Rai'ven

Seeing as to how you decided to deal with the "spouse problem" I don't even want to think about the fate of those poor kids . . .

Destined to die a lonely and shriveled husk

Just a thought here - have you completed the civil war quest line on this play through yet? If not, is your house located in Imperial or Stormcloak territory? I've noticed that the bards usually "change their tune" to support the winning side once the war is over but remain loyal to the local side before that.

I've had the "stuck in sneak mode" problem from time to time myself. While I don't have "works every time solution" I can recommend that you try engaging in various activities that may break it such as: Sitting on a bench or chair and getting back up Smithing Alchemy enchanting Sleeping in a bed etc Usually doing these breaks the sneak mode. Give t a try.

Being a werewolf shouldn't make any difference on your ability to do the Dawnguard quest line. I've done it several times as a werewolf. Are you being stopped at the gate to Fort Dawngard or Castle Volkihar? And, is Serena with you?

If you talk with the blacksmith in Ravenrock he will ask you to retrieve his Nordic Pickaxe from Crescius Caerellius. At that point you should be able to find him in the mine. Crescius will give you the Pickaxe when you ask him for it. If you talk with him further he will ask you to help him with a quest of his own. That quest will take you deep into the mine where you will eventually find the Bloodskal blade. Be sure to take the Nordic Pickaxa with you.

Sorry Patrick, I think you're stuck. If you haven't read the book yet I'd recommend saving it for later when your levels are higher since it becomes harder and harder to level up as your levels increase. Thee are some ways to take advantage of the "Legendary" skill level in the skill trees. If you are interested I can show you how to level up quickly (but not as quickly as the OI glitch).

Sorry, I know that was kind of vague. I was trying not to give you information you didn't want to know.

No, the Oghma Infinium trick is cheating in my book. Besides I'm pretty sure they fixed that glitch, at least for us console users. Mine has to do with the efficient use of certain magic spells. I can respect your dedication to the experience. Easy leveling can take the fun out of it in certain respects. Though I seem to always find a way to have fun. One of the more entertaining (though completely implausible) examples was after taking my sneak and pickpocket trees to 100 and dawning some enchanted items to further boost their effectiveness. I snuck around Riften and pick pocketed the armor from all the guards. I left them with their boots and weapons. Sounds stupid I know but it was hilarious to watch them patrol the town all serious like in their underwear. My game start tips have to do with making the most of early loot gathering and the benefits of making friends with one particular NPC.

No worries. If you're are level 70 then you're getting to the point where it's becoming increasing more difficult to level up. I'd be happy to share a technique that will help you level faster than you ever thought possible (and it's not cheating either). From your previous posts it sounds like you have the Legendary edition which means that you will not be stuck at the 80 level cap. I have two characters that I've taken past 150 and the one I recently started is at 102 or so. Too bad about killing Astrid but if you have a problem with the morality of the Thieves Guild quests, you definitely wouldn't like the Dark Brotherhood quests! Heck, you have to kill some poor soul just to get into the DB. That said, I would encourage you to set your reality based morality aside and enjoy the game. The quests are entertaining and there is a sense of satisfaction for having completed each of the quest lines. So when you're ready start a new character and give them a go. Speaking of starting a new character, I have a tip for you that will make the early game so much more manageable. So let me know if you want those tips as well.

Well Francis, this is where I as a PS3 (Skyrim) & PS4 (ESO) player am forced to admit that the PC players have a certain advantage over us console folk. I've seen some truly amazing videos of add-on and video enhancements available to the PC crowd and do find myself envious at times, but alas, it's just not an option for me. I do hope we can still be friends though! I don't mind the excitement over ESO, I'm excited too. And, you're right, there is a significant difference between Skyrim and ESO. I had the opportunity to participate in the final two beta weekends and am eagerly awaiting the console release (and hopefully some early console beta play as well). It doesn't change my fondness for Skyrim and my hope for an Elder Scrolls VI. I'm curious, you mentioned that you've kept your original character. Have you played through all the quest lines? What level is your character? Are you still playing, and if so, what are you up to ATM (add-ons or regular content)?

Yea, it really is. Even though I've played it several times I keep coming back for more. With my first character I kept trying to "finish" the game and even when I learned that I couldn't I still came up with little completion challenges like visiting EVERY possible location on the map. The funny part is that I have since learned that it is actually more fun to start over. For me, I find the content below level 50 to be the most rewarding. And, since you can do it in literally any order I like to try out different character and quest line combos. I think that in the next one I start I will try to purposely skip Riverwood and go straight to Whiterun or one of the other major holds just to see what that would be like.

Just wanted to take a minute and say that I'm glad I found you all. I fell in love with Skyrim from the moment I first played it about a year ago. Since then I've played through the majority of the quests with several different characters and still keep coming back for more. Then, I heard about Eldescrolls Online and immediately signed up for participation in beta testing. I was fortunate enough to have played in the final two weekends before it went live for PC & MAC. I will be playing on PS4 when it (finally) comes out and am again hopeful to participle in the beta testing for it as well. Currently I'm a member of two ESO player guilds, one for PvE and PvP and the other is a crafting guild. I look forward to getting to know you all as we move forward and I'm sure that I will learn a great deal from you as well. See you in the forums, Rai'ven