Which three skills will go?

[Rat Kiosk]

We know that it will go down from 21 to 18 but which skills will go?

Mysticism is out.

It is confirmed that we'll have Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration, Restoration and Illusion magic wise so alchemy maybe? But that may just not be included in 'Magic'.

There are some other "Skills" being added like weaponsmithing but I don't know whether these are included in the list and whether thier treated differently.

What do you think will go?

[HatofMadness]

why is mysticism out??

[mptrj]

I think the likely scenario is that
1) Enchanting will partially replace Mysticism, Alteration might pick up some other Mysticism spells.
2) Athletics and Acrobatics merged.
3) Speechcraft and Mercantilism merged?

Worst case scenario?
1) No Mysticism spells whatsoever.
2) Heavy and Light Armor merged.
3) Sneak & Security merged.

Bleh, I feel all gross after writing that second list. I think I'll go take a shower.

[Argonanza]

2) Heavy and Light Armor merged.

No! For the love of God and all that is sacred, no!

[Owl in a Fridge]

With the addition of enchanting as a skill...doesn't that mean 4 other skills have to go? Are there any other new confirmed skills?

[mulder]

I hope Mercantile gets left out, because I never get to level it up and it's very hard.

[JJSmart]

With the addition of enchanting as a skill...doesn't that mean 4 other skills have to go? Are there any other new confirmed skills?

That's what i was thinking too.

2) Athletics and Acrobatics merged.
3) Speechcraft and Mercantilism merged?

2) Sounds good. Would make acrobatics less of a nightmare to train. I didn't like having to hop around all the time just to train that thing.
3) They should've done this from the start. Realistically, you shouldn't be able to be a have good bartering skills without being a smooth talker so...

Worst case scenario?
1) No Mysticism spells whatsoever.
2) Heavy and Light Armor merged.
3) Sneak & Security merged.

1) I can't remember where it was posted, but i'm pretty sure they were distributing Mysticism's spells to other magic schools, instead of keeping it as a generic school.
2) Don't give them ideas like these! They've already taken away Medium Armor...i really hope they keep Light/Heavy...
3) While it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, i think this is entirely possible, and it wouldn't be the worst thing ever.

[Mr. Mischief]

I know this doesn't pertain to skills being left out, but it does affect skills in general. I think they will change blunt and blade to one-hand and two-hand. Where two-handed not only governs claymores and battleaxes but duel-wielding also.

As for the ones being taken out I agree that acrobatics and athletics should be merged (who needs faster run speed when there is fast travel and sprint) and that mercantile should be merged also.

With that it would be 19

So something would need to be cut. But I think a merge would make more sense... but not sure what of

EDIT: The only problem with merging security and sneak is that they are governed by two different attributes. It could work, but I think a lot of people wouldn't like that one at all.

[ch00_bakka]

We'll still need armorer, but maybe it'll change to a generic smithing skill.

[Dlarsh]

I suppose the Block skill (NOT the action) could go; the only reason to raise the skill in Oblion was to obtain the related perks, which are now handled by leveling your character, rather than a certain skill. They could always tie any block related perks to the shield's relevant armor class if necessary. I agree that Athletics and Acrobatics will probably merge, and I wouldn't mind seeing Speechcraft and Merchantile do the same. As for needing to cut more skills for Enchanting and Smithing, my bet is that they'll simply be actions attached to a pre-existing skil; Alteration and Armorer perhaps?

[Kestral]

The Mysticism skill was overall useless and could be molded into new ones. Block was a pain to bother in every Elder Scrolls game, ever. Re-name the blunt category to greater appease the crowd. And, lastly, scrap mercantile and couple the prices of items with personality.

Problem solved.

[Tulkas]

Good candidates so far. Removal of Mysticism has already been confirmed. Alchemy has been mentioned in the GI article, I believe, so it'll stay. Enchanting makes a comeback, and Forging is a new thing (which may or may not be treated as a skill of its own).

Out of the rest, the strongest candidates for deletion/merging with another skill/etc. are, in my opinion, Athletics, Block and Speechcraft.

Athletics was always a pain in the arse when you had it as a Class skill. Since you'd run everywhere all the time, it was bound to get a good chunk of skill increases, and come levelin' up time, Speed was one of the skills that you could put several points into. Since Speed only affects your... well, speed, I would rather put those points into Agility, or perhaps Endurance.

Block, as has been mentioned, could be handled simply as a function of its own. With the advent of dual wielding, the efficacy of your blocking could very well be determined by the level of the Skill you have with the weapon you are blocking _with_. And if shields aren't considered to be weapons (which I don't think will happen, it would require yet another skill), then maybe shield-blocking gets hitched in together with the Light and Heavy Armor skills, since shields have already been classed as either in previous games.

