meat shields

You need the right Follower.

Mage: Ranger/Mage
Warrior: Mage/Ranger
Ranger: Warrior/Mage

And if they don't feel very powerful/die often, check out my sig.

I've never used followers. consequently i've left a lot of heavy/decent loot in dungeons for later, probably never go back for it.
meat shield? currently a fire atronach and fireballs work well for me.

I'm sorry but...

The fault is entirely yours. A melee character does not need a melee follower. He needs a ranged or magic follower. Likewise a mage would need a beefy metal hunk to keep mobs entertained while he blasts them from afar not another mage or archer type who dies real quick. Sheesh, go play some WoW and learn about raid party setups man. There's a gap in your education.

I don't know what some of you are talking about. My Lydia smashes serious face at level 45. I have her decked out in echanted ebony, using a ebony great sword and firing an ebony bow. Lydia often takes down 1-2 mobs a fight for me. She shoots dragons in the air as I dont use a bow and whitles away the health to get them to land. She has saved me more than once by getting in that extra hit that I couldnt seconds before I would have died. It is awsome to often turn around to take the last baddie out only to see her run the poor fool through with her great sword through the chest animation.

She is also very helpful in finding things I have often over looked like well hidden cave entrances. All the time she is saying "what is that it looks like a cave" as we are rushing through the woods to osme other quest pont.

Once in awhile I will leave her at home and everytime I do I regret doing so. She is very useful and wihtout a helmet on easy to look at to boot.

I never liked followers in Oblivion, pretty much for reasons already stated here. But FO3 and Skyrim have implemented them better. Now they will sneak when you do, they won't charge off to immediately attack everything, you can share inventories, and are generally much better behaved. So far in Skyrim I have only had one character with a follower. That was Scylla, an orc battle-axe fighter. Pure tank. She hooked up with Illia, and it was absolutely perfect. Illia's magic complements Scylla's melee fighting. There are times I just stare in wonder when she blasts someone clear across the screen with her ice, and with the Hagraven Staff, Illia really http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/Skyrim/Skyrim014.jpg.

Now I am playing a pure mage, so I am on the lookout for a melee fighter. Not sure who that might be just yet.

Don't mind the followers but their AI and pathing needs a serious overhaul.

Why are you people hating on followers? Don't you want to role play falling in love? After slaying a dragon and absorbing the soul just have some hawt six inside the dragon rib cage man the first time my character fell in love was in a dungeon they looked at each other and just took off their clothes and be banging.

Sounds like a whole lot of whinning in here. If you don't like them...don't use them. To each is own. I personally use Eola, now that I've made her a blade..she weilds magic, and a sword. Not only that, she has yet to die...and I've seen her take some wicked hits, falls...etc.
Anyway, so they don't work for you. They work for others.

I equpped Aela the Huntress with full Dragonscale upgraded, Glass bow, Daedric Arrows and I found no complaints on my part.

But I deleted that character, I am a theif now and see no need for a follower at the moment.

Meeko and Faendal are great for creating diversions for my thief/illusionist. Allows for multiple sneak attacks without having to runaway or go invisible. The random things that happen by getting followers involved keep it more interesting than going solo, and powering through encounters with sneak backstab insta-kills.

Any of the followers that use melee become extremely useful in combat the very moment you give them a weapon enchanted to drain health. They put up a fight, and don't go down very often.

I'm on my 6th char. now and I've used followers each time. I'd say the most complementary followers combat styles are:

Mage: Warrior
Battlemage: Spellsword
Beserker: Beserker
Thief: none
Conjuror: none
Archer: Archer
Spellsword: Battlemage
Warrior: Mage

Vorstag in Markath (Silverblood Inn). The best tank in the game. Very close second is Mjoll the Lioness in Riften. Very good tank as well and she has the added bonus of being immortal as she is quest related.

Vorstag is good, but the best tanks in the game are actually any housecarl since they all can get to level 50, Vorstag caps at 40.

Having followers isn't a waste at all on master level. You can get one shot at early levels on master, at the same time your follower can take quite a few hits, followers don't get the increased damage or damage reduction when you change difficulty levels.

If you gear your followers up properly, they can actually lay waste to everything instead of being a waste. http://youtu.be/IETpopNFikg

Didin't know that. Housecarls all seem to get the idiot side of the AI stick though and some don't level properly unless you jump through hoops. But yeah, at least until 40 then I would take Vorstag over Lydia any time.

I sometimes use a follower to carry my stuff, otherwise I don't use them. I have them wait outside the dungeon/cave etc until I'm done exploring it. They are pretty useless for fighting since I can fight better on my own and can conjure a dremora lord to help in a pinch.

I like having followers to take some of the hits.

OP-

followers aren't worthless. but, they are are implemented inferiorily to almost ALL other games that are part of the conversation.

regression on beth's part.

you always need the right follower.

what the hell do you want with a warrior follower, if you play a warrior or mage?

i play a sword'n'board warrior with mage follower. it fits great. if i have to fight high hp enemies i just tank them and let my follower do most of the dmg work. i already got 100 in sword and 100 in shield, so i couldn't care less about my follower "kill stealing" me or somethig

I have used Lydia - dang she's used pretty hard by everyone And now, Aela. Lydia would tank and bust my sneak, and now at a wabbajacked 40 something, she needs the heavy armor.... Aela otoh, is a great archer, and compliments my style. I get a kick giving them staffs and laugh at how they take to them like a baby to briast. They blast through them like candy.

I have Jordis at Proudspire now, I'm considering giving her a shot.

Yeah Marcurio is a beast. I let him go for the same reason as you. Before I could even raise my sword...ZAPPP enemy dead. Damn kill stealer. Using Jordis the Shield Maiden right now and with Legendary Ebony armor and a few choice enchantments she's damn near unstoppable.

Oh please...Ive use a mage once, which was Marcurio, other than that all my followers have been warriors like me. Nothing more bad ass than 2 ebony plated warriors kicking ass and taking names. Some of us like a challenge,and I see no challenge in letting a mage do all the work when my 2 legendary katanas do just fine.

I mentioned this on another thread:

Give Lydia a really powerful archery enchantment item, such as a 40%+ ring, and she'll almost exclusively stick with the bow...meaning she won't charge into your line of fire, and will tend to hit her targets rather than you. It really keeps her out of your way.

Doing this, I pretty much keep her around for company and a gun bearer.

I don't think they are a total waste. They are most effective in open areas and serve well as tanks or drawing hordes of enemies while you attack. In cave though, they block the path quite often which is annoying. I don't like much the dialogue at all and some of it is poorly written. Lydia may be the worst with the dialogue and her actions. I really find it annoying that she can be tough taking on enemies and taking hits without making a sound. But, when I walk close to her she'll move away and say "Oww!"