Master difficulty is just too easy.

- traps do next to no damage. This is on master difficulty.
- Legion quests are ridiculously easy. Stormcloak soldiers die with one hit.
- The MQ has been the same (I am about 2/3rds in).

I'm at level 23. I have ignored smithing and crafting. Totally avoided them. I am a sword and shield warrior. I have used heavy armor, one handed, and block perks. I have a summon Atronarch spell. And some Shouts.

I do not use fast travel. I only buy what potions are available in towns that are on my way. I don't hop around the map buying stuff.

Yet:

I have been playing on Master difficulty. Even with no companions, not a single quest or dungeon is any challenge any more. Traps do nothing to me.

Why?

Bethesda - you have created a magnificent game world. The lore is great, the graphics incredible, it's a return to form in every single way. Except you've gimped your game with the utterly baffling decision to make Master difficulty still so easy that it's just silly.

May I suggest you re-balance Master difficulty. Please? Anyone else who agrees with me, please keep this thread going.

It's no wonder Dark Souls is so popular. a hard game is not a bad game, not for many, many of us.

Troll

I think those stormcloak fort soliders cap at like level 6 or something... but i could be wrong.

"Troll"

No.

Why do you say that?

This has been my genuine game experience. I began the game on Expert difficulty, and upped it to Master a few levels in. Using the unrelenting Force shout, and my sword and shield, this is how the game is.

I am not making this up. At level 23, Stormcloaks are dying in one or two (max) hits.

Trolls for example just need to be shouted at, then power-hit while they're down.

[Spoiler]: Gaulder (the final boss in the Gaulder Amulet quest) was killed the same way. Shout him against a wall, then race up and power-hit. A couple of health potions and he's gone. [end Spoiler]

I have not even been saving in dungeons

Why would I make this up? I love TES and I'd like to enjoy the game, given it is an incredible game-world they have created.

There is no challenge. Maybe this will change.... but somehow I just don't see Legion quests for example becoming anything more than a joke.

Oh - and I have not used enchanting at all. I have only used whatever enchanted weapons I have found. I like the loot balance, it's good to have to grab whatever you can find and save up money.

Except:

The amount you can carry is insanely high. Once again, it's too easy.

Why would the amount you can carry not change with Master difficulty? What is really changed on Master? So far it seems:

-Legion quests do not change
-MQ is still easy
-traps do nothing
-you can carry as much as on novice

Just a suggestion, but theres a lot of topics with exactly the same content which aren't full. It keeps the forum tidy if you search for a topic that mirrors yours, and add your voice. It makes things neater.

Also, I'm getting very lazy about typing essays about this, and it'll go the same way. Finally, you will come to the conclusion that its all based upon your initial approach to a game of this style, and a decision to agree to disagree with those who do not suffer a problem.

We can also tell for a fact, you are not playing Master, and finding it this easy, without abusing the skills a little, which is another argument, which agains comes down to your approach to a game like this, which isn't suited to it.

Much like playing the sims to max out the skills, get level 10 in all stats, big house, max out the job, and declare it completed. That would also be the wrong approach.

Without smithing at your level any strong apponents will one [censored] you. Even if I did believe you at level 23 you have yet to encounter actually powerful enemies yet.

My apologies, I did look through a number of pages but did not find a thread specifically on this.


I'm sorry, but can you specify anything here? I am not lying, why would I waste my time? I have loved TES since Daggerfall. How am I 'abusing the skills'?

Like I said:

- I have ignored smithing
-I have ignored enchanting'
-I have used heavy armor, one handers, a shield, and the corresponding perks. And a Summon Atronarch spell, bought from a visit to Winterhold, having joined the College and done a couple of quests for them. I have a fast heal spell as well. How is this 'abuse'? The spells were completely easy to obtain. Why would I avoid them? To tell the truth they are not even necessary any more, such is my power with block and a one-hander.

That's it. I do not fast travel. So I have to deal with encounters in the wild as I see fit. And I buy the potions that are available only in nearby towns.

Are you saying Stormcloaks, for example, are different to what I have outlined, on Master? At Level 23 (or anything in that range)?

If so, there must be a problem with my Xbox. But I suspect this is not the case.

And are traps different to how I've described them? Somehow, I seriously doubt it.

I had read the forums a bit before playing - enough to know that smithing/crafting was an easy exploit and would unbalance the game. So I chose to ignore them after looking at what they offered (why would my warrior be crafting jewellery anyway?)

At the start, the game was fabulous. For example, a den of Witches (near Orphan Rock) toasted me very quickly.

That was up until I reached somewhere near level 20. Since then there has been barely any serious challenge. Especially in the MQ and Legion quests

I hope that there's a sudden difficulty spike coming up. I really do, because it's rather dispiriting right now. Given the lack of complexity in the game overall (by that I mean railroaded quests) combat difficulty is all that was left to make the game worthy of its world design, graphics and attention to detail.

