Where to begin?

[PREDATOR]

So I just started playing Oblivion again and haven't played since I was like 11 lmao so I only done the beginning and took the amulet to Jauffre. What should I do next as a start besides the main quests? I have the GOTY edition with all DLC so all pointers I'll take.

[Ravendreams]

Just about anything you want really.

[dragongodofgames]

do the Guilds quests.

[Futa Fanatic]

If your brave do kvatch supergate, find/close every gate, get every house, should be plenty side quests in each town too.

[StreamWhenGuy]

roflmao

[PREDATOR]

Wow crazy all your answers are trash af. Give me some real ♥♥♥♥ tf.

[Boba Fett]

Hey Buddy,
I always start the game by joining the Thieves Guild for two reasons. It can be extremely tough to make a steady cash income in this game. Thieving allows you to rob stores, homes you are in, or just pick up random items you usually would avoid to turn in for cash. It pretty much makes every aspect of the game different. Are you on a fighters guild quest? Pick pocket them take their items, or hey this guy has his back turned let me grab that item of value off the table. The second reason is you will want to complete the Thieves guild early on is because the Gray Fox's mask is a one of a kind completely invaluable item in this game. You can pretty much get away with any crime by popping it on real quick then taking it off when you are done committing your crime. You will want to buy a house early on in this game so you can store all your items and you are not encumbered everywhere you go, thieving will help you achieve this. One thing I like to do in the beginning of the game is also go around to every Fighter/Mages guild location in each city and take EVERY item of value out of it. Grab the armor, weapons out of the fighters guild, and grab the books, alchemist supplies out of the Mages guild. There's two ways you can go about this either don't join those guilds and thieve the items to turn into the Thieves guild to raise the amount of money you have turned in. Or join the guilds and sell the items to a normal retailer in any city. You will most likely want to do the latter and join the Mages guild and Fighters guild, because they watch you pretty close if you are not part of those guilds in the guild halls, it is easy to get caught in there if you are not part of the guild. Plus if you are not in a city with a Thieves Guild plug than you will be forced to travel from city to city to move items which will take some time. I would say join the Mages guild as early on as possible since you will want to complete the mages guild quests, because than you will be able to go to the Arcane University and enchant all your items plus create spells.

Even though you did not ask this I feel inclined to also state this however. Certain quests I push off towards the end of the game (when you are level 30 plus) are the dark brotherhood quests and also the Shivering Isles quests. This is because the Dark Brotherhood and Shivering Isles reward very good items that are level scaled quite a bit, so if you get them later in the game they are MUCH MUCH better than if you get them early on. Dawnfang from the Shivering Isles for example if you get this item below level 30 it is just a normal sword. Get it at level 30 plus it is in fact the BEST sword in the game. Also I do not know if you know much about proper leveling, but if you get all your perks to 100 in this game before going to the Shivering Isles there is a Feldew addiction exploit to make your character even stronger past level 100 everything in this game. For these reasons save the Dark Brotherhood, Shivering Isles, and really most all the DLCs towards the end of your play through.

I hope this helps

[PREDATOR]

Originally posted by Boba Fett:

Hey Buddy,
I always start the game by joining the Thieves Guild for two reasons. It can be extremely tough to make a steady cash income in this game. Thieving allows you to rob stores, homes you are in, or just pick up random items you usually would avoid to turn in for cash. It pretty much makes every aspect of the game different. Are you on a fighters guild quest? Pick pocket them take their items, or hey this guy has his back turned let me grab that item of value off the table. The second reason is you will want to complete the Thieves guild early on is because the Gray Fox's mask is a one of a kind completely invaluable item in this game. You can pretty much get away with any crime by popping it on real quick then taking it off when you are done committing your crime. You will want to buy a house early on in this game so you can store all your items and you are not encumbered everywhere you go, thieving will help you achieve this. One thing I like to do in the beginning of the game is also go around to every Fighter/Mages guild location in each city and take EVERY item of value out of it. Grab the armor, weapons out of the fighters guild, and grab the books, alchemist supplies out of the Mages guild. There's two ways you can go about this either don't join those guilds and thieve the items to turn into the Thieves guild to raise the amount of money you have turned in. Or join the guilds and sell the items to a normal retailer in any city. You will most likely want to do the latter and join the Mages guild and Fighters guild, because they watch you pretty close if you are not part of those guilds in the guild halls, it is easy to get caught in there if you are not part of the guild. Plus if you are not in a city with a Thieves Guild plug than you will be forced to travel from city to city to move items which will take some time. I would say join the Mages guild as early on as possible since you will want to complete the mages guild quests, because than you will be able to go to the Arcane University and enchant all your items plus create spells.

