Dragonborn

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Is the latest add-on to Skyrim. I purchased it last night. I'll have more to write about as I go through it. Evidently, there's about a 10-hour main quest that takes place there, and about 30 hours of additional playtime if you do all the side quests that can be found. It takes place on an island to the northeast of Skyrim, and it concerns the first Dragonborn, who has returned from the dead. Apparently, this Dragonborn was originally one of the dragon priests before turning against the dragons. (I probably would have called the expansion Dovakin, but that's just me.)

I only played about an hour last night, so I've only seen a fraction of what is offered. Evidently, there's more monsters, weapons, and armor (at least different crafting types - not entirely new pieces). There is also purportedly the addition of spears, although I have yet to see one.

Anyone else besides me excited about this?

 

Once you do run into the spears at least let me know how the animations are and if they look like they can be used by staves and the like.

 

Well, before I find spears I have to find a means of activating the expansion. In the hour or so I played last night, I just did some general questing and traveling to cities, figuring someone would have told me about this new island and starting a quest to get there. I haven't left the continent of Skyrim yet.

 

I am holding out for a while longer, still enjoying the new WoW expansion immensely. As soon as that starts to wear thin I think Skyrim with all addons and a full fresh play through is in order.

I seem to lag a lot on the boards now and my typing is very choppy. New snow client?

 

For some the snow causes issues but I havent had any issues with it personally.

Aldeth try this "Before doing anything drastic, head to the Windhelm docks and see if there is a boatman that will take you to Solstheim. The cultist attack trigger the main quest, true, but it isn't what unlocks the ability to travel to Solstheim - that can be done at any time.

Note, to start the MQ you do need to have completed the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller"

 

That's it! I'll do that forthwith.

 

Hopefully that solved the issues for you. Seems some people are having issues with the DLC not showing up in game at all that's why I posted that quote from the gamefaq skyrim forum.

 

Oh, that definitely was the issue. As soon as I entered Riverwood after retrieving the horn, I was attack by a band of "Cultists". When you find a note on one of their bodies and read it, it starts the expansion. I haven't had an oppotunity to play much of any of it, so I don't really have any updates to post on my opinion of the expansion. Hell, if it really is 30+ hours, I've played maybe an hour of it, so judging on 3% of it certainly doesn't seem fair.

That said, thanks a ton for the help of getting it started. I find the main quest among the least interesting aspects of the game, and I definitely am more of a side quest/ guild quest/ collect quests/ etc rather than the main quest.

 

MQ of dragon born is only 10 hours but its the rest of the stuff that makes it 30+ hours so yeah lol. Meaning you should fit in just fine with this since you can finish the main in about a day or 2 and then be free to work on the rest of the content.

I personally play on PC with mods so I have to wait for it to be released to us before I can try it out for myself. Hopefully a lot of the content can be used in mods to help make them better. AKA using the animations for battle staves would be a big plus for those weapon overhaul mods out there.

 

Truth be told, in the time I've spent thus far, it's been almost all side quests. I've barely started the main quest, simply out of convenience. There's a boat load of quests just in and around the first city you come to, and it's just easier to go and do them, rather than walking half way across the damn island to get to the next quest marker of the main quest.

Granted, it LOOKS farther than it is. The island is way smaller than Skyrim, and it appears they have adjusted the scale on the map to suit it. So something that on Skyrim's scale would be very far away isn't nearly so far on Saltheim.

Thus far, I think I've found out about all the new types of armor and a few decent unique weapons, one of which I disenchanted for "Chaos Damage". What it does is there's a 50% chance per hit of doing 37 frost, fire, or electricity damage. At least that's what was on the original weapon. I plan on throwing that enchantment on some dragonbone weapons, but it's a PITA to have to go back to Skyrim to get my crafting materials. I mean, some things it's easy enough to carry around with you, but you're not going to lug around dragon bones unless you KNOW you're going to need them.

It would appear that the new armors add some "light" classed armors to the side of the smithing tree that is typically associated with heavy armors, while there are likewise "heavy" classed armors associated with the light side of the smithing tree. Thus far, the armors I've discovered are as follows:

Chitin Armor: There is both a light and heavy version of this armor, differing by placing the word heavy when you craft/find them. So there's chitin armor, and chitin heavy armor. Both types are craftable provided you have the elven smithing perk. Both types require Chitin Plate and Netch Leather as base ingredients (purchasable at blacksmith shops on the island), and use the Chitin Plate as an upgrade material as well. There are no craftable chitin weapons. I like this armor - it's very "bug like" for lack of a better term, especially the eyes.

Bonemold Armor: This type is only available in heavy armor, and is craftable with just the steel smithing perk. The ingredients for it are just netch leather and bone meal, making it an economical choice for the thrifty adventurer. Bone meal is also the upgrade material for it. Like chitin, there are no weapons associated with this type. Other than the low cost, there's not much else this armor has going for it. I don't really like it's appearance, and it's base defense is only a little better than comparable steel armor. To be fair, I've been given a quest to find an "improved bone mold recipe". If that does improve the defense considerably, then you'd have a means of getting a high defense piece of armor with just the steel smithing perk. As of now though, the most disappointing of the new types added.

