No. It's not. The whole point is to have fun.

I like having someone walking around with me. Also some are actually pretty decent in combat (specifically when its a scenario in which a pack of enemies could surround you, the follower takes a bit of aggro off you).

Followers are great at taking some of the hits for me.

i dont use them but if i did they would make good cannon fodder also i should perhaps start using them things are increasingly difficult currently., and when they die i suppose its a free zombie

Oblivion didn't really have "companions" (I don't count the silly fan or Mazoga as a follower). Those were stupid quest NPCs that you had to escort and who always picked a fight with every creature they saw! LOL Yea, I hated those, too!

However, the followers in Skyrim are different, their whole AI is different. They will fight with you, follow your example, crouch and sneak with you. Plus, they will ONLY die if YOU kill them!

Bonuses of followers

- Pack mules.
- Tank/meatshield.
- Mean killing machines in good gear.

Cons.
- Unable to sneak (most of the time)
- Trap fetish.


My only dislike about them is that they aren't as deep and special as the followers in NV. I prefered those much more than the ones in Skyrim.

The worst thing is how bad they are at following you. Fallout: NV did a much better job of keeping them close.

What's with Followers not keeping up with you, anyway. I'm traveling for a while and suddenly I realize that Lydia's not with me anymore. Oh great, and here's a Frost Troll.

Cheers.

I enjoy gearing up and making my character stronger.

Therefore, I also enjoy gearing up my followers as well. It's satisfying for me to find a piece of armor or weapon I can't use, and hand it over to my companion. They generally make good use of weapons / staves and spells, so watching them wreak havoc with the new gear you've bestowed upon them is fun for me.

Why do I use them?

because without one, using the Wars in Skyrim dark ages mod and the harder dragons mod I'm pretty much dead walking through the wilderness on my own

My thief hires mercenaries to kill for him, then dismisses the merc and loots the treasure.

You still get just as much xp per skill use. You might say you get 50% skill uses per kill, but then you kill 2x as fast so its a wash.

Haven't been able to get into one. They seem lifeless. Do they have any real unfolding story or is it just that one little mini quest and then they follow you?

To a great extent in FONV and the awesome "Ruined Tails Tale" Oblivion mod the quest WAS the companion. It was all about the companion and his/her story that unfolded over time.

Exactly.
And if you have the right companion, one who can compement your character (i.e., a mage follower to accompany your warrior) that can also add some needed extra firepower. I had as a follower the priestess from the Azura's Star quest (I keep forgetting her name), with her spells and her ability to conjure Fire Atronachs, she would often clear a room for me before I even had a chance to get a hit in.

As others have mentioned, I wish BGS had taken notes on FONV followers. OTOH, they're much more disposable in Skyrim since they're just personality sketches.

They're useful for carrying stuff, they help out in the early to mid levels on master difficulty if you're having trouble, and they're potentially good for RP, though the limited personality and tendency to repeat the same lines hurt that, IMO. They can balance character weaknesses, too, such as having a fighter along when you're an archer (though they get enough that their usefulness is mixed).

Followers are definitely improved in Skyrim. If you're getting nothing but aggravation, then you should try different followers, and also try switching up the items you give them. Certain followers such as Annekke do great as archers, for example. I'm not saying that followers are useful all the time and never get in the way, but the right follower with the right gear helps out more often than not. (Though that's a potential downside in terms of challenge.)

i had this hilarious thing with one of these, maglir, in the fighter's guild quest.... when we had to enter the den with the thieves i wanted to speak to him, but i accidently did it while crouching. so maglir was pissed off and i was banished from the guild until i bring 20 bear pelts, and i forgot i can just load the game again. but the funny part is that maglir kept following me! if i tried to talk to him, he kept saying that i stole from the fighter's guild and that i have to speak to the one in charge there. so he followed me without the option for me to tell him to go! he was SO annoying! he attacked everyone he saw without even thinking, and every time he died he was just unconcious, not dead! he was immortal! and the funniest part was when i entered the well in cheydinhal that was full of water. i had the weird ring that makes me breath underwater, and maglir didn't...... if you'll see it you will laugh your ass out! hahaha

Go find Derkeethus and once you have you'll never want him to leave your side.

I think it's sad how Bethesda went quantity over quality here

Don't use followers although i can appreciate that they can have their uses. My character us a bit of a loner so to have a follwer doesn't really fit in with rp purposes.

Besides as a necromancer / conjurer...i'm never alone...

Need a tank? Frost atronach

Long range? Flame atronach

Distraction needed? Zombie / familiar

Having someone to lug about the dragon bones and scales i collect woul be great though.

They are good help against high lvl dragons/draugs. And its nice watch how they finish they opponed. My Farkas is lvl 50 and hes good help he can kill achient dragon self. They are just good help against high lvl enemys

As people have said, they're useful as a pack mule and to distract dragons and other creatures from me. However I don't want them to die, so if I'm going to make them bait, I equip them with very good armor and weapons so that they can stand toe to toe with a dragon while i'm killing it (without dying) and that takes some work.

If that was all there was I'd say they are a net plus. However the game's weird pathing and random errors of having them disappear or just stop following you often makes them more trouble then they are worth. My next playthrough I'm going to use the steed stone right away to give myself more carrying capacity and go it alone.

most of my skills are at 100 and I've had a follower with me throughout pretty much the entire game, the agrument of "they take your xp" isn't really a good one. I got to lvl 100 in restoration and illusion thanks to my companion and hell I'm not even a mage

every play the game mabonogi(it is an actually mmoRPG, it is just an rpg with real people in it)? it has a crap load of skills (im not even going to go into details) and soem skills exist only for the fun in using them, not combat, skyrim is an RPG not a fighting game, it is about roleplaying (thats the entire point of the genre) not leveling up and being powerful

Not entirely true... though not entirely false either.

Ive 2 lvl 81 accounts they dont need any followers but new comer lvl 16 needs.