I've been able to spy on your twitch stream every now and again at work--here a minute, there a minute--and it's been a lot of fun watching it. I've never watched a twitch stream before, so it's been a new adventure. The only thing that has bummed me out is that I've been watching it w/out sound (it's hard to tell students to stay focused on their work while I'm listening to someone playing video games xD).

I feel you! It would be pretty amazing if there was a mod that allowed you to hotkey a conjuration spell when you've got your bow out. From what I've seen watching watching you play, the bad guys seem beefier when they hit you than when I play on adept. Getting atronachs  zapped away happened to me occasionally, and when it did I usually just did my run-and-gun w/out them unless I was really suffering. But if it happens a lot, I can see that getting pretty frustrating.

I know it's not quite as RP friendly as fire, storm, or frost atronachs, but have you considered sending in a Dremora Lord? Those guys go from zero to berzerk in the time it takes you to blink. While atronachs are more aesthetically pleasing, there's one thing you can safely say about Dremor Lords... they hit first xD

Again, it's been a lot of fun dropping in to see you play... just wish I had a bit of free time in the day to get the full experience ;D

Oh, so you're one of the many silent viewers dropping by?  Too bad about the no sound.  While I'm sure you could gain some respect from a few students if they knew you created a Skyrim build and someone was playing it live, you're probably right about keeping them focused on their work. :P

I think there are mods for hotkeying spells and such, but I can't really install them in the middle of a playthrough.  I just have to live with atronachs often only serving as a distraction for a few seconds while I line up my shots.  As for the dremora lord, there's no way to get the spell tome for that until I reach 65 Conjuration!  Meanwhile, I've been conjuring Stormy ever since level 1 on my conjurers for ages. :P

If you have free time, you can always watch the VODs.  My streams should get saved for a month after the initial broadcast.

Stormy on level 1? You truly ARE a wizard! How do you swing that?

I don't know exactly what a VOD is, or how one goes about accessing them, but I would definitely love to see your streams the way they were intended to be viewed. I'll dig around on my lunch break to see what I can see :D

Necromancer Amulet, Apprentice Hood (House of Horrors in Markarth), Blessing of Julianos, and for the races not blessed enough to be Altmer or Breton, the Atronach Stone helps (though the summon absorption can come back to bite you without the unofficial patches).

https://www.twitch.tv/rlwizgaming/videos/past-broadcasts My Videos-On-Demand seem to stick around for around a couple of months, actually.  Or maybe it's based on total HDD usage.  I dunno.

Nice!

And I'll definitely check out those videos on demand... knowing that I have access to your past streams (even if only temporarily) has brightened my day considerably ;D

So I've been looking over this build and thinking to myself "What happens when the Drauger Deathlord simply refuses to die?  What happens when he's within range of his two-handed skull-crushing warhammer?  How does this character act?"  Run like crazy is the only answer I can come up with.  Does that sound about right ShinJin?

I can see the distraction of the summons.  I can see the damage from range/stealth.  But I can't the see the bound bow being quick enough for "in your face melee mobs" (soldiers, bandits, drauger, giants, assassins, etc.)  Would supplementing this character's damage with destruction or one-handed be out of line?

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Solias]Solias[/url] said:[/b]

So I've been looking over this build and thinking to myself "What happens when the Drauger Deathlord simply refuses to die?  What happens when he's within range of his two-handed skull-crushing warhammer?  How does this character act?"  Run like crazy is the only answer I can come up with.  Does that sound about right ShinJin?

[/blockquote]Good question, and I wish my answer wasn't so wishy-washy; the answer, of course is... it depends. When I first started playing this build, yeah, I'd book for the high ground. As I got better at close quarter archery, though, I'd probably just exploit bow bashed him, flank him during the stagger till I found myself at his six, then popped one right between the shoulder blades. If it's just a straight up duel, a big slow-wielding lug like that is actually a pretty easy confrontation. Just rinse and repeat. Become Ethereal is a great back up for if you get your timing wrong, or if the Deathlord manages to get ahead of you.

