I swear, if I ever have to fight another Draugr Deathlord archer again, it will be too soon... But maxing your armor rating is enough for it IMO.

People hated the scaling in Oblivion, but personally i'd rather the game was too hard than too easy.

I have two characters in their mid to high 40's. The firstis an imperial HA 1h warrior who will not steal or kill. Did the companions quest and working through the main quest. He uses the wolf armor which I really like.
The other is a thieving murderous Breton who just finished TG and working on AG who uses 1h and the NG armor, not improved. Pretty challenging.
I will probably have each character switch to the opposite armor and 2h to make the game more fun in the 50'-60's.

playing on expert using the best possible light imperial armor(through smithing only) and epic glass shield + glass axe. using enchanting only for some magic resistence, since otherways you get crushed at higher lvls.


feels ok. high lvl draugr hurt, but shield is seriously op. i think, i could also play naked only wearing a shield and a sword.... ok maybe i would need a necklace and a ring to get some magic resistence

May just have some scale or the "dragonborn outfit" and enchant it for magic resistance. Or throw on my nightingale since my light armor skill is only 50ish.

Yeah, her default armor is more revealing That ancient nord armor was not designed by a woman

Anyway, i have the same problem. Legendary wolf armor, Ysgramor's shield and plenty of heavy armor and blocking perks, nothing can hurt me. Strangely White River Watch, that i hadn't entered until level 35 had only basic bandits, i just ignored them since they did less damage than my health regen replenished, and killed them all with one Fire Breath when i got tired of them scratching my armor

I do a bit, playing on master, but only with some characters.

One of my characters has a enhanced overpowered Ghostblade but wears armor at around 100 to compensate, I usually only use enchanted stuff I find in the game I don't enchant it myself as I want a challenge at least on some of my plays.

It's still pretty easy but with passive handicaps (eg only smithing weapons not armor no enchants) I do die now, whereas before I was invincible. Another thing is I never use potions, you could just stand in one spot during any battle if you knew you had plenty of potions to use when things got tough, I have to use cover and heal like mad to stop those mages wiping my berserker out which is how it should be.

I'm trying to gimp myself as much as possible & keep my blacksmithing & enchanting skills to a reasonable level, It's very easy to kill the fun otherwise.

The games have always had a life-span, I like the fact you can be overpowered and slaughter everything at the end.
Makes you feel like the warrior of prophecy the game says you are.

So very glad to hear that! I have about 165 hours, so it seems as if we're both enjoying SKyRiM at a very similar pace!

The game went boring after lvl 40 so i quit.

How are you level 53 and still a 'classic warrior'? My Nord warrior uses Two Handed, Block, Heavy Armor, and took smithing to 50 to make steel plate. I finished the Companions and the Stormcloaks by level 23. I don't see him ever getting too far past level 30 or so. He just doesn't use that many skills. To level past 50 requires levelling up a LOT of skills. Sounds like a well levelled hybrid character to me, not a classic warrior. And hybrids can start out slow but eventually become extremely powerful.

My gihhest level character is a wood efl 'scout' who is a full blown hybrid using skills from warrior, thief, and mage (not just levelling them he uses them) with perks sort of spread out but he is still crazy OP.

If you don't want to be too OP then you really have to limit yourself to only choosing one crafting skill. The synergy between the crafting skills is pretty amazing.

EDIT: BTW YOU CAN MAKE NEW CHARACTERS. You aren't limited to only having one character.

I've never gotten a character that high level. But I also tend to dislike fooling with creation systems in any game, and this one is no different so my characters all settle with equipment won through adventure.

That said, my first character, who was a heavy plate wearing tank who dual wielded enchanted swords, was by 37th beginning to feel a little on the godly side.

i play on master and definitely play in a way that makes the game more realistic and harder: strict rping and my own major/minor skills and perks with rules.

it makes it that much harder during the earlier levels, but, i am enjoying the gameplay a lot.

I don't abuse the enchanting or smithing either. Once my character gets too powerful I start a new one. I finished the Main Quest last night and not at any time was my character in any real danger of croaking. Nothing could ever get close enough to me because my archery skills are through the roof. Once Alduin landed it took me about 4 or 5 shots with my Ebony Bow of Fire (or whatever it's called) using daedric arrows and he was done.

And yes, I'm playing on Master difficulty. That's nuts.

Draugr Deathlords can take no more than 4 arrows from me. It's not fun anymore so it's time to start over and be vulnerable again. Next time it's pure mage, only robes, and only magicka for offensive purposes. That'll be a challenge.

I have three characters. One at lvl 36, the others in there 20s. Been playing since launch. Master difficulty. Not feeling overpowered yet. Still have to use common sense when approaching certain known foes. Use common sense when also approaching unknown foes as well.

Lol, I hope you're not using Conjuration. You're in for a nasty surprise...

My first character was a warrior so i picked up blacksmithing because it made sense for a classic warrior type.

After playing a bit i noticed that items were a bit too random in terms of item type/enchantment so i decided to pick up enchanting as well. I thought
it would be cool to have the enchantments i wanted and that it would prepare me for the difficulties that lay ahead. Man was i wrong.

Once both skills were at 100 the game ''broke'' instead of just helping me do better. I turned up the difficulty and still felt too overpowered.
2-3 minute epic troll fights turned into barely slowing down, just enough to 2 shot the same troll.

