New to Morrowind: A Guide and FAQ for new players

[OblivionDuruza ●]

Last edited by OblivionDuruza on Sun May 20, 2012 1:10 am, edited 13 times in total.

[OblivionDuruza ●]

That sounds like a plan . I'll keep editing the OP, as it could be more organised than it currently is, and I'll also compile a list of helpful links. I'd also invite others to have their say into the guide/FAQ. And new users might like to post their questions here, which can be edited into a FAQ too.

[Argonanza ●]

Sticky'd by moi.

[Akiraka ●]

One of the most basic things that I would like to point out, is: Agility matters. For anyone new to Morrowind (or coming from Oblivion), Agility matters much more than is let on. You are penalized in your to-hit rolls if your Agility is less than your target's, and you receive a bonus when your Agility is greater. One very simple way to experience much more success in combat your first time through Morrowind is simply to pick Agility as as a favored Attribute rather than the go-to Strength.

What that all also means is that the more viable race choices for first timers who want to use melee are actually bosmer and redguards. Especially redguards for their grossly useful Adrenaline Rush power. I did a pretty extensive study of the power for comparison to a few other races, namely orc and dunmer. If anyone wants to see that, let me know. It also demonstrates the usefulness of Agility.

[POMC S117 ●]

What' a good skill layout for a normal, sword-fighting character?

[OblivionDuruza ●]

I guess that sort of depends, but this might be a possible starting point for a combat class:

Race: Nord/Redguard/Dunmer
Specialisation: Combat
Favoured Attributes: Strength, Agility
Major Skills: Long Blade, Block, (Armour Skill), Armorer, 1 other
Minor Skills: (secondary weapon skill), Speechcraft (useful for almost every character IMHO), 3 others
Birthsign: The Warrior

How does that seem?

[Velothi ●]

You could also add as a spoiler for the Shrines that it is reduced to Five Drakes/Septims/Gold when you are Laymen-Initiate in the Tribunal Temple.

Then after the Initiate rank, the Shrine is free to use. (With those exceptions of Fields of Kummu, Korra Cave, Puzzle Canal, Palace, Temple, gnisis, and ghost-gate. As they require offerings.)

[POMC S117 ●]

[OblivionDuruza ●]

I’ll add a note about that, although the other page I’ve linked to is a comparison between guilds, that will, when finished, explain all the choices that can be made.

@POMC, that depends, stealth or magic?

@Velothi, that’s a good idea actually. Will do.

Keep up the suggestions guys!

[Kerr ●]

@ POMC I'm not a fan of The warrior in Morrowind. I would pick The Lady for the 25 endurance boost. Marksman and Security are also great skills to have.

[OblivionDuruza ●]

The Warrior Birthsign in Morrowind is an odd one I guess. It's hard to measure the exact effects of the sign, although I am a believer in it's effectiveness. Further, 'Attack' is part of the formula for chance-to-hit, so it has at least one specific effect, plus the implied boost to damage.

[Velothi ●]

You should add three things to the Factions box.

#1: Factions are liked and disliked by various other factions (House Redoran; liked by Legion, Fighters Guild, and the Tribunal Temple. Disliked by Vampires, Ashlanders, Hlaalu, Telvanni, thieves Guild, Imperial Cult and the Nerevarine Cult. Morag Tong is un-changed). So your disposition may change when talking to particular members of each faction. As if you are Morag Tong/Redoran/Tribunal Temple the disposition from the Imperial Cult is a maximum of Ten without player intervention.

#2; Classified into Dunmer Factions and Imperial Factions. (Though race does not particularly matter in any faction joining, even if you're a Khajiit leading the Telvanni) So while all Dunmer Factions hate all Imperial factions (mostly) not all factions within those two secs like their 'partners'. So it's related to the first change and all.