And then Speechcraft. Morrowind still had a RPG-like approach to persuasion and such, but with Oblivion it just got sad. I'd rather have diverse dialogue options, coupled with the occasional bribe and Charm spell. Would probably work just as fine.

[Symphonic]

As far as I know, the only thing that Speechcraft affected was the outcome of the persuasion minigame, and it was stupid. Remove the minigame, Speechcraft becomes useless. RPG-style conversations and maybe even "training" affect your Personality directly. Any conversations and bartering will look to your Personality stat, as opposed to your success at the minigame or your Mercantile skill. (Which, like someone said earlier, is just speechcraft but with vendors.)

[Rat Kiosk]

I know this doesn't pertain to skills being left out, but it does affect skills in general. I think they will change blunt and blade to one-hand and two-hand. Where two-handed not only governs claymores and battleaxes but duel-wielding also.

As for the ones being taken out I agree that acrobatics and athletics should be merged (who needs faster run speed when there is fast travel and sprint) and that mercantile should be merged also.

With that it would be 19

So something would need to be cut. But I think a merge would make more sense... but not sure what of

EDIT: The only problem with merging security and sneak is that they are governed by two different attributes. It could work, but I think a lot of people wouldn't like that one at all.

There is not a chance in hell that anyone EVER would be stupid enough to put duel wielding in two hand instead of one hand!

[Tulkas]

There is not a chance in hell that anyone EVER would be stupid enough to put duel wielding in two hand instead of one hand!

Or maybe they'll keep the old weapon skills and include a dual wielding related perk. "Ambidextrous" or something like that.

That is if Skyrim will have perks.

[Mr. Mischief]

There is not a chance in hell that anyone EVER would be stupid enough to put duel wielding in two hand instead of one hand!

Worked fine in Kotor. Duel-wielding and double handed governed by the same skill. I don't see why this is any different.

Or maybe they'll keep the old weapon skills and include a dual wielding related perk. "Ambidextrous" or something like that.

That is if Skyrim will have perks.

Skyrim has perks, but the duel wielding is available from the beginning (from what I gather).

[Doctor Meaticus]

If alchemy goes, then that car bomb left by Bethesda studios you'll hear about on the 6.00 news on 11/11/11 will have been me.

[Rat Kiosk]

There is not a chance in hell that anyone EVER would be stupid enough to put duel wielding in two hand instead of one hand!

Worked fine in Kotor. Duel-wielding and double handed governed by the same skill. I don't see why this is any different.

Or maybe they'll keep the old weapon skills and include a dual wielding related perk. "Ambidextrous" or something like that.

That is if Skyrim will have perks.

Skyrim has perks, but the duel wielding is available from the beginning (from what I gather).

Yes but in Kotor two handed weapons were weapons with two blades either end. You can't have someone using 2 daggers lumped in with someone using a warhammer.

[ch00_bakka]

Yes but in Kotor two handed weapons were weapons with two blades either end. You can't have someone using 2 daggers lumped in with someone using a warhammer.

Also, in Kotor the smallest one-handed weapon was that one short lightsaber you got in that tomb. They were all swords. No comparison at all.

[JJSmart]

Yes but in Kotor two handed weapons were weapons with two blades either end. You can't have someone using 2 daggers lumped in with someone using a warhammer.

I agree. If dual-wielding is gonna be in either a One-hand or Two-hand skill, it has to be One-hand. Dual Wielding is essentially having a one-handed weapon in each hand. It stands to reason that learning how to use a longsword would help you in having one in each hand. Using a warhammer should be of essentially no benefit (in skill) to having a dagger in each hand.

[Eltee]

Please don't crucify me, bet speechcraft in new vegas worked pretty good.

[JJSmart]

Please don't crucify me, bet speechcraft in new vegas worked pretty good.

I think most people would agree. I certainly do.

[mulder]

Please don't crucify me, bet speechcraft in new vegas worked pretty good.

I think most people would agree. I certainly do.

Yeah, I too liked speech in Fallout. The dialogs were better with the whole chance thing

[Kestral]

Please don't crucify me, bet speechcraft in new vegas worked pretty good.

I think most people would agree. I certainly do.

Yeah, I too liked speech in Fallout. The dialogs were better with the whole chance thing

The chance thing was just terrible, I liked how NV did the skill requirement then some die cast.

[Cygnus]

could get rid of speechcraft skill and have conversation options made available based on the personality attribute. other attributes or even skills could also play roles in converstions (strength attribute or hand-to-hand skill involved with intimidation option, for example). new vegas is similar, i believe, except it has a speechcraft skill.