Yet Another Morrowind Thread

[Cologno]

no mod that makes morrowind feel like a living world, it's all window dressing, unforch

There actually is, ure just a crybaby

Guard Patrols - adds guard patrols to the wilderness (appropriate faction to appropriate regions which is very cool)
Travelling Merchants - ditto
Guar Riders - ditto
Walkers - static NPCs in wilderness now freely wander their cells
Holidays of Vvardenfell - reccuring festivals in towns
NPC conversations - NPCs talk like in Oblivion
Lua NPC schedules
Lua Nightime locks
NPC clothing randomizer
Yet Another Guard Diversity
abot's mods add scenic Silt Striders and Gondoliers
vonwolfe's Ashlander mods gives voiced AI greetings in different languages
etc. etc.

(I suggest to avoid traditional pop modules but Repopulated Morrowind and Bustling Vivec are kind of light)

Randomly changing NPC clothes is superficial. As is adding more generic NPCs, different versions of generic NPCs, disabling/teleporting outdoor NPCs during the night, etc. Window dressing is an accurate term, as doing anything beyond that isn't simple. All of the game's quests and NPCs were originally developed with a static world in mind so the entire thing would need a redesign to add any real sense of the world being alive. Imagine having Morag Tong writ targets be mobile instead of standing in the same spot for infinity waiting to be killed. Even getting the functionality to have NPCs move around intelligently is probably only possible in OpenMW right now because of pathfinding woes in vanilla.

I still have yet to see one mod tackle the challenge adequately. I've tried it myself and came to the above conclusion. Even assuming the required functionalities can be implemented you'd still have a lot of work to do redesigning many quests, NPCs, and other elements to account for them.

So you two should go play the game you actually want to play. Probably with and to each other.

 

[Daemongar]

Finished Dagoth Ur last night, with a save game going back... 5 years or so. Just pecking away here and there, and finally decided to finish that game recently. Think it's the Horators line that just kills all progress. For me, thats the dullest point in the game, but so close to the end. But I love starting up new games just to meet Crasus Curio and get the dweomer puzzlebox all the same. For those more familiar, just a question if you'll humor me:

Kind of thinking about it as I spoke to Vivec and then to Dagoth Ur. Any way to determine how Neverar was actually killed? There are conflicting reports, and Vivec denies it, but I couldn't ask Dagoth Ur.

 

[Hagashager]

Finished Dagoth Ur last night, with a save game going back... 5 years or so. Just pecking away here and there, and finally decided to finish that game recently. Think it's the Horators line that just kills all progress. For me, thats the dullest point in the game, but so close to the end. But I love starting up new games just to meet Crasus Curio and get the dweomer puzzlebox all the same. For those more familiar, just a question if you'll humor me:

Kind of thinking about it as I spoke to Vivec and then to Dagoth Ur. Any way to determine how Neverar was actually killed? There are conflicting reports, and Vivec denies it, but I couldn't ask Dagoth Ur.

It's left intentionally vague how Nerevar was killed. The closest explanation, maybe, is that Almalexia gave him a poisoned robe then Vivec impaled him with a spear (that may or may not have been his penis).

 

[NecroLord]

Finished Dagoth Ur last night, with a save game going back... 5 years or so. Just pecking away here and there, and finally decided to finish that game recently. Think it's the Horators line that just kills all progress. For me, thats the dullest point in the game, but so close to the end. But I love starting up new games just to meet Crasus Curio and get the dweomer puzzlebox all the same. For those more familiar, just a question if you'll humor me:

Kind of thinking about it as I spoke to Vivec and then to Dagoth Ur. Any way to determine how Neverar was actually killed? There are conflicting reports, and Vivec denies it, but I couldn't ask Dagoth Ur.

You can skip the Hortator quests if you have a Reputation of 50.
The Archcanon of the Tribunal will summon you and then you can proceed with the main quest.

 

[Ash]

I will never play Morrowind with "distant lands". Well, I use it for the shaders and such, and because many mods are based on it, but set it to draw only 1 cell at a time. The limited draw distance is integral to the experience, making navigation much harder and also not revealing how ugly the whole thing is. People that play with distant land rendering are decline loving losers!

 

[luj1]

The closest explanation, maybe, is that Almalexia gave him a poisoned robe

daym thats like Hercules

Kirkbride studied comparative mythology in uni so who knows

 

[luj1]

The limited draw distance is integral to the experience

This is true, I keep the default cell distance too

The devs used fog and terrain (ridges, etc.) to great effect, Vvardenfell is a tiny island but seems much larger than it is

 

[Saldrone]

Is there a good reason to use a second melee weapon skill as a combat-oriented character? i don't se much reasons to switch to an axe/blunt weapon when i could just use a sword that i invested more skill points on

 

[Ash]

There is plenty reason to use other melee weapons, and that is the optimization of level up multipliers. So unless you didn't mod the levelling system into a totally different design (which is a popular but dumb choice), then that.

Weapon degredation also should, in good practice, encourage using a varied set of weapons, but found weapons + repair hammers are too plentiful & degredation rate too merciful for that really to be relevant.

The only thing the levelling system needs is to be nerfed. Which I made a mod for. Max multiplier of x3 after 10 skill-ups, not x5. This slows the rate into godhood status, which vanilla you'll easily reach around level 30 and only 40% of the island charted, quests completed etc. Best paired with a mod that divorces HP level up based on endurance/makes it retroactively increase max HP.

