I just rounded level 30, playing on master. Bandits 2-shot kill me with bows.

Whee! I actually have to consider tactics and everything during battles!

Anyone else not complaining about the difficulty? (given you don't OP yourself with enchants)

I got bored playing on Master with my archer, it just took SO MANY hits to kill some of the enemies, even in sneak x3 damage (not abusing smithing/enchanting). Expert FTW!

Try a dead is dead character on master using a dual weilding orc .

It should be said, I only use ancient nord armor, and nord hero swords. Plus, enchants of any kind are a no-go this run through.

But hey, I'm the Harbinger of the companions, Thane of Whiterun and Windhelm, and the guards call me Stormblade. I have to live up to that, don't I?

fu** yes man!!!!

More difficult? Yes. Better gameplay? No. At least that's my opinion.

I noticed that with a hard difficulty I had to pause the game all the time to drink potions etc. in the middle of battles. It's just ridiculous to drink dozens of instant heal potions when time is stopped.
Gameplay became much better when I just lowered the difficulty and stopped using the best possible gear and potions. Now I die fast and so do the enemies. And battles are challenging without constant pauses.

Im currently playing a vulnerable mage and Im really trying to roleplaying it, she doesn't have a good endurance (low health and no armor except alteration shield spell), and while sometimes it can get frustrating (thousands of ice wolves on the northern coast that kill you in 2 hits), it does add a lot more suspense and the need to play the game slower and with more thinking. I really enjoyed my melee character, it was fun and there was always much action on the screen, but this is a completely different way to play the game. Currently Im relying especially on Illusion and Restoration for Turn Undead Spells. Also, Im using conjuration for necromancy, which adds a fun aspect to it. Lower level enemies I can frenzy against each other till one is dead and then revive the dead guy, or I can fear them and shoot them with the bow while they run away, or I can calm them if they are attacking me directly. For tougher enemies, I'm currently relying on reviving the lower level ones, but its reeeeeally difficult, the way a boss fight should be. I also try to sneak past some tougher enemies like a draugr wight, which can also be fun if your not investing too much into sneak (I also downloaded a mod that makes sneaking much tougher through immensely increasing light and noise multipliers). Tactics are e.g. shooting an arrow to the other side of the room, then sneak another way. Not using destruction so far, but I might. We'll see.

Not many games in which I have been reduced to using bandits' own bear traps against them just to survive. Nice.

Redguard works nicely as well. Dual-wield with light armor.

I tried this when i first got the game. I made a female Redguard and i got owned by the BF spider . I really didn't see that happening.