This.

I'm playing with quite a mixed build. I'm 93 archery so I rely on sneaky shots to get some sneaky kills , then if I get ganged upon I resort to conjuration then destruction. It doesn't seem to work when I'm fighting hard foes though!

I wish it was like F3 where harder difficulties got more XP for kills. The only reason in Skyrim is increased challenge, which is always fun

It really comes down to how much challenge you want and why you're playing the game. I like playing on Master (which around level 15 is even becoming too easy) because then when I kill a boss character it was a really epic battle. I, as in ME PERSONALLY, feel more heroic for dungeon delving on Master. It feels like I constantly have to be aware of my surroundings and my health and how many health potions I have, whether or not I'm out of Magicka and if I have a way to restore it.

I feel challenged (or have for most of the time I've been playing my master difficulty character) and winning feels good. Then when I find a sword that absorbs 10 health, I feel like I just found the best item in the game, hahaha. Although my Dragon's Breath (Dwarven sword enchanted with Fire Damage) that I personally hand crafted annihilates undead. I keep going through burrows and I'm 3 hitting regular Draughr at like level 15 on Master Difficulty. There is one special boss though, I actually had to recharge my sword in the middle of battle (it was full when I started the battle) just to kill him. I ran out of magicka like five times from healing myself. Was out of magicka potions and health potions and the last three swings of mine were heart racing ones as he hit me and I hit him. I had a SLIVER of life left and defeated him and his minions, just barely.

That feeling, I wouldn't have had it on Expert, let alone Adept. That feeling is why I PERSONALLY play this game. My friend plays on the easiest difficulty because he works all day and at the end of the day he just wants to [censored] [censored] up without worrying about anything at all.

Also of note, some people even go behind playing on Master difficulty. Some people make, or download, mods that make monsters have even more health and do even more damage, mods that remove damage from your own weapons and armor rating from your own armor. Some people combine every mod that makes the game more difficult that they can find that mesh together because they want to be constantly sweating, heart pumping and feeling like at any moment a spider could fall from the ceiling catch them by surprise and kill them. I know a guy that does that, and if he dies, he deletes all his save for that character and starts a new character. Guy is crazy, but that's how he likes to play.


Play how you want man, it's what we all do.

I play on mastery bc it makes the combat a lot more fun. Plus I only put points in stamina so pretty much any creature kills me in one hit. Which means I have to hit every swing & block all their attacks perfectly while utilizing my environment & shouts to win. It's really not that hard, after level 10 or so it isn't all that bad just gotta adapt & learn quickly. I like it so I don't kill everything the first time I face it.

Once you get armor and spell res capped the game becomes incredibly easy, your not there yet but when you are you'll want to turn it up to master.

I dont find any challenge at all on adept so no fun for me at all. I guess it boils down to your gaming skill - I ve been playing game for years, coupled with min/maxing habit from my MMO time, games like TES is actually still relatively easy even on master level (well no if you are Destro-centric mage, that s still a hot debate).

on master, im forced to go into shadow with my rogue, whereas on adept, i can go toe-to-toe and destroy everything. that being said, master suit my class and my playstyle.

App is right diff for me. Just dont want to lose...

Didn't read your post so i'm responding to the title.

If you use Smithing and Enchanting, anything below Master is trivial.

You should probably read my post.

Smithing is 70, but I haven't really bothered with enchanting.

Everyone has the same reason: it's more challenging, and, for most people more challenge = more excitement as long as it doesn't become frustrating.

I don't think it has to do so much with how good you are at video games as how familiar you are with Elder Scrolls games. I'm betting a lot of the ES veterans play on Master. When you know the ins and outs of a title, it's pretty easy to master the strategy. I'm not particularly good at games, generally speaking (I get owned in Demon's Souls about 10x as much as Skyrim on Master) but I'm not having any difficulty with Skyrim, even with a 'gimped' character.

My point was that if you make your own gear and enchant it, playing on anything below Master is trivial. I can play the game on expert with my tv off. Srs. Master is the only difficulty that is even moderately challenging, and the only challenge comes from 'bosses'.

I don't really agree tbh. I played morrowind (albeit not very much), I destroyed oblivion and now I've spent over 90 hours on skyrim. I just feel these kind of games should be played casually, with the occasional hard boss/enemy fight. You are meant to feel like a badass in this game, and that isn't going to happen if you're getting destroyed by everything on master difficulty.

i start at novice and work up on different characters

Um...I really only have problems with the 'bosses', though, and some things like trolls. It's not really 'getting destroyed by everything'. I don't find it to be much harder than Adept. Then again, I don't play these games to feel like a badass so maybe there's a difference of perception there. I don't have any issue with being killed by a bandit if his timing is right and I'm off my game. That's just realistic to me.

Some people aren't happy unless they are dying several times in any given encounter. Finding a way to beat that critter that just killed you seven times is part of the fun.

Others don't like dying, and prefer a difficulty that makes death a possibility to add excitement, but something that can be avoided entirely with careful play.

Some people like to play the game, having their character employ 'realistic' tactics and strategies.

Some people like to game the play, using tactics that exploit weakness in the simulation (no matter how silly it would look if diplicted in a movie) to win any way they can.

I'm sure different play styles require a different level of difficulty. Someone who prefers their battles as realistic as possible and hopes to avoid death will probably need a diferent difficulty setting from the player that expects to die repeatedly and will employ any weakess exploiting tactics available to win his battles.