Before you read this please bear in mind I am just an average gamer, one who has never played an rpg so this is my first Elder Scrolls game.

After playing for a few weeks now I've realised that the game is way too easy on master if you've got any one of the three crafting skill levelled to 100, on one character I enchanted some Daedric armor for him and he could cast spells from two spell schools for zero cost, he also was on the armor cap (576) and had fire and frost resistance. So out I went into the wild and he was more powerful than any Daedric prince, enemies couldn't even hit him they were just constantly stunlocked (even dragons) through dual cast Destruction spells with impact perk. So I thought well this stupid let's try again........

So with a new character I decided to not use any alchemy, not use any enchanting and to only use armor and weapons that are found in the wild or can be bought in a shop, didn't work out well. At level 34 I had some Steel Plate armor and bought Ebony helmet, gauntlet and boots, with a glass Warhammer. I then bought three different items from Whiterun stores that boosted my smithy (to 62%) then bought a blacksmith potion from Arcadias (+50%). Then I bought three items that boosted my two-handed weapon damage. Swigged the potion and improved my gear then went to see those mammoths closest to Whiterun. As I get there a dragon appears, I press my berserker rage racial power and three swings of my Warhammer kills it. I could have one shotted it if I had drunk my berserker potion.

Failed again. Did Bethesda not realise just how strong you become when you use the crafting skills?. That's three skills I can't actively peruse as it breaks the game. I'm new to rpg and I thought the whole purpose was to level these skills to become as strong a character as you can, I guess not.

So one of my other characters is a Mage on master who only wears robes, I've broken this one also but in a different way, being a Mage she doesn't craft and uses no weapons but she has two Dremora Lords as sidekicks who destroy everything for her.

Thinking of starting a Breton in master, another Mage and keeping at 100 health so strong enemies (Draugh Deathlords with ebony bows) can one shot me. Destro magic gets weak when you face lv50 enemies, but I might just make this a dagger build or something.


===UPDATE===
I still don't think the difficulty scales very well...

Got another character (I have way too many) also on master, a Bosmer chick who I'm converting from dual wield blades into an archer, she's on level 21 now (started in 19 this morning) and hasn't been grinded up through the levels, wears light armour, h/m/s not too dissimilar from each other, she uses a found Dwarven bow which has a fire damage enchant on it but uses no armor enchants and hasn't upgraded a single item through smithy (still at 15 with no perks).

So how come when I came to fight a dragon earlier I just stood on a rock out in the open and took the full brunt of its breath attack and loosed a few arrows, healed the 15-20% health it took off me while it flew around and just repeated till it died. I'm playing on master here and I have a whopping 107 armor rating. No resistances to anything either.

Am I cracking up here or is something not right?, I remember back when I played on default difficulty if I pulled a stunt like that I got roasted alive, I used to have to run like hell to get away and I could only beat the dragon by hiding behind pillars and stuff when it breathed me.

LOL are you sure you didn't accidentally switch the difficulty to Novice? The dragon should have handed you your ass. Definitely, if it landed and went melee on you... instant death for sure.

-Loth

Do you always play on master difficulty and never change it? Did you die on your playthrough?

This may be a stupid question, but are you cheating?

Seriously. You are a level 100 at something? Didn't that take time? I beat my first play through in roughly EIGHTY HOURS and I was only a level 56 in smithing.

If you're a level 100 at something, you've been putting in some hours, homie. Of course you should kick gluteus maximus if you're a level 100 at something.

That's like.... as high as you can go.... or something.

I have had to find some imaginative ways to make the game challenging.

1. Master difficulty.
2. Do not enchant, only use smithing but do not max. (essentially stopped at Ebony even at level 40)
3. Do not use companions, as they tank too much damage from you.
4. Always walk/ride horse and don't fast travel. (Fast travel limits encounters and you can restock potions too quickly))


At least with doing this, I now have to use healing potions when fighting large groups and dragons.

I guess they didn't predict how easy it is to level the crafting skills. I would say they know that you would become OP, but not so easy and early in the game. You can easily get 100 smithing and enchanting by lv 20.

Yeah I checked it after the so called battle and it was on Master, bloody easier than novice if you ask me.

Aah no it never landed, just hovered in the air blasting me for like ten seconds, flew off then repeated. Does the breath attack do less damage when airborne?.

