Personally, I don't think the solution is to gimp the PC for the entire game by doing crap like not increasing health. There are times when the PC should be a godling. 1. If you've got power armor and a big gun, you should be trouncing everyone in all but the most difficult areas. That's the entire point of getting them.
2. The solution lies in improving AI and combat. Fix the NPCs so they can use stimpacks and other chems. There are mods that allow them to do that. There's no reason it can't be in the base game. Improve their reactions. Let them use cover. And whatever other changes you can think of that would make them harder to fight. Then you need to improve combat, itself. Up the damage. Make it more fast paced and dynamic. Explosives need to be much more lethal with a wider damage radius. General weapon damage also needs to be increased to make armor more relevant.
3. I've got my game tweaked to the point that I almost have to have power armor just to survive. Sure, I kill a lot of enemies in one or two shots, but they can do that to me, too. I almost wet myself every time I see an enemy armed with a grenade rifle. They become my first targets because there's a good chance I won't survive one shot. And despite the increases to damage in my game, if I want to take on deathclaws or enemies in power armor, I still need a big gun. It's made my game a lot more interesting. Even with mods to make my character stronger, I still have to be careful or I'll get torn to pieces.
4. That is the direction they need to go. Not gimping the PC.
1. Yeah, if you have power armor and a big gun, health should not be equated into it, it's the gear that should.
2.That should be improved as well, but them using tactics won't matter if the player doesn't have to, if the player becomes a demi-god then why would (s)he use cover? (s)he'd just run up and kill them.
3. Well I wouldn't want realistic damage, that should be reserved for Realism Mode.
4. Improving AI won't solve anything if the PC doesn't have to use tactics him/herself as (s)he becomes too powerful. And realistic damage is not something I'm in favor for and a lot of others feel the same, that should be it's own gameplay mode. So this direction won't solve anything. The PC will still continuosly(?) get more and more health and become above everyone else, adding in that (s)he can use power armor, unique weapons, perks, VATS and the intelligence of the human brain makes him/her too powerful.
So improving the AI would be an improvement to the game but it wouldn't solve this balance issue.
Adding a Realism Mode is great for those that want it but for the others the balance will still svck.
Then what can be done to balance it out? Neither of these two are a solution either.
The player has to be gimped cause as it currently stands it's ridiculous how powerful we become.
(This isn't WoW or some other fantasy game where we're meant to defy all logic and become a demi-god, it's a roleplaying game where we play as an ordinary human.)
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Allowing the enemies to use stimpaks and drugs would even it out slightly, but I doubt a raider can go into town, buy 10 stimpaks then in the firefight stop the time by taking up the inventory screen and using them to full health.
And giving the NPC's perks is something I'm all for but they still don't get to use the armor or weapons we do or have the same amount of health or be able to use VATS and other tactics like Sneak Attack Criticals.
A big point of this is to make Endurance worth a damn, so that having 5 is very different from 7 in END, this would also increase Buffouts potency.
I mean, what's the point of having a good END if you don't get anything worthwhile for it?
Some poison resistance? Big whoop, not a lot of dangerous enemies with poison.
Some radiation resistance? Big whoop, Radaways have become so cheap and common that radiation is a minor inconvenience especially since the effects of being irradiated are nothing to actually worry about.
And then some extra health to the already huge supply of health we're given.
My point with that suggestion is along with my SPECIAL suggestion; to make Endurance an important stat alongside the others, to make each stat important to put points into.
If it isn't important then why even bother worrying about if 5 is gonna be enough.
SPECIAL should matter more, each stat should make you think before finalizing your character.
If END isn't changed then it will still remain a crap stat.
I thought about maybe making it effect health gain per level, but that would require a whole lot more playtesting to make sure it works and isn't too much of a necessity that it needs to be 8 if you want to survive the latter third of the game.
So if this isn't a good idea then what should be done to make SP
ECIAL important?
And it's meant to really define your character, if you have 3 in Endurance that should mean that you are a weakling, no matter what level you are at you cannot change what you are, your END is 3, you can't take damage for crap.
It's importance becomes null when you just need to level 20 times and then not worry about it.
Health per level devalues the END stat.
This whole thing was done differently in Fallout1/2 due to the turn-based system.
The health per level worked there, and having a low END would make you suffer while a high END would really benefit you while an avarage END will make you struggle but you'll still be able to handle most things with the right gear.
To make it even more obvious: I'm on the side of the coin that wants SPECIAL to really matter like it did in the old games by any means necessary.
I'd also have Perception have a serious impact on how well you can aim a gun too.
And no +stat things, no implants, no bobbleheads, no perks like Gain Stat or Intense Training.
Your character is what (s)he is, there shouldn't be a way to [censored] around it, the choices you've made should stick with you, not just be fixable through a couple of perks and an implant or two.