it's an honest question that i let be known.

if one can't handle the subject matter then pass on by.

elitist is a word you use and nothing in my thoughts when the question was posed. [censored].

I think that people should play on whatever difficulty that they have the most fun with. But whenever people say "meant to be played"--especially with a BGS game--I've got to take exception.

Do you mean the way that's it's meant to be played as designed or as implemented? Because in the real world there's always a gap, and BGS games traditionally have a significant amount of design flaws on top of that. Also, considering that the CK is one of the major features of a BGS game, I guess the game is meant to be played with mods. That really complicates it. Which mods did they mean, anyway?

Anyway, for me, adept is too easy. I literally get aggravated on Adept because I mow down foes (even at the beginning). I'm currently playing Master + PISE + Duke's Combat Tweaks, and I still feel that the game is a little too much on the easy side. I've done this with pure fighter, pure mage, pure thief, and mixed classes. It's always the same (except for a Destruction-oriented mage, which is harder). What I like about the extra difficulty introduced with the mods is that levels 1 - 10 are scary--especially with a melee fighter. I'm forced to adapt, to use poison or venom or anything I can find to get through the tougher fights. I've had a few fights where I get killed, wonder how it would even be possible to take out a tough opponent, then pull it off through better planning/movement/whatever. I love that.

One more thing: 1:1 damage is not even because of AI limitations, gear differences, etc. Some of this can be tweaked with mods, but even at the start you'll have as good or better gear than the average bandit, and this gap quickly widens. And creatures don't get any damage resistance.

Sorry, I don't buy it. Getting 1-shot doesn't involve strategy with a melee fighter (especially 1-10, what strategy are you using?). Master, to me, is too face breakingly difficult on a melee fighter unless you're sneaking or exploiting-- at least until level 30 or so.

what's irrelevant is when someone thinks for someone else.

and, then tries to make an argument out of their incorrect view.

and, then, discounts the post and applies themselves to someone else's point of view.

how about you answer the question yourself, since, you felt the need to answer for someone else.

in fact, how about you put your sensitivities somewhere else and let's think about how gaming can be improved.

because that's my intentions. what were yours beach?

I use Expert. At Master difficulty dragons one-shot my vampires with their fire breath. Expert difficulty gives the right amount of challenge on dragons. I could still die if another enemy decides to enter the fray or I get careless.

Like some already stated it really depends on the style of character i play.

Mostly when i play assasinstyle thingy then ill put it on master and apply a combatdamagemultiplier about x3 the damage taken, so i'll die instantly if i get hit by anyone.
Also i have a silly amount of rules i follow so as to improve immersion and lore n' [censored]

Feels just right!

E: Forgot verb O.o

I mostly have played on Adept, but recently moved up to Expert. Whether because I'm rolling a sword and shield warrior with high smithing or just really used to the game, it was getting too easy. On this character Expert is still fairly easy, but I play mostly for rp and story and only ask of combat that it not hinder me too much.

then HOW do you die?

i don't understand how people can actually die enough on anything less than expert to warrant playing anything less than expert.

there has to be a reason why i play on master and expert.

why, specifically, since, you publicly displayed your difficulty level, do you play on adept or lower?

Adept ~ Expert. Since raising difficulty only amounts to increasing enemy health and damage, I see no actual "fun" reason to crank things to Master.
I wish increasing difficulty actually made more enemies spawn.

I play on master + balanced magic. I had installed PICE, but after being thrown around like a ragdall despite lv 22 (Draugr + Fus roh da). I throwed that out immediatly. So its master + balanced magic for me.
(Yes i play with a buddy and in early levels its defiantly necessary).

No, that would limit difficulty to hardware.

I've played on the deault difficulty in all three of the Elder Scrolls games I've played. I tried pushing the slider up once in Morrowind, but I saw no benefit in doing that and immediately moved it back to the center. I've never touched a difficulty slider again.

I would rather adjust my play style on-the-fly to maintain an engaging level of difficulty.

svcks to be you. Larger encounters and more frequent encounters are desperately needed. You fight 1-3 enemies at a time regularly as is. Instead, 3 enemies per encounter would be the norm, not the exception. These encounters could have elite versions of enemies as well. Ambushes and encounter frequency would be amped up, particularly in dungeons/ruins.

