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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim |OT2| Team Edward's Revenge

Dave1988

Member
That's not how Elder Scrolls expansions work. They're like any other quest - you can do them anytime you choose.

In fact, plot-wise, it often makes sense to do all the expansion content before tackling the main quest.

Actaully, one of the interviews with a Beth employee stated that you have to be at least level 10 to start the Dawnguard questline.
 

ironcreed

Banned
Started it this morning before I had to head out and got to 'Awakening,' which is still at the start. But I can already tell that it is going to be my favorite quest line in the game, playing both sides of course.

Did not want to stop playing and am itching to get back at it tonight. Time to get sucked back into Skyrim, and all it took was popping it in to make me realize how much I missed it. Glad there is nothing else for me to buy for a couple of months.
 

Suairyu

Banned
Actaully, one of the interviews with a Beth employee stated that you have to be at least level 10 to start the Dawnguard questline.
Well that's kinda cool. Not exactly a high entry requirement though.

I always use a mod with Morrowind that stops the Tribunal quest starting via the assassination attempt until you're head of a guild or house, as it makes no damn sense otherwise.
 

v0mitg0d

Member
Guys I just put up a new interview with Matt Carofano, the Lead Artist on Skyrim, to talk about many things including; Dawnguard, the next-generation of consoles, what's after Skyrim for Bethesda Game Studios, loot, Vampire Lords, future iteration of the Creation engine, The Elder Scrolls MMO, armored Trolls, and why you cannot change your sex or race in Skyrim.

<Snip!>

This is one I was asked to pass on to you from several fans: How much loot, or rather, how much additional stuff is being added to the game?
Well there's the full set of Dragon Bone weapons. <Thinks> We give you a lot of gear on the Dawnguard side. That helps balance out the Vampire Lord’s abilities. The Dawnguard stuff has; new light and heavy armor, new weapons, you can have a new type of dog companion, [and] an armored troll to come fight with you. On the Vampire Lord side you have a whole new perk tree and we also added a whole new perk tree for Werewolves too. That's another feature we added to the game even though it's not part of the [Dawnguard] story. We wanted to make the Werewolves more interesting, more playable for higher levels, so we expanded on that. There's a lot of stuff in the game.


Did I see a new mount in the Dawnguard trailer?
Yes! So in the realm of Soul Cairn--the realm of trapped souls--you can get a miscellaneous quest to find the Skull of Arvak. He’s this lost horse who's been taken over, turned undead in this realm. So if you find his skull you can ride him all around and even back in Tamriel.

<Snip!>


The rest is over here: http://eat-games.tumblr.com



First Impressions: Crossbow feels really good. It's got a solid, chunky, powerful handling to it, especially if you upgrade it! Oh that reminds me, once you get it run around the castle and look for the smithing tools, you can upgrade it immediately if you have some iron. :)

Just within the first few hours you'll see plenty of newly created assets/content and visit new locations feels really nice after putting almost 200 hours into the game. The artist at BGS are very very talented bunch.

The story starts off interestingly enough. Looking forward to seeing where it goes. Oh and I went Dawnguard--screw those vamps! PS - No arrows to the knee just yet however someone did take my goddamn sweetroll!!!!
 

Hambone

Member
Nice first impressions. Does the crossbow use the Archery skill line, or is there a whole new skill to level up?

If it's Archery, than I'm going to be good-to-go when I get home and start playing. :)
 

Locke_211

Member
I think the having to be level 10 is a misunderstanding. From what I read elsewhere, you need to be level 10 for the guards to point you in the direction of where the missions start. You can find it yourself at any time.
 

ironcreed

Banned
Can someone who gets Dawnguard today confirm if there are extra areas or whether it all takes place on the Skyrim map?

From what I have played early on, it's in the Skyrim map (some on the furthermost outskirts that require new paths to reach), but there are new areas added to it. However, the vampire fortress is in the sea outside of Solitude and before I turned my game off this morning I found out that I will have to take a ship to reach it. Plus, we have confirmed in the previews that there will be a new Oblivion realm as well. So there are definitely new areas both inside the map and outside of it.
 

v0mitg0d

Member
Nice first impressions. Does the crossbow use the Archery skill line, or is there a whole new skill to level up?

