Now I know some people are gonna say they like the challenge etc, but I just don't see the point.

I was playing on adept (not incredibly high I know) and I went into a random dungeon (forelhost) and I got destroyed repeatedly by loads of draugr deathlords. This happened countless times btw - I'd say about 12 times in all - before I did the crazy thing and lowered the difficulty.

Well I waded through the later draugr with ease. And I was getting truly amazing loot too. By this point though, due to my drunken stupidness, I had forgotten that I had nerfed the difficultly and was extremely pleased with myself for destroying everything.

Anyway, my point is, why do some people play the game on the highest difficulty? I can imagine its a truly horrible experience.

Ps sorry if that didn't really make sense. My blood alcohol content is crazy right now.

the only reason there is is the challenge. you already answered your own question. some people are really good at video games and they blow through it no problem on normal difficulty. they want to have to at least make an effort to kill things.

Some people have more fun that way I guess. The game I was playing prior to skyrim was Darksouls so it just felt wonky unless the enemies could take me out in 2-3 hits. And Im only playing on expert.

Adept-Novice is definitely the way to go while drunk though. :biggrin:

I know but even the rewards are better at a lower difficulty. I was getting some amazing loot drops!

Challenge is of personal matter, that's the whole point, really. Which difficulty you choose doesn't indicate how awesome you are, it indicates how you can make the good decision of playing at your own leisure

Also, "difficulty" simply means how strong the enemy is (health and damage output), it doesn't affect loot quality

Challenge. And to a lesser extent, "bragging rights"

Challenge, and don't take this the wrong way but what you find challenging (such as adept) is a breeze for some others. So while its over the top hard for you, its not for others. You're assuming you're "doing it right" and then basing that on how difficult the game actually is. Game is not hard at all in my opinion, but i understand YMMV.

The challenge, I remember first starting out on my shield warrior on expert, it was nice to have 1v1 fights on the road and struggle to survive, balance defense with offense(blocking / counter / attacking) before dying.

Adept was pretty easy for me, expert is just right for me, as is death lords take 2 shots from their bows to kill me w/o block, I can't imagine that encounter on Master... that one shot plus arrow might have finished me right there.

Yeah I understand that, but it even seems like the game rewards you for playing at a lower difficulty. I usually get poor loot drops, but as soon as I lower the difficulty my drops are amazing. Can't just be a coincidence.

As other people have said, for the challenge. I was flying through the game on the default difficulty, but I want to make it last not be done with it in a week or so.

I don't remember difficulty governs anything beyond enemy strength. if you get quality loot, perhaps it ties to how you have to lower the difficulty in the first place: they are strong, thus better loot

Don't get me wrong, adept is very easy for me. Im just one of those people who play games just for the enjoyment and not the challenge. Basically, I don't enjoy being constantly [censored].

I thought the same mate, then I dropped the difficulty for the first time and for for the first time in 90+ hours, I started to get amazing drops.

You level faster at higher difficulties, so that's a reward, I guess. (Indirectly, because fights take a little longer, you hit and get hit more often, use abilities more frequently in combat, etc.)

For me, though, it's about the challenge. Normal mobs are too easy on "adept" and below, and the "bandit chief" types are hard no matter the difficulty, so "expert" seemed good for me. But it's not an e-peen thing, just what feels right and has the best fun/challenge ratio, and that's different for each player. I would have no trouble changing the difficulty if I got frustrated.

Technically speaking, no you don't. You have the opportunity to use your skills more often is what it does, although it does lead to you leveling up faster, so...


@Ricardinho:
Are you saying that once you drop the difficulty, you're starting to constantly get quality loot? That's an interesting scenario

Personally, with the majority of the "Master Elitists" it would be more appropriate to switch those around.

All I really see on these forums is: "Quit playing on Novice you noob, you don't know what the hell you're talking about on your pitiful non-difficult difficulty","You don't know what we are complaining about because you are playing on a noob difficulty", so on and so forth.

I play on Master, because it is more fun to play... For me. If you enjoy playing on whatever difficulty you play on, good. That's the point, you are enjoying the game the way you want.

@OP: You tried many times to do something on one difficulty and didn't succeed, to the point I would say the game stopped being fun for you. So, you lowered the difficulty and got past the hurdle, found some nice loot, but most importantly... You had fun. That's the only thing that is important, not just for Skyrim, but in games in general. It's a single player game, the only one judging you, is you. (With the occasional elitist that is messed up in the head, but they don't count.)

Well when my character is starting to get too powerfull i move up the difficulty, it increases the life of the particular character 50+ hours,

Yes that is exactly what I'm saying. Try it, just for a couple of dungeons. You'll be pleasantly suprised.

I play on Expert because it is the right balance between So-hard-its-not-fun and overpowered.

This game is too easy on Master.

I'll try it later when I have the time. For now, 'll keep that in mind. Perhaps I can improve my enchantment knowledge by looting stuff at novice it's a bit hard to find those these days (in my game)

I don't think I'm on the right difficulty level tbh, as I find about 1% of the game difficult. I don't really want to change it if I'm going to get worse loot though!

Horrible experience if you play horrible, no personal offence intended.

If you play tactically, and skillfully, playing on a lower setting would be stupidly boring and pointless.

In fact, the only way I find it interesting is to play on master, then grind some non combat skills to pump my level up over 25 or so before I even go do the gold claw quest. That way I have all my noob equpiment, noob spells and the mobs are all leveled up.

Now it's fun because I might actually die.

Depends on the build. Id have to play on master, and even a higher level if they had it, with my assassin. Doing a crazy 30x crit bonus and sneaking is extremely easy, you need some sort of challenge. The challenge with this build in particular is getting mauled if your seen, since your pretty much guaranteed to one hit anything that connects with a dual 30x crit strike.

On master the trick is don't let him hit you. And I don't mean block everything. You can actually kill deathlords in melee without them ever hitting you. It's all about movement and timing. See him start his attack, quickly move back or to the side, move in and hit him, move back out. It's a very active style of combat that for me, is loads of fun.