This is something I'm curious about as well. I'm limiting each of my characters to one "main" profession and provisioning so I don't spend too many points in crafting.

At VR2 i have been able to whittle down what skills i need and dont. As of now i am mastering woodworking, blacksmithing, and clothing while not gimping any combat abilities.

I am actually running a character who is working 4 professions quite hard, but he's not suffering. The difference is that I'm not "maximizing" anything. Instead, I'm being rather selective... I've avoided laying down any points for anything that will not eventually end up in my preferred skill/power arrangement (or something that I have to take in order to start earning levels on a skill line) Now, this might end up biting me in the rear later in some way, but so far it's working out great. I'm basically not dropping skill points on stuff I'll never use.

Of course, I never intended this particular character to be anything but a master crafter so I was only concerned with him having enough stuff to get through the game and not dominate. But that's just me.

320 is confirmed number of Skill Points we can get, and use. Maxing all crafts will require spending about 190 or 170+ points, cant remember exact value. Below 200 for sure.
So yea you can have all crafts o main, if you choose 1-2 weapon types and will not try to learn and morph every skill possible. Also, some passives in crafting are not really needed. Keen eye for ore...+1 portion of food/drink in provisioner,+1 item to research as clothier/blacksmith/woodworker. Those can be easily ignored, as its only matter of time to get materials/do research without them.
I have blacksmith, woodworker, provisioner and alchemist. Only passives i took are keen eye for plants(helps a lot) and +3 potions also as alchemist, as some plants are rare, or at least rarer then others. Lvl42 now and no problems using all 3 skill lines, armor/weapon passives etc etc, all i need for combat.

Depends on what you mean by 'gimping' but as noted, you should have plenty of skill points available to ~effectively~ master all professions. I say effectively because you don't NEED to put skill points into some crafting things like Keen Eye, and after you've researched all the traits you can respec and drop that entire skill (however many points you invested there)...

Also bear in mind, it's highly unlikely you'll master EVERY weapon and armor and class and world and guild skill line.

I mean, Soul Trap? Not going to put any points there (I don't die often enough for it to be worth a point to rez for free and the others seem pointless).... the fighters guild have a few generically applicable passives I might eventually get, but the mages' guild passives (as I recall) pretty much deal with mages guild powers and I can't see myself taking any of those (except the passive Persuasion)....

And while I may have, say, three weapons lines in which I dabble, or even master, I cannot imagine mastering ALL the weapon lines.

And heck, even Class skills ---- I have a templar archer and I have zero interest in the "spear" line, so I won't invest any points there. I mainly solo, so there are a lot of group-oriented heal spells she won't have any need to buy, etc etc.

Admittedly you might want to max out all three armor lines ~just in case~ you decide to swap armor types but that still leaves plenty of skill points free. In one of the character builders I picked every skill I thought I MIGHT be interested in and it came to around 160 pts I think. With ~300+ available, that's a LOT of "left over" points I'll be able to spread around.

People are also neglecting the fact that other skill lines will pop up without more skill points to put into it (at least for now). I don't know about you guys but when the Thievery and Dark Brotherhood lines come up, I'll probably drop some in there. Also they said they plan on adding more active abilities for Vamps/Wolfs. I plan on Maxing 1 craft, probably Blacksmithing and minor in Clothing for my Armor. I'll put enough points to make legendary gear but that's it. I want to make sure I have enough point to add into new lines added later.

Jaxom wrote: »

People are also neglecting the fact that other skill lines will pop up without more skill points to put into it (at least for now). I don't know about you guys but when the Thievery and Dark Brotherhood lines come up, I'll probably drop some in there. Also they said they plan on adding more active abilities for Vamps/Wolfs. I plan on Maxing 1 craft, probably Blacksmithing and minor in Clothing for my Armor. I'll put enough points to make legendary gear but that's it. I want to make sure I have enough point to add into new lines added later.

While true, more skyshards and skillpoints will be coming with Craglorn, too.

Nothing is permanent.