If it's Archery, than I'm going to be good-to-go when I get home and start playing. :)

It uses the archery perk tree! So existing skills benefit. :)
 

Hale-XF11

Member
Hey, it's finally out. Enjoy, everybody! I've already finished Dawnguard front and back, so now I just wait and read everyone else's experiences with it. Hope you don't find any bugs. :)
 

ironcreed

Banned
I made a thread for Dawnguard for everyone to post their impressions in. Like a few others mentioned, figured we could use one beings many of us are going to be pulled right back into the game for awhile.
 

Woorloog

Banned
I think the having to be level 10 is a misunderstanding. From what I read elsewhere, you need to be level 10 for the guards to point you in the direction of where the missions start. You can find it yourself at any time.

Level 10 is the recommended minimum level to start the quest chain. Also, an orc will ask you to join Dawnguard then.
I assume vampire "path" branches from joining Dawnguard? Because otherwise i'm fucked... good thing i have a save before joining these guys...
 

ironcreed

Banned
Level 10 is the recommended minimum level to start the quest chain. Also, an orc will ask you to join Dawnguard then.
I assume vampire "path" branches from joining Dawnguard? Because otherwise i'm fucked... good thing i have a save before joining these guys...

Yeah, that is indeed where it all starts, regardless of what you choose to do. It will be clear that you will have a choice at the end of the first quest Dawnguard sends you out on.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Yeah, that is indeed where it all starts, regardless of what you choose to do. It will be clear that you will have a choice at the end of the first quest Dawnguard sends you out on.

Ah, great. The quest was the next i was going to do. After i revive the tree in Whiterun. I assume the quest is still bugged and the sappling will spawn inside the old tree.
 
So I overwrite my saves to get ready for Dawnguard, and only afterwards do I realize I have a glitched quest and quest item stuck in my inventory again. Fjola's Wedding Band, fuck me sideways.

Uugh, I hate this. Now my Dragonborn character is ruined and I don't have a good character to tackle Dawnguard with. Guess I'm OCD in that way. Fuck it, I hadn't even done the Greybeards yet. I'll just use this guy for Dawnguard, both sides, and make another 'real' main character down the line somewhere.
 
Wait what, i have to give up my werewolf abilities to become a vampire lord ... that REALLY sucks. I hope that gets patched out by the time this comes to pc
 
Wait what, i have to give up my werewolf abilities to become a vampire lord ... that REALLY sucks. I hope that gets patched out by the time this comes to pc

Werewolves can't be vampires, and vice versa, bruh. It's the way of things.

You can become a werwolf again after the Dawnguard quests, I heard.
 
Werewolves can't be vampires, and vice versa, bruh. It's the way of things.

You can become a werwolf again after the Dawnguard quests, I heard.

Its pointless to start with, The way it works is.

If you are a werewolf and then turn Vamp lord but didnt finish the companion quest you can go back and speak to the female companion and regain you werewolf powers but only once

You can go back to some vampire and become a vampire again maybe not only once but i dont know.

Its a terrible idea to force you to decide I like werewolf powers i find them fun but i also really want to side with the vamp lord so either choice i make i have to give something up.
 
Its pointless to start with, The way it works is.

If you are a werewolf and then turn Vamp lord but didnt finish the companion quest you can go back and speak to the female companion and regain you werewolf powers but only once

You can go back to some vampire and become a vampire again maybe not only once but i dont know.

Its a terrible idea to force you to decide I like werewolf powers i find them fun but i also really want to side with the vamp lord so either choice i make i have to give something up.

It's pretty weird that they make you choose between those two and then make you able to become Archmage, Master Thief, Listener, Harbinger ànd the goddamn Dragonborn at the same time, I agree. But, unlike you, I'm all for more restrictions when it comes to that. I don't wanna be everything at once.
 
It's pretty weird that they make you choose between those two and then make you able to become Archmage, Master Thief, Listener, Harbinger ànd the goddamn Dragonborn at the same time, I agree. But, unlike you, I'm all for more restrictions when it comes to that. I don't wanna be everything at once.

Each to their own, id be fine making multiple characters for each guild or something like that but its really annoying i have to give up my lycanthropy to become a vampire.

Im thinking ill just side with the Dawnguard for now and then play vamp lord on the PC version and mod werewolf back in
 

Woorloog

Banned
I'll solve the werewolf/vampire issue with just being one of them with one character.
It is stupid you can't be both but... *shrug* guess i'm just used to idiotic desing in games.
The way getting werewolf powers back does sound extra stupid though... just once?

