I chose smithing as the one crafting discipline my current character would do, and this is my first character. I find it handy to improve weapons and armour but one thing I think is silly is that you don't need plans to craft new ones. It's like I just have to spend a perk and suddenly I know how to craft ebony or daedric armour. I think you should have to learn that somehow from books you can find or people who can teach you.

What do you reckon?

I'm planning alchemy for my next character. From what I understand you have to teach yourself by experimenting. That makes much more sense to me. And with enchanting you first have to learn a spell from an item that is already enchanted with it. That makes sense too. Why is it then that smithing alone allows you to just magically know how to make stuff.

I also think it takes a bit of the fun out of finding new armour and weapons in stores and from looting, since you can just make them yourself. For these reasons I've decided not to pursue smithing any further.

Do you enjoy smithing compared to the other disciples? What do you think of the blueprint idea?

Thank you kindly.

I agree.

Learning to craft new armor types should revolve around getting master smiths to teach you and/or finding books about it. The perks for the smithing tree should be more interesting.

So you're basically asking for Star Wars Galaxies' crafting system.

Which isn't inherently a bad thing, because before they f'd the game up with Combat "Upgrades" and the like, the game did a lot of stuff right, and crafting was one of them.

Actually not a bad idea. Would make smithing a bit more interesting.

Not a bad idea. Perhaps there should be plans similar to the alchemy formulas you find at various shops and in loot that tell you the recipe to make certain potions. Make it possible to make new armor but have it fail or be weak if you don't know what kind of wood to put in the fire, fire salts etc. Have a certain forge temperature for different armors that is optimal and only by experimentation with the fire temp would you discover the right temp to make the strongest possible armor. When you make a positive discovery, you gain a little skill. Maybe have perks that unlock the perfect formulas.

I'd still link it to your smithing level, so even if you find the "Secrets of Moonstone" book, you have to wait until your smithing skill is level 30 to learn to make elven armor/weapons from it, because until then you just wouldn't have the background knowledge or experience to make sense of it.

I think having to modify the temperature of the forge is a bit overcomplex though.

Yes I agree. You should still be required to spend the perk and have the required skill level.

One perk I wish they would have added to Smithing would be something like all gear made is that enchantments placed on smithed gear were inherently, albeit slightly, better.

I also would have loved a craft magical gear option that would allow you to imbue an enchantment to gear on creation rather than requiring you to go to an arcane chanter. Also crafting robes would have been nice.

One last thing I wish you could have done was break down objects you have. Melt down a Steel Sword to get the Steel Ingot. Tear apart Leather Armor to get Strips, etc.

This I would like the best, would make all the gear I have leftover on looting be useful.

I like the idea of plans on how to build armor and weapons, it would flesh out smithing quite a bit

/Agree

Remove the perks to craft any armor, replace them by something interesting and implement crafting recipes / plans.

Completely agree. Some nice ideas here.

Pretty off-topic, but i think you should be able to commission a set of armour from a master smith. It seems weird they can train you to a certain level, but they cant provide the service themselves. A case of those who can't, teach? It stinks that if i want dragonscale/bone armour i have to max my smithing, when i have money coming out my ears.

I think its fine. As it is, requiring the player to both take a perk and find a schematic would be a bit redundant. If they released a DLC with a ton of weapons and armors though that required both a certain level of crafting skill plus a bought or found schematic, that'd be awesome - the perk unlocks the basics, schematics add some uniques.