No need for strategy when you are squashing bugs, unless the bugs can sting.

Yes, there are more interesting aspects to difficulty than damage ratios, but there is a certain point were lacking that risk of death entirely defeats all purpose of thought in both gameplay and character design. Cool AI is a plus, but real threats are a must.

I honestly would love to reply to this but it's way too TLDR. Shorten it up or summarize buddy. I am not trying to be rude but rather saying that a lot of people come on the forums to skim and reply not to read full pages and paragraphs. You might get more responses.

Summary far as i can tell:
"At level 81 I AM THE LORD OF DEATH, but i want something to give me a real challenge now i have the god level perks.
This doesn't seem to exist in the console version, so i'd like a truly evil difficulty level for every overlord. Anyone agree?"
...not meant to be sarcastic before i get an angry response. but he's found a solution for all xbox skyrim players.
personally still at level 34, on normal and having trouble so i'm not the target audience.

ok you make a valid point. I do agree the enemies need to have more player spells such as, Heals, histaria, fears, silences, disarms etc... That would definatly make the game more challanging. But that's an entire rehaul bethesda's not capable of doing. Otherwise they would have.... They could have also avoided putting any weapons or armor in the game as it's not required to use anythiny but a naked character anda dagger to win.

So having the difficulty higher, alteast allows me to use my gear in a viable manor. The point in having a shield, is so you can block incoming arrows, mage spells, and melee attacks... I don't even need my shield the game is so damn easy. So increasing the difficulty actually allows me to block, and counter attack, and possibly lose If im not on my best defence.... Losing, would be a great option in this RPG. (As sad as that may sound). I prefer that over popping the game in and pressing the win button....

So the difficulty slider / scale of mobs hp and dmg would make for a more enjoyable experience, as I would get to use the perks I picked in combat, and If I don't I die!... Just like the game should be....
On that note, there is a hardcoe mod in development for PC. Allowing enemies to cast crowd control spells, pop potions, heal themselves, and many many other areas of play that are generally more difficult to overcome than Bethesda's week Vanilla version... Putting that in conjunction with the 50% stronger mobs multiplyer will allow me to play my class to it's full potential, but still struggle to overcome extremely difficult challanges through perfecting my character, build, and tactics. This actually makes the perk system and max characters viable and extremely fun... Just like a game should be!!

Only [censored] thing about this: I have to rebuy my game for PC, convert my 360 save to pc, buy a wired 360 controller that actually works on my pc, and last, Suffer without my big screen and surround sound... So ya, I still hate the fact that Bethesda forced me to ruin half my experience and had me wasting all this time and money for false promises.....

ATLEAST thier loyal fans provided a solution. I'm just suprised after 6 years off developement they couldn't find the time to tune these things. And some Joe in basemant does it in a week without the modding kit tools!... LOL, thats embarrasing to say the very least....

Your right, I talk to much and can't summarise it. There's just to many things to say. But IF I were to do it in a sentence. I would say: Skyrim has the difficulty built for a todler, come talk on the thread when you grow up and learn how to beat easy games....

---> converting to pc and getting the big boy hardcoe mods, cause this game svckS, it's so damn easy my mother is already starting to 3 hit everything!.. Not that she shouldn't beable to play this game without a challange, but for someone new to next gen games. She should not be toying through enemies in this game like its a walk in the park.

I couldnt read your entire thing after the part where you said, I play to level 20 and stop, trying out differant builds. Could you explain what a level 20 build looks like. Does it look like 14 points into heavy armor and the last 6 into 1 handers? So your this really unique 1 hander heavy armor guy? Sweet whats next alchemy and restoration?! Dude, the previous elder scrolls games offered 7 major skills. NOT one and a half!... A regular elder scrolls character, is a level 81 skyrim build... Period.

lvl 20 character: 8 perks in alchemy, 8 perks in enchant, 4 perks in whatever else. Find dragon, shoot an arrow, dragon dies. *laugh* Find second dragon, shoot arrow, dragon dies.... *sigh* Time for new character.

