Place where I can buy regular gems?

[PsxMeUP]

@BrettM & RedRavyn

 

This is my 3rd or 4th playthrough. Messing around with levels, grinding and making insane enchantments is what keeps me going otherwise there's no point to keep playing the game anymore. But I do watch out for leveling, though, that's why I check what level I was before starting to grind then revert back to my old level with player.setlevel. I think Skyrim is the only RPG I know where I willingly REDUCE my level :rolleyes:.

 

I think you have to know what mods I have to understand how do all this:

 

- LFox Alchemists Have Ingredients Ultra (40-60 of each ingredient in alchemy stores)

- Mine ore (27 per vein)

- Unlimited rings/necklaces

- Vendors Have More Money (25K)

- Enchant 4 effects

- Complete Crafting Overhaul

 

I can craft whatever rings I want but jeweled rings need different jewels. With unlimited rings you can wear as many rings as you want as long as each one is different, so I make 10-12 different rings/necklaces and wear them all. Anyway, I used the console to give me all the gems I need. Not gonna waste time scavenging (did enough of in my first two playthroughs). With a dozen different alchemy rings/necklaces I make 85% stronger enchanting potions, then make some really nice gear. It's worth the effort. For example, with enchanting at 100 with all the perks, without the enchanting potions a sword with fire enchantment does 31 fire damage with 236 charges. With the potion is does 48 damage with 1811 charges. So I make a 40 Fire & Ice sword with over 900 charges. Got a bow of 7 seconds Paralysis with over 1000 charges.

 

Still, would have been nice to have a store where you could get all the jewels in bulk. It would give me something to do (buy jewels) without getting bored out of my mind scavenging or reverting to cheating. Solitude's entrance has room for 4 more stores. I could see it having a kickass weapons store (loaded with enchanted weapons & armor), ore store, gem store, magic store. It's the freakin' capital - have something interesting!

[RedRavyn]

Everyone plays this game differently, PsxMeUP. I don't judge people by how they want to enjoy themselves. However, I was a bit amused by your comment about not wanting to revert to cheating, when five of the six mods you listed are cheat mods, with one of them ("Mine Ore") obviously being installed to offset the fact that Complete Crafting Overhaul (which I use, myself) discourages cheating by making the ore requirement for creating ingots higher.

 

Personally, I don't understand the point of creating an overpowering character. You might as well just run in godmode and use the console to give yourself everything you want. Heck, I'm on playthrough eleven -- most of the previous ones abandoned because of game and quest-breaking bugs or they involve high-level characters that are so powerful (without cheat mods) that they just aren't fun to play anymore.

 

To me, most of the fun in playing Skyrim is working within the framework of the restrictions set up by the developers. Yes, I disagree with many of them, and I do have a few mods installed which correct oversights and what I consider to be poor game development practices, but mostly I try to make the game harder. My current playthrough is an experiment (with playthrough #10 temporarily on-hold, since I'll go back to that one). I'm not worrying about doing any of the primary quests, or even if I break them in some way. I won't get involved in the Main Quest at all, I'm not going to join any of the guilds, and I'm not going into any of the hold capitols -- in fact, I already have a bounty high enough for Whiterun that I'd likely be attacked by the guards on-sight. I'm playing a rogue, through and through. She lives off the land, scavenges what she can, and uses crafting facilities wherever she can find them, even if it means killing the people who own them (Anise in "Anise's Cabin", for instance). I'm using only what I can beg, buy, borrow, steal, find, or craft on my own, and the only traders I deal with are the ones in small, unguarded communities and the Khajiit caravans.

 

Believe me, its fun and challenging when you have to play smart to tackle a pack of warlocks that are only novices and apprentices, because the best stuff you can obtain is non-magical (leather armor, Imperial swords, hunting bows), and all you can find or buy are novice-level spells. With the mods you have installed, I'd be kicking butt right out of the starting gate with no problems at all. I wouldn't have to think to play the game because I'd have better toys from Day One than anyone else in Skyrim. To me, that's not "fun" at all. It's like wading into kindergarten with an AK-47, gunning down all the toddlers, and patting yourself on the back for a job well-done. In the words of Nazir, referring to one the player's Dark Brotherhood hits, "Congratulations. You slaughtered an emaciated beggar in cold blood. You are truly an opponent to be feared."

 

That you use the console to reduce your level would only make things worse if I did that for any of my characters. You still have all your skills, all your gear, all your spells, and all your perks. All you've done is to scale your opponents back down so they're even weaker in comparison to you than what they were before you reduced your level. Again, I don't understand this tack. If you're having fun, then I'm happy for you, though. It's good to see people getting some extended playing time out of Skyrim, however they manage to do it. Like I said ... I'm not judging your playing style. It differs from mine because I play the game for the challenge -- not to be running amok in Skyrim like a demi-god out of control. Some people like that. I don't, and I feel it's important for new players who read this thread to understand the possible downside to using your M.O. in playing in the game. Who knows? It might work for them. Or it might not.

[PsxMeUP]

Oh, I have other stuff installed too that make the game more difficult, like Deadly Dragons, PISE and Skyrim Monsters. Most of the mods I got installed aren't to make the game easier, it's to save time. I want to get into the stuff that really matters, not to run around from city to city buying a couple of ingredients/ores/rings because merchants are insanely under-stoked (who runs an alchemy store with only 2-3 sets of each ingredient???). I have an equally important game to play besides Skyrim, and I seem to be having less and less time for it (life, if you haven't guessed). I think this clip on Castlevania best explains my stand on games (I'm from the NES MegaMan generation, so gameplay difficulty doesn't scare me):

 

(Warning: swearing - SKIP TO MINUTE 4:10 IF YOU DON'T WANT TO WASTE TIME!)

 

 

I think this also explains why I got those mods installed... :wink: Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge RPG fan; I just don't like filler.

Edited April 15, 2012 by PsxMeUP