If he's got friends, then you definitely have to be more mobile. Kiting is approrpriate, but I enjoyed straffing/flanking in a wider arc to keep my distance, and shooting on the run. If you feel like your starting to fall a step behind after a while, and your enemies just aren't dying quick enough, Marked for Death ends the fight considerably quicker.

Again, I used single opponent encounters as an opportunity to practice my Advanced Archery techniques, so I eventually was able to take on smaller mobs and still stay fairly close to the action.

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Solias]Solias[/url] said:[/b]

I can see the distraction of the summons.  I can see the damage from range/stealth.  But I can't the see the bound bow being quick enough for "in your face melee mobs" (soldiers, bandits, drauger, giants, assassins, etc.)  Would supplementing this character's damage with destruction or one-handed be out of line?

[/blockquote]I would use whatever you're most comfortable with/whatever you find most fun. That's the cool thing about the builds we see here; they give us a general idea to play around with, but we're free to make them what we want. If the Bound Bow just isn't doing for you or feels too laggy or just isn't fun, pull out the arsenal that you enjoy using. Destruction is very much in line with this character, and I actually used the bound sword in early levels when I wanted to ramp up my Conjuration skills (that spell levels Conjuration like mad xD).

Honestly, it took me a while to get the hang of The Advanced Archery Corner techniques, and I ran through two (crud, maybe even three) playthroughs before it all became muscle memory, but then again, I was using this build as an excuse to learn all that stuff. If that's not a high priority for you, then supplement your Archery with something that you enjoy ;D

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/ShinJin]ShinJin[/url] said:[/b]

Good question, and I wish my answer wasn't so wishy-washy; the answer, of course is... it depends. When I first started playing this build, yeah, I'd book for the high ground. As I got better at close quarter archery, though, I'd probably just exploit bow bashed him, flank him during the stagger till I found myself at his six, then popped one right between the shoulder blades. If it's just a straight up duel, a big slow-wielding lug like that is actually a pretty easy confrontation. Just rinse and repeat. Become Ethereal is a great back up for if you get your timing wrong, or if the Deathlord manages to get ahead of you.

If he's got friends, then you definitely have to be more mobile. Kiting is approrpriate, but I enjoyed straffing/flanking in a wider arc to keep my distance, and shooting on the run. If you feel like your starting to fall a step behind after a while, and your enemies just aren't dying quick enough, Marked for Death ends the fight considerably quicker.

Again, I used single opponent encounters as an opportunity to practice my Advanced Archery techniques, so I eventually was able to take on smaller mobs and still stay fairly close to the action.

[/blockquote]

My previous ranger builds have always been sneaky sniper types that invariably end with one or two enemies getting too close for comfort.  Like you, I'll just have to learn a different approach.  I built my character last night.  So we'll see how well this old dog learns new tricks...

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Solias]Solias[/url] said:[/b]

My previous ranger builds have always been sneaky sniper types that invariably end with one or two enemies getting too close for comfort.  Like you, I'll just have to learn a different approach.  I built my character last night.  So we'll see how well this old dog learns new tricks...

 [/blockquote]That's awesome! :D

Like I said, it takes a bit of time for it to become a knee-jerk reaction, but it opens up a whole new world. I suggest taking on mobs the way you normally would, but practice when you find yourself in one-on-one situations (especially lower level enemies like bandits). One day you'll realize that everything has just clicked into place--have fun! ;D

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/ShinJin]ShinJin[/url] said:[/b]

One day you'll realize that everything has just clicked into place--have fun! ;D

[/blockquote]

Well, that "day" was last night.  I did some play testing (consoled up to level 28ish) and ran to Robber's Gorge.  All I can say is "Behold the power of Checkout Time!"  Everytime I saw a bandit on his/her way to bash my skull in, I dropped one of these bad boys on the Bound Bow and BOOM! Face planted bandit.

I have to hand it to you, the potions and poisons here really work.  A real reason to use Alchemy for more than making money.  Very practical and useful.  I can see the daughter of The Mages Guild's Librarian creating and using these things to her advantange.

I also learned I need some practice time with the bow.  it helps a lot when you actually hit your targets....