Carved Nordic: Now we're getting somewhere. This one gives you heavy armor, and also comes with weapons. You'll need an assortment on ingots to craft this stuff - steel, ebony, and quicksilver to be precise, with quicksilver also serving as the upgrade material. It becomes craftable after acquiring the advanaced armor smithing perk. That's a big plus for those of us utilizing that side of the tree, as previously, there were no craftable weapons available with that perk. From a pure aesthetic perspective, carved nordic is some of the nicest looking armor and weapons you'll find in the game. I'm more of a light armor guy, so I doubt I'll actually use the armor, but you can bet it will find a spot on one of my mannequins at Lakewood Manor.

Stalhrim: I cannot craft this armor or the associated weapons, which means it must utilize a perk on the right hand side of the smithing tree. Based on the base damage of the weapons I've found, I'm guessing you'll need ebony smithing to make it. I've also found a two pieces of armor of this type, and since one was heavy and one light, I assume that complete sets of both heavy and light design can be obtained once you get the requisite perk. In appearance (and I concede I haven't seen the entire set yet), it looks similar to the ancient falmer pieces that were added in the Dawnguard expansion, except that these have blue hues in them, with fur trim along the edges of the wrists and neck (the two pieces I've found were body armor and gauntlets). I'd like to see the helmet, as to me that's the piece that really makes or breaks the set in a lot of cases, but I do like what I've seen so far.

 

Nice and if I remember right Chitin was in Morrowind as well.

 

Oh, one other thing. You can craft this new armors and weapons anywhere. There's no need to start the expansion in order to make them - they come up on the list of options as soon as you get the perk at all forges everywhere. This differs from crossbows and bolts, which can only be forged at Dawnguard Castle.

That said, many of the items you'll need can only be found or purchased in Saltheim. For example, Netch Leather isn't obtainable on Skyrim, so you won't be able to make bonemold or chitin armor until you go there. Similarly, Stalhrim can't be obtained on the mainland, so that armor type is out too. Which leaves only Carved Nordic as an armor and weapon choice that can be obtained prior to starting the expansion. (And even with that, in the time it would take you to already have the perk for advanced armors, you're likely already far enough into the main quest to go there.

To me, with the additions of new heavy armor types to the light armor side, it only makes the decision easier to go up the smithing tree on the lieft hand side. Even if you want to use heavy armor some of the time to just raise the skill level, you now have options for heavy armor crafting all along the left hand side of the tree.

Everyone must start with steel, but elven now gives you elven and standard chitin armor as light options, and heavy chitin as heavy armor. Advanced armors still allows you to make scaled armor as a light option (scaled is probably my least-utilized armor set), but now the stunning carved nordic is available as a heavy option. That it also gives you new weapons to utilize between elven and glass is just a bonus. Glass is the only perk that remains light only, as dragon always gave you two options.

 

A few more opinions. I definitely recommend everyone to do some of the side quests within the city first. There is a means of acquiring a house in the expansion, and frankly, you'll need it. It's a royal PITA to have to lug stuff you want to keep back to one of your houses on the mainland. I'm not going to spoiler anything, but just talk to the people around town who look like high ranking government officials, and you'll eventually get through a quest that gives you a house as a reward. It comes fully furnished with storage, lots of weapon racks, and all the crafting centers for smithing, enchanting, and alchemy.

Once you start the expansion, you can travel back and forth to the mainland as much as you like, although the round trip will cost you 500 septims for the ferry. (The guy who runs the ferry charges 250 septims per trip, both coming and going.) It's not the cost, I just hate wasting RL time with loading screens traveling back and forth. The ferry is in the dock area of Windhelm, so you can't fast travel directly to it. You have to fast travel to Windhlem, and then go out the other gate to get to the docks. So two loading screens to get to the ferry, and then a third loading screen once you get on the ferry. At least on the way back, you're dropped off at the docks, and are considered outdoors, so you can fast travel anywhere.

A couple of other nitpicky things. I certainly didn't expect a ton of new voice actors in the expansion, but many of the merchants use the exact same sound files as merchants you encountered previously. For example, the blacksmith in Raven Rock (the only major city on the island, and the location of the house you can acquire) uses the exact same voice sets as Balimund in Riften. Same cadence and everything in his speech. They had to get whoever does the voice to do the dialog for the quest he has for you, but it was too much to ask to have them do a new voice set for the regular banter?

I also guess that most players of Skyrim really like the follower system, because there are a considerable number of additional followers on the island. I'm generally NOT a fan of followers, as the AI is such that you can never get them to perform the way you'd like them too. Even the thief based characters - which one would presume would follow a more stealthy play style - rush headlong into combat at soom as they encounter an enemy. I haven't kept any of them as followers beyond the one occassion where one insisted on following me through a quest. I found her equally worthless as the regular followers, and it would appear that the purpose of the followers is for Bethesda to show off their new armor and weapon sets.

