3 different questions-any advice?

[CaitliN609]

This is long so please bear with me!!

1) I'm at level 45, and lately I've been smithing and improving my own armor and weapons. I just recently found out about the alchemy/enchanting potions to help with smithing I just haven't had the time to get everything to level 100 yet. My smithing is at 100, and my enchanting is at 85. My alchemy is pretty damn low at like 23. When I craft my daedric and dragon weapons (with enchanted gear on) they come out at about level 72 or so. When I wear enchanted rings and necklaces to increase my two handed my dragon Bone great sword is at 123 and my daedric battleaxe is 132, while my daedric armor altogether (legendary) is 224, my dragon armor is 204. With all that said I'm having so much trouble playing at adept difficulty, some times even apprentice. Anyone know why this is or have any tips? Is my gear good enough for adept difficulty? I rarely die but I'm tired of downing potions, almost getting killed with three hits and taking a lot of swings at enemy's with pretty decent weapons and armor. ( I've been playing Skyrim for a while btw I'm just now messing around with higher difficulty)

2) Are dragon attacks more or less just random encounters or do they happen more frequently the higher you level up? Because lately I've been bombarded with elder dragons, it's getting ridiculous. I fast travel a lot, but even if I take a carriage some where they'll show up. Even running around I'll look in the sky and see 3 flying in different directions is this normal the more you play or am I just unlucky? Lol

3) I couldn't find anything on Google or any threads about this, and I don't know if anyone else is having this problem but for some reason every time I search the 6 guild chests underwater in the Ragged Flagon, the owners of each chest become hostile. Not just Tonilias fence chest, but I mean all the shop owners in the ragged flagon get pissed and attack me every time I surface from the water back into the guild. It's usually the alchemy dude Herluin and two of the blacksmiths, Vanryth and Galathil. Sometimes if I just take the gold out of one chest I'll be alright, but for the most part I can't loot any of the chests at all without the outcome of being attacked. Also, they don't stop attacking even if I sheath my weapon, and if I kill one obviously I'll get kicked out of the guild. Anyone else ever have this problem and is there a way to do this so I don't get caught? Or is this a glitch and I'm basically screwed out of getting the gold/loot in those chests? As much as I've looked this up online it seems nobody else has much of a problem with it.

[Buttons]

Hi Caitlin! I didn't even know they had chests under all that water. Makes sense now that I think about it. I'm gonna go check it out and get back to you on that one.

[CaitliN609]

Okay thanks! ^ If you didn't know how to get to them, use a wooden plate and hold it up against the door to the rat way (the door in between shops) and sprint into the door, you should drop down into the water and swim behind you he chests will be In a circle under the water...hope this helps!

[David]

3) I couldn't find anything on Google or any threads about this, and I don't know if anyone else is having this problem but for some reason every time I search the 6 guild chests underwater in the Ragged Flagon, the owners of each chest become hostile. Not just Tonilias fence chest, but I mean all the shop owners in the ragged flagon get pissed and attack me every time I surface from the water back into the guild. It's usually the alchemy dude Herluin and two of the blacksmiths, Vanryth and Galathil. Sometimes if I just take the gold out of one chest I'll be alright, but for the most part I can't loot any of the chests at all without the outcome of being attacked. Also, they don't stop attacking even if I sheath my weapon, and if I kill one obviously I'll get kicked out of the guild. Anyone else ever have this problem and is there a way to do this so I don't get caught? Or is this a glitch and I'm basically screwed out of getting the gold/loot in those chests? As much as I've looked this up online it seems nobody else has much of a problem with it. 

 

Doesn't sound like a bug to me -- you're stealing their possessions! You can't go into sneak mode under water, so they can probably see you do it.

[Buttons]

Ok, thanks for the tip; I went on u tube because I couldn't find them, and a vid on the tube told me the same thing as you, but when I tried it wouldn't let me go through, so I figure I'm doing it wrong....

 

HOWEVER! I then went into console, as I am on pc, and typed in tcl, which allows me to fly. Same thing as your plate trick really. THAT WORKED! Very excited... anyway, I ended up taking the gold from each chest, But I had to tell my followers to wait before starting, and I did save the game after looting each one, and this process worked on all of them except for Tolinia's Chest. She was the only one who put up a fight. Her chest is one of the two that are positioned right next to each other: She has more in hers than the one next to it. I also grabbed an ice enchanted bow from one of the other four chests and heard a lady call out; "You could have just asked!" which is always funny to hear, I think. I was however disappointed that I couldn't find a deadric bow, but I guess my level isn't high enough at the moment for that to spawn. I will try to get the deadric bow at a higher level.

 

Hope this helped.

