Oblivion - Efficient leveling...

[dday_0612]

Hey guys,

I am just starting to play Oblivion for the first time ever.

I have read multiple pages about "efficient leveling" and I am very very confused and overwhelmed... I am especially overwhelmed by the purposefully restricting the leveling of some skills as well as choosing "opposite" skills than what you want your character to advance in when choosing your mains skills.

Anyway... Can I forget all of this and still max out a character at one point? I don't care how early or how low level I am when I max out, and I would rather not mess with all of this extra information at this point (first play through). I just don't want to gimp myself and regret that I did not learn about leveling efficiently.

It seems to me that this efficient leveling is just to get your skills maxed out as early as possible. Can I level extremely inefficiently and still max out all my stats at some point down the road?

Thanks.

[dday_0612]

Kobus Character Advancement System at The Elder Scrolls Nexus - Oblivion mods and community

Would this mod resolve my concerns?

If so, would using this mod on my first play through have any negative impacts on my experience? I am trying to play through the game with limited mods at first, but this looks really good.

Thanks

[Brootal]

I don't know much about the mods, so can't help you there.

The whole efficent leveling thing is related to the game mechanics and how the game adjusts difficulty to your level. My personal opinion is to forget all that and just play how you want to, I don't know if you'll "max" out your character or not, I forget how it works, just play the game and enjoy, it's not about maxing out your character.

[dday_0612]

Originally Posted by Brootal

I don't know much about the mods, so can't help you there.

The whole efficent leveling thing is related to the game mechanics and how the game adjusts difficulty to your level. My personal opinion is to forget all that and just play how you want to, I don't know if you'll "max" out your character or not, I forget how it works, just play the game and enjoy, it's not about maxing out your character.

Thanks Brootal, I agree. I am now a couple days in and am getting a better feel for the game. I am used to MMO's where your character level is the end all for everything.

I did install a couple mods, and one of them handles the leveling problem simply by balancing the leveling for you. I am 12 hours in and I am level 5, so I think it does a fair job and I don't worry at all about my level. I concentrate on the quests and the content only.

Enjoying myself so far, thanks for the help.

[Spectre8]

Good to see people playing and enjoying this great!! I was always a hardcore shooter player until I discovered Oblivion. Changed me forever

As Brootal suggested - just go play, and enjoy It wont ruin the game one way or the other. For me, I played it un-modded to begin with, and had never tried any sort of RPG before, so the levelling didn't phase me one way or the other.

However, after doing a full play-through, I was then able to come to grips with some of the issues with the game (still not bad) and modded the hell out of it It's an awesome gaming experience, and I still have urges to give it another go... But a solid year playing a single player game is probably enough... I'll wait for TES: 5

Check out the OOO mod when you're ready - you'll want to start a new game for it, but it's well worth it!

[Monde]

Oblivion is AWESOME. Love the game.

I only wish that they would not make the game adjust to your level. I like the idea of being afraid of certain monsters until I get to a certain level or carving a hole through a tribe of Goblins. I am not a fan of being punished for being at a high level.

Other than that I loved the game.

[Justin Kace]

Levelling without gaining efficiently can make things a bit brutal for you later on in the game, as monsters scale with your level, not your skills. You may be high level and still have crap stats which will make things tough.

However, as good a game Oblivion is, get a few good mods and it becomes infinitely more enjoyable. Sounds like you already have a good level assist mod. I definitely used one of those but cant remember it. Also someone mentioned OOO which is great, and there are a number of mods that will stop the monsters from automatically being scaled to your level, which was something I found stupid and annoying. I like to sometimes come across monsters that can kick my ass so I have to flee and remember to come back for them in a few levels. And it's annoying that every group of scummy vagabonds is an epic battle, even when you are level 9000. Hyperbole, but you get the idea.

[Monde]

Originally Posted by Justin Kace

Sounds like you already have a good level assist mod. I definitely used one of those but cant remember it. Also someone mentioned OOO which is great, and there are a number of mods that will stop the monsters from automatically being scaled to your level, which was something I found stupid and annoying. I like to sometimes come across monsters that can kick my ass so I have to flee and remember to come back for them in a few levels. And it's annoying that every group of scummy vagabonds is an epic battle, even when you are level 9000. Hyperbole, but you get the idea.

Can you recommend a mod that does this? I want them to be at a proper level rather than grow with me.

[Spectre8]

Yup - Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul (OOO) will fix that for you It's a straight-up install, so no messy mod managing, and it's the most comprehensive overall most excellent mod out there.

There's heaps of others (thousands) but if you're looking for a one simple "fix" that does it all (almost) OOO is the one.

[brohawk]

I spent time building up secondary skills and sometimes I would pick skills that I wasn't going to use much as my primary skills (those that set your level). Some skills I never picked were athletics and sneaking since I used them so much that would screw up your leveling.

I always managed my skill levels. If say Illlusion or block wasn't on par with what that character needed, I would purposely build them up.

OOO is what I also used as a main mod