Difficulty

[Harabec Storm]

Hey all,

I'd like to make the game harder without modding, any ideas? The thing is I don't want to break the game by not perking into anything or not allowing myself to get better gear. I still want to have the sense that I'm improving.

* So, I'm thinking about not perking into smithing, enchanting and alchemy since that seems to make the game really easy.

That means that for gear I would have to run dungeons and get lucky with the enchantements. This would turn the game into a kind of Diablo. And I would actually have a use for Wuuthraad, Nightingale armor etc... and all the great items you can collect, but also can be easily outcrafted. Which I think is nonsense.



* Also no followors but I wasn't using them anyway.
* No potions since then I could still outpot every fight.
* Only be able to take +experience stones.
* Not taking Orc, unbalanced racial if you ask me.

Also I'm thinking of spreading out my perks more so I can change playstyle when I need to. Tank, Melee, Archer, Mage, Sneaky. This will make it a bit harder because I'm getting the more powerful perks later on.

[real4xor]

Well, you could max out alchemy, enchanting and smithing skill to kick your level up. Just ignore the perks.

That will make your character overall weaker than your enemies. Wether or not you`re using your skills it`ll still add to your level, and thus your level`d opponents.

[Rhuto]

Originally Posted by Harabec Storm

Hey all,

I'd like to make the game harder without modding, any ideas?

* Also no followors but I wasn't using them anyway.
* No potions since then I could still outpot every fight.
* Only be able to take +experience stones.
* Not taking Orc, unbalanced racial if you ask me.

Also I'm thinking of spreading out my perks more so I can change playstyle when I need to. Tank, Melee, Archer, Mage, Sneaky. This will make it a bit harder because I'm getting the more powerful perks later on.

Well, I am sure you have covered most of it....if you want it even harder, you might run in ordinary Sunday cloths....that is the beauty of it...it is all up to you, and your playing style

[mudpiegirl]

No armor would make it a lot more difficult. Be the only warrior in fine clothes, or play au naturel and get to hear the locals comment on it....

[Platinumoxicity]

All one has to do to increase difficulty beyond reason is to play as a warrior type character on Master difficulty. Whenever an enemy gets anywhere near you, there is a 50% chance for the enemy to execute that unavoidable instant kill sequence where they impale or decapitate you, and there's no way to dodge it once it starts. Let's say that your enemy can take 10 hits before dying. That means 10 flips of a coin. So there's a 0,097% chance of surviving any given fight without restarting a single time. Because every time you face off with the enemy to hit it, you either manage to do something you intended to do, ie. hit the enemy, or the enemy instantly kills you.

[Harabec Storm]

Originally Posted by Platinumoxicity

All one has to do to increase difficulty beyond reason is to play as a warrior type character on Master difficulty. Whenever an enemy gets anywhere near you, there is a 50% chance for the enemy to execute that unavoidable instant kill sequence where they impale or decapitate you, and there's no way to dodge it once it starts. Let's say that your enemy can take 10 hits before dying. That means 10 flips of a coin. So there's a 0,097% chance of surviving any given fight without restarting a single time. Because every time you face off with the enemy to hit it, you either manage to do something you intended to do, ie. hit the enemy, or the enemy instantly kills you.

I already played through Master difficulty with a Warrior wielding a 2-hander. I didn't even block once. What you are talking about only happens when you have low armor and health. This char has about 600 health and 700 armor and I can take on a bunch of giants and mammoth's at the same time on Master difficulty. Even funnier are the slamming door traps, they just push me back and don't hurt me at all. And I'm the one insta-killing most stuff.

[Harabec Storm]

Originally Posted by mudpiegirl

No armor would make it a lot more difficult. Be the only warrior in fine clothes, or play au naturel and get to hear the locals comment on it....

Hehe, I once died with no armor/cloths on per accident to a bandit leader and she said something about me wearing no cloths which was really funny in that situation. Just now I realize this is standard line all npc's share.



