this is a response to the several topics on skills being "overpowered"...yeah they are overpowered a bit but they need to be, and this is why, first of all, unlike some people who say skyrim isn't an rpg, which is ridiculous...each skill has to stand on its own, because it is an rpg !... you can choose to totally ignore most of the skills and still get by just fine and be powerful, so if you want to be a master alchemist and sneak, you can do that to a very high degree, you have to be able to get by on a couple skills if you decide to roleplay that way..on the other hand you can decide be kinda an expert on most skills, so thats when a person becomes "overpowered", but you have to have that choice, some people like to play that way to, its easy to make your own adjustments on being less powerful if you want, if every skill was just mediocre and you were forced to have to have to use lots of skills, thats NOT roleplaying....roleplaying is you deciding how you want to play, not other people deciding how you're gonna play, so the people who want the game nerfed, they want to be the deciders of how others play and that won't happen with a bethesda game. go play WoW if you want a game nerfed.

Abgemacht.

But that means "role playing" and playing a game are by definition incompatible. "Role playing" does not mean all things have to be possible. And just being an alchemist and using no other skills in this game is not possible. What are you gonna do when a dragon lands in front of you? Throw poison down his throat? Pour poison all over your clothes so he gets sick and dies when he eats you?

Skills won't be nerfed, because it is a single player game.

As someone here said: "It is like a toy", no one is in charge of anyone else's toy, or how they choose to play with it. If you have fun, you are winning.

Ah, but I believe overpowered abilities do the opposite and instead limit choices.

Properly balanced gameplay mechanics would give you more of a reason to make more characters. The more competetive builds there are, the more you'll enjoy trying out completely different and unique builds.

For example, if crafting wasn't so blatantly overpowered, you would have a real choice between the different perks. Do I make a mage that focuses on getting better gear at the cost of some other useful perks, or do I skip crafting? Right now, if you want the most powerful character, you always know to pick crafting. If you're choosing something else, you know your character will be less powerful because of it.

It would actually spread more choices to the player.

Well, I see some people's argument in that they want the game to be a challenge while also being able to play with every available tool. In other words, the response "well, just don't overuse crafting skills" misses the point. People want to be able to play the game as hard as they can and still have it present a challenge; they don't want to have to handicap themselves to get the challenge.

That said, I expect some people need to raise their difficulty level if the game is not presenting a sufficient challenge. I tend to doubt the stories of people playing the game on master and insisting it's so easy they could do it in a coma.

Actually, if you use Smithing and Enchanting to their fullest, master isn't that hard.

I've got a smithing of 100. No real enchanting - I've only enchanted a single blacksmith's apron to boost smithing. Still, it hasn't made it so I'm invincible on Adept level. An elder dragon will still knock half my health out in one blast.

They won't be nerfed because they are working as intended. Bethesda is completely aware of how OP you can become in Skyrim, and it's intentional.

This, and roleplaying requires some rules, If that was Bethesdas intention I should be able to use a gravity gun and fly in Skyrim.

Exactly. While I completely agree with the philosophy of allowing people maximum flexibility in creating their own characters, that doesn't mean Bethesda is supposed to make it so that all possible builds are equally powerful. How is a speech-centered character gonna face down a destruction+necromancy+one-handed Battlemage in Legendary Daedric Armor and commanding two undead minions? Talk him to death?

thats fine, then you can play that way for yourself...we're going in a circle...you said but ah you think its opposite....GREAT...you get to play that way...but what you don't get to do is decide how i'm gonna play...so for you it does the opposite, but for me it doesn't...i like a challenges also, but i adjust my own game to how difficult i want it...so lets not keep going in a circle, you can play how you want...you just don't have the power to force your playstyle on anyone else.

I play on master, and the difficulty level is perfect, up to a point. When kind of depends on how much you grind and what character type you are playing (destruction mages never really get to the "one-shotting everything" stage, but they do get to stagger everything from a distance 100% of a time, archers without sneak aren't all that overpowered either.) The fact that the challenge is so good early on just makes the disappointingly easy end game all the more frustrating. If they're going to let you become godly powerful, they could at least start throwing some epic battles at you.

I am a level 62 stealth ranger,stealth,archery,smithing,enchanting all maxed out on master mode and it is a complete walk in the park hence why i may have to start a new character maybe in the future.Ancient dragons do next to no damage at all with their breathe and they are the toughest things in the game.But i only have myself to blame for it being easy it's all about player choice whether you want a challenge or a walk in the park.

