I used to play on Adept myself, but I've dumbed this down to Apprentice after losing a few characters whom I was gaming with; characters with stories, that is. Some of you may be facepalming, "wow...Apprentice sounds like a cakewalk!" but the game still offers plenty of challenge. I basically walk over regular bandits and bandit outlaws, for instance, but pillagers, highwaymen (etc.) are still difficult, especially if more than two show up at a time. I'm much more interested in seeing my character survive and thrive (I am a DiD player) than I am in having a super-challenging game, where every battle lasts a half-hour or whatever.

But if I ever have a character whose game is not being written up as a story, I will switch back to Adept. Just for the extra all-around challenge. Anyways, for now I am Apprentice. How about you?

I voted It Varies. Usually I start on Adept, the exception being Illusionist/Conjurers like Achille who start on Expert. Achille wore robes and did no direct damage at all, so the difficulty only increased the damage done to him. It doesn’t make the fights any slower because the offensive damage by follower/summons is still being done on the default level, but one or two hits should kill the character. Achille had to seriously run for his life while listening to hear when his summons got killed so that he could turn and re-summon. I noticed things with him like all of the places in dungeons where you can retreat and close a gate behind you, then summon on the other side of the gate. He wouldn’t have needed that sort of thing if he could get hit and then heal.

I also sometimes move to Expert with characters whose skills are tightly focused, allowing a high skill+perk level for them compared to the world. Sometimes I go too far with the damage/defense increase perks. Jensa got to the point where she was wading through everything with ease. In her case I just put her back in unimproved Hide with unimproved weapons and quit adding points to Health until she was really getting hit again (after some more levels). That’s also when I learned how much more fun it is to fight with a character who has a lot of Stamina.

I have a vague idea for an Altmer Conjurer/Destruction mage that I will probably start on Apprentice. Darnand has been doing well on Adept, but he still runs out of magicka before he can burn everyone up in some fights. He really needs a follower since he relies on Destruction for all of his damage. (Also I miss a lot. That’s totally MY fault.) So if I want a mage to come bursting out of Helgen in a blaze of wrath and no armor at Level 1 (per my idea), I think a lower difficulty is the way to go. UNLESS I can get him a staff early on. Hmm…




(Edited for clarity. )

It depends on if I want a challenge. If I feel like being challenged, I'll play hard, but I usually play easy when I do quests(I want to be able to finish them)

I am boring. I always keep it locked at the default middle setting for all ES games and never touch it.

Same as SubRosa except I do some other things to make it more challenging.

For Aravi, her armor rating is never very high. I have never seen her above 400 (out of 850) and she is usually around half that.

I also do not use healing potions during combat. She has to use magic. The only thing I will do is before combat have her drink a Fortify Regen potion and/or eat a stew that has +1hp gain per second.

Some of mine use potions during combat, but they have to place themselves into a safe location (where they can have a moment away from combat) usually to do so. I usually use a physical hotkey for health potions or a healing spell, and back this up somehow with the Xbox's voice commands.



It's not boring! All my OB games are still on default.

I voted for it varies...I have so little time to play, I usually just want to wade through everything...

I mean, J'Zirlo's armour rating is 704 currently and his one-handed rating is 93 or 94...Which makes his Ebony sword very killy indeed...

This makes me happy...Have tank, will smash!!...

I don't really see the point in upping the difficulty, just to make it a huge challenge going to the shops; I just want to enjoy what I'm doing without worrying I've forgotten to save before I came in...Y'know, in case I get killed by a spider fart or something... ...


EDIT...Sorry, I'll just edit that last sentence...Urgh...Bad punctuation fairy!...

It varies depending on the situation. First time through I'll generally play on the default or normal setting. I don't want it to be excessively difficult the first time through when I'm trying to enjoy the story and environment.

Later on I may ramp up the difficulty once I've gotten the hang of it or play through it again on a higher setting.

Like 'Rosa and KC I usually just leave at the default setting. If I want to be b****-slapped around by a game I have Demon's/Dark Souls and Ninja Gaiden. When I pop in an Elder Scrolls game I want to be able to stop and smell the flowers.

Let's face it... none of us started playing these games because the battle system rocked.

QFT.

I play ES games to enjoy the game's atmosphere.

Actually, that was one of the things I was looking for...not a 100% fighting game, but the chance to have a game where a fight could happen. I like the fact that as I travel the countryside with my character, taking time to smell the roses mountain flowers, a random encounter could present itself.

It's like being a cop. There is no action for a long time and then all a sudden a bear shows up! Or a group of Thalmor! I love adrenaline rushes. But I'm also glad Skyrim is not packed with enemies every 10 steps. That would start to get old

And Dark Souls. I've never played Dark Souls, but everytime I've read anything about it, it makes me not want to go there!

It's actually a very good game, but there is a certain mindset that one has to adopt to play it. Dead-is-dead is simply impossible. I've played the game for months now and I still occasionally die in the tutorial when I create a new character!

Yah, that's it. Forget about DiD in Dark Souls! Not if your goal is to accomplish anything. Lol.

It varies for me. Usually I just use the default Adept, but with new characters I often lower it to Apprentice. Especially magicians. Zharyn's game is on expert, because otherwise it's too easy.

My only basis for comparison is the combat system in Oblivion and Morrowind, which is probably why I enjoy Skyrim so much!

This is what I do too. I moved the slider once, way back in my Morrowind days, and I immediately moved it back and have never touched it again.

I do alter the difficulty in other ways, though. Right now I'm using a mod called Deadly Monsters (part of the Deadly Dragons mod). Deadly Monsters comes with really nifty sliders that allow us to fine-tune the numbers for Health, Magicka, Stamina, Armor Rating, Melee Damage, Magic Damage and Resistance of all Creatures, Humanoids, Undead and Wildlife in the game, on the fly, right from within the SkyUI menu. It is really wonderful. I wish Morrowind and Oblivion had something like this.