It appears the higher one's level (currently 63) the slower the skill increases, even with the respective guardian stone. For example, I've been using destruction magic (currently 77) with the mage stone for quite some time (many game days), yet have only gotten one destruction skill increase. It appears the same with the warrior stone and one-handed. My current one-handed level, that I've predominantly been using (along with destruction magic), is 76 yet I can't remember the last time my one-handed skill was raised. However, I started using a two-handed weapon again (to take care of Falmer) with the warrior stone, my skill was 47 and it increased on the first battle.

Yes.

I think it does.

It get's slower and slower as you go higher.

It's going to be a long way to level 50 trophy for me. Feels like I've been level 42 for ages.

yes it does , which is kind of normal i think , try and use skill you rrarely use it will mke leveling faster or if you got money enough train them; this ill only help you so much tho

Turning up the difficulty is the only legitimate way of speeding up your level at high level.

It goes like this, the higher your character level, the longer it takes to progress to the next character level.

The higher the skill level, the more "xp" you need to progress to the next.

Something else I have a question about: I haven't used a two-handed weapon since early in the game, so I headed to Wilhelm to buy training from Torbjorn Shatter-Shield. However, it said I'd already been trained (5/5) at that level. It seems I've gotten that from other trainers for other skills as well, even an expert or master trainer.

I Activate the Lover Stone, all skills improve 15% faster, it helps with going up in levels faster

I've wondered about this as well. I keep reading in various places to go back to the trainer after you level up again, but I leveled up about 8 levels and several alchemy skill levels before I could get Arcadia to train me again. Similar experience with other trainers. I can't figure out the formula. I know how the trainers work in terms of which ones can train you up to what skill level and so forth, but I can't figure out what will get them to train you again. Heck, the prima guide even says that if you are able to level up due to the current training, to go do the level up then ask them for more training. That NEVER works for me.

After level 50, you need to level more skills than before to level up, although the time to level up each skill grows gradually.

This is made to avoid characters having to much perks, because if the leveling system kept the same during the entire game, the max level would be over 100.

You can only buy 5 training skill level per every level up. It doesn't matter what skill you have trained those in 5 is the max you can do. So if you bought 3 levels of skill training in alchemy and two in one handed for argument sake, that is it till you advance to the next level, when another 5 purchasable skill level training will become available.

The amount of 'experience' needed per character level up goes up by 25 points per level. The math is pretty simple: 25 times the current character level, plus 75 (so going to level 2 requires 100 xp, level 3 requires 125, 49 requires 1300, 50 requires 1325 etc). Each time you increase any skill, you get the new skill level in 'XP'. So increasing destruction from 70 to 71 gives 71 points for character level up (I think).

So at higher character levels, it's not so much that you need more skill increases to gain a perk, you just need to be working skills at higher levels. Regardless of character level, bring up a skill from 15 to 20 is about as much progress to the next character level as bringing one skill from 99 to 100.

I have had 2 characters go over level 50 but then stopped playing them and created a new character each time. Skyrim is fantasic at low levels but once you achieve a certain level (about level 45) you become a demi-god (even with the difficulty cranked to the max). It is not fun to blow through Overlords and Dragon Priest without thinking about it.