Hello,

I currently have level 73 enchant, but I can still only enchant items with "5% less destruction costs and 10% quicker magicka regeneration".

I know some people are able to have upwards of 20% less destruction cost on each item. Am I doing something wrong?

the power of the enchant depends on a few things. First of all which perks you have chosen, second what type of soul gem you use. If you use grand soul gems these will be a lot more powerful then petty soul gems.

Improve some of the perks in the enchantment skill tree to make your enchantments more effective.

On top of that, try using potions to increase your enchanting, and then make a misc. ring or necklace with the fortify enchanting buff, equip it, drink another one of the potions, and you'll be at a much higher percentage. Good luck.

Also what he said. XD.

And don't forget that the first perk, Enchanter, has 5 levels and can therefore be taken 5 times. I missed this fact for a long time and wondered why my enchants weren't as powerful as I knew they should be at level 100 and a full perk tree.

That's the oddball chest-only enchant, the %reduction is cost is a lot lower, presumably because the enchant budget goes to +10% regen. The vanilla %reduction enchants are -25% with all relevant perks and 100 enchants, before any potions. I think the one you're looking at is 15% at 100 enchant/all perks.

Otherwise yes, the perks make a massive difference, especially the first one with 5 levels. Even if you hate alchemy, shop for potions. The max (without necromage or resto loops) is 32%, but you can easily buy +25% in alchemy shops if you keep looking. I can't remember if +30% exists in shops offhand. And going from 73 to 100 will help a bit, too.

I have yet to find this enchantment after three complete playthroes’ of the game. I've read that it exists in the in game "enchantment" books but I cannot find it.

There is no "Fortify Enchant" enchant.
See for the full list:
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Enchanting_%28Skyrim%29#Apparel_Enchantments
So I do not think there are any items with "Fortify Enchant". Only potions.
Just like there are no potions with "Fortify Alchemy".

About the question of the OP.
You might be influenced by playing MMOs. Like I was. In MMOs, level is everything. The higher level, the stronger something gets.

Not so in Skryim. In Skyrim perks are everything. You need to level up to get perks. But just having a high level in something does not make you good at it. You need to invest perks.

Example: I think a one-hander with skill 20, but with 1 perk (hit 20% harder) will hit harder than when you have skill 100 in one-hander, but no perks. For enchanting (and alchemy, blacksmithing), it works the same. Having skill 100 means a lot less than having 5/5 in the first perk.

This is good. It means you need to make a choice what you wanna be good at. Because your perks are limited. You can get every skill to 100 (with some effort). You don't need to chose. But you only get a limited amount of perks, and spread out over time. So you need to spend the perks wisely. Enjoy your RPG !

Take 5 ranks of Enchanter at least, and slam a Fortify Enchanting potion. For better results, take additional perks in the tree.

Without perks, Enchanting is feeble.

I don't think it's called Fortify Enchanting, but it DOES exist. I have one on my characters file right now.

You need to take the perks before your enchantment get anywhere.

I have tested, at 100 enchantment 0 perks, you can get 10% fortify destruction. The weakest item you can find will be better at 12%.

Perks. Perk up enchantment, probably 5/5 on the first perk, and straight up(usually) to double effect. It is by far the most powerful ability in the game, its a shame we dont have a boatload of effects ala morrowind, but it is still great.

Is this a fortify destruction and magic regen combo enchant? those typically, unless I'm wrong, give lower benefit than a fortify destruction only enchant.

Also, make sure if you have a grand soul gem it has a grand soul in it. You can have a grand soul with a petty soul and it wouldn't be any different than using a petty soul gem with petty soul.

And what others have said. Perks are very important.

^ With 100 Enchanting and all the perks, four items with Fortify Destruction equipped at once give 100% reduction cost on it, so magicka regeneration becomes more or less useless. And since one perk allows you two enchantments on the same item, you can do the same for another magic school, or increase your magic (and/or frost or fire) resistance, which is very useful against mage opponents and dragons too (since their breath is considered a magic effect by the game)

Of course, this is technically an exploit and will make you very powerful.

In three playthroughs I never found a piece of gear that enhanced enchanting.

There are none. That would be an easy loop: Enchant gear to fortify enchanting=> to wear that gear to fortify enchanting=> to make better gear to fortify enchanting.
Course there is restoration, but I believe that is a coding oversight.

Right. I think they're thinking of restoration, which is what allows these feedback loops to get enchanting way overpowered.

My biggest problem with enchanting is that until you spend all those precious perk points (10 at least) and you get the skill close to max, you are better off grinding for a complementary set of pre-enchanted gear, and concentrate on getting your Arcane Smithing perk instead (so you can improve the gear greatly).

Well you need both. I use the enchant tree and arcane smith.

But enchanting is so much more. No perks in archery? Thats OK, quickslots a ring and gloves with 50% archery damage
No perks in potion making? no problem with your huge enchanted alchemy boosters.
weak to fire as a vampire? You bet thats easy to fix. The list goes on.

But yeah, if you do enchant you really can neglect smithing (completely if you want to sharpen your stuff and then enchant) arcane if you want to power up some stock stuff. In either case enchanting will help you push the numbers up, armor to cap, damage-to whatever you feel is appropriate.

You must admit that enchanting is a huge expenditure in perk points. Especially early on during a new character's development, I can't see spending them there. My first character never did climb this tree. I ended up with a set of multiple-improved ebony armor plus Otar, which got all elemental resistances and armor beyond 80%. (Armor is 812, even without the matching-set perk, and this is well beyond 80%, according to the numbers I've seen.) He usually wears the Gauldur amulet, but necklace of poison immunity subs in when needed.

I intend to explore enchanting with my new character, but so far, perk points are sorely needed elsewhere. Let's see how it goes from here.

That is true, it is a big investment. There are ways to shave off perks you might think you need though, this is especially the case for hybrid classes- but each build is different.
I usually start up the enchanting tree at 30 or so, after I have the unique abilities from the perks I desire (i.e. silent casting, impact, ect, whatever you need to do for your character to function).

You could hypothetically push enchant first, and that would make some perks completely unecessary, but this progression wouldn't be natural.