said:

Yeah, I try to keep it even. If I don't have a long time to play, I use fast travel. If I have a lazy day, I do like you said, typically no fast travel.

About the Legendary, I really kicked myself in the ass in my previous game with that whole concept. I got my smithing to 100 (and some other skill), and didn't really think it through when I made those legendary and saved my game a little while after. Then, I really needed those skills and the perks in the upper part of their tree, and it took FOREVER. Do you know that once you make it legendary, if it now takes even more time to level them up? Even starting from 15 again? Or does the process completely reset with leveling it up?

The way I look at legendary is, if I really invested that much time to get a skill to 100, chances are I really need/use it. Even not combat related skills like smithing and enchanting. If I want a brand new set of armor and enchantments, I want to be able to do it. And things like Sneak are just too useful. So I haven't really found one to make legendary.... which ones have you?

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At times I have felt handicapped when I've made skills legendary (particularly with smithing, when I lose the mage smith perk, and enchanting when I lose the double enchantment perk) but since you seem to be losing interest in your characters in their 40s, i would think that you'd welcome the new challenge, as it is kind of giving your character a chance to refresh and feel new again.

I think the leveling up process does reset after using legendary. I've done it with enchanting and Illusion before, and it happened quite quickly.

One skill that doesn't suffer too much is Alchemy. A lot of the perks aren't that useful (for example, the experimenter perk - once you've tasted every ingredient and discovered all of its properties, you never need to do it again) and there's always going to be ways to rebuild your alchemy skills, especially if you have your own garden/greenhouse.

Another option is when follow the Dragonborn quest on Solstheim - there's a book that allows you to take away perks and swap them around without reducing any of your levels.

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That's true, I didn't think about it that way. In a way, it is kind of like starting over if you're getting bored. Maybe I will try it.

About the alchemy. I have never had the patience to actually do it, and I know a lot of people use it. But in my current new game (surprise), I promised I would work on it. I want to see how powerful the potions are. I've never really used any potions besides the invisibility ones and healing ones I find. And for smithing and enchanting, I just use the ones I find in Dawnguard where Serana's mom is in the Boneyard. (50% smithing bonus and 25% enchanting bonus). With your own alchemy, can you make ones stronger than that? I'm clueless when it comes to that skill, have never looked into it.

About the Dragonborn quest: Ahhhh I didn't know that! I was always saving the Dragonborn quest in my games, and I would forget about it (since it's way out in Solstheim). I will definitely do that now. Is it very far into the quest? I've been dying to complete the story line anyhow.

Gigapact said:

That's true, I didn't think about it that way. In a way, it is kind of like starting over if you're getting bored. Maybe I will try it.

About the alchemy. I have never had the patience to actually do it, and I know a lot of people use it. But in my current new game (surprise), I promised I would work on it. I want to see how powerful the potions are. I've never really used any potions besides the invisibility ones and healing ones I find. And for smithing and enchanting, I just use the ones I find in Dawnguard where Serana's mom is in the Boneyard. (50% smithing bonus and 25% enchanting bonus). With your own alchemy, can you make ones stronger than that? I'm clueless when it comes to that skill, have never looked into it.

About the Dragonborn quest: Ahhhh I didn't know that! I was always saving the Dragonborn quest in my games, and I would forget about it (since it's way out in Solstheim). I will definitely do that now. Is it very far into the quest? I've been dying to complete the story line anyhow.

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It is quite far into the quest (sorry for the spoiler), so I would urge you NOT to try and rush through to it, or it'll just ruin your adventuring, it's better to play at your own pace. There are many other books you find in dungeons on Solstheim that enable you to unlock all kinds of unique powers that you can't find on Skyrim.

Alchemy is quite slow to level up even if you are using it a lot. But for smithing potions, you can cultivate your own ingredients by growing glowing mushrooms and blisterwart in your garden or greenhouse. You can horde carry weight potions by growing your own creep clusters and scaly pholiota (which is handy if you're like me, always carrying too much stuff) For healing potions, grow your own wheat, blue mountain flowers and swamp fungle pods. The greenhouse lets you grow lots more ingredients in all the pots you can have built, plus you get additional free ingredients over time as it starts to attract insects, so that allows even more experimentation.

Another advantage to garden and greenhouse is that they both allow you to harvest multiples of each item you plant.

Building an Alchemy tower will also enable you to spawn free ingredients from time to time, as long as you build all the furnishings.

sticky runes said:

Gigapact said:

That's true, I didn't think about it that way. In a way, it is kind of like starting over if you're getting bored. Maybe I will try it.