Note that this was the 1st and 2nd day after release so we were all pretty much clueless about the combined effects of enchanting/blacksmithing.
Alchemy obviously makes it even worse.

After my first character i severely hold back on enchanting/smithing and mostly stick to the random loot/quest rewards.

I'm not using smithing. But that's more because I can't be bothered to do so and it doesn't fit my current character, not because I want to hold back.

That's what I like about Skyrim: you can have as many characters as you want.

The current character I'm playing is a mage. I did level enchanting, and will level alchemy, but I'm not using the magicka-free system. I wear the Archmage's robes, the Morokei mask, and jewelry that reduces the cost of my destruction and conjuration by 25%, and that's as far as I will go. I use perks (meaning I have to spend points) to get it further reduced. I haven't yet got conjuration high enough to conjure dremoras, but when I do, they will be used only sparingly. My current plan is to use a storm Atronach and chain lighting most of the time. I've put most of my points into Magicka- probably 3/4ths at least, so my hitpoints are not that high. I can be one shot by Deathlords or Briahearts if I let them get close enough to hit me. It's very challenging to play, at least for me.

Another character I have is even more challenging. She is a "cleric". Never uses archery or stealth (both are at 15 still), wears plates steel (just got it recently in fact), and uses only two-handed hammers and destruction magic for damage. Her main source of damage though is her follower (currently Uthgerd), while she heals them. She is leveling smithing, but only with materials she gathers, and only taking up to Advanced Armors (was at steel, but turns out you need advanced armors to make plated steel). I chose plated steel based on the looks of it- it's the best looking armor in the game, IMO. With this character, there's no kind of recon at all. Enemies almost always see me before I see them. There is never a way to plan a strategy for a battle, there is simply reaction to the threat. She can be terribly difficult to play, requiring lots of reloads.

On the other hand, I also have a warrior that is incredibly OP. She has smithing and enchanting both at 100, wears daedric armor that is over the armor cap, uses a daedric sword that can one shot Death Overlords and two or three shot ancient dragons. She has perks up in blocking, and has over 400 hitpoints, which regenerate incredibly fast, thanks to some enchantments. This is the only character I've completed the main quest on, so she also has the best shouts.

Sometimes I ENJOY being over-powered. Other times I want a challenge. Still others, I want a TOUGH challenge. Skyrim allows me to play using many different play styles. I really REALLY like that about it.

No runecrafting: Find your gear! Makes dungeons a lot more fun\rewarding.
No alch: Lots of potions to pick up anyway
No blacksmith: Again, lots of dungeon runs to find stuff. Its so rewarding to find better gear.

I tend to think crafting is suppose to be more relaxed. Im sure too many people speed level their crafting which makes you a little too hard to kill.

Remember, the "godmode" allows those who want it to get it. If you want the game to be hard just roleplay. Its fun!

tallenn-

the fact that skyrim allows you to play "as many characters as you want" is a necessity for this game, not, an advantage or something to boast about. roleplaying in an open-world rpg is basic gaming. all of these types of games MUST allow roleplaying. that's the major difference between, say, fallout3/morrowind/skyrim and mass effect.

the problem is that we, the players, must gimp ourselves to make the game difficult at the highest difficulty level designed by the developers. it should be the other way around.

This idea of a game become unplayable at really high level (I don't think that's true so far at level 45 in Skyrim, but ...) is not a new one. The paper and pencil role playing games that games like this are descended from (like D&D) have wrestled with the same problems. You get high level and you have lots of neat gear and lots of options for dealing with problems that lower level characters don't have.

Bethesda has tried to handle this in the past by level caps. Also, inventory management keeps you from bringing too much with you, though you can carry far more than you can in "real life." It's not just weight, it's awkwardness.

Some roleplaying games don't level you up in terms of toughness/hit points/combat power directly. Skyrim effectively is a direct descendent of D&D in that it makes you more powerful as you level. Other games allow you go get better gear and increase your skills, but you don't become a god, just competent. But in those games, you're not up against dragons either or gods or Daedra, etc. Fantasy games like this almost require you become a sort of demigod to be able to survive in a world so hazardous that you wonder why anyone is actually alive in the world when you start.

On the whole, Bethesda does a reasonable job I think. By the time you're in the 40's, you're probably equivalent to a D&D character in the 20s in terms of gear and personal firepower, but of course THOSE guys have whole teams. And these days (and I don't like this) in D&D, the players and the monsters are both practically Army Ranger or Navy Seal teams in terms of the level of tactical expertise expected. That is, the players and the monsters seem to be expected to behave in a way that would have the Army Rangers nodding their head and smiling. I'm not personally that good a tactician so I find D&D pretty difficult these days, at least with published adventures. You don't get that integrated, team feeling in Skyrim or Oblivion or FO3 because it is single player.

No, at level 55 I am wearing full Ebony smithed to legendary without any enhanced smithing or potion looping to raise it's armour value and no enchantments yet.

I carry an ebony bow and sword again with no enchantments.

I don't use a follower.

I will craft Daedric equipment if I find I need more protection or hitting power and enchant it if the need arises.

Becoming overpowered takes all the fun out of the game so I avoid it.

better a.i. (the attempt to advance this aspect of gaming should be with every game and every company) , new and high-level enemies that occur only at certain player level intervals and optional slider difficulty bar, for starters. pretty simple.