It isn't a question of forcing their playstyle on anybody else, it's the fact that if there are OP skills in the game, then to maintain a challenge you'll have to handicap yourself. People want their games to present a challenge WITHOUT handicapping themselves.

Look at it this way. Suppose you want to play a game of chess, and there are two opponents available. One svcks at the game, to the point where for you to have any challenge at all you'll have to give up your queen and a bishop, while the other is capable of playing the game at your level, and present you with a challenge without you handicapping yourself? Obviously you'd choose the equal opponent, right? Well, this is why people don't want OP skills in the game. They don't want to have to avoid maxing certain skills to maintain a challenge.

Like I say, I'm still skeptical that the challenge can't be maintained via adjusting the skill level, but that's the idea behind the complaints about OP skills.

I'll have to test this theory for myself. My current character is a Nord warrior on Adept, heavy armor, block, one-handed weapon, Legendary steel plate armor, no magic except the beginning heal spell. Even at level 43 or so, Elder dragons still knock me down to less than half health with one blast of their breath, and I've even got the shield of Whiterun and the perk that cuts elemental damage while blocking. So if Adept is by no means a walk in the park despite my smithing skill of 100, I fail to see how adding Enchanting to the mix can make even Master difficulty a walk in the park.

But as I say, my next character will test this. He'll be a Sauron-esque warrior/destruction/necromancer with smithing and enchanting, while commanding undead minions and spouting fire from his fingertips. I'll see how hard or easy Master difficulty is with that setup.

No matter what they do to balance the game or make it ore challenging someone will find a way to allow for overpowered builds. When this is known then people will complain again.

This isn't Saints Row 3, it isn't supposed to let you do whatever you want (unless your on PC)

Well, probably so. People managed to game the frikkin' leveling system in Oblivion, of all things. People will calculate their way out of all kinds of things.

well maybe bethesda games aren't for you, have you thought of that? if you don't like how they let you become so powerful, well you can always play a different game..i've played all their games in the last 10 years so i like how they make their games, they actually give you choices in their games, some games just give you the illusion of choice, kinda like new vegas, where you're actually forced to play a certain way and apart from some story choices, the rest of the gameworld funnels you into a very limited play style, for instance the gameworld itself lacks structures, obstacles, buildings, towns etc and just nooks and crannies in general, so you really are forced to play like rambo. trying to play strealthy in new vegas is not viable, cause there aren't many terrain features or objects that lend themselves to stealth, thats just one example how games that call themselves rpgs aren't not as much rpg as they seem. fortunately bethesda is very successfull so i'll get to enjoy my powerful avatars for many years to come when it comes to bethesda games.

By adding enchanting you can make gear to increase your smithing and if you add alchemy to that you can have weapons that are dealing massive damage in the order of thousands per hit.

Enchanting can potentially multiply damage directly by 2.6 via fortify damage enchantments, and indirectly increase damage by letting you create fortify smithing gear. With 4x25% fortify smithing equipment, you can boost base damage by about 10, or roughly another 50% for sword users (and it gets multiplied by the fortify damage enchantments, so its actually a lot more.) Total increase is something like 4x original damage.

It does not, WOW is very balanced, however it exist very little variation inside the classes as everybody use the best build they pick from forum or web sites.
Now Skyrim has no defined classes as WOW so things would go a bit different, but numbers of practical builds would be low.

The toughest enemies in the game are Mages and dragons.Enchanting makes a huge difference in regards to them,you can add 2 enchantments on an item for example on boots i can add over 50% fire,frost or shock that is huge.Combine that with 20% magic resistance to rings and amulets you can render a enemy Mage useless.Keep a back up ring and amulet with a 50% fire another set frost and laugh at ancient dragons.If you do not have to melee the ancient dragon its easy as

we're still going in a circle..todd howard did say not everyone would "get" their games and this is an example of that, they are a huge game developer with 2 very successful franchises and all their games are rated at 9 or 10 and recieve tons of awards and acclaim from the entire gaming community. FO3, morrowind and oblivion are on lots of all times greatest games lists and they don't ever make a flop, not in the 10 years i've been playing their games. so nothing is gonna change cause they already have the right formula for their games, thats what makes them different.