Hi everyone

So I see a lot of people really complaining about how easy the dragons in this game are, and while I don't think they are quite as bad as people say they are, I do feel that they could stand to be a bit tougher. So I was wondering what you all thought should be done to make these fights a bit more challenging.

I know there's a mod out there for the PC, but there are plenty of us who play on consoles and can't mod.

The first thing I think should be done is increase the amount of shouts the dragons can use. Fire and Frost Breath are all well and good, but they really aren't that powerful of attacks compared to others. The following is the list of shouts I think would be reasonable for the dragons to use and what dragons should be able to use them:

Dragon: Fire or Frost Breath, and Dismay

Blood Dragon: Fire or Frost Breath, Dismay and Disarm

Frost Dragon: Frost Breath, Dismay, Disarm, and Ice Form

Elder Dragon: Fire or Frost Breath, Dismay, Disarm, Ice Form, and Unrelenting Force

Ancient Dragon: Fire or Frost Breath, Dismay, Disarm, Ice Form, Unrelenting Force, and Marked for Death

I think these additions would really make dragons more formidable all around (though Dismay would probably only work on anyone who isn't the player). Besides this, increasing the armor for harder dragons and even giving them stronger resistances to magic and poisons would be a good idea as well.

So if Bethesda was going to implement changes to dragons, either as DLC or as a patch, what would you be looking for?

Are dragons able to use that Sprint shout, the one that makes you run 10x faster? I wonder if a dragon used that shout, would it fly 10x faster? They should to things to trick the player. Dragons are very intelligent in lore but as far as game mechanics, they are not very smart.

It's cool a whole town will turn out to fight one... it would be cool if Dovahkiin (the ultimate dragon killer) would have to be there to take it's soul or the Dragon comes back to life and flies off, or, you could have a time limit after dragon's death to "steal" soul or it re-animates. That would make Dovahkiin more special.

Dismay? Does that have any effect on the player character? And disarm would be awfully frustrating outside on top of those mountain peaks. Yes, it would add challenge but I think people would get pissed if they lost Dawnbreaker or Mehrunes Razor.

DLC that added new, harder dragon types would probably be well received. Especially since, as you say, console players cannot use mods to achieve this goal. There would have to be some kind of script to keep them away from cities and towns though or else your game world would become an uninhabited wasteland save for the unkillable Luis Letrush clone army.

The Dismay one was only really added because I felt it made sense in real life terms, though I don't think it would be that great outside of towns.

Yeah, it would be nice. Dragons are creatures, so they don't have any armor to begin with. They should add Armor rating and double their health, they could also use an AI overhaul. I mean, the Deadly Dragons mod is just amazing (from what I've seen), but that's a different story.

If you don't nerf yourself, Dragons are a walk in the park. Lore wise, a Dragon could easily fly to a city and use the Stormcall shout, slaughtering the local population, but gameplay wise all it takes is four Ex-Adventurer Whiterun Guards or a Giant.

After defeating a dragon and capturing its soul...if the skeletal remains after a peroid of time became a type of dark dragon which could only be defeated by a holy shout

possibly some sort of quest involved to obtain the holy shout...like kiling each kind of dragon which houses a special soul in each one and combining them by a forgemaster of souls into the holy shout..so basically the dark dragon would be invincible until this holy shout was obtained...

..and the Forgemaster of Souls could create the Dragon Soul Armor which gives you the power of dragon flight...

I agree, Dragons should have access to more Shouts. They should also have more health, resistances and dish out much more damage. I once witnessed a Dragon lose a fight to a Giant and another was almost killed by a Frost Troll.

I would like them to fix dragons, mine seem to fly in circles repeatedly and they run from me constantly and try to kill everything but me while I am casting spells at them like crazy.

Maybe they should actually give them an Armor rating... since y'know... Dragons are pretty much covered in armor.

Dragons should have AR and magic resistance.

Dragon: 100 AR, 20 MR
Blood dragon: 200 AR, 30 MR
Frost dragon: 300 AR, 40 MR
Elder dragon: 400 AR, 50 MR
Ancient dragon: 500 AR, 60 MR

They should get new capabilities as well.

A knock-down attack with the head while on the ground
Ability to heal, but can be interrupted by player.
When a dragon lands close to you, you get staggered as a result.
Ability to call for help to other dragons in the area.
Dragons travelling in groups of 2-3.

And more shouts would be nice

I also thought dragons were supposed to use shouts, what is up with that? In the beginning Alduin summoned that meteor storm and I was like this is going to be great. Then all they do is fire or frost breath, I get they are shouting there but that's it?

Firstly, they should be a bit less common.

Secondly, their difficulty should go something like this...

Dragon: Level 20
Blood Dragon: Level 30
Frost Dragon: Level 40
Elder Dragon: Level 50
Ancient Dragon: Level 60
Alduin: Level 70+

These aren't levels the player needs to be to encounter the dragon, but rather static levels right from the start of the game. So even a common dragon should be difficult for a low-level character to kill... and there's a chance your character will run into an ancient dragon (albeit rare) at level 10, and stand no chance whatsoever against them.

Alduin should be almost impossible when your character is weak. Some people will whine about this, but frankly, if you rush through the main questline in a few hours, the game should punish you for it. It's ridiculous that the World-Eater can be beaten fairly comfortably by a weak to average character. Dragonborn or not.

Making Alduin level 70 would be extreme. That is a VERY HIGH level. Id rather have have him to always be 15 levels above your characters level. A very tough challenge, but not impossible. I agree with the rest thou.

Even after beating the main quest, dragons aren't that common of an occurrence for me. The only place they really show up that often is outside of Riften, but even that isn't overbearing for me.

One thing I forgot to mention too is that instead of the standard bite, left wing, right wing, tail slam attacks, I think the dragons should also have at least one more physical attack: a tail sweep that can knock you to the ground and isn't a just a straight up and down attack. That way you can't just stay off to one side behind them to remain safe from their attacks.

I don't understand why Dragons should be difficult to fight, your character is born with a high advantage to kill Dragons. All other enemies are obsolete to dragons, except the first leveled dragon.

Being Dragonborn doesn't mean you have a spectacular advantage against dragons. Maybe compared to normal mortal people, but if anything, it means you can fight the dragons on slightly below equal ground. The dragons still have flight, greater physical strength, and several other things that SHOULD give them advantage over you. The only thing that really gives you a unique edge is Dragonrend, one unique shout.

A lot of the bugs from the first patch are still around in the newest one, dragons aren't flipping out or lagging like they used to but they still refuse to land for me, even when I use dragonrend, and a lot of times they just fly away during the middle of a fight and I lose them.

you really have something there with giving them ice form. I think all the difficutly currently is coming from damage input and damage output. its a great idea to make them mabye freeze the player, or slow them down. damage skills mabye? mabye some might block parts of their bodys with their wings and you need to move around to get some good damage in.

Right now its all swing swing, ouch ouch. making the fight more unique is a great idea =p

Being Dragonborn simply means you absorb their souls so you can learn their shouts easier.

To my recollection it never once is mentioned that the Dragonbord is any physicially stronger than a normal member of the Dragonborn's race.

It sounds like your going by only statistics, I incorporated the state of mind.

Use yor imagination, a mortal compared to a dragonborn, I surely would have more confidence fighting dragons being dragonborn.

More confidence =/= super powers.