i don't buy a game so that i can make a game.

I don't really want to be able to make potions anywhere- I'm quite happy having a "lab". In fact, I think the current "lab" idea is very cool, in a mad scientist / Chinese herbalist way.

However, while I don't find alchemy itself tedious or mind having to use a lab, I do hate hauling around all those ingredients (the weight adds up, and it seems silly). If I'm working in a lab (at least one I own) I should be able to use any of the ingredients found in that lab without having to pick them up first. That's why people HAVE labs, after all - its a place to keep all the crap you work with!
As such, one of the first mods I plan to do when CK comes out is to make it so the houses you own have proper labs that allow use of ingredients stored in them without having to pick them up (or, more annoyingly, store them all again individually afterwords).

Try the Experimenter Perk.

I enjoy alchemy. I also enjoy cooking and wish they did more with that. The one problem I have with alchemy is it not showing any properties of the 3rd ingredient when you select it. I find it tedious having to unselect my second ingredient so I can see what properties I have discovered on a 3rd ingredient.

I didn't get into alchemy until Oblivion, when I fell in love with it, and I still love it in Skyrim. One thing I miss from Oblivion is having the potion's weight be based on the weight of the ingredients. It sort of rewarded you for paying attention to those sort of details... and it does annoy me a bit in Skyrim to know that if I grind many of those ingredients down into potions, I'll walk away from the table more encumbered than when I approached it. But, I'm sure a mod will fix it.

I just hate constantly entering into my inventory and exiting combat to use the potions, I like the process of making potions quite well, discovering the properties of each ingredient is pretty cool.

For those who want every possible detail of Skyrim's alchemy, potions, even where the ingredients are, etceteras, if you don't want to do it all yourself, or you can at least get some hints ... then this is the total expert to go to. He also did it with Oblivion.

It will give an idea of what you can really do, and what fantastic potions can be made in the end.
Darliandor's Alchemy Lab (http skyrim.melian.cc/)

You're not making the right potions then. Alchemy skill actually increases faster when you make strong potions.

I only create , weakness to fire,frost,shock and magic. I know the ingreadients by memory and know what they look like and where to find them.

Its not useless... I make potent invisibilty, paralysis,lingering damge, and damage health potions...


And I might add, inisibilty potions are a quick way to make loads of money at the beginning of the game...

It's well done, like pretty much all of the crafting in this game. But the skill takes way too long to level up, it feels like an MMO grind. I found that Enchanting levels up far more naturally as the game progresses, until you can no longer break down items to discover enchantments at any rate. And at this point you have enough soul gems to enchant the gear of the whole Imperial Legion. If wanted to level Alchemy I had to create hundreds of potions out of thousands of ingredients, it just takes too long.

I have a terrible habit of picking flowers and catching torchbugs, but I've never been interested in Alchemy in this game.

I've heard it's useful for making Blacksmith and Enchanting potions to help with creating the best gear possible though, but I'd rather not make the game too easy, or have any interest in playing on Master.

If you are having to make hundreds of potions to level then you are making the wrong potions.
Make potions that have contradicting affects such as Damage magicka and fortify conjuration in the same potion.
I think if I remember right that potion takes blue mountain flower and blue butterfly wings.
Both easy to find ingredients and levels your alchemy skill pretty fast.

I would never actually USE alchemy for my character. But I always pick flowers, catch butterflies and loot corpses for alchemy supplies and then make random potions for money.

I agree with you that I wouldn't like finding the right supplies just for a silly potion when I can get most effects from my spells.

I can see, however, where an assassin with no magic would find great use from alchemy.

Oh, by the way death bell, vamp dust and Luna moth are my favorite!

A good potion to enable more weight to be carried is probably the most useful to have. It was for me in IV.

It is tedious but since my alchemy level is so low, making money off it seems like it won't happen anytime soon.

Nope, I love it! But I approach it a bit differently from most folks. I cheated checked the wiki for all the ingredients I'd need for the poisons and potions that would be useful for my character (mostly slow, paralyze [which I rarely use anymore because it's OP], fortify marksman, lingering magicka damage, lingering health damage), and only collect those. I know where they all spawn, and it's fun going to a specific area to collect the ingredients for the stuff I'm short on. Plus poisons add a whole new tactical dimension to combat (particularly for a non-caster character).

I guess it would get really tedious having to collect every single flower and mushroom you came across. That would svck hard.

I spend plenty of time outdoors and just pick up any ingredients that I see. When I'm back in town, I'll start making potions. I don't go out, specifically looking for a type of ingredient. I'm happy if I can make more health/stamina/magicka potions than I use in battle, and the other potions are sold to merchants.

The process isn't all that different than raiding dungeons and hauling everything back to town. I actually prefer using alchemy as an income souce, as the ingredients are lighter (and potentially more profitable), and I don't have to run back to town to avoid being over-encumbered. I'll go back to town to start making potions when it's convenient, and daytime.

My Nord is a warrior, with little attention paid to the magic skills so far, and so it's nice having ~50 health potions that restore 94 health at any given time.

Out of interest, what's tactical about using poisons?

As far as i can see, it's just a case of getting the health of your enemies down to zero quicker. Maybe i'm missing something here, i dunno. Or do you paralyze/slow one enemy so you can concentrate on another?

i'd say placing runes in certain places such as choke points, then luring enemies is tactical, but applying a poison to a weapon is, well, just applying poison to a weapon. Hey, like i said, maybe I'm missing something.

You can, for example, apply lingering magicka / health damage on a mage to deplete his magicka / health while you kite a melee dude with a slow poison, and you can paralyze / fear as crowd control. I don't use frenzy poison because I never felt the need for it, but that has a lot of uses as well.

Are you eating unknown ingredients first?

Eat everything atleast once and alchemy is easily workable.