Am I better off carrying one melee weapon or investing in stagger resistance perks to fight off melee attackers? As it stands, I often have to either shoot melee attackers before they reach me or beat them back with a Va’Ruun Painblade because they probably won’t give me enough time to reload my shotgun.
Just invest a little bit to make the quick melee attack with your gun do good damage. When you’re rushed, give 'em a smack to stun ‘em, then blow their freakin’ head off.
There is also a Reloading skill that significantly speeds up reloading even after just the first level of it. I suggest investing points in it. Especially if you mostly use shotties or large guns.
Actually, I think I should tell everyone reading this right now to actually look at the skills. All of 'em. Even if you’ve played every Bethesda game before; they are structured differently and there are entirely new skills that have no equal in past games. Some of them are extremely useful.