Hi, Cant decide

1.Which is faster if equipped with Shield&Sword?
2.And are there unlimited ingredients for healing?
3.What if i want to heal an NPC? Is it even necessary?? Just reminds me of Morrowind with all these "protect that NPC with a suicide syndrome" quests.

The idea of using stuff i could otherwise sell for money is just killing me.

If you have time and magicka : Restoration, moreso if you got the dual casting perk.

If you have 2 seconds to live : Alchemy.

Entirely situational, but I do tend to use the myriad of potions I pick up as currency.

Answer to 1- Alchemy: harder to raise than restoration, unless you have money / time.
2-Yes, since things in the world repopulate themselves over time..... shopkeepers / trainers / flora
3-restoration to heal another npc......there is a separate healing spell for this.

Warriors in battle use alchemy mostly.......cooking also.......plenty of stuff in the dungeons for that........you have to use a cook pot when in a city
or in your house........when you get married in game you can have wife cook stuff .....etc.

up to you, i would use alchemy

Alchemy, because restoration can't fortify skills anymore.

Alchemy is faster as it requires no hand and is done directly from the menu with benefits being provided instantly. You can literally heal as much as your potion stock will allow instantly. As for levelling Restoration increases extremely slowly even compared to the likes of Alchemy.

Ingredients (both items found laying around and harvest areas) and potions respawn and are very common items. Shops also restock their inventory every 2 days if I recall correctly

Healing an NPC can sometimes be beneficial as it gets downed followers up immediately and can be vital on quests where a follower can die. Restoration is best for healing followers.

Don't worry too much about money in Skyrim, it doesn't take long for you to be swimming in gold even if you are constantly buying Potions/Alchemy things.

I try to use restoration when I can, but when a tough enemy is beating on my nord and he needs healing quick, I have to pop a potion.

That's one thing that I miss about Oblivion; where I could cast a heal spell without having to unequip my shield and with minimal delay.

Depends on playstyle and how much effort you want to put in. Alchemy takes a bit of work. There are loads of healing potions lying about the place. NPCs that you escort are unkillable quite often (not always). If you have a lot of health, a somewhat stealthy playstyle, and decent Health regen, you don't need either really. If you are always going into danger, Restoration can be good.

You can also give your follower healing potions which he/she will use.

Up until a week ago, I was always using Restoration. I started using a Wood Elf Archer with an attempt to go strictly Alchemy. I have to say that Alchemy is much more versatile and effective in battle. If you're a Warrior, not only can you make hugely effective potions, you can also make great poisons for your weapons. I used http://rp.eliteskills.com/skyrim.html to make potions. I've also found that selling these various potions are a great way to make money compared to selling loot.

Alchemy can also make very good regeneration potions that you chug before a big fight and drastically reduce your need for further healing. Also Fortify your health etc. I ahve tried a lot to enjoy restoration more but it just kind of got butchered and I dont find ward spells all that useful.

Restoration is very limited, but still effective if you've got magicka to spare. Its only real use is healing and stamina restoration though. Kind of a lacking skill in Skyrim.
Alchemy's only limit is how many potions you can find, buy, and/or make - and carry. Most healing potions take effect instantly and can be used from inventory while paused, so you can spam potions to survive anything that doesn't one shot you. Not a particularly exciting way to play, somewhat tedious even, but it is effective. Alchemy makes many different effects and is one of the most powerful skills in the game due to being able to enhance almost anything(other skills, resistances, health/stam/magicka, etc.) considerably. You can also make fairly strong poisons with it. It beats restoration in versatility by a landslide.

I just used all the restore health potions I picked up from dungeon delves for my "OH S&#$ I'M ALMOST DEAD" moments, and used Restoration for all the rest.

yeah, im leaning strongly towards alchemy, but some inner voice is keeping me from using a skill with relies on consumables. Every time i tried it, it was a micromanaging hell.

I think the approach that's probably used by most people is the one that's most pragmatic, i.e. potions during a fight and restoration when out of it. That's what I do but it doesn't feel right. I kind of wish that they'd do something to address this as it does kill the immersion. The thought of drinking a potion in the middle of a fight is ridiculous really and the way that combat (which is meant to be real-time in these games) is paused while you do so is also immersion-breaking.

Personally I'd like them to take a new approach to this and rebalance the way that healing is approached. Disallow potions to be used during combat (or make it rely on a slow animation which would be suicide), rebalance (speed up) restoration spells to allow them to be more useable during a fight and shift the focus from "potions of healing" to potions of health regen" or similar. Of course I know I could "role-play" this myself but I lack the discipline and anyway, given that the potion-spamming option is there and part of the game, it feels artificial to not use it.

It come down to personal preference IMO. I prefer to use healing spells, but I always keep a few high-level healing potions for emergency.

Situation report. Tried both now. Started with alchemy & shield warrior. It went well for a time, i took multiple block, heavy armor and alchemy perks, but then the amount of received damage simply could not be equaled by available potion/ingredient supply. I didnt try to abuse the system and rest for ingredients. Then started a new char who instead of the shield has Restoration heal equipped. Almost instantly got resto novice perk and regeneration. Huge difference. This char is simply unkillable. Mana never runs out, so is healing.

I looks for me alchemy only is simply impossible on a melee only char. (on master). Sure, once i get block high, and armor high. But dont see how to actually get there without abusing the system. Restoration on the other hand is a blast, i dont miss block.