In the long and the short of it, it all boils down to my impatience with leveling up skills, say "Smithing Skills" for example: The process for me is tedious, slow and boring. And, to be quite honest I am not much into exploring. I fast travel everywhere. I have tried staying away from opening up the map at the beginning, but that only lasted about a couple of hours. Plus early on in the game the constancy of getting killed absolutely riles me: especially when a skeever can take me down. I am getting tired now and my eyes are watering too much to me to continue. I am hitting the rack.

I really have to ask: why Skyrim?

There are a ton of games that sound much better-suited to your tastes. So why play a game like Skyrim and try to force it into that mold?

Skyrim is in and of itself a good game. However, the leveling up process seems very long and very tedious to me. I already have over eleven hundred hours playing Skyrim. If I were to not cheat it would most likely take me that long just to finish one game-- or so it seems. In addition, I personally dislike dying by those one-hit bosses or by a single wolf: especially when you have a companion who seems to suddenly disappear when you are surrounded by whatever. Then, after the battle is over they coming trotting around the corner. "Oh, hi! You're alive?"
"Yea, no thanks to you [censored]!"

In all honesty, I start out with the following skills:

One Handed - lv 60
Heavy Armor - lv 60
Smithing - lv 60
Sneak - lv 60

In my mind I have a better chance at staying alive. But, to each I suppose?!?

Well, one could certainly question the wisdom of specializing in Heavy Armor and Sneak, but yes, to each his own.

However, I'm starting to understand why you're having problems. You're cheating, and when you cheat in the way you have, you mess up the leveling in the game. Your skills are a high level, but your character still has their base amounts of health, magicka and stamina. I'd imagine you're also breaking the leveling system itself, which is built to handle normal leveling up.

The game is not meant to be a level-grind. They've specifically built a leveling system that discourages it. So again, I have to ask: why Skyrim?

None of my skills were at a hundred as now. Unless the target is standing stock still I am terrible at archery. I just want to be sort of battlemage that wields two swords, along with the sneak skill and who has destruction and restoration magic. I am not a fan of having to stop and re-chant my weapons either. Plus, I have a problem with switching from say, wielding two swords to using a destruction spell. Invariably when I close out the menu whatever it is that I am fighting takes me down before I can use whatever I had switched to. So, it seems almost pointless to even switch from one weapon to another. I guess I am just ranting. Forgive me.

What does it matter why I play Skyrim? I hate multiplayer games. I hated All Mass Effect games which I wasted money on. I did like Fallout three, but detested the ending. I like Fallout New Vegas, but I currently can't play it on my laptop for some reason. However, my all time favorite game was and still is Dragon Age Origins: although, I absolutely hated DA2.

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The reason that I focus on Heavy Armour is because I like my female character wearing the SilverLight (mod) armor and my female companions wearing the "very sixy Ebony (mod) armor" which are both heavy armors are they not? As for the sneak skill while I like using it, I don't like how my character sneaks up on an enemy and strikes causing the NPC to stagger backwards, but my character never advances even though my finger is still on the "W" walk button. You pretty much have to lift you finger and then press the "W" again: and, by that time the NPC has you health down to virtually nothing with their counter attack.

I'm just curious. Because so far it's clear that you only enjoy the game when you use the console to break the leveling system. And even then, you seem to be upset that it doesn't have a leveling system like other games.

There are lots of single-player RPGs that offer the kind of level-grinding and kill-spreeing gameplay you seem to be looking for. I'm just wondering why you chose to play an open-world RPG that's built around exploration and has mechanics in place to deliberately discourage the kind of gameplay you want to have.

And as for your sneak problem: your issue is that you aren't perked. Sneak attacks are designed to be devastating, hopefully-one-shot kills. If it fails, then you're probably going to be screwed. Especially if you used the console to level your skills so that you're still unperked. I promise you that most, if not all, of your problems with survivability would disappear if you didn't cheat. And while there's nothing wrong with combining Sneak and Heavy Armor, you're making things harder for yourself, because Sneak works best with Light Armor (less noise, faster). I'm willing to bet your other issue with sneak attacks is that you're being detected before you land the attack, so you're missing out on the bonus damage.

OP, you know that you can adjust the difficulty setting, right?

I am level 63 on master mode. Just about everything dies with one sneak attack. I wear light armor and dual wield daggers. The game is almost so easy now that it makes me LOL. I play on xbox, there is no cheating on the console.

If you're going to cheat, at least do it right and give yourself perk points AND actually spend the perks.

I am not sure i follow you? Are you referring to skill books or the use of the skill? I mean, I literally sneak where ever is I go. I am playing at the lowest level there is. At any rate, I have deleted all my current saves and will try it from scratch just to see. Thanks,

Just try to play the game as it's meant to be. Otherwise if you really feel the need to, do a Google search for skyrim console commands and read the wiki. It tells you how to give yourself perks. I would just enjoy the game without console. The only reason I would use it was to get around any bugs in the game.

Those are the commands that I have been using all along. What bothers me for example, is Smithing: When you arrive in Riverwood and ask what's his face about smithing and he gives some tasks to do, Unless you have a 100 of those helmets you can't level your smithing skills up fast enough. I have tried it before and it never seems to work--even though I watched a video on You Tube showing how to do it.

Level them up fast enough for what?

