Is there any ways to make myself intentionally weaker without playing like an idiot?
Like, still using my skills, armor, etc. Questing isn't fun anymore when I'm melting through the """final boss""" in .05 seconds
You can weaken yourself, of course. Wearing off meta sets, lower quality armor, items of lower levels,... But there's no debuff button, that will make you weaker despite building for being strong. If you build your character to hit hard, then NPCs will fall quickly.
Not really, you are going to need to handicap your character somehow. Gear purchased from Fighter's or Mage's Guild, no improvements.Limited number of skills usable and no weaving, animations must complete etc. No passives from multiple sources. No roll dodging, if you want to move out of aoe then turn and run.
The game is designed so as many people as possible can complete quests. If you want it to be a challenge then your character needs to be gaining a lot less power (attributes, skill points, passives and player knowledge of combat mechanics) along the way. There is difficult content, but the Devs don't expect everyone to be successful in HM Vet trials.
Poorly optimize your build.
I legitimately do this on the character I use for story content because it lets me play the game well while still being moderately challenged by it—though I use that term loosely. The overland is pretty easy so I find it to be more fun when combat takes longer.
To that end, I spread out my attribute points (40 Magicka, 10 health, 14 stamina) to build a primarily Magicka based Dragonknight rocking a greatsword and sword+board. It looks badass, it's great for roleplaying, and it dramatically slows down my time to kill.
My skills tend to focus nearly entirely on AoE abilities with few "when slotted" bonuses while still being mainly DoT oriented, which means I can DD in content but probably won't be jumping into vSE anytime soon.
Currently, I'm rocking 2h/2m/3l with Telvanni Efficiency, Prior Theirric, Master's Perfected Greatsword, and backbar Perfected Whorl of the Depths. Eat a crown fortifying meal for stats—31k Magicka, 29k health, 25k stamina.
Eruption:Reverse Slice:Burning Talons:Carve:Stampede: Flawless Dawnbreaker
Inevitable Detonation:Draw Essence:Scalding Rune:Soul Trap or Engulfing Flames (depending on how many empty soul gems I have):Ashen Claw:Standard of Might
By anyone else's standards Tyra is a god awful build, but she is way she is because most of the content I do is story content and it's so much more fun this way.
So as for making yourself intentionally weaker, try to make poor builds. Like a Magicka-based Dragonknight with a stamina focus and a greatsword or something.
For solo questing, play in 1st person view.
Use white quality gear/weapons and make sure no CP is invested.
Are there no interesting sets that would provide cool, fun bonuses without much actual performance increase?
Maybe Use crafted sets and leave them as white. That gives you some options for fun gear combos with only the basic stat buffs.
Do a skill and ability reset and just add as you need or start a new character from acratch
You can weaken yourself, of course. Wearing off meta sets, lower quality armor, items of lower levels,... But there's no debuff button, that will make you weaker despite building for being strong. If you build your character to hit hard, then NPCs will fall quickly.
Use potions with poison ingredients
Play elden ring
get the godslayer title
Unslot your CP and see what happens. Might be similar to playing battlegrounds?
Basic starter zone gear would probably work
Not really, you are going to need to handicap your character somehow. Gear purchased from Fighter's or Mage's Guild, no improvements.Limited number of skills usable and no weaving, animations must complete etc. No passives from multiple sources. No roll dodging, if you want to move out of aoe then turn and run. The game is designed so as many people as possible can complete quests. If you want it to be a challenge then your character needs to be gaining a lot less power (attributes, skill points, passives and player knowledge of combat mechanics) along the way. There is difficult content, but the Devs don't expect everyone to be successful in HM Vet trials.
what i did is play as a tank and have a dps companion
White gear, no cp, you could go for fun/funny sets like the pet sword or cold harbours favorite, or you could just not have any complete sets at all.
Also could use the potions that give you a negative effect
Poorly optimize your build. I legitimately do this on the character I use for story content because it lets me play the game well while still being moderately challenged by it—though I use that term loosely. The overland is pretty easy so I find it to be more fun when combat takes longer. To that end, I spread out my attribute points (40 Magicka, 10 health, 14 stamina) to build a primarily Magicka based Dragonknight rocking a greatsword and sword+board. It looks badass, it's great for roleplaying, and it dramatically slows down my time to kill. My skills tend to focus nearly entirely on AoE abilities with few "when slotted" bonuses while still being mainly DoT oriented, which means I can DD in content but probably won't be jumping into vSE anytime soon. Currently, I'm rocking 2h/2m/3l with Telvanni Efficiency, Prior Theirric, Master's Perfected Greatsword, and backbar Perfected Whorl of the Depths. Eat a crown fortifying meal for stats—31k Magicka, 29k health, 25k stamina. Eruption:Reverse Slice:Burning Talons:Carve:Stampede: Flawless Dawnbreaker Inevitable Detonation:Draw Essence:Scalding Rune:Soul Trap or Engulfing Flames (depending on how many empty soul gems I have):Ashen Claw:Standard of Might By anyone else's standards Tyra is a god awful build, but she is way she is because most of the content I do is story content and it's so much more fun this way. So as for making yourself intentionally weaker, try to make poor builds. Like a Magicka-based Dragonknight with a stamina focus and a greatsword or something.
Vampirism is one way to up the ante. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVF-VhsPKj4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVF-VhsPKj4)