Hello all, new player here (with questions)

Shagsbeard · Post by **Shagsbeard** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:37 pm

Hi all, subject says it... I'm a new player here. I bought MW when it first came out and played it a bit, but it didn't grab me. I guess the openess of the game is kind of overwhelming at first, and the combat mechanics are a bit difficult to get used to after the simplicity of DiabloII's "click to win" design.

I've picked up the game again, patched it, and have started anew with a Paladin like character. Imperial/Lady with longsword, Heavy armor, some healing, dabbles in alchemy. I'll see how he does. Any advice would be appritiated.

To avoid the overload that soured me from the game the first time, I'm going to try to focus on specific tasks first, before jumping into the main plot. I'm finding it really hard to clear the cave near the start town as the fireball guy cleans my clock. Is there an easier place to get a feel for combat or am I stuck trying to get through this guy?

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 5:39 pm

You can always return to that cave later if it is too hard now. The best way to get a feel for the game is to go to Balmora, join a few guilds and do some of their quests.

Burnsy · Post by **Burnsy** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:06 pm

yea, i know exactly what you mean shagsbeard. that sounds like my first swing at morrowind. try out the mages guild for some basic easy quests that will get you some experience. and the fighters guild's first quest with the cave rats is pretty easy, provided you get yourself some armor and a decent weapon. whatever genre has the best skill, work on that now; worry about balancing skills later on in the game. you'll have plenty of time for that later on.

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 3:58 am

I can't remember what special powers the Lady sign gives you. I remember when I first tried those caves - it was near impossible. If you have the ingredients/money, see if you can get some fireshielding potions. They will help with the fireball caster. Also, if you have it, sanctuary can help a lot early on as it makes you a lot harder to hit. With the mage guy, try to take him out fast and use healing potions - there are so many opportunities to make/buy potions in the game, do not worry too much about saving them for a rainy day. A couple of good healing potions can offset the health damage done by fire pretty easily as the regeneration effects are more than the damage done.

I agree with Burnsy - the mage quests are pretty easy and straightforward to start with. Same with the fighter quests and the thieves quests. These are a good place to start. Also, the first temple quest is an ideal opportunity to get to explore the land a bit

Shagsbeard · Post by **Shagsbeard** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:06 pm

Took the advice to heart guys, and went on to join both the Fighter Guild, and the Temple... only to find out that they're foes. Is this choice going to get me in trouble later?

I did the rat quest, very short. I started the temple quest and found that I'll still very ill prepared for adventuring. I did buy a alchemy set so I can make some potions but failed in every attempt... hope I gain some experience anyway.

robot flux · Post by **robot flux** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:27 pm

Well, don't get all depressed by that. I must say, the couple of first times when I started playing...it was beautiful. Take my advice:

DO NOT try to look up for the net for where to find some powerful items. The most fun is when you are at low level and even the lowest magical item seems big. This is, indeed, very enjoyable.

Walk around Balmora, Seya Need and those. Don't wander off too far, it might bite ya in da bottocks

.

Enjoy.

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:47 pm

I don't think the Fighters and the Temple clash at all so you don't need to worry - they just oppose each other's views I think. The only real clash I have come across is Thieves and Fighters, but there are still ways around that making it possible to be in both.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:13 pm

[QUOTE=Shagsbeard]Took the advice to heart guys, and went on to join both the Fighter Guild, and the Temple... only to find out that they're foes. Is this choice going to get me in trouble later?

I did the rat quest, very short. I started the temple quest and found that I'll still very ill prepared for adventuring. I did buy a alchemy set so I can make some potions but failed in every attempt... hope I gain some experience anyway.[/QUOTE]

The fact that the Temple and Fighter's guilds are foes shouldn't pose too much of a problem, so no reason to worry. The only real faction conflict occurs between the Fighter's Guild and the Thieve's guild.

Regarding alchemy, this is one skill that is worth training in to give yourself a bit of a boost. I'd suggest, once you have the gold, to train to about level 45, maybe 50. Your potions will still fail a lot, but you'll get it right enough times that your skill will begin to improve.

I'd suggest making a bunch of fortify fatigue potions because the ingredients you use (hound meat, scuttle, kwama eggs...) are very common and easy to find, so it is convenient practice. Then, since fortify fatigue potions have a limited use (in my opinion anyway).. you can sell them to make a bit of extra cash

Oh, and welcome to Game Banshee. If you want to chat about non-game topics, I'd also suggest checking out the Speak Your Mind forum

promethius9594 · Post by **promethius9594** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 5:55 pm

[QUOTE=Shagsbeard]Hi all, subject says it... I'm a new player here. I bought MW when it first came out and played it a bit, but it didn't grab me. I guess the openess of the game is kind of overwhelming at first, and the combat mechanics are a bit difficult to get used to after the simplicity of DiabloII's "click to win" design.

I've picked up the game again, patched it, and have started anew with a Paladin like character. Imperial/Lady with longsword, Heavy armor, some healing, dabbles in alchemy. I'll see how he does. Any advice would be appritiated.

To avoid the overload that soured me from the game the first time, I'm going to try to focus on specific tasks first, before jumping into the main plot. I'm finding it really hard to clear the cave near the start town as the fireball guy cleans my clock. Is there an easier place to get a feel for combat or am I stuck trying to get through this guy?[/QUOTE]

well, paladins generally aren't alchemists. Long sword, heavy armor and healing are generally good choices. Acrobatics would have been a better choice for skill than alchemy, IMO. If you can't beat the cave at the start, there are a couple other side missions in the small town you start in.

