A quote from IGN's preview. Makes me wonder...

I still hope we can take a mortar and pestle along...

Hope I can have a lab in my private home

I know you cannot repair equipment in the wilderness , only at a bench , probably the same for alchemy ....

I actually like that better because its more realistic. nobody can carry around a full alchemy set. And it equated it with all the other most likely static crafting apparatuses like the forge and enchanting altar.

Yeah, a combination of portable and stationary equipment would be great.

Gandalf: Nobody can carry around a mortar and pestle?

I can't say i would mind terribly if the equipment wasn't portable, so long as I would eventually be able to have a set in my house and be able to upgrade it. It would be nice to be able to carry the Mortar and Pestle but the rest of the equipment should be in a lab. But as with most information we have it is only one sided and we don't know for sure if all/some/none of the equipment will be protable

I actually like the way it sounds. And I believe they said something about failing to make a potion so it sounds like the ingredients won't show what effects they have so we'll just have to hope for the best when combining ingredients.

Yep this was confirmed a long time in one of the Euro articles IIRC. All the crafting is done at workbenches. No portable mortar and pestle.

Personally I think it adds something to the gameplay where you have to actually go to a realistic location where you can conduct alchemical experiments etc., instead of just spamming Restore Health potions in the middle of fighting monsters in a dungeon. How the heck are you supposed to set up all kinds of alchemical equipment in that kind of environment.

I sometimes like to roleplay ranger/druid type characters, people who live off the land for the most part. Of course, this involves a lot of gathering and plant harvesting, and potion making. It's very important to me to be able to practice alchemy out in the woods, as my ranger survivalist character would not care to travel to a town to borrow their equipment. The feeling of self sufficiency is very important to me.

EDIT: Ah, it has been confirmed? Shet. <_<

I suppose my only hope then is to have an alchemical work area in a house owned by me. So I can live off the land, amongst nature... within my manor.

one sec there mr troll i need to slam this venision together with a carin bolette cap so you dont kill mee....now wait for it to boil

Maybe one of the perks in the Alchemy skill tree involves some sort of portable workstation.

Alternately, maybe you can set up a tent or take over a remote cabin in the wilderness (not unlike the place where the guy in the QuakeCon demo found a cabin with two dead bodies).

If there are workbenches and various houses you can buy, I assume there is a way to set up your own alchemy lab somewhere.

Nobody can carry 117,253 gold pieces. Not realistic. Your point?

back to the gold weight thing, the best defense ive seen for that is, try carrying a couple swords around with you, that aint happening

Nirn is a magical place....

"How did you carry all these in your pack?"
"Norrath is a magical place."

Wizard did it.

Or a mod.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU7JFrnFiGQ&NR=1&feature=fvwp Skip ahead to 4:56 to see how this relates

I carry two swords, a climbing harness, climbing shoes, anti-cut jacket, and a full guard helmet every other day on a 1 hour busride and then walk roughly 5-6 miles practice combat and rock climbing for several hours then walk 5-6 miles and another 1 hour busride and i'm only moderately fit.

I realize that isn't even close to carrying around say multiple battleaxes, a buckler, and full plate armor on 20+ mile treks through the woods. But multiple swords and leather armor is completely feasible.

Another thing the writer mentioned is "failing" at potion creation, ["All the combinations I try fail"]. I wonder if this means potion creation will require a skill check for success. Unless he just meant he was bad at it.

Lame. More dumbing down. I bet there isn't even grades of alchemical equipment.

Why is that dumbing down though? If anything, it appears you can't make potions on a whim now.

Nobody can carry around an entire armoury's worth of weapons and armour, either. Or 100k gold pieces. Or a palace kitchen's worth of ingredients. Or a....

You get the picture?

How isn't it dumbing down. If I can only make potions/poisons at certain locations, with no variable in the equipment I use. Same with repairing, if its stationary. Seems like they not only took the good stuff from the newer Fallout's (the difficulty and leveling, perks, etc.), but the bad as well (linear crafting/repairing, less armor etc.) If there truly isn't any portable Repairing/Alchemy.

Maybe Im RPing a pure Alchemist, or a Druid with basic Wort-craft and M/P Alchemy? I guess those builds may be gone as well?

Yeah the equipment variation didn't occur to me. If you can't upgrade it in some way, that's going to svck. But I still like the idea of stationary alchemy spots.

its cool, but shouldnt replace portable Alchemical equipment.

Let's table the question of whether Skyrim Alchemy is "dumbed down" vs. Oblivion Alchemy until we know all the details.

All we know so far is that you can only perform it in specific locations, there are some reagents involved in addition to standard ingredients, and there also will be 12-20 Alchemy perks.

As for the lack of portable lab - IMO it makes sense for an alchemist to have a lab where he creates all his concoctions, bringing his potions and poisons around with him when adventuring rather than conducting complex experiments in a dungeon with monsters. I do agree, however, that this strongly suggests a greater likelihood of no improved tiers for the equipment. At any rate, perhaps there are some other still unrevealed details that will add some new layers of things we can do with Alchemy.