Talking difficulty settings here.
I've played this game since release on all the difficulty settings, and to be frank, I proffer to play on Adept or there about. To me, Masterful just doesn't really make the game harder. It just makes encounters take way to long.

Do you think Masterful would be more engaging if it spawned more monsters to attack you, rather then beefing up the HP of existing monsters or is it better how it is?

Personally, I think more monsters over a few tanks would be more engaging.

Masterful and legendary are great difficulty settings for Expert Skyrim players because they will already know how to play the game and how to survive the land of Skyrim

but sadly since the 1.9 patch these "challenged" difficulty settings are out the window because you become SO over powered as time goes on making the game less fun sadly

To be honest, I didn't find Masterful to be all that challenging. You just side step the attacks and hit from their off side. If you're quick enough you can kill them without being hit, on masterful all that changes is the time it takes.

Is this a problem anyone else has had?

I play usually on adept as well, not because i can't handle the harder difficulties but because I feel it is just handicapping my character rather than adding difficulty. I am one who would prefer an increase in enemies to make the game harder. I find going through a dungeon and picking off one enemy at a time to be just too darn easy.

Pinewatch and Forelhost are a good example of dungeons that get it right, instead on one enemy to pick off usually you can have three, four or more jump you. Now That is something I find more enjoyable and rewarding and a notch on the sword hilt for a character, to take on a more massed force and walk out alive. The higher difficulty settings don't give a feeling of satisfaction like that, they just turn into a chore.

and that is why the combat system isn't all that great on console the AI while they do offer the challenge they use the same tactics over and over again making it predictable after your 3rd or 5th playthrough

but as for PC there are mods that make the combat system a lot more enjoyable

There are combat mods that improve it for sure. But I am currently looking for something that beefs up the spawn rates as well. As the combat still isn't all that challenging, just more fluid. Which is a step in the right direction for sure!

Definitely just makes it tedious with higher levels. Not a fan of Beth's difficulty options in particular making the player do next to no damage at the same time having enemies one hit you. I've got the player doing full damage matched with the normal enemy difficulty boost and master feels much more fluid imo. Sure enemies can one hit you but you can dish it right back too.

Spawn rates wise go for DFB random encounters. Highly customisable and separate to vanilla's encounters. One of the best encounter mods out there imo.

What they needed was a hardcoe level.

Other than that the level of hardness were about right. The hardcoe level would be totally different and much more challenging for those that are able to compete at that level.

My opinion on difficulty changes with build.

Master is my preferred, since NPCs don't have access to Enhancing gear for damage, smithing or decent armor, Master is actually a "Level" playing field for Melee/Ranged.

Where the problem comes in is Magic. Destruction is nearly worthless on Master/Legendary, and while Conjuration/Illusion remain insanely strong (Probably even much stronger because you're putting hyper-strong Enemies in your control) destruction tends to be the "Bread and Butter" of magic play. Master/Legendary makes it worthless without hyper-tedious micro-management. What's more, is Enemy Mages get insane boosts to their damage, so Higher Difficulty Mages are way stronger compared to their melee counterparts.

The Difficulty that's "Most Balanced" Overall is probably expert.

TL:DR (It's not that long!)

Higher Difficulties play Class Favoritism. Sneak-Conjurer-Shield builds all are amazing on Master/Legendary. Two-Hand-Destruction are almost unusable.

Welcome to Elder Scrolls.

This is nothing new.

If spawn rates scaled with your level, rather than enemy HP. Your level and power would be come moot. Getting swamped by 10-15 troll's would be a ghastly challenge...

Complete agreement.

It wouldn't work on current gen consoles. So I can completely understand why it is, the way it is. Still svcks though!

Hopefully they can implement stuff like this and large scale battles on the Next Gen consoles.

Either that, or design the game with PC's in mind and downscale. So that the bigger events are still possible for those on PC.

Yes, more enemies scale difficulty exponential. Downside is that this should might be hard to code, not for random encounters but many other settings it would be hard to add extra enemies.

Had been smartest to combine difficulty with level scaling. At higher difficulty you face higher level enemies and higher level groups consist of more enemies.

Master for me is then I have made an overpowered character. Prefer to just use low health.

Have you seen Skyrim Redone (SkyRe)? Its really made combat a lot more difficult for me! The AI seems smarter, there's more of them and enemies dont level with you - so you have to be somewhat stronger before taking on Bandit Camps!

I would link it, but I'm on my phone, not my PC

I am currently using SkyRE. It is allot better than Vanilla. Still somewhat lacking IMO though.

they could of had a hardcoe mod like new vegas, where you need water, sleep, food and or other necessities.

Yes. Difficulty levels only change the numbers, nothing else.

It does make you sound badass tho

You do know you don't actually have to become op the power of your character is set by you.

That is true if you're wanting to play a normal 'person' in game. Problem is in playing an LDB and knowing how bad of a mama jama he is I want to play him that way. The DohVahKiin is a figure out of prophecy and will be legend. I can't play him any other way. Should I create a character who is not LDB that is certainly a possibility.

Being the LDB doesn't necessary mean he/she should smith to legendry /enchant gear /be an expert alchemist and a super duper warrior who also wields magic. It just means they have an inbuilt ability shout without training and have been sent forth to use that ability against Alduin.

FWIW, SkyRE with Duel combat enhanced makes the game allot more engaging.

I think the best way to get the balance and difficulty you prefer in Skyrim is to make it for yourself.

It's not just limited to difficulty setting. You can use a combination of skill builds, enchantments, perks and potions (or the omission of using these) to ensure combat is the way you prefer it.

Myself, to become a vampire necromage I level the non-combat skill restoration to seventy as soon as I leave Helgen. Enemies will far outlevel me in combat skills because of it.

This, together with the non-regenerating stats of a vampire in daylight, not using damage increasing perks, potions or enchantments and because I never put more then five level-ups in health and stamina respectively means that each combat encounter is a potentially lethal challenge until well in my level 40's and that until endgame there exist enemies that are either best avoided altogether or taken out by subterfuge, such as high level Draugr and high level dragons.

It's all about what is comfortable for the individual player and if you know the mechanics of Skyrim moderately well it's possible to create characters ranging from demi-gods to those that couldn't punch themselves out of a wet paper bag.