Your first mistakes

[Yayayeet]

What noob mistakes did you make when you first started playing skyrim

[Cat]

I shot a chicken in a village...
And yes as pretty much everyone, I also thought I can take on at least one hit from a giant.

[BelphegorATS]

Originally posted by Skyrimnut:

I have tons...

1. Overencumbered right out of Helgen.
2. In the beginning took anything in Whiterun that wasn't nailed down and then wondered why three big guys were always after me.
3. Took on Falmer way. too. soon.
4. Achieved low altitude Nirn orbit. Giants.
5. Took everything that wasn't nailed down, YET did not join the Thieves Guild.
6. Broke many, many lockpicks
7. Snuck around everywhere because I was so afraid of dying.
8. Choosing a Bosmer
9. Right out of Helgen was a warhammer swinging Bosmer on sneak and overencumbered
10. Forgot to put on armor
11. Ran around the prologue for a good 20 minutes dodging alduin because my sound was too high and I didn't hear Ralof the first time, and I didn't know where to go.
12. Not knowing the basics of the controller. Accidently made Hadvar hostile cause I forgot which buttons to press
13. Killed Anise, another 3 guys. Why 3 Nord guys thought it was cool to beat up a tiny Bosmer female is beyond me. Milkdrinkers...
14. Was a Bosmer and didn't start using bows until level 10. This Bosmer couldn't shoot straight until level 15. A shame to Y'ffre.
15. Perked EVERY skill cause I thought you had to. It was blind luck that sneak and archery finally made it to 100.

Blind luck that this build beat the game because it was a very, very stupid build. Tower stone anyone?

There are some points I would like to make regarding these mistakes. I mean no offense; I just want to provide solutions when I can and find the root of each problem you listed. I'm sure you're a better player now than when you first started playing Skyrim, but I just want to go over this so new players who read this can make use of this advice.

1. You took everything that was in Helgen, including misc. items you didn't need.
2 & 13. Those thugs weren't after you for no reason; NPCs hired them because you stole things from them among other crimes. Anise in particular is aligned with a Hagraven called Moira, who spawns during Sanguine's quest--not before the quest begins--so killing Anise and stealing from her may cause thugs to come after you as they were hired by Moira.
3 & 4. It's true that you shouldn't approach enemies stronger than you until your character levels up a bit. I recommend switching the difficulty to the easiest setting for a better chance of surviving against these enemies. You could also activate god mode (console command: tgm) as a last resort if you're playing on a PC, but make sure to deactivate it by entering the command again after combat so your character won't be too strong.
5. You should join the Thieve's Guild as early as possible if playing a thief build because the guild has a fence you can sell stolen goods to. More fences will be unlocked in some of the other major Holds in Skyrim as the Thieve's Guild questline progresses, so you won't have to travel back to Riften after every heist you go on.
6. Keep a steady supply of lockpicks on you and take all of the perks in the lockpicking skill, save for Wax Key because that's more of a useless skill than a benefit since it only provides you with duplicates of keys for some locks that also use keys.
7, 8, 9, & 14. There's nothing wrong with those choices if you want to play as a stealth build, but sometimes even Bosmer can make good mage or warrior builds if you only take what's needed for the class you're playing as. I myself created a Bosmer who's based on the bow knight class from the Fire Emblem games, a class that specialized in mounted combat with bows and swords. However, some skills don't work well with others, such as two-handed and sneak because the extra damage done by stealth attacks isn't applied to two-handed weapons. You don't have to go pure stealth or even partly stealth as a Bosmer if you don't want to, nor do you have to wield bows if your preferred style of combat is melee or magic.
10. The two armor skills are crucial depending on what specialization you're going for. Combat requires heavy armor and stealth covers light armor. Some mage builds also make use of either armor type, but pure mages don't since they have spells that increase their armor rating and provide the same protection armor provides.
11. That is somewhat understandable, but it also looks like a contradiction in my opinion since you said that you couldn't hear Ralof the first time even though your volume was up.
12. Look at the instruction booklet/manual to see what the controls do and check if you can change the controls to a format you're used to.
15. You can take every perk in any skill if you feel the perks are useful for the build you're playing as. For example, every skill in light and heavy armor contributes to how you make use of it. Sometimes you'll have to take a skill that you don't want just to get a perk that'll be useful. For instance, the Backstab perk in sneak is only useful if you're using swords while playing a stealth build. It's not required if you're wielding a bow and a dagger or two, but the perk comes before the respective perks for those other weapons, meaning you have to take it just to get the others.

This is all the advice I can give regarding these points. Hopefully it helps new players who are just starting Skyrim for the first time, or having trouble making a decision about how to play.

[Skyrimnut]

Originally posted by BelphegorATS:

Originally posted by Skyrimnut:

I have tons...

