This is the first fantasy game with magic that I've played. I'm 42 yrs here with job, wife and daughter and I like to explore. At level 20 now, don't ride horses and have lot of uncompleted quests. Guess it takes me away from the real world without worldly concerns into this fantasy realm. Usually play at night when the fam has gone to bed. It has affected my sleep routine but not my family. I don't look at a "end prize", just leisure.

Play the game at your own pace. If you play the game, and you don't like the speed you are going, change it. I'm going through it slow, and I love it.

I've got a wife, baby, full time job, and other hobbies. I'm about 200 hours in and "only" level 33. So I guess you could say I'm playing slowly.

The only concern I see in your post is that maybe you feel your character's power level is making things hard for you. That's got little to do with play speed and more to do with strategy / power gaming. My character is a full on badass for his level... play speed has nothing to do with whether you power game! If you are running a warrior type, you really should run through the Companions questlines enough to get skysteel weapons and wolf armor, then smith them up as best you can, and work on getting smithing up to 60 so you can enhance magic weapons and armor you find. Those are both quick jobs and will make your warrior MUCH more deadly / durable.

I just felt that I'm playing too slow (wandering), and maybe not getting enough time into creating better weapons and upgrading my stuff to face some of the enemies I encounter.

I seemed to get my ass whipped, and then never had the abilities to upgrade, or better anything I have.

Now, I'm rethinking my strategy, and I'm going to the Inn at Whiterun (which I kind of use as my central HQ) and dumping tons of stuff I've acquired along the way, to use at a later date. It seems it'll be useful at some time...maybe just not immediately.

One more question...does any of the gold cogs, struts, etc you find in the Dwenmer ruins serve any purpose somewhere at some time? Just a yes or no...(no spoilers please) I just thought it's just to be used for selling to a merchant to amass gold ingots to create something else...I found a whole pile of it last night, and couldn't resist wanting to haul it all away to a buyer...lol

Thanks

Yes they are used for something.