My PS3 broke last month and tomorrow is my birthday, although I'm celebrating it later today after I take my PSAT. I've decided to get a new PS3 slim, but sadly, I've lost my character data for Oblivion. I love this game and most things about it, but the need for efficient leveling is not one of those things. I've done it many times before with pretty much all of my characters, but I'm sick of it. With this new character, I've decided to utilize the difficulty slider to assist me. Here are three strategies I've come up with to allow gradual power progression without efficient leveling (there are 100 total difficulty settings and I am referring to the default one as "50":

1. difficulty slider starts at 50; with each two levels I grow, I decrease the slider by one point

2. difficulty slider starts at 50; with each level I grow, I decrease the difficulty slider by one point

3. difficulty slider starts at 60 or 65; with each level I grow, I decrease the diffiiculty slider by one point



I'm leaning towards number 3, as the game will start off more challenging, ease up and become normal by level 10 or 15 (I'm leaning towads the level 15/65 setting), and give a noticeable rise to power starting at level 15 or 20(again, leaning towards the latter). What does everyone else think? How would you do this (whether from one of my strategies or your own) and have you done something such as this? All input would be appreciated, and yes, I know the PC version has mods. I do not have access to a PC that can play Oblivion and I cannot get the money for such a PC.

Rather than rigid rules perhaps you should adjust it as needed. I was oblivious to the concept of efficient levelling and the difficulty slider on my first console play-through and didn't find it particularly difficult to complete.

To answer your question, I would choose # 3 as well.

Now, if you are going through official channels, the PS3 Slim is priced at $299, basically $300. You can go to Best Buy's website and find a new computer that can easily handle Oblivion and many other game for that price, or even better, refurbished computers for even less $. Sure, to get a mid range computer that can play Final Fantasy 14 online, you need to spend more money, but it sounds like that isn't what you are looking for. Also, here is a secret... PS3's and 360s are just computers. 5 year old computers at that. The big advantage a PS3 has is it's built in blu ray player. If that doesn't mater o you, i can't really see why you wouldn't look into just getting a nice computer. to each his own, but here are a lot of options open to you if you go computer. Mods, access to Microsoft exclusive games like Mass Effect and other. The only down side I see is; "how many games you already own for the PS3?"

I would go for #1.

If your looking to be challanged and keep it that way #3, the others if you just want a more realistic seeming character developement.

You could also add start at 25 difficulty and stick with it, as most combat and buff skills will level slower as they take less use to kill something or protect from it.

If I don't want to level efficiently I make characters that don't require it and use the ingame resources to their fullest. (Enchantments, home brew spells, alchemy!!, level minor skills for USE, not "efficiency" - like Sneak, Conjuration, Alchemy, Alteration, armor skills, Illusion, armorer.

Mara

Happy birthday :celebration: Sux you lost your PS3.

Peronally I just leave the slider in the middle, but if I had to choose one of the three above I'd go with #3 because I'm at the point (as many of us are) that I can handle those lower levels since I'm experienced with the game.

Are you going to be doing dead is dead or anything like that seti18?

I wonder if you are over anolyzing things. I would urge you to keep your fun meter pegged. That is, set the slider at 50 and play how you want. If the challenge becomes too much or too little to be what you want, bump the slider to taste. Don't be afraid to adjust it for particular battles (Kvatch comes to mind for example). You know the game, so you know where the tough spots are.

Maybe #3, but I recommend not dropping it below 50. With my most recent play through, I've been forgoing efficient leveling and I find it quite manageable to play my characters without worrying about their attributes. I just use Oblivion's resources to compensate/ find different means to adapt without adjusting the difficulty slider. About the only thing I still obsess over in terms of efficiency leveling is to make sure I get 5 training sessions (paying a trainer) in with each level or they go to waste. Might as well make use of them while you have 'em. Other than that, I don't go out of my way to artificially increase my skills. They only increase by actual/ needed use.

Yes, this is how I see it. I find it a bit amusing when people talk about turning up the difficulty, and then they go to extremes to get the "best" equipment to overcome it. My most fun current character, at level 10, is still running around in the prison sack cloth stuff, mildly enchanted with descendant sigil stones, and using only a plain katana.

if you have a pc that can run this game then i highly suggest buying it on pc, you can then choose whatever mods you want to sort out the leveling and difficulty issues in the console versions.

