Crazy about lack of health

[jennydb91]

Hi! I am trying to get into the game, the problem is that I ran into some creature before I had even realized how to sheathe/unsheathe ny weapon, did kill it but get a lot of damage. I had to go to Vivac just to avoid other creatures I could see on the way to Balmora. Vivac is a kinda huge city but there doesn't seem to be much to do, except walk around talking to people. Tried going down into the sewers in hope of finding the abolitionists, but was instantly attacked by a ghost which nearly killed me.

Long story short, I hate being so low on health I cant do anything. I am not allowed to go to sleep anywhere but a bed and have just found a few, most owned by someone else so I cannot use it. I did found one I could use but then I was awakened by an assasin who killed me instantly because I have so little health before I go to sleep.

I am considering giving up this game because I hate games where you have to grind and right now it feels like I have no chance to start on the story because I have so little health I cant really do anything. I am getting crazy just walking from building to building in Vivac trying to find somewhere I can rest. I want to start the game properly but this is putting me off. Is there any way to avoid this? Little point in going down into the sewers too if I only get so far before being killed. How am I supposed to get practice?

[neil]

I was the same position as you
I read a few guides and they empasised how IMPORTANT Endurance is
You need to max it if you can at creation, and Every time you level up, tic it
I have done so on my latest play through
Seems to be going a lot better this time

Hope this helps you
Me, I'm really enjoying it's things to do

Oh, and I suggest you find a lot better armour before too long after the start
I found some nice steel stuff and it sure helps me

[bobhome2]

If you've just started the game, you may wish to follow the start of the story - Balmora's where you want to go, and it's far smaller. It'll be easier to adjust to, compared to the vast quasi-emptiness of Vivec.

And Endurance is, indeed, super important. As a newer player, it may be worthwhile to start up with a character that has a very high endurance stat. This will give you a lot of additional starting health, and give you a higher number at each level up. Also, you may wish to focus on leveling endurance at the start. I don't think it's really important to grind out levels, so long as you can make use of your stat gains as you go. Just focus on END at the start, gain some levels, and you'll be fine.

[claudius]

You should hope to start the game with some attack that doesn't consume Magicka to kill wandering creatures with. Shortblade, Long Blade, Axe, Blunt, Spear, Marksman (needs ammo though) and Spear. So you want one as a major skill so you start off decent because you need to make an 'attack roll' (like with pen and paper dice.. a 'roll') to hit them. You could use unarmed attacks too but then you won't find enchanted items for unarmed attacks.

You should be able to kill: mud crab, scribs, nix hounds and things like that. If not then needs work.

You can also do things like collect plants, steal things, do quests for factions. This can give you some money which you can buy armor. For example the first office you leave out of in the first town there are a few things to steal and sell. You can even find money and enchanted items (sometimes) in barrels in cities. You can take Silt Strider to Balmora for not much gold.

Then I would look for some cheap enchanted items that can help you. Look in shops and look for effective but cheap. I usually like short blades and I can carry some lightweight daggers and carry about 3 or 4 daggers so when one is recharged then use another. Another could short blade you can find in shops is Dwemer Jinksblade. Now when you are fighting something dangerous (which should NOT be weak animals by this) hit them once with the Jinksblade and it has a Paralyze attack for like 10 seconds. But don't waste it because once you get them Paralyzed switch to a different weapon or even fists. Now kill them or damage them. If they become unparalyzed and are hitting you then switch back to Jinksblade and paralyze again. There is also another good blade Demon Tanto at Ravir's in Balmora. Don't hit with it as a weapon though. Use it from your magic menu and then ready your magic with 'R' button. Now Demon Tanto will summon a Daedric short blade for 60 seconds that is strong.

[Herr Quezt]

I'd also recommend taking the Silt Strider, or walking if you feel brave, to Balmora instead of Vivec and joining up with one of the guilds. They'll let you use their beds as long as you're a member (can join them in Vivec too but that city is disorienting).

You can sleep anywhere in the wilderness by pressing T(?), however you will run the risk of getting attack by creatures & the assassins in your sleep(assassin's can still attack in town sadly). It's random so if you are really low on health your best bet is simpy to reload and try sleeping again. You can also buy some healing spells from the Temple or Mages Guild if you are a mage type character.

It shouldn't be too grindy but creating a good starting character might be difficult. The southwest quarter of the island is in general the least dangerous, running around the swamp and maybe setting foot in some caves/tombs. Grabbing quests from Balmora & the smaller towns, getting some gold for better gear.

How the combat works can also be really unclear to new players. People on the forums will no doubt answer any questions you have though!

