Blackdoom59
BATMAN!
Dagmar perhaves I am wrong however It seems that every character I make on master have about level 20 at the end of a certain storyline and on adept (even if it's the same king of character) they have about 13.
Ugh.. Master Difficulty
- Thread starter Baelor
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Dagmar
Defender of the Bunnies of Skyrim
It depends. Interior cells scale enemies based on your level. Random outdoor encounters scale based on your level but you can still get lower level encounters and, with regards to Dragons at least, there is a chance that you can get a higher level encounter. Fixed outdoor encounters are always at a fixed level, e.g. Giants, the Frost Troll on the path to High Hrothgar, etc.
Brizzle Kicks
Welcome To The Underground
I thought so I was having trouble with frost trolls but I can smash them in a few hits now. cheers for the info Dagmar.
Last time I checked the do stack? But I was just expanding on when he said to say the other resists can go on other armour/jewellery items.
In my second play through, I set the difficulty on Master from the onset. The way I like to travel(never on roads) I couldn't have made it without a follower. One attack from a Bear would almost kill me even with my shield raised early in the game.
So, I was level 34 or so and had upgraded Ebony armor and was running around near a Dwemer ruin in a valley when two Bandits approached. No big deal. I whipped out my trusty Dwarven Cross Bow (as I had started the DawnGuard quest at level ten to get Serana as my follower) drew a bead and let her rip. The bandit took the hit strangely well. He drew his bow and hit back. I watched my life bar go from completely full down to an 1/8 in one hit. I was constantly healing before I could jump out and take further shots. One hit was almost killing me multiple times. I kept thinking the guy had to have a very serious Bow or arrows. After literal minutes of fighting, using my follower and summoning my trusty Fire Antronach I searched the dead body to find a hunting bow and iron arrows. His armor was simple leather.
It didn't make any sense. I figured it might have been a damage calculator bug or something. I do notice some random things have uncanny health or damage ability on the Master setting.
I often prefer to play on Expert for this very reason, unless my character smiths a sword which for example would do 120 damage, and hit the armour cap, then I'll play on Master happily. I agree that often there seems to be an unrealistic discrepancy.
Dagmar
Defender of the Bunnies of Skyrim
Stacking would mean that one resistance simply gets added to the other against any applicable elemental damage attack. Magic resistance gets applied to the damage first and then elemental damage resistance gets applied to the remaining damage which is less damage resistance than if the effects stacked. It's been that way since launch.
Looking back at his post he did say elemental resistance though, but the point is still the same. There are limited equipment slots for elemental damage resistance enchantments. For a stealth character a Muffle enchantment on the boots would more useful than a elemental damage resistance enchantment. Magic resistance would be better for the necklace slot because it will stack with his other magic resistances and it blocks all three types of elemental damage.
Dagmar
Defender of the Bunnies of Skyrim
I don't normally hit the armor cap until I'm between level 35 and 40 or so but I use light armor for almost all my characters and I don't grind Smithing skill. Still even on my Nord warrior, who uses no magic and only uses steel weapons with her legendary Skyforge Steel Sword maxed out at less than 90 displayed damage, the game is playable. It's relatively tough but it's supposed to be.
Yeah, I understand that Master is supposed to be tough. It's the fact that you can hack away forever at a levelled bandit only to be killed in two or three hits which frustrates me. I know the point of it is for a challenge, but I don't like the feeling of being at a constant disadvantage in most battles. I feel as though on Master, you should take the amount of damage that you do, but have the same real-world damage output as Expert, to even things up.
Thing is, people will always say it's too easy, and to a point I understand. I think Expert difficulty should be somewhere between the current Expert and Master, and make Master even harder for those who think it's still too easy.
In my humble opinion, Expert is too easy, and Master should be a little more balanced - ie. easy to die, but also easy to kill
Dagmar
Defender of the Bunnies of Skyrim
What you're observing is more noticeable on Master settings because of the damage multiplier for attacks against you but it isn't because of the difficulty setting itself. While most NPCs don't have perks from the player perk trees, some of them do have their own special perks and among them are damage multiplier perks including one for archery damage.
