The Difficulty of Difficulty

[Dambuster]

Basically I'm curious about what the difficulty level changes to make the game more difficult? Is it simply an increase in your opponents skill levels and accuracy of their hits? Is there AI more intelligent? Will they block when on a lower difficulty they wouldn't have? Can they detect me more easily when I'm sneaking? Are enemies more likely to complete finishing moves on me? Will they attack more intelligently with their choice of weapons? Do traps do more damage? Are enemies more likely to use better weapons? Will those who can use types of magic that cause more damage to me dependant on my resistances?

 

Anyway you can see what I'm getting at please enlighten me!

[KratosAurion777]

Actually it just change 2 thing : The amount of dmg you deal and the amount of dmg your opponents deal to you , like in Oblivion .

 

I don't know the exact number because i always played on master ( and now Master x 4 http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4406 ) but i guess You deal 2-3 time less dmg and your opponent do 2-3 time more dmg than in Adept .

Edited December 26, 2011 by KratosAurion777

[SirFrank114]

I know there are those of you that play everything at maximun difficulty all the time. For me, that is a distraction not a challenge. My understanding is you can only get to level 100. ( Yes/No ?) If so, you can not master more than a few skills. Why not have the difficulty level be tied to extra skill points such as Master difficulty give 2 or 3 skill points per level, Expert, every other level, ect. Have it tied to the last level so as not to "cheat" the system such as leveling to master just before going up. I would then be much more interested in playing at the higher levels. In other words, gaining extra skills based on difficulty. Maybe someone could come up with a mod for that,

[Karmine]

100 is only max for Skills, Player Level is max 81 and half... You need to get every skill to 100 to reach level 81

 

To reach a new level you need Experience, getting 28 in a skill equal to getting 28 Experience. To level you need (25 * YourLevel) + 75 Experience so just to reach level 81 you need 2075 Experience points.

 

Also the higher difficulty you play the faster you level up in combat skills. If you are playing on easiest you new so few hits to kill your enemies you level up slowly in combat skills so sometimes the main leveling up comes from Smithing/Enchanting/Alchemy. Leveling up those skills will increase enemies level but not increase your combat strength directly.

[thesapien]

Adept, the middle setting, damage dealt is 1x and damage received is 1x, so no multipliers, just character stats. As you go up or down in difficulty settings you get multipliers of .5x, .75x, 1.5x, and 2x, basically adding another calculation to make things easier or harder. I like this method because it doesn't change the behavior of the AI or spawning rates or anything else.

[thesapien]

100 is only max for Skills, Player Level is max 81 and half... You need to get every skill to 100 to reach level 81

 

To reach a new level you need Experience, getting 28 in a skill equal to getting 28 Experience. To level you need (25 * YourLevel) + 75 Experience so just to reach level 81 you need 2075 Experience points.

 

Also the higher difficulty you play the faster you level up in combat skills. If you are playing on easiest you new so few hits to kill your enemies you level up slowly in combat skills so sometimes the main leveling up comes from Smithing/Enchanting/Alchemy. Leveling up those skills will increase enemies level but not increase your combat strength directly.

 

That's an interesting point you make at the end. I think you may be right in many cases but wrong in many others. It depends, doesn't it? On easier settings, there's less reason for smithing, enchanting, and alchemy. On easier settings it's easier to just fly through the game. Seems I can think of many types of players that would prove you correct but many types that might not. Also, an aside, not all enemies level up with you, right? It depends on who, what, and where; like wolves never do, yes?