I like the thought of crafting, but i don't want to ruin the experience if i know its going to make it too easy. i want it to just give me an edge.

Is it only grossly overpowered if you buy the materials?

It's only grossly overpowered if you enchant a set of gear to fortify your enchant skill, use those to enchant another set to fortify your enchant, etc, then enchant a set to fortify smithing, make a set of combat gear, improve it, and then enchant it with buffs using your previously made enchant set.

Other than that, it's a bit too strong for most people's taste, but so long as you don't level it up disproportionately to your other skills it's pretty balanced.

its only overpowered if u craft 73 daggers in 1 stop. lol

Yes. I wish I knew how to mod that myself. That way I can roleplay a smith without over-exceeding the amount of experience I want to get.

playing with house rules helps.

For example, I make sure enchanting and smithing are below my best skill, like 1handed for a warrior or sneak for an assassin.

Basically this. Bethesda overlooked a loophole and people are abusing it, simple as that.

On their own, these skill sets are hardly what I would call overpowered considering it takes quite some time to level them up.

Agreed with this. I am level 33 and my best skill is one-handed which is sitting at 79 at the moment - it could be higher but I use some magic as well. I have been letting both enchanting and smithing sit a couple of levels below that point for most of the game and it has felt quite balanced to me. The only problem with that scheme is that I am desperately wanting to wear the ebony armour that is showing up but I want to get the smithing over 80 so I can upgrade it.

The balancing is easy, the waiting is the hard part

I'm smithing 93 at the moment, and i'll admit it was too easy.

Overpowered is the end result, not the process.

Finding the items on your own or buying them is independent of how OP the crafting skills become.

In fact, you're slightly more OP as now you also had to increase combat skills to acquire the materials. The combination of max combat skills and max crafting skills easily cracks the game wide open.

This loophole has been around since Morrowind, if not before that. Only it was done with Stacking Alchemy Potions and Enchanting. Not sure if it was as easy in Oblivion as it was in Morrowind as I don't do this kind of game play. However, it is there if I wanted it in Morrowind. Same here.

didnt cheat or mod to get 73 daggers lol, just hit alot of mines and buy alot of iron ingots/ leather strips from alvar but still way overpowered creating a simple dagger multiple times raises it fastest

I am leveling smithing by only upgrading the armor and weapons I get as loot, before selling them (or using them). So I do buy the ingots and sometimes the leather (I prefer to get the leather from pelts I loot myself). At level 23 my smithing is around 70. Yes, it levels somewhat too fast, especially compared to - for example - my Block and Armor skills.