About the alchemy. I have never had the patience to actually do it, and I know a lot of people use it. But in my current new game (surprise), I promised I would work on it. I want to see how powerful the potions are. I've never really used any potions besides the invisibility ones and healing ones I find. And for smithing and enchanting, I just use the ones I find in Dawnguard where Serana's mom is in the Boneyard. (50% smithing bonus and 25% enchanting bonus). With your own alchemy, can you make ones stronger than that? I'm clueless when it comes to that skill, have never looked into it.

About the Dragonborn quest: Ahhhh I didn't know that! I was always saving the Dragonborn quest in my games, and I would forget about it (since it's way out in Solstheim). I will definitely do that now. Is it very far into the quest? I've been dying to complete the story line anyhow.

Click to expand...

It is quite far into the quest (sorry for the spoiler), so I would urge you NOT to try and rush through to it, or it'll just ruin your adventuring, it's better to play at your own pace. There are many other books you find in dungeons on Solstheim that enable you to unlock all kinds of unique powers that you can't find on Skyrim.

Alchemy is quite slow to level up even if you are using it a lot. But for smithing potions, you can cultivate your own ingredients by growing glowing mushrooms and blisterwart in your garden or greenhouse. You can horde carry weight potions by growing your own creep clusters and scaly pholiota (which is handy if you're like me, always carrying too much stuff) For healing potions, grow your own wheat, blue mountain flowers and swamp fungle pods. The greenhouse lets you grow lots more ingredients in all the pots you can have built, plus you get additional free ingredients over time as it starts to attract insects, so that allows even more experimentation.

Another advantage to garden and greenhouse is that they both allow you to harvest multiples of each item you plant.

Building an Alchemy tower will also enable you to spawn free ingredients from time to time, as long as you build all the furnishings.

Click to expand...

Okay thanks for the info! I was actually just collecting blue mountain flowers and wheat. When I finally get up the money and build my house at Lakeview, I will definitely add that green house. I've never had it, insects really go in it? Pretty cool.

One more question. Have you ever gotten to 100 alchemy? If so, did you ever create smithing or enchanting potions? And if you did, how strong could you get them to be? Above strength of what I listed in my previous post?

Gigapact said:

One more question. Have you ever gotten to 100 alchemy? If so, did you ever create smithing or enchanting potions? And if you did, how strong could you get them to be? Above strength of what I listed in my previous post?

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Here is a link for your question. About the 4th post down, Dagmar gives a detailed description...

http://skyrimforum.com/sf/threads/alchemy-enchanting-smithing-loop.8099/

I make a bunch, it's fun to rp

Gigapact said:

I typically cannot get passed level 45 because I end up getting bored. Yet, I still want to play, if that makes any sense? The difficulty isn't the problem. I started noticing that once I get my armor and enchantments maxed out (armor cap, etc), I just lose interest... Should I try not relying on smithing at all and see how that goes? But then I feel like I'm not being the strongest I can be and I miss my Daedric weapons really bad.

And I've done many different types of builds: Shield/one handed, the two handed, the archer type, the assassin/theif, mage, ones with everything mixed in, etc. and some of them two or three times.

Once I get in the 40's levels, I get bored, yet get excited when thinking about starting a new character. So, at this point, I have started so many different characters now I can't keep track. What's something new I can try? I read people with many players on level 70 and above, and I just can't stick to it.

At this point, I have done these same quests SOOO many times from starting over constantly, and I know that's going to catch up with me soon. So I'm trying to make one character that I'm just going to cherish and beat ass until the end with. Thoughts, opinions? What did you have the most fun with? What character did you really stick with to the end because it was so much fun?

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*sigh*

There have been so many characters. I think I've made it into the 40s a few times and maybe even the 50s once or twice. I average in the 20s before I seem to be ready to start over again. Sticking with one character is hard. My mood changes. There are times when I just want to beat someone's face in with a mace and others where I blast them to smithereens with magic. My favorite style is sneaking around and taking out my opponents with a poisoned arrow or dagger from behind. And there are many many permutations of all three.

There's a line at which you go from barely able to survive to competent. And another where you go from competent to bad-ass. And again from bad-ass to FEAR ME MORTALS FOR I AM YOUR GOD! You have to find the line at which you get the most satisfaction. Then tweak your play style. You seem to be running into the problem of being too powerful. Consider not taking as many Perks. If you enjoy smithing then change the equipment you use to something less powerful. You can still be the strongest you can be without using the heaviest armor with the most damaging weapons. There's greater satisfaction in doing it with less. I play by my own rules to increase the challenge and role-play potential without dying constantly. I feel that changing the difficulty is better accomplished through play than by a menu setting.

