So about this whole "efficient leveling" thing. Is it basically taking skills that you are not going to use (except to level a certain attribute needed) that benefits your actual usage. Example: Having blunt as a major skill for the strength attribute when you actually use blade for the most part.
This is part of it, but it's trickier than that. I'm a newbie who has been struggling through understanding this efficient leveling thing. I'll try to break it down...
Let's say you decide that the three attributes you want to concentrate on initially are Strength, Endurance and Agility. You want to make sure you get 10 skill upgrades in each of these categories WITHOUT going over 10 skill upgrades and WITHOUT adding skills upgrades to any other skills outside of those three categories. You also have to get 10 total skill upgrades in any or all of your Major Skills. This triggers the leveling. Any skill upgrades you get over the 10 in each category will be wasted in terms of getting your +5/+5/+5 attribute bonuses on your next level.
IDEAL LEVEL UPStrength- Blade
- Blunt (major) - 10 increases
- H2H
Endurance- Armorer - 3 increases
- Block - 4 increases
- Heavy Armor - 3 increases
Speed- Athletics
- Acrobatics
- Light Armor
Agility- Security - 2 increases
- Sneak - 8 increases
- Marksman
Personality- Mercantile
- Speechcraft (major)
- Illusion (major)
Intelligence- Alchemy
- Conjuration (major)
- Mysticism (major)
Willpower- Alteration (major)
- Destruction (major)
- Restoration
In the above example you have exactly 10 increases in Strength, Endurance and Agility. Also you have 10 increases in a Major skill ie. Blunt. You didn't waste a single skill point and you will get the +5 bonus in the three skills you selected.
MORE REALISTIC LEVEL UPStrength- Blade - 4 increases
- Blunt (major) - 5 increases
- H2H - 1 increase (blocking without a weapon in hand will increase H2H)
Endurance- Armorer - 3 increases
- Block - 4 increases
- Heavy Armor - 5 increases
Speed- Athletics - 9 increases
- Acrobatics - 2 increases
- Light Armor
Agility- Security - 2 increases
- Sneak - 12 increases
- Marksman - 7 increases
Personality- Mercantile - 4 increases
- Speechcraft (major)
- Illusion (major)
Intelligence- Alchemy
- Conjuration (major)
- Mysticism (major)
Willpower- Alteration (major)
- Destruction (major) - 5 increases
- Restoration - 7 increases
In this example you will still get your +5 to Strength/Endurance/Agility, because you have at least 10 total skill increases in each of those categories. You also have triggered your level up by getting 10 total points in major skills (ie. 5 in Blunt and 5 in Destruction.) This example isn't nearly as efficient as the first example however. You Used your Restoration for healing, you increased your Athletics and Acrobatics (almost impossible not to.) You also sold stuff (ie Mercantile) and you had more than 10 total skill increases in both the Agility and Endurance categories. Finally, you had a difficult time getting 10 total major skills to level up, so you said f*@k it, and launched Flares at giant rats and wolves just to level up before some of your other skills grew out of control.
You shouldn't worry too much about this scenario however. As long as you try to level up before your skills get much past 10 in each category you want to attribute points to, you will be able to level all your attributes to max.
I hope this helps. If there are any veterans here that see anything wrong with my examples PLEASE correct me. Like I said, I'm a newbie trying to learn all this myself.