[Valden21]

OP, maybe we can give you some tips on how to improve your chances of surviving, but there's some information we need first. Namely, your character's race and class, and the weapon you're currently using. If you give us that info, then we can get to work on helping you!

To give you more detail on this, your odds of surviving combat is much improved when your character's class and race mesh together in terms of weapon choice. To give you an example of this, Dunmers get a +5 point bonus in the Long Blades skill, regardless of the character's class. The Warrior, Knight, Crusader, and Barbarian classes all have Long Blades as one of their major skills, and for them, that skill starts at 35 points. So a Dunmer with any of those four classes will have 40 points in Long Blades (the 35 points from being one of those classes, and the 5 from being a Dunmer). If this hypothetical character is using any of the weapons which fall into the Long Blades category (Sabers, Longswords, Broadswords, Katanas, Dai-Katanas, and Claymores) their odds of surving combat will be much improved. You also need to keep your Fatigue meter (the green bar in the lower left of the screen) as high as you can, as that also improves your chances of hitting an enemy.

Remember, to level up, you must improve any combination of your Major and Minor skills (the 10 skills at the top of your character's skill list) at least 10 times. Once you do that, all you need to do is rest. By the way, if your character is a member of any faction in the game, the beds in that faction's branches are available to you. That should make it easier for you to rest. For now, stay in the area around Seyda Neen, the town where you begin the game. There's some quests in that area that will give you some experiance in how combat works in this game, as well as a chance to improve your equipment beyond what you have at the start.

[psychotron666]

Pay inns for beds, use silt strider fast travel to balmora and start the main quest, the first few missions help get you started in the world

[claudius]

Also I have found asking in dialogue for 'rumors', 'advice', and 'secrets' is actually implemented pretty well. A lot of times you hear cut and paste same answers but you hear a good idea often enough that it is fun and useful and implemented well enough that it is not just pointless to read these. They can have tips or ideas for you.

[jennydb91]

Yeah, I've been doing that, claudius.

I am a Wood Elf / Bosmer, magic class, The lady as sign (yes, I know it is a warrior sign). I don't have armor at all right now, only that fancy clothing I stole from the guy who fell from the sky. Got a decent sword from him, too.

But I decided to go to Balmora instead of walking around in Vivec, so I just arrived in Balmora. Hoping to be able to make some money so I can buy some armor and better weapons. (Plus, learn spells. I have bought a couple, but haven't learnt them.)

[claudius]

If you bought a spell it should be able to be cast. 'right click' then look for a menu that looks like it is for spells. There will also be an inventory and map and things but there is a part for: spells, scrolls, and enchanted items.

Now pick one out. Then go out of right click. (in Skyrim and Fallout 3 they use Tab instead of right click to access menus).

Now press 'R' and it will 'ready' the spell and you should see your hands go up. Left click will cast the scroll, spell, or enchanted item. Scrolls and enchanted items are 100% work but spells might be lower than 100% depending on your skill in that school of magic and also you're willpower.

So it's similar to changing weapons and spells use R while weapons F to ready the spell or weapon.

[Orim]

Like they said before- any starting player TRYING to depend on magicka (i.e. a bloody spell caster) is gonna get their A#rse handed to them.....
1. When you first begin the game in the offices area, AFTER you have identified you class and birth sign...STEAL EVERYTHING!!!!- then GO SELL IT!!!- there is a merchant RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the offices- he sells a bit of everyting....
2. SELL the crap from the guy that fell from the sky and get some damn armor- there was a merchant in Seyda Neen, your starting point- and PLENTY of such in Balmora or Vivec.
3. Go STEAL more CRAP to sell immediately, or pool a bit longer and get a complete armor set- shields are a must if things tend to get too close to you- there is a cavern system with smugglers/thieves spread out RIGHT beside the silt strider in Seyda Neen- and no monster in between!
4. Go to the ancestral tomb , JUST around the hill (same hill that the smuglers den is in, just on the other side), RIGHT BESIDE the Silt Strider.
HINT: If a beastie doesnt catch up to you immediately, and is too powerful (or its a group)- keep running- even if your fatigue goes to zero (having zero fatigue in morrowind apparently will NOT make your running speed slow down to walking)- RUN through that damn ancestral tomb, NOT FIGHTING or letting anything touch you ...but pick everything you see that can be stolen/acquired.....
5. Search the DAM@n hollow stumps in and around Seyda Neen- theres valuable crap in several of them (AND a magic ring in a barrel at the very beginnig
6. If yer feelin REALLY balsy, run yer butt up to the small island on just of the western coasts where the cavern entrance to Illunibi (JUST very shortly north of Gnaar Mok)- sneak around, or just run it- get to the 'Souls's Rattle', lift those glass boots, the relic gauntlets (SPOILER- Fists of Randagulf- the only enchanted gauntlest in the entire game!!!- but DAM#N they are GREAT!!!!) , AND, provided you have a failry decent strength with the gauntlest equipped- try to leave with that hammer as well- make it to balmora to sell the boots and hammer- and quickly begin yer alchemy career!!!


