Daedric or Dragon items aren't even that great to begin with. They weight more than things you'd normally find, and their bonuses are negligable. An iron sword can compete with a Daedric sword if Smithing is involved.

Grinding skills is lame.

Grinding skills is lame.

Says he who does not don the armor of the Dragon nor wield it's blade.

How do you figure? The base damage for a dragonbone sword is twice that for an iron sword.

I just made a lot of iron daggers. Very easy skill to make, and can get a good amount of coin from the iron daggers. Was there some kind of update that came with Dawnguard that made smithing harder to level?

Patch previous to dawnguard I believe. Its quite more tedious now from launch. interesting.

The patch made it better to level - instead of every item giving the exact same gain (whether it was an iron dagger or an ebony armor), they give skill gain based on their value.

More interesting, because there's actually a reason to craft stuff other than "48 billion iron daggers". Whatever mats you happen to find, it's worth it to make stuff with it, unlike back when everything gave the same gain, and doing anything other than the cheapest thing (iron daggers) felt like a waste.

The patch made it better to level - instead of every item giving the exact same gain (whether it was an iron dagger or an ebony armor), they give skill gain based on their value.



More interesting, because there's actually a reason to craft stuff other than "48 billion iron daggers". Whatever mats you happen to find, it's worth it to make stuff with it, unlike back when everything gave the same gain, and doing anything other than the cheapest thing (iron daggers) felt like a waste.

People talk about challenge, there's nothing challenging about a smithing mini game. All it did was make it more tedious. That's not a challenge. Its boring. The game should be played out in the world, not a menu at the blacksmith.

If they wanted to have smithing challenging and not tedious, then smithing skill should have incurred an actual action that you can fail, like lockpicking. Perks will increase your ability to craft said item. Its something that you could do, if your coordination is good enough, without perks. Much like lockpicking is. But more often than not, you'll overheat your metal and it will shatter in the water, losing your material.

But then raise the experience gain from completion back up. And way the heck up if you're a level 20 smith skill and you pulled off a set of daedric armor. High risk, high reward.

That's a more meaningful challenge. Not some retardedness that simply makes me use more for less, with no actual skill input.

Do you like watching paint dry too?

Looking over the charts a little closer, I still say...

5 Ebony Ingots = Ebony Armor = 1500 = The most efficient XP gain per ingot.

Because my idea is totally better than some nonsense item grind...yeah I'm quoting myself.

Nope, Ebony Bows are more cost effective, especially once you include tempering.

Says he who does not don the armor of the Dragon nor wield it's blade.

thats a very good idea. i never invest any perks in lockpicking because i can do it just fine on my own. and it also helps that i have a sh*t load of lockpicks

Daedric or Dragon items aren't even that great to begin with. They weight more than things you'd normally find, and their bonuses are negligable. An iron sword can compete with a Daedric sword if Smithing is involved.

How do you figure? The base damage for a dragonbone sword is twice that for an iron sword.

Which is a flaw with lockpicking. Either locks should be a lot more difficult, picks should be fewer in supply or...they should do something meaningful and increase environment design to accommodate certain benefits to incredible pickers...

Hey! You're right LV. And I didn't factor in improving....

I have always preferred Skyforge Steel over Daedric. Well, not always. I had one character that went full Daedric.

I guess i should throw in that the main reason this frustrates me so much is there are so many other things in the game that i would rather be doing. I wouldnt mind it taking longer if it was more fun to do it but now its very time consuming. If I only have time to play a couple hours a day i do not want to spend half that time smithing. I WANNA BE QUESTING.

I agree with Commandant Oreo.
Skyforge Steel Sword weighs 10 and has 11 damage
Daedric Sword weighs 16 and does 14 damage.
Smithing Improvement applied in the usual manner (smithing/enchanting/alchemy) adds 46 points of damage.
Skyforge Steel Sword has 57 damage
Daedric Sword has 60 damage. 5% more damage.

Is 5% damage difference worth 6 extra pounds of carrying weight? I'm sure many will say yes. But there are many who would say no. I would be one to say no. I have always preferred Skyforge Steel over Daedric. Well, not always. I had one character that went full Daedric.

Or maybe the question can be phrased slightly differently. Is 5% damage difference worth 4 perks, 30 pounds of extra weight, and looking like a badass dremora with nightrider going on in the red chest lights?

I understand that smithing needed to be made more difficult but this is nuts. my character is level 40 with a smithing level of 88. I have crafted 685 weapons and 209 pieces of armor (mostly dwarven stuff) and its taken all that just to get to level 88. I was told that making jewelry is a good option but the materials needed for that are even more difficult to come by then dwarven stuff. I just really wish they would change it back or at least make it slightly easier because this is taking forever. Does anybody else feel this way?

EDIT: I guess i should throw in that the main reason this frustrates me so much is there are so many other things in the game that i would rather be doing. I wouldnt mind it taking longer if it was more fun to do it but now its very time consuming. If I only have time to play a couple hours a day i do not want to spend half that time smithing. I WANNA BE QUESTING.

There'd still be little point since lockpicking isn't a particularly useful skill anyway. Found gear is inferior to crafted, and gold is easy to come by.