Even though you did not ask this I feel inclined to also state this however. Certain quests I push off towards the end of the game (when you are level 30 plus) are the dark brotherhood quests and also the Shivering Isles quests. This is because the Dark Brotherhood and Shivering Isles reward very good items that are level scaled quite a bit, so if you get them later in the game they are MUCH MUCH better than if you get them early on. Dawnfang from the Shivering Isles for example if you get this item below level 30 it is just a normal sword. Get it at level 30 plus it is in fact the BEST sword in the game. Also I do not know if you know much about proper leveling, but if you get all your perks to 100 in this game before going to the Shivering Isles there is a Feldew addiction exploit to make your character even stronger past level 100 everything in this game. For these reasons save the Dark Brotherhood, Shivering Isles, and really most all the DLCs towards the end of your play through.

I hope this helps

Yes! I like that a lot. That is a super good idea and I appreciate you typing that all out

[arottweiler]

Start adding mods. When the game is updated with the official and unofficial patches and you have installed OBSE there are thousands of mods you can start adding to enhance the game. Epic quest mods, castle mods, weapons and armour mods, follower mods, utility mods etc. If you're looking for a challenge and past level 10 play the Midas Magic mod. It's massive with extremely tough enemies.

[Boba Fett]

Originally posted by PREDATOR:

Originally posted by Boba Fett:

Hey Buddy,
I always start the game by joining the Thieves Guild for two reasons. It can be extremely tough to make a steady cash income in this game. Thieving allows you to rob stores, homes you are in, or just pick up random items you usually would avoid to turn in for cash. It pretty much makes every aspect of the game different. Are you on a fighters guild quest? Pick pocket them take their items, or hey this guy has his back turned let me grab that item of value off the table. The second reason is you will want to complete the Thieves guild early on is because the Gray Fox's mask is a one of a kind completely invaluable item in this game. You can pretty much get away with any crime by popping it on real quick then taking it off when you are done committing your crime. You will want to buy a house early on in this game so you can store all your items and you are not encumbered everywhere you go, thieving will help you achieve this. One thing I like to do in the beginning of the game is also go around to every Fighter/Mages guild location in each city and take EVERY item of value out of it. Grab the armor, weapons out of the fighters guild, and grab the books, alchemist supplies out of the Mages guild. There's two ways you can go about this either don't join those guilds and thieve the items to turn into the Thieves guild to raise the amount of money you have turned in. Or join the guilds and sell the items to a normal retailer in any city. You will most likely want to do the latter and join the Mages guild and Fighters guild, because they watch you pretty close if you are not part of those guilds in the guild halls, it is easy to get caught in there if you are not part of the guild. Plus if you are not in a city with a Thieves Guild plug than you will be forced to travel from city to city to move items which will take some time. I would say join the Mages guild as early on as possible since you will want to complete the mages guild quests, because than you will be able to go to the Arcane University and enchant all your items plus create spells.

Even though you did not ask this I feel inclined to also state this however. Certain quests I push off towards the end of the game (when you are level 30 plus) are the dark brotherhood quests and also the Shivering Isles quests. This is because the Dark Brotherhood and Shivering Isles reward very good items that are level scaled quite a bit, so if you get them later in the game they are MUCH MUCH better than if you get them early on. Dawnfang from the Shivering Isles for example if you get this item below level 30 it is just a normal sword. Get it at level 30 plus it is in fact the BEST sword in the game. Also I do not know if you know much about proper leveling, but if you get all your perks to 100 in this game before going to the Shivering Isles there is a Feldew addiction exploit to make your character even stronger past level 100 everything in this game. For these reasons save the Dark Brotherhood, Shivering Isles, and really most all the DLCs towards the end of your play through.

I hope this helps

Yes! I like that a lot. That is a super good idea and I appreciate you typing that all out

No problem man, I am replaying the game currently too so these ideas are fresh in my mind. I'm glad you appreciate it. Let me know if you have other questions.

[Eternie]

When First starting all critters have your level and any quests where you have to accompany others will be fighting with you at that level. This UESP page lists quests that are best done early
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Quest_Timing#Quests_to_do_Early

Especially the Quests with Allies

Like the quest "The Killing Field" Help two brothers from Chorrol fight off 3 waves of goblins, The brothers won't survive if you are a higher level as the goblins level with you but the brothers don't. The reward if both brothers survive is Chillrend which is a levelled Frost damaging weapon. By delaying handing in the quest talking to the father later you can get a way better weapon after L5, L10, improving each 5 levels thereafter. (up to L25

Also the battle for Castle Kvatch (main Quest) has you battling with several soldiers which at later levels cannot compete with the hordes from Oblvion if they have increased levels.

