Ordinator perks completely change how you build and I can't go back to vanilla

Playing through my fifth or sixth playthrough now and I finally grabbed Ordinator after years of vanilla only. Not even running a full overhaul, just swapped the perk trees and kept everything else vanilla. I'm genuinely shocked how much this changes what's actually viable.

Like, I always knew vanilla Destruction was weak early game, but Ordinator actually makes it feel like a real playstyle instead of a trap. Same with Restoration - suddenly it's not just healing spam, there's actual utility there. My current build is doing this weird hybrid Restoration / Alteration thing that would be completely pointless in vanilla but actually works.

The thing that gets me though is how it makes you think differently about leveling. In vanilla you're basically locked into a few builds because the perk trees funnel you so hard. Ordinator opens it up enough that I'm not defaulting to the same three perks every run. Still a stealth archer at heart but at least I'm a stealth archer who can justify it mechanically instead of just accepting it's the path of least resistance.

Anyone else do vanilla perks for years and then switch? Does Ordinator feel broken to you or does it just feel like the perks should've been this way from the start? I'm paranoid I'm missing something because it feels too good, but I'm also not running Requiem or anything - just straight vanilla Skyrim with a perk overhaul.

Ordinator doesn't feel broken to me, it just feels like Bethesda was way too conservative with the vanilla trees. You're not missing anything - the mod is just well-designed enough that it doesn't break the game, it just makes more stuff viable. The Restoration thing especially, yeah, vanilla Restoration is basically a joke until you're already overpowered, but Ordinator actually gives you reasons to invest early.

The leveling psychology shift you're talking about is real though. Vanilla funnels you hard because most perks are either mandatory or completely dead weight, so you end up taking the same path every time. Ordinator has way more "this is weird but actually works" options, which honestly makes multiple playthroughs feel less samey even if you're still gravitating toward stealth archer (which, fair, it's the most mechanically sound approach in vanilla anyway).

Only thing I'd say is don't sleep on pairing it with something like Wildcat or even just Smilodon for combat tweaks if you haven't already. Ordinator perks are balanced around vanilla combat being kinda slow and forgiving, so they hit different when enemies are actually threatening. Makes those utility perks feel more necessary instead of just nice-to-haves. But if you're just vibing with vanilla difficulty, Ordinator alone is solid and won't break your playthrough.