Honestly- even if a newby, you should be able to WALK out of Seyda Neen with a nearly full set of steel quality armor, witrh a shield, and at least one magic item (the spark or fire sword that the falling fool dropped)....just by selling all the crap you FIND IN OR RIGHT NEXT to Seyda Neen....start over a try again..it will seem MUCH less difficult or stressful.

I'm already level 67 this time around- and rarely cast anything but teleportation, levitation or restoration (stat restoration) spells.

ALSO- WHEN in close combat- DON'T just mash the left mouse button- CLICK and HOLD, AIM for center mass (usually upper center torso for humanoids)- THEN release the mouse button- does MUCH more damage per hit, hits are usually more successful, and you lose slightly less stamina/fatigue..

[jennydb91]

I am a very slow player, I like trying to do everything - even reading all the books - so I am just at level 2, but have a lot of fun. Killed two Dark brotherhood assasins which gave me some decent armor for such a low level, and have been looting everywhere I go (even my own guild houses - ooops!). Right now I am at that small mining village (Maar gan) trying to figure out what happened to that guy both the mages and thieves guilds are interested in. I hate the cliff racers, but at least I get to "practice" my spells.

I don't want to play overly tactically or know where I should go for loot etc., I want to just explore. So will probably not play as the last commenter suggested, not my style. I don't care whether I have this or that type of armor, as long as it does the job. Never really been a treasure hunter in these kind of games.

What annoys me most with the game this far is how you have to go constantly back and forth for quests to update. Even when you realize what your next rask will be and you could just do it along with the current task, but instead you have to report back to the quest giver. And instead of being able to complete almost all quests in an area before I move on, I have to travel between places because this item is only found in that town or that person lives on the other side of the map... And the quests are divided into so many very small tasks instead of larger quests where you don't have to check in with the quest giver every other minute.

[claudius]

I am kind of like that enjoying exploring too.

For traveling you might benefit from a few slight meta game tips like knowing what are: silt strider, boats, enchanted item/spells that recharge stamina (to run places), and guild guides in the mage guilds who teleport you places between guild houses. Ingredients for restore fatigue are all over the place and you can even afford to just drink potions to recharge stamina.

Also I advice to meta game just this bit and learn what the spells, scrolls, or enchanted item that can cast: almsivi intervention, divine intervention, mark, and recall. There are also other ways to travel that may be spoilers but those I mentioned are pretty basic mechanics of the world.

I like to explore and read books too but sometimes I get tired of one thing and want to do another. Like I've done too many 'fed ex' quests going somewhere and talking and I just want to loot some tomb instead. Or go to a bookstore or library and read or then I get tired of that and want to explore an area or complete some quests.

[Valden21]

Originally posted by jennydb91:

I am a very slow player, I like trying to do everything - even reading all the books - so I am just at level 2, but have a lot of fun. Killed two Dark brotherhood assasins which gave me some decent armor for such a low level, and have been looting everywhere I go (even my own guild houses - ooops!). Right now I am at that small mining village (Maar gan) trying to figure out what happened to that guy both the mages and thieves guilds are interested in. I hate the cliff racers, but at least I get to "practice" my spells.

I don't want to play overly tactically or know where I should go for loot etc., I want to just explore. So will probably not play as the last commenter suggested, not my style. I don't care whether I have this or that type of armor, as long as it does the job. Never really been a treasure hunter in these kind of games.

What annoys me most with the game this far is how you have to go constantly back and forth for quests to update. Even when you realize what your next rask will be and you could just do it along with the current task, but instead you have to report back to the quest giver. And instead of being able to complete almost all quests in an area before I move on, I have to travel between places because this item is only found in that town or that person lives on the other side of the map... And the quests are divided into so many very small tasks instead of larger quests where you don't have to check in with the quest giver every other minute.

Yeah, I feel that the way you're going about it is the best way for first-timers to get accustomed to the game. Worry about how to get the best stuff later. Right now, it's better that you familiarize yourself with the layout of the land and how the game mechanics work, and it sounds like that's exactly what you're doing. Play the game your way, and you'll get a lot more out of it.

[The Franks]

You can also download a mod that delays the DB assassin attack. He is from DLC and isn't supposed to show up right away.

[Teralitha]

Watch this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYNMq-Loo4E