****On the second hyphen, I'd like to inculde, "through studies and "books". Or little notes found in caves/dungeons/camps, and/or dead alchemists, etc.

I have better things to do with my time than manually crush flowers every time I want to make a potion. For example:

-Actually play Bioshock for more than 30 minutes.
-Finish AC:Brotherhood
-Remember to resume playing F:NV
-get to an arbitrary prestige level in Modern Warfare 2
-laundry, even if all the clothes I actually wear are clean
-cut the grass. with scissors.
-sweep the road until it's clean. You'd think I lived on a dirt road to look at this mess...

Now, can we make alchemy more complex and still be fun? YES!

Two simple things to do:

1. add a potency factor. Using Nightshade in a poison is stronger or weaker than using the local fjsfggh root. You just don't know which unless you're a tried and true alchemist (or look at UESP). Mixing different things to make the same potion gives different results, while working in a predictable manner = good.

2. Make certain combinations create an exceptional potion. Raspberry + minotaur horn = Potion of X, which is better than the sum of the parts. This is 100% scripted, and can be discovered by accident once your skill is high enough, or through reading alchemy books. As you learn each combination, it becomes selectable though a quick menu, rather than manually entering it. Combinations that are suspected are filtered out by default, but can be researched further in similar fashion...

Agreed. But always being able to carry the equipment is permanent since they are items, so that's no exclusion. From all the things said, though, can make Alchemy better.

Honestly alchemy as much as i love the depth of it is the most exploitable skill in both MW and OB(unlimited attribute buff potion stacking literally ruined Morrowind for me). As long as i have the ingredients I can make 1000 potions in under 10 min. That should not be possible. I like the idea of adding realistic limits to the process. Because lets face it Alchemy is so freakin unbalanced it should have been tossed first before everything else. I certainly hope that all the crafting process are not like FO3 or OB where it's instantaneous result with no cost beyond materials. Smithing and Alchemy should take time and popping out thousands of potions or weapons like a factory should not be possible.

@heavymetalarchmage
Your pretty much agreeing to whats been said, but a bit rephrased and detailed what's been categorized. Also left out the "hands on". But this is about "Skyrim" and its suggestions for it from loyal and dedicated players.

I agree. Some poeple are thinking "well i should be able to make 100 potions really fast by clicking "A" as fast as i can like i used to, do you know how long it'd take to do that with this system?" but i'm thinking "why? that's no fun whatsoever, and it's totally imbalanced"

My "1:23 A.M" reply was ment for Liu Bei. Sorry I didn't direct that properly.

yeah i got it. It was fairly obvious no need for an explaination

I think maybe extra stuff like the retort and so on should be stationary, but the mortar and pestle should still be mobile. That way you would make more powerful potions at home, but you could still make that very helpful healing potion on the go

I also like the idea of alchemy books though. Maybe not have your alchemy skill determine success rate (this was so annoying in Morrowind), but just the power of the potion.

Ha, alright. Well I sure do hope for an improvement for Alchemy. Great suggestions. And I voted to support.

That's a good idea. about the mortar :goodjob:. I think there should be a limit to success though when making more difficult potions. maybe they can give you a "chance for success number" for each specific potion when you are making it, so you know what you are getting yourself into. also i think level should determine the amount of potions made.

Well as long as the as fast as you can press the button production speed is removed i'll go for that but it was actually a good thing if it stays. Not that it made a lot of difference for when i settled down with 2000 ingredients to jam on a 7 min thumb workout, it didn't really affect me much that 1 out of 10 of my potions failed, didn't slow me down at all. Just meant less gold for when i sold them all. I hope they remove this exploit, very much so.

@worm82075
You know, thats what I was explaining. Glad you mentioned your seven minute experience.lol.
With the given suggestions, and also adding animations, it was mentioned that animations could be long and boring and repetitive. BUT, with animations, and keeping them short, I think it would do all those ingredients, in a very short period of time. So as long as you collect a lot, which supports the purpose of hands on Alchemy, also making have a somewhat realsitic experience.

Alot has already been said in previous post replies, but this and future ones tie together to support.

Im still supporting the Alchemy animations.lol.
Also the hands on improved Alchemy.yess.

Yes, especially if they made different things happen different times. like sometime when you add ingredients it sizzles, sometimes it smokes, sometimes it does nothing, sometimes the color is changes.... making different potions could be like slightly different, somewhat deterring whatever repetitive factor you might get from a hands on system.

other other and both

I liked your idea but as some other players said, some people just don't have the time/energy/mood to spent hours making potions (I would ) so what I suggest is something a lot of players had already said in other alchemy threads:

1- the mortar and pestle are the only mobile part of the alchemy set, more complex potions need a "bench" like station (like fallout).

2-potions SHOULD require empty bottles, its a way to balance AND help organize alchemy since we will get more color and size options and will not be able to sell thousands of potions for easy money.

3-Also ingredients should have "effects" AND we should also be able to "save" recipes on special alchemy book so that we don't need to search for the same combo of stuff all over again, also we can find more complex or secret recipes in some alchemy tomes.

I really REALLY would love the system to be more engaging but we have to think about players who just can't be bothered spending hours and hours experimenting, I would love it but a compromise in between will be great.

Ok the way it works in skyrim is very much the workstation way. They showed it in one of the first vids they showed the same one with the map being shown.

If they do do it like fallout 3 and fallout new vegas then yes your homes likely MIGHT have alchemy stations and enchanting altars too for that matter maybe even a forge out back...

What i hope is that rare ingredients when mixed create more potent potions.

Alchemy is, and always will be, boring in my opinion. In morrowind, I never touched alchemy. It just seemed redundant, as magicka did fine by me. In Oblivion, I used it as a major skill that could be spammed to get an easy 7 levels or so within 30 minutes. I think, trying to make it more "immersive" would just make it more of an inconvenience.

I'd like it if you'd use the other Alchemic apparatus, such as the Alembic, Retort, and Calcinator to create more advanced potions, while using the Pestle and Mortar to create simple potions.

I really like the OP's idea, but as probably mentioned before, it would get too tedious after a while. But I'd like it if you needed to put forth more effort to create really powerful potions.

No your right it was in one of the magazine threads, the French I believe. Honestly I hope it works like the work benches just with animation. If I had to design it I would have the ingredient lists off to the side so the character is still visible,as you chose potions and select potions he would do animation like lighting the cupellation hearth and moving around once you have chosen what you want to make. The more animation the better.

This.

I never carried my alchemy equipment with me and did all my potion making at my house.
I dont think Id like an animation, because that would become very annoying after only a few times.
A proper alchemy station/ laboratory in my house would be nifty though.
A place to store my ingredients, equipment and potions.

I absolutely do not wish to see potion making slow down because it is 'unbalanced'.
This is a single player game, not runescape, and the argument that it should take time to make a potion because of balance is just crazy.

Yes there is some sort of animation when you make stuff but what that entails we dont know as the drawing just said cool animation...

In one of the developer diary style videos on game informer you could briefly see some brainstorming on one of the whiteboards surrounding alchemy ideas. I'll have to go look at it again...

I would love having alchemy be used at a "workbench" type area. I hated having to wag around all of the alchemy supplies cluttering my inventory.

Though, If this were the case, I assume the "workbenches" would only be in a Mages Guild or one in your house when you buy it.

I like the idea of a potion book as well, keeping a log of all of the potion types you made so you can go back and look at it in case you forgot a recipe.

does anyone know what developer video this might be?