MINI WALL O TEXT...
Hm, I always played a mage character and never thought the game was difficult at any level... in fact, the higher was my level the easier it got. I NEVER played a meele character but if it's actually more difficult I might give it a try. Mages are overpowered at higher levels, shield and magic resistance spells make them immune to basically everything, also a very few enemies have resistance to paralyze, which is the most broken spell in the game. You can add paralyze for 1sec to any offensive spell and then you will have to try hard to die in this game... it's even easier with DLC and Shivering isles which gives you the access to previously unobtainable spells like reflect damage, drain attribute, reanimate etc... =(
So, in short, is meele character more fun than a mage?
its alot better if you mix urself up a little bit with might and magic. if you go the pure warrior route, the game does get harder, because your damage output is not as high as a mage, and while ur armor is heavy enough to protect you ok, low agility will usually stagger you often. you dont even need complex spells either, just simple touch based spells that can deal damage through shields, use shield wall tactics, whiff punish, and get ur illusion high enough to learn night eye(or get a ring of night eye.) so that u dont have to worry about seeing in the dark, and after that ur basically capable of handling any challenge, even if it does turn out that ur agility ends up being crap.
to take care of mobs, if u can, u can bottleneck them in doorways or corners or you can injure a few of them really quickly right off the bat with what little magic you do have to get them out of the way more easily.
other than that, i wouldnt bother with magic for a warrior except the basics required for enchanting. you should strive for ur 1st set of fully enchanted equipment ASAP to be prepared to deal with daedra such as clanfear(particularily enchanted armor for added defense, but a magic weapon helps get them out of the way quicker.
for healing, as i said in my 1st post try to depend on potions. not only will this give you healing in a pinch, but it also gives you a reason to work on ur alchemy skill(at max level u can make potions that fully restore fatigue, magika and health all in 1 potion. and dont even get me started on the poisons u are capable of making) because ur never going to get restoration high enough to compete with ur high level health bar(unless u make a point of leveling up restoration)
all in all, yea being a warrior is tough, and it takes some brains to figure out the best way to handle situations. but once u get the hang of things, it is extremely thouroghly enjoyble to play a warrior. soon u'll be seeing how far u can crank the difficulty up and still survive, like i do.
ur 3 main stats should be:
-block(shield is the most important part of ur armor since it becomes indestructible while equipped at i think journeyman level? 125% effeciency shield = free guaranteed armor + magic effect)
-weapon(i choose swords usually. enchantment does help, but isnt required incase u find ur weapons undercharged)
-armor(usually heavy is best for a warrior, the extra protection helps alot early on and ur typically going to max out ur strength rating very quickly, even if you dont train)
other important skills include:
-athletics(fatigue regen)
-destruction(touch based spells for provoking and withering down enemies. also they go through shields)
-armorer(to keep ur equipment at tip top 125% effeciency at all times)
sneak(a nice, easy way to get ur agility up. u shud at least invest some time in this for the thieves guild or dark brotherhood anyways. plus getting the jump on a group of enemies can make things alot easier)
-alchemy(to make sure u have the most effective way of healing urself in a pinch. plus the little extra magika gained from intelligence doesnt hurt at all.)
and optional skills that are cool to have:
-acrobatics(doing rolls and stuff is cool)
-alteration(walk on water, feather, and breathe underwater is pretty much all u need)
-illusion(night eye pretty much. if ur magika is high enough u can spam paralysis spells at high levels for free damage)
-mysticism(pretty much just soul trap and detect life is what u need)
so basically ur endurance will max out very fast due to having at least 2 endurance dependent skills. ur strength will come easy, and speed, well isnt really important anyways since ur the tank. destruction will come over time, no need to force it. i suggest u train illusion and mysticism only for those spells i mentioned, but its not needed or required.. alteration is merely a convenience, so u can build up athletics better. acrobatics is just cool, not needed(i never use it lol) and really, the only thing that u seriously need to try to train(and it isnt even that hard to do) is sneak to make sure that ur agility rating is high enough. other than that u really dont have to force anything with a warrior type. so to simplify what i said:
strength: comes naturally
willpower: comes naturally
endurance: comes naturally
speed: insignificant for a warrior
intelligence: comes naturally
personality: insignificant
agility: the only thing u must make sure u train. this can be easily leveled by using sneak.
luck: for your own judgement