But seriously, lots of TES fans make several low level characters for exactly this reason. TES games are balanced better at mid ranged levels and without grinding skills. I typically have a separate character for each major quest line, although I do tend to grind a skill or two with each character to test the limits of the game. Also, Skyrim lvl 20 = Oblivion lvl 40 in terms of average combat strength imo.

and it's alright bud. I meant no ill will and thank you for not taking it that way. I get headaches easily when reading a lot of text on the computer for some reason so it was just a request. I personally find it too easy if I really go for the best stuff. I am loaded with Daedric items and other items that reduce so much elemental damage it's not even funny. Then the block perk and heavy armor perk that reduces elemental damage, etc. I still get whomped by some nasty mages surprisingly enough at 34 but that is rare. Dragons are a piece of cake. I know that they did do some enemy scaling but even the high level draugr are too easy for me. They can't even hurt me through my block and then I can slow time when I block and just easily side step it. They need to seriously fix the bug with the slow down time block perk too.. sometimes it keeps going on and on. They just need to balance things really badly.

Yes your right.
And I want to close out of my post By appologizing to you, and anyone else I may have offended..

I have personally never been on forums like this, and I guesse it takes time to summarize and keep calm. Yet, I stand strong on my opinions and put every thought into this, cause I actually care about the product. I may have overly focused on the extremes without complimenting the game for what it is. I have done wrong as a Bethesda fan in that sense..

Never, have I come to a forum hating on a game I want to love sooo badly!. It's an amazing product, and I want to play it as far as possible, and I am frustrated cause I know the how good this game would feel if it was potentially great at end game levels... The feelings I have towards the game, would not exist, and I would find myself delving hours into this game at differant periods of the next several years....
I feel like the game finished with me, before I could finish with it. I have all this content to explore with no insentive to do so, and this is a problem of balance. But If I atleast had the insentive of challange, I would be playing right now....

And I did decide to head over to my pc and launch steam. Through that I noticed my old game Terraria, and there is a patch coming out december 1st. I feel like my first 3 days of skyrim (a kid on christmas!) when I watch this video--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azq5IOrFtEI&feature=player_embedded

I'm an epic nerd I guesse.... I now have a greater sensation to play that, and it stopped me from purchasing my pc version of skyrim. lol. I'm gunna try and wrap up some quest lines on my 360 before I bag this game, and hit up terraria with 7 of my best friends!

Leveling up needs to make you stronger, same with gearing up. That does not mean it needs to make you god mode. There STILL needs to be a challenge which this game isn't currently delivering. The amount of mobs spawned is way to little right now.

Tell you what, its not bloody easy on level 81

EVERYONE! Great news!

I had to come back to this thread and thank everyone here!
Had it not been for my experiences with skyrim being bad. Leading me here, and fueding or siding with many peoples opinions.
I would have not descovered what could possibly be coming to Console Skyrim gamers...

Check this out! --->http://www.next-gen.biz/news/skyrim-mods-could-reach-consoles
A chance we may see the mod kit coming to consoles!

The best part is! Save files are both backward and forward compatible from PC to Xbox 360!
See here! --> http://www.giantbomb.com/news/you-can-transfer-your-360-skyrim-characters-to-pc/3815/

And that means, with the help of some current mods --> http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1269
And upcoming mods, we can move our gimped characters from 360 to PC. Enjoy all of our "perks!" and still transfer back to the 360 regardless of mods matching up or not! The mod does not effect the save file!...

Brilliant!!!

I did not say I was trying out different builds, I said I was trying out different styles, not the same thing.

Plus disagree with you about builds having to be level 81, quite simply they don't.

There's nothing forcing you to get your character to 81, that's your choice, I'd rather aim for a lower max level (max level for my character) so that I don't have to just grind levels of skills I have no interest in using. Grinding skills for no other reason than to gain levels is not RPing, it's just power leveling.

And if there's a get your character to 81 achievement, listed in Steam, who cares, achievements are nothing but a total load of crap anyway.


So I'll say it again, 81 is not the level everyone needs to be at, so builds are not confined to just level 81.


Edit: You're placing a build around the max level, you should be placing a build around a character type, i.e. warrior, thief, assassin etc...

Hahaha, anyone else thinking what i am at this point in the OP's posts? I gave you the benfit of doubt for your first 5, then you started insulting people for being understandably bewildered by your fanatic playstyle, i mean who would want to do this to themselves with such restriction? oh, only a thousand or 2 players in the world may have played as you have, dont broaden your judgement on the rest of us, its your problem that you have personally chosen to make and play along with. You dont see the 6 million other players complaining.