#3: Some Faction quests conflict with each other (Morrowind Veterans know which do), so be careful about who you join. Though you obviously can't join all Three Great Houses, you should put it was a fore-warning for those who wish to join all factions that some may not agree with it.

[OblivionDuruza ●]

Will do, now that it's the weekend, I'll go through and do a large edit. What I compiled last weekend was all the old posts that were relevant, from various topics/threads created on the subject. I'll also make the link to the other thread on factions more apparent, and I'll also post my little comparison in this guide, when I have it finished and polished.

[dkjestrup ●]

I would also say in retrospect that if you're planning on finishing the main quest, play as a Dunmer and don't join a Great House or either Cult.

[Velothi ●]

It actually doesn't matter on that part, mostly because the maximum disposition Ashlanders have towards the Houses/Tribunal Temple is about 30-40, sometimes 20 if you "make them angry".

As seen by this chart;

Friends & Foes:
Blades -1
Camonna Tong -1
House Telvanni -1
Imperial Cult -1
Mages Guild -1
Tribunal Temple -1
Fighters Guild -2
House Hlaalu -2
House Redoran -2
Imperial Legion -2
Thieves Guild -2
Vampires -3
House Dagoth -3

So let's say you're joining House Telvanni only (Plus the Mandatory Blades for the main quest); you still have the normal disposition rating for 'outsiders'.

Joining Morag Tong does nothing, joing MT/TT/GHR still has you in some good light with the Ashlanders. The only worst thing you could do is be a Vampire (You can't talk to people anyway via Vampire as..well they hunt you) or join Dagoth.

Which is impossible for the latter.

[dkjestrup ●]

I was saying from a roleplay perspective rather than an in-game stats perspective.

[OblivionDuruza ●]

I’ll add a note about the Mainquest encompassing both of your posts, I tend to agree with what both of you have said.

[dkjestrup ●]

I think for a first playthrough, in hindsight, I would recommend only doing the main quest, either the fighters/mages/thieves guild and some random quests. You become very powerful pretty quickly, and focusing on sidequests like I have means you get way to powerful when you finally beat the main quest.

[Velothi ●]

But not doing the quests make you very vunderable at the same time (you have to literally cross the world in the Main Quest, Even with Kneeing and Sunder you still have powerful enemies as well as lack of financial aid, you get maybe 1,000 gold or so from Casius. This can't buy you even a full set of good armor), so try to balance them out.

I tend to focus on the quests because all of my characters loathe the imperials in some form or fashion; so they typically just leave Casius's orders until they may need to convert him (as Patriarch) or go to a "oh..I need to do this. Right" situation.

So for others? Balance the Main quest and Faction quests to be more immersed in the world; know it better and finally learn from what you've gained in a RP perspective and a gameplay perspective.

for example you'll never fully realize what the Temple is like until you try it, as such with Hlaalu, Telvanni, Redoran, Indoril, or any Imperial guilds.

Try them, and learn how they operate.

[Spacepope ●]

Honestly, the best course of action for me is to get a kickstart at the beggining by doing a bunch of quest, get good weps, then only do the main quest, then Tribunal-Faction Master-Bloodmoon-The rest

[Akiraka ●]

[OblivionDuruza ●]

Awesome, this is exactly the stuff which I would also like. Thanks Ak and I will take a close look when I get home.

Recently I have not had a lot of time for the guide, but in the Summer I will give it a good run over.

[Oskatat ●]

this last stuff is more subject for guides and tables about mechanics than a thread on random questions. still. wow man

[AddictedtoMorrowind ●]

So does anyone know the alchemical formula for calculating potion stats?

[OblivionDuruza ●]

No idea Atm, although I think Yogi is looking into it (doing testing and so on). If anyone does know, they can go and help him out.

I'm going to do a bit of an update to the guide today, as it's still pre-Alpha, suggestions are always welcome, and any general questions about the game too (I'm talking to you non-members ) are more than welcome, and encouraged.

This is a FAQ as well as a Guide after all.