So, I am at that point I hit with Oblivion as well. I play for perhaps...70 hours, totally immersed i the game then suddenly one day I feel overpowered, and start to see lack of new things particularly with encounters/creatures.

For Instance I started just wandering to random edges of the map for days. It was really disapointing that all I saw were more Ice trolls, wolves, and those stupid spriggans ( forget name ) the things you find deep in th woods.

Also I found disappointing were the skill trees. Why did I bother with Alchemy? Alot of work to make an instanst hit poison that does like 18dmg. Very underwhelming. However, it still doesnt matter because I can obliterate pretty much anything ( 1h assasin, dual wield, bow, some illusion ).

I love this game, and in most ways I find it to be better than oblivion. However...the game seems a bit emptier and less variety than Oblivion. How can it be in skyrim every fort or dungeon seems to just have bandits, bandit outlaw, bandit chief? There are exceptions but at level 32 I should of seen more creatures in this game than I can count on one hand? And some should be really tough to take down and maybe have worthwhile rewards.

In oblivion, when I reached a similar stage I replayed the game with a well-researched mod list and it vastly improved the experience so now I am ready to do the same in Skyrim. So my thread is looking for a well thought out list of mods from people. Its easy to search nexus top-10, or just randomly try mods or search for "my favorite mod" thread. But what I don't see often is a list of what people have installed and what their overall goal and result was from modifying their game. Also, while I DO use skyrimNexus I feel like there are plenty of great mods that might not make the top lists so again this thread in case there are less obvious mods you recommend ( or bad combinations ).

I find that in Bethseda games, mods can be a very rewarding experience or a frustrating waste of time depending how you approach it.

I would say the 4 biggest things I would like to improve if available through mods are:
1. Creature variety - The Monster mod looks like an obvious candidate. Anyone using this?
2. Skill tree improvements - This probably requires a major overhaul mod to work. I kind of miss the primary/secondary skills approach from morrowind. Like, why the heck would I spend a level up on lockpick? Half the skill trees are bleh so it seems like everyone is an assasin/illusion, a pure mage , or a 2h barbarian. .
3. Combat improvements - something to make combat more exciting and challenging.
4. Better spells.- I see a couple. Midas Magic ...and others. I fear they could be over the top though. I don't want 1000 spells. My UI is cluttered. But I do feel like more variety is needed.

And of course I do also like the smaller "bling" type mods but I typically look for the well made larger mods first ( Like the Fallout Wanderers edition. ).

Mods I don't care about:
More quests: unless really well done, I have WAY too many quests!! Why do games do this?
Lightsaber mod: I don't need to wield multicolor lightsabers
Boob Mod: I don't need nudity in my game. Actually, I am lying. I might install a boob mod.


Thanks in advance for replies.