I put this one on game faqs board system for heads up:
I know this post is irrelevant because of timeliness but here's my 2 cents. If you're playing the PC version of the game, you could change the difficulty any time you like. i don't know if its applicable with the xbox. Also, plan well on what skills and stats you're going to invest to. Because, later on, when you're allocation are a disaster, you're game might also be a disaster. You have the right to explore so limit yourself if you encounter an an enemy 7-10 levels above you. leave that area immediately. It only means that you're not yet prepared to kill them yet. If you tried and did triumph though, then go ahead and kill them =D.
My estimate for the number of dungeons would be: 20 or less. You are a dragon and usually on the first part you'll have the freedom to fly on the fields so dungeons are not numerous. Also, on those statistics, they are sometimes huge and sometimes small and it does not include those dungeons with enemies on them (storage dungeons). You will be restricted on your movements for the expansion and there are estimated 6 dungeons in there. They are not that large though except in one case.
My advice on the open post is to hold as much as possible quest then finish it after you have killed all the enemies on the area. Its a fact that on this game you will lose the experience you will get from slaying the monsters after you gain a level. It's also a fact that you will receive the same experience from quest regardless of what level you are. For example, I'm a level one and I finished a quest that gives 100 exp it will also be the same exp I will receive even if I'm level 100. There's also the strategy of doing all the mind reads (recommended mind reads like increase in status point/skill point/quest related mind reads) before you undertake killing enemies. By then, you will have an experience debt so you can actually optimize your leveling up process.
If you really want to have a warrior build and don't want to use up health potions much, I'll suggest you go for a "hack-and-slash" build. 2 of my playthrough were hack and slash build. My skill allocation were only level 1 Whirlwind, all to life leech, all to bleed, all to regenerate, all to dual wield, level 1 mana leech, and put the rest to anything you want(lockpicks wisdom etc). For stat allocation, I advice you to always put 2 str/2 vit whenever you level up. Balance between them and check your equipment and do the math before you hit the 100 stat cap. If you do what I suggested, most of the battles you encounter will be a cakewalk even against the divine's army. That is if you also have considerable loots. If you want to click click click like I do just to get the story done with, I'll suggest this build.