Joined the vampires, feels good so far. Vampire lord feels pretty powerful, 3 trolls i would have hard time fighting them in human form were a piece of cake. Gotta say it would have been intriguing to stay as a member of Dawnguard but... well, with another character then.
However, Bethesda's been lazy or stupid again and you cannot use first person with Vampire Lord. Horses, werewolves, now Vampire Lords, why? Just because they can't be bothered to add alternate arms to first person view?

Also, crossbows are really, really good. 21 damage (15 Archery, no perks), whoah (orcish bow does, what, 8-9 damage). They do reload quite slowly and during reloading your movement does slow to crawl so i guess they're balanced. Excellent weapons for non-archers should they need a ranged weapon, good weapon for archers too though i think versatility of bows is better for them.

Did the DLC add any new spells for mages though?
 
However, Bethesda's been lazy or stupid again and you cannot use first person with Vampire Lord. Horses, werewolves, now Vampire Lords, why? Just because they can't be bothered to add alternate arms to first person view?

Yeah, seems like its just them being lazy, I bounce between 1st and 3rd alot but the choice would be great.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Yeah, seems like its just them being lazy, I bounce between 1st and 3rd alot but the choice would be great.

I prefer 1st person for almost everything, the 3rd person view is too inaccurate for most things, and increased field of vision is not worth it for me in combat. Also, immersion is better with 1st person view.
Good thing Vampire Lords are agile and fast and use range attack with area effect, makes fighting in 3rd person a lot easier... now if they could turn the Raise Dead to slight area effect spell too (affecting only one target still), raising the body you want would be easier (i missed 2 times in a row with the spell the first time i intented to use it).

EDIT also, i intended to use Alchemy with this sneaky vampire assassin... I'm level, what, 13-14 and have crafted a single potion, i have some rarer reagents in my inventory though.
I'm really starting to think crafting is not my thing in games. I remember gathering stuff in WoW but never crafting anything, same with SWTOR, Dragon Age Origins and 2, Morrowind and Oblivion...
Also intended to use Illusion. Have one spell, no use for it. I can kill enemies at range or up close without them seeing me, meaning i don't end up fighting too many of them at the same time anyway...
 

BigDug13

Member
I'm guessing they didn't add any new spells to existing trees? Like Bound Crossbow perhaps?

Sucks. Bound Bow is my favorite bow. I want a crossbow. I also want a bound dagger.
 

BigDug13

Member
I prefer 1st person for almost everything, the 3rd person view is too inaccurate for most things, and increased field of vision is not worth it for me in combat. Also, immersion is better with 1st person view.
Good thing Vampire Lords are agile and fast and use range attack with area effect, makes fighting in 3rd person a lot easier... now if they could turn the Raise Dead to slight area effect spell too (affecting only one target still), raising the body you want would be easier (i missed 2 times in a row with the spell the first time i intented to use it).

EDIT also, i intended to use Alchemy with this sneaky vampire assassin... I'm level, what, 13-14 and have crafted a single potion, i have some rarer reagents in my inventory though.
I'm really starting to think crafting is not my thing in games. I remember gathering stuff in WoW but never crafting anything, same with SWTOR, Dragon Age Origins and 2, Morrowind and Oblivion...
Also intended to use Illusion. Have one spell, no use for it. I can kill enemies at range or up close without them seeing me, meaning i don't end up fighting too many of them at the same time anyway...


I completely feel you on the crafting aspects. I collect the supplies in all the games, but never really do anything with them. I do alchemy a little, just as a way to level the skill by turning all my ingredients into crap potions. Since unlike Oblivion/Morrowind, you won't actually craft good potions with pure alchemy skill, it makes it less usable unless you're willing to spend those limited perk points into the tree.
 

Woorloog

Banned
I completely feel you on the crafting aspects. I collect the supplies in all the games, but never really do anything with them. I do alchemy a little, just as a way to level the skill by turning all my ingredients into crap potions. Since unlike Oblivion/Morrowind, you won't actually craft good potions with pure alchemy skill, it makes it less usable unless you're willing to spend those limited perk points into the tree.

Yeah. I actually might craft potions and poisons if i didn't have to spend perks on Alchemy first... I feel like it is waste to make potions without max skill and perks, even though i know that is impossible and training skill is not really waste.

I did print the "useful potions" page from UESP, having that list next to me might make craft potions. Wonder where i placed the papers...

