This is why I will never play on Master. And if I did, I'd turn the game back to Adept as soon as I became a werewolf and then change it back after I was done.

sprint attack dodge sprint attack. that or die

Until Dawnguard, I think werewolf gameplay is only going to be enjoyable at very low levels (perhaps unless you change the difficulty to Novice every time you transform).

Unless something changed, since the last time I played a werewolf back in November or December, I think the beast form does not become more powerful as you increase in level.

I think you're right. I do not believe it levels with you. And I really don't think that that Dawnguard will do a whole lot for werewolves on Master difficulty. I could be wrong but I think it will pretty much bring them up to par with where they are right now, which is underpowered. I almost wish there were different difficulty settings in the game for different play types. That way we could change the difficulty while being a werewolf without having to go into the menu every time to do so. I have the same concerns with being a Vampire Lord. We don't know a whole lot about it right now but I'm interested to see how it plays on higher levels.

The point of these (Vampire Lords and werewolves) is to give us an advantage, not make us weaker. However, I realize that they have to be used in the right circumstances.

That does not sound like much fun to me.

I'm a level 27 werewolf right now on master difficulty, and in my opinion its pretty fun. I know its weird that my character is stronger in normal form, but for me the werewolf comes in real handy when faces one or maybe two characters. Its fun because it feels like a new take on werewolf where you have to be fast and avoid blows. I just try and knock people down and then claw them as much as possible. I guess as you level up though they might become more and more vulnerable but I haven't got that far. The best thing to do though is give it a try, you dont wanna miss out on what could be a lot of fun...

I prefer playing on adept.

I play on master and some of the fights can get a tad boring if you
don't spice them up a bit. Especially when you fight against the
elder dragons or draught deathlords since they can handle a lot of
damage. Would be much cooler if there was a nightmare mode where you
would die from one of two shots without the need of underessing anything
or using bad weapons to make up for the easy fight system (incredibly bad, bad AI)

The "best" way to play is whatever is fun for you. I play on the default, and it's fun.

Master difficult is stupid hard.

You have to have the best of the best gear to even have a chance at survival, which is very slim considering how hard everything hits. I could barely fight a dragon on master, and I was using a shield with full steel plate armor at level 23, blocking was decent, one hand was high, and heavy armor was also decent. Restoration had to be used every time the dragon took flight.

Also, you will be forced to go through your gear quickly and you won't be able to enjoy wearing whatever armor or using whatever weapon because you will always have to go to the next tier.

Maybe that last one is just me.

Still, I find master difficulty incredibly difficult. Maybe I'm doing the wrong thing? I don't know, I've tried everything. What could I be doing wrong?

i play on the default difficulty i have nothing to prove to anyone and would rather play the game on the difficulty its meant to be played on.

I've come to find that what difficulty is "best" from a perspective of balancing difficulty and fun largely depends on the type of character you're playing.

For example, playing a pure mage on Master is pretty much straight up suicide. At no point will your damage output give you the "glass cannon" effect you ought to get. Instead you'd just be glass.

By the same token, if you have a thorough understanding of being an Assassin using a bow, daggers, and alchemy, you're pretty much short changing yourself by not playing on Master, and would have to play on expert at the bare MINIMUM.

Then there are your melee classes... It's been a tough call for mine. Feels like I need something in between Expert and Master difficulties.

With that said, it also depends on what rules you play by. I don't use any of the obviously overpowered gimmicks involving enchanting/alchemy and such, seeing as I don't particularly see the point in playing a completely broken game. If you're into using every exploit you can find, well, even Master would probably turn into novice from what I can tell.

Opinion: Disagree

For a number of reasons but the most simple one is this: I dont find dying fun and i barely enjoy min-maxing above...say...being forced to eat tofu for every meal.
If I die more than once an hour, im not having fun. Unless the death itself was particularly spectacular.

This.

