OK, I'm going to be brutally honest because I love this place and I want it to be the best it can be. I want you (all) to know that these are my opinions and observations and I do not (and can not) speak for the Skyrim community as a whole, we each have our tastes and that's what makes this place great. Now, with the politically correct-ness speech out of the way....
1). Searching for builds sucks. I know that most of this is caused by the site's host and can't be changed, but I have MUCH better luch doing a search with Google than I do by using the search bar above. The Character Build Archive, while a valiant effort, leaves me wanting. I would MUCH prefer to see the results for a "mage" category show me the most popular builds than the one that had the newest reply. I know it's the host's capabilities and I can't think of a better way, but it's very frustrating to find a build when I don't know the name of it already.
2). At least some of the builds stored here depend on "glitches" and, to me, a glitch does not make a build. I know this site began as mostly a console-centric site and that alone forced limitations upon players. Glitches were a way around those limitations, and some builds use these glitches in such a way that they actually blend into the character really well. But as a PC player, I've always had access to the Unoffical Patch and most of the "glitches" used here aren't glitches in my game. And even if they were, I don't think I'd depend on them to make my character work.
3). Mods. Now that we have an (almost) level playing field were mods are concerned, I'd love to see more builds that take advantage of mods like Ordinator, Apocolypse, Andromeda, etc. I know we've started down this path and I've seen a few builds based on Ordinator, but I'd really like to see more.
4). As a heavy role-player, I tend to look at builds as more of a means to an end. I determine I want to play Type X Character and I come here looking at builds for ideas on how my character might act or what abilities he/she might have (perks, etc.). I pay a great deal more attention to the backstory, the playstyle and the lore (if presented) around the build. Then I begin to wrap a story around those ideas in my head. The perk spreads, the "special powers", etc. are secondary for my choice of the build. For example, I took pieces from Ponty's Palidin and Albino's Vigilant of Stendarr to create Bastian, the main character in my Vigilant playthrough (and story on this site). They were simple, clean, straight forward builds and my result was very fun to play.
5). Not that tooting your horn is the primary goal here DB, but I came across your build "Karliah, Barenziah's Legacy" a few nights ago. I really wished more builds followed that format. Breaking the perk spreads down more - not just "here's a goal for level 50, make sure you don't mess up". Then you went into WHY you spent those perks the way you did. Why the character at level 15 used these abilities and then by level 35 they used a different set. All of those mattered more to the CHARACTER's evolution, than they did to progressing in the game. I loved the tons of information on playstyle, the lore mixed in, the "why's" and "how's". This one is a nearly perfect build in my mind. (It helped that Karliah is a very intresting character in the first place too.)
I know I want a lot, but I'm hoping that by the time that ES6 rolls around, this place with be an energized and stable place for all of us to come look for new ideas! Thank you for all your hard work DB!
edit: clarity, spelling and grammar.
OK, I'm going to be brutally honest because I love this place and I want it to be the best it can be. I want you (all) to know that these are my opinions and observations and I do not (and can not) speak for the Skyrim community as a whole, we each have our tastes and that's what makes this place great. Now, with the politically correct-ness speech out of the way....
1). Searching for builds sucks. I know that most of this is caused by the site's host and can't be changed, but I have MUCH better luch doing a search with Google than I do by using the search bar above. The Character Build Archive, while a valiant effort, leaves me wanting. I would MUCH prefer to see the results for a "mage" category show me the most popular builds than the one that had the newest reply. I know it's the host's capabilities and I can't think of a better way, but it's very frustrating to find a build when I don't know the name of it already.
2). At least some of the builds stored here depend on "glitches" and, to me, a glitch does not make a build. I know this site began as mostly a console-centric site and that alone forced limitations upon players. Glitches were a way around those limitations, and some builds use these glitches in such a way that they actually blend into the character really well. But as a PC player, I've always had access to the Unoffical Patch and most of the "glitches" used here aren't glitches in my game. And even if they were, I don't think I'd depend on them to make my character work.
3). Mods. Now that we have an (almost) level playing field were mods are concerned, I'd love to see more builds that take advantage of mods like Ordinator, Apocolypse, Andromeda, etc. I know we've started down this path and I've seen a few builds based on Ordinator, but I'd really like to see more.
4). As a heavy role-player, I tend to look at builds as more of a means to an end. I determine I want to play Type X Character and I come here looking at builds for ideas on how my character might act or what abilities he/she might have (perks, etc.). I pay a great deal more attention to the backstory, the playstyle and the lore (if presented) around the build. Then I begin to wrap a story around those ideas in my head. The perk spreads, the "special powers", etc. are secondary for my choice of the build. For example, I took pieces from Ponty's Palidin and Albino's Vigilant of Stendarr to create Bastian, the main character in my Vigilant playthrough (and story on this site). They were simple, clean, straight forward builds and my result was very fun to play.
5). Not that tooting your horn is the primary goal here DB, but I came across your build "Karliah, Barenziah's Legacy" a few nights ago. I really wished more builds followed that format. Breaking the perk spreads down more - not just "here's a goal for level 50, make sure you don't mess up". Then you went into WHY you spent those perks the way you did. Why the character at level 15 used these abilities and then by level 35 they used a different set. All of those mattered more to the CHARACTER's evolution, than they did to progressing in the game. I loved the tons of information on playstyle, the lore mixed in, the "why's" and "how's". This one is a nearly perfect build in my mind. (It helped that Karliah is a very intresting character in the first place too.)
I know I want a lot, but I'm hoping that by the time that ES6 rolls around, this place with be an energized and stable place for all of us to come look for new ideas! Thank you for all your hard work DB!
edit: clarity, spelling and grammar.
