D4rkInv4d3r, you're playing in a world (gameworld) where everything is infused with Macigka and with that, I don't mean hocus-pocus and flying brooms. Magicka is pretty much what the Force is, in the Star Wars universe.

You can find realism in Skyrim and any Elder Scrolls game, as long as you understand and accept what is real within that world -this includes magic. This isn't an attempt to rationalize this or that, it's how things work within the game, it's lore and it's universe in general.

Think about it

sure. I was arguing for more choice in difficulty settings. Not fewer choices.
You are mistaken, my friend. The difficulty slider affects damage taken and dealt by the PC. It does not affect damage taken or dealt by the PC's summons or other NPCs that become followers.

so Lydia is just as terrible on Adept as she is on Master and dies just as quickly? ^^

What about the conjured weapons such as the bound axe?

Yes, Lydia is unaffected by the slider. So her performance against enemies is the same regardless of where you put the slider. Followers and summons become much more capable in relation to the player character at higher difficulty settings.


Bound weapons are affected by the slider if they are in the hands of the player character, otherwise not.

If you want Lydia or any follower to perform well in combat, you should take your time and invest on their gear.

Give them tempered armor & weapons, enchanted with fortify stamina & stamina regen for warrior types, fortify magicka & magicka regen for spellcasters. Magic & poison resistance goes for both. If they're lousy at sneaking, a set of muffle enchanted boots will fix it for the most part.

In short, treat them like you'd treat your character and they'll do things you never thought they could.

^^^^This. Marcurio is a kick butt mage with the right gear.

And this is a good example of why the Skyrim "difficulty adjustment" is so faulty. You can set the difficulty on Legendary, get yourself a good follower and a strong summoned atronach, and hide behind them and let them do the work.

It's also why people who argue that magic isn't effective on Legendary are only seeing part of the picture. While it's true that Destruction, Wards, and Mage Armor are pretty much nerfed at high difficulty, this isn't true of Conjuration and Illusion, which become incredibly more powerful (relative to other magic schools), because they use "weapons" that are unaffected by the difficulty setting.

that's not the case from my experience

The atronachs hardly do any damage and get killed very quickly. It's weird to hear that they're just as bad on lower difficulties, as they really don't do much on Master.

The first time when I got impressed with conjuration was when I found the Wrathman spell within the Dawnguard DLC.

He was finally the first one that could actually deal damage and kill enemies by himself... unlike the fire or the frost atronachs.

But he was also already an expert-level (75) spell.

What good Illusion spells are there?

I never really got into it and would love to try it out.

Making the enemies flee isn't that useful, is it?

I'm not sure how you're using atronachs. They are most effective when used as a ranged "blocking" weapon; cast them between yourself and the enemy, and then support them. Fire atronachs are very effective casters, but they are weak when they have to face a melee attacker, so the idea is to cast them into a place where they can shoot without being easily reached.

Frenzy spells (Fury, etc.) are effective regardless of difficulty setting. Cast into a group of enemies, while staying hidden, and let them kill each other.

Making an enemy flee while setting him on fire is pretty effective. Just keep repeating when he comes back.

Does difficulty change how fast you lvl up or it's the same thing?

Also, difficulties in Skyrim are a bit weird.

I don't remember all difficulties, so I will give them basic name :

Difficulty Kill Be killed

Easy Very Easy Very hard

Normal Easy Hard

Hard Hard Hard

Master Hard Easy

Legendary Very hard Very easy?

What I think could be better :

Difficulty Kill Be killed AI

Easy Easy Hard Stupid AI

Normal Easy Hard

Hard Normal Hard

Master Normal Easy

Legendary Normal Easy? Sneak is harder and better AI

?

it does not change it directly, but some skills will level up quicker at higher difficulty settings since you use them more -- it takes more sword hits to kill an enemy, causing one handed to level quicker, for instance.

Legendary is doable once you have 1000+ HP and max AR + enchantments. Dangerous if you're surrounded.

It's an exploit due to pathing problems. In real life, a bear would jump onto the rock and kill me. In Skyrim, it runs around and I pick it off with ranged weapons. This is different from running about, using walls, hills, guards ( ), and other obstacles to help. This works in all settings, yes?

If one plays Skyrim "for the combat", then I can see the way it increases "difficulty" being right up one's alley. I'm just not one of those players

Usually I play on expert, it feels just right. Most enemies are easy but some, like bandit bosses and bears, are extremely deadly at lower levels, as they should be.

It would be better if increasing difficulty didn't reduce player damage dished out. That would prevent damage sponges but still keep the fear when fighting strong enemies.

Legendary also means, guys running around with 10k HP( not really but long fight is long ).

I accomplish this by not going over 150 health with my characters

Skyrim's difficulty setting is one of the main reasons I can't play without mods. It's ridiculous. Simply adjusting damage is a really lousy way to make the game harder.

I don't need Skyrim to be realistic, what with magic and walking dead and dragons and everything, but I want it to be believable. And whacking away at an enemy with dual axes for a minute is ... just silly.

An axe to the face should hurt. For both combatants. Fireballs should melt flesh. This is why I use mods to increase difficulty.

I play on adept, but have several mods that make combat fast and brutal and immediately deadly, like it should be IMO. Strike first and strike fast or be killed.

I hope console players can soon enjoy a game where the enemies are deadly and maybe even unleveled, where diseases are crippling and progress to death, where dungeons are truly dark, with no little red dots to tell you where the enemies are, no combat music to give you warning, and the enemy AI is a lot smarter.

I love TES games, but balance has never been a strong point of them.

*** Those can be done on console... Turn HUD brightness down ( I had mine off ), Turn the music setting's so that you don't get the "danger" theme... The only sounds I hear were "nature"..creaking boards, falling rocks, people talking, and even the footsteps I had turned waaaaay down. Turn the Brightness settings down and not only does the game look better ( instead of washed out ), but you need a torch or light spell.. Khajiit night eye IS a functional racial bonus...Can't do anything about the AI or diseases...until we see if the SE will allow for those kinda of mods. There are unleveled enemies... not as many as some mod's put in, but their are some...

And of course their IS my biggest pet peve... making Uber gear and then saying that the game has no challenge.. for those people... Master..NO armor, ONLY found weapons ( spells ) NO crafting period ( with the exception of recharging a found enchanted weapon )...Dead IS Dead