This is where your argument crumbles now, you're very stubborn with the play style that you have chosen, the game is designed for a wide variety of playthroughs, it is your choice alone, not Beths forceful will, to play like you have. You are the 1% in that kind of gaming ( lots of spare time and probably little responsibilites like jobs, bills, family etc), the vast majority of players wont even consider such a way to play a game like this, it doesnt scream its genre that you want (Roll player or Role play? Screw that, we are dragonborn mages, thieves, werewolves, and assassins.), it screams freedom and variety, nothing linear. You chose this, and put it upon yourself, madness is achieved by doing the same thing over and over again. Remember that. Why think that it would get harder when you max out that account? You have achieved god status stat and perk wise, no-[censored]e that you'd 3-shot everything, its normal if a game would feature animplemented grind like that. Sure maybe only a hundred thousand people will reach that by now, but only a few would be uncomfortable, and that is not what would sway bethesda one bit.

Now that you has established a link through steam and am transfering the same 160 hours paladin account over, whilst aquiring adequate mods to supplement such a unique playerstyle along the way, you can leave us now and play to your hearts content if you have the patience to wait another month and see what complimentry mods have come out by then which will make things even more difficult for you. Or you learn the arts of modding and design it yourself. You have all that spare time don't you?

Well its true it's easy on Master, i am a nord lvl36 warrior with a shield and i can kill anything.... But i don't mind, i mean they give me a little challenge and the world has so many things to show you, i just run over the mountains and discover things, or run from guild to guild.... I have 65hours of gameplay so far and i don't find it boring at all

To add a little more....

I knew when I was maxing out speech, restoration and smithing perks on my first playthrough one handed warrior with 3 points in heavy armor and 2 points in one handed weapons and still was able to kill things relatively easy that the game might be a little too easy if you perked 'correctly' and used poions and enchantments to get uber gear. My second playthrough more than confirmed it.

I am just not sure how they can scale it to make it work. Other than having the current 'master' difficulty add about a 80% damage reduction mod to targets. So those 400-550 damage weapons get cut back to a more realistic 80-110 damage. damage done by mobs might be OK, but I have more than the cap on my armor, and I have close to 600 hitpoints, so even if a guy can swing and do 120 damage its going to take him 25 hits to kill me. Magik damage like fire and shock hurt a lot, basically one dragon breath can get me to 10% health. But I also have zero magic resist, but if I drink a regular fire pot the damge is reduced a ton, I maybe take 35-40% of my bar instead of almost 90. Shock isnt nearly as bad but it can still, without a pot get me to 50%. And cold, well as a nord it doesnt do anything. So physical damage is a joke and magic damage is over the top. So that says the damage is there and it is getting mitigated 'correctly' But that still doesnt help. It basically makes master only difficult if you have zero magik reduction and forget to drink a pot. And then it is almost impossible. So a steep curve. So it makes it difficult to 'fix'.

maybe reducing how perks multiply out or stop them from stacking would be a step in the 'right' direction to at least curb the damage, So have it so that you can reach cap and nothing more for armor , and figure out how much that is and that will be the max for increasing weapons. Obviously guys can self gimp and beth wouldnt have to do anything. Because after all you can console command yourself into a god anyway.

So it is a catch 22, is the game too easy or the mechanics 'broken', or are people just making toons through 'normal' gameplay that are just too powerful?

I have also seen mention of levels. Totally irrelevant. I would say if you just sat and crunched time and just leveled up alchemy, smithing, and maxed out your perks to get the high numbers builds you would be maybe 30-32 and be basically unkillable. By ANY level monster. I got my stats and gear at around 39. I finished a couple lines and got to 42. But have since shelved that guy as well and started a new guy. But on master it was still relatively easy. I remember the first play through on adept (before I knew how to play) the first dungeon was pretty hard. Now on the 4 or 5th time through even on master it isnt exactly impossible. i did die once when I got 3 mobs and ran out of pots but even then the last one had a sliver and a crit or an extra swing by me or seven and I make it. And that was a level 4 toon against 3 mobs. Whatever Restless Duagers are.

So in a game where you can make yourself into God mode I guess asking for the game to be made so difficult as to make that mode a challenge is too much to ask.

