I'm level 40 on this toon and I've done civil war and almost done with thieves guild. Not doing DB or mages due to role playing a thief. I've gotten thane hood in three cities and am 3/5 to getting in a fourth hold. This is where I start losing interest due to completing most do my characters path. Probably finish tg and then do mq and then be done.

Next play through I am contemplating doing one hold at a time to reach thane status before I even start a quest line with mages, DB or tg.

Still a long way to go for me. I've spent the last 3 days decorating my house
I've done 30 hours and not done any MQ except the intro or guild quest yet.

I like that there's enough content that I can do this without feeling like I'm missing out on XP. I usually lose interest in a character once I've done everything that makes sense for them to do, and/or maxed all their primary skills. So far though starting new characters remains fun. I'm sure at some point (probably after I've fully developed a character for each of the various combat methods) I'll start achievement hunting, I've found it will sometime push me to do some fun things that I wouldn't have otherwise.

I just wish some major side quests weren't about guilds or daedra lords.

Just something different, you know what i mean, its like I know what to expect.

I'm not really losing interest in the game but it became a bit boring after some time due to the lack of diversity in the quests. I'm actually playing Skyrim only sporadic since the primary quests are mostly done and the generic quests are neither useful nor challenging.

I find the funnest part of the game is going very slowly, not fast travelling, and playing 'heroes nightmare' mode where I only save where I sleep, with no HUD...it forces me to be on my toes.

PLayed about 80 hours with an Assassin and wanted to try a new character, about fifteen hours in there. Not as exciting as it was, but I'm guessing I'll get another 40 or so hours before I just have to put it away totally.

Skyrim really shines when you just wander around..the more goal-oriented or efficient I try to be, the more I don't want to play it. however if I just pick up maybe one quest that takes me on a long journey, that can be awesome, because the journey itself is interesting..I guess once I have seen all the world events it will be less so, but there seems to be a fair number of them.

I am starting to get burned out on my mage which is funny as I have not done much been too busy exploring random caves and such, but once I am done with the MG I will probably switch to a different character.

Totally with you. "Everything that makes sense for them to do".

When I realized quests were repetitive, factions were short and pitiful, dungeons had little in the way of any unique loot or template variety, and most importantly, that there was absolutely no reputation system and no consequences for my actions, good or bad, it just kind of fell apart for me. Oh, and the performance issues... eh, walking into the fall forest region was abysmal and kind of shattered some perception of enjoyment.

I don't really burn out right yet per se, just switch to a different character or go play a different game.

Mostly just waiting for dlc and trying to save a few things to do to tide me over til then.

Getting to the point of waiting normally involves finishing the Main Quest, and finding the Daedric Artifacts for whichever build I'm playing. Then its on to at least starting, if not completing, whatever guild quests I deem relevant... Then on to buy a house, get a horse, move up to Daedric Weapons...get a few pertinent shouts... Pick a side in the Civil War...

After I've done all that, then its on to wandering until things get slow for whatever build it is.

Switching to a different character (BLASPHEMY! WHY WOULD ANYONE MAKE MORE THAN ONE CHARACTER?) normally resolves whatever doldrums I've fallen into.

Can't last forever, but there are plenty of playstyles and stuff to do to carry over hundreds of hours of playthroughs on multiple characters.

Even little things like how conversations change with your race or six give me incentive to play the other characters.

This is almost exactly how I play except i use a conanesque type warrior. I don`t rush every quest and walk everywhere...

Burnout comes when you feel it then it`s a good idea to go away and do something else.

I cant seem to break level 40. i seem to get.... i dunno if i'd call it bored, but kinda like mid level crysis, where i start getting bored of retreading my steps , as i avoid fast travel, but then as soon as i start fast travelling once i use it all the time & i dont take the game as seriously and feel like i'm rushing too much, takes the enjoyment away & i start considering a new character.

But *fingers crossed* i'm hoping to stick with my current character.

i get bored/burnout when my character becomes too powerful. i'm done as soon as i stop fearing death.

