If the only way mages had to regenerate their Magicka was by consuming filled soul gems then this might be closer to a fair comparison. Generally in RPGs part of the balancing factor for this is in the usage: melee weapon users must by definition be in melee range to deal their damage and can typically strike only a single target at a time, whereas a magic user can work from range and can affect a large area simultaneously. You don't see for example D&D's Longsword+1 needing charges to maintain; not even if it's a Fiery Longsword + 1. Of course, magic is also (ahem) "somewhat" more powerful in D&D, the balancing act there is very different, but the point remains - regardless of resource costs, a melee user's damage is never "free", it comes with the "costs" associated with getting into and staying in melee range. Even if you are convinced that additionally, a charges system is right for balance in TES/Skyrim, I'd be very surprised to see anyone argue that the current soulgem system was anywhere close to ideal. The existing system is chock full of "busywork" chores - like the sort of inventory management that's necessary for efficient soul capture if you aren't using this mod, and I think that's really where complaints stem from. I don't believe that "player inconvenience" is the right path to go down for balancing, not as the exclusive method anyway. There's other elements of the game's design that interact with this too. In Skyrim, it is trivially possible for Destruction magic users to gear to make their destruction casts free. Melee weapon users will always need a steady diet of souls to keep their weapons charged. As I alluded to at the start, Magicka also regenerates passively over time, whereas charging an enchanted weapon is a manual, multistep process. A bigger problem (imho) is that non-magical weaponry can be improved via smithing to a point where it overshadows any damage possible by Destruction magic. The simple comparison falls apart when you start looking at the details. I'd love to be able to round this post out with my suggestion for improving the system but I'm not there yet. This mod is a great start though.

Been busy - I should have the update out on (or before) Boxing Day.

I don't believe that "player inconvenience" is the right path to go down for balancing

Well if you put it that way...

I didn't suggest the wholesale removal of any game mechanic; implying that I did and then arguing against that position while ignoring any points I actually did make is just straw manning.

(I also used paragraphs. It seems a lesser spotted quotation-mangler has been at your post!)

It's certainly necessary to "inconvenience" the player to an extent; if there's no "inconvenience" at all, there's no game, it would just be an interactive movie. But using player inconvenience and micro-management elements exclusively as a means to balance something is just terrible design - in practice it means balancing things by deliberately making them less fun. That's completely insane if your intention is to entertain.

No other system requires so fine a degree of inventory management as managing souls and soul gems in the unmodded game, and this is exacerbated by the horrible UI. Charging a weapon mid-combat can totally destroy the flow of that combat - potions can at least be placed on the quick menu and hotkeyed, but you must use the main inventory to recharge a weapon. The details of managing gem and soul sizes (without this mod) mean that every time you loot a soul gem, you have to consider whether to keep it in your inventory based on your expected opposition and your advanced knowledge of their soul sizes.

This is a system that adds complexity without depth and player inconvenience without any feel of there being a challenge to overcome (unless your preferred roleplay is the Dovahkiin as a filing clerk, in which case good luck and have fun.) That also means that it's a ripe area for future mods of course

Back to watching this space!

Still no plans for a Nexus up-load? It's not like you haven't got an account

Hi.

I downloaded this mod (which is great idea btw), but it seems to have had the side effect of disabling my Azura’s Star – it is as if the mod treats Azura’s Star as a large soul gem and won’t allow small souls to enter it.

Has anybody else had this problem and, if so, would it be something that could be fixed or worked around somehow?

It’s a shame if it can’t as it would mean that anyone who uses Azura Star probably won’t be able to use this mod and will have to go back to the needless ‘grind’ of dropping soul gems that get filled with small souls.

Has anybody else had this problem and, if so, would it be something that could be fixed or worked around somehow?

I'll make the Star an exception in the next version.

Can you make the value of the gems go up to the filled level when you trap them? Ah fancy mahself a prospector in the soul trade.
Nobody will get that reference.

Can you make the value of the gems go up to the filled level when you trap them? Ah fancy mahself a prospector in the soul trade. Nobody will get that reference.

Don't they already? I distinctly recall noting a difference in price b'ween filled and empty soul gems.