I personally think the most fun I had was a few days ago even at level 76 or so. I had to kill 6 death lords while leveling up destruction which was at about 50. I had to dodge like.. 5-6 shouts... I admit I did have to reload quite a few times... but boy was it fun only if all mobs did that in huge packs.

You must not be playing the same Master difficulty i am playing.
The Wood elf i made yesterday died several times in the intro alone,because he lingered outside too long during Alduin's attack on Helgen.
And once from too close exposure to the flames.

If you play the way the game is supposed to be played there is no way Master can be too easy.
One-shotting things? You must have grinded your kneecaps off.
Its not an MMO where you grind yourself to max lvl and THEN start to actually play the game.

Its not even funny anymore how many people come here complaining:

" I just spent hours on end boosting my character to become as powerfull as it can be,
maxing out all skills and carefully selecting my perks to get the maximum i can get out of him.
I crafted myself the finest gear possible and got myself the most powerfull artifacts,
all to make me King of the World and worthy of the name Dragonborn.
Now i'm so damn powerfull nothing is a challenge to me anymore.
This game svcks ! "

Don't go blaiming the Dev's for ruining the game.
YOU are the one ruining the game for yourself with this kind of nonsense.

i thought there would be a poll...













and cake.


also, i thought this was great.

You... one shot people with your shield? Uh huh... and uh... please provide a video because the big world of Youtube doesn't even contain such a thing.

Oh, and I'm sure Master would be easy with a shield, one-handed and heavy armor.

Well, why don't you take the big kid route and start the game in Master difficulty because it looks like you changed it later down the road and then fight with magic and cloth. Do you think Skyrim is too easy now?

You're probably one of those "dude I just can't die in dark souls, like the first play through was so easy my mom could do it" type of people, huh? Oh yeah... still with your mom? Well that explains a lot.

Hey look, Theres nothing wrong with renting the bottom half of your moms house and going up to say hi once in a while... Regardless of wiether my mom and myself find this game easy, and you yourself do not... There are multiple issues with balance, leading to easy gameplay, regardless of what level you get too. People on youtube are 1 shotting dragons at level 30. If I could make a video of my 79 "paladin" 1 hitting everything, I would. But im on 360.

I actually just bought this game on steam for PC, so I can mod the difficulty with a patch noted in this thread. So I would then beable to play the game at my level, much like I did in oblivion, morrowind, and daggerfall. svcks I can't play the same way I did in the previous games, that's why I wrote this post. Period.

Now I convert to PC to find my graphics card is slightly out of date, and my wireless xbox controller isnt working on my pc. Lol. So until I get a new graphics card and wired controller for pc. This game is being shipped to my little sisters house, to sit on her stack of Wii games.

Bla blah blah, whatever you say... Is negated by the fact that I played OBLIVION and all the rest of the elder scrolls. AND MAXED MY CHARACTERS, AND GOT MY ASS WHOOPED. I came into Skyrim, Expecting, knowing, and dying for this ass whooping at high levels. And it did NOT deliver. Sorry, your right. It's my fault I played Bethesda's games "wrong" (when even lvl 30's are finding it waaay to easy).

It's more like Bethesda delivered a far easier TES game, totally forgetting about how the old games kicked our asses on the first play through, no matter what you tried to do!

I'd really like it Dragons weren't such a pushover, even on Master they provide little challenge. They should have their hp Multiplied by a silly amount and y'know actually make them a challenge.

Mods coming to consoles?

From twitter "Bethblog Bethesda Blog
@Iridal_Trout modding is PC only"

No, I am not Iridal_trout either.. I doubt it's going to happen though.

Master level, should really add:

Additional enemies spawning, like if normally you fight 3 bandits, there will instead be a chance of 4 - 6 or so.

Make it so enemies automatically ignore 30% of all resistances and armor rating, and reduce 30% of incoming damage directly, before defense and resistances.

Make enemy detection stronger and more persistent.

Make enemies stagger 40% less and for 50% shorter duration.

Make enemies stagger with their attacks 25% more, and critical hit 25% more.

Make it so boss type enemies cannot take more than 10% health from any single attack.

Reduce skill gain to be like in adept, despite having to hit enemies more.

Make enemies prioritize the player 80% more often.

Give enemies potions and other things more often.