1. Overencumbered right out of Helgen.
2. In the beginning took anything in Whiterun that wasn't nailed down and then wondered why three big guys were always after me.
3. Took on Falmer way. too. soon.
4. Achieved low altitude Nirn orbit. Giants.
5. Took everything that wasn't nailed down, YET did not join the Thieves Guild.
6. Broke many, many lockpicks
7. Snuck around everywhere because I was so afraid of dying.
8. Choosing a Bosmer
9. Right out of Helgen was a warhammer swinging Bosmer on sneak and overencumbered
10. Forgot to put on armor
11. Ran around the prologue for a good 20 minutes dodging alduin because my sound was too high and I didn't hear Ralof the first time, and I didn't know where to go.
12. Not knowing the basics of the controller. Accidently made Hadvar hostile cause I forgot which buttons to press
13. Killed Anise, another 3 guys. Why 3 Nord guys thought it was cool to beat up a tiny Bosmer female is beyond me. Milkdrinkers...
14. Was a Bosmer and didn't start using bows until level 10. This Bosmer couldn't shoot straight until level 15. A shame to Y'ffre.
15. Perked EVERY skill cause I thought you had to. It was blind luck that sneak and archery finally made it to 100.

Blind luck that this build beat the game because it was a very, very stupid build. Tower stone anyone?

There are some points I would like to make regarding these mistakes. I mean no offense; I just want to provide solutions when I can and find the root of each problem you listed. I'm sure you're a better player now than when you first started playing Skyrim, but I just want to go over this so new players who read this can make use of this advice.

1. You took everything that was in Helgen, including misc. items you didn't need.
2 & 13. Those thugs weren't after you for no reason; NPCs hired them because you stole things from them among other crimes. Anise in particular is aligned with a Hagraven called Moira, who spawns during Sanguine's quest--not before the quest begins--so killing Anise and stealing from her may cause thugs to come after you as they were hired by Moira.
3 & 4. It's true that you shouldn't approach enemies stronger than you until your character levels up a bit. I recommend switching the difficulty to the easiest setting for a better chance of surviving against these enemies. You could also activate god mode (console command: tgm) as a last resort if you're playing on a PC, but make sure to deactivate it by entering the command again after combat so your character won't be too strong.
5. You should join the Thieve's Guild as early as possible if playing a thief build because the guild has a fence you can sell stolen goods to. More fences will be unlocked in some of the other major Holds in Skyrim as the Thieve's Guild questline progresses, so you won't have to travel back to Riften after every heist you go on.
6. Keep a steady supply of lockpicks on you and take all of the perks in the lockpicking skill, save for Wax Key because that's more of a useless skill than a benefit since it only provides you with duplicates of keys for some locks that also use keys.
7, 8, 9, & 14. There's nothing wrong with those choices if you want to play as a stealth build, but sometimes even Bosmer can make good mage or warrior builds if you only take what's needed for the class you're playing as. I myself created a Bosmer who's based on the bow knight class from the Fire Emblem games, a class that specialized in mounted combat with bows and swords. However, some skills don't work well with others, such as two-handed and sneak because the extra damage done by stealth attacks isn't applied to two-handed weapons. You don't have to go pure stealth or even partly stealth as a Bosmer if you don't want to, nor do you have to wield bows if your preferred style of combat is melee or magic.
10. The two armor skills are crucial depending on what specialization you're going for. Combat requires heavy armor and stealth covers light armor. Some mage builds also make use of either armor type, but pure mages don't since they have spells that increase their armor rating and provide the same protection armor provides.
11. That is somewhat understandable, but it also looks like a contradiction in my opinion since you said that you couldn't hear Ralof the first time even though your volume was up.
12. Look at the instruction booklet/manual to see what the controls do and check if you can change the controls to a format you're used to.
15. You can take every perk in any skill if you feel the perks are useful for the build you're playing as. For example, every skill in light and heavy armor contributes to how you make use of it. Sometimes you'll have to take a skill that you don't want just to get a perk that'll be useful. For instance, the Backstab perk in sneak is only useful if you're using swords while playing a stealth build. It's not required if you're wielding a bow and a dagger or two, but the perk comes before the respective perks for those other weapons, meaning you have to take it just to get the others.

This is all the advice I can give regarding these points. Hopefully it helps new players who are just starting Skyrim for the first time, or having trouble making a decision about how to play.

Lol, I certainly don't need the advice now! Especially after 2000+ hours in the game but I went into the game without consulting wikis, and having it probably would've saved me a lot of trouble. However, that being said, I think I had a more "honest" first playthrough than most as I literally went through it blind, solving puzzles on my own, making not necessarily the right decisions, but the ones that seemed appropriate for the time, not taking advantage of exploits in crafting. I did read the directions on the controls, however, reading the directions and then their application are two different things. This was my first game with controller, the dexterity was difficult to master in the beginning, and I had to play around with a lot of the settings. The Helgen sequence, for a beginner on controller, was hard for me. The sound was an issue too, my dialogue sound was low, yet the music and effect were up. That explains the contradiction. No, I didn't pick up everything, but you can still be overencumbered if you pick up all the weapons and armor.