I die (and not that often) because I was careless, as I have already told you
Let me ask you this, why do you seem to have a problem with the difficulty I play on? If you can't understand why someone else might want to play on a different level than you, than that's your problem.
I just prefer it, that's all. Why do you care?
BTW, i've said it a couple of times, I DON"T PLAY ON ADEPT (at least not yet) . I play on novice because that is the setting I find most enjoyable, what's so hard to unserstand?

I play on adept, but I think Im going to use expert or master in the future. I have never felt the need to lower the difficulty at all.

What don't you buy? I agree that people often exaggerate the use/effect of strategy in the game. But it's definitely not too difficult, as I said, I've increased the difficulty: number of spawns, the difference in max level between PC and NPC (in favor of NPCs), removed combat magnetism, lowered weapon reach, etc. I'm not the only one doing this.

What I'm talking about is a couple of issues (for me, YMMV):

• below master, there's little or no need to use most of the "extra" resources in the game (potions, poison, food, etc.)
  
• even on vanilla master, I often get to level 4 or 5 before I have to use my first health potion
  
• on my setup, a melee fighter can't stand still, if I don't move around and try to circle my enemy, I die
  
• related to the above, I've developed a habit of checking out areas to see where I might get caught, backed into a bad spot, etc. I developed this habit out of necessity, without even consciously realizing it
  
• on my setup, you have to use timing in melee fights, I might die if I just button mash

Even on vanilla master, IMO, many melee fights end up being: run up to a foe, wave your sword at them, collect loot. I've finished fights against groups of foes and realized I forgot to put some or all of my armor on. With the extra difficulty, I'll notice when I screw those things up, and I like that. Some (not all) fights require my full attention.

adept is 1:1 scaling. so without op build, strong enemies are a challenge. don't know why some are hating around. the difficulties below make even the hardest enemies easy mode, yes. but that's how it is supposed to be.

my dfficulty depends on the character build. strong/op character builds like stealth or heavy armor + shield builds = expert. sometimes even feel like going on master. other ones like mage or dual weilding on adept

DP, sorry

I die from taking too much damage. I get overwhelmed or enemies are just too powerful.

Liches are a PITA for me because a single hit takes out about 1/3 of my health, so I need to find ways to break LOS to heal. I don't buy potions and rely mostly on healing spells and whatever potions i find.

Why expert is more difficult should be clear here. Mor damage taken and less dealt it not going to swing well for me.

i obviously don't. in fact, as anyone can see, since, i've been very soft in my questioning exactly for this reason. i've been "sensitive" to your feelings. which, btw, is a lot, for me.

adept, novice, whatever.

how long can you not answer the honest questions i've asked and, yet, still try and denounce me for asking them. though, they are absolutely legitimate when talking about rpg-roleplaying games.

i care because i'm on a website asking about the game. if not here, where?
should i ask my pathetic family and friends who can't control the controller?

YOU publicly said you play on a certain level. i asked you very serious questions about your reasoning for playing on said level.

you cried insensitivity and didn't answer the question.

Always Master difficulty. Currently running around with a two-handed warrior with basic steel armor on, level 15 or something similar. (no helmet)

It's not easy. Far from it. I usually only manage to kill boss level enemies by summoning an atronarch. Once I get my enchanting up to a million I'll be able to make armor that fortifies my health with 60 points and fortifies my two-handed damage with 37%. Quite many of those actually. That should make things easy. But then, I'll go dragon-hunting

Master. It is more fun especially as I play conjurer/archer/sneak which is a very powerful combo. I started out as one-hand/destruction but kept getting repeatedly killed on Master and even Expert so my character just sort of morphed into a sneak. If I don't have to try 3 or 4 times to survive a fight trying different strategies it just doesn't seem any fun. I might as well turn on God mode and just stroll through the game blasting everything. Boring. If I was playing a melee character I would probably use an easier setting but I would still like to die several times in each fight.

Not trying to argue, but the difficulty slider is far improved from Morrowind and Oblivion. In those games, they were tedium sliders, that were mostly pointless (long fights, little extra danger). It's not perfect but it's better now.

In terms of adjustment, I had a similar approach in past games, but that meant (at higher levels) fighting with weapons I had no skill in, wearing low level armor, and making stupid choices to make combat more interesting. Skyrim is much closer to the idea of making combat more interesting by "naturally" making it harder.

I play on adept for now. I may change it to expert later but the way the game handles difficulty is not really appealing to me.