Now, i know the vast majority if us here on the forums are excited about Skyrim, myself included. But i wanted to bring up one thing: Todd mentioned we will be fighting dragons numerous times throughout the whole game. Now, recently, while playing New Vegas, i was fighting the Deathclaws at the quarry. And, even at lv. 19, they were ABSURDLY difficult to kill. My fear is, perhaps the only one i have, is i hope they make battles with dragons fun, challengeing, and epic. Not a chore we'll come to dread. I'd prefer not having to load every five minutes when i get roasted alive. Thought?

I don't want them to make it too easy I want it to be a boss, but don't tip the scales to much, the description ' a cross between a Big Daddy and a chopper from Half-Life 2' sounds appealing something you can kill but not without considerable effort

they should make them hard from the start, thats why you need to make a choice of wether to avoid an enemie or to face him in battle.

Depends on whether Bethesda's Skyrim Dragons are more like Obsidian's New Vegas Deathclaws or Bethesda's Fallout 3 Deathclaws, seems to me. 'Cause I found New Vegas Deathclaws at least slightly threatening at all times, while once I hit level 10 on my first playthrough I laughed at Fallout 3's "Deathclaws."

Well in F:NV I used Stealth Boys to get past the deathclaws. Maybe you can use your initiative to avoid dragons in Skyrim as well.

Dragons are a bit paradoxical to me. Either they make them as strong as they should be no matter what your character's level is, then dragons would be as annoying as demonic cliffracers of doom. Or they make them weak if your character is weak, then they would be an immersion killer and a joke. I wonder how they solve this problem. Personally I have no idea except for making them rare encounters, which obviously is not the case.

There are supposed to be different types of dragons. Maybe one type will be more difficult than others.

I think that these encounters could get old after a couple of years of playing. Maybe there will be different levels of difficulty among them to mitigate this a little.

I believe it's been said there are several different types of dragons. Which I assume would have varying difficulty.

i think i also heard someone mention that you find enemies where you expect to find them and not in random spawns, so if you dont want to fight dragons anymore than you just avoid the areas where they spawn

I would like to see it be something along the lines of differing types start appearing as you get stronger.

Perhaps the first dragon you ever run into is Type A, and it's pretty hard till around level 8-10.

By then, You can kill a Type A dragon pretty easily, but you'll also start to see Type B dragons who are larger and use different shouts.

Repeat.

Ya but the dragons likely spawn in the same areas as the dungeons.

Kinda hard to do any 'venturin' if you're stuck in town hidin' from dragons.

If you look at the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEfXQ6-nrQs you'de see that the Nord in the game is actualy running away from the dragon, only to turn round and face it like a good little dovahkiin when he sees it's a dead end. I think this is exactly what we'll find ourselves doing in Skyrim, Todd said himself that he advices us to run when we see a dragon. Its important to remember just how tough dragons are going to be in this game! However, I think that the footage of the Nord fighting the dragon looks epicly fun and immersive as well as strategic! For example: implementing dragon shouts at the right moment, charging at the dragon, attack the dragon from different angles, attack whilst the dragon is doing an aerial sweep... and thats just what that one class with those weapons can do. If we add bows, magic, staffs, hammers, daggers, claymors, long swords/shortswords (so many more) into the equation we can have a different killing experience every time we face a dragon! AND as if Bethesda were'nt being kind enough we can now have dual weapons! I think that they have us covered when it comes to the fun and strategic aspect of combat. Bassicaly, as hard as the dragons are going to be, if we prepare ourselves properly we can have an awesome slaying experience!

I personally found the NV death claws really fun to fight because if you choose to fight them and you screwed up you died.

And that is exactly what I think how it will be. And it is what I fear most. What's so fearsome about a dragon invasion if all dragons are so weak that a level 1 idiot can defeat them (as long as the player is low level)? It makes dragons a joke, just like Kvatch in Oblivion was a joke if you went there with a low level character. Why even bother ending the invasion if every farmer boy can kill a dragon with his pitchfork? It's more like a cockroach invasion that way. Annoying, but not dangerous at all. And the whole leveling makes the world feel like the Truman Show.

Dragons should be mighty enemies. Period. No rookie adventurer should ever be able to defeat one of them, except for the rare occasions where he meets a baby dragon maybe (if there is such a thing as a 'baby dragon').

Considering that the maximum level in New Vegas is 30, I would say still being able to encounter threats you can't handle 11 levels below that is reasonable, and deathclaws are supposed to be high level enemies, so I wouldn't say not being able to defeat them at level 19 is a bad thing.

But that aside, I get the impression that Bethesda wants dragons to be enemies you can fight throughout the game, so I don't think they'll make them something you can only handle at high levels, rather, there will probably be dragons that are an appropriate challenge for characters of many level ranges, though regardless of what level you fight dragons at, they should be difficult, just not impossibly so, provided you're prepared for them.

I think that Bethesda will have fixed the majority of the leveling issues. At least they claim to have.

Lol when deathclaws meet my .50 anti material rifle with incendiary rounds, there is no more deathclaw

Considering Todd Howard advises us to run when encountering a dragon unless we are very prepared, I don't think killing a dragon is going to be a small feat.

Also I don't think it's going to be the way Hatcher thinks it going to be. As it's been said Dragons are going to be present from the very on set of the game, which means they don't really have any problems putting in creatures that we are no match for. It would be extremely weird if a dragon type wouldn't exist until you've leveled.

But with option one they are easier to defeat at higher levels. Why is that bad?

i dont get how we are actually going to engage the dragon in combat, i mean they look huge so are we just gonna be hacking away at its kneecaps, has todd or anyone at beth mentioned this?

watched the gameplay trailer?

If you think and plan your fights, and fight very well and hard, you should beat a dragon most of the time.
They should be really really challenging.

Still, you can always run, can't you? Run and hide. Dragons are tough.

Well IMO

A 20 foot tall fire breathing dragon should be able to kill a deathclaw as if stepping on an ant. Sooo, Dragons should be harder imo

Hard, yes. But I "fear" dragons will be the new "oblivion gates". Fun at first but and only when part of story progression but a chore and a bore when generic/spawned...

Well they have been said to be the bosses and we know they are unpredictable in their attacks, they could take off at any time and strafe you with flames and what not so I would say they are most likely a challenge and by the sound of it fun. I find anything fun that can scare me when it comes out of nowhere and attacks me ruthlessly and doesn't die like a punk. I think the very act of it knocking you off guard by being a surprise will make it difficult for some as I know a lot of people when they are shaken up and caught off guard they can't bring themselves back together fast enough to not be slaughtered.