Without using any exploits, I leveled my enchanting from ~20 to 100 in an afternoon and made a profit while doing it.
I the following sets of gear:
3x sneak/archery
1x archery/waterbreathing
1x sneak/carry
3x fire/frost resist
2x shock/magic resist
1x shock resist/archery
4x smithing gear
2x 1h/health
2x 1h/stam
1x Stam/health chest
So, I have +124-186 health, +124-186 stam, +62 carry weight (186 if I use the smithing ring/amulet, because I double-enchanted those with carry weight) 160% archery, 160% 1H, 160% sneak (not including the 25% from the shrouded hood), 101% fire/frost/shock resist, 60% magic resist, and I can improve my weapons and armor 100% of how much I normally can, and could even toss a potion on there to make it 130+%.

I'm level 30 and my regular bow attacks with iron arrows do 146 damage.
Nothing can withstand a single stealth backstab if I use my shrouded gloves, and even without, it takes about three seconds of power attacks to drop almost any non-boss.
I can pick somebody's nose and not be detected.
No mage can touch me. Period. (once resistances get fixed.)
Also, I have a bunch of other things, just for giggles - unarmed damage, for one. Why not? 24 unarmed damage means I'll be winning every brawl without any difficulty whatsoever.


So, I'm obscenely powerful, I can carry the world on my back, and I'm invulnerable to boot. The only instance where I don't have a huge advantage is when I encounter a mob of melee fighters, which I can shout and flurry to death anyway, and use all the health potions I want because that's the only situation that I'll ever need them.

My other character, without enchanting, at the same level with roughly the same gear and stats, does 55 damage with a bow, and crumples and dies if magical or melee enemies get to him.

On top of that, enchanting makes me obscenely wealthy. Just picking up the soul gems I find and filling them with the enemies I encounter, and then enchanting the gear I find, I more than quintuple my loot profits.

There is no character that wouldn't benefit greatly from enchanting. Period. No matter what your playstyle is, unless it involves being completely naked.
Caster? Free casting.
Pure melee? Fortify 1h/2h, health, stam, carry weight, and armor skill.
Sneaky type? Fortify sneak, archery, pickpocket, alchemy, and lockpick.

And I haven't even mentioned weapon enchants. Firey Soul Trap? Stamina Damage? Magika Damage? Fire/frost/shock damage? PARALYSIS? S'all there, and crazy powerful.

Heck, enchanting even makes a lot of the racial bonuses pointless. Resistance to what? Who cares! Slap on a ring and an amulet. Boom. Water breathing? Whoopee. Stick that on a helmet, ring, or amulet. Bonus magika means nothing when spells cost nothing.

I dunno, I like it, but it seems maybe a bit too powerful. I think enchanting should be knocked down about 20%. Even with how much time and effort I put into it, the rewards seem a bit higher than they really should be.

I think enchanting can be abused when the exploits are, well exploited, but otherwise I see nothing wrong with it. The only enchantments I use are Fortify Mag Resist, because magicka is really the only thing in the game that causes me any considerable damage. I don't think that is a crutch at all, but I guess it's all relative.

ARRRRRGH! These theads will be the death of me.

It's a supplement, like alchemy and smithing.

It enhances your ability.

As such, it seems to be working.

By your logic armour and weapons are a crutch.

Yeah, why hide behind a sheet of steel you pansy, use your own strength!

Luckily for us mages, magic is within people, therefore are own strength.

But, see, I didn't exploit it at any point. Those are enchants made without any potions or anything. Just 100/100 skill and only the center line or perks filled out.



It's not a question of function, but degree.




That's not my point at all. Did you read the post? I'm saying that a few hours of screwing around and making money while doing it makes any character more than twice as powerful. I'm not saying one should or should not use anything, just saying that enchanting might be too irresistible of a choice for any character.

Its a singleplayer game first off who are you trying to compete with other then NPCs?

I'm not sure of enchanting, but it works as intended I assume.

I'm level 26 and a pure mage, and I find that my robes are better then any enchantment I can do currently.

A friend of mine was like...70 enchanting and the best thing he could do was put stamina regen on his boots "I told him Stamina regen would be best since he uses heavy armour"