Enderal Mechanics Improvements

[seularts]

While playing the game I found out some things that could be improved to make Enderal more unique.

1. Make food recipes a skill to be learned from cooks and bartenders (by paying coins) in the world (using learn points)

2. Make mining a skill profession as well that you can learn from miners or smiths (by paying coins) (using skill points). The player can still mine all ores, but at lower tires they get like 1 ore per vane while at a high tire they get 4-5 plus gems. Also add more types of pickaxes that can be used only if the mining skill allows it for mining better ores improving the loot rate (+2 ores and +1 gem). And reduce the weight (like 2 or 3)

3. Make items inside NPCs homes/stalls available only in containers (like the book stacks for example), because I can easily pick up an item move out of sight and steal it where no one can see me. Also make the NPCs warn the player that they will call the guards (increase bounty) if you go further in their house while they follow you during the day

4. Make all normal crafting for weapons/armor recipes as a skill that you can learn from smiths in the world (by paying coins) (using skill points) and leave special crafting recipes outside in the world only for unique (over powered) weapons that can be build only once using very rare materials

5. Make alchemy recipes as a skill that you can learn from alchemist in the world (by paying coins) (using learning points)

6. Expand player homes and make better display cases and standard mannequins available - like a hall of trophies and weapons

7. Make an option to collect heads or other body parts as trophies of strong and unique bosses that can be placed in the player house

8. Make the fever rise on it's own, like 20% each 5 days or so, so players can look for potions and plants to reduce it, otherwise the fever just seems stagnant and non important. Also you can add visual and sound effects when the fever reaches certain stages, if possible turn the player into the creature you were talking about in the lore that aggro everything around it, if it reaches a final stage of the fever (80%).

9. If possible make the player wear gear suited for his armor skill. If player invests points only in light armor then most heavy armor can't be worn. Same should apply with weapons, higher tire weapons could be wield if certain amount of stamina/mana is invested in. This will make the player experience feel more natural about the choices he makes, because when a high tire mage with very low stamina tries to use heavy armor and weapons he is just super inefficient and makes the whole thing look silly

10. Make books rare and very valuable. If you place them in obvious and guarded places, people will take the time to read them since they come across them less often. Also you could make certain books in an ancient language that must be deciphered by learning that language from apothecaries and librarians (by paying coins) and they will yield ancient knowledge about technology and powerful weapons and even skill/learn points. Maybe even introduce books abound songs that you can sell/teach to bards to unlock new songs.

11. If possible add morphing spells so the player can change into an animal, like rabbit or wolf for traversing small places where treasures can be found, or to open a gate behind a wall with a hole or to travel faster.

12. Would be nice to have side quests from NPCs at the traveling towers so they don't seem so static and lifeless. Also you could add some guards there (3-4 normal and 1 captain), cause some towers are very secluded into dangerous places. Also you can make one of the towers overrun by enemy so you can go and investigate in a side quest. After that the tower can be repopulated with NPCs when the enemy is gone. Also make transportation to the towers available (in the dialog options) only after you discovered them by reaching them on foot.

13. Bonus and Fun Idea: Add super interesting Easter Egg with an achievement list that gives (as an example) the player a +10 bonus in Rethorics (by relating his discoveries to NPCs travelers) when he discovers them all through exploration. You can give +1 per each Easter Egg so they feel motivated to look.

I would love to hear your feedback on my ideas. Than you for reading!

[BigElectricCat]

Some cool ideas. Assuming that skill points are learning points?

Since game is so story driven, don't know if dev's would do it, (no doubt very busy) but gives modders some ideas.

Many of your suggestions too advanced for my scripting skills tho... ; )

What about selling or reinvesting unused points? Have something like 80 unused crafting points. True roll play, my char isn't doing the blacksmith thing-- that's what coin is for.

#2.) Like that one. Great great grandfather actually worked in an iron mine, so yes-- either more raw material with greater skill & better tools, or inside a mine-- player risks cave in, if novice level, etc.

#7. ) Hadn't thought of "head hunting" literally! My idea was a kind of a "hero's hall" & kill-cam shots of player killing boss-baddies. Pop texture into a painting and there ya go!

