Platform: PC, Mods: SkyUi and a few other interface-only mods, Difficulty: Master

I wrapped up my first play through of Skyrim last week. I put in just a tad over 300 hours into a conjurer-destruction mage who wore only mage like gear (robes etc.) I played from March 2012 to March 2013 on that one character. While I don't post on these forums all that much I have been vocal over that year about my unhappiness that Bethesda has been very slow to fix quest bugs. With patch 1.9 bringing a healthy dose of fixes including quest bug fixes, I wanted to make a new character and start the journey over again.

This time I'm going with a melee character who will specialize in one-handed weapons and a shield and will also be competent using a bow for when ranged combat is necessary. I have about 20 hours in on this character and he is now level 30.

I am actually quite surprised that I feel like I'm enjoying this second play through more than the first. Especially considering I've played Skyrim quite a bit at this point. At first I thought this was because I was simply starting over. But at level 30 it can't just be about that. Thinking more, I think the play style I have adopted as a melee character simply requires me to engage more with the game. I'll explain.

With my conjurer, I had to work pretty hard to survive in the early game. I'll define the early game as hours 1 - 50. But by the mid game Hours 51 - 250 I could summon two Deadra Lords to do my killing. At that point, killing bad guys became a matter of conjuring my killing machines and sort of loitering around, occasionally re-spawning them if one died, and just waiting for them to kill the bad guys. It was a novelty at first, but in hindsight I think it was boring considering how much fun I'm having trying to survive encounters as a melee.

As a melee, so many in-game assets matter that didn't matter before. Potions. Ingredients. Better weapons and armor. Every alchemy ingredient has potential use. Every soul stone must be gotten. The fights are tough, but very satisfying.
I'm glad Bethesda made patch 1.9 because I don't think I would have even thought about playing anymore. If Bethesda squashes another set of bugs with another patch I might consider buying their DLCs. For now, I'm haivng a blast and I'm so glad to experience the melee style of play with Skyrim.

im on my 10th character(my first illusion assassin) and im having more fun than ever. it seems like each new playthrough i learn something new or find something i had never found before, this is why skyrim has continuously held my attention for well over a year.

offtopic note: u play eq?