The Levelling, Man

[MrHoward]

So, this is my 4th try to get into Oblivion. I loved Morrowind and Skyrim to death, and I also like Oblivion a lot (at least the beginning). However, there's always one problem that stops me around level 8 or so...and that's the levelling.

God, man it's soooo BAD! In order to get decent stats, you have to grind useless skills that are not relevant to your class. Agility can no longer be used as a defensive stat (dodging attacks) since every attack hits now, so a thief HAS to be training strength and endurance if they want to have any level of competence at level 8. The skills to train these are so boring and grindy too, especially endurance. (Sit still in heavy armor while holding block key, repair armor when needed). By the time I'm ready to start the main quest (usually at level 8) I ALWAYS get my ass handed to me on a limeware platter. Each time I've been playing an assassin character (cuz assassins is how I roll) I always end up finding that my character can't even execute sneak attacks on petty imps without having to lodge 17 arrows in their face.

I play with the difficulty slider in the dead center. I've two mods, Oblivion XP which broke my game and I just installed all +5 attributes yesterday. However, +5 attributes almost makes it too easy, which is so weird because Kvatch almost requires you to have been taking all +5 attributes. I have only been playing level 5 dungeons though, not testing Kvatch yet.

My question is how do you guys cope with this levelling system? I've tried so hard to get into Oblivion because the atmosphere is so damn good, but I can;t do it because of this godforsaken levelling system.

This was kind of a rant so it may not be very organized.

Thanks.

[CullinB]

Attributes in Morrowind are very improtant because they heavly affect calc results
But in Oblivion Physical value is not as important as TES3. Only endurance affects actual results for health and fatigue.
So keep using all +5, if you don't want to be OP you can choose +1.

[Leeux]

I personally just mod the levelling system... with a mod that gives you natural levelling, like Realistic Leveling or nGCD. I also played with Oblivion XP levelling once too.

I never liked the system in Oblivion, and after my first playthrough I never played vanilla again.

Of course, you also *HAVE* to install a levelled loot overhaul... or you'll have bandits in Daedric by L20 anyway. And most overhauls take care of the stat bloating problems at higher levels.

[Nodoka]

zzzz

Everything scales according to your own level apart from very specific NPCs.
When I did my first playtrough I played it on max difficulty and only used the unoffical patches to fix bugs. When I ended my playtrough after around 100 hours I was around lvl 31 ~

I for one didnt mind the leveling system and found it to be quite relaxing.

[V {Ƹ̴ӁƷ}]

I'll be the first to recommend no mods at all for oblivion, but I have nostalgia towards TES4 so bare with me. The goggles be thick 'n rosy u know?

Personally I never found an issue in the fact that you're not really leveling a character, but the loot around them.
Don't take offence now Mr. Flying Turtles, but I have to assume that you are what some would call a noob when it comes to oblivion, so here's some tips for that stealthy assassin:

-Use poisons from alchemy (the potions are a plus but not really worth it until alchemy 50+..)
-Learn how the AI does melee. Your speed stat can have more of an impact on combat than endurance if you know when to run just a few steps back or to the side.
-Quicksave. Hit that F5 like it owes you money.
-Marksman is so OP with high speed. You can run backwards in a circle forever while the enemy runs around with you, swatting at the air where you were moments ago, while they get pelted by your arrows.
-Remember to stop running while stealthed and near enemies. It creates noise and NPCs are notorious for having perfect hearing in oblivion. Just press caps lock until you're ready to engage or flee.

Most importantly: It's a videogame meant to be completed your way. If your way is not working, your way might be fundamentally flawed, like going to law school to become a doctor.
When all else fails, bite the bullet and lower the difficulty. You can always increase it later once you start oneshotting daedric lords.

[Nodoka]

Originally posted by Nystagmus:

I'll be the first to recommend no mods at all for oblivion, but I have nostalgia towards TES4 so bare with me. The goggles be thick 'n rosy u know?

Personally I never found an issue in the fact that you're not really leveling a character, but the loot around them.
Don't take offence now Mr. Flying Turtles, but I have to assume that you are what some would call a noob when it comes to oblivion, so here's some tips for that stealthy assassin:

-Use poisons from alchemy (the potions are a plus but not really worth it until alchemy 50+..)
-Learn how the AI does melee. Your speed stat can have more of an impact on combat than endurance if you know when to run just a few steps back or to the side.
-Quicksave. Hit that F5 like it owes you money.
-Marksman is so OP with high speed. You can run backwards in a circle forever while the enemy runs around with you, swatting at the air where you were moments ago, while they get pelted by your arrows.
-Remember to stop running while stealthed and near enemies. It creates noise and NPCs are notorious for having perfect hearing in oblivion. Just press caps lock until you're ready to engage or flee.

Most importantly: It's a videogame meant to be completed your way. If your way is not working, your way might be fundamentally flawed, like going to law school to become a doctor.
When all else fails, bite the bullet and lower the difficulty. You can always increase it later once you start oneshotting daedric lords.

I did it without mods aswell but I somwhat feel that the unoffical patches are somewhat crucial

[ice]

You can destroy anything in this game with paralyze magic and being a cheap scrub with arrows while standing on top of things. And that's just at the beginning of the game.

[Alkpaz]

Paralyze is indeed OP. Like sneak and bow is in Skyrim.