 

Thanks again for the tip, let me know if you hear of any other hidden chests I can loot. Love to loot! have fun Caitlin! 

[CaitliN609]

I'm on ps3 btw I forgot to mention that in my post...and thank you!!^^

[Buttons]

Question # 1. I always play at adept difficulty. Do you play on pc or xbox? The reason I ask is that the answer to your question can differ. If you are on xbox all I can suggest is that you check out the potion shops in all the major towns, and maybe the sleazy dude or the hunters brother in Whiterun... I always enhance my enchantments with a potion. I hardly use potions for anything except enchanting, smithing, restoring health, and restoring stamina. Dragon priest masks help with all the other stuff. It's actually more time consuming and annoying to use a healing "spell" to heal yourself when in the middle of a fight, easier to just stop and have a swig of a potion, so stick with the potions for health stuff. My opinion only. If you are on pc just console yourself 20 ultimate health potions now and then and be done with it. I'm not much of a potion person, prefer enchantments as a rule.

 

 

Question # 2. This is my second time playing the game, changed when I wanted to get married. Anyway, to answer your question; I had a similar question not too long ago which can be found on this site if you look back a little ways. As I now know, dragon attacks are random, though they can be provoked a little bit. The first time I played I didn't know how to fast travel until like level 30 so I ended up with more dragon souls than I knew what to do with. Literally more than twice the souls than I did shouts. This time around I had a problem getting dragons to attack in order to activate my shouts, but as the game went on the attacks became more frequent. Now I've got more than enough. and yes, the elder dragons come more frequently the higher in the game you go. But they are a lot of fun and I never have a problem killing those cute buggers! I use dragonrend shout with a frost enchanted warhammer and a ring of sure grip.... three or four strikes and they're out!!!!

[David]

1) I'm at level 45, and lately I've been smithing and improving my own armor and weapons. I just recently found out about the alchemy/enchanting potions to help with smithing I just haven't had the time to get everything to level 100 yet. My smithing is at 100, and my enchanting is at 85. My alchemy is pretty damn low at like 23. When I craft my daedric and dragon weapons (with enchanted gear on) they come out at about level 72 or so. When I wear enchanted rings and necklaces to increase my two handed my dragon Bone great sword is at 123 and my daedric battleaxe is 132, while my daedric armor altogether (legendary) is 224, my dragon armor is 204. With all that said I'm having so much trouble playing at adept difficulty, some times even apprentice. Anyone know why this is or have any tips? Is my gear good enough for adept difficulty? I rarely die but I'm tired of downing potions, almost getting killed with three hits and taking a lot of swings at enemy's with pretty decent weapons and armor. ( I've been playing Skyrim for a while btw I'm just now messing around with higher difficulty)

 

There are two methods for improving weapons and armor that have already been crafted.

 

Item Quality

First of all, you should improve the quality of your armor/weapons using a workbench/grindstone. Whiterun has both of these things located at the smith right next to Breezehome. How much your gear will be improved depends on your smithing level.

 

 

Assuming you have the smithing perk associated with the material of the item you're improving, at level 100 smithing you'll be able to improve your gear to the "Legendary" level (which is the best). Once done, all items that have been improved will be named "xxxx (Legendary)" to signify their improvement. 

 

Enchanting

This, more than anything else, determines how good your gear is. You can add up to two additional effects on every weapon -- easily doubling the damage you do with every swing. 

 

Fortify Archery, One-Handed, and Two-Handed are the best offensive enchantments and should be put on every article of clothing/armor that they can go on (see link below). With 100 Enchanting and perks,  you will do +160% damage assuming you have and are wearing the 4 pieces of clothing that can hold these enchantments. If you want to maximize damage, drink a "+32% Fortify Enchanting" potion before enchanting the 4 pieces to achieve +188% damage. 

 

See this page for enchanting effects.

 

If you do both of the above things, your character will have little issue taking anything the game can throw at you.

 

2) Are dragon attacks more or less just random encounters or do they happen more frequently the higher you level up? Because lately I've been bombarded with elder dragons, it's getting ridiculous. I fast travel a lot, but even if I take a carriage some where they'll show up. Even running around I'll look in the sky and see 3 flying in different directions is this normal the more you play or am I just unlucky? Lol

 

The incidence of dragon attacks is more or less always the same. However, as you level up, stronger dragons will attack you instead of the normal ones. For example, now that you're seeing elder dragons, you will no longer see the normal, weaker variety.

 

Some places, like the College of Winterhold / Winterhold, do seem to have a higher rate of dragon attacks than others.

 

[CaitliN609]

Thanks everyone for the answers!

[Buttons]

you're welcome Caitlin!