Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-9601450-20131225183646/@comment-67.171.74.199-20141004162141

I see.

Wouldn't the idea be that if the Dragonborn is assumed to have completed the Dawnguard questline, the Aetherium Crown and Shield already exist? They strike me as a little...pheonix-y. Somebody forges one or both, and then if that/those one(s) is/are irrevocably lost or destroyed, then we can get another one.

This is mostly me scrabbling subconsciously to keep them cool unique items. You're very right, I prefer lore and immersion to gameplay any day.

Also, I was mucking about with my altered perk trees that I have saved on my computer (revamped to actually make sense, with some perks added) and I added Aetherium Smithing, but then I tried to figure out how strong they would be. I came to the conclusion that they would be between Ebony and the next tier down, although it just occurred to me as I type that it could actually be between Ebony and Daedric, since Aetherium is like the Aedric equivalent of Daedric metal.

And that started me thinking again about redoing the armor hierarchy. Because to be honest, it's sort of dumb. Orcish is, according to lore, steel infused with orichalcum. Why should it be stronger than Dwarven metal, a mysterious metal created by the most technologically advanced race on Nirn that has remained in Dwarven ruins uncorroded for Eras?

(Although of course Morrowind is so much worse. Having never played Morrowind and only just looked up the stats of a Morrowind item, I am in shock at the madness of the Morrowind armor system - the helmet is the only piece that protects more than everything else? Really? You'd think that the helmet AND TORSO AND LEG armor would protect more than armor protecting the extremities, since the head and torso are obviously the most killable parts of the body and the legs have things like the femoral artery...but at any rate, it's not the individual item stats that matter, it's the total - which was, for Chitin, around Iron level.)

Why does Ancient Nord Armor benefit from the Daedric Smithing perk? It has literally no connection to the Daedra whatsoever. It should probably benefit from some perk that makes it more powerful than Iron, but not Daedric. That's just ridiculous, and it's not very accessible either. Something closer to the base of Steel Smithing, perhaps. A specific perk for Ancient Nord Smithing? Or just Ancient Smithing, for stuff like Blades, Ancient Falmer, etc. (Also, why can't we have Ayleid armor? That would be really cool.)

Oh, and if you craft Ancient Nord Armor at the Skyforge...do guards still make the comment about graverobbing? I suspect they do, and that's just dumb.

For that matter, why is Dragonbone better than Daedric? Its armor value isn't, by a hair's breadth, but it's actually a better choice of armor because it protects more per weight unit than Daedric. I don't see why Daedric is so dratted heavy anyway. Do the Daedric souls weigh it down? Why is it heavier than the literal bones of a gargantuan creature? Are the bones hollow? If so, why are they being used as armor?

I don't know how to solve this one, but it doesn't make sense to me. Perhaps try to balance out the weights a little. Dragonbone is powerful, and it comes from the children of Akatosh, but Daedric armor is...I mean, do we ever even hear of anyone wearing it in in-game books? It's super rare. The most skilled blacksmiths voice only legends of it. I feel like it should be slightly more epic than Dragonbone armor, although both rate very high on the epicness scale since they come from cosmic beings. I can see Dragonscale being better than Glass, but the Light Armor options are so much more limited than the Heavy Armor.

Why is there no Chitin Heavy Shield? Why is there no Stalhrim Heavy Shield? There are SO MANY SETS that have no shield, for apparently no reason at all. Even some light armor sets that you might not think of as being able to have shields did have them in Oblivion. I assume that the Fur and Leather shields were wood, with boiled leather on them to strengthen them or fur on them to provide padding to soften blows. Not the best option of shield, but then, Leather and Fur aren't the best sets anyway.

Why the heck are some armor pieces given decimal armor values? That just seems awkward.

What is with the Imperial Armor? It's made of steel, yet it's the same as Iron? And what's up with Imperial Light Armor - it's mostly composed of leather, but it requires Steel Smithing!

