r/ElderScrolls • u/WT_NeptuneGaming Maormer • 2d ago
General Is there fundamentally any difference between afk grinding and just advskilling via console?
I'm on day 2 or 3 of this shit.
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u/LoveTriscuit 2d ago
I don’t want to keep my computer running when it’s not being used if I can help it. I also have played these games for long enough that when I find a place I need to really grind, I will do it for a little bit and then use codes to get where I want to be.
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u/WT_NeptuneGaming Maormer 2d ago
I would have the same thing running in the background whether or not I was grinding though. And I'm kinda stuck waiting for important news so I'm in personal plan limbo. And it's kinda amusing watching my elf repeatedly get kidney punched by a skeleton. But I definitely feel what you are saying all the same.
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u/sosoconfused08 2d ago
It's a single player game, do whatever the fuck you want. No one need to know or really cares.
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u/dijonbustard 2d ago
There’s no meaningful difference. Advskilling saves time and AFK grinding feels maybe more fulfilling, in a way. But my justification is that if I could AFK grind it, then whatever, advskill away.
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u/SeekerOfFlame 1d ago
There is a sense of fulfillment in doing something without console commands or mods, speaking from experience. Same as a sense of cheating and "playthrough ruined" for using them.
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u/YogiePrime 2d ago
I look at it this way, my free time is limited. If I can save myself some time, and get greater enjoyment from it, a few console commands are harmless.
Besides, it’s single player. It only affects yourself and nobody else.
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u/Coltrain47 Bosmer 2d ago
I usually grind skills on the road. Cast my 1 magnitude 1 second spells over and over while travelling to my destination. Adds some roleplayability to it
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u/Affectionate-Way4595 1d ago
If there were only NPCs you could talk to that raise skills in exchange for the game currency
🤔
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u/WT_NeptuneGaming Maormer 1d ago
That requires finding them and having the requisite stats and gold
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u/yaije9841 1d ago
I'm suddenly reminded of a missing armor skill trainer that was generated and added by community mod updates.
Edit:
While there was a way to abuse training costs with drain/damage... I forget how many of them are in certain game formats. My pc version of morrowind doesn't have these issues, but it also doesn't have half the bug issues thanks to it's fan remake.
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u/BLAZING_DUST Thieves Guild 2d ago
Nope, both are cheating, the difference is you get to feel good about grinding because you wasted time and electricity.
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u/Organic-Sherbert9424 1d ago
Who's grinding like this in Morrowind? Gold is so easy to get in that game and there's no training per level caps.
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u/Leemozine 2d ago
To be honest...no.
That said, I must ask what skill are you grinding? Is it an armor skill?
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u/Presenting_UwU Khajiit 2d ago
no, which is why I don't really like doing that stuff, i just play the game normally and if it's giving me trouble for not grinding then i either lower the difficulty or I'm modding the problem out.
i don't care if it's not true to the experience, grinding in an RPG game is never fun, and I'd rather have fun with my Role Playing Games than grinding some fuckass skill up just to keep playing.
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u/cat_food_chef 1d ago
I reckon it you're breaking RP to afk, best just console and safe some power.
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u/Anxious-Dot171 1d ago
No real difference. Just that the time spent feels satisfying because of the 'Nobility of Sacrifice' concept.
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u/the_uncanny_marlowe 2d ago
No difference really. My rule is that I’ve done the grind to 100 the proper way at least once before, I’ve earned the right to console in some levels on a new character. Enchanting is a slog!
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u/Lamb_or_Beast 2d ago
I find it faster and easier and more fulfilling to just raid a couple Daedric ruins. The Daedric gear you can find it so valuable it doesn’t take long to become super rich. Then I buy training. It takes less time in my experience and is all above-board
That said, you’re playing a single player game so who tf cares what you do. So long as it maintains the fun for yourself, console away
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u/Atzkicica 2d ago
Personally I consider making button pushes and weights out of desk stationary a dying artform but it's always been an unpopular niche genre.
