Requiem makes you realize how badly vanilla Skyrim scales

[WhiterunModder]

I'm on my third Requiem playthrough and I just hit level 30, and honestly I can't go back to vanilla anymore. Not because Requiem is perfect - it's got its own jank - but because vanilla's scaling is so transparently broken once you see it.

Like, in vanilla you hit level 20 and suddenly bandits with iron daggers are still threatening you because the game just... decides they scale with you infinitely. But also they don't, because you're also scaling, so nothing ever feels dangerous or earned. You're just watching two numbers go up. Requiem at least commits to the bit - enemies have hard caps, you have to respect them, and a bandit camp at level 5 is genuinely different from one at level 25 because the bandits aren't magically getting better gear and perks.

The weird part is going back to vanilla after Requiem and realizing how much of the "difficulty" was just artificial stat bloat. A draugr deathlord in vanilla is only scary because it has 500 HP, not because it's actually a threat. In Requiem it's scary because it uses shouts and you have to actually play around them.

Anyone else tried making vanilla harder with mods and just given up because the fundamental scaling is rotten? Or am I just overthinking this and should let people enjoy things.

 

[DragonbornVet]

Yeah, Requiem spoils you hard on this. Once you see how badly vanilla's leveled lists work, it's tough to unsee. The thing that gets me is that vanilla tries to have it both ways - enemies scale with you, but also there's this hard cap on their gear tier, so you end up in this weird middle ground where nothing feels consistent. A bandit chief at level 40 is wearing steel plate while you're in daedric, and the game just... doesn't care that that makes no sense.

That said, Requiem's approach has its own problems. Hitting a zone that's just locked behind your level is frustrating in a different way, and some of those hard caps feel arbitrary. But you're right that it commits to a philosophy, and that's way more interesting than vanilla's wishy-washy scaling.

I think vanilla's real issue is that it was designed for a much shorter playthrough, back when people maybe hit level 30 and stopped. Once you're pushing toward 50+ hours, the seams show. If you want something between vanilla and full Requiem overhaul, there are lighter mods that just tweak leveled lists - they don't fix everything, but they at least make enemy variety feel earned rather than random stat inflation.

Nah, you're not overthinking it. Scaling design actually matters once you're aware of it. Just maybe don't be that guy telling vanilla players their game is broken - let them have fun with their 500 HP draugrs.