I agree with Boba Fett to join the thieves guild early however all the travelling around to all those locations will raise your level quite quickly. So have a read of the UESP pages and make sure to do the early recommended quests as it will make them more rewarding to complete early.

Then turn them in for the reward when that reward will suit you best.

:Edit Also look up and read about Levelling in Oblivion as you want to avoid levelling as much as possible and only level when you have reached a +5 in each of three attributes so that your skills match that of enemies or by level 10 enemies will start owning you.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Leveling and efficent levelling.

This make Oblivion seem way more complicated but to enjoy it you need to learn how to level minor skills.

[PREDATOR]

Thanks Eternie very good too. I just did the kvatch mission and now trying to do some thieves guild stuff. I’ll have to go to chorrol and do that then next

[Eternie]

The main thing is to learn how to level well in Oblivion.

Having major skills that you only use when your ready to level and mainly using minor skills to raise enough attributes that you want to, without over doing it and losing that experience; when you come to level up.

[Boba Fett]

Originally posted by PREDATOR:

Thanks Eternie very good too. I just did the kvatch mission and now trying to do some thieves guild stuff. I’ll have to go to chorrol and do that then next

Yes Eternie is right, proper leveling is very important if not the most important thing to new characters. Some people choose to ignore this and just change the level scaling later in the game for a more fun experience, but if you want a truly balanced later game experience than you have to have proper leveling. I would of expanded on it more in my original post, but I myself am still learning about it in this new play through. If you create a custom class than you want a build a class with one trait in each of the attributes. For example I created a custom class of,

Stealth
Endurance, Luck

Acrobatic (Speed)
Armorer (Endurance)
Conjuration (Intelligence)
Destruction (Willpower)
Hand To Hand (Strength)
Marksman (Agility)
Illusion (Personality)

So when I level I am focusing on one branch of skills of each of those attributes, but you mainly want to level your minor skills so you can make them all reach 5. The first attribute you want to focus on leveling is Endurance however, because your health increases based off what your Endurance is. So leveling this up early game helps you have much more health later game.
This guy's guide I go back to quite a bit to help me better understand proper leveling.

https://youtu.be/sKYNMwcOPgM

[arottweiler]

I never adjust the difficulty slider during the game and think of that as close to cheating because I should be working out how to overcome the situation instead of reducing the difficulty to get past it. I set it to about 70% and then never touch it again. I view that as around the 'hard' setting which is how I like to play all games. I shudder at all those times I played FPS games on an easy setting and would complete them in a few days.

Every time I level up I concentrate on getting +5 for strength and endurance and alternate with intelligence and willpower. I use the skill book to help me keep track of how may times I've increased skills towards the 10 needed for +5. For strength I use blade and hand to hand which are minor skills so don't count to level up progress and for endurance I use armourer, block and heavy armour which are also all minor skills and easy to train. You can train block and heavy armour just by standing in heavy armour in the block position while a summoned skeleton bashes you. If you're wearing a combination of heavy and light armour then both skills increase although much more slowly. If your armour rating is high enough your health regenerates faster than it's depleted so you could carry on like that indefinitely if you use a permanent summon.

Skills are very easy to increase at low levels and gradually take longer which is outlined in the formulae behind it on UESP. I've never bothered to read up on that and just need to know skills take longer to increase as they increase but if you're interested in how something works then UESP is the definitive resource. My blade skill has got to the point where it can take a long time sparring with a skeleton to get the 10 points so I've started using a blade trainer to count 5 points towards it and reduce the time it takes. I can get to expert level in armourer very fast by going through the Sundercliff Watch at least once every level. It contains about 50+ NPCs so I use the Bag Of Holding mod to take it all back to base and equip a stack of repair hammers to repair them all and sell or use for myself and followers. All six of the magical skills are set as minor skills so I can train them and get +5 in intelligence and/or willpower every level without increasing level progress at all. Select a custom class and make sure all major skills are ones you will not be using often because the freedom it gives you over levelling up far outweighs any bonuses you get from choosing them as major skills. Just make sure to choose Breton race for that incredibly valuable 50% magic resistance.

No matter what type of character you're playing or the order of quests it's vital to get those +5s every level up to level 10 at least. People complain the levelling system is broken but it's not and UESP is like wikipedia for how the mechanics work. It just takes patience to maximise on every level and I think that's what the dev team wanted which is an ethos to "Go out, explore and do stuff".