Difficulty levels and playstyles. (no not another "hardcore" thread)

[Fate]

i swear by master lol. seriously, if you ever make a new character, try starting on master and dont take it off, i know it will suck that you cant kill whatever you want whenever you want. and you will be forced to run from many battles, but when you come back later and kick their ass you feel accomplished. (at least i do)

Im saving for all the hardcore gaming later, but I may do that seeing as how my destruction is almost mastered.

 

[Black-Tongue]

I love master difficulty.

I make and enchant lots of the same item to raise my skills. Enemies level to you so what's the big deal? It doesn't seem 'natural' to me to specialize in a skill and not practice it. Your needs evolve far more quickly than your materials if you do it that way.

Play however you want, it's just not for me.

An Idea though, My current character is pretty self reliant. Find my own ore, hunt for my own furs and soul gems/ ingredients etc. That way any skill grinding is more like an opportunity instead of something that you just do out of habit. I might buy some of the more rare ores or ingredients or empty soul gems periodically though.

 

[brandon]

I love master difficulty.

I make and enchant lots of the same item to raise my skills. Enemies level to you so what's the big deal? It doesn't seem 'natural' to me to specialize in a skill and not practice it. Your needs evolve far more quickly than your materials if you do it that way.

Play however you want, it's just not for me.

An Idea though, My current character is pretty self reliant. Find my own ore, hunt for my own furs and soul gems/ ingredients etc. That way any skill grinding is more like an opportunity instead of something that you just do out of habit. I might buy some of the more rare ores or ingredients or empty soul gems periodically though.

thats how i got my smithing up to lvl 100. i didnt do any quest till i could make the dragonscale armor. and i did laps around whiterun for the pelts too. that way your not just grinding through 1 skill. you gain lvls in combat skills and armor too. the enchanting is different though. i just make about 10-20 daggers enchant them and sell them. once i get the enchantments i want for my armor im gonna make another set of dragonscale with muffle on the boots, 1 handed improvement on the gauntlets, archery improvement on the helm, and health regen on the armor. then ill turn up the difficulty to widowmaker as someone else has called it.

 

[Dagmar]

crafting a bajillion daggers, making a million identical otions that will never be used and destroying every magic item you find to enchant those bajillion daggers so you can max your perks and stats and then make a potion to improve your smithing and enchanting so you can make "uber-armour"... is an exploit.

Using an in game mechanic exactly as it was designed is not an exploit. It's no more of an exploit to smith repetitively, enchant repetitively, or practice alchemy repetitively to improve one's skills in those areas, than it is to hack and slash mobs repetitively.

It's also reflective of how one improves skills in real life so from a role playing POV it's no less legitimate for someone to work as a smith/enchanter/alchemist and ultimately creator of powerful gear than it is to work as a Companion, thief, assassin or mage. The concept of a hero who starts off as something less than an adventurer is hardly a novel concept in fantasy literature and neither is the concept of incorporating those aspects of the character's life into the main story line.

Not judging...

Uh, yeah you are. You're misapplying a term that has a relatively objective meaning, and a negative connotation to it, to a style of play that you don't like to make it out as something that it isn't.

Not appealing to your sensibilities and upsetting a narrow vision of immersion is not the definition of an exploit. You may as well claim that anything anybody does in playing the game that you don't like or can't relate to is an exploit.