I am level 17 and have just scratched the surface of Whiterun as well as a tiny bit of Markath due to a quest that "sent" me there. I feel like I am gaining levels to fast for what I have accomplished.

I was spread a bit thin at first but now I am focusing much more on about 7-8 skills. I have encounters bandits that are really hard and others not so much all within the same general area.

I dunno... anyone else wish they could slow down the leveling a bit? Is it just my perception? Does it slow down? I was under the impression increasing a skill from 15-16 was a larger EXP gain then the same skill going from 74 to 75. I assumed this was designed to penalize people who spread too thin. Such as a character with a high level but low skills.

Just looking for thoughts and observations from other players.

I know what you mean, it took me ages to get to level 13 in Oblivion.
I don't want to be a high level so early on.

There's no such thing as leveling too slowly or too quickly in an open-ended single player game. Play the game in a manner that suits you, and don't look back.

That's my biggest fear, leveling too fast. Heh, that's one of the things I like about Everquest 2, the fact that you can basically "lock" your level by turning off XP gains.

I guess my fear of leveling too fast stems from my idea (that may be totally wrong) that my level is going way up, but my skills aren't quite 'there', yet. For instance, I may be level 17, but I've done a lot of blacksmithing and, as a result, I've gained levels while my combat skills have remained where they were. Am I thinking about this the wrong way?

EDIT: Grammar

I do feel it's a bit quick. I have a level 20 thief/assassin sitting on 18 hours of playtime or so. Now, that does sound like an even amount of time, but for the most part I have absolutely no skill far above 50. I think my One-hand is 51 and my Sneak is 49 or something like that.

I hate to be underleveled, since everything contributes. I did some blacksmithing? Ding. Sold some stuff, speech increased? Ding. These are things that are leveling me but don't fully contribute to what I do most of the time.

I'd say that you are. Sure, you leveld smithing faster than your combat skills, but so what? The gear you can make outlevels anything you'd normally be able to find, so that should balance things out.

True, but if I'm level 17 with level 10 combat skills, won't some of the creatures that level-up when I do be much stronger than me? I may be wearing some good armor, but I won't be doing much damage, especially if there's more than one. Or is that not how it works?

It's good to know others are weary of this too. But like one commenter mentioned it is open-world, do what ya like and don't look back. In the end, I will play like this but was worried that the skill gains I get the "minor" skills was adding too much to my level.

I'm already level 12, and I only just killed my first dragon. I've only done a couple minor side quests, and I feel like I should only be lvl 5 max. In addition, the combat is way too easy. I'll have to either turn up the difficulty, or stop picking combat perks, which would be weird since I play a pure warrior. I just play what comes natural and don't focus on any skills to control my leveling, just like I'm supposed to according to Todd.

Get a companion, equip them with your nicely-leveled weapons and armor, and have them do the heavy fighting.

the soft cap is lvl 50 and then it's supposed to be a grind to the lvl cap of 70.

My character is level 13 and she's done about four big dungeons. I think that some of the bad reports over the weekend were from people who cheesed certain skills (such as Smithing) and then ran into problems against levelled mobs. Basically, I'm gradually levelling my skills (Archery and Sneak currently lead the way, with about 38 & 42 or something). Don't go crazy levelling because it will bite you later on and you'll have to dial back the difficulty. Only run your crafting skills up when you're happy that you can survive for your level.

I'm level 26 and have only visited three of the towns so far... I get side tracked while exploring locations on my way. Any ways, I understand the dilemna as my Lock Picking, Alchemy, Pickpocketing, and Sneaking are around 75+ while my Archery skill is close to 50. Though it might be cheap, to survive I have to sneak attack, run away sneakingly and hide, sneak attack, run away sneakingly and hide over and over maybe 5 to 10 times to kill many of the enemies I am facing now. My Shouts do very minimal damage... maybe 5% of their health. This is also on the standard difficulty.

I would say that unless you are levelling up pickpocket and speech, or some other non combat stuff, don't worry about it. as long as you are upping the combat skills you know you want to use. my problem is that I want to focus less on sneak and bow but if I raise my 1h to a decent level, I will end up leveling like 4 levels...feel like I will always be behind on leveled monsters.

edit: nis, I am having same issue at times. what I find helps is a) get a companion and don't know! I am trying to use restoration on the run, wondering about getting one hand. thought about conjure.

my problems are when I have a big mob, or a high HP baddies, and a sneak a couple of time, then eventually the get in melee and my bow is screwed. I would like to whip out a sword and kill em, but my 1h is lilke 23.

I'm level 28 but have been playing since last Tuesday so I have a head start. I have seen some people higher than me, I think they play too much. Although the first couple days I didnt put long hours into it because I wasnt expecting to have the game that early and had things to do.

i hope u guys do know that the lvl cap is 81 right? so its natural that u ight seem "under skilled" im lvl10 and my highiest skill issmithing at 35 or something. give it some time... were all used to oblivion whereu had 100 blade at lvl 10

I wonder if combat skills continue to level up even at the level cap? I am level 40, after 50 hours.

Not sure where you got that information, but I'm pretty sure it's wrong. The hard level cap is 70.

Hey, wonderful idea! Heh, I guess I should've thought of that.

The UESP says something like 80 ish.

But doing direct leveling slows way the hell down at 50.

But we still can.

it doesnt change the fact thatmost oblivion players stopped leveling or beat the game at low levels...my point is still valid, we arent used to leveling so fast

Think of it this way; your combat skills might be a bit low, but your Health/Magicka/Stamina are right were they should be. You might have difficulty killing things at first, but your stats are properly scaled, and your low level skills will level up very quickly.

Skills continue to level, but you lose access to perks (unless you get them outside of leveling).

I have yet to find a companion I would like to keep around with me. As I do a lot of sneaking, any of the escorts I have had jump into combat as soon as I hit a target which I want to try and avoid as I seem to be pretty squishy when hell breaks loose.

Personally like the rate of levelling, but then I tend to always be looking at that next perk that I feel my character 'must' have to be ready for new challenges. Not sure if this will actually make the game more difficult later on (by 'locking' new zones to a higher level).

Edit: curious as to whether your companions (current and future) level up with you.