Exactly how important is exploring and picking stuff up in Oblivion?

[Neonetik]

I've basically just started playing, got out of the caves, and entered one of the first towns I found. On the way, and even in the cave, I pretty much picked up every single herb and flower and whatever I could find, and every piece of fruit (not weapons though). Now I have a huge stockpile of stuff, and when I was in the town, there was so much stuff to pick up from random baskets and stuff, after which I reloaded my game back to before I explored that town, and decided to go straight to jauffrey or whatever his name was, and deposited all of my herbs and stuff into that chest he opened (I don't know if all my stuff will be wiped from it, as some games like this like to respawn stuff every now and then), mainly just keeping my potions and weapons and armor. Exactly how important is it to pick up these things? Do they respawn? Should I bother with them? I'm a bit overwhelmed here. I'm playing as pretty much a pure melee class, so I don't know how useful alchemy or whatever would be to me. Plus, after exiting the cave, I already had so many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ potions, plus a heal spell.

Is it kinda like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where there are a bunch of different types of pills and special medkits and stuff, but you really never need to use any of them?

Speaking of being overwhelmed, when I entered that first town near the caves, I noticed it had like, seemingly 10 different areas within it, and each of those areas also had other doors leading to places, as well as lots and lots of shops (like freaking dozens of em) which seemed closed (it was night), and an arena and stuff. How important are these places? Should I make the effort to explore each and every single one of those places? Or will I need to go to them later on in the game?

Thanks.

[AC Denton]

They only respawn if they're in a container (even then not all respawn).

If you put items into a container that respawns, you'll lose everything.

Nothing is really important to pick up. This all depends on wether said item is important to your character, or useful.
This is a case by case basis and is pretty much common sense. Like any other game or real life.
If you need it or want it, take it.

You only need 1/2 weapons and 1 set or armor. Sell the rest or place them around your house or something. Some players like to just collect everything.

The first "town" is the Imperial City & it is the largest city in the continent and is where the Emperor lives.
You start there because it's right in the middle of the map & allows you to just wander anywhere you wish.
It really doesn't matter where you go or what you do. This is up to you. It's an RPG.
I reccomend starting with the Imperial City though.
Talk to everyone, do their quests, sell eveything you don't want/need & make as much money as possible.

[Belanos]

Most of the stuff you pick up is useful only for selling to some merchant, and a lot of it is outright worthless. You have to decide for yourself what's worth taking.

And yes, you should try and explore everything. That's what the game is really all about. The main quest line won't take you very long to complete if you focus on just that, but you can expect hundreds of hours of game time if you just check everything out.

[CullinB]

Originally posted by NeonAbomination:

I've basically just started playing, got out of the caves, and entered one of the first towns I found. On the way, and even in the cave, I pretty much picked up every single herb and flower and whatever I could find, and every piece of fruit (not weapons though). Now I have a huge stockpile of stuff, and when I was in the town, there was so much stuff to pick up from random baskets and stuff, after which I reloaded my game back to before I explored that town, and decided to go straight to jauffrey or whatever his name was, and deposited all of my herbs and stuff into that chest he opened (I don't know if all my stuff will be wiped from it, as some games like this like to respawn stuff every now and then), mainly just keeping my potions and weapons and armor. Exactly how important is it to pick up these things? Do they respawn? Should I bother with them? I'm a bit overwhelmed here. I'm playing as pretty much a pure melee class, so I don't know how useful alchemy or whatever would be to me. Plus, after exiting the cave, I already had so many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ potions, plus a heal spell.

Is it kinda like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where there are a bunch of different types of pills and special medkits and stuff, but you really never need to use any of them?

Speaking of being overwhelmed, when I entered that first town near the caves, I noticed it had like, seemingly 10 different areas within it, and each of those areas also had other doors leading to places, as well as lots and lots of shops (like freaking dozens of em) which seemed closed (it was night), and an arena and stuff. How important are these places? Should I make the effort to explore each and every single one of those places? Or will I need to go to them later on in the game?

Thanks.

Alchemy is very usefull skills even you are playing Melee Character in this Game.
I have two Melee oriented Characters (Redguard Arena Champion and Orc the Adventurer)
They both brew potions because there comes enemies who deals bad status and Drain or Damage stats.

In early games you can brew potion of Night eye. It is usefull when you fight in dark dungeons.
And if you reach over level 5 you will find Shield Potions usefull in case fight is very tough.
So I think melee character knows brewing some potion is not Role play breaking in TES4.
Restore Fatigue, Night eye, Dispel, Shield , Water breathing and Restore Heath are Melee Guys friends.

[Dreamer]

Plants are great for alchemy if you have the patience to pick them all up. The rest of the stuff is mostly good to sell. But if its stolen (a red hand next to them), you can only sell them at a fence, and for that you need to join the thieves guild.

Also, don't just store them in a random container, since they will all dissapear in a couple of days when the cell resets. You need to buy a house to have safe storage space. The one in the imperial city is the cheapest (and the ugliest).

[Kimmaz]

But if you drop something on the ground it never despawns, so i like to just drop things in the street ;D

[Unexpected]

exploring is an essential part of the game.
as for collecting things, you can if you want to, i personally only take gold, potions and some weapons, good armor too

[Borrolan]

A rule I apply is weigh to value ratio. I work on around 10:1 although I grab almost everything at very early levels.

Gems and scrolls are good items to hoard in your inventory. Light and good sellers.

Some posters have mentioned Alchemy. Couldn't agree more.

Early, Detect Life potions are weak and might need one increase in Alchemy skill (Novice to Apprentice) ro make - can't recall. They stack up to x4 though (distance of view goes up by that magnitude) and can be a life saver at early levels.

