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Reworking consumable crafting

richo262
richo262
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This is a follow up from my previous thread that sought to rework non-consumable crafting mats back to 5 tiers and improve and provide a benefit to CP1-150 crafting here:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8446667#Comment_8446667

This thread is in relation to consumable crafting only, Alchemy, Enchanting and Provisioning. Whereas the non-consumable thread sought keep the level requirement of gear, these non-consumable changes seeks to remove the level requirement entirely and introduce a new system to justify the skill points required to improve the craft. Step 1 for all non-craftables. Remove the tier system and allow all recipes to be crafted, and consumed, by any player. Much like the Fortified Meal or Tri-Crown potions that we get for Golden Pursuit rewards, they are not level restricted.

This was inspired by some of the positive feedback from my prior thread in relation to non-consumable crafting.

Goal:
  • Removal of the level tier system in favor of a different system.
  • Reduce the redundant materials to improve the player experience for new players.
  • Cleaner inventory for existing players.
  • Inspiration improvements for newer players (and people power leveling alts).
  • This will result in items being rolled together or replace such as what happened with Jewelry grains to plates.
  • Consideration is required for furniture crafters with some of these changes.
  • Crafters posting their items on guild store can sell their items to a larger market
  • Buyers (especially new players) have a much easier time buying crafted consumables on the guild store as items at their level were previously a niche.

Different system 'chance of success'
With the level restriction removed all items are now useable by the player at any stage and don't scale down. All players start with a 50% chance of success in each non-consumable craft that increases (up to 100%) as they put levels in the tree. Should they fail, they will receive an inspiration bonus (learns from their mistakes) instead of the item. This will result in the player getting more XP which is ideal for those only want to power level, and a suitable reward for a new player that didn't get the item they wanted, and inspires them to put more points in the tree. The materials that do successfully craft will be items the player can use without risk of scaling down. The detriment for failed items is quite low for new character as they receive free potions and food as they level.

Alchemy
  • Replace the level tiered system with a 'chance of success'.
  • All water in the game is combined together and renamed 'Clean Water' and has no association with a level requirement.
  • All biles in the game are removed, this will serve as a gold sink
  • Going forward anything crafted with clean water = potion, anything crafted no base = poison. Most poison ingredients like Spider eggs and Lava have enough goo in them to coat a weapon.
  • Certain lore books now provide knowledge on crafting reagents.

Enchanting
Replace the level tiered system with a 'chance of success'.
  • All potency runes get rolled into either Jora or Jode. They now only serve to denote whether the crafted enchant will have a positive or negative affix. No level association anymore.
  • Roll Ta, Jejota and Denata together to make just one blue Aspect rune. The rational is, unlike other crafted items, Enchants are not improvable and have no need to start off as white. Ta runes really only function for daily writs, nobody would make an enchant with Jejota for any reason, and Denata might be used for really low tier equipment. Now having just Blue, Purple and Gold aspect runes they have a clear use case. Denata will require changes to its drop rate, and cater for any furniture crafting that use Ta and Jejota.
  • Denata (Blue) - Daily writs, enchants for very temporary gear for alts (or people you don't like) and basic furniture.
  • Rekuta (Purple) - Enchants for alts, other people and furniture.
  • Kuta (Gold) - Enchants for end game gear and higher furniture.
  • The only thing I'd recommend to Essence runes is clean up the Spell / Physical Essence that essentially do the same thing on jewelry but one has +10 stam or +10 mag regen. Otherwise they are in a good place.

Provisioning
  • Replace the level tiered system with a 'chance of success'.
  • Seek to combine existing materials into one where possible. For instance there are Jazbay Grape and Surilee Grapes, these should be rolled together to create 'Grapes'. There is also 'Rice' and 'Saltrice' which should also just be rolled into 'Rice' etc.

Skill trees
Currently, skill points increase the tier of the item craftable which creates an area between CP1 and CP150 where there is an entire group of mats that serve no function at all after a player hits CP160. By removing the tier system, level restriction, and replacing the leveled items with one, this problem goes away.

All players start with a 50% chance of successful craft and as they put more points in the tree (instead of going up in tier) they go up in success rate, up to 100%. Resulting in the same outcome we have today but without the restrictions on the items, fewer junk mats and inspiration boosts for all players. A level restriction that ZOS has recognised is redundant with their giveaway items (Tri-Pots / Fortified Meal) and certain newer recipes such as Sugar Skulls.
Edited by richo262 on March 29, 2026 2:33AM
  • Zodiarkslayer
    Zodiarkslayer
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    I understand the sentiment, but I have to disagree on some points. Especially chance shouldn't play a role.

    Provisioning needs to be restructured to have the level requirements for consumption removed and all improvements should be locked behind the tier of the recipe, not the character level. A lvl 20 char cannot eat a blue lvl50cp150 meal? This is ridiculous. Every kind of food in our inventory needs to be consumable. Period. No discussion. The same with potions and glyphs.

