This thread was inspires by the recent post of how we have to rebalance the game for Bethesda!

I must be really bad at this game or just not intelligent enough to use whats given to me properly because with my first build I may have slightly over leveled and as a result, the following wil explain. My intentions for my first build were not specialized at all! I wanted to optimize perks for a broad range of skills and as such developed a Stealth Battle Mage Grinder! My numbers here are not exact but are pretty close and will serve to get my point across! My toon: Dunmer level 30 - Dest 50 + Rest 50+ Conj. 40+ 1h 60 + Sneak 60 + Archery 60+ Enchanting 30+ Smithing 30+ Speech 50 + Lockpicking 50+ L Armour 50+ and H. Armour 30+. Most of my skills have been increased a bit but not significantly to make a huge impact. I did not grind any skill just went with the flow of the game, enchanted when I felt like it and smithed when I wanted to and made potions whenever I felt like it. The point I'm trying to make is how challenging the game is for this toon build. I can sneak bow one shot a lot of random bandits and critters and I gain a lot of satisfaction from this because I know that if I enter the wrong dungeon I will struggle to get through it. Just the other day came across some stragglers asking for assistance overtaking there fort that has been over run by some bandits! Okay, fair enough I'll make short work of them! i proceed to clear the outside of the fort with my bow and magic which was more challenging than I expected but I got it done! Then I realized that my marker was directing my to some back door! I was not expecting what was waiting for me inside! A mixture of bandits/mages that traveled in packs! I proceeded through 2/3 of the dungeon with moderate challenges! But than I came upon the Bandit chief and his posy! One on one I would have made short work of them but five at a time, trying to dodge ice spikes and warhammers and enchanted axes was no picnic! The hardest thing I've yet to encounter in the entire game! It was frustrating to say the least! I used all available means to overcome this horde and since then it seems such challenging encounters are becoming more frequent!

How is it that by playing how I want to, doing whatever I want has gotten me to the point where high level encounters are tedious struggles! Is that the idea of this game because I'm at the point where challenging and not enjoyable are overlapping slowly! I guess this is the imbalance that I've been reading about? Would this not happen to anyone that is new to the series and a moderate RPG'er?

But on the other hand if people are displeased with the difficulty of this game, try a build like this its sure to add some excitement!

I love this game don't get me wrong! I look forward to every session and I prefer the positive aspects of Skyrim! Hopefully people can look at this post in a positive light as well!

Oh ya I've been playing that toon on adept! Go figure

In that kind of situation (being overwhelmed) you'd want to try and group them all up by getting into a corner, then hit them with the Ice Form shout. After that you should be able to take one or two of the mages/archers out while the others are frozen, making things a lot more manageable.

In situations like that I try to pick where I fight. Back into a narrow tunnel and only one or two can come at you at once. And like the other guy said..if you have the ice form shout, its perfect. Unrelenting force can also be handy sometimes to just stagger back the other opponents while u focus on one guy at the time(first work only), or just bast them across the room(all three words).

I'm finding some places very challenging but when I prevail it feels really good. I think I know which dungeon you're talking about and that place was swarming with bandits. I ended up fighting at first but then I just ran for my life with a healing spell in both hands until I reached the objective and opened the gate. I'm sure that place was meant for when my character was stronger but I think it'll respawn and I can go back. I'm wondering now how it would play on the easy setting? I'll have to test that some day. I'm ok with the leveling. Yes, it's difficult but it shouldn't be easy; there's already been posts about people being bored. I'm surely not bored.

Added: I've also just gotten familiar with the Rune spells and I think those would have helped a lot in that dungeon. I'm looking forward to trying new tactics in the next game.

:tes:

Some places are really tough. WIth my mage there was all these giant bugs in the basemant of this lighthouse. To kill them I just summoned a flame anarch(sp) over and over again on the ledge.

:D

I had a similar problem. Only lvl 13-14 atm though. Ran into a cave full of Falmer and straight up massacred the freaky little bastards.. Then they sent 3 centipede things after me that keep blinding me with acid and then one shotting me. Spent over an hour struggling until I finally killed and then fled from the remaining 2 (that both had near full health while I had pretty much exhausted my resources fighting the 1st) like a whipped cur.

Try using spells like frnzy for groups of bandits though. Calm and its srtonger variations are also very useful.

Ya definitely not bored! I feel as though if i raised my difficultly I wouldn't stand a chance! It funny that sometimes I find myself doing little tasks around the cities, anxiety stricken just to put off going to do a quest i know will take me two hrs to grind through! Though once finished it is very rewarding!

This is an issue with the way you level up. Either by intention or just by "going with the flow" you might end up leveling up a bunch of times through non-combat skills, say pickpocket or speech. But leveling up means the enemies in the game level up (thanks to level-scaling). So you find yourself with low combat skills and a lack of combat perks facing a bunch of tough enemies. You can't pickpocket a dragon to death, so you're kinda screwed at that point and often this happens just through playing the game and having fun, reading books and whatnot. I mean when someone uses an exploit to "power level" pickpocket or something and they get into this situation you can sorta blame them, but if not it does kind of svck.

That said, enemies level-scale when you enter their cell (I'm assuming), so if you find them too hard just leave and come back later when you're a higher level. They should still be there of the same level when you first encountered them, making for an easier fight.

Yeah, I'm with you. I started with a generalist and had to restart around level 23 because I was tired of getting crushed by groups. I'm doing much better with the new guy, but still finding it plenty challenging on normal difficulty. I found it really useful to focus in the early game on just a few combat skills (one handed, destruction, alteration, restoration) and avoid using other skills entirely so I wouldn't level before I was ready. Now that I'm back around level 25 and wasting guys more easily, I'm finally getting back into smithing and enchanting (less because I need the bonuses, more because I find them fun side distractions). I don't specialize in conjuration, but I find it really useful to be able to summon an atronach or two for crowded battles.

Well, you can lure them into traps if there are any. Often in such situations there is flamable liquid on the ground (or cogs hanging from the roof), you could lure them into it and then set it on fire.
As for general improvement to get that character playable again, you want to either get Destruction, Conjuration (Illusion to if you had it) much higher or abandom them, in difference to Melee skills they become useless if not increased a lot.
Also you should try to use either Heavy or Light Armor, not both, and get perks in them, probably light since you seem to sneak a bit and have it higher.
You can change difficulty during fights if some are unplayable to you, it will have instantanious effects on the outcome.

Ya you pretty much have it spot on! Not intentionally just out of excitement. I wanted everything and didn't even think that playing a few characters was an option (even tho I played a bunch in Obliv's). My bow seems to be my strongest asset so I've been focusing on that and sneak a bit more! I realized what I had done wrong around level 23 so after that I began specializing more thoroughly. Overall the toon is pretty powerful but still encounter really challenging scenarios! No biggy! I know there's a lot of strategy to be used when it comes to battles but for example I do not feel achievement if I have to use to many potions and I have a hard time abandoning the dungeon and coming back later. I've only done it once and thats because there was absolutely no chance of success!

I started a new char. Mage keeping it as specialized as possible Conj. Rest Dest. Alt. and Ench. Ive only resorted to using a bow and blade a couple of times near the start but Lvl 13 and so far so good! hope that the new patch fixes dest. so that i can keep this going or ill just start working the bow once dest. is negated. Hopefully the patch doesnt require for a new character to be created in order for the changes to be implemented! Either way I have a plan this time around! Luckily on my first go around I didn't do anything significant in terms of questlines just f'd around mostly!