Adept V.S. Apprentice Destruction and the Broken Bounty System.

[Swindle]

So, I have a couple of grievances (I have many grievances with this game, but I won't go into too long of a rant) concerning Destruction Mage and the Bounty System that I'm wondering if anyone can help me get a better understanding of.

Firstly I don't understand why it seems like Adept level Destruction spells seem to do less damage than Apprentice ones when dual cast. For example: Fire Bolt, Lightning Bolt, and Ice Spike all do 31 damage, equivilating to what I can only assume is 62 damage when Dual Cast.
VERSUS Chain Lightning, Fireball, and Ice Storm that all do 51 damage (these numbers aren't maxed by the way) which I would -ASSUME- would deal around 102 damage when dual cast. Instead, what winds up happening is it seems to still being doing the original 51 damage, making it just barely better than a single cast Apprentice level spell. I am utterly confused by this. EXCEPT for Ice Storm which can be obscenely OP in scant few instances where it seems like if you hit next to their feet, you'll just 1 hit most of the tougher enemies, Ice Storm is REALLY weird and inconsistent.

Secondly, I am absolutely ADAMANT about killing every last Thalmor I come across on the road. Unfortunately, because the Empire is currently ♥♥♥♥♥ whipped by them, it incurs a bounty on your head for doing so. Okay, fair enough. My issue comes in when there's absolutely no one else for miles around save for the 3 Thalmor Justicars and their Prisoner, I massacre ALL of them, the game is even like "Last witness killed, bounty of 2000 removed from Whiterun hold." and yet low-and-behold when I get to Roriksted I'm attacked on sight by the guards. What the ♥♥♥♥ is wrong with this game?! Is it because I accidentally vaporized a butterfly in the middle of all of this?

At any rate, if anybody has any clues as to what's going on, please clue me in. I feel like there's something I'm missing here. Help would be deeply appreciated.

Edit: Also, isn't it -F U C K I N G- STUPID how the Stormcloak prisoner counts as a witness?!

[AestheticallyOP]

Originally posted by Swindle:

So, I have a couple of grievances (I have many grievances with this game, but I won't go into too long of a rant) concerning Destruction Mage and the Bounty System that I'm wondering if anyone can help me get a better understanding of.

Firstly I don't understand why it seems like Adept level Destruction spells seem to do less damage than Apprentice ones when dual cast. For example: Fire Bolt, Lightning Bolt, and Ice Spike all do 31 damage, equivilating to what I can only assume is 62 damage when Dual Cast.
VERSUS Chain Lightning, Fireball, and Ice Storm that all do 51 damage (these numbers aren't maxed by the way) which I would -ASSUME- would deal around 102 damage when dual cast. Instead, what winds up happening is it seems to still being doing the original 51 damage, making it just barely better than a single cast Apprentice level spell. I am utterly confused by this. EXCEPT for Ice Storm which can be obscenely OP in scant few instances where it seems like if you hit next to their feet, you'll just 1 hit most of the tougher enemies, Ice Storm is REALLY weird and inconsistent.

Secondly, I am absolutely ADAMANT about killing every last Thalmor I come across on the road. Unfortunately, because the Empire is currently ♥♥♥♥♥ whipped by them, it incurs a bounty on your head for doing so. Okay, fair enough. My issue comes in when there's absolutely no one else for miles around save for the 3 Thalmor Justicars and their Prisoner, I massacre ALL of them, the game is even like "Last witness killed, bounty of 2000 removed from Whiterun hold." and yet low-and-behold when I get to Roriksted I'm attacked on sight by the guards. What the ♥♥♥♥ is wrong with this game?! Is it because I accidentally vaporized a butterfly in the middle of all of this?

At any rate, if anybody has any clues as to what's going on, please clue me in. I feel like there's something I'm missing here. Help would be deeply appreciated.

Just do 1000 bounty in all strongholds. That's an achievement tho :P

[Rez Elwin]

While I cannot help you with the magic issue as I use mods to make it better like actually scaling with destruction to have mages compete with the other classes. Well unless you want the name of some decent magic mods.


But for the Thalmor problem that's pretty simple. Just talk to them and "admit" you worship Talos, doing this will cause them to attack you and will not incur a bounty because it is then "self defense".

[Swindle]

Originally posted by Rez Elwin:

While I cannot help you with the magic issue as I use mods to make it better like actually scaling with destruction to have mages compete with the other classes. Well unless you want the name of some decent magic mods.


But for the Thalmor problem that's pretty simple. Just talk to them and "admit" you worship Talos, doing this will cause them to attack you and will not incur a bounty because it is then "self defense".

That's a fair point, I do have an Amulet of Talos on me.

[Misuune]

mages in skyrim is bad idea

[Swindle]

Originally posted by boomerguy:

mages in skyrim is bad idea

I don't see where it's any worse than say Warrior. I don't see why some people say it's so bad. I can reliably 3 and 4 hit tougher enemies like a warrior. It's just that, unlike Warriors, your damage doesn't scale aside from the Perks that increase it by 25% each time. You just wind up having to buy better spells. You can get your Enchanting to such that you can make at least 2 schools of magic cost literally nothing to cast. And maybe the Mage Armors aren't as good as regular, smithed up, armors but if you're letting them get that close to you as a mage to begin with, you're doing something wrong. I'm enjoying it. :/

Edit: It's just not the OP meta of Stealth Archer.

Re-Edit: I say they're not as good. I don't know (haven't really played a warrior and been too long as I played my stealth character to remember) how strong armor gets when smithed to max but, for an example: My Oak Flesh, which is a Novice level spell, with only the beginner 2x without armor perk, gives me an Armor score of 80. Stone Flesh, an Apprentice level perk, gives me an Armor rating of 120. That's not even maxed! My Apprentice level spells which only cost 14-17 Magicka to cast do 51 damage, again, not maxed. And that's not even factoring the stun-locking potential of Dual Casting with Impact. So, yeah, I don't get all the hubub about mage being "so terrible." I just don't get why the Adept level spells don't seem to add damage to the Dual Casted version.

[Drakzen]

Welcome to a Bethesda game, where bugs are plentiful!

[Swindle]

Originally posted by Drakzen:

Welcome to a Bethesda game, where bugs are plentiful!

You don't have to tell me twice. I stopped buying Bethesda games simply because I hate them for their complete and utter disregard for quality control. They simply don't care! "It just works."