No real difference.
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u/Electrical_Smell7986 1d ago
Can someone tell me what advskilling is lol
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u/yaije9841 1d ago
I think it's referring to the console command in various Elder Scroll games to "advance skill" to higher ranks.
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u/Cosmo_Nova 1d ago
It's a single-player game. Do whatever you want to do for the sake of your own enjoyment. Who cares about someone else's opinion of whether it's cheating or not? Does it make the game more fun and convenient for you? Then go for it. Does it feel like diminishing your accomplishments? Then don't.
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u/HakunaBananas 1d ago
why would anybody do this. the game is so piss easy that grinding is never required.
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u/official-bethesda 1d ago
This may sound absolutely insane but I potion max to make it feel less cheated from a narrative or storyline view. Potions being impermanent but overpowered like slamming alcolhol makes it so the character is just a really efficient alchemist like a Witcher-esque vibe instead of just going God mode. Otherwise I will set one stat way high to build a more time friendly character who has a backstory reason to be obnoxious with that stat.
TLDR: use codes to enter as a mid tier not beginner character and use backstory to justify it or use potions max if you want something that leaves you where you ‘earned’ after the high risk moment is done
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u/Seeker_of_the_Sauce 1d ago
Personally just pay trainers instead of grinding it out slowly, unless its the beginning of the game and money is tight
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u/xXAleriosXx Imperial 1d ago
On one side you pay the electricity to make your computer run and loose time between plays, on the other side you do it in several seconds and can enjoy directly.
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u/Sardonize 1d ago
Yes in one case you used the console (bad, cowardly, ungentlemanlike) in the other you did not (clever, satisfactory)
We are all endlessly subjugated by the shaming eye of the onlooking chorus of the self
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u/HartofHarts 2d ago
No. Both are at its core advancing your character without going through gameplay.
If I were still a kid, I would probably think afk grinding was more 'just' because I wasn't using the cheat console. But nah, there's no difference.
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u/Vegetable-Search-951 1d ago
I think it’s funny that people ask these questions. I mean, I know there’s some that would look at it like it’s cheating, but let’s be honest, you know, when I’m playing Skyrim in particular, I’ve never been fond of gathering materials, so nine times out of 10 I just console command the materials and or money into the game because to me I don’t enjoy those aspects of Skyrim. At the same time, it’s not like I just got out of my way to get the most powerful equipment right away. and I don’t forcefully advance my skills or my levels, but again, that’s because I don’t mind smithing, creating potions, or enchanting/disenchanting. I just don’t like gathering the materials or the money. I mean, even more recently on my switch too in Skyrim, I’ve started to use more cheap ways to advance. I mean, I have no problem using the mage light trick to level alteration and level my character but I try to only do that when there’s something I actually definitively want and don’t wanna wait to get, so for instance, a lot of times I’ll use that when I’m doing the thieves guild because obviously I want the best version of the armor that I can get, and I want the best bow, and of course I want the second best sword, and the reason for going with the second best sword is because the best sword, the highest level version is broken, unless you modify the creation club data or otherwise patch it using unofficial patches, the max level version of the Nightingale blade just doesn’t have a material associated with it for some reason, so it can’t be upgraded at the grindstone. And it used to be that the enchantment on both the second to best and the best versions were identical, but at least with the switch two version, they actually fixed that. so every leveled version of the Nightingale blade now reflects its proper enchantment. It’s just a shame that when they fixed that, they didn’t fix the issue that prevented the max leveled version from being upgraded, and anybody criticizes me for playing on consoles specifically switch, I do have it on PC. I just don’t play it as much on there, but that’s largely because to me modded Skyrim and unmodded Skyrim are two different games, so it just depends on how I feel and whether or not I wanna play with mods or without mods. Sometimes there’s nothing like the nostalgia of going back and playing without mods
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u/Atlantean_Raccoon 2d ago
advskilling is more morally justifiable from an environmental standpoint. Otherwise, no.