That's just one of my characters, which I grinded smithy, with the right stone and lovers comfort it doesn't take long making daggers then enchanting them. But that's not the point, with the other character I'm at level 15 in all crafts and it's just not any more difficult. Do you think it's just I haven't been playing in areas where higher level foes lurk?.

I remember the falmer dudes seriously kicked my [censored] first time I went lurking in the DWEMER places, went in there with a different character and they were falling over themselves to die.

I keep reading things like this. My game says "Skyrim" when it starts up, but I feel like somehow I'm playing a different game.

Because at with a warrior, at around level 30, something like 320 health points and 350 armor rating, my character gets one shot killed by a Bandit Chief or a Fire Mage (even at higher levels), or a Chaurus Reaper and other of the stronger enemies. Again with about 320 health and 350 armor.

So how come that happens to me, but others feel they need to keep health to 100 so they can be one-shot killed?

There are different breath attacks, a shorter range one and a long-range one... the long range one is a dodgeable projectile that does less damage than a short-range breath attack. Thing is, with being on master and only having the stats/level like you say, you have no business surviving multiple breath attacks without resistances. Hell... you needed to be dead after the first one.

-Loth

I always sell all my potions, it feels like I'm just copping out if I drink one. I think for 4. The opposite could be true, if your having more battles along the way your gaining more and more exp levelling you up, it's not just the crafting that breaks the difficulty, it's if your character has acquired too many perks too early in the game before they've done many missions, the thought (there slow coming for me lol) has only just sprung into my head but I'm sure that's what does it.

It was a wussy Dragon like, it was short range ice blast, what damage should those attacks do?, you'd think at least 100 health points right. At bare minimum on master, I'm thinking my game isn't reading the difficulty setting correctly - though I've not changed it off of master for a week or so.

If you look at how power scales with regards to skill level, you will see that skill is what causes large jumps in damage, much more than Smithing -- which only adds a flat number to the base damage of your weapon. Getting perks in Armsman or Barbarian will multiply against your base damage instead of add to it... so high skill levels gained through perks will "break" the game faster than Smithing does.

-Loth

Edit: The same logic applies to armor as well... so getting perks in Agile Defender and Juggernaut result in the same thing. Smithing isn't "broken"... it's the skill calculation for damage that's broken.

my lvl 12 nord with basic gameplay on master gets killed in 2 breath attacks and 1 melee

I read this post from this one guy who was level 45 or it may have been 40 and he complained about being able to kill an Elder Dragon with a few hits and that the game just was no longer challenging.

Is anyone at level 45+ and playing on master difficulty finding the game too easy? I am trying to decide as to whether I should wait for the balance patch...

seriously is there a need for this thread? there are plenty of such threads lying around already

It's not a great challenge, my Archer who doesn't use enchanting or smithing can't wipe out an Elder Dragon in five seconds flat, it's a longer battle but at no point do I feel like I'm going to die. My Mage on the other hand doesn't have to do a great deal, just tosses out a couple of flame atronach and watches them do there stuff.

Game got easy for me once i got some decent enchantments i do not mind took me a while to get where i was and it was not easy getting to this point.I put in the time getting to lvl 62 so i should be like a god now.Just do not over power gear and you should be a challenge.

Link?

Search?

Not at all, I'm level 45, running around with non enchanted heavy armor, and two-handed madness and an Elder Dragon still can kick my ass if I am not careful!

From my experience,if you are high enough level to put some perks for damage,and have proper crafted and upgraded gear and enchants,the game becomes considerably easier.

To make you understand better,i always play at medium difficulty or even below,but since i got to level 35 and crafted/enchanted stuff,i had to put the difficulty to just before master to have some challenge.So i guess for really hardcoe lovers some builds can even break master difficulty.

Level doesn't mean what you think it means. It has very little affect on a character. The strength of a character is defined more by perk selection and gear choice, as well as the actions the player takes. Character level is a small effect, to the point of being almost insignificant. Characters that focus on a smaller set of skills will cap out at a lower level than charcters which diverisify. It doesn't mean they're weaker... it just means they have fewer perks. A higher level character will have more perks, but most will not be used in every situation.

I made a Spartan warrior (sword and shield build), i'm at level 47 playing on master and in all honesty it's rather easy for me. Block is your friend