The alchemy system was terrific in Oblivion, because you could make potions that had hardly any weight to them. Now, ANY two potions weigh a pound, even if you are using ingredients that only weigh 0.1

I only have this as a beef because my character heavily relies on recovery potions and poisons.

I know the topic of conversation all around here is the glitch factor, but this is a fundamental part of the game that was perfect in previous versions, and didn't need to be tweaked.

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Because a full potion weighs more than a feather.

Not good enough

Console command to give yourself more carry weight or make carry weight a non-issue.

Carry around a liter bottle with you for the rest of the day. That's why. Now, if you want to continue to ask stupid questions, get in a fight with a hobo and try to chug it before he decks you. Why didn't Bethesda make it take 20 seconds to drink a potion?

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1036

Lightweight potions (from 0.5 to 0.1). Hope this helps,

I ran a similar alchemy based assassin character in Oblivion. I see your point, but I also think that Skyrim's system is a lot more balanced and makes more sense from an in-game perspective.

In Oblivion, you could effectively play a jack of all trades character by carting around potions that boosted anything you needed at the moment... Skyrim's heavier potions made that kind of cheesy character not work, and put a LOT more tension in the battles since it is harder to go into a battle with an insane amount of potions. You can still carry a lot, but not like oblivion.

Overall I think it was a good change. I'd like to see the option to make 1/2 doses of potions that weigh less, or double doses that weigh more and require double ingredients, but I understand that they wanted to streamline things for this release

You add water I guess....

Alchemy was ruined for me back in Oblivion when you could no longer fail to make any potion you tried. In the earlier games, when you got better at alchemy, you really got better at alchemy and were rewarded with fewer failures.

And, I guess it's the bottles that are much heavier this time around.

I'm just guessing but I think it was a way to prevent folks from spamming potions. You know like drinking 50 health potions to kill one enemy.

I see no valid complaint. They all weigh 0.5

Its already dumb you can carry 100 healing potions (WHICH ONLY WEIGHS 50) with you and constantly fully heal.

I think it should be based upon the strength of the potion. The better you get at making them (and thus the more potent) the less it should weigh. Basically, you start off with "watered down" potions that have a lot of water weight, but as you get better, you get much more concentrated potions that have much less excess "water" components and thus weigh less. Alas, everything is .5 lbs...

Yes, it was perfect in Oblivion when we used two ingredients with 1 feather weight, than two with 0.1 feather weight and they would make same potion weights

The potions should way at LEAST as much as they do now. They all basically have water in them, it's not like we eat mashed daedra hearts with fly amanitas (disgusting).

I like having them weigh more since it means I have to be more selective instead of hoarding every potion I see. It's more important now that there's no drinking limit, too.

Making it dependent on the weight of the ingredients was a neat idea, but IMO a higher minimum weight would make sense, since liquids and bottles are still going to be heavy even if the potion doesn't have any raw ebony dissolved in it.

In game reasoning, added water.

Meta game reasoning, so you don't spam weightless potions.

Either way you just have to live with it. I've gotten really picking with my potions and only carry healing and Cure disease.

I rely on potion making too. I think they did it to make it a bit more real. In Oblivion one could carry a hundred healing potions and they would weigh like nothing. I kinda like it because it makes me have to plan more before I go out on a quest. On the flipside they gave us fighting "pack mules" to help carry stuff. But overall I like it. And I like that you don't have to lug around the apparatus too.

I agree the weight of the potions can be annoying, But i think the actual alchemy system in Skyrim is far superior to that of the other games as it allows you to discover recipes and ingredient effects through experimentation.

While I somewhat agree with the apparatus, all they did was make it a stationary item you have to find instead of something you could carry to brew potions while camping or what not. I would much rather still be able to have a mobile one and if you didn't want to carry it, just store it at your home and use it there.

Maybe because so many people complained about the weightlessness of items in Oblivion. People wanted their choices to have more consequences, so...*shrugs*

Seriously man, you have to be carrying thousands of potions to be overburdened. I carry about 20 each of all resists, health potion and magicka regen and I still have about 100 points free to grab loot.

It is pretty awesome actually. Unlimited potion chugging and even at .5 pounds potions have the best weight to value ratio in the game.

My complaint it all the full heal potions that litter the landscape at high levels, it really reduces alchemy to a pure poison tree since you can have a pile of found full health potions on you at all times, i mean why brew a restore health potion when a full heal potion is in the loot you have.

From the title of this thread I thought the OP was going to point out the lack of some potions and the addition of others, and his thoughts on the changes, not start complaining that his potions were too heavy.

Jeez, the word potion infers that the compound is a liquid, ie. contains water. Water is a pretty heavy substance even in small quantities. My beef with the potion system is that it feels cheap in it's use during combat. Hell, I can drink a dozen of these half pound draughts in no time.

I would say that the ingredient costs are too low for flowers and bug parts, and a few others I can't pull off the top of my head. The actual benefits from these liquids are pretty crappy too. Your average mid level alchemist can't make a poison strong enough to actually do anything in combat, especially since you only get one shot with the things. ( of course you can spam these too if it doesn't feel like a major cheat for you ).

I like the fact that I can't carry seven dozen of each type of potion or poison. It feels more realistic. It's bad enough that we all have superhuman strength, we don't need to be able to drag a truck load of feather weight pints of stuff along as well.

Here is where the banol "you can just mod it out" comment should be, but because most of us are playing on something other than a PC this may not be a valid option for the OP.

Well, because in the two hundred years between Oblivion and Skyrim featherlight unbreakable bottles were one of the things the Thalmor don't allow to be exported any longer. You've got to use the local Nord brand, and they're made of substandard materials.

Okay, I give. After reading all of these posts, and after having taken the water element in consideration beforehand, I do understand the alchemy system. The problem that I had was that a potion normally would consist of a vial, not half of a pound of glass and water. I could see shots of potion during combat, but not a huge glass container, filled mostly with water. Vial, not flask.

The best argument I have read is that this does make strategy a big part of going into the world for long periods of time, taking only what you need. This is what I've been doing because I have no choice. I am not a strength-based character. I have very low health, as a mage should, but I've been killed with one swing of the axe or club enough times, that perhaps the frustration has gotten to me. A bear or mountain lion can kill me in two swings.

And the alchemy slider in terms of making potent poisons is very weak, even at level 74 in alchemy. The only potent ones to make is the lingering damage health or magika. 25 poison damage does nothing to a character who has 300 health, and you only get one shot with the bow. If I were a melee character, than making a weakness to poison followed by a 25 dmg each time, would make quick dispatching, but in my build, it doesn't make sense.

Well, such is the greatness of "choosing your own adventure."

The container is part of the weight. Potions were too light in the previous games, but they are too heavy in this game, especially for the higher end potions.

Actually, I have an idea..

We should have had a perk for 100 skill in Alchemy(master) that would have made it possible for us to make potions with higher concentration of the active substance, not having to have that much water in the mix. Maybe also a way to better use bottles so that they wouldnt weigh that much. This reducing the weight of potions down to say 0,2 or so. That would have been a great perk to strive for.