    Alchemy should scale in duration, rather than strength and level. The current system is kind of idiotic and counter intuitive, because only one passive enables you to use on cooldown and have 100% uptime. And the rest is just for keeping track with your character level, by unlocking higher tier waters and oils until you can use alkahest and lorkhan's tears. It's just dumb level locking.

    Enchanting is the opposite. Since the cooldown is global and the glyph effects are fixed, we need to be able to increase the efficiency by ranking up in crafting skill line level. Currently the efficiency of using a glyph on a piece of equipment is determined by character level. This is again completely counterintuitive and the same kind of dumb level locking design.

    I am sorry for the language, but the frustration with the system sits really deep.
    No Effort, No Reward?
    No Reward, No Effort!
  • richo262
    richo262
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    I understand the sentiment, but I have to disagree on some points. Especially chance shouldn't play a role.

    Provisioning needs to be restructured to have the level requirements for consumption removed and all improvements should be locked behind the tier of the recipe, not the character level. A lvl 20 char cannot eat a blue lvl50cp150 meal? This is ridiculous. Every kind of food in our inventory needs to be consumable. Period. No discussion. The same with potions and glyphs.

    Alchemy should scale in duration, rather than strength and level. The current system is kind of idiotic and counter intuitive, because only one passive enables you to use on cooldown and have 100% uptime. And the rest is just for keeping track with your character level, by unlocking higher tier waters and oils until you can use alkahest and lorkhan's tears. It's just dumb level locking.

    Enchanting is the opposite. Since the cooldown is global and the glyph effects are fixed, we need to be able to increase the efficiency by ranking up in crafting skill line level. Currently the efficiency of using a glyph on a piece of equipment is determined by character level. This is again completely counterintuitive and the same kind of dumb level locking design.

    I am sorry for the language, but the frustration with the system sits really deep.

    I struggled with chance initially, my concerns waivered for two reasons:
    1) For end game, there is no detriment. You end up at 100% chance max level. Chance becomes irrelevant.
    2) For new players, a failed craft gives a large inspiration bonus. They also get 75 free tri-pot potions as they level, so they aren't going to go without if they fail a bit along the way. Once they max out alchemy, they go to point 1).

    As an extra, by this system, when a new player makes a successful craft, they actually get an item that isn't junk in 10 levels.

    I do agree, a level requirement to eat a sandwich is a bit stupid.

    Your scale in duration idea, is that bound to the item or the character (such as medicinal perk)? If it is bound to the character then it defeats the purpose of others crafting for you and affects the economy as a whole. If it is bound to the item, then we'll end up with many different versions of the same potion with differing durations.

    Furthermore, if it is bound to the character then maxing out the alchemy tree and loading up on points becomes a mandatory thing for end game players. I'd rather see crafting as being something you don't have to do if you don't want to, and just rely on others for crafting needs. That gives value to those that do craft.

    I actually don't like the medicinal perk all too much, it forces people into crafting (or more accurately power leveling it for the perk) just to get a static bonus on their duration. It is a consumption perk, not a production perk. I'd rather it as a green CP point.
  • Ratzkifal
    Ratzkifal
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    I understand the sentiment, but I have to disagree on some points. Especially chance shouldn't play a role.

    Provisioning needs to be restructured to have the level requirements for consumption removed and all improvements should be locked behind the tier of the recipe, not the character level. A lvl 20 char cannot eat a blue lvl50cp150 meal? This is ridiculous. Every kind of food in our inventory needs to be consumable. Period. No discussion. The same with potions and glyphs.

    Alchemy should scale in duration, rather than strength and level. The current system is kind of idiotic and counter intuitive, because only one passive enables you to use on cooldown and have 100% uptime. And the rest is just for keeping track with your character level, by unlocking higher tier waters and oils until you can use alkahest and lorkhan's tears. It's just dumb level locking.

    Enchanting is the opposite. Since the cooldown is global and the glyph effects are fixed, we need to be able to increase the efficiency by ranking up in crafting skill line level. Currently the efficiency of using a glyph on a piece of equipment is determined by character level. This is again completely counterintuitive and the same kind of dumb level locking design.

    I am sorry for the language, but the frustration with the system sits really deep.
    "Provisioner. I am heading into battle and I need your strongest provisions."
    "You cannot handle my meals, traveller. They are too strong for you."
    "Provisioner! I said I am heading into battle and I need only your strongest provisions!"
    "My provisions are too strong for you, traveller! They would kill a beast, let alone a man!"


    Yeah, this never made sense. I also think that, because food is a huge part of culture, we should flavor blast provisioning with lore and culture for every food. Tell people that Mazte is a beer brewed from saltrice. Tell them just how nasty Green Pact approved food is or how the original recipe of this dish is only safe for Argonians to consume so alterations were made for non-Argonians. Things like that!
    Edited by Ratzkifal on March 29, 2026 2:25PM
    This Bosmer was tortured to death. There is nothing left to be done.
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