The "stolen" goods mechanic is broken.

[bowserchomp]

How would a "legit" merchant "know" if a ruby I stole from some poor sap's house about 20 years ago is "stolen"? If I get arrested for assaulting a complete jerk who acted like I broke into his shop, even though his door was open and it was 10 'o clock in the morning, then I lose an amulet with some magicka buffs that I use because it was "stolen". Which I probably "stole" along with that same ruby I got around 20 years ago.

Why isn't there some kind of statue of limitations on "stolen" goods? I don't want to lose that magic amulet for an unrelated charge. And I sure don't want to save scum, which Skyrim seems to encourage doing every 10 seconds, because Bethesda wouldn't know good game design from cow pie.

Fencing stolen goods should be just as easy as selling junk you got from a bandit's hideout. Because in the end, regardless of whether the object you've acquired was from a "good" or "evil" person or group, it's still not yours anyway. Regardless of what Bethesda may have you believe.

[crgzero]

Another topic that has been beaten to death. Back in morrowind merchants wouldn't deal with you if you had skooma in your bag. How d phuque did they know?

[gloops]

I haven't played Morrowind for years, but I remember you could sell stolen goods to merchants - just not a merchant you'd stolen from (it's reasonable that they'd recognize their own missing goods being sold back to them).

[Grathagis]

Originally posted by gloops:

I haven't played Morrowind for years, but I remember you could sell stolen goods to merchants - just not a merchant you'd stolen from (it's reasonable that they'd recognize their own missing goods being sold back to them).

lol. no. when you stole an item from them, ANY same item that you tried to sell back would be registered as their own.

[Ilja]

The amount of fences in Skyrim is very high, so it is easy to get rid of stolen stuff.

If you do not want to take part of Thieves Guild, then you can fence stuff yourself. Raising Speech skill is quite easy in this game, so perk is available relatively early, even if the required level seems a bit high.

My last character was "independent" thief, who did not join the guild. It did not take me long to get the required level for the perk and sell the stolen stuff to stores I had invested.

Items you enchant yourself are usually much powerful than items you find on the road. I rarely waste any perks to the skill, when playing a thief. It levels very fast just by un-enchanting stuff you find.

I don't see the problem, but I do understand that some other players might. Getting grumpy about it just does not change a thing. Thinking for solutions will. Was there something you were after, or just venting out?

[Docsprock]

I certainly do not think the mechanic is 'broken'. It isnt 'finished' or 'complete', but not broken.