How many times have you told yourself, “this time, I’m going to play as this other race, and I’m going to focus on this other build?” Choosing a different race seems to go okay. For the first ten or so hours, you might successfully play in another style too. Yet somehow, so many people keep coming back to the same build. It’s almost funny how many players seem to get stuck in this cycle, myself included. You’d think this wouldn’t happen, considering most of us try different builds in the first place because we love the game but got bored with our last character. So why exactly is this the case?
You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Till It’s Gone
There’s a reason that our first play through was done in the style that it was. It’s our favorite way to play, right? Yes, it gets boring after many hours of gameplay, but as soon as you try to move on to playing a different style, you start missing all the stuff that you were able to do the first time. All it takes is one moment of relying on the bow and arrows to shoot an enemy from a distance while in sneak mode, and bam—you’re right back into setting yourself up to be a thief or assassin again. And it's not that you necessarily can't accomplish the tasks without it, but as soon as you relapse, you remember how fun it was the first time around.
Something’s Just Not Quite Right
You had a blast playing however many hundreds of hours of Skyrim with the first playthrough. You want a different experience, but don’t want to stop playing Skyrim altogether, so playing with a different build should satisfy that craving, right? Unfortunately, playing the exact same game and quests with a slightly less-favored build doesn’t seem to cut it for a lot of people. For example, if it was so great when you played as a thief, is it really going to be so much more fun playing as a warrior with a combat style that you like less?
The Game Is Legitimately Harder With A Different Build
Unless you’re going from some other build to that of the thief—which is debatably the easiest build to get through the game with, since nothing ever sees you if you have a high sneak level—the game is going to get more difficult. For some, that could be a welcomed change. But many players enjoy the relaxing feel of the game, and they’re looking to make the experience different, not necessarily more difficult. Most of the time, enemies are not all that hard to defeat. But if you’re up against a boss after you’ve been used to being able to kill them from a distance…
Obviously, there are exceptions. If you’re one of those people who love to play a bunch of different builds and can successfully do so, I honestly envy you. I’ll be ecstatic if I ever manage to stop shooting people with my bow while in sneak mode.