Feather potions are also useful - carry eight, carry all loot to one place, gulp four, load up before you leave the dungeon, then fast travel to a vendor location. You'll probably be over-encumbered when you arrive. If it's outside trading hours, wait until the shops open, gulp the other, four Feather potions, and toddle off to make some wonga.

And grab Mandrake whenever you see it. Can be consumed raw to cure diseases. Important. Large numbers exist around Infested Mine and around Varondo.

[ManualMakron]

Since you're playing as a melee character. Remember to carry a few repair hammers on yourself and a secondary weapon or two. Especially remember to carry and unenchanted weapon if possible ( a silver weapon is always welcome) so that you can maintain and repair it if your armorer skill is below 50. Scrolls and potions can be useful.

[SnickerToodles]

Toodles' Mini-Guide to Picking ♥♥♥♥ Up

There are 3 reasons you might want to pick some ♥♥♥♥ up.

-You would like to equip that ♥♥♥♥. (Or otherwise "use" it.)
-You would like to sell that ♥♥♥♥.
-You would like to put that ♥♥♥♥ in your house (or are roleplaying, etc).

If none of these conditions are satisfied, leave that ♥♥♥♥ on the ground.

Equipping That ♥♥♥♥

I mean... what do you want from me? Just put it on. Maybe drop your old ugly-ass armour while you're at it so you can have room for more ♥♥♥♥.

If you're picking up potions to use, consider this: Is this actually going to be helpful? Do you have the attention span necessary to remember to open your inventory or press a hotkey and use it?

Also, you don't need things like "Fortify Strength" or "Damage Acrobatics". Even if you remember to use them (which you won't), that ♥♥♥♥'s useless. Potions like healing (duh), Night Eye, Cure Disease, Chameleon, Feather, that's the ♥♥♥♥ you might wanna keep around.

There's no real reason to pick up alchemy items unless you intend to do alchemy. Some of the stuff is worth a little more.

Selling That ♥♥♥♥

When picking up weapons, armour, and general heavy stuff, weigh the WEIGHT against the VALUE. In other words, if you have a Heavy-Ass Orcish Cuirass which weighs about 80 pounds and has a value of 1000, drop that ♥♥♥♥ if you have a Pansy-Ass Glass Cuirass which weighs about 2 pounds and has a value of 1500.

(Note: the above weight values are hyperbole, please do not freak out.)

You'll always want to be on the lookout for more "efficient" items to carry. Arrows, scrolls, jewelry, and potions weigh nothing but are worth a lot. An Orcish Cuirass' weight in scrolls will be worth 100x more, so if you're overencumbered, drop the armour first.

Also, enchanted armour is always better, duh.

Finally, like, actually take some time to go to the store and sell that ♥♥♥♥, don't just carry it around.

Decorating With That ♥♥♥♥

Luckily for you, most of the stuff that looks nice in your house weighs ♥♥♥♥ all.

What you'll want to be on the lookout for is:
-Unique armour and weapons
-Non-unique armour and weapons that look cool
-Gemstones
-Jewelry
-Silver and ceramic plateware
-Alchemy ingredients that look cool
-Other miscellaneous items
-Mostly shiny ♥♥♥♥

Also, you'll always want to drop your money-making items way before your house-decorating items, because that's way more important.

Respawning

Some chests and containers respawn, others don't. "Safe" containers are usually located in your house. In general don't trust any containers besides this.

In general, what you consider "loot" will be back when you visit the cave in a few days. All enemies will come back as well. In peoples' houses, if you do loot the useless ♥♥♥♥ out of their drawers for some reason, that will respawn too.

In general, things set out on tables don't ever respawn, except food.

Items dropped on the ground by the Player never disappear or respawn.

Where to Get ♥♥♥♥

Caves/Mines usually have animals and goblins, occasionally bandits, who drop light armour. Loot is often minimal.
Forts usually have Marauders, which drop heavy armour. Loot is decent.
Ayleid ruins can have pretty much anything in them. Loot tends to be pretty good, especially with the low-weight but expensive Varla and Welkynd stones.
Campsites are usually occupied by bandits and a couple chests. Decent loot and quick to clean up.
If you're a thief, peoples' houses can have a few nice goodies. Don't bother with chests or containers except jewlery boxes, just look around on the tables and shelves. If there's anything good, it's usually upstairs. Even poor and middle class people have at least 1 thing worth stealing. But remember you can't sell the ♥♥♥♥ you steal to normal merchants.

Also, Sundercliff Watch. You're welcome!

[Borrolan]

Adding a bit to what SnickerToodles said - pretty well and with appropriate wit too.

During an early play through, I avoided Monster dungeons because I thought they'd be boring. So I spent several levels hunting Goblins. After a while, I thought the Goblins must be impoverished because they hardly ever had anything worth taking. Good for lockpicks but little else.

Then I went to Greenmead Cave, a cave inhabited by Monsters. I walked out with a Necklace of Swords, a Ring of Vitality and a Helmet of Exposition on the first foray. Hmmm...them monsters had good loot. Must try another Monster hangout. So I went to Reedstand Cave. A Mundane Ring and a couple of pieces of top drawer enchanted armour came into my possession. No more Goblin dens for me.

Monster dungeons are consistently good for high end enchanted rings and the like. Crayfish Cave is a beauty because it's so big. So get thee to where the Monsters hang out and ye shall be happy. Or dead. Btw, the really good stuff only appears around lvl 22 onwards.

Planes of Oblivion are often good too. The Dremora frequently drop enchanted jewelry.

Sundercliffe Watch is tickety boo and the generic enemies in it respawn. Many of the enemies carry good loot, including piles of high end arrows. I hold off going in until I'm lvl 20 so I have a good chance of getting the best versions of the assassin's armour.