But I'm not going au naturel since that would force me to ranged, kiting style anyway. Which will have it's place, just not all the time.

I will just not take smithing, enchanting and alchemy and rely on dungeon drops etc. Gearing up is a part of the fun for me.

[totalitaer]

Stay away from muffle + invisibility + shrouded gloves too, or it will feel like you're back on easy.

Not taking any stones except XP stones seems kinda harsh though. Just staying away from the Atronach Stone should be enough. I'm inclined to say it is harder to get by using tower stone than thief stone for instance, or you will have better sneak than you are supposed to have at your level.

I mean check the serpent stone for instance. It's like a single-target ice-form that only lasts 5 seconds with 24hr cooldown. Overpowered? Not on my watch!

Or look at the Apprentice Stone. That's the best way to raise the difficulty one step.

[stoob]

At the opposite end of the scale:

Regardless of perks (apart from enchantments...) I found I could pretty much enchant my way out of most situations. As a warrior character I was finding pickpocketing for the guild a bit hard, but a bit of enchanting later... insta-thief! Potions weak? Few enchants later... super-alchemist! Need better weaps? Grand-smith of Smithdom! etc

[Cougarific]

Yeah I think the general consensus from people looking for more of a challenge is just to forgo enchanting and smithing your own stuff.

You can "use" enchanting and smithing to make money maybe, just stick to using what weapons and armor you find without any improvements.

Worked for me.

[Twelvefield]

Without re-binding any of the controls, promise yourself never to use the W key. That ought to make things tougher. And use the mouse left-handed.

[Harabec Storm]

Originally Posted by Twelvefield

Without re-binding any of the controls, promise yourself never to use the W key. That ought to make things tougher. And use the mouse left-handed.

I'm already using the mouse left-handed since there is no platform to the left of me to use my mouse on. I'm right handed.



But, tbh, I'm not looking for silly options to make the game harder.

[Harabec Storm]

Originally Posted by stoob

At the opposite end of the scale:

Regardless of perks (apart from enchantments...) I found I could pretty much enchant my way out of most situations. As a warrior character I was finding pickpocketing for the guild a bit hard, but a bit of enchanting later... insta-thief! Potions weak? Few enchants later... super-alchemist! Need better weaps? Grand-smith of Smithdom! etc

Yeah I did the same thing, I'll probably stay away from enchanting on my next runthrough, same with alchemy and smithing.

[Harabec Storm]

Okay I finally decided to go for my second runthrough.

To make things harder beyond master-diff I will,

- not use smithing, enchanting and alchemy in any way to better myself except for leveling up. So my gear will come from running dungeons, quest rewards, and buying from vendors (a la Diablo). And I will never use potions.

- alternate levelups in Magicka, health and stamina. So that I get an even distribution. To promote me playing all styles (mage, warrior, thief) depending on what best suits the situation, on the other hand not having a massive health pool to make it harder.

- not perk into smithing, enchanting and alchemy obviously and I will distribute perks in the same way as my levelups. Allowing me a still a degree of freedom in such that if for instance I levelup in Health I will allow myself to perk into one of the many Warrior skills, etc.

- be using the Lover stone asap.

- not play the Orc race.

Wish me luck! Maybe I'll update with my progress.

[Platinumoxicity]

Originally Posted by Harabec Storm

I already played through Master difficulty with a Warrior wielding a 2-hander. I didn't even block once. What you are talking about only happens when you have low armor and health. This char has about 600 health and 700 armor and I can take on a bunch of giants and mammoth's at the same time on Master difficulty. Even funnier are the slamming door traps, they just push me back and don't hurt me at all. And I'm the one insta-killing most stuff.

I forgot to mention that I don't improve weapons or armor by smithing, so all my stuff is on the same level as the enemies'. So It's not possible to have 700 armor. So that's probably the reason why half of the enemies can instantly kill my character.