I started off playing my thief at adept and it seemed fine. But somewhere between level 30-40 the majority of the creatures started dying too fast. I bumped up the difficulty to expert, didn't notice much difference, and then went up to master.
Now my thief is 57 and pretty much everything, apart from a random ancient dragon in melee range, is too easy. Stealth or no stealth, doesn't matter. They all die in a few hits. I guess I shouldn't spent too many perks in weapon damage... it's a shame though that I would have to nerf my character in order to keep it intresting.

Recently I started a mage and it's now level 10. I tend to lower the setting to expert. I guess I will see how long I will be doig that.

In oblivion I would lower the setting below normal from time to time, but honestly I can't see a reason why you would lower the setting below adept in Skyrim. Unless you insist on climbing the highest mountains and crawling down to the deepest pits on a low level.

very true! right now, i'm playing on expert with my nord 1-h/light/block with a bit of archery build with no alch/ench and only smithing what he's currently using.

he's at level 37 and can beat dragons and deathoverlords very easily. right now it's still fun because they can kill me and i get to use/manage different tactics, but, soon it'll be too easy.

Apprentice here. I guess I'll pump it up to Adept one day, but that's it.

I play on Apprentice and i find it perfect for someone like myself who barely uses smithing, and no enchanting with my current play through. I still was almost killed quite a few times, but barely survived the tougher encounters. Im definitely not into getting killed multiple times and reloading multiple times....i just want a decent amount of 'resistance' as i progress. I use heavy armor, so i do want to get hit to gain levels in it, not simply being killed in 2 hits

I play on Adept. Most of the times, when I get a new game, I use the easy setting first, to get a feel for the game. However, I never felt the need to turn down the difficulty of Skyrim so far. Adept is a great middle path.

NOW, I just got Fallout 3 and OMG some Talon Company mercs wooped my butt on the normal setting (like 4 times and I was only level 3), so I am playing THAT game on EASY (not very easy, just easy, works good though)! hahahaha

It all depends on what condition my condition is in !!!!! Reaction times may vairy !!

lol! like a, don't have to work the next day, got the night off, no responsibilities, time to have some fun, type of night?

23/3/2012

I started out on Adept, and ran a few characters to get the hang of how the various combat styles play. Now, I play exclusively on Master, and Dead-is-Dead to boot. I do so to add risk, since knowing I could lose a character in any given fight makes him/her feel more 'real', which adds to my immersion.

Some folks just don't understand that not everyone wants controller-snapping levels of difficulty in every game, and are unable to comprehend having fun any other way. While I disagree with that point of view I can also understand it, since I used to be one of them; I grew up playing games that make the hardest modern ones look easy, so it took a while before I realized that difficulty isn't everything. As such, I would be willing to bet that a large percentage of those who think this way are still young and/or new to gaming, and have not yet come to appreciate that sometimes the game's story and/or environment can be the most important aspect(s).

I didn't appreciate it myself until I played more 'open' games, since they're more about exploring than trying to get past each successive challenge. I count myself fortunate that the first such games I played were the first two Fallouts, as they had (to me, at least) the right mixture of difficult combat and good narrative, while still allowing the player to become really powerful by the end, which enabled me to start looking past the game's inherent difficulty to the other aspects of play. That started me on the road to my current point of view, wherein I consider the hardest difficulty to not be worth it in a lot of cases due to knowing how artificial it actually is.

Unfortunately, games like those don't really exist anymore, so current-day young gamers aren't getting such an opportunity so get stuck on the game's difficulty as their measuring stick. I hope that some day they do, but I'm not holding my breath given current design trends.

LOL ~ Ya like work or not, no matter it's play time !!!! I've played on hard mode like this and it's like ???? What just happened ????? So go to the control panel and hit "SLO-MO "

I always play games on default difficulty settings. With TES games, I'll generally make the game harder with mods rather than turning up the difficulty. High difficulty settings just make the player real fragile while turning enemies into damage sponges, which is an unsatisfying solution.

What's with the date?
Also i take it you're from Europe? cause in america it's 3/23/2012....weird o_O

There's no need for those who play on novice to have to defend themselves. It's your game; play it how you want.

For those who don't like dying, increase your health and improve your armor. If not a mage, then use alchemy to have plentiful healing potions. Equipment with fire and frost resistance greatly help against dragons.

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/119/1194431/ninja-gaiden-iii-20110914042228351.jpg

Many countries do day, month, year.

Yes, we Americans are oddballs.

I play on adept, but I am thinking about expert and see how that is for a while.

I never play any game on the lowest difficulty I play on normal usually.

Of course I do. Novice is the only real choice when playing a Destruction mage. It's the only way to get Destruction to feel like it's as effective as melee.

I play on Apprentice, found Adept to be a little tough for my reflexes.

I always thought the opposite: people who crank difficulty up to the hardest setting (or at least claim they do) have an a.d.d disorder and need to constantly get some sort of artificial rush. They usually also are the same people that boast about how great they are in games, and how easy games are. The more slower gamer tends to realize any difficulty can be overcome by exploits or potions, hence they rather have a more immersive experience rather than trying to turn an rpg into a ninja gaiden game.

Disagree. On apprentice and adept destruction is very powerful when used in conjunction with either other schools, or a spellsword character

You obviously didn't read my post. It says Destruction mage, not Jack-of-all-trades Magician or Spellsword.

what i've found is that people who don't play on higher difficulties often say that those playing at higher levels boast about how easy the game is and how good they are and ridicule people for playing on an easier difficulty level.

yet, i never see such posts from reputable members in the abundance that is implied.

assuming exploitation and a less immersive experience is foolish.

I went gradually from adept to expert to master (at around mid 20's level I think) as I levelled up, strengthened attributes in a sort of cycle of health, stamina then magicka per level, (more health and stamina though as I focused on being a one and two handed warrior), smithed better weapons and armour, added enchanting, and so on. By the time I settled on master, my character was developed enough to handle combat well. By the end at level 58, combat had become a bit too easy on master. I don't see the point of playing a game which is mostly about combat if there's little to no challenge. It's the challenge itself that creates the need for better potions, weapons, smthing and enchanting in order to put up a better fight and/or not die as easily. If combat isn't of much interest, might as well play a point and click adventure. Surely it's more satisfying knowing you've built your character from zero to hero through working hard in the game at the various skills to continually make yourself stronger, rather than playing on novice or going down a difficulty level to get past certain enemies?

I play on Adept, novice was WAY to easy for me. Ive knocked it to novice once, after I got my head chopped off in a kill cam animation from a vampire lackey 8 or 9 times in a row lol. I try to not to lower it though.

Me too. Parcells svcks at fighting games and I'm OK with that. Awesome game!