Somehow, that's actually a strong armor set.

Yeah, I heard you the first time, P.

Min: 51

Max: 63

Avg: 59

1.4 makes Skyrim look better than ever.

With visions of dragons flying in reverse and my critical abilities vaporized, I sat at my keyboard yesterday, finger frozen above the left mouse button. After the second patch for Skyrim required a patch to fix the problems it caused (yes, the rare patch for a patch, patch), I wasn't so sure I wanted in on thefor Bethesda's sizable Skyrim 1.4 update. Even with my saves backed up, I feared the character I'd invested dozens of hours in would spontaneously combust with a single click. But hey, he who dares, right? So for the sake of you, dear readers, I pressed down on that mouse button, accepted the update, and started playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Here's what happened next:Nothing. Well, nothing of note. And I mean that in a good way. Updated with the 1.4 beta, my game loaded properly and my precious saves were all right where they should be. Whew. And I was relieved to see my savage version of Aela the Huntress made the trip. There she is now:And so I set off, scantily clad companion in tow, in search of the onerous critters known to infect Bethesda's updates. Opening my world map to chart the course, the first bug of Skyrim 1.4 hit me square in the ear drum. Ah! Something just set me ablaze! Quick, Aela use your rabbit fur bikini to put me out! Those were my first thoughts as the sound of fire scorched through my speakers. I quickly closed the map and pulled out from first- to third-person view to see if my character was still on fire. He wasn't. Turned out there were no actual flames or fireballs or other incendiary attacks. It was a bug.Call it the Amplification of Ambient Sound When You Open the Map bug. Or AASWYOM… or just call it annoying. Whatever the label you slap on it, it's hard not to notice. If you're standing on a mountain trail where the wind gusts, your speakers will blast your ears with a hurricane of sound when you click M. If you're near a torch, you'll get an earful of fire. You get the picture. It's brief, but the decibels are cranked up enough to get your attention.Not the most auspicious way to begin my Skyrim 1.4 adventure, but it's also a bug I'd consider more of a gnat than a hairy tarantula. And so off I went again, heading to the Throat of the World to chat with my good buddy Paarthurnax. After a quick pow-wow with the old Dova, I clicked exit to end the dialogue, and as I turned to go, Paarthurnax repeated a lengthy dialogue segment he'd just spoken. Strange. I turned back, started up our conversation again, exited, and once again Paarthurnax felt compelled to repeat what he'd just told me. Call it the Line Repetition by Non-Playable Characters When Exiting Dialogue bug, or LRBNPCWED for short – you know, so people quickly and easily know which problem you're describing. Regardless of the names, that was two new bugs for me in my first two minutes in Skyrim 1.4. Two words: not good.While both AASWYOM and LRBNPCWED (fun with acronyms!) are both minor bugs, I feared they signaled far greater issues ahead. And so, hand gripping my bow tight, I started back down the mountain. And that's when something caught my eye, and by something, I mean. The great wide world of Skyrim lay below me like a Tom Thomson painting come to digital life. A quick look at my frame rate in FRAPS indicated why Bethesda's world of wonder looked more beautiful than ever: the game was running at a better frame rate than it ever had before for me. Pre-1.4 (running an AMD Phenom II Black 6x 3.7Ghz, GTX 560 Ti at 1920x1080 on high settings), my average FPS hovered at 50. Now, post-1.4 the game was running at a crisp 60 FPS – a solid and noticeable boost. Curious, I traveled to Whiterun, where the many buildings and people tend to bring the frame rates down. The FRAPS result:For those of you that were running mods like Skyboost to enhance your Skyrim experience by upping the frame rate, well, you can stop using them. Whether you're gazing down at the sweeping vistas from the Throat of the World, trekking through the wilderness, or strolling through a city, you will likely see a solid bump in your FPS with the latest update.Sure, there are dozens of bug and quest fixes, and for many of you, that's what 1.4 will be all about. For Skyrim players like me that never really experienced any significant issues with the game, though, 1.4 is all about the optimizations Bethesda has made in terms of performance. Bottom line: the 1.4 patch makes Skyrim run better, and most of you will notice the difference. And that's why I recommend you not only download Skyrim update 1.4 when it's released in full, but the Skyrim 1.4 betaDon't worry. Based on my own experience and those posting on the 1.4 beta in the Bethesda forums , the latest Skyrim update won't break your game. Just make sure to back up those saves and muffle your ears when you open the world map.