Alchemy-In need of changes?

KidKablam · April 2014

I would like to preface this by saying that I'm really enjoying ESO and I'm definitely not complaining.

It seems to me in my experience that alchemy isn't as useful or user friendly of a craft skill because of how rare the plants are. Not that I want the map covered by plant nodes, but at current it seems unrealistic to me that one can reasonably expect to regularly make any sort of potion. Effectively you could focus on alchemy and spend tons of skill points on it and it's just a source of a health potion here and again.

Am I the only one feeling that way?

nicholaspingasb16_ESO · April 2014

Alchemy is boring and pointless.

circilion · April 2014

haha, yea alchemy seems to be the hardest to level up. However as more people abandon it you'll be in some pretty huge demand!

I had to pick up provisioning as well due to alchemy crafting levelling was really really slow.

reagen_lionel · April 2014

And its said they are adding poisons to it as well. But I think alchemy is missing some components that arent herbs. Like Dwemer oil used to actually be an alchemy component.

I think alchemy needs something like some of the cooking ingredients also able to be used as alchemy, such as plump worms and berries.

KidKablam · April 2014

I think that would definitely be helpful, @reagen_lionel . I think that would satisfy me if they did that.

Castielle · April 2014

Alchemy does seem hard to level, but then low supply = high demand no?

Cas

Kuratla · April 2014

Not sure why you guys are saying it is difficult to level up. It's my 2nd highest craft, after Provisioning. Once you start making level 10 potions with Clear Water as a solvent instead of the level 3s with Natural Water, you'll get tons of alchemy exp. As for finding plant nodes, they are all over the place.

Phadin · April 2014

The trick is just at the beginning, when you are still figuring out the attributes of the plants. Once you know what you are making and are not wasting ingredients, it levels a lot faster.

Jirki88 · April 2014

I have to agree with @Kuratia, Alchemy is my second highest after Provisioning too. You just need to learn how the plants look, then you will start spotting them if you try. And there's always some that is really easy to find if you know where to look.

Beredan · April 2014

Put a couple skill points in the right place, and the nodes will appear to be on fire for you - I think it's the second option that increases the distance at which you can detect materials... But whatever, you guys stop making potions and I'll be the only Severus Snape in town

cmongo_ESO · April 2014

I do not do alchemy but a friend does, so i pick up them for him. The nodes do seem to change, many different plants will show up in the same place after i pick them.

lynzriches · April 2014

My alchemy is at 22 - provisioning 48. At first it was taking forever but now it seems to be faster. As for ingredients that were used in Skyrim and not in ESO -- I have seen dwemer oil! Someone in my crafting guild found some. I think some of the ingredients are only appearing either in certain areas or to higher level crafters?

Loxy37 · April 2014

Just pick up the perk that highlights plants, its under the alchemy tree, you will find loads around and if you stick on the starter islands a while you will get enough to level quite a lot. I agree that a first it may seem pointless but after a while it starts to pay off. Provisioning is very useful especially at lower levels because of the Stam, Mag/Heal buffs which can boost either stat by quite a lot.

circilion · April 2014

Yea, I really gotta start getting my hands on some higher level solvents. Kuratia is right, I used a couple of clear waters and saw much better Exp gain. Other than finding clear water in the world I was hoping to find some in crates and cupboards as well. No such luck yet.

lupusrex · April 2014

There's also a passive in the skill line that will allow you to produce 4 potions for every craft. I imagine that will help quite a bit.

The effects, however, are definitely worth it. I made my Templar tank an Argonian partly for the boost to potion effects, and I'm doing my alchemy on that character.

Mortuum · April 2014

Keen eye passive in alchemy tree and you good. Plant will literally glow for you when you 30 meters away. Also mentioned above skill to craft 4 potions instead of 1. And pots are not useless-they can have up to 3 effects at same time...Vendor pots only have 1, and with game mechanics and how fast we use resources you cant say heal+stamina regen+magicka regen is wrong or weak. Or magicka regen and spell power. Or Unstoppable(resist all CC).

jmido8 · April 2014

I have 2 points in keen eye and I still find it hard to get enough resources to craft much of any type. Also, I was really looking forward to speed pots. I knew they wouldn't last 1h like food does but I was hoping for atleast 5 minutes. A speed pot that lasts 10 seconds is just pointless. My alchemy is only around level 27 so I'll have to wait a while longer till I can craft higher tier ones and invest more points in the +duration but I don't see them going above 1 minute. Namira's rot isn't exactly plentiful either. I stop and gather every node I come across and at level 26, I have a total of like 6-7 of them.

ironvosneb18_ESO · April 2014

Alchemy is the easiest to level up of all crafts i do, being everything except provisioning.
It's around double the level of my other crafts.
I have no trouble finding plants anywhere, and i don't even use keen eye (waste of skillpoints really)
Also i don't use fast travel so i run around a lot which makes me able to gather nice amounts of resources.

xxslam48xxb14_ESO · April 2014

Just get 1 level of keen eye and you will realize how silly you sound saying plants are rare. You have no idea how many you walk over on a regular basis. Theres practically a plant evey 30 meters.

Bansheebott · April 2014

Yeah, leveling alchemy is just a process of getting at least Keen eye 1(unless you want to be uberhardcore), as high of the multi-potion skill as possible, and learning the ingredient effects.

Though I do think they need to bring back creature ingredients, though I doubt they will since there's (new?) a book in the game ranting about how "MUShROOMS AND PLANTS ONLY SQUIRREL POWDER IS AN ABOMINATION."

Mortuum · April 2014

ironvosneb18_ESO wrote: »

Alchemy is the easiest to level up of all crafts i do, being everything except provisioning.
It's around double the level of my other crafts.
I have no trouble finding plants anywhere, and i don't even use keen eye (waste of skillpoints really)
Also i don't use fast travel so i run around a lot which makes me able to gather nice amounts of resources.

Waste of points? I just gathered 67 different plants running from middle to end of Glenumbra map...Literally 10 minutes. Do same without it please.

yttoks · May 2014

There value is nothing, though. I'm at level 29 in alchemy, because it so easy to level, but it is not as important as in previous episodes. You can craft fairly powerful potions to level, but they are practically worthless in the game's economics.
Fair enough, I craft to play, not get rich in a virtual economy.
The real problem is the game mechanics of potions. They're just not as useful in play as they once were. No wonder a +100 in three categories potion fetches 3 gold. The designers definitely decided to deemphasize this craft. Wonder why, I always liked Alchemy.

Traisa · May 2014

Early on in my game I thought Alchemy was gong to be pointless, but now that I'm level 32, I'm glad that I didn't give up on it, I have Alchemy leveled to 38 now. I can make Level 30 potions and can make potions that use 3 reagents, which means I can make one potion that restores Health, Magicka, and Stamina. I can't tell you how grateful I am that I stuck with it, because potions come in handy when I've run out of everything!

Darrett · May 2014

The only complaint I have is that you can't increase the effectiveness of potions enough with a third ingredient. You can add additional effects, but using three "Restore Health" ingredients only increases the HoT portion by a small amount. The same goes for potions that increase movement speed, armor, etc. Adding in multiple ingredients should increase the duration of those potions as well.

Ruddertail · May 2014

I agree that alchemy-made potions need a buff and I'm not an alchemist. I see no reason to pay anything for them when almost-as-good potions drop like candy from every mob in the game.

10 seconds of spell crit in addition to the mana? Oh please, barely worth paying for.

reagen_lionel · May 2014

the only alchemy related thing I recall mention of is they are changing the harmful effects of ingrediants to make poisons is about it.