About 15 hours in on my thief/assassin.

Doing the MQ feels weird on an assassin, and exploring isnt too fun because I'm bad in combat. But ive been all over the map, so I'd have to do that again, and I've done a few side quests.

I'm thinking about just finishing the DB and Thieves Guild and then making a warrior to be my main character where I do the MQ, Companions, civil war, marriage, exploring, etc.

What do you guys think?

I agree it is hard to do stealth in this game. Maybe you should.

Don't give up, just play the strength of your class. Sure a stealth character has trouble in combat, but that's why you should focus on not being seen. In stealth mode you can rock the world with the sneak attck multipliers.

stealth can be very punishing. but thats why you need to invest in some offensive/defensive abilities. my assassin can some what handle his own in most of the battles ive been in.... granted i have to drink a gallon of health potions.

It's not that it's hard, it's just that I feel like I'm missing a big part of the game.

I'm also playing a sniper-type, and it's not too difficult. But I see what you're saying, my next build will be a battlemage of some kind. I've not really touched magic or tanking yet.

Had a thread like this where others and I talk about allways starting over.

If it's your first time then do it. Don't make it a habit.

For instance, exploring: I can't explore ruins because I can't fight my way through them. But I remember on my warrior in OB how I explored dungeons all the time.

Warriors are better suited for exploration, as they can take a hit and dish it back. My Orc has little trouble slashing his way through dungeons.

If you are going to be using sneaking, you have to go all the way. Do you use illusion? Might be worth getting into if not, and alchemy can make some good invisibility and various stealth-based potions. Get in those backstabs, and invest into perks that deal with extra damage for your weapons. It's a "hit or miss" for most cases with assassins.

If you're playing stealth you should be sneaking through dungeons one hitting guys and stealthy finishing moves. Maybe you're just not good at stealth game play if every dungeon turns out to be a big fighting ordeal for you. You can still explore, an assassin and a warrior are still gonna end up with a chamber full of dead guys and loot to take, I don't see the exploration difference.

You can be a warrior and a stealth character...Also, you level up the other skills by doing them. Starting over will put you in the same position, but without the stealth skills. Just do your next few quests wearing full armor and using a sword/mace. Since you haven't trained them they'll level up quickly. Find some Imperial armor somewhere, or sneak kill a guard.

I have 56 sneak at LVL 22 or so, and walk around with a mace and dwarven shield. When I'm sneaking I'll wear the muffled boots the Nightingale quests give you, and the rest is Thief guild clothing. I can sneak around without a problem.

If I come across a tough enemy, where light armor won't do, I equip armor which gets me up to about 146 armor rating, and amulet/rings to increase blocking percentage. I can beat anything in a full on fight.

My stats are:

Sneak - 56 (Stealth (3/5), then all but the top 3)
Block - 38 (Shield Wall(1/5), Power Bash, Quick Reflexes)
One-handed - 62 (Armsman (3/5), Fight Stance, Savage Strike, Bone Breaker (1/3))
Heavy armor - 36 (Juggernaut (1/5))
Light armor - 42 (Agile Defender (1/5))

Are you kidding me? Stealth is a lot easier at least on Adept difficulty, I was even considering upping it since I am one-shotting everything in my path. You just need to plan ahead and have an answer for a situation that doesn't work out the way intended.