[Arrancar]

For first few years I had no idea that you can get +5 to skill while levelling up(or multiple of them) heck when I got my first +4 I was so happy. But I never had any issues with the game itself. Especially the beginning is quite easy, so I always rush levelling. Heck I sometimes rush it so much that I do not even see certain types of enemies since they will stop spawning and be replaced by stronger enemies. First time I went to Kvatch there were already Daedroth running around and I still made it though without problems.
There is literally no grind unless you do +5+5+1 or +5+5+5. I tried +5+5+1 last year and holy crap it takes out 50% of fun from game.
Also there is dodge roll for Journeyman Acrobatics I believe, but getting there is major pain(you level up more when you fall them from jumping), so I recommend using trainer(prepare your septims lol).
If you have low HP or magicka and does not wanna use potions, just press T and wait one hour and you will be magically healed(Note : no enemies must be around). Full mage is easiest Class in Oblivion, just spam conjuration and destruction spells.
Stealthy character aka Thief/Assassin are probably the most strongest at beginning, since you can one shot almost every enemy. Just chose Sneak and Marksman as your majors, Also alchemy is so much fun in Oblivion and probably easiest skill to increase(hardest to increase overall is Mercantile), just make dmg health potions(at the beginning you won't even need them).
Also Stealth is super easy in Skyrim compare to Oblivion. Comparison - you shoot enemy that can't see you in both games. In Skyrim enemy would go to the place where shot came from, in Oblivion enemy will instantly know where you are. Trick to fight using the bow is, going backwards while shooting arrows. Also learning attack animations of enemies helps a lot. I mean if something like Zombie actually hits you when you play as Assassin, you suck at this game lol.

[Bomb Bloke]

Originally posted by Arrancar:

Also there is dodge roll for Journeyman Acrobatics I believe, but getting there is major pain

Acrobatics isn't so bad - if you wedge your character into a space where there's no headroom, it removes the cooldown from jumps. You can hammer your way up to Master in next to no time.

[ice]

Originally posted by Bomb Bloke:

Originally posted by Arrancar:

Also there is dodge roll for Journeyman Acrobatics I believe, but getting there is major pain

Acrobatics isn't so bad - if you wedge your character into a space where there's no headroom, it removes the cooldown from jumps. You can hammer your way up to Master in next to no time.

yes but you have to be a huge nerd with no shame to power level your character by frigging spamming the jump button in a video game

[Bomb Bloke]

I assure you, however you do it, there's no honour to be won by playing a game like Oblivion.

[Fejj]

Originally posted by Bomb Bloke:

Originally posted by Arrancar:

Also there is dodge roll for Journeyman Acrobatics I believe, but getting there is major pain

Acrobatics isn't so bad - if you wedge your character into a space where there's no headroom, it removes the cooldown from jumps. You can hammer your way up to Master in next to no time.

Like having Master sneak or athletics by the time you get out of the sewers by just jamming yourself in a corner and turning autorun on, then taking a nap, lol.

[Riflas]

Back to Skyrim, fanboy.

[Jnc]

Originally posted by Mr. Flying Turtles:

So, this is my 4th try to get into Oblivion. I loved Morrowind and Skyrim to death, and I also like Oblivion a lot (at least the beginning). However, there's always one problem that stops me around level 8 or so...and that's the levelling.

God, man it's soooo BAD! In order to get decent stats, you have to grind useless skills that are not relevant to your class. Agility can no longer be used as a defensive stat (dodging attacks) since every attack hits now, so a thief HAS to be training strength and endurance if they want to have any level of competence at level 8. The skills to train these are so boring and grindy too, especially endurance. (Sit still in heavy armor while holding block key, repair armor when needed). By the time I'm ready to start the main quest (usually at level 8) I ALWAYS get my♥♥♥♥♥handed to me on a limeware platter. Each time I've been playing an assassin character (cuz assassins is how I roll) I always end up finding that my character can't even execute sneak attacks on petty imps without having to lodge 17 arrows in their face.

I play with the difficulty slider in the dead center. I've two mods, Oblivion XP which broke my game and I just installed all +5 attributes yesterday. However, +5 attributes almost makes it too easy, which is so weird because Kvatch almost requires you to have been taking all +5 attributes. I have only been playing level 5 dungeons though, not testing Kvatch yet.

My question is how do you guys cope with this levelling system? I've tried so hard to get into Oblivion because the atmosphere is so damn good, but I can;t do it because of this godforsaken levelling system.

This was kind of a rant so it may not be very organized.

Thanks.

I don't, the leveling system is perfect, it's so good that i haven't bothered to change it like most people do because that would ruin it, it keeps the game fresh and challenging, recently, i beat kvatch at level 18 on the default difficulty, it was tough but the high i got from doing it was nice, i had to grind destruction, alteration and conjuration for me to liberate kvatch even though my character is a warrior archetype, i didn't mind a bit, in fact, it was quite fun getting to discover and use these new spells and whatnot and i noticed my character becoming much stronger with said spells.
This made me realize that there is no useless skill.
That was a pretty interesting perspective, i may play a thief character in the future and see how i do.

[ice]

the only stat you actually have to level for min/max purposes is endurance, because the hp bonus derived from it at level up is not retroactive (this was fixed in fallout 3's leveling system because bethesda realized their grave mistake)

every other stat is irrelevant since if you just level up enough you will max out all of them eventually and the penalty will even out

I never did the math fully on the difference between an optimally endurance leveled characters final hp total versus not, but the numbers I ballparked showed the difference wasn't even very significant