11.) Heh... Sort of a Wabbajack Spell on yourself? That would be hard.


12.) Kind of surprised hunters, travelers, and guards don't have that in dialogue. But considering what dev's were up against maybe just not enough time or people had to leave for whatever reasons.

----
PC: "So you're a traveler huh? How do the roads look?"

NPC: "I'm fast on my feet, but lucky to have gotten away from... Here. I'll mark it on you map."
----

13.) They might already have a kind of egg hunt in form of "magic symbols." But maybe it didn't work out, or just a way to encourage exploring. 100 of them & for every one you find, the next increases its base EP by +2 points.

[+]

Unfortunately I'm not sure actually getting 100 of 100 does anything. You'd think you'd get some kind reward, but in a test game nothing happened. Not even a MsgBox!

Some good ideas though. More positive than (from another forum) posting how Enderal needs "fixing" so players don't have to think, or make their own decisions...

"Automatic Perk Leveling Mod with Guided Missiles! Watch them seek & destroy your enemies! No thought required at All!"

[seularts]

Some cool ideas. Assuming that skill points are learning points?

Since game is so story driven, don't know if dev's would do it, (no doubt very busy) but gives modders some ideas.

Many of your suggestions too advanced for my scripting skills tho... ; )

What about selling or reinvesting unused points? Have something like 80 unused crafting points. True roll play, my char isn't doing the blacksmith thing-- that's what coin is for.

#2.) Like that one. Great great grandfather actually worked in an iron mine, so yes-- either more raw material with greater skill & better tools, or inside a mine-- player risks cave in, if novice level, etc.

#7. ) Hadn't thought of "head hunting" literally! My idea was a kind of a "hero's hall" & kill-cam shots of player killing boss-baddies. Pop texture into a painting and there ya go!

11.) Heh... Sort of a Wabbajack Spell on yourself? That would be hard.


12.) Kind of surprised hunters, travelers, and guards don't have that in dialogue. But considering what dev's were up against maybe just not enough time or people had to leave for whatever reasons.

----
PC: "So you're a traveler huh? How do the roads look?"

NPC: "I'm fast on my feet, but lucky to have gotten away from... Here. I'll mark it on you map."
----

13.) They might already have a kind of egg hunt in form of "magic symbols." But maybe it didn't work out, or just a way to encourage exploring. 100 of them & for every one you find, the next increases its base EP by +2 points.

[+]

Unfortunately I'm not sure actually getting 100 of 100 does anything. You'd think you'd get some kind reward, but in a test game nothing happened. Not even a MsgBox!

Some good ideas though. More positive than (from another forum) posting how Enderal needs "fixing" so players don't have to think, or make their own decisions...

"Automatic Perk Leveling Mod with Guided Missiles! Watch them seek & destroy your enemies! No thought required at All!"

Thanks for your feedback, really well put from your perspective

Also I realized that sleeping and waiting are huge exploits in the game. Let me elaborate: 1. place 14000 gold in bank 2. wait/sleep many many hours 3. get extra money in the bank from interests rate 4. repeat

Would be nice if waiting could be removed from the global world and sleep could only be done at night between 8 pm and 8 am.

I am aware this might be next to impossible to solve since this functions are in the main core of the game play, but it is a rather game breaker!

[Glycerin]

Would be nice if waiting could be removed from the global world and sleep could only be done at night between 8 pm and 8 am.

I am aware this might be next to impossible to solve since this functions are in the main core of the game play, but it is a rather game breaker!

The waiting function should not be available without mods. It is not disabled right from the beginning, but fairly early in the game (I think you need to sleep once first, after that you can no longer wait).
That leaves sleeping as the only way to change the in-game time, so restricting sleep times would become quite annoying, if you wanted to do something in the evening, one of Jespar's personal quests for example.
I wonder if there is a way to make your bank account's interest depend on real time, like the war table missions from DAI. That would at least keep you from sleeping through large portions of your playtime, but probably not from playing altogether just to earn interest.

