Best non dlc stuff?

I like the ability to fill my own gems but I don't soul trap for the hell of it so I only go hunting when I want to make something and don't have a gem for it. Most of the time I don't even carry the bow or gems. These days, I have cut down what I carry
to a bare minimum and get irritated with myself when I open chests and loot bodies for more than my arrows.

I really wish games balanced loot better so that good stuff showed up more frequently early and there was a good reason to still loot late game. I know some people loot because it's there and that's good for them but there could be some good use for it.
A really good example from Skyrim. It takes a long time to get all the unusual gems. There are a lot of them and some are in places it is foolish to attempt early; yet, once you get them and give them to Vex the reward is an overabundance of gems in every
chest. I have no reason to use them and can't display them easily so they irritate me when I continue to pick them up and just go into a chest when I do.

 

Yes TLB, absolutely.

I was a pauper for levels 1-30, making a living at 30-50 and stinking rich after somewhere in the 50s. -- which kinda tracks with my IRL bank too (/ Rodney Dangerfield voice) I suppose I should/could buy some more properties, but it wouldn't help my game
(style) any.

I have been keeping some of the lower grade weapons I loot, in case I re-up my smithing.

 

Haha! I try to only keep one of a kind now. One of my personal goals was to carry more than a million gold in my pocket. As you have pointed out, lower levels were spent in poverty and nearly everything I picked up was too heavy or junk. Now when I check
my storage places they have only 1 of each item. I spend an awful lot of time selling items that are pretty cool. It would be nice to send them to someone that could use them. As you know, I don't use magic much so a Staff is not in my inventory but I have
sold some pretty cool Staff's.

 

Two destruction staffs look fantastic crossed behind either an elven or a dwarf shield. I like them better than swords. I used to put staffs on the weapon racks in the house entries but had one used against me by a bandit so i made sure after that to use
only low level or innocuous staffs if I did.

 

You know, one thing I never did to make money early that is actually a pretty good money maker especially if done with a triple buff to bartering which is easily done in Solitude. General stores will buy dragon bones and dragon scales and they are worth
a lot of gold.

 

:triple buff to bartering which is easily done in Solitude:

please explain. necklace plus mask of clavius vile plus .....? I never really got lucky with the bartering 'thang. Or do you mean some perks as well?

 

Actually, you can do a quadruple bufff and I suppose it could go to 5 with the mask, I've never used the mask. One is to give a coin to the old soldier, 2 is go to the temple and get a blessing of zenithar, 3 is use an amulet of zenithar or dibella but zenithar
is better and 4 is use a potion of barter. The coin and temple are just easier to get in Solitude than anywhere else though I always put zenithar and arkay in my basement. Since every little bit helps even a basic beginner potion is good.

 

Anything to up your speech is good too. I think if I'm not mistaken, early in one game I was getting about a 50% boost to barter with a mask, Dibella necklace and a potion after I gave one of the beggars a gold coin. It does make some difference early when
your trying to get the "Garage" in Whiterun. lol!

 

Garage? I always looked on it as a barn. That's one thing that always bothered me about Skyrim. Everything looked dingy and dirty. Just because you build with rough boards doesn't mean you can't cut a straight edge and butt them properly. And the dirty faces!
I mean, sure, there are no showers to be seen but still, Alvor has a river outside his house surely he can wash his face and hands after work. I have trouble believing Sigrid was up to a cuddle if he smelled like a forge and was covered in soot.

Dibella grants a boost to speech but Zenithar grants a boost to barter and so is best to use if trading. Dibella is best if trying to persuade. The beggers give a boost to speechcraft as well. Solitude is the only town that has an altar to Zenithar (that
I know of) and since I had to buy arrows a lot I would run in get my blessings, put on my amulet and swig a potion then buy and sell. Then I would run by the temple or the house of the dead and renew Arkay before heading out into the wild.

 

Hmnn! and all this time I thought I was getting a bargain either way. Dibella or Zenithar. Not sure but west of Whiterun, there is a little shrine, maybe the Horn one. Can't remember all of them right now. Head to the second Giant Camp and then North. It's
unmarked but that's where I found one of the necklaces for his shrine in the basement. The necklace is on the ground sometimes and hard to see. I think it's Zenithar's.

So your saying speech does less or no effect on buying and selling?

 

No, it gives a good effect, that's why gift of charity works but I had both amulets and being of the sort to over think things I experimented and found that all other things being equal, a Zenithar amulet and blessing was better with a vendor than Dibella.
After I make my own amulet or potion I no longer needed to go through all the motions. My speechcraft is reasonably high and a 59% better barter means I but at cost and sell at cost which is good enough. All I really care about is sticking it to Belathor and
the snobby sisters in Solitude.