Let's face it, after level 50 the perks and level-ups start going very slow. I have a 60 level orc with 200 hours in. I have enchanting and smithing perks and they are at 100, alchemy almost there.
I played the heavy armor/war axe/shield character for the most part. And the latter two skills are at 100 with several perks as well.

I realized that I wasn't going to keep improving, but I have tons of quests and questlines left. Instead of standing pat or uselessly spamming , I decided to re-imagine my character. I switched to an archer/light armor/pickpocket. Because I can enchant and smith powerful resistances, the game is hard again (meaning, I die in some pitched battles) but not impossible. I can keep my shield and one hand, but since light armor is so low I level again with regularity. The fact that I can't be a tank anymore has forced me to be more cautious and use sneak/archery while surveying a battlefield. Restoration spells are needed again so that levels. I pickpocket in towns when I do my regular shopping. Light Armor presents a dramatic, new benefit because of what it does to stamina/sprint. It doesn't matter that the enemies don't continue to improve because they are difficult again.

I don't think it would be possible to do a 'second' life for my character after hitting level 50 if not for double enchantments/legendary smithing. I have no wish to hit the level 82 hard cap, I just wanted to keep playing and improving. Thoughts?

Glad you could reinvent yourself without having to start over, but level 50 is the cap the game was designed for. If you don't like your character @ 50, it's your own fault for screwing him up.

I do like my character, just fine. That doesn't have anything to do with it. Basically, my premise is that the big '3' skills allow you to re-roll (in a sense) while still keeping all of your early-game progress in other trees. Not because I don't like my tank character, heck if the mission calls for it, I can load up my heavy armor I stored. But I don't like being stifled on perks and levels just because I maxed them out before I got super serious about quests.

I prefer starting over as opposed to re-intenting my character.

I have made one rule for myself after screwing up my first character; I only put perks in one crafter skill per character. My warriors add Smith perks, my rogues Alchemy perks and my mages Enchantment perks. I have found that doing this keeps my character nearly perfectly in balance with the game and I've had more fun than every before. PLUS, it lets me play different character instead of trying to do everything with one guy. So I got my Nord warrior, my Khajiit rogue and my Breton mage and loving it. None of them have gotten to 40th level yet, but I really don't see the need to level them much more anyway.

Oh, no worries - I will play an entirely new character down the road after I finish and give it a rest. I'm not trying to do everything (I don't think I'll ever be mistaken for a mage or assassin...heh). But I didn't want to be penalized for being leisurely about questing.

This just seemed a tad more natural than spamming a muffle spell or something.

Yeah, making your mana cost zero for certain schools opens up the road to play as a mage as well. I'm not a big fan of having to play a different character within a character to see progress, but I suppose that's how Elder Scrolls games have been.

the big 3? i have yet to smith or enchant, and as of yet i haven't use a perk in alchemy and my highest alchemy is ~50ish (i have four different characters).
i prefer to use perks that improve my game play, meaning more combat related perks.
imo its a waste of perks to put them into crafting trees or 'non-combat' related trees, especially early into game. but that's just me.

I should also mention I'm not bothering with max/min loops on smithing/enchantments/alchemy. Just dealing with legit perks/abilities.

Maybe around end-game I'll try that.

i don't recall the man saying he didn't like his character. just through of a way to level up after maxing his core skills. nice try at being a [censored] though zombra.

Speaking of Alchemy, what is the best way of leveling said skill, folks? Bread and Cheese just doesn't cut it anymore.

I am debating doing this as well. My character is Lvl 42 and I really enjoy the shield/heavy/sword combination for most mission types but I am shying away from the DB and Thieves Guild because they don't seem to fit my characters style. I could spend a lot of time creating useful light dragon armors with just the right enchants to help with those quests... or I could make a new character after this one is 50 and not use smith/enchant but use completely different skills instead.

Smithing/enchant definitely open up a lot of possibilities in the late game, but if you're looking for a whole new experience I would just re-roll a new character.

walk everywhere and pick every plant you pass, next time your by an alchemy table make every potion you can. sell the ones you wont use.

Yeah you kinda gotta know what your gonna do by level 5

Cheers

That's awesome! I know a lot of people are asking why you're not rerolling, but I know lots of people invest heavily in one RP and want to keep that story going.

Hope you keep having fun with it

The amount of experience you get toward the next level is dependent on the "price" of the effect. Potions with multiple effects give more, and things like paralysis poisons and invisibility potions give a good deal. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Alchemy has some relatively commonplace materials that produce higher priced potions.