So, I was going to Whiterun, on my way back from a dungeon when this big winged shadow passed over me flying at subwarp speed toward the farms outside the city...I started running while the dragon descend above the screaming farmers and guards were running to defend them and so this EPIC FIGHT started. After like 10 minutes me+3 guards+some random npcs managed to bring down the beast...1 farmer and 1 guard died during the attack.
It felt great and epic not only because I play on Master difficulty and Dragons are TOUGH, but also because the beast used intelligent tactics to fight us...

Then, yesterday evening, I was in Morthal and people started to look at the sky in terror while my first Blood Dragon was flying in circles above town...it studied the people for a while, then it decided to attack...TERRIBLE beast it was, big, scary, powerful...
well...
so powerful that fight ended with the dragon lying dead after it killed 6 mudcrabs, a cow and...thats all...he breathed ice 2-3 times on guards and me then decided to bring havoc on the mudcrabs nearby, while being destroyed by arrows.
I guess this was a dumb dragon or something.
It felt hylarious and sad at the same time...

Anyway, guards are too powerful, nerf them plss

+1. If nobody mods this I will!

Actually I'm playing on the Xbox, so I'm hoping for a patch from Bethesda
I also have a pc, so eventually I'll play it again after someone mods this...

guards are moving missile batteries lol

i agree Guards are rather strong.. Mod them to make them weaker and Make the Quest giver Npcs run in fear behind their Houses or inside so they can't die lol

my favorite was Alvor in Riverwood. He just whipped out his Wep and went up to a master difficulty Dragon and just solod it. Im like WTH! lol

non-named dragons are pretty weak mind you, i find the blood-dragons really easy and dumb.
Named-dragons are a lot harder (was playing expert but upping that to highest now that i'm L21)

I also was in Riverwood when a blood dragon appeared. One high elf or whatever civilian charged up at it with a iron dagger alone and got owned by the second she reached the dragon.

Thing is, I play on Master and that Blood Dragon would have been a VERY hard fight for me on lvl 19-20...instead guards just destroyed the beast while I shot 2-3 arrows...
Then, the fact that the Dragon really hated the mudcrab race and killed 6 while getting shot, didn't help it lol

This dragon was dumb.

Yeah I've seen this happen too. I've fought quite a few dragons now and actually welcome this so I can get it over with. I personally prefer taking on draugr bosses and trolls.

ha I've encountered a blood dragon in the mountains, while i was running away... (I was no match for it) it disappeared but the red dot was still there, so I went to investigate to find it battling it out with an ice wolf, I guess the ice wolf was more interesting than me! (it killed the wolf and resumed chasing me after that) these dragons have a strange way of prioritizing targets.

I was bored yesterday so I quicksaved and went on a killing spree in whatever the Stormcloak city is called. Took on four guards at once and my health didn't even dip below 9/10. So I'm not sure about guards being all that powerful. I'm level 39.

But yeah, Blood Dragons seem to be really stupid, but Elder Dragons seem smarter.

Luckily, I started 2 characters because my main one has encountered only one random dragon. The other one has about 3 times more Souls than Shouts, basically if he enters an area chances are a dragon will land on his head. Personally, I love the dragon's bizarre randomness. Playing an archer type I tend to pull him them toward other stuff to take the attention off me.

One night I was wandering through the darkness and the thing never even roared, just slammed into the ground behind me and started fighting a camp of bandits. It just makes the game feel more alive when they see anything as their target rather than just locking on me and swoop, breath fire, swoop, breath fire like a quest target one.

It does become an issue when they for some reason want to kill everything within 2 miles of you. Had one attack a troll, then fly half a mile in a different direction and kill some bandits, then fly another direction and kill a deer, and this repeated until it killed everything in the area (except me) then flew away. Luckily, I save every time I hear a dragon.

Has anyone encountered a dragon that flies around for a bit then suddenly crashes to the ground?

Just wait until you see a Giant at work.

One my first trip towards Riften at around level 10 I stumbled upon a dragon I couldn't beat, but was near a Giant camp with a Giant I also knew I couldn't beat (hard earned knowledge learned after multiple strategic combat failures and subsequent reloads). I figured I would get a sweet 2-for-1 deal where the Dragon and Giant slug it out and let me come in for clean up.

Nope.

The Giant beat the piss out of the dragon, sent my companion careening off a cliff with that hilarious whack a mole attack, then stomped the crap out of me as well, and to top it all off never dipped below half HP. (This was before I learned you could just pepper them with arrows from the safety of a stream or puddle).

I LOLd pretty hard and I'm not sure why because it happens in mine too lol.

I don't think guards are really POWERFUL, they just don't die. Same for most NPCs. I think Beth wanted to not kill every single npc you had with you but maybe went a little overboard. Either make them afraid, do almost NO damage, or decrease their HP in some way. At one point in a quest I had 2 STRAY DOG npcs with me. They tanked a dragon for me and kept it busy while I shot it to death.

EDIT: Im on master, by the way : P

NO KIDDING!!!! Would a farmer really go after a dragon with a freakin Iron Dagger anyway????

Actually, why don't NPCs flee from or yield to ME??? I have electricity oozing from my fingertips 12 hours a day and a barmaid thinks she can take me on! What gives?

I fought once a dragon that crashed right in front of me and left an trail behind it, that was really interresting.

Don't know if that is randomly trigert or else but it sure is epic.

The trail was textured in an other color and it deformed the ground also.

+1 if you mod it!

I personally play on master and dragons are not challenging in the least for me. I can just hide behind a wall and kill it at my leisure while it doesn't breathe at me. Also they are usually getting slayed by bears/cats/giants/mudcrabs

One dragon I fought I was using a big rock to LoS it's breath weapon.

Well, he got smart, landed on TOP of the rock and just sprayed me to death while I was trying to find a crevice to hide under.

svcked - I was killing a couple dragons really easy with the LoS trick - this guy all of a sudden wises up and kills me LOL.

I dont see how people have any issues at all with giants... they are SLOOOOW and strong. You can without even having good gear on master difficulty kill a giant without even taking damage as melee. Even Easier if your 2h weapon melee. When they get hit with power attacks they get stunned an cant move for a few seconds cause they are slow you can take advantage of that. But the most easy way to kill a Giant is to knock them down it takes SOOOOO long for them to get back on there feet... Unrelenting force when you have 3 words will knock them on there butt 100% of the time. Leaving you to stand over them and wack them dead from full health to easy kill.

Well, I haven't attacked them directly but it seems to me they shoot missiles instead of arrows....and as you say, they just don't die.
ONE full breath from a Dragon and I'm near death...3-4 full breaths on guards and they're still fighting...anyway, the Blood Dragon was breathing ice, so maybe guards were all nords with the 50% resist, but they're to tough anyway

Really? A dragon killed Alvor and now I can't smith in Riverwood. He got pwned

Well i have 2 test characters level 16 and start my oter character, most dragons just keep fly and never land or attack me i thing the dont see me.