I played Morrowind with the difficulty slider crammed to the max, but given that Skyrim likely has a much different enemy/item placement and scaling system, I am not certain cramming the difficulty up is the right call with this latest TES title. In Morrowind I knew I could grind, get access to higher end items earlier on if needed etc.

Is Skyrim similar?

What do you feel is the ideal difficulty for a challenging experience, but one that avoids forcing you into meta/power gaming the best build to succeed?

Thinking either expert or master.

I play on the last one and i dont think its very difficult. This is not Morrowind.

Honestly i play on the default difficulty setting as thats what the game seems to be balanced for. I find that if you want to use magic you definitely don't want to do it on higher difficulties due to how weak it feels. All the difficulty does is change the damage dealt/received, to me it just seems grindy.

If you go heavy into the crafting skill to make legendary items you can make the game a cakewalk at any difficulty.

Skyrim has leveled areas, although some ruins are more difficult than others and have a minimum level that they will spawn. Falmer and dwemer ruins tend to be more difficult than bandit caves for example.

I play at one higher than the default. Most fights are do-able without too much struggle though occasionally if you get a boss you simply can't survive I've turned it back to default for that fight. I've only needed to do that rarely and I'm using Deadly Dragons, Immersive Creatures, and Higher Level Enemies to make things harder. Anyway start on default, if it seems too easy turn it up if it becomes too hard lower it again. You might need to adjust as you level. You can change mid game or even mid fight as you need to.

This can't be stressed enough. Crafting is very powerful in this game, making full use of the synergy between the three skills borders on exploits, so be careful not to overdo it.

Skyrim's difficulty settings change only damage dealt and taken, not the tactical difficulty of encounters, so the sweet spot depends on your playstyle. I usually felt comfortable on Master, some people swear by Legendary, others are less combat-oriented and prefer default Adept. That's vanilla - If you want a more though-out challenge instead of just turning enemies into damage sponges, take a look at combat mods. Knowing your background, I advise starting on Expert and adjusting from there as you play.

Legendary difficulty is challenging. If you play Morrowind at max difficulty, there is no reason you couldn't play Skyrim that way. You can always craft your way to power if you want. You don't need meta or power gaming to survive on Legendary. You just need to be willing to run away sometimes and spend some time on your crafting skills.


Don't spend too much time crafting though. As others have said, you can craft your way to god hood on any difficulty setting.

Expert is a good difficulty if you're not cheesing your way through the game with excessive enchanting and smithing.

On legendary....


Physical attacks.....at high levels (50+) the game will be sending 90% top level foes....eg Deathlords and more than the usual numbers you get at lower levels. You can easily get over run and mobbed by tough to kill foes.....so you might just be needing that legendary smithed armour to be able to survive after all eh!


Magical attacks.....legendary will TRIPPLE the normal (Adept) kill power of a mage's thunderbolt and Dragonbreath etc, on you! Your super armour provides zero magical protection.....so you might just need those enchantments and potions eh! It will feel like this.....imagine playing on adept as normal.....but with every necromage and dragon killing you with three times stronger power.


But it is a rewarding challenge to STAY ALIVE on legendary....if you like rewarding challenges. Mods will add a lot to the experience....but I'm just talking vanilla here since that's the comparisson base line.


However, if you ask me what difficulty you SHOULD choose....it depends upon your build and preference. What you are meant to do is make a char build you like....then adjust the difficulty slider to find the sweet spot where YOU find it most enjoyable to play.


Some people like it tough, some people prefer to cruise through laying waste to all before them, some people reload a killed char repeatedly without a qualm, others hate reloading viewing it as their failing the poor char. Some go to the extreme of never reloading a char....they fight for all their worth to keep the char alive, but if they are killed thats the end of the char permanently (Dead is Dead).


The choice is yours

I'd say the first play through should be on default difficulty and vanilla. After that, season to taste in terms of both mods and difficulty slider.

For most players I'd agree but the OP is familiar with playing TES games on max difficulty and seems to want that, so I see no reason they shouldn't start with Legendary if they want. Skyrim's Legendary is not as harsh as prior games with the slider maxed.

Legendary requires a hybrid approach; that would be the only caveat. It's virtually impossible to play Skyrim at Legendary as a "pure" archetype, like a no-enchanting/no-alchemy warrior, or an unarmored mage.

Only if you combine legendary with DiD. Even then you can make it quite a while if you are careful. Especially if you aren't further limiting yourself to a subset of skills. A mage for instance that combines all schools of magic and plays cautiously can survive quite a while as can a warrior who isn't afraid to use found potions and found enchantments. One tiny slip or some bad luck could mean a reload, yes, but the OP didn't say anything about playing DiD.


Edit: the OP also said he played Morrowind on max difficulty which is something like .2x/5x damage as compared to Skyrim's .25x/3x on legendary.

I think which difficulty is subjective... Depends on what you want... Hard.. or tedious. As was Said, Legendary, your getting nowhere fast unless you play a hybrid character and even then, you have to grind your way to a marginal safe point....after that marginal place...you just might as well play in god mod. Sorry guy's, I want to be able to stand toe to toe with a sprigan at level 10...where we each have an equal change at dying....not a sure thing unless my character put's her tail between her leg's and runs.

Depending on the type of character and the challenge you want... Expert or Master are enough... I'd play for at least the 1st 10 or so level's...to get used to the controls if nothing else, at Default ( adept) .. this let's you see how thing's work and how they differ from Morrowind/ Oblivion and other TES games...

JMO... btw, I like my combat challenging, but I don't want to spend 3 hr's fighting the same dragon cause I had to duck and recover.

I'll grant all of that, but when I say "virtually impossible" i mean to say that you will get into situations where you cannot reasonably expect to win no matter how many times you reload and try again. The only option in those cases is "run away." (And try that in a place like Sightless Pit. )

I find that Expert difficulty feels right for me if I do not invest heavily in crafting skills. If I do pick a crafting skill, I start on Master and switch to Legendary once I feel the time is right. On builds that rely heavily on Destruction magic, I feel no shame to admit that I play on Adept. It's no secret that Destruction as a main damage source scales poorly in the later levels so the lower difficulty option is required for me.

As stated th default difficulty is a good place to start, right in the middle. Then you can always adjust it as you see fit.

Ditto.

Is Skywind ready? I'm waiting for an updated version of the original morrowind, but till now there's nothing. I really cannot play the original, I've tried many times but failed badly. Too boring, and those haunting flying creatures...