With the right set of skills it does get too east even on master. i can sneak up on a dragon and kill it in one shot. With alchemy smithing and enchanting my bow does over 700 points of damage plus sneak attack bonus. You can make yourself impervious to all damage in a dragon fight. They are more of an annoyance at this point.

A UI for the PC (not just a console UI with kb/mouse event mappings) would be the single biggest improvement for me.

A good difficulty would involve:

- Instant Death Traps
- Harder to make money
- Higher materials requirements
- Diseases should be increasingly detrimental
- Multiple enemies spawned instead of a single enemy with exagerated health pools
- Enemies should kill you faster, but die faster also
- Enemies should have additional, more powerful abilities

As it is, I can't stand to play on Master, not because its too tough or too easy, but because it goes against everything I find challenging.

As it stands, it just forces you to repeat the same strategy for longer. That's it. The only thing this challenges is my patience.

I think your master might be bugged or something because mine is actually difficult. Enemies will take multiple hits with a epic deadric sword and I will take about 2-3 to die from normal opponents and 1-2 from scaled 2h attacks

Bull. They have like 240 HP on master and you're only hitting for around half the damage you would on lower difficulties. You are not 1-shotting them at level 23 unless you're sneak attacking them with a dagger, and I have a hard time seeing that when they constantly respawn sometimes directly behind you.

To, me this is where everyone get's this game wrong. They come up with complaints about how something is too easy, or not to their liking, despite acknowledging that they are discussing a subject that isn't even the first priority in a game. The combat surely is an improvement over the other two. As easy as it may be to kill something or not, the main feature of the game is always overseen. And to me, that's the problem with "Today's" gamers. Too much smash and not enough story.

Combat is the majority of your gameplay aside from running places. Combat should be satisfying for as many players as possible. You shouldn't have to grit your teeth and force your way through - there's a reason that Mass Effect is relatively unloved in the general populace compared to Mass Effect 2.

I totally agree. I realized my mistake in this and am working on a new character and am concentrating on the story and experience this go around.

Yeah, instead of fixing bugs which would actually improve the game enormously for EVERYONE, lets make Master Difficulty a little harder for those people who aren't challenged enough.

yeah.

mmk.

CHEERS...you are so right. Complain about everything, and overlook all the positive. I swear these people will never be satisfied with anything. Give them freedom, they say it's too much..give them a path to follow, it's too linear. You can't win. This forum has become 90% whiners and complainers. It's sad really. No one comes to say anything good..just to [censored] and moan..because they obviously have nothing better to do and think we all care what they have to say.

i call troll, investing in only combat perks (heavy armor, block, onehand) and some side perks in smithing/archery and at level 24...there are enemies on ADEPT that 3 shot me, i put it to master and its a nightmare...

im in full orcish with skyforge steel axe all smithed up to flawless atm, no enchants...but ten my problem hasnt been with magic too much yet either.

so yes sir, i call troll.

in fact there is a guy made a exact opposite thread of this one, saying how he has a very difficult time on master, and how a single scaled twoand user can make him go thru all his pots/food and hell still not be dead. by the looks of it you two have similar builds.

really? i dont pay attention to all videogame communities but...i tought ME2 was SUCH a step back in every way save for combat. literally the only move forward.

still a fun game...but inferior.

That's why it's so easy even on Master. You're ignoring a large part of the game and just focusing on combat by the sound of it.

While not broken like Oblivions levelling system the game world (and especially dungeons) seems to level up with you. If you're only levelling combat skills, it will never get any harder. To make it harder level some skills that while improving your character, do not make you stronger combat-wise. Pickpocketing and Lockpicking are good ones. Pickpocketing especially is easy to get to 100 and this'll make the game quite a bit harder as you should gain 5-10 levels from that without getting any "stronger".

I too love a challenge and it took me quite a bit of work to get the game hard enough for my liking. I maxed Pickpocket and have very high Sneak, Smithing and Lockpicking - none of which help me in a straight up fight. I'm also working on Enchanting, Alchemy and Two Handed even though i'm an Archer. Anything to make the game harder is fine by me. I do wish there was at least another difficulty level or two that would really challenge a minimalist character. But the game seems to be balanced around levelling more than 2-3 skills.

I think a lot of people also exploit the 'doorway' issue with some enemies. If you step out of the main room, they tend to ignore you for a short period before pursuing, or otherwise they stay put. Probably more than sufficient for some playing on Master to survive most encounters. I've never played that way though...never even occurred to me except once.

I'm playing on expert, with smithing, and have died relatively often from end-of-dungeon "boss" characters and dragons. Everything else is pretty easy I grant you, but those tough enemies can be really tough. Well... I don't spam potions, maybe that's why. If I did that the game would probably be really easy.

I loved Oblivion but one of the worst things about it was how the combat was so boring...sword fights with leveled characters would take forever with each of us slashing bacl and forth at each other for what seemed like forever...where was the fun in that?...the combat has improved much more