I disagree, in all honesty magic is king in this game. I can literally sprint thru caves and kill everything without getting touched once. Stamina has no affect on a mage so sprinting away is fine. As a Sneak character I'm having more fun, yes. But I'm also clearing things slower, I can't sprint around like a jackass one I have to stay hidden, and two if I run around like a jackass I'll have no stamina to fight whatever I run into. Also my mage can one hit giants and fling them into the air. Fact. Lightning Storm, boom Giant sprawls around in ragdoll.

Can't... breath... :har::har:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTMwjYgJsFQ

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Oh and the small patch was apparently updated .exe to stop people from bypassing Steam when playing.
(it was possible to start the game via TESV.exe without Steam starting)

Damn mages and your cheap parlour tricks. The true test of a man lies in the strength of his arm and his skill with a blade. I know when I finally meet my match in battle, it will be with the blade, the breeze blowing through my hair with my last thoughts of home as I make the journey to Sovngarde.

Yeah, I think I might be taking my role as a Nord Warrior a bit too seriously :O:

Breeze through your hair? Pah, my deadric helm prevents that. :O:

Only thing that gives my warrior a hard time is mages. :haha: Only time I have to use health items to keep from dying.

I will not and cannot disagree.

But magic has been overpowered since morrowind. It is a by-product of the customization system that makes this magic system unique.

I tend to not use any magic unless it would be realistic for the character type to use. Even then I avoid any showstoppers. I avoid pure mage types, unless i am bored .

Just my personal house rules I guess.

I still run from giants.:D

This is exactly why I stopped playing as a mage. Magic is, essentialy, a second difficulty modifer. The game gets pretty boring, and quickly. Bethesda did take some steps to rein magic back in, like the elimination of custom spells, but after level 30 you are pretty much a god. Regardless of power, you shouldn't be one-shotting boss level enemies; that kind of gameplay just ruins the experience.

At level 33 and with Legendary deadric armor and ebony weapons, I realized I no longer have to run from giants. Although I still do because they do take big chunks of my health. I just run to a spot where I can get a quick shot in before he catches up. Giants don't count as human's so they're soul trappable. Quite an easy way to fill Azura's star with greater souls.

Other than that the only thing to really give me a challenge are mages who eat through my health(think magicka ignores armor)

Edit: Fists fights with full armor are a bit of a laugh. For one it takes a while to whittle down the enemies health with my fists(really need the perk), but they usually do minor to now damage because of the armor.

Yeah, with my stealth character I'm not using any magic whatsoever. Although I had to cheat my own rules a tiny bit and use flame for the theives guild quest.. is there any other way to catch those things on fire... seriously there needs to be a non magic way to do that.

I think the game assumes everyone gets the basic flame spell. They still kind of lead you by the hand in quests. I couldn't think of another way as I came across that. (Was still fun terrorizing those shopkeepers, I felt like Tony Soprano)

The true challenge is getting to the quest area without getting distracted by side quests. My journal is a mess!:O:

I randomly do any quests that come my way, have joined no guild/faction I did all that with morrowind and oblivion, so this time I am avoiding them but playing this way I am leveling up very slow and I still don't have a gear set yet just the odd Dwarven pieces I get from end quest chests probably why I am lvling up slow my gear is rubbish. If I could play every night might be different but another family member plays skyim on this pc as well. I also make it a habit of running to the quest area instead of the shortcuts fast travel as for me the best part of this game is running around in the wild Ive given up on a horse as ive had two that have died from sticking their nose in a fight. For me I don't want this game to end and I think the way I am playing it probably never will. :roll:

I read here of players who have reach lvl 30 something one is on lvl 48! :rock:

I only just hit 20 last night. My smithing is pushing just near 81, looking forward to getting Deadric so I can craft a full set of that. Then I'll just wade into battle and slaughter my enemies.

I joined up with the Companions of Whiterun for a few quests last night. Interesting storyline that leaves much loot in a dungeon so I'm going to have to make a few trips there and back again selling stuff and plundering. Though I refuse to join the Circle, don't want a non human on my first run through.

Funny story, I lit out to mages college (only to discover I couldn't get in due to not having enough magicka to cast the spell required, bloody magic users) and had to take down a dragon just after I arrived in town. Looted him and headed back to Whiterun where another Dragon was waiting for me, which was good because I got Lydia to give me a hand killing it. Now there's a massive dragons skeleton just next door to Breezehome. I've now killed 1 storyline dragon and 3 random ones.

I have a level 48 "ArchMage" and Now a level 20 Assassin. Leveling goes quick for me. By the time I leave the first quest (Golden Claw) I'm level 9-10, and then by the time I make my way to High Horothgar I'm in the high teens. Just got to Ivarstead killed a few wolves and popped level 20.

Without spoiling anything -

Make sure you do all of Aela's quests for the Companions before talking to anyone else in the guild/doing any other quests. I'm stuck with the quest named "Retrieval" with no way of completing it and no one else will give me any quests with that one open. I've essentially broken the entire Companions questline.

Getting charged by a bear as a mage. "Everybody stay calm, let me just go ahead and turn my hands into explosive force of nature and take care of this pest."

Getting charged by a bear as an assassin. "Oh god, oh god, run faster, much faster.... please come on WHY CANT I JUMP ON THAT LEDGE ITS SO FREAKIN CLOSE!!! **** Mauled by a bear... I'm dead."

Spoilers follow
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Did you attack the Silver Hand garrison at Driftshade Refuge while completing the quest? That will break the line as it is used in Purity of Revenge. The same thing happened to me, so I had to use a previous save and complete the line up to that point agian, but leaving Driftshade alone. The questline proceeded normally for me.