This is one issue with Skyrim's perk system, pure skill is nigh useles for most things (for some, that is, Lockpicking, it is all you need really), perks are too important. I'm all for heavily encouraging specialization but Skyrim just forces you to specialize.
 

BigDug13

Member
Yeah. I actually might craft potions and poisons if i didn't have to spend perks on Alchemy first... I feel like it is waste to make potions without max skill and perks, even though i know that is impossible and training skill is not really waste.

I did print the "useful potions" page from UESP, having that list next to me might make craft potions. Wonder where i placed the papers...

This is one issue with Skyrim's perk system, pure skill is nigh useles for most things (for some, that is, Lockpicking, it is all you need really), perks are too important. I'm all for heavily encouraging specialization but Skyrim just forces you to specialize.

And with Combat being like 95% of the game, it makes things like Speechcraft and Lockpicking worthless skill trees. Only perks that affect your combat effectiveness get taken. And for me who collects ingredients and never crafts, I avoid all the crafting perks as well.
 

DanielJr82

Member
Question: I'll block for spoilers. I finished "Awakening."
I met the mysterious woman and am now leading her to her home/castle. One of the questions I had when I first met her was "The Dawnguard wants you dead." I didn't select it because I wanted to see what she had to say first. After a couple of choices this particular choice didn't appear again, so now I'm escorting her to her castle. I don't know if I'm still investigating what the vampires want or if I'm already making permanent choices.
Does this mean I officially decided to side with the vampires already? I want to side with the Dawnguard.

I'm thinking of
escorting her to the Fort instead of her castle.
>=)
 
Question: I'll block for spoilers. I finished "Awakening."
I met the mysterious woman and am now leading her to her home/castle. One of the questions I had when I first met her was "The Dawnguard wants you dead." I didn't select it because I wanted to see what she had to say first. After a couple of choices this particular choice didn't appear again, so now I'm escorting her to her castle. I don't know if I'm still investigating what the vampires want or if I'm already making permanent choices.
Does this mean I officially decided to side with the vampires already? I want to side with the Dawnguard.

I'm thinking of
escorting her to the Fort instead of her castle.
>=)

You have not sided with the vampires for good.
Take her to her castle where her father, the vampire lord, gives you the (very obvious) choice of becoming one of them or not. If, at this point, you choose yes then you are on the vampire side where if you choose no, he will kick you out of the castle and you can return to the Dawnguard

Pretty sure it's designed so you meet the leader of both sides and see their digs before you make any decisions.
 

Hazanko

Banned
So a master vamp showed up in Riften and started killing npcs. Obviously the npcs thought they could take out a master vamp by punching him to death. He killed a few quest givers, lucky I loaded a save and all is well for now. I'm wondering how annoying this is going to be.
 
So a master vamp showed up in Riften and started killing npcs. Obviously the npcs thought they could take out a master vamp by punching him to death. He killed a few quest givers, lucky I loaded a save and all is well for now. I'm wondering how annoying this is going to be.

Yeah, he killed somebody here, too. Had it happen in Whiterun, too, before I reloaded. Two master vampires and a thrall actually attacked that time.
 

Woorloog

Banned
If you vampire lord abilities, do you also become a normal vampire? I was a vampire before i became a vampire lord so i don't know.
EDIT yes, you do become a normal vampire too. According to UESP.

EDIT2 Vampire's Seduction... Just how useful it is in general? I've stuck to stage 1 vampirism always so i never use the power.
 
So it appears that the "Return the thieves guild to its former glory" is NOT earned for finishing the TG quest line.

I discovered last night that no...I have 5-10 hours of random questing left to get this.

Dammit.
 
For those that are finishing up the expansion, is it truly around 20 hours to complete with one faction? Just curious how much time Dawnguard will sink to play both sides. Gotta keep my perfect achievement score, y'know. ;)

Only an hour in and I'm enjoying what I've seen so far. The voice acting is decent and the new weapons are fun to use. No complaints.
 

Ominym

Banned
Finished the first run through the main quest line last night, and overall I found it pretty enjoyable. I do have one major gripe though, but I guess it could be said about anything else in this game.

So, I hate going through a massive quest line for a bow I'm continuously told is practically, the destroyer of worlds. But then I get the damn thing, upgrade it, and it's still worse than my other bow. Hardly even that effective against the enemies it should obliterate. I suppose you wouldn't want to quest for the "average bow of averageness". But it's always disenchanting to want to use it to complete the quest as intended, yet I still have to switch back to my other weapons.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Ah, this is really frustrating. I just realised the game doesn't have any easily acquired stylish non-armor enchanted apparel. So i HAVE to take enchanting to make some...
Another frustating thing, Restoration gains experience a lot slower than other magical schools, really hard to keep it on level with others, also makes obtaining Necromage difficult.
 