I'm not really offended, I think my answers were very honest and I don't mind saying that I sucked at the game in the beginning. At least I knew not to kill chickens, nor kill everyone in sight. By the end, she was able to one-shot the final boss, so not too shabby. This final build I'm doing is her antithesis in several ways. If you're curious, check out my "I'm tired of Restarteritus" thread.

[Van Marcoh]

My first mistake was at Helgen. I wanted to follow Ralof, but I didn't remember which door he took. And I chose wrong! I punished Hadvar for it.

[Clever Monkey]

Originally posted by Van Marcoh:

My first mistake was at Helgen. I wanted to follow Ralof, but I didn't remember which door he took. And I chose wrong! I punished Hadvar for it.

thats funny cause the first time i played i explored the chaos and missed the interaction between them. i went in the first door i saw but didnt realize it was Ralof. I thought i was still Following Hadvar. i think i noticed on our way to Riverwood, looked into it and discovered I had a choice

[Shufflecat]

After seeing the basement of the Thalmor embassy, I thought I'd be a big d*** hero and start rescuing those prisoners being hauled around by the Thalmor Justicars. First one just ran straight to the nearst city and reported me to the guard for murdering his captors. After that I just threw up my hands and said "screw it: you guys all deserve each other".

[Zefram Cochrane]

Everythng. Didn't have a clue what I was doing, where I was going, who was I supposed to follow? Just followed Hadvar because I didn't even notice the Stormcloak guy I was in the carriage with. After he told me "we should split up" I just stopped on the road and thought "what the heck do I do now?"

Wandered outside the next day, thought whats that strange looking thing in the distance, next minute "whump!" I'im launched a thousand feet in the air by a giant...

Wrong class, started out one handed because that was the most obvious thing to start with, switched to archery only later.

[MageThis]

Originally posted by Smile n Fire:

Originally posted by Van Marcoh:

My first mistake was at Helgen. I wanted to follow Ralof, but I didn't remember which door he took. And I chose wrong! I punished Hadvar for it.

thats funny cause the first time i played i explored the chaos and missed the interaction between them. i went in the first door i saw but didnt realize it was Ralof. I thought i was still Following Hadvar. i think i noticed on our way to Riverwood, looked into it and discovered I had a choice

Ditto here. But I mean it was an f'ing (flying) fire-breathing DRAGON so first door, really any door, for me.

[gnewna]

Originally posted by BelphegorATS:

Originally posted by Smile n Fire:

That chicken is tougher than it looks

There's actually a funny anecdote regarding that. An article I once read on The Escapist was about how the chickens were somehow reporting the developers to guards in the game for any crimes they commited. It went on to say that the bug was removed, but mentioned someone could just mod it back into the game. It's quite a hilarious bug, really; unhelpful to people who play as rogue classes, but hilarious. Google the article and read it for a laugh if you want.

First character I made I was going to play as a thief, didn't really know how the game worked so assumed that stealing whatever wasn't nailed down was a good way to start (I guess I figured there'd be something like the pickpocketing skill where if you successfully steal without being caught you'd get experience for it). First stuff that looked good was all that nice stuff sitting outside Alvor's shop, it was late at night, nobody was around, so I helped myself to a few things (not knowing I'd not be able to sell them without a fence - didn't figure that out for quite a long time as I ended up ditching them for better stuff in Bleak Falls, and only stole light things for a while, then gave up on thieving). Didn't notice a bounty message,but I must have had one because a little while later, on my way back to the inn (also didn't realise I could stay at Gerdur's place for free) I killed that one chicken and it said 'last witness killed, 40 bounty removed from Whiterun hold'.

I also assumed I'd need fur boots because of the snow when I went up the mountain...

[Shelt]

Running around wondering what to do with all this iron ore I collected.

Trying to sneak in heavy armor

Ignoring smithing, enchanting, and alchemy

Thinking gold was important

Thinking doomstones were unimportant

Not using magic much

[Shelt]

Depends on what difficulty you play on I guess, but those secondary skills are all really linked together for a purpose.

Dig up some iron ore, use transmute to turn it into gold ore, smelter it into ingots, smith it into jewlry, enchant it while under the effects of a potion and either use it or sell it.

Alchemy might just be the most overpowered stand alone skill there is. The potential for poisons alone is near game breaking.

[Sir Squirrelliam Walnuts]

Fought a piece of cabbage and lost.

[MageThis]

Originally posted by Thrashmetalfan92:

Fought a piece of cabbage and lost.

Ah, you are the DragonBorn that the Bard sings of in the inimitable "I Fought the Cabbage and the Cabbage Won" ballad.

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

I assumed that the vampire lord's wings enabled flight and decided to test it out on the nearby cliffs.

[Shelt]

Originally posted by TiltedDomino:

Before I restarted I was fortunate to come around a multitude of potions that replenished me when I needed, so I never really needed to make my own. Alternatively I just use Healing Hands.

Yea, if you're just playing on normal difficulty, you'll likely have dozens of powerful potions saved up in no time. There are far too many potions just lying around. They should have increased the scarcity of nearly everything in the game to force people to actually use skills like alchemy.