I have been playing this game for a few weeks and i'm at Level 31 now, but i know there are MANY people who have played ALOT since it came out last year. I actually bought Skyrim when it came out but i was so invested in BF3 that i never got around to playing this until a few weeks ago.

i LOVE how gamesas designed the leveling up process and to me it feels natural, engaging and fun, but is there a MAXIMUM level you can reach? I think NPC's can only get to 40 or 50, but can we go beyond 50? I figure if i'm already at 31, you guys must be 50 or more!

And the second part to my question is - does the game seem to plateau, slow down or lose the 'new and interesting fun factor' once you get that ridiculously high in leveling.

Everyone here is always helpful to my stupid newbie questions and i appreciate your responses. THX!

81 is max

There's a soft cap at level 50 - levels past that are much harder to get. The hard cap, as mentioned, is 81 (all skills at 100).

I think it actually gets more fun the farther up the level scaling you get.

Really, because it seems like for most players after you hit the 40s the game becomes significantly less challenging. Heck I retired a players in the early 30s once because it was too easy. Ebony Mail + Lightning Cloak = Winning strategy.

I tend to hinder my player's progress, even when he's at that scale. Master difficulty does it for the most part, but I also cripple him in other ways (I don't use armor and if I do I use what's aesthetically pleasing, the aesthetic part goes for weapons as well). And when I feel like it, a little power isn't always a bad thing.

use a shiv the entire game if you want a challenge

Only use a fork. Unenchanted. Unupgraded.

Thank you all for the advice. I really had no idea there was a soft and hard cap at 50 and 81. That makes me feel alot better cuz i know i'm nowhere near the end and it's unlikely i will ever see the super high levels. The game is still filled with excitement and i don't even have the Dawngaurd Add-On yet but it looks cool as hell.

LOL, when i recently found out i can use a fork and knife as a weapon i laughed my ass off. I also like the wooden swords you can give your kids as well and use as a weapon if you choose. I don't know if there were wooden swords in the regular version but i definately noticed them after i got the Hearthfire Add-On.

The best kill-cam I've ever had is running a guard through with a wooden sword while he was wearing chain mail. Nothing like it. By the way, really don't try that fork trick. You can't even kill people when they're on the ground (i.e. "Please, mercy!"). Enchanted plus upgrading works well enough though.

Is it an real soft cap as in going from 50 to 51 is significantly harder than 49-50, like going to level 81 on World of Warcraft who is who require around 4x the xp of 79-80 or is it just that at level 50 you has to level skills you don't use as much?

From my experience with a mage who just hit Level 57, it's both. It takes quite a few more XPs to gain levels past 50, and in her case, the skills she uses the most are maxed out or getting close. Alteration and Destruction are both at 100, Illusion, Alchemy and Enchanting are in the mid 90s, Conjuration is in the 80s. Restoration is lagging a bit (70s), but that one levels slowly anyway.

I expect this character will top out around Level 65 or so if I don't grind skills that she never uses (armor, two-handed, pickpocketing and such).