Bucca

Fools are always so certain of themselves, but wiser men so full of doubts.
I know this has been probably answered tons of times, but is the PS3 version fixed to the point of playability yet? I've been holding off from getting Skyrim until they had patched it up, so I'm wondering if the terrible crashing/freezing/etc. that happens as time progresses in the game has been fixed.
 

Woorloog

Banned
I know this has been probably answered tons of times, but is the PS3 version fixed to the point of playability yet? I've been holding off from getting Skyrim until they had patched it up, so I'm wondering if the terrible crashing/freezing/etc. that happens as time progresses in the game has been fixed.

As far as i know, it's been fixed for a couple of months now.
Still has a bunch of issues (quest items getting stuck in your inventory, some quests are buggy, etc.).
 

Lakitu

st5fu
Finished Dawnguard, typing on my phone so I'll keep it brief. It was great. Touching the Sky is my now my favourite quest in the game. The location, lore, new music, encounters and scale is amazing.

I also
blocked out the sun to see how it was using Auriel's Bow. It looks pretty awesome.

Edit: lol Redwater Den, I laughed.
 

Woorloog

Banned
My newest character is kinda interesting to play.
Orc "Necrolyte" (he looks a bit like Guld'an from Warcraft lore), primary skills are Illusion, Conjuration and Sneak. Enchanting is a secondary, primary for later game when i get all the effects i need. Will become a vampire later on, enhancing the playstyle even more.
I sneak around, and either assassinate enemies or Frenzy them to attack each other, and reanimate one of the bodies to increase chaos. Berserker Rage is very useful, saved me a few times. Will work a bit better later on, currently having issues since i don't have Invisibility and my reanimate spell is too weak.
Also, probably could spend a perk or two in One-Handed as that is quite high for the character already and extra damage wouldn't hurt should i run out of magicka.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Ulfric Stormcloak (why is he so weak btw?)

Ulfric is always going to be weak because character levels are assigned at the time the character is first generated. Ulfric is standing next to you when you start the game at level 1, so unless you do Civil War before level 10, he's always going to be relatively weak.

Started making a Dragonbone set now that Dawnguard is out, but I have to say, the Dragonbone set is ugly compared to the Daedric set. There wasn't any real reason to switch over other than I had a million bones and always carry way too much crap.

I haven't gotten far into the DG quests, but I already miss being a werewolf, i.e. the part where I don't have to deal with a ton of Vampire drawbacks. The biggest annoyance by far is no stam regen.
 
Ulfric is always going to be weak because character levels are assigned at the time the character is first generated. Ulfric is standing next to you when you start the game at level 1, so unless you do Civil War before level 10, he's always going to be relatively weak.

Started making a Dragonbone set now that Dawnguard is out, but I have to say, the Dragonbone set is ugly compared to the Daedric set. There wasn't any real reason to switch over other than I had a million bones and always carry way too much crap.

I haven't gotten far into the DG quests, but I already miss being a werewolf, i.e. the part where I don't have to deal with a ton of Vampire drawbacks. The biggest annoyance by far is no stam regen.
Woah, what? Your stamina doesn't regenerate as a vampire? That sounds truly awful, and kills any hype I had for downloading Dawnguard and becoming a badass vampire lord
 

BigDug13

Member
Woah, what? Your stamina doesn't regenerate as a vampire? That sounds truly awful, and kills any hype I had for downloading Dawnguard and becoming a badass vampire lord

Well not exactly, you lose 100% regen of magicka, health, and stamina but gear regen can overcome it. And it only happens in the daytime.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Woah, what? Your stamina doesn't regenerate as a vampire? That sounds truly awful, and kills any hype I had for downloading Dawnguard and becoming a badass vampire lord

During the daytime you have no stam or magicka regen at all. It's enough of a buzzkill that I don't like playing as a Vampire. You can of course get around it by not doing anything outdoors in the daytime, but it's kind of inconvinent given that like Werewolf form, VL form is a total gimmick and its almost always a better choice to stay in regular form since you have access to all your spells and shouts. The only thing really better about VL over Werewolf is that you can freely change back.
 
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