My current character has both smithing and enchanting, so that I can make my own armor and weapons at any time, which is great.

But now I'm starting to think this is ruining the game for me.. I mean, when I explore a dungeon and find a chest, I don't even care to get a closer look at the items inside. I just grab them all to disenchant or sell later, then spend that money on materials and gems to craft. Everything I find in the world I basically see as materials for crafting. Money inside a chest will become crafting. Magical items inside a chest will also become crafting. Where is the fun of finding a powerful magic item to use? Where is the fun of reaching a new town and rushing to the blacksmith to see if he's selling something nice? I'm missing this..

So, I'm considering to create a new character, and this time gimp myself by not using any crafting skill at all, just using items I find or buy.

I would like to know if someone else tried that? And also how hard is to really get magical items you need without crafting (only trusting the randomness of the game)?

I was thinking about that too. On my first character, I had a very high smithing skill. My equipment never changed, I never found anything better than what I could make, so looting because an exercise just about making money. Sure, I love looting for gold as much as the next guy, but the lack of the need to loot or the excitement of cool new equipment svcked.

My new character, a dark elf backstabbing stealth mage, won't be using Smithing, maybe a bit of Enchantment, and eventually some Alchemy.

I haven't started any crafting yet. Doing just fine, so far.

Only crafting skill I use is alchemy, and I'm surviving fine just finding weapons and armor in dungeons and shops.

I'm about to give up on my character in which I've invested 100h and start a new playthrough without crafting professions, but everything else the same.

I was thinking about this too. My first character has a high smithing skill and I was getting frustrated at all the loot I found being lackluster. I think with my new character I'll ignore smithing completely. You just don't get that exhilarating sensation of finding a new piece of your dream armour set when you can craft the whole thing within 30 seconds.

I've often had my characters get by solely on their finds, since doing so insures you rarely, if ever, become stupidly OP compared to the opposition, however I tend to have the world's worst luck when it comes to random loot, which makes playing this way a bit difficult in the middle levels. As such I really like the crafting system, since it removes that issue, however I do recognize that by going that route I'm going to end up with an insanely powerful character.

I already know that I'll have at least one character who does live entirely 'off the land', however I want a better understanding of some of the game's systems first; I play Dead-is-Dead, and such a character will be at a material disadvantage for quite some time compared to my crafters. I also plan to make said character a Battlemage, which is somewhat complicated to build and play properly (at least for me) without said systemic knowledge.