Lv. 37 And just ran into my first elder dragons, ran into 2 so far this level.

The first specficly said it was Elder on its health bar, the second didn't (Just Dragon) but looked exactly like the last with its golden scales (Is this common?).

From what I've heard Ancients don't look much different from elders, but either who, when do I start running into this bad boys?

I think they start to appear around level 45-ish.

Ancient Dragons are lvl 48 so you start running into them as you start hitting the mid 40s in level... Once you are lvl 50+ you'll run into Ancient Dragons almost exclusively...

45-46ish. It's also the cutoff point for gaining the highest quality of leveled equipment like Chillrend.

At the most inconvinient times.

Leveled items have a breakpoint at 46. I would expect that creatures follow suit.

Ancient Dragons are [censored]s. They love killing my level 58 assassin that specialized in Illusion. If I'm alone it usually involves me hearing dragon fight music then immediately seeing a load screen lol.

I'm level 39 and haven't had the pleasure yet either. Are they really they tough? Or are a lot of you guys playing on master?

They're normal dragons with more health and more damage.

And a different color.

I'd say they're easier than mid-level dragons, since when you're ~50 you already maxed out your combat skills, armor rating, resistances, have a whole bunch of shouts(especially Dragonrend), etc.

Is the Dawnbreaker a lv'ed item? I just got it and it does as much damage as my Legendary Drawven Sword (100 Smithing, no pots), including the +10 fire damage. I'm fine with the damage, as I'm nerfing myself to hell to make the game more enjoyable, just curious is all.

And how do Ancient dragons differ in looks when compared to Elders?

So very true... They tend to massacre entire towns when you aren't looking and attack you in the middle of every quest, especially when you want no interruptions in that quest...

They don't differ that much in looks just a slightly different color but they have alot more health and deal alot more damage... Highest level of enemies in the game (not counting Alduin as he continues to level with you from his minimum level for each encounter) is 53...

Dawnbreaker is not a leveled item that I'm aware of but it can be improved by smithing last I checked...

LOL, so true. Dragons attacking in general. I had been needing a Dragon soul for ages, than all of a sudden..., so not expecting or needing it...

Elder Dragons are gold-coloured. Ancient dragons are orange-coloured, but the skin of their wings is yellow with black stripes. The underbelly of ancient dragons is also black.

Dawnbreaker is nit leveled and can be improved. However it is not related to a perk, so you need an effective skill of some thing like 140 to make it legendary. So you'll need smithing gear, potions or both. Oh and that sword is badass.

I'm also nerfing myself for more challenge, hence my difficulty with AD's. I started the Mq very late on life, first random dragon I saw was an elder. I've found Ancients to be more difficult then Alduin, who I fought at 53 and 58. Mjoll in her legendary Falmer armor is thee only thing standing between me and fiery death and they drop her with with a sustained breath attack.