Wow stealth sneak attack damage svcks. I spend 20 minutes getting in position only to get a tiny bit of extra damage on him. I've got 40 in stealth and the first 2 perks and I keep getting found by... anyone. Barring animals. Is there any point to this? So far hitting things with a stick seems to be the most effective way to kill things, but I'm hindered by having wasted most of my perks in sneak. I'm sure the bow with sneak is fine, it has some impressive damage. But melee attacks in sneak attack? Total let down, every fight with a bandit feels like a dragon fight. I had to run away from 3 bandits. They kept healing and my dps couldn't stop them. My mana ran out.

For a game that encourages you to play your way they really penalize you unless you focus on doing one thing extremely well. The way they handle difficulty in the game is completely at odds with what they're trying to achieve with a class less system. I feel like my entire 8 hours playing Skyrim has been a big waste of time. I've encountered tons of bugs, my companion vanished. No where to be found and I can't recruit a new one because it thinks I still have one. Absolutely atrocious balancing. Now is there any way to salvage my build? I tried to do a magic/stealth build. But the magic was weak sauce, so I had to flee. But that didn't work so I had to add some combat skills in. Now I can't really do anything. I spent an hour unsuccessfully trying to kill a random group of 3 bandits. And due to the auto saving I can't avoid the fight. They hunt me down and slaughter me over and over. My last save is even further back. It took me like 3 hours to clear 2 bandits in a cave. Even one hit will level me, but I don't gain any advantages for sneaking other than getting an axe in the face.

Take it off hardest difficuilty?

Why do I HAVE to do that? Should it not pose an actual challenge. I have to think and be rewarded rather than just cheapening the difficulty by making everything a damage sponge? Is it that hard to try and think of ways to make things harder? Why even have the option if it's not balanced?

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Type killall
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Use daggers or strong swords and when you're up behind them use the power attack thingymebob with a weapon in each hand,takes 'em out nicely...

You know you may be on to something here

Except it doesn't? I have a magical sword and it does like... a tiny amount of damage. Busting out a lighting bolt spell and charging it does more than my entire sneak attack does. Do you see why I might feel a little frustrated?

Edit
If I had focused on one role, this wouldn't be a problem. But I decided to "play my way" and I'm reaping the rewards for a lack of specialization in a role.

LOL @ complaining the hardest level is too hard...

There's a difference in terms of difficulty. Fair difficulty, things that are my fault. And cheap difficulty, things I have no control over. I can't control the poor scaling of sneak attack damage into the higher levels of play. So now I get penalized for wanting to play as a sneak attack guy on higher difficulty levels. I can control my build. Now If I was an idiot and put all my talents into speech and was complaining about how bad sneaking is. You might have a point.

Not really right, right for him complaining that he can t sneak anyone on hard is jerkish, 40 isn t even half to total, thats mean your not even half good enought.
But about the damage on a succefull sneak strike doing no damage that is lame. It should be dificult to get there (Normal) but should reward a sucess.... Not an instant kill but a significant damage, a cripple anything...

Well, atleast sniping is satisfying

All I'm asking, but it just doesn't scale on the harder difficulties. Not asking for an instant kill just some reward for putting in the effort to line up a sneak attack. Throw me a freaking bone here.

I've been doing almost nothing but Stealth. I've taken out entire bandit strongholds with no one detecting me, regardless of how little or much damage I'm doing, so you're doing something wrong. Make sure you aren't trying to sneak around in heavy armor and stay out of the light. If the eye starts to open, quickly move behind something or go around a corner. The enemies will search were they heard you last or thought the attack came from. After a minute the eye will close and it will say "hidden" again. Sneak back out and do another stealth attack. If you kill an enemy that detects you before his friends are within sight or shouting distance you will remain hidden.

Now, as for damage from Stealth, I'm on Normal difficultly, but I'm level 12 and one-shotting most enemies with the bow from stealth, and if I get in close with a dagger behind them, I can one hit kill them as well. You need to focus you're perks - the dagger has one perk that gives it x6 stealth damage and another that gives it x15 (!!!) damage from stealth. Even a crappy dagger will do over 100 HP worth of damage with that perk. Plus, your damage with daggers will increase as your One-Handed skill does. Use poisons for added damage.

Maybe they screwed up the hardest difficulty setting. Likely all they did was add massive amounts of health to the enemies. Why play that way? It isn't more challenge, it's more annoyance. On normal the enemies still do pretty brutal damage (I've died in one on one fights with bandits), and most can take a good bit of up front abuse. Try the game on Normal for a hour or so and see what you think.

A hybridized stealth build played on the hardest difficulty setting right from the beginning of the game as an inexperienced (for the time being) player... yeah, that probably is astonishingly difficult. You really ought to go pure melee or magic if you want to do that.

Bethesda's goal was to create a game that works well on most settings for most people. You've chosen the most extreme possible combination of factors, and I'm not surprised it's too difficult. Plus, some people might WANT an insane (but still survivable) challenge. You seem to want it to be hard, yet also... easy.

I will say that, for me, one of the new perk system's major weaknesses is that the perks are perhaps too darned good, and until I've got a few dozen tucked under my belt, I sort of feel like I'm slowly un-nerfing my character. That being said, on Normal, it's fine.

Maybe try the hardest difficulty setting once you're a veteran of the game and/or beginning at a higher character level with better gear.

I didnt choose any stealth perks and i ended up leveling up on stealth alone.

I got into a vantage pont over a bandit camp and snuck up and sniped and then faded back into the shadows. once i did that on about 9 guys i had leveled up three times my stealth skill leveled up about 7 times i think.

i ddint intend to but might be a bit of an exploit.

Its odd, granted I'm playing on normal, but I feel oddly invisible. I've had enemies run directly up me in search, only to turn around half a meter infront of me and give up.

I know exactly what you mean. I restarted a couple characters today on Master difficulty because they just werent cutting it. Stealth archery and kite maging seems to be the best way to go.

Your whining that you can no longer sneak attack, exploit kill everything in one hit like fallout and oblivion?

The problem I have with Stealth is that the Dungeons aren't designed for it. They are largely linear affairs, where you run down a tunnel and a room opens before you with the enemies already facing you. It's nearly impossible to get behind anyone. I've only run into a few places where the enemies had defined patrol patterns that enabled me to sneak up and get stealth kills. Nevermind when there is more than one baddie, as taking down the first (even in one hit, which should be a silent kill) alerts the rest.

Don't even get me started on the paltry 3x multiplier for attacking with a bow from stealth. Archery needs about a 100% boost in damage as is, a 6x multiplier might make it useful.

As it is, as soon as I finish the Thieves guild questline, I'm probably going to retire my Thief character.

take someone with you