 

[NecroLord]

Is there a good reason to use a second melee weapon skill as a combat-oriented character? i don't se much reasons to switch to an axe/blunt weapon when i could just use a sword that i invested more skill points on

Long Blades include some of the most powerful weapons in the game.
A lot of great artifacts such as Chrysamere and Ice Blade of The Monarch, to say nothing of the base weapons like the Daedric Claymore or Dai-Katana.
If you need one good combat skill, you can't go wrong with Long Blade.
Blunt Weapon is another really good combat skill. Some nice heavy hitters here - Skull Crusher, Mace of Molag Bal (also has some nice enchantments on it, including a unique absorb magicka effect), Sunder (crazy enchantments on it).

 

[Caim]

Apparently you can do some really funny stuff with the Heart of Lorkhan.

 

[Ash]

If you need one good combat skill, you can't go wrong with Long Blade.

!? Spear is easily the best melee class for two reasons: tied to max hp increase on level up (spear is the only weapon class governed by endurance) so you have heavy incentive to focus on spear from the get-go (big oversight on bethesda's part), and spears have the longest reach which is useful in many ways.

 

[NecroLord]

If you need one good combat skill, you can't go wrong with Long Blade.

!? Spear is easily the best melee class for two reasons: tied to max hp increase on level up (spear is the only weapon class governed by endurance) so you have heavy incentive to focus on spear from the get-go (big oversight on bethesda's part), and spears have the longest reach which is useful in many ways.

To each his own.
Though I agree that the reach granted by the Spear provides a considerable tactical advantage.
Also you only need one Spear - Spear of Bitter Mercy (though you have to do Sheogorath's quest to get it).

 

[Ash]

Sorry, no difference of opinion. Spear is objectively the best. The significance of those two things far outshines all other melee.

 

[Arrowgrab]

Finished Dagoth Ur last night, with a save game going back... 5 years or so. Just pecking away here and there, and finally decided to finish that game recently. Think it's the Horators line that just kills all progress. For me, thats the dullest point in the game, but so close to the end. But I love starting up new games just to meet Crasus Curio and get the dweomer puzzlebox all the same. For those more familiar, just a question if you'll humor me:

Kind of thinking about it as I spoke to Vivec and then to Dagoth Ur. Any way to determine how Neverar was actually killed? There are conflicting reports, and Vivec denies it, but I couldn't ask Dagoth Ur.

There's also Sermon 29 in the 36 Lessons of Vivec, and the secret message hidden therein.

Beware, explicit spoilers:
Solving the code gets you what seems to be a confession by Vivec to killing Nerevar and taking his divine power.

 

[NecroLord]

Finished Dagoth Ur last night, with a save game going back... 5 years or so. Just pecking away here and there, and finally decided to finish that game recently. Think it's the Horators line that just kills all progress. For me, thats the dullest point in the game, but so close to the end. But I love starting up new games just to meet Crasus Curio and get the dweomer puzzlebox all the same. For those more familiar, just a question if you'll humor me:

Kind of thinking about it as I spoke to Vivec and then to Dagoth Ur. Any way to determine how Neverar was actually killed? There are conflicting reports, and Vivec denies it, but I couldn't ask Dagoth Ur.

There's also Sermon 29 in the 36 Lessons of Vivec, and the secret message hidden therein.

Beware, explicit spoilers:
Solving the code gets you what seems to be a confession by Vivec to killing Nerevar and taking his divine power.

Not just Vivec, but the entire Tribunal betrayed Nerevar.
Though Vivec was most likely the one who killed him.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Sorry, no difference of opinion. Spear is objectively the best. The significance of those two things far outshines all other melee.

Ok Redguard

 

[Jaedar]

Sorry, no difference of opinion. Spear is objectively the best. The significance of those two things far outshines all other melee.

Spears are all 2 handed so you can't pair them with block. Spears also have relatively low damage for being 2 handed, the other 2 handed options tend to have roughly 50% more max damage, at least for the daedric variant.

 

[Ash]

Don't need block nor raw damage output when the enemies can't even reach you. Keep spamming thrusts while backing up. Or attack from higher elevation where they can't reach you.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

But you need the max HP increase you leveled up spear for?

 

[Ash]

Yes. Magic. Cramped encounters (dungeon entry). Archers. Falling damage, drowning damage etc. Max HP is always good.

 

[NecroLord]

But you need the max HP increase you leveled up spear for?

Most effective strategy is to just maximize your Endurance early on and as soon as possible.
Heavy Armor (governed by Endurance) is a good choice for this, as is the Spear skill (also governed by Endurance).
10x skill increases = 5 Endurance Attribute Points to distribute during a Level Up.

 

[Ash]

There are mods to remove this/make HP retroactively apply regardless of when you level up endurance. This is a must to actually free spear from melee dominance. As-is, spamming spear from the get-go is a no-brainer.

 

[luj1]

The most powerful single weapon in vanilla is a certain dagger

 

[NecroLord]

The most powerful single weapon in vanilla is a certain dagger

Daggers also have the advantage of being very fast. With a really high Strength score you can just swing away mercilessly like a maniac while doing heavy damage.