How long is Solstheim?

[Lockdown]

Travelled to Solstheim thinking it might be a short quest and now I am balls deep in this whole new world and I'm not thrilled about it. Opened pandoras sh*t box of quests in Skyrim and now I'm in Morrowind just adding a billion more. How long can I expect to be here? Maybe should of looked into it before I just casually jumped in..

[Dexter]

You can leave at any time and the quests will be there when you are ready to proceed further.

The only quests I do there early on are the ones from Glover Mallory. One for a pickaxe and the other to retrieve the bonemold formula.

[★Kelvy★]

There is one main quest and smaller side quests. You can travel back and forwards from Skyrim to Solstheim as many time you like, no need to do it all at once. Some small quests involve going to and thro between Skyrim and Solstheim.

[Lockdown]

Ah never realized I could go back and forth.

So maybe I'll look into the pickaxe and the bonemold formula. What are they good for?

[jreese46]

Just to add to whata Kelvy said, about traveling back and forth, taking the ship back will cost you gold, so you may prefer to fast travel. On solstheim, open the map and there should be a small arrow, which points vaguely SW, in the ocean outside of Raven Rock. That will land you at Windhelm docks. From Skyrim, there is a similar arrow to the NE, which will take you to Solstheim, which iirc lands you in Raven Rock.

[★Kelvy★]

The pickaxe is needed later and the other is for armour etc(actually both are for armour). Pickaxe to mine strathrim ore(hard ice). Normal pickaxe will not do the job.

[Lockdown]

Originally posted by Kelvy:

The pickaxe is needed later and the other is for armouretc(actually both are for armour). Pickaxe to mine strathrim ore(hard ice). Normal pickaxe will not do the job.

Ah okay thanks. I'm only level 18 right now, this game just keeps expanding and expanding. Trying to wrap my head around it.

[jreese46]

Don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to do it all at once. The only real forced quest I've ever seen is the main Skyrim quest, forcing you into taking civil war quests before the Jarl will help you with the dragon. Stuff like Dragonborn will wait until you're ready to, or feel like, taking care of it.

That being said, at the risk of spoilers, once you get to a certain point in the main questline for Dragonborn, while you can still travel back and forth, there will be certain costs associated with waiting too long to finish it. It's not a terrible loss, but it does provide some motivation to follow it through.

[★Kelvy★]

Dragonborn DLC main quest you should be level 30+. But the other smaller quest should be OK, but mind you there are a couple that are hard. ( Not to give it all away)

[Dexter]

Originally posted by Lockdown:

Ah never realized I could go back and forth.

So maybe I'll look into the pickaxe and the bonemold formula. What are they good for?

The pickaxe is for mining. The pickaxe from that quest is a quest item. It is weightless until you complete the quest, so once you get the pickaxe don't return it and you can use it to mine without its weight affecting your carry weight.

The Bonemold Formula quest requires being part of the Thieves Guild to activate it. Once the quest is complete Glover gives you access to his house, which contains unique armor and other items that you are free to take.

[gnewna]

Originally posted by jreese46:

Don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to do it all at once. The only real forced quest I've ever seen is the main Skyrim quest, forcing you into taking civil war quests before the Jarl will help you with the dragon. Stuff like Dragonborn will wait until you're ready to, or feel like, taking care of it.

Well, you don't have to actually do the civil war, you just have to get people to agree to a ceasefire. On the other hand, if you want to do the civil war, you're forced to start the main quest at a certain point (I think it's the message to Whiterun quest? Jarl B won't respond until you've been to BFB for Farengar, which of course triggers Mirmy and allllll the dragons.)