Everything is overpowered in this game if you use it right....

Which is a shame, its one of the easiest games i've ever played.

thank god for difficulty mods.

Which difficulty mods do you run? What do they do?

The difficulty mods now svck. The "best one" is PISE from Skyrim Nexus. Without the CK, you won't find much good stuff.

Mostly, the mods will tweak the effectiveness of skills, the distance enemies will detect you and so forth. It primarily just modifies values with parameters already set, rather than create new parameters. So it can only make it "harder" by essentially making stuff weaker.

Really and truly, you do not need to do things that make the AI smarter. For example these things will make the game more difficult:

1-Increasing spawn encounter sizes. Being able to set a rule that will set the minimum and maximize encounter size so you end up facing more enemies at once. A single dragon is a breeze, but two dragons is ifinitely more difficult.
2-Allow Elite spawns. Bandit Chiefs make Bandits look like pansies. Elite spawns allows for more difficult versions of enemies to spawn within encounters.
3-Allow ambushes. Being able to see and get the drop on your target makes the game really easy. Not having this ability (invisible enemies sometimes) changes that.
4-Deadly traps. Traps that kill you. No slight damage. Traps are way more concealed than they are currently.
5-Give enemies more spells and skills to dispatch you on higher settings. Allows enemies to use more ranged spells and abilities.
6-To the death! Enemies never give up pursuit until you or it is slain or you "break combat" (Shadow Warrior or Invis)
7-Realistic Stealth - Must use Shadows to your advantage. Extreme penalty in lit areas.
8-Better scaling - Choose the min/max level off-set of enemies and always enemies to ALWAYS scale with you. (For example setting enemies to +10 your level or at minimum -2)


These are just a few examples off the top of my head to increase the challenge that are all easily doable with game parameters that can be set (some of which can be done without the CK even).

It is natural to progress in power. When you find a better weapon, unless it is a conscious RP decision, you equip it. When you level up, it is natural to get the Perk that has the biggest advantage to your character you are building.

I think in order to be overpowered you need to go out of your way to do so, not just take certain Perks or wear certain items. When I say overpowered, I mean completely out of scale with the game. You obtain that by just doing things normally.

If you disagree that I am not doing things normally, I do not know what to tell you.

Really, you would need to make absolutely idiotic decisions to not be too powerful in this game. It is a misnomer to say that you are not "powergaming". That isn't not powergaming, it is just putting Perk points in haphazardly.

But there it is again... More or stronger enemies does not directly mean you get a harder game.. If you want a pretty realistic combat system but yet a hard challenge you need to improve the AI and not their HP and Damage..

The AI is still as stupid as before, even though you spawn more creatures, in many cases they can even get even more stupid.. packing up in groups so you can easily AoE them, or they just simply friendly fire or anything related..

I don't think that the problem is with sneak, I think that the problem is the AI. it is like all of the idiots in Skyrim took jobs as bandits and mercs.

@Kiralyn2000

Lockpicking and Speech perks? yuck!

My starting build:http://skyrimcalculator.com/#58471

Archery was 100 by level 24.
Sneaking was 100 by level 25.
Smithing was 100 by level 26.
Enchanting was 100 by level 30.
Alchemy only hit 100 at 42.

Unless you dabbled in other stuff, I don't understand how skills cannot be capped around the mid 20s -> 30s. You level based on raising your skills.

see, for me, carrotfeets, your build is an absolute mess and i would never roleplay that kind of character: a sneaking archer that uses smithing, enchanting and alchemy absolutely doesn't flow for me, lol. kiralyn makes a great point about individual preferences.

your cap idea is good and, in fact, i have been self-imposing my own minor cap limits because i have the option to do it. a hardcoe mode with a lot of your ideas and others' would have been great.

Hmmm...lets see...1 point in stealth, 1 point in backstab, 1 point in deadly aim, and 1 point in assassins blade. No armor, or light armor with no upgrades, 1 dagger with no upgrades or enhancements, no items giving bonuses to stealth or damage, and all my points going into stamina.

No...stealth is NOT overpowered. If I don't kill with my 1 attempt from the rear...I'm in a fight for my life. I can be seen in the daylight, I can be seen by nearby NPC when I backstab someone, I can be heard if I run.

If you don't want to be super duper stealthy guy, then don't put all your perks into the stealth tree. If you max a skill....what do you expect.

Exactly - you level based on raising your skills. Personally, I've got no idea how you leveled all those skills to 100 at such a low level. How you could have "used" them that much at such a low level. Me, I just played the game - all the skills I was using (the 10 that I listed with perks in them, plus archery) went up alongside each other - I used them all, all the time. I didn't just use three skills until they were high level, then used others. Like I said, my most common skills only hit the 90-100 range when I was in my high 40's. (Of course, they didn't all level equally - some skills are slower than others. Speech, for instance. To get it to 70 so that I could Invest, I ended up having to use NPC training. But that was still only around level 50.)

I wonder if Bethesda has any intention of addressing this. Seems like a serious balancing issue.

I have no desire to RP in the manner others do. I create a character based on how I see fit. With my rules, a Sneaking Archer that has Smithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy makes sense. I find it kind of funny that (this isn't directed at you) but the people that the self-proclaimed RPers give advice to impose limits and play a certain way that they do and in the same vein pitch an absolute FIT if there would be any change to the game that would break their immersion and how they play.

When it comes to games, I put gameplay above everything else. I am in it for the challenge, and progression within the storyline. I care about the story, but not enough to forgo progression and the challenge. That isn't a game when you lose those 2 elements. In order to have a complete game, you need all 3 components. I find Skyrim really doesn't have any of those. I find Bioware titles to have infinitely better stories and dialogue options. The progression in Skyrim tapers off and the challenge is pretty much non-existant. I have always loved the TES games and have played them since Daggerfall. It is a shame that it seems like there is less and less customization in the game and people jump on a pyre to defend Bethesda's poor decisions with regards to game design.

I remember that from D&D. "Hide in shadows." Makes perfect sense, when there are shadows that is.

jpo- many of us that "complain" or, more accurately, are giving our opinions/arguments on what beth did wrong in this game or could be improved ARE playing the game and having a blast. "complaints" does not mean we should move on and are wasting our time. it means we come to this website to discuss ALL issues and don't give beth a pass or unabashed congratulations and adoration. that statement from you is very ridiculous.