For those who were excited about the presence of spears in the expansion, you're going to be disappointed. They are unpurchasable, and the only spears I have encountered have been as loot from one of the new creatures, reiklings. They are small goblin-like creatures, about 4 feet tall with blue skin. The spears are listed as ammunition, with zero weight. So when you equip them, you load them and fire them with your bow. However, since they are spears, and not arrows, they fly about 5 feet before landing in the ground, so they could only be utilized as weapons at point blank range.

The flora and fauna of Saltheim is also completely distinct from the mainland. There are no bears, deer, or sabre cats on the island. The only fauna I've encountered are wild boars (which the reiklings sometimes use as mounts), hoppers (giant grasshoppers), and the omnipresent netch. The only spiders I've encountered are these small albino spiders, which are unsurprisingly white, and are considerably smaller than their frostbite cousins on the mainland.

While all the flora are also distinct, some are carbon copies of a different color of stuff you find in skyrim. For example, instead of creep clusters, you'll find ashen creep clusters. Same graphic, different color. However, the ashen versions of these plants have a completely different set of alchemical properties as their mainland counterparts. I've already discovered most of the new recipies for the new ingredients, and two particular ingredients bears special mention - trama roots and netch jelly. Both are very common - you'll find a ton of trama roots just walking around, and netch jelly is acquirable from the body of any netch you kill, and there's netch all over the place. Trama roots properties include slow and fortify carry weight, and netch jelly has paralysis and fortify carry weight and thus yield valuable potions. The most common plant you'll encounter is scathecraw - there are literally hundreds of them, and dozens in Raven Rock alone, where you arrive in the expansion. They are also quite useless as far as potion making is concerned, unless you're interested in low-grade poisons. They have ravage health, magicka, and stamina, and lingering damage health as their properties, none of which yield high-value potions.

 

Finished the main quest of the expansion. Truth be told, the far more enjoyable part of it was doing the various black book quests. There are evidently 7 of them altogether, of which I have done 5. When you complete a black book quest you are granted a special ability - like all spells cost 10% less to cast, all melee attacks do 10% more damage, or whatever - there's a lot of them.

I can also confirm that you need ebony smithing to be able to craft Stalhrim armor and weapons. And the reason I know this - when I NEVER spend my precious perks to get heavy armor smithing - is because of one specific reward you get from the black book quests.

YOU CAN NOW RESPEC YOUR CHARACTER. For the cost of a dragon soul, you can remove all the perks of a given tree and distribute them in other trees of your chosing. So it's not one dragon soul to completely redo your character. It's a dragon soul to clear out all of your perks in say, heavy armor, and have them to place somewhere else. However, since the only limitation to the number of times you can use this ability is the number of dragon souls you possess, it is possible to completely redo your character.

Another special ability that I selected from one of the books was also a no-brainer - gain two skill points instead of one when you read a skill book. Since I did this early in the game, when I hadn't read a lot of books, it sure made leveling high level skills a lot easier. My current character has conjuration and alteration to 100, and he did it without needing to do the path of magic on discerning the transmundane, nor spamming stuff like watherbreathing or soul trap. Simple training and aquisition of skill books was enough.

I'll probably take this character up to level 81 - there's no reason not to when I can redistribute perks - and then I can try out whatever character I want. I'll just join the blades and go on a dragon hunting spree every time I want to try something new.

 

One other small comment - I did pick up ebony smithing to craft the light salthrim armor set, and I do like its appearance just as much as the ancient carved nordic armor. Possibly more. Like I said, the helm counts for a lot, and I love it. Also picked up a unique armor set - which actually does look a lot like light salthrim armor - of a pirate lord. It's a very unusual set in that each piece has a special ability, but you get that exact same bonus for each piece of equipment you wear. For example, the gaunlets have a +10% damage when dual wielding attribute on them, but it's +10% per piece, so if you're wearing the full set, it's +40% damage when dual wielding

 

Sounds like a proper set to me. The more you wear the more powerful the bonuses and not just the armor rating.

 

True, but the problem then becomes it's an all-or-nothing decision. For example the boots give a +15 carry capacity boots, which is raised to +60 when wearing the full set. While it's true that 60 exceeds any fortify carry weight enchantment you could place on the boots, it's really not enough to justify wearing the boots.

A skilled enchanter can get +40 carry weight on boots (even without use of fortify enchanting potions), and can pair that up with a second useful enchantment, like fortify one handed for a +40% damage boost that equals what you get from the gloves. So you can get 2/3 the effects of the boots and all of the effects from the gloves by simply crafting one piece of equipment.

But as soon as you take away the boots, all the other pieces of the set become 25% weaker. Not to mention that you could also enchant a pair of gloves with those same fortifications. So you can get a total of +80% damage and +80 carry weight out of home made enchanted boots, or +40% damage and +60 carry weight out of the set items. So while it sounds good in theory, unless you really like ALL the echantments on a set of armor, you're still better off crafting your own.

That said, it looks awesome on display in my house.