I'm sorry, but I don't believe you.

I am 60 hours in, and only level 19. I end up playing 12 hours a day, and I am nowhere near burned out. I've not yet left Whiterun as a hub yet. I spend most of my time exploring and wandering the mountain paths, taking far too many screenshots, and I walk a lot, instead of run. The walking animations in this game are just amazing, the way they have real time musculature animated now makes it look like your avatar is a living model of awesome, watching him lean into hills and staircases and boulders entertains me for hours.

well said

Well 52h and almost lvl 40 , still hasn't mastered a branch and don't worry about the difficulty of the game cause it looks like some quests are adjusted to your lvl so enemies can still slaughter u with.... a ****ing crit.
I don't really feel like burning the game just doing all kind of quests, exploring dongeons even I'm not told to.
The game is still not that easy there are dragons that u just can't kill alone (one fire breath lowered my 340 hp to 25 , with 50% magic resist) , managed to kill it with an undying NPC =) !

About the stones.... I found 2 ,serpent and nightstone , still wondering where the hell are the others !!!?

I just went and checked in case I'd got it wrong. Level 37, Expert Difficulty, 41h 26m played. I've no idea where the USB for my phone is, but if I find it I'll get a picture for you.

I am 55 hours in and at level 22 right now. I have barely used the Fast Travel feature (only use it to warp home to unload a bunch of stuff I've discovered, then warp back to where I was). Personally, I'm so drawn in by the game, I want to experience everything, see everything. It feels incredible to just run through the land, soaking in the sights as I go along. And of course, I get stuck with that epidemic that strikes so many blondes: "oh, something shiny!" lol... I've found some neat things because of caves and dungeons I've stumbled across. I've also gone and gotten myself killed several times by finding an area with an opponent in it that can still kick my butt! But that's part of the fun the game provides. I've never been so captivated by a world before, and even though my quest book is slap filled (yes I've done several Misc. and sidequests), and I have yet to even go see the Greybeards in the Main Quest line, I'm having an absolute blast! I usually switch between dual-casting to 1H weapons and 1H destruction spell, to even dual-wielding weapons. And I do a lot of sneaking and shooting with my bow and arrow. Haven't done much smithing yet.

My only fear at this point is "broken main quest syndrome". I've read a lot of people write about the contradiction that Bethesda offers here. They tell you to explore, explore, explore... play it how you want it at your own pace. And yet, so many people say that by doing that, it can "break" the main quest. That's my only fear. If it isn't a real fear, then I will go on, playing as I am, hoping to lose 250+ hours trying to do as much as humanly possible. I'm really looking forward to finishing up the Mage quest line, as well as the companions. I also cannot wait to do the Dark Brotherhood as well as the Thieves Guild. It's just incredible... as long as it can't get broken by playing how I want! :thumbsup:

I plan to explore absolutely every nook and cranny.
I'm going to find absolutely every little environmental jewel.
I'll re-travel nearly every route multiple times, because I know I've yet to see it all.
I hope to move so slowly, that I'll be able to pick up each expansion from the bargain "used" bin.
With any luck, I'll make this game last until version VI.
Just Like Oblivion...

IMO
This game is to be savored like good wine or great s.x



Thank you, again, Bethesda!

2 words for you

Smithing & Enchanting

Those 2 alone are worth like 20 levels. And people grinding these get super OP gear which allows them to blow through the rest of the game.

I'm 85 hours in and level 18

Ehh I never change the default so I am on Adept and I have gotten my ass whooped by mage v mage, bears, Draugr Scourge and overlords.... It svcks haha.

36. No idea how many hours. I ground out smithing so I could do something with all of the dragon pieces I had collected, and I muffle a lot while I'm running around town selling things.

Fast travelling makes you not level up so fast because you miss out on wildlife attacking you which raises your 1h/2h/light armor/heavy armor/destruction/blocking/restoration/a lot of skills.

70ish hours and level 32. Leveling has slowed down incredibly now since I hit the 30s, but that probably has something to do with the fact that I'm really only leveling my martial skills heh.

