Morrowind only ever felt difficult in the beginning, when I was bewildered by the exploration potential, and tried to swim out to an island or stumbled into a Sixth House base. I found solace on Gamefaq's forums in the teachings of SR71, who ought to be canonized by Bethesda. Yes, it can be satisfying the first time you OHK Vivec 30 minutes off the boat, but the beauty of reverse variable magnitude enchantments is that they are far more scalable when all you want to do is survive a mudcrab ambush with flair.

My recommendation is to play through organically your first time, because the depth and breadth of allowed exploits is a game unto itself. I wouldn't start spamming INT potions until you've at least tried to handle the final parts of the MQ on your own.