Alchemyholics Anonymous

[Iconian]

So, I'm afraid I've got a confession to make.
I'm an alchemyholic.

I only realized it recently, though I've played Oblivion on and off for years.

In 2020 I discovered that perhaps as much as a quarter or even half of my time in game was devoted to alchemy. I never had intended this.

I've just found that it's so easy to pick up alchemy ingredients while I'm out and about adventuring. I'd put them in my inventory, and then after doing a few quests or running around a bit I'd go to my house and start up my alchemy gear, creating potion after potion, until I only had ingredients that I couldn't use. Then I'd go adventure some more and and find more ingredients, bring them back and do it again.

After a while I started realizing I was spending so much time just doing alchemy, and so, I began instead dropping off the ingredients at home, then adventuring, and coming back with more ingredients, and only getting to work on the alchemy after having picked up two loads of ingredients in this way.

But I still felt I was spending too much time just doing alchemy . . .

And then I began to find that I had more and more of my weight made up of potions.

I started selling off potions, but pretty soon I realized it was a problem. I had so many potions, and while I did use a few in battles and such, most of the time I just forgot about them . . .

And instead accumulated more, and more . . .

And then specifically made trips just to sell off more potions, spending more time trying to sort through all the potions to figure out which ones I needed to sell or keep.

I suppose I could just sell my ingredients instead of using them in the first place, but that just feels so . . . wasteful . . . when I could be using them for alchemy . . . to make even more potions . . . and then not use most of those potions . . .

Or not pick up the ingredients in the first place. But that seems even more wasteful than selling them.

I haven't played Oblivion for a while. Alchemy is probably part of the reason why.



Are there any fellow alchemyholics out there? Any strategies anyone has found for how to deal with alchemy?

Anyone finding their inventories more and more clogged with unused potions . . . wondering how to handle all their unused potions?

[Johnny Casey]

Simple. You just ---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DHIqUkmj-o

[Olivinism]

I had this problem in Skyrim, ended up just devoting to a system of "Am I likely using this potion in the next few quests?" If not, instantly sell because by the time I'll need it I can just make another.

Kinda translates to Oblivion but I'm kinda new to it still. Basically just making Magicka Regen pots for my atronoch mage and selling anything else right now.

[Turtleswatter]

Have you got frostcrag spire? Dump all your alchemy stuff in there and forget about it. Don't pick anything else until you need it. You've got a garden if you need ingredients.

You can do it; one day at a time.

Seriously, I use poisons for my weapons and restor health and magicka potions in fights (if your alchemy is high enough you take one at the beginning and it lasts the whole fight.)

You really don't need more than that. So stop picking flowers, it's not ecologically friendly :D

[Iconian]

@Johnny Casey: Let it go? What, get rid of all my potions? Don't you chug one every once in a while?

@Gyrosti: But making a potion requires ingredients which mean I'll have to keep them on hand, so wouldn't it just be better to have the potion already made and ready in my inventory?

@morifi: I think you might be worse than I am . . .

@Turtleswatter: Yeah, I was using Frostcrag Spire and stored everything for alchemy there. Would you really just ignore all the abundance of ingredients outside Frostcrag Spire though? And, only poisons and restore health and magicka? But . . . what about frost resistance and poison resistance and fire resistance and disease resistance and feather and restore fatigue and shield and waterwalking and fortify speed and fortify strength and intelligence and and and oh no oh no oh no!

[Lobo de hielo]

I use Frostcrag Spire (and the Void Stone, great potions from level 1) to dump all my ingredients. I also use a Auto Harvester.
I now never do Alchemy until I have enough ingredients to go up 10 levels, make all the potions I need and guess/ calculate what I need to carry. I sell the junk and leave any other good potions at Frostcrag Spire just in case I run out.
Get high enough in Alchemy and make all potions multi-potions to cut down on what needs to be carried.
Play a mage as well, that way a lot of the potions you do not need to make as you can have a spell for it.