I started getting bored when I had to stunlock every single enemy into submission with my pure mage character with 100% spell cost reduction.

And no, turning down the difficulty is not an option, I feel like I'm not playing the game right if I don't play on the highest difficulty.

Same for me , at first i fell in love with Skyrim , but after reading forums and playing further myself my hearth was shattered.

I'm still going. I'm actually mixing up guilds , getting a bit obsessed with levelling up lol

It took me a year to finish Fallout 3... I expect about as long for Skyrim.

Personally, I can't play 50 hours per week... I am sure that I would get burned out. Here are ny rules for keeping it fun;

• Focus on side quests / role playing and getting stronger at the beginning.
  
• Map out the land but DO NOT randomly enter every cave I see - only when it is clear that the place is not quest related or I have heard of the place from people, etc. I absolutely HATE breaking quests or seeing something that is meaningless because I did not get the quest first. (of course, that may be just me)
  
• Finish a "set" of quests, such as the Companions, before moving on to something else (at least nothing major).
  
• As I get "bored" with something, veer back to the main story line. So for example, I just finished the Companions story line and now I am heading up to see the Greybeards (50 hours of playtime in).
  
• Some nights I focus on the house, or enchanting / alchemy, or very minor "housekeeping" on quest items, etc. I try to change up what I am doing.
  
• Make up role playing excuses for yourself to join ALL of the factions. Starting over with a new character is not an option for me... I have to work and see my family on occasion!

But don't rush this game. For me, I really could not go back to Fallout 3. The wonderful story and "new" experience can only happen once... Though that is where DLC and the Modders come in!

R
(YMMV! This is just my opinion.)

I know that this has been said before, but aren't you in control of this? I don't do any smithing and I do very little enchantment and alchemy...

R

This ^^

Am still playing Witcher 1. Fallout 3 I just recently finished and I bought that game 1 week after release.

It's a single player game, the npcs and quests are not going anywhere. Play at your leisure.

I know its time to take a break when I want to use fast travel to go somewhere.

Not really after a certain point it doesnt matter what you wear, i know at 65 i can wear light armour with no perks no enchants etc and melee cant put a dent in me on master.

Im guessing spending all my points except 10 on health didnt help either though.

I came to a point where I knew I'd be tired of the game if I didn't took a pause.
I currently play Dragon Age: Origins, as I got it for Christmas.
And I'm glad I do, as Skyrim as it is now got little more to offer.
With 250 hours or so played, I'm finished with all questlines.
I've had 6 different characters I played differently, but I'm waiting for DLC and Mods.

I think I'm about 220 hrs in, I do have different character's that I play. I have noticed that a couple of the quest's that I had done with my 1st character play alittle differently with another, the dungeon itself was the same but the baddies were different. for instance 3 deathlords the 1st time, only the one at the end on the 2nd. lvl 34-39 1st time lvl 12 the 2nd time.

I know thats maybe because of the different lvl's, but it didn't matter, because it had to be played different. I would imagine that if I went in their with a mage, it would have to be played different again, even if I manage to get the lvl's similar.

I don't know when I will get burned out, I have my warrior, my thief and I may do a pure mage...or another warrior type to do the civil war with. But I like to play them one at a time... I built the thief because I had a good Idea what I wanted and wanted to do it while I had it all in mind ( she's on save at lvl 10)

I play a pure mage, an assassin/thief/bow user, and an orc warrior with a 2H sword. All 3 enchant a little, and the warrior uses smithing - but none are powerleveling enchanting or smithing. Just a few points here and there.

I change to different character every day, and try to have them do different quest lines, if possible. I try not to use fast travel too often, and spend a lot of time going through the wilderness and mountains - looking for dungeons. Love to dungeon crawl.

Some days I quest, some days I dungeon crawl most of the day, and with the warrior I take a break and go around killing animals for leather and look for mining nodes.

Having 3 different characters keeps me more interested in the game because it's different every day.

For how much I've been playing skyrim I should have experienced burnout, but amazingly I never did. I reached a satisfactory conclusion in about 230 hours.