Well I made my first character on the default difficulty (adept). He was a pure destruction mage. I found the game pretty easy/normal to play through with the odd occasion of difficulty. My next character I wanted to test Master difficulty for the rewarding challenge. I made this character a stealthy archer that later used daggers as well. At first this class was challenging as I had to plan which enemy to kill first and where to hide after each shot. It was really fun because a single mistake was costly. I took so many shots when first starting to kill anything. I had to pop out take a shot and find somewhere to hide before the enemy spotted me. If I was caught I either ran or tried to take them on. It was a real challenge. But as I progressed it did become easier because I became stronger, but if I am not sneaking and a dragon comes near me, especially elders I still get owned. My stealth character had no smithing/enchanting/alchemy and I only used armour I got from quests or exploring to add a more fun way to play.

I can't decide on the difficulty because my next character I was thinking of creating would be a light armoured sword and shield character. I was thinking of making him pure melee and doing what I did on my archer and only using armor that I find and maybe later I can focus on smithing and create my armours but I don't want to overkill the game by having the best gear at the start. I was thinking of playing on Master as I find it is so rewarding but also challenging with my first character on this difficulty. But I am wondering if playing on Master with this character who doesn't sneak or use magic/bows would become tedious. I want that sense of challenge and reward but I don't know if it's even possible to play the game how I do and be successful on Master. I was thinking of maybe playing on Expert so that it's harder than Adept but not overkill. I don't like Expert though because I feel if I want the challenge I'll play it either on the hardest or not. I just can't decide and I don't like changing the difficulty once it's set at the start of the game.

So is it worth playing or even possible on Master with a light armoured Nord who uses shield and sword only with no magic/bows/stealth or even enchanting/alchemy and even a lack of smithing until late game? Or is it utterly pointless and I should either leave the game on Adept or Expert for the fun but not tedious fights that are just constant slashing until an enemy is dead?

I know I should just play the game how I like and just find out for myself but I'm so indecisive that I end up spenind no time playing and all my thought on what difficulty to play on. What's your opinion? Thanks.

See Bro-Hime no matter what skill level this game will always be easy... why? Because three words. World Of Warcraft. Why did WoW make this game so easy, simple, One word, Shaman.

Okay I dont know wtf I am saying just play on Expert.

Play on master. Don't release the dragons. Expect to be owned on occasion during the low levels, meaning you have two options: Get frustrated or flee and try again later - personally I tend to enjoy both. Maybe throw in additional armor protection using Alteration or use a certain stone. If going for shields there is always Spellbreaker unless your own rules prohibits using/getting it. Save up on those good enhance armor skills for those special occasions, even if you don't focus on alchemy yourself. If too hard, use the games options and rent a buddy instead of turning down the difficulty.

All my characters (combo mages, sword fighters, sneak archers) have been played on master, and given how quickly it becomes too easy, I think this should be the medium difficulty option.

It may also depend on how you plan to play the game. I tend to explore for the most part and not touch the difficult quests until I think I can handle it.

Expert. Master causes me to rage because I'll be doing fine, the enemies are challenging etc. Then I got completely destroyed by one super strong enemy, and adept is easy. So... expert seems to be the sweet spot.

I useually start out on expert and move the difficuly up if I find that the char is a little OP. I don't move it down though, I just exit the area and return latter or find a follower to help, or both.

That settles it. Master it is. I enjoy the fact that I cannot do certain quests, fight certain enemies, and go to certain places at lower levels. And I love the fact that sometimes you have to run. It just makes the game more survival-styled. I also have a lot of patience so I should have no worries there.

I started playing on Expert and find it to be a nice counter-balance between Adept and Master.

Expert is a good mix of challenge and fun.

If you play on PC, there are mods that can make the game more challenging in a interesting way rather than just increasing enemy health and damage.

Start on apprentice, switch to adept at Lv 3-5 and see how it goes, try to progress in difficulty as you progress in levels.

adept. The diff just changes the amout of damage inflicted. It doesnt make NPC smarter. (that would b cool) School lesser enemies and you still get schooled by some enemies even on adept. I know this is a touchy subject so dont bite my head off