Originally Posted by
Fhi
I miss Skyrim. I'm picking up this game again, but I'm kinda wondering if they fixed, or at least change certain things? Last I played was in March, so if anyone knows the answer to any of the following I'd be grateful:
1) Did they fix followers not leveling with you? I remember when I met Lydia at level 6, she'll forever be level 6. I found a few follower fixes mod, but want to make sure the original game did not already fix them.
Unfortunately this is still the case for the most part, however like you mentioned, there are plenty of mods and other things to do to get around the issue. If you have the PC version you can even fix your follower with console commands. When I play, I just manually edit my followers stats via console and to ensure they aren't OP, I try to keep them in line with my character stat wise/skill wise. I have also heard that if you disable a follower via a console command and after you fire them, and then re-enable them, they will supposedly "reset" and will start at what ever level you are when you pick them back up. Theres also the Wabbajack trick for this. Also, it seems like the new Dawnguard followers level with you and have no level limit unlike most of the vanilla followers. I can't confirm because I am still new with Dawnguard, but Durak the orc archer seems to be a cut above the typical vanilla followers.
2) Any essential mods that fixes game breaking bugs? I remember the game was riddled with uncompletable quests, events not starting, etc.
Check out the Unofficial Skyrim Patch. It has been going strong for a while and fixes a lot of those dumb things you mention. There are still plenty of bugs and issues, but this mod/patch definitely goes a long way to helping.
3) Is magic still garbage compared to melee? Magic had a damage cap (+50% I think, while melee could keep going up and up) and even Master spells were garbage.
Unfortunately magic still scales very poorly in late game. It is completely viable to go destruction, but once you get into the 30s you will encounter higher level enemies that will take long time to kill with magic. If you choose to go purely magic based, you will find that your illusion and conjuration schools of magic will end up more effective. To that end I actually created a pure mage that does not use any destruction at all and despite some issues in the early levels, i find the playstyle to be highly rewarding. On that note, there are mods out there however that buff magic and do more to further magic skills, even adding new spells. I know there are at least one or two mods that focus on balancing magic without making it overpowered though.
4) Any mods out there that amps up the difficulty (maybe make mobs that level higher than... what was it, 35ish?) I am really only interested in graphical mods and mods that improve QoL without breaking lore. I like as close to vanilla experience without the vanilla bugs as possible.