One of my favorite ways to play is to not level up. There's plenty of fun to be had at level 1 and your skills still increase. A few quests are unavailable and the loot is considerably poorer but we're in this for the adventure, right? Ok, maybe not. But it makes the more powerful items that you do end up finding all the more precious because you aren't running into ebony and daedric stuff left and right.

I don't really have a specific character I stick with, so much as a mindset. Most of my characters are in this to become pretty much unstoppable and collect all the rare and unique items they can get their hands (or paws) on. And gold. Oh my yes, the gold. Nothing to spend it on but I can't stop hoarding. I'm Dragonborn, after all. It's in the blood. I tend to avoid doing quests unless it's unavoidable to get whatever it is I want. This reduces the feeling of repetition. In all the time I've been playing this game, I've only beaten the main quest twice.

Some people can stick with just one character but I'm not one of them. There are too many different ways to play. Or maybe I just like seeing Alduin swooping down as I'm about to get my head chopped off. What really matters is how much fun you're having.

I know exactly what the OP means. Often times even when I am creating a character, I see a little flaw in their physical appearance that I don't like and I start over again (this has since been solved thanks to the surgeon in the Ragged Flagon w/ the add ons). My highest leveled character only got a little over level 40 before I wanted to create a new one, and that was one of my first times playing the game. I currently have a character around level 37 or so that I really want to keep playing as (vampire lord), but I still feel a need to start a new one.

If you have the dlcs I think it balances out nicely in the higher levels. I'm level fivety seven, and I should feel powerful when I'm just wiping out a bandit camp or whatever, which I do, but then a lot of bosses and dragons are still far more powerful than I am. And felmer and those damned chaurus hunters still give me trouble. I am playing on expert and never used smithing and enchanting though, only alchemy.

Gigapact said:

What did you have the most fun with? What character did you really stick with to the end because it was so much fun?

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I have found myself in your shoes far too many times, every make and class I've repeated at least ten times over. I was writing earlier into your post and had ended up inspiring myself for a new story, a new drive. So, I will share this with you and everyone else.

It has been mentioned that tying your character to a back story helps, as it does doing the same to particular items, NPCs, Factions, utilizing an "aging system" (from the Face Sculpture) and whatever else one can think of. With the latest inspiration, I've taken to forming a story back ground (again lol), in which the Dragon Priest Masks most collected, all shouts learned, and every follower equipped. Taking each follower through various Nordic Ruins, story plots, random misc. quest.

(The only thing I wish I could do is to keep all the collected followers in one location, and building a hold of my own. That would be awesome!)

Another post had mentioned the Skyrim Challenge, from that utilizing a step up in difficulty as you progress, 1-5 Novice (although I started out on Adept) and went to Expert at lvl 9, this helps in aiding that need to keep your follower from dying (by that accidental swing of your sword because they decided to hop in front of it). I did use some of the glitches (the sneak attack on the Greybeards for more perks, so I wasn't completely died on with the challenge) But … Yes, tying your toon to a back story, NPCs, Factions, and not-so-easy-to-obtain items plus learning every single shout in-game from all DLCs.

(Seriously though, Bethesda needs to add more DLCs for the 360/PS3…)
Anyways, hope some of that helps

Caideus said:

Gigapact said:

What did you have the most fun with? What character did you really stick with to the end because it was so much fun?

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I have found myself in your shoes far too many times, every make and class I've repeated at least ten times over. I was writing earlier into your post and had ended up inspiring myself for a new story, a new drive. So, I will share this with you and everyone else.

It has been mentioned that tying your character to a back story helps, as it does doing the same to particular items, NPCs, Factions, utilizing an "aging system" (from the Face Sculpture) and whatever else one can think of. With the latest inspiration, I've taken to forming a story back ground (again lol), in which the Dragon Priest Masks most collected, all shouts learned, and every follower equipped. Taking each follower through various Nordic Ruins, story plots, random misc. quest.

(The only thing I wish I could do is to keep all the collected followers in one location, and building a hold of my own. That would be awesome!)

