Any advices for a newbie?

[Luvian]

I just installed the game, and I've been exploring a little.

I created an Imperial character, I answered the questions, and got the Spellsword class.

I've explored the first town, and I've cleaned up the small cave (is there any point in freeing the slaves? It did nothing.) and I'm now on my way to the next city. I haven't read the manual, and all I know about the game is what I've been told by the npcs.

How do you raise your skills? I know you do it with practice, but it's going to take a while to raise my magic if I can only cast 2-3 spells and then need to rest. Also, what's the difference beteeen Major and minor Skills?

[Kakero]

If you free enough slave, you may unofficially join an unofficial guild to do some more quest.

you raise skill by praticing them, example you raise your long blade skill by keep on using long blade. open your character skill menu and put your mouse cursor on it. you may see the number from 0 to 100. the more you use the long blade the more it go up. upon reaching 100 you will raise 1 point in your long blade skill. this method works with all the skill there.

However, you can raise your skill faster by paying a teacher to raise you skill.

The difference between major and minor skill is the boost the skill get from the start. If I'm not mistaken major skill get +10 to skill while minor skill get +5 to skill. misc skill have no boost.

[Harkoliar]

its hard at first but you should practice your magic on small criter and practically everything. its hard and boring at the start but if you improve your magic, then its so much better. also note that fighter/mage is better at the start. since you will need the defenses and offense when your magic fails.

magic for long range, sword for short range.

[Deejax]

Originally posted by Kakero: The difference between major and minor skill is the boost the skill get from the start. If I'm not mistaken major skill get +10 to skill while minor skill get +5 to skill. misc skill have no boost.

Another difference is the speed at which these skills increase. Major skills increase fastest and misc skills slowest.
For example if you have long blade as major skill and axe as misc then you need to wack a lot more opponents with you axe to gain an increase

[HammerHead]

Go to a mage guild and find someone who can make spells for you. Make a practice spell in the skill you want to raise and let it cost 1 magicka for 1 sec. duration. Find a place to rest and fire away. This will raise your skill as fast as using it the normal way.

C

[Mister Natural]

Take your time, explore and enjoy. Join a few guilds, but remember you can only join one of the 3 houses. After you've explored a while, done some guild quests and begin to think "where is all this leading?", then you can go talk to Caius to begin the quests which lead to the "end". Don't rush the Caius quests though. This is a game meant to be not rushed through. If you get in a hurry you'll likely get annoyed.

[Luvian]

Originally posted by HammerHead: Go to a mage guild and find someone who can make spells for you. Make a practice spell in the skill you want to raise and let it cost 1 magicka for 1 sec. duration. Find a place to rest and fire away. This will raise your skill as fast as using it the normal way. C

Does my skill raise if I cast spells at nothing?

[Kakero]

Originally posted by Luvian: Does my skill raise if I cast spells at nothing?

yes.

[Luvian]

Really? And what if I attack nothing, will it raise my sword skill?

By the way, how much levels is there? I've killed some things, and I till have 0 xp.

[Kakero]

not so sure about weapon, but it works on magic.

there are unlimited level I believe ( I've heard someone got as far as level 500 ). You get a level up when your major and minor skill is increased by 10. for example, you got 5 skill at major and another 5 skill at minor. if any of those has increase ( through training ) and the total is 10. you'll get a level up ( maybe someone who is good at english should explain this ). Open your character skill menu and put your mouse cursor at the the character level. It would show how many points you need for next level up.

oh, do install the patch, it fixes some bugs.