I start at 50 and move the slider down 1% for every five levels. This works for my combat-based Nord warrior and my stealth-based Wood Elf marksman. My warrior is level 35, so the slider is at 43%. I tried 2% per five levels, but the game became too easy.

Several updates:

I am not playing dead is dead, and I really just want to feel a sense of power progression. I get that with Oblivion as it is to a degree, but then I encounter a goblin warlord and feel no different. By higher levels, I want to feel like the divine being my character is. At the default difficulty, hacking and slashing at goblins over and over again just becomes tedious. I will be lowering my difficulty slider below 50 at one point in time or another, but perhaps I could also just place a cap on it, such as no lower than 35.

Dead is dead is not the right thing for everyone, especially for anyone with a heavy social, academic, or professional calender. My first characters were reloaded on a regular basis, often because I just got excited and forgot to keep an eye on the health meter. They died with unused health potions in their backpack. Over time you learn what it takes to not only survive but thrive in Cyrodiil.

Angel is the supreme power in her universe despite the fact she has never worn armor or carried a shield. I play dead is dead on default difficulty. She is now at level 40 with over 250 game hours. I don't know the exact count anymore because experimenting with mods has trashed some save-games and I had to back up to recover. The only 'cheating' I have done is to resurrect her horse. She could buy a dozen horses but this one is hers and that makes it special. With her power to control the minds of her foes she can wade through armies and come out the other side virtually untouched.

The quickest way to get to that level is to research the UESPWiki and this General Forum. If things aren't going too well, ask specific questions on the forum.

For me, treating my character as a separate identity that wanted to survive and prosper and then seeing the world from their unique perspective instead of from mine made a major change in the way I play the game. Instead of pushing a crash-dummy around, I was mentoring and guiding someone I cared about. Sometimes, they had the good sense to wait until they were stronger before tackling the bad guys.

There is one thing you should know. The goblins in the tutorial dungeon at the beginning of the game are total wusses. The ones outside are not and their Boss types are very, very bad.

Tutorial Goblins... not to mention the Tut Zombie.... how misleading, indeed.

During a quest I got lost in th city's sewer system. At some point i found a room with great loot, which i took, then and a SWARM of goblins (ok coulda been 8-9), thrashing and thrusting my Breton Wizard (ie, endurance = 30). I manage to kill them, BUT there is this one Goblin... I cast spells that should do sth like 600 damage easy (btw, i was feeling very powerful for a great deal of time, so difiicculty coulda been around 3/4)... and there he stands, hacking and slashing towards me, while I'm thinking "Goblin Warlord? What's the difference?". 3 spells later, I am outta mana, and full of axe injuries. Dead.

Tried on 1/2 difficulty bar ---> d.e.a.d.... Only aroun 1/4 did i manage to fubeca him to paraidse lost.

Only then I understood that the difficulty bar messes with how much damage YOU do too (melee, archery and magic wise), while b4 I thought it decreased / increased only opponent's damage.

I don't efficient level. All my characters start with normal difficulty. At level 5, the difficulty is upped to 75%, and there it stays forever. Except for my mage, where the difficulty is set at about 90%. There are a myriad of diiferent ways to either dispatch your opponent, or run screaming into the night, use them.

The difference is that Goblin Warlords scale with the player, Goblins do not.

Happy Birthday!!

I am currently playing a character in which everytime she dies, I reload the game and reincarnate her as another race with another birthsign using the console. This isn't a penalty because I do this so I can roleplay the same character many different ways. She acts in whatever way her birthsign would act. I do penalize her, however, by subtracting 5 skill points and 1 attribute point when she dies, also with the console. You've given me a new idea where I will also increase the difficulty meter one point everytime she dies. That'll teach 'er. :gun:
No but seriously, my point is to act like I am the PC and so do everything it takes to avoid death, so something like this, along with the skill/attribute penalties will make me REALLY roleplay.

EDIT: I find the game waaaay to easy at higher levels where I am already a godlike being ready to challenge the gods doing godlike suff, so lowering the meter would just make it easier.