Sorry I'm a bit late to the party, guys. The biggest one for me is Speech -- its biggest selling points are all available through other means:
- Selling stolen goods --> Use TG fences.
- Persuasion --> Use the Amulet of Articulation to pass ANY speech check. (Also generally renders Intimidation irrelevant.)
- Allure, Haggling, Master Trader, Investor --> Does anyone actually struggle for money in the mid-game, let alone end-game?
The only useful perk in the tree is Merchant, and even that has relatively useless utility. It's great for dumping off crafted items in exchange for skill training, but that's about it.
Now, how could Speech be improved?
First off, instead of Haggling 1-5, I'd like to see tiered perks that make speech checks easier. Maybe 5% lower level each time. So with 5/5, a check that normally requires 80 speech would only require 60 speech (80 * (1 - 25%)).
Second, have a few more opportunities for speech checks to actually alter the game. Bypass certain sections of quests (especially combat-intensive ones that a speech-based character might not be adept with). Procure better rewards. Unlock alternative endings. Things that would force players to choose Speech at least once if they're interested in seeing all the game has to offer. And a few rewards that would keep players coming back to the skill depending on their build's needs.
Last, and most important: Not tying the Speech skill to Shouts was one of the biggest mistakes BGS made with Skyrim. That was such an obvious thing to do; every perk overhaul can agree with me here. Give a perk to make Shouts last longer, a perk to augment their magnitude, a perk to reduce cooldown ... Maybe even an endgame perk where each shout gets a separate cooldown, allowing players to chain Shouts together without needing 100% Fortify Shouts. Shouts wouldn't need to dominate the perk tree, but just something like 3-5 perks would make such a drastic difference to the skill's usefulness. How many people here can say that they WOULDN'T use Speech significantly more frequently if it had Shout-based perks?
Sorry I'm a bit late to the party, guys. The biggest one for me is Speech -- its biggest selling points are all available through other means:
- Selling stolen goods --> Use TG fences.
- Persuasion --> Use the Amulet of Articulation to pass ANY speech check. (Also generally renders Intimidation irrelevant.)
- Allure, Haggling, Master Trader, Investor --> Does anyone actually struggle for money in the mid-game, let alone end-game?
The only useful perk in the tree is Merchant, and even that has relatively useless utility. It's great for dumping off crafted items in exchange for skill training, but that's about it.
Now, how could Speech be improved?
First off, instead of Haggling 1-5, I'd like to see tiered perks that make speech checks easier. Maybe 5% lower level each time. So with 5/5, a check that normally requires 80 speech would only require 60 speech (80 * (1 - 25%)).
Second, have a few more opportunities for speech checks to actually alter the game. Bypass certain sections of quests (especially combat-intensive ones that a speech-based character might not be adept with). Procure better rewards. Unlock alternative endings. Things that would force players to choose Speech at least once if they're interested in seeing all the game has to offer. And a few rewards that would keep players coming back to the skill depending on their build's needs.
Last, and most important: Not tying the Speech skill to Shouts was one of the biggest mistakes BGS made with Skyrim. That was such an obvious thing to do; every perk overhaul can agree with me here. Give a perk to make Shouts last longer, a perk to augment their magnitude, a perk to reduce cooldown ... Maybe even an endgame perk where each shout gets a separate cooldown, allowing players to chain Shouts together without needing 100% Fortify Shouts. Shouts wouldn't need to dominate the perk tree, but just something like 3-5 perks would make such a drastic difference to the skill's usefulness. How many people here can say that they WOULDN'T use Speech significantly more frequently if it had Shout-based perks?
