1901

I agree about there being tipping points. I personally just like it being a situation where I have to really set out to break things. For example, alternating between alchemy and enchanting, slowly building up more and more powerful bonuses, is clearly something you set out to do with the intent of breaking things.

On the other hand, putting together a basic +smithing set and drinking a store bought +smithing potion just seems like what you would do when crafting gear you plan to hang on to. And just that alone basically turns on “godmode.” It’s too easy to stumble into godmode, and even if you realize that you don’t like the way that changes the game, something is lost once you’ve looked behind the curtain.

1902

I know it’s not at 50 yet because I haven’t unlocked those perks. The only other thing I use semi-regularly is my bow, and that’s sub-50 as well–probably mid-thirties?

I haven’t actively “leveled” anything. I get speech occasionally by trading, I’ve bought ranks in a couple of things (blocking, for one), I do a little enchanting and alchemy once in a while.

I think of “grinding” as anything you do just to raise that skill number, which you wouldn’t do if that skill number wasn’t there. Like jumping everywhere in Morrowind. It was stupid, but it raised the acrobatics skill so there you go.

That said, you want to play the game that way, then go right ahead. That’s the beauty of Elder Scrolls games. I don’t have to approve. I just don’t think it’s any great failing on Bethesda’s part that they didn’t balance the game around people who intentionally exploit the system, max out their skills quickly, and then complain that the game is boring because they’re invincible.

I’m not saying the crafting system doesn’t need tweaking. Maybe it does, I don’t know. I haven’t used it enough to notice.

1903

You do it in skyrimprefs.ini, in the ‘my games/Skyrim’ directory (not the game directory). Find this line and change the ‘1’ to an ‘0’ like so:

[Interface]
bShowCompass=0

I strongly recommend it, it’s kind of amazing the difference it makes.

More broadly, I’d say if you’re playing Skyrim on the PC then you need to do some tweaking - it’s almost certain that you can significantly improve the way it looks and plays.

1904

Your difficulty is also about what you’ve crafted, and which enchants you are putting on equipment, as well as if you are indeed gaming it (using pots or +ability gear when crafting.) If so, simply shoot for a new armor set or weapon with a standard enchant?

I would recommend Master difficulty though. That seriously bumps up things to the point of making a tough fight a bit more strategic, while making a simple fight relatively the same. Even Expert is a bit of a bump, and that’s where I usually sit most fights.

1905

Yes, absolutely try the game without the compass. It’s fantastic. Once I turned it off I found I paid a lot more attention to the world instead of just following the quest marker.

1906

Nothing against folks who play without quest markers and a compass (typically I do this in most games too), but how do you find some obscure dungeon on the other side of the map when all you’re told is the dungeon’s name, and not some general location? Do you just let those quests pile up?

1907

I guess I haven’t noticed that happening. Every time somebody has told me about a dungeon it’s been marked on my map.

1908

Oh, I see, you’re still replying on the map. I thought you were avoiding both maps and compass.

1909

Alchemy: 1.5x
Conjuration: 1.4x
Archery: 1.3x
Illusion: 1.25x
Speech: 1.2x
Light Armor: 1.2x
Heavy Armor: 1.1x
Destruction: 1.1x
Two-Handed: 0.95x
One-Handed: 0.9x
Restoration: 0.9x
Alteration: 0.8x
Pickpocket: 0.75x
Block: 0.75x
Lockpick: 0.6x
Sneak: 0.5x
Enchanting: 0.4x
Smithing: 0.4x

This chap has a modthat tweaks skill-up levels, slowing or speeding them as above (so Smithing levels much slower and alchemy faster). Might be worth a try if you’re finding it hard to avoid breaking things playing naturally.

1910

Yeah, I’m not sure I could play without the map, the game relies on it too much. And reading books and having the location of some tomb marked on your map is just as cool as it was in Morrowind (or, hell, Daggerfall? Dunno).

1911

Oh yeah, playing without the map would be crazy.

1912

Many thanks for this tip, Sebmojo.

1913

You could disable the compass and rely only on the map that came in the game box… now that’s hardcore!

1914

I dunno about enchanting being 0.4x. Enchanting takes a ton of work to level up and the problem isn’t that you level up too quickly. The problem is that the power curve goes through the ceiling. It’s really powerful even before you hit 100 but then it doubles up into insane.

I was actually glad to finish enchanting because I was starting to get annoyed with having to Soul Trap every damn fight. In retrospect I should have used Soul Trap weapon enchants but I was overly worried (for no good reason really) with potentially filling gems with the wrong souls.

1915

Conjuration goes up crazy fast if you’re using a bound blade as your primary weapon. I’m using a single bound blade and usually summon an atronach every fight and I’m at 82 conjuration and about 60 in one handed weapons. At x1.4 and with dual wielded bound blades it would go up so fast it’d be absurd.

Frankly, a lot of the decreases can be handled with a little self control i.e. don’t smith 50 iron daggers at once. This reverts it back to Oblivion/Morrowind style leveling where the game expected you to powergame to increase certain skills i.e. you have to smith 50 iron daggers at once to get a decent increase.

1916

What would be cool would be having a “reasonably realistic” map with roads, cities, towns and well-known ruins, but no compass or you-are-here arrow on the map.

1917

Nice house, we love what you’ve done with the place!

1918

That 3rd person throat-slitting animation you did in the middle of the video: does that require the 15x backstab perk, or can you do it any time you would normally kill an enemy in one hit from stealth?

1919

First day on the job.

1920

Looks like last day on the job, too.