[BigElectricCat]

Quite welcome.

The idea of a bank makes really good sense (dare I say cents? )

Players walking around with 200,000 gold pieces kind of crazy. Probably one of those "too realistic" mods, but actually give coin some weight?

Arrows too. If not mistaken, I can carry 1000's of them at no penalty.

Since I shoot FITA (Olympic style) archery in real life... Even 144 arrows (a perfect score = 1440) isn't done that way. Most we carry might be a case with 24 of them in it.

So add things like weight to arrows? Velocity would be hard, but would be fun. Daedric arrow heavy & slower in-flight. Elven arrows light but faster in-fllight, etc.

As for waiting, I wonder why this was disabled. If I play a ranger / hunter style character, I'm going to wait until it's dark to go sneaking around unknown territory.

Without a bed, I go sneaking around in broad daylight? That doesn't work of course unless you unlock "Well Traveled One" (think that's the name) class. Perk here is almost a game breaker. Right on top of Wild Mage & he didn't see me.

Would like to think that's my 'super-ranger' gaming skill, but I just flat out didn't see him because I was looking for traps.

[seularts]

Quite welcome.

The idea of a bank makes really good sense (dare I say cents? )

Players walking around with 200,000 gold pieces kind of crazy. Probably one of those "too realistic" mods, but actually give coin some weight?

Arrows too. If not mistaken, I can carry 1000's of them at no penalty.

Since I shoot FITA (Olympic style) archery in real life... Even 144 arrows (a perfect score = 1440) isn't done that way. Most we carry might be a case with 24 of them in it.

So add things like weight to arrows? Velocity would be hard, but would be fun. Daedric arrow heavy & slower in-flight. Elven arrows light but faster in-fllight, etc.

As for waiting, I wonder why this was disabled. If I play a ranger / hunter style character, I'm going to wait until it's dark to go sneaking around unknown territory.

Without a bed, I go sneaking around in broad daylight? That doesn't work of course unless you unlock "Well Traveled One" (think that's the name) class. Perk here is almost a game breaker. Right on top of Wild Mage & he didn't see me.

Would like to think that's my 'super-ranger' gaming skill, but I just flat out didn't see him because I was looking for traps.

Waiting is not disabled globally, there were some acidentalbarea I could wait in ark, but I don't use wait except to find the hour of the day so I can't remember the exact locations. As for arrows that makes sense, but the stealth mechanism is broken even without the perk. I have 50 points in sneak and in daylight no creature sees me, but I don't mindnmuch since I play as a summoner/druid mage anyway.

One extra thing I wouldbtweak would be the myriad tower prices. Kind of lame to travel with 25 gold everywhere. The further the other tower is the higher the price should be, like from 2 places across the map ends the price should be at least 3000 gold to give some meaning to exploring and coin management.

[BigElectricCat]

the stealth mechanism is broken even without the perk. I have 50 points in sneak and in daylight no creature sees me, but I don't mindnmuch since I play as a summoner/druid mage anyway.

One extra thing I wouldbtweak would be the myriad tower prices. Kind of lame to travel with 25 gold everywhere. The further the other tower is the higher the price should be, like from 2 places across the map ends the price should be at least 3000 gold to give some meaning to exploring and coin management.

Thanks interesting about sneak. Hadn't noticed because I've thrown everything I have into archery, sneak, & light armor.

Wonder if depends on actor. My imagination, or nuisance critters like wolves seem to be harder than bandits, etc. Early in game, couldn't go anywhere without listening for howling and then hopping up to places where I hoped they couldn't get to me. Forget magicka... Health & enough stamina to run like the wind if things get out of hand!

Good idea about Myrads. Kind of like Stilt-Striders from Morrowind. Farther you go = more coin. Makes sense, but perhaps in-game explanation might be prices set by 'Sublime?' caste? "Melphas forbids different prices my child. Book 8, chapter 6, verse 49...."

Myrads has me wondering if (later in game) the one at Riverville ever "gets better." Conveniently injured or sick so PC & Jespar can travel on foot, but seems like they'd have healers seeing to that one pronto.