There may be an issue with crossbows that I'm not aware of because I don't use the Dawnguard DLC. You may want to try swapping it out for a Daedric Bow to see if there's a notable difference. Also what kind of Archery perks do you have and what tempering bonus do you have for your crossbow?
Brizzle Kicks
Welcome To The Underground
I don't think I could play skyrim on anything other than master now it's tough really tough early doors but I like the challenge I binned my follower at lvl 30 (I'm up round lvl 48 now) and went solo I maxed out 2 hand sword so have moved on to dual wielding. I haven't died in ages but still have tough battles you have to think about what your'e doing it's no good just steaming into 4.5.6 bandits thinking you will batter them. For me the balance is just right so long as you don't exploit certain things i.e blacksmithing, enchanting and alchemy and turn yourself into a brute, master is still harsh but fair at higher levels.
Chowder138
Proud member of PAHAAA.
I always feel like it's already on Master difficulty when I attack Whiterun and each guard arrow takes my health down by half.
I'll have to open my game up and check but I believe my crossbow was a step right before Legendary, I think Epic? My archery is 100 and I have every perk on the left side of the tree all the way to the paralyze perk. I could try messing with a Daedric Bow to see if there is a difference, I just hate carrying weight around!
Dagmar
Defender of the Bunnies of Skyrim
An Epic Dwarven Bow with 100 Archery Skill, 5 Overdraw perks and no Fortify Archery enchantments should have a displayed damage of about 90 plus another 14 damage for the Dwarven Bolt but that 104 total is reduced by 50% to 52 on Master Difficulty setting. A Bandit Marauder has 490 health. While their armor rating, like most NPC's that even have one, is pretty feeble it's still going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 percent so that would further reduce your crossbow damage to about 47. Even if you have Fortify Archery enchantments, you wont be taking a leveled bandit down without several hits from your crossbow in normal combat.I'll have to open my game up and check but I believe my crossbow was a step right before Legendary, I think Epic? My archery is 100 and I have every perk on the left side of the tree all the way to the paralyze perk. I could try messing with a Daedric Bow to see if there is a difference, I just hate carrying weight around!
Newb Master
New Member
I've played on master from the start as well. To make things even more difficult the first thing I did was increase my alchemy, speech and smithing levels. 1st as a moneymaker ( I try not to use them too often, or carry very many ) 2nd happened naturally as I made money in the game selling potions and 3rd to get the armour I wanted ( Glass and the whole reason for 1 and 2 ) I'm now playing as an archer. Tough? Yeah this game is tough. I might as well not have any armour on at all. I didn't plan on being the sneaky type, but now I have little choice in the matter. Almost everything can single shot kill me. And the NPC archers...... pfffffft...... Their aim is solid.
I am now going to up my light armour stats to see if I can be a bit more survivable. Then I'll trigger the dragon rising mission and let the fun begin. (I've waited a long time.)
Note: I could easily make the game easier, yes. Being a potion master and using smithing and enchanting potions to up armour and weapons and enchantments and that sort of thing, with high stats I suppose I've earned that right without exploiting glitches. but I just can't bring myself to do it. I read the forums and watch videos on this game all the time. I just can help but wonder why play at all when I see people RUNNING through caves and missions without a care in the world. Playing on easy? Or master with invincible weapons and armour? What's the point? Where's the challenge?
In answer, the game is as easy or as hard as you want it to be.
I am now going to up my light armour stats to see if I can be a bit more survivable. Then I'll trigger the dragon rising mission and let the fun begin. (I've waited a long time.)
Note: I could easily make the game easier, yes. Being a potion master and using smithing and enchanting potions to up armour and weapons and enchantments and that sort of thing, with high stats I suppose I've earned that right without exploiting glitches. but I just can't bring myself to do it. I read the forums and watch videos on this game all the time. I just can help but wonder why play at all when I see people RUNNING through caves and missions without a care in the world. Playing on easy? Or master with invincible weapons and armour? What's the point? Where's the challenge?
In answer, the game is as easy or as hard as you want it to be.