If you go up to where the road passes by the town, go the opposite direction from the big travel bug and you'll see a dude fall out of the sky. Investigating him is kinda cool, and you can get items/scrolls which can be sold for some early gold. There's also a quest involving a murder which you can ask about from the dude you registered with at the very beginning of the game. for more information, go to the UESP morrowind walkthrough section on seyda neen.

The main thing is to practice your skills such that you can get one level up before doing the cave.

as a side note, YES, the fighters guild/mage guild animosity towards each other DOES put you in a slight problem later, but there is a way to handle it without getting kicked out of either (and this actually makes you stronger in one of them too). Again, the UESP walkthrough is the most comprehensive and useful on these subjects.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:14 pm

well, paladins generally aren't alchemists.

Says who? The AD&D Nazi Strike Force?

This has nothing to do with AD&D, and outside its confines, one can create characters pretty much as you want. (Besides, the AD&D people simply watered down a little info they grabbed from other, much earlier sources paladins--so if you want to get into it, there are no such things as paladins; it's just another term for realworld knight from the 15th century who held to special codes of virtue.) A paladin who also studies alchemy is as likely as a thief khajit who uses a mace, or a mage who handles a two-handed sword. No non-Bethsoft restrictions matter: welcome to Morrowind.

Shagsbeard, in my book, every character should study alchemy. The benefits are enormous, from potions you can sell, to those you can administer to buff your stats before battle, or help you within one, or remove curses afterwards. It's indispensable, IMO.

Shagsbeard · Post by **Shagsbeard** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:01 pm

I chose alchemy as a secondary since it looked interesting. No real other reason than that. I'm really not one to follow walkthoughs though I must admit, the guidance through the temple quest in the game is pretty piss poor. I looked that one up and am working though it. Flying over the landscape is kind of fun, but I really hope that it doesn't become the norm. It feels kind of... well... out of character. I'm not looking to play the game to become the ultimate character.

As people play games like this, they start trying to play against the game rather than simply play it. Right now I'm playing it... perhaps someday I'll enjoy min/maxing my characters.

Rookierookie · Post by **Rookierookie** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:30 pm

[QUOTE=promethius9594]

as a side note, YES, the fighters guild/mage guild animosity towards each other DOES put you in a slight problem later, but there is a way to handle it without getting kicked out of either (and this actually makes you stronger in one of them too). Again, the UESP walkthrough is the most comprehensive and useful on these subjects.[/QUOTE]
What fighters guild/mages guild animosity?

Bel Al · Post by **Bel Al** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:53 pm

Qusets, Starting the Game

I'd suggest joining the Blades too. When you're in Seyda Neen you're given some papers to take to (can't remember his name, similar to Casius Clay) in Balmora. He'll invite you to join the Blades. When you do he'll give you some gold I think and tell you to talk to the other Blades members there in Balmora. They'll give you some good stuff to start you off too. Quest are pretty easy too.

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 2:58 am

The Blades quests are actually the main quest so you should join them eventually anyway if you intend to do the main quest.

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:19 am

[QUOTE=Shagsbeard]I chose alchemy as a secondary since it looked interesting. No real other reason than that. I'm really not one to follow walkthoughs though I must admit, the guidance through the temple quest in the game is pretty piss poor. I looked that one up and am working though it. Flying over the landscape is kind of fun, but I really hope that it doesn't become the norm. It feels kind of... well... out of character. I'm not looking to play the game to become the ultimate character.[/QUOTE]

If you're on a PC, there are plenty of mods to tweak the environment, making power abuses impossible. I used to use one that nerfed levitation and fortify intelligence potions, and there are others out there, as well. Personally, I never liked the ease with which a player could munchkin Morrowind, but each to their own, I guess.

Greg. · Post by **Greg.** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:49 pm

[QUOTE=dragon wench]The only real faction conflict occurs between the Fighter's Guild and the Thieves guild.[/QUOTE]

Morag Tong and Great houses...

promethius9594 · Post by **promethius9594** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 3:00 am

[QUOTE=Rookierookie]What fighters guild/mages guild animosity?[/QUOTE]

ah, you're right. I reread the UESP walkthrough and realized that it was mage/telvaani that i remember and fighter/theif that i was getting confused (spoiler) since they (fighter and mage) both ask you to kill all the ruling members of their respective enemies. I don't recommend doing that for the quests, however, since you can do it other ways and still remain members of each group. ALTHOUGH, i guess i could have offed all the telvaani council, except i was too impatient to wait to complete the main quest before becoming arch mage, so i just challenged trebonis to the dual when i became a warlock.

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 3:10 am

If you finish the Telvanni final quests then finish the mage quests before finishing the main quest, you never actually get in a situation where the mage guild and telvanni guild clash with each other at all as those quests do not appear (i am head of both at the moment and had no complications getting there). Similarly, if you are in both thieves and fighters then there are ways to do conflicting quests that still make it possible to be in both.

Magelord648 · Post by **Magelord648** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 5:54 am

[QUOTE=GregtheSleeper]Morag Tong and Great houses...[/QUOTE]
Only the grandmaster hits.

Greg. · Post by **Greg.** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:20 pm

[QUOTE=Magelord648]Only the grandmaster hits.[/QUOTE]

Nope.

I got expelled from Redoran for killing this guy in Vivec, and I got that quest from Eno Hlaalu...