Hey all,

Okay so I've been really enjoying the game so far, killing a few bandits etc. But, when it comes to really getting into the quests, it's just too hard and I don't know why :S.

I understood that it would be challenging on the default setting but just to see, I thought I'd downgrade to the Novice difficulty - no difference. I don't get it at all. When I played on Oblivion, Novice was a piece of cake and I could easily breeze through every level of the game.

Here's my current armour and stats. I can't get any more upgrades from anywhere - believe me, I've probably tried every shop and armoury in Skyrim!

Weapon: Axe of Whiterun (Damage: 20, Weight: 21)
Armour: Imperial Officer's Helmet Fine (Armor: 20, Weight: 4), Imperial Bracers Fine (Armor: 13, Weight: 4), Steel Armor Fine (Armor: 37, Weight: 35) and Imperial Boots Fine (Armor: 13, Weight: 8).

Prime example: 3 Hired Thugs come after me and won't leave me alone. I struggle with one of them, get them down to a bit of health and then die myself.

Please help me because right now I'm really not enjoying the game I love all the landscapes, the gameplay...but not this. It's not even as if I get to attack them, within 10 seconds I'm dead.

So what am I doing wrong?

Cheers,

KugarWeb.

Level 1h and heavy armor. Build up stamina/health. Invest in a restoration spell, and/or health/stamina potions... idk what else to say.

Axe of Whiterun is a one-handed weapon? Are you using a shield for blocking?

My toon is a sneaky light-armour wearing bow/dagger user on the default difficulty yet I've not died that often. You have to plan your attacks and keep your potions stocked, and be careful of where you adventure and what you take on.

What's Level 1h?

Forgot to include that actually. I have 100 Magicka, 150 Health and 100 Stamina - everything's been going into Health since I restarted last night.
I already have a restoration spell but it takes a very long time to react. I'm an Imperia.

I know, everyone I've asked is puzzled why I'm struggling so much. It's not like I'm a beginner at this or anything, I've played TES games before

I use 1h weapons and i don't use a shield. I use a spell.

If you wear heavy armour and level it up with the perks you can just take the blows and not be damaged too much. I just play really offensive and go for quick kills. If i'm low health after the fight I will just use a healing spell. I still die easilty on some enemies though.

I didn't move far from Whiterun until I'd got close to level 20, and did every quest and cleared every location around there before moving on. I think this helped me in that I didn't have to take on anything too strong too early on, and was able to level up quite gently.

Not only that but it built up the characterisation of the gameworld nicely.

Depends which skill is higher when u recieve it
1handed or 2handed
U can usually tell right away by looking at the Jarl
(he has the weapon on him)

I'm playing a lvl 38 Mage/stealth character and I still get one shot by Draugr deathlords arrows, even at 210 HP. So it's pretty normal

I have run into enemies that are insanely over powered every so often BUT do realize that all enemies have their own level. Reguardless of your level you may face guys 5-10 levels above you. I run 1h with magic and have to pick my fights. Level health and stamina equally, if stamina is low you don't hit as hard. Use shouts as well they help a lot.

Nope, not using a shield for blocking. I never have had to until this game I suppose...? I'm in the middle of posting up a video to YouTube just to demonstrate how quickly I'm getting taken out by these guys. No attacking, just all on defence. It's like I have it on ultimate difficulty....but this is novice!

You have to spam potions and food. Play a bit more carefully and use a shield instead if dual-wield. It gets better when you have better Armor.

Try going back to riverwood and doing missions and killing people in that area. it for the low level people to get some gear and gold from. once youve got the gold buy some ingots and try to craft a few armor peices like elven or dwarven. If your skill aint high enough just craft some leather or plate or something. Try doing the golden claw mission because it gives you around 400 gold. Also do that quest with sven in riverwood, but tell the woman the truth about svens letter because you get the elf as a companion. and most companions are very good. Most are like 500 gold but others you just need to brawl with to win them over.

Hired Thugs, I understand Bandits, but Hired Thugs. Are you sure you are telling us the whole story? To me it sounds like you went and started some mess some where and got attacked by the whole village. My advise is don't start [censored]. At least until you get leveled up a bit. Just do your quest and move on. Its ok to explore , but don't just run around start'n stuff, as you found out, that will get you kill quickly if your not ready for retaliation.

What perks have you been taking when levelling up?

Okay, sorry for the bad quality but here's the video. Watch as my health gets completely drained. I've never seen health in a game drain this quickly!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT2SI4hZCBM

Oh no, I haven't started anything. All I'm trying to do is get through the game, I don't start fights with other NPCs unless they're considered enemies.

I'm not even sure where these Hired Thugs came from. But anyway, this isn't just this fight, it happens constantly.....bandits, wolves....everything just seems to slaughter me!

I know the feeling and you are not alone. Morrowind was a bit of a challenge at times but nowhere near as difficult as this game but I breezed through Oblivion at every level.

The thing to remember in Skyrim is that some bad guys are levelled way above your own. You need to pick and chose your fights and I am afraid it is a bit of trial and error early on. I set off on the main quest early on only to run into a Frost Troll. It is set at level 24 standard, it does not level with me through the game, so no matter how hard I tried, or what I did, my level 5 player at the time died in one hit. So i left the troll and went back later once I had levelled up a bit more and it wasn't so tough

Whoa! they must be 5-8 levels above you. where abouts is that place your in? Ive never seen thugs.

Running from an encounter you can't handle is still a viable option isn't it? I was stumbling around a dungeon the other night taking some decent challenging skeletons, then suddenly I stumbled upon a Master Vampire. It was pretty clear after about 2 seconds that I would have no chance against this guy. Downed some potions and went running from the dungeon as fast as possible. I will go back maybe in 4 or 5 levels.

You don't necessarily have to "win" every encounter. Yes, its disappointing to have to run, but that is also a lot of the fun. Loving the Master level difficulty here. Its scaled just about perfectly for me so far. Love having to come to the conclusion that something is more than I can handle.

My character is a level 23 Mage and I never put a point into health so he gets 2 or 3 shotted by most enemies besides maybe wolves and 1 shotted by quite a few as well. I learned dodging, running, and healing real fast. Also putting up a ward or casting an alteration shield wouldn't hurt, for your character, I recommend the novice alteration shield as he doesn't seem like a heavy magic guy. The trick with weaker characters is just to kill things faster than they can kill you really. Also, anything you can do to stagger enemies is probably going to help you more than anything else really. I noticed your character has the greybeard quest active right now, which means you have "Fus". Use it and take advantage of its short recharge time.

I found the combat easy until i did the main quests lol.

I went down from expert difficulty to adept.

Those hired thugs attacked me too. I'm plying on expert and things have been a perfect difficultly, but those thugs that attacked me randomly were BRUTAL!

This is only in Riverwod. I was waiting around until dawn to sell some firewood to a guy in Riverwood and these thugs appeared and were "going to teach me a lesson".



In reply to you Falmer, yes running away would be a viable option but after what I've read, these thugs don't leave you alone until you're dead or they're dead .

flashismyfriend: You're right, I work much better with heavy weaponry, just enjoy it more. I've got Unrelenting Force but it doesn't seem to do a lot, especially against these guys.

Use movement, kiting and terrain to your advantage. Don't just stand there and take blows repeatedly.

SsevenN: That was just a demonstration, I wasn't meant to attack. I just wanted to show the strength of their attacks.


Okay, seems to be a bug with difficulty settings.

I've just switched it to Master, got killed straight away. Switched down to Adept, almost exact same result as Novice. Turned down to Novice - KILLED ALL THREE OF THE THUGS!