User blog comment:Zelron/The Thu'um (Waging War with Words)/@comment-2040576-20121104082315

Well said! As the Dragonborn your shots should definitely play a bigger role in your combat. I find that Dragonrend has a good time set to it, because when one fights harder dragons you could use it quite a few times if you can't lay on enough damage before they take flight again. The cooldown is not so fast that you can rend them easily and all the time, but not that you must lay low for a while before using it again.

As for perks, I think obviously standard ones such as more effectiveness and reduced cooldown should be expected. Then I also think that there should be branches for the more passive shouts, such as Kyne's Peace, Become Ethereal, etc.and the offensive shouts, such as Fire Breath, Unrelenting Force, etc. The branches will increase effectiveness for that specific class of shout only. Also, like in the armor skill trees, maybe if you have all 3 words of a shout, there could be a perk that makes it even more effective.

As for unlocking the perks, I think something similar to Dawnguard should be done - not using level ups for perks, that way high levels can still enjoy the DLC. I thought of Dragon Souls? One usually has more Dragon Souls than they need for shouts. Usually whenever you find a Word Wall, you can expect a dragon and thus a soul. Then of course there are random encounters, so you will always have souls to spend. I think this will make it a bit more challenging, because you will really have to plan and save your souls if you want to put them to good use, either with perks or unlocking Words of Power. Each perk could cost exponentially more souls, so the business could become even more challenging.