The only time I play on master is with my Altmer archmage. He has Destruction, Conjuration, Illusion and Restoration all at 100 and only has perks in them, and boy is he overpowered. It's too bad he's a good guy, though; I'd really enjoy making him a vampire lord.


Nope

While I agree with the notion that werewolves ought get a perk tree to balance them with vampire lords (and I'm excited for it, too!), they were powerful enough in vanilla. People tend to have a hard time playing them, but as far as I'm concerned, if I can manage to excel at high levels as a werewolf, anyone can--an inability to simply means it's not suiting your playstyle.

Werewolves are all about mobility and DPS. I've had the most success as a werewolf as a typical Khajiit rogue: Light Armor, Sneak, and dual wielding 1H weapons. In my humanoid form, I developed effective combat tactics that helped me stay alive and well on the battlefield as well as keep me potent, since I was lightly armed and armored. Werewolves are similar, having a pair of claws that strike very fast (and unlike humanoids, werewolves don't suffer a speed penalty with the left claw and in fact strike fastest by alternating claw swipes), an extra 100 health and stamina, incredible stamina regeneration, and blinding speed--werewolves can run faster than humanoids can sprint and can sprint faster than horses.

Thanks to their similarities, my rogue tactics transitioned extremely well into werewolf play. I knew how to dodge many enemies and could predict almost all enemy attacks properly, from animals to giants to trolls to mages and even different weapon styles of NPCs. The boost to speed was an incredible boon, as well. On top of that, werewolves can launch everything right up to and including giants like rag dolls with their power attacks and sprinting attacks, and can stun mammoths and dragons with those same attacks. And all of that is not even including the totem powers (werewolf "shouts," if you will).

That's just it in brief, but I'll gladly explain my werewolf tactics in detail to anyone who wants or needs to know how to effectively utilize the beast form. Contrary to popular belief, it's perfectly viable even at higher levels (40+) and on master.

I tried Master once. I hated it. I don't have the reflexes for that and it isn't how I want to play the game. If I want crazy hard, I'd like it to make sense for the game to me. I can play the original version of Devil May Cry 3 with no issues despite everyone saying it's so hard it's unplayable. I like difficult games, but TES games feel more fun on the easier settings.

I tend to enjoy master difficulty, and I don't min-max my characters. It makes the game more challenging for me personally.

AI doesn't change. so no, not really.

Werewolf is the master of Crowd Control. You can plow through and pin entire legions of soldiers. Just watch out for expert archers.

The hardest Master experience is a 2handed wielder who doesn't want to drink potions every battle. Your only real option here is to invest in a lot of stamina replenishing food, so you can bashlock more enemies.

If difficulty made enemy AI more challenging to get around, I'd probably be more enthusiastic about changing difficulty. But a statistical tweak across the board? That's pretty boring.

It's like OoT3D's Master Quest. I started it and was all... "That's it? Come on, the freaking ORIGINAL game had new enemy AI with it's second quest. This is boring..." For Skyrim, it seems to matter just how tactical and drawn out do you want the battles? And by tactical, what I really mean is "how much do you want to abuse cheap tactics?"

Saying you HAVE to play on master for an assassin... for what, exactly? You don't like one-shotting enemies? Which, may I remind you, is the entire point behind assassins? Kinda sounds like "Quickscoping" all over again, IMO.

Play at the level you're comfortable at. I'm just fine at adept. I play for fun, not for challenge. If I wanted that, I'd play Dark Souls.

Started on Master and never gone back since and yes i find it more fun too.

Opinions are opinions.

My opinion on this awesome post is an opinion.

And pointless comments are pointless. Mind actually adding to the conversation? This is a thread for opinions. Don't just make a non statement, give yours!

Not everybody find dying every 2 minutes fun

Jeez. I was merely stating my opinion on many of the opinions expressed in this thread. If I offended you than I am sorry. As an apologetic gift, I shall contribute a legitimate donation to your box of opinions:

I once changed the difficulty of my game to Master. After many deaths, I returned the difficulty to "Normal". My opinion of "Master Difficulty" is now very low.