Another post had mentioned the Skyrim Challenge, from that utilizing a step up in difficulty as you progress, 1-5 Novice (although I started out on Adept) and went to Expert at lvl 9, this helps in aiding that need to keep your follower from dying (by that accidental swing of your sword because they decided to hop in front of it). I did use some of the glitches (the sneak attack on the Greybeards for more perks, so I wasn't completely died on with the challenge) But … Yes, tying your toon to a back story, NPCs, Factions, and not-so-easy-to-obtain items plus learning every single shout in-game from all DLCs.

(Seriously though, Bethesda needs to add more DLCs for the 360/PS3…)
Anyways, hope some of that helps

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Thanks for your reply! Yes I keep hearing about this back story stuff, but every time I go to play I completely forget about it. Plus then it starts to limit me but that's not too big of a deal, and since I HATE playing a good law abiding citizen, I always skip on that (I already do that too much in real life lol). But I think you had a good point with things like the masks and shouts because I've never made a point in collecting them all, so I'm actually going to do that, thanks!

Oh and making your own hold and telling you follows where to live would be totally kick ass, but only in my dreams :'(

Yeah that whole starting over with a new character is like a bad circle that's almost impossible to break I had that problem when I was still playing on xbox, I just got bored and overpowered way too fast, it's just no fun being able to one-shot everything, even dungeon bosses. Luckily I'm playing on PC these days and with that comes mods! Skyrim redone, enhanced enemy AI and Enemy AI overhaul makes the game so much more interesting and that way I can actually stick to one character since the game is now challenging and rewarding even at higher levels. So if you're on PC, try those mods.

It's really too bad you can't have mods on console, I doubt that I'd still be playing if I was on xbox

KattSand said:

It's really too bad you can't have mods on console, I doubt that I'd still be playing if I was on xbox

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It IS a shame, but I've logged over 1000 hours in Skyrim on the 360. And there are STILL places I haven't been or have visited so infrequently that I may as well have never been there. I've taken a couple breaks from the game but it still has good replay value, even on a console.

It seems that I am of a different mind than most. I enjoy being Kohlar, and intend to get him to level 80 or so, so that I may meet the Ebony Warrior and best him. But the thought of starting over, relinquishing all that work just to repeat the same quests and have to listen to the same npc's blathering on and on... I did it once. I took my first character to about level 56 and got bored. Having a better idea what the game is about, and inspired by the lore of the nords, I created Kohlar, who will in all likelyhood be my final character.

My first was about being as powerful as possible. With Kohlar, I've limited my self. He uses shield of Ysgrammor and carved nordic maces. Wears the Ancient Nord set. Certainly not the best gear in the game, (I'm actually surprised by how good the ancient nord set is when fully upgraded), but I'll still have to turn up the difficulty a notch, and it's all true nord.

Gigapact said:

sticky runes said:

I don't think the 40s are a bad level to play up to, to be honest.

One thing you could do is to NOT use fast travel (I don't know if you do this) not using fast travel does make my gaming experience far more engaging, because it feels more natural and there are things i miss out on when I fast travel. I don't know who or what I'm going to bump into when I'm on the road - soldiers, thalmor, Vigilants of stendaar, vampires, revelers, mercenaries - even if I'm treading the same road for the 500th time, there's bound to be a surprise at some point.

Also, are you able to make your skills legendary, so you can reset all your skills that are at level 100 back to 15, and use the perks to power other skills that you aren't using as much?

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Yeah, I try to keep it even. If I don't have a long time to play, I use fast travel. If I have a lazy day, I do like you said, typically no fast travel.

About the Legendary, I really kicked myself in the ass in my previous game with that whole concept. I got my smithing to 100 (and some other skill), and didn't really think it through when I made those legendary and saved my game a little while after. Then, I really needed those skills and the perks in the upper part of their tree, and it took FOREVER. Do you know that once you make it legendary, if it now takes even more time to level them up? Even starting from 15 again? Or does the process completely reset with leveling it up?

The way I look at legendary is, if I really invested that much time to get a skill to 100, chances are I really need/use it. Even not combat related skills like smithing and enchanting. If I want a brand new set of armor and enchantments, I want to be able to do it. And things like Sneak are just too useful. So I haven't really found one to make legendary.... which ones have you?

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With the legendary setting, what I do is level up and reset a skill that's pretty easy to level up but isn't actually needed (Alchemy, Conjuration, Illusion, Enchanting). That way I can use the perks I get from those trees and send them to something else that I actually want to use but lacked the perks to get. Just be careful how often you do it. It can get pretty addicting xD.

I am always changing characters when I get a good rp idea in my head I will kill one off to start new