There's no time limit on the game, and you've got a mine right down the road from Riverwood if you want to go get some more iron to smith some early-level stuff. Or you can kill deer for pelts. Or you can steal stuff. Or you can trade.

This is an open-world game. There's a whole lot of stuff out there for you to do.

Sneak mode could be devastating as one of the members above have already said
If you want a "very sixy heavy armour" you've to consider even that this last will affect your sneak capabilities - add to this that you've invested little or nothing in sneaky perks probably and you'll find the answer to your "problem"

Forgive, but I have no clue in what you are saying. How is it that if I am constantly in sneak mode, where ever I go, how am I not investing in the perk even if I start at zero? That makes no sense to me?

Sneak isn't a perk, it's a skill. Skill trees have perks.

The first time you leveled, you would have been given pop-up hints about how to invest perks.

Using the console to artificially is as beforementioned counterproductive in regards to leveling, becaise you don't get the experiancepoints from levelling your SKILLS, these experiancepoints go to further your chars overall level.
I play on ps3 and don't have the luxury of console, but I admit to grind sneak when starting a new char, usually to 90-100 (which is very easiely and quickly done). But doing this still raises my overall level to about 14-15. I've tried out MANY different builds but I always play consistantly (one type of armour, one primary fighting skill typical with one magical backup) per playthrough. This typically land me at around level 44-46 at about 80-100+ hours when I try something new. Point being I always have enough perk points to sate my primary skills plus auxillary, but I enjoy playing with the type of char I've created by playing like I want to, I would simply loose interest by making an 'extreme char makeover' after 80 hours just to gain extra levels.

OP; how does this relate to you?
Stop using the console to level up your primary skills because you will never get the necesary experiencepoints to level your overall level. Just play the game as intended instead, maybe do some skillgrinding (uesp.net has great guides to effeciant levelling/grinding) instead.

That much I know. I was actually referring the sneak skill as an example. Geez, in 80 hours of play to get my skill and character level up to 40 I would be tearing my hair out and pretty much done with the game. As it is the way I always play, even with the cheats, by the time I finish with the Winterhold College quests --after defeating Ancano-- I begin to feel like the game is over. No more epic battles --especially in the final main quest. After that just roaming around the countryside in and out of caves, barrows, and cairns seems pointless.

You could not be more wrong.

Some of the best encounters in the game are found through exploration. You will never get to fight all the dragon priests if you fast-travel everywhere and don't look into side-quests. One of my favorite questlines starts at a remote inn off the road leading to Markarth. You will literally never find it if you don't take some time to explore the world.

Again, it just seems like you're playing the wrong game. If you're looking for a linear fantasy RPG with a traditional leveling structure, the Elder Scrolls series is a terrible choice. If, on the other hand, you want to give an open-world RPG a try, then try actually playing the game without cheats or fast traveling. Who knows? You may actually like it.

If you want to advance in level, use skills you have not focused on. It is relatively easy to "train" skills you don't normally use to increase your level. There are tricks and tips to this by looking online for support. It sounds like after mastering a few skills the other ones have fallen by the wayside and now you're stuck.



**possible spoiler in relation to "training" skills**






Again check online. As a quick example: leveling conjuration can be done by finding a Slaughterfish and standing next to the water (but not going in). Continually cast "Bound (whatever)" repeatedly and then sheathe it. Repeat. Repeat. Ad Nauseum.

Hope this helps friend.

I have been there many times?!? And, incidentally, I have fought all of the dragon priest at one time and have gone to Labyrinthian and have placed all of the maskson the shrine: And, to that end I was not impressed. It was no big deal since I have never use them anyway. However, There are some things in the game I have not done or will ever consider doing, like joining the thieves guild or becoming a Vampire of a Werewolf. Still, I appreciate you sentiment. And, yes, I have played Dawnguard but not as a Vampire.

How on earth have you done these things if you only use fast-travel to get around?

The only way i can think of for you to put 1,100 Hours in, and still only have a max level of 25, is if you hire a companion, and sit back and have him do all the work for you the whole time.

You claim to be on PC, so luckily, we have mods to fix boredom. Try out ASIS and the Deadly Dragons mods. Those mods will give even a Lvl 81 a challenge. With DD, Dragons become a 10-15 min fight of epic proportions. When you fight Alduin on Master difficulty with DD on hardcoe mode, it's so damn epic that you might as well have http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_MW65XxS7s playing as the music. Just replace "Sephiroth!" chorus with "Alduin!". Prepare to die, alot.

RPG's are meant to be savoured...sure, a good goal setting is to level up and see reward for your efforts, but there's ways and means to achieve and feel satisfaction for a game well played.

My guy has done a lot, is level 74, still has quests outstanding, and is incredibly rich...so now I'm installing a bunch of house/castle mods, and filling them up with display collections, and am working on amassing a massive fortune...my ultimate goal is to see how much I can actually mod the environment to make a prettier and fuller skyrim (other people's mods, not my own). Once I do that, I'll put them in a collection so other people can enjoy a fuller game.

Sometimes the end is not in the game itself, but in what you do in the game.

Apparently OP is a lost cause. Something just isn't clicking no matter how much advice people are giving. Under all the hacking and slashing involved, this game is of patience. If you don't have it, then you probably want to consider another game. FPS sounds like it fits your style.