What is the Blades Armor doing with such a high rating? From all in-game evidence, it's only steel, and in Oblivion, it was only 1.75 points more protecting than Iron! It should be taken down a few notches. Between Steel Plate and Orcish, say, since it's clearly got a little extra oomph to it that makes it better than regular steel but doesn't seem like it would be as tough as all those heavy plates. I actually think Blades Armor looks more like a Light Armor set than a heavy one - Glass has more bulk to it than that - but taking the materials into consideration, it's probably heavier than it looks.

I don't know if this has been said already, but Auriel's Shield is not as effective as a Daedric Shield and that seems silly. This is a priceless, holy, and unique artifact from an Aedric being. It should be on par with the other side's armor, thank you very much.

Why is Dawnguard Heavy Armor, literally a load of thick padding with some steel plates sewn on, better than solid steel? I'm not saying it should be crap armor, but it still looks like light armor. Either it needs to look more protective, or it needs to have its armor rating lowered. Or possibly a little of both.

Falmer Armor is ridiculous. I hope this goes without saying. Falmer Hardened/Heavy looks fine, although I don't buy it as better than Steel, but the plain Falmer Armor doesn't even deserve a Light Armor description, let alone Heavy Armor. All I can say is: total aesthetic revamp.

I remember you updated Spellbreaker, so no need to harp on that one.

The Studded Imperial Armor should really be slightly better than Imperial Light Armor. 2 or 3 more armor points, that's all.

Unless the wiki is messed up, the Studded Armor is actually much weaker than the Hide Armor, which is just backwards. Meanwhile, Scaled Armor is better even than Leather Armor. Leather might seem like plain padding, but (and I apologize if you knew this already) that sh*t is BOILED. Which seems to me like it would make it pretty much on par with Scaled Armor. Maybe two points better than it.

Meanwhile, Fur Shoes and Fur Bracers cover less than Fur Boots and Fur Gauntlets...yet have a higher armor rating than them.

Why is Morag Tong Armor weaker than Chitin Armor when its only discernible difference from the latter is the color of the cloth?

Why is Elven Gilded Armor stronger than Elven Armor? Gilding something does not make it more protective, and it doesn't even look any different from the base Elven Armor anyway. And why is there a weaker Elven Light Armor when Elven Armor is a) already Light Armor and b) only different from the base by its lack of pauldrons? Shoulders are not vital organs. I mean, you could probably bleed out from a shoulder wound, but you can bleed out from lots of things that are not vital organs.

Ancient Falmer Armor should be at least as good as, probably better than Glass Armor. It's so hard to get, you might as well get something out of it. That means the crown should be fixed and everything should be maybe a point better than Glass.

It goes without saying that Forsworn Armor is dumb. It's equal to Leather Armor...yet it looks like a very raggedy and ineffectual collection of pelts, like it should be lower than Fur Armor. (I mean, I'm in favor of fixing the entire thing - I have a redesign drawn somewhere, which looks much more protective, but even then, it shouldn't be any stronger than Studded Armor at the highest.)

Again the Dawnguard Armor, despite being mainly padding and flexible metal plates, is evidently better than a set that looks like solid metal - in this case, the Elven Armor.

Linwe's Armor, Blackguard's Armor, Guild Master Armor, and Thieves Guild Armor all look like they are made on the same basic principles with the same materials, but their armor ratings vary through the mid/late 60s to mid/late 70s, which strikes me as odd. I do believe they should keep these armor ratings, I just think that since they all look like functionally the same piece, they should maybe have some visual diversity to go with it.

The same goes for Shrouded, Worn Shrouded, and Ancient Shrouded Armor.

I know Nightingale Armor looks like just leather...but it is effectively the closest we have in Skyrim to Daedric light armor. So come on, can't it be more like Glass-level or even Dragonscale-level instead of this dinky sh*t?

Oh, and Hide Armor doesn't cover very well on males. Sure, the heart is fine, but what's going to save you when somebody cuts open your intestines? I don't think it deserves an armor rating while the guts are still vulnerable. Studded Armor at least has a shirt.

Why is Stormcloak Armor weaker than regular Guard Armor?

That's just a list of armor problems. Sorry. Not exactly constructive.

- WorshipsMeridia