Well when you're forced to use all of the magic trees, you kind of level fast.

I'm playing on apprentice (I know) but I'm level 40 (I think, I need to lvl up) and I still find things challenging and I've died 5 or 6 times in combat. Ive put nearly 50 hours in, and I'm just amazed that there are still new places for me to go, I haven't even been to all the holds capitals yet, I know I haven't been to Morthal, and maybe one other. But it's certainly satisfying, as someone who goes back to Morrowind, to feel that lore spirit that Morrowind had and Shivering Isles nearly captured.

How could you not? I have two charecters who are in the lale twenties one mage and one warrior I fast travel maybe 50% of the time but level most from woundering around and killing stuff. I dont even have time to play that much...

I'm at about 39 hours and I just got to level 25. I fast travel and then sometimes I just simply walk around. I have not used horses yet. I think I'm about 25% complete if that much.

Level 37 at 63 hours. Yes I fast travel a lot. If there was levitation I wouldnt, but I personally do not fancy trotting around on my horse everywhere. Although if I do intend to go city to city, I try to use the carraige.

Honestly as a stealthy archer, leveling is quite easy. And once sneak is high up, you are just cutting throats everywhere, never mind archery. Thought the game was going to get too easy, untill an elder dragon swooped down onto me.

My only character is still at a low level, because I restarted her twice due to poor skill selection. Even then I never got past level 11, because I tend to play slowly and read everything I come across.

That said, I do level up Speech, Smithing, and Alchemy at the start, because I love crafting stuff. I then sell the results to buy more parts, while pocketing a small (at first) profit in the process, which lets me get a big bankroll early on that I can then use to equip myself as well as obtain a base of operations. While this means that I don't really use Illusion, Conjuration, Archery or Sneak (I always play Mystic Archers) early on, like I probably 'should' be, I tend to make up for it by using some of my trade profits to buy training from the appropriate NPCs once the trade skills are at a fairly high level.

The main reason I do all that is to get the Speech 50 skill that lets me sell anything to anyone, since I tend to pick up everything not nailed down; this results in my having more stuff than I can sell to any one vendor otherwise, so the ability to sell at will saves a lot of hassle which gives me more time to go out and collect more stuff/do more quests.

I'm 15 or 20 hours into my second character, and hes already close to 30. Every time I see a fort, cave, or whatever, I go in and explore. Though, I've missed a couple of places near Solitude (sp?) and I could of explored Dawnstar and Morthal, but I want to do a certain quest for a certain dagger.

If you're not wandering about too much that may be why. I've done very few quests (only one step in the MQ) but I levelled up a lot just by exploring new places (and dying a lot in the process!).
Seeing as I've only joined one guild and only completed a fraction of the MQ, I don't think I'm burning through the game. I also RP and will have multiple characters doing different stuff, so I'm not just powering through trying to do all the quests.

And I definitely don't fast travel. I don't see how that makes sense anyway - surely if you use the roads you're more likely to bump into stuff and therefore use various skills to level?

first run I got to lvl 24 in the first couple days. I became bored with the skills I was specializing in so I started over.

Been playing my second for a few days and its lvl 14, so it is how you play.

im 40 hours in and am lvl 21 last time i checked. i fast travel all the time and im playing on adept difficulty. it was hard at the start but if noticed it getting really easy since ive got my bow skill up. nothing wrong with fast travel IMO i literally don't have the time to waste walking from one side of the map to the other. you still have to walk to the place to fins it first. get enough walking done in MMOs anyway lol.

level 21 in about 25 hours of play, i dunno i use smithing fairly often, but my skill break down is like

one handed 71
smithing 61
heavy armor 54
block 39

i use various other skills like destruction and restoration

Also i don't know how you can stand to not use fast travel, re walking the same roads gets boring so quick

I dont fast travel, at least rarely, Only in Riften Main quest 50 hours in lvl 27, onl;y been to 2 cities, never joined either guild, . Game levels way too fast. I dont rush in RPG's if anything I am OCD regarding taking my time and exploring every corner. Its not the players the levelling is way too fast especially first 20 levels.