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[forsaken1111]

Has anyone found a more advanced version of the basic "flames" spell? I'm like level 11 and it's still the best way to take out most things (other than the occasional arrow, or sparks to take out neck romancers.

You should be able to buy spells from the court wizard in Whiterun. You can also venture up to Winterhold and buy spells from the different wizards there, the destruction spells can be bought from a female wizard. There is also a wizard named Nelacar who stays in the inn at Winterhold who can sell a lot of spells.

You won't get a better 'flamethrower' spell though. The next level up is firebolt and then fireball. From there you get fire cloak which is awesome for crowds and fire rune which is the 'trap' spell and useful in a pinch. Firebolt throws... bolts of fire. Its similar in effect to the flare spell you start with in Oblivion. Fireball is the same but more damage and AOE. Fire Cloak goes on you and hurts anyone nearby each tick. Note: This includes allies and allied summons as far as I could tell.

For lightning you get Lightning Bolt which is a more powerful charge-and-fire version of sparks, not a stream, and Chain Lightning which is lightning bolt but arcs to nearby targets. Chain Lightning will even arc to targets if you miss and hit a wall, so its handy for bank shots around corners or cover. Then there is a lightning version of fire cloak and fire rune.

For ice there is a low level frostbite spell which is a stream like sparks/flames. Then you get Ice Shard or something like that which is a charge-and-shoot version that fires ice projectiles and slows people a bit. After that is a spell which fires an AoE spinny tornado frost thing which damages people in the area as it flies forward. Then there is an ice version of the cloak and rune.

Beyond those spells I don't know, I haven't gotten higher than Adept spells so no idea what Expert and Master will have but I know there are more.

[Sirian]

I have the same problem. I have this really cool mask which I just have to wear. Too bad it is heavy armor, making me increase that skill. It also makes illusion, alteration and conjuration cost 20% less mana. Which is completely useless as I don't cast any spells :S

Ah yea i just found this mask too but i use heavy armor so i'll use it :p.

You can also try mining ore, but you might have to refine it first to get as much out of it as possible, which requires finding a smelter.

There's a smelter near the entrance of Whiterun (first city), behind the forge. Also, if you mine a lot of iron ore, get a transmutation spell, and turn it into silver ore, and then turn the silver ore into gold ore. I found the spell

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

in a bandit camp/iron mine north of whiterun, called halted stream, if memory serves well

.

Someone also mentionned enchanting clothes as a potential major source of income. Me, i just sell what i find in dungeons and don't need, like scrolls, most potions except a stash of 10x hp/mana/stamina potions, expensive weapons/armor i don't use...

[LoSboccacc]

there is a list on the uesp wiki

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Destruction_Spells

very spoilery, so don't go there if you don't want to be spoiled.

[Dutchling]

Where do you spend money on anyway? So far I have found all my gear in dungeons and merchants still sell iron crap.

[LoSboccacc]

also the component for a restore health potion are extremely common. no need to purchase those either.

[The Merchant Of Menace]

How's the alchemy system in Skyrim as well?
Because apparently there's cooking, which makes it seem like alchemy will be actual alchemy and not soupmaking.

[nenjin]

Money is for housing mostly, it seems. I'm thinking every major city has a house available, and that adds up to a lot.

Housing is the only thing I've encountered that costs more than 5k. I don't think I've seen a magic item worth that much even. Grand soul gems with a grand soul? 1500ish. Everything seems priced fairly low in Skyrim, it's just the bulk purchases like spells that end up costing you a lot. Or materials I suppose if you're not doing a ton of wandering or stealing and want to get straight to the cool smithing.

Alchemy is more or less what it was in Oblivion. Each reagent has 4 properties, using reagents with the matching properties yields the potion. You can combine up to three items, and I haven't tried for potions with multiple effects yet. You can eat ingredients raw to learn their properties, or mix and match them on the alchemy menu, and it will grey out combinations that don't work. Unlike other alchemy systems, you don't create potions with "failed" combinations, it just doesn't work. Alchemy is really useful.....but not terribly interesting IMO. Like enchanting, Bethesda purposefully gimps how expansive the system can be. The Alchemy perks do allow you later on to craft potions more to your liking, by having remove the "poison" effects from combinations if a good effect would come out of it. But that's pretty much the extent of it. The effectiveness of potions is based on your skill level and whatever perks MASSIVELY augment their power.

[The Merchant Of Menace]

Huh, so it's still a case of making a potion of restore fatigue from bread, lettuce, tomatoes and ham.

Or as normal people call it, a sandwich.

Still, having to taste test to get the effects seems like a pretty neat addition.

[LoSboccacc]

it's like morrowind, but only your stat and perks count, no alembic&stuff and no bottles either.

there is an alchemy station in most shops and you can have one in your house. components could be used without prior knowledge of their effects (finally)

a nice touch is that when you select a component from the list of all, the ones that you have already tried out and didn't worked are grayed out, making exploration of mixtures an enjoyable experience.

ninjad edit:

wow, very different views on that

food now doesn't count as alchemic reagents (most of the time) so no more sandwich potions

[scriver]

I'm pretty sure enemies have leveled, stronger versions of the basic flame-/lightning-/frost-thrower spells though. But Beth didn't let us have a high-level version of it because... Nah, I can't think of any reason beyond unthoughtfulness.

I just had a great fight with my second dragon, though - we fought in the moor/tundra/fields outside that first city, making our way across it as we exchanged blows and magics until only one of us remained standing. Really cool fight, better than anything I've played from Beth before.

Is there any reason to save dragonbones/scales beyond sentimental value, by the way? I could really use the money, you see. I'm running out of companions to store all my shit on.

Also, no, MoM, you don't use foodstuffs in the Alchemy. Otherwise the same though. Pretty much.

[Journier]

i think your axe skill should increase slowly from woodchopping, this is trash!

lol

and i wish there was a skill and tree for foodmaking. i want to make very potent and fantastic apple cabbage soups...

and rabbit stew...

OH

And so far as Ive seen, finding salt piles or buying enough of them to complement the masses of raw foods you have available is difficult... im always out of saltpiles with fucktons of food left to cook

am i just supposed to wander town to town to buy up all the merchants salt to complement the food available only in one?

though i will say, doing a kill bandit leader mission in a cave, i probably found 15 salt piles but also found like 20 each of cabbage, apples, tomatoes too...

i hope to god i can find a way to mine salt... that would be nice.

[forsaken1111]

Also: In alchemy if you use two reagents which also have another mutual property that property is revealed when they react. So you might be making a healing potion with two ingredients but those two also have a 'fortify health' property you didn't know about. You will accidentally make a healing + fortify health potion and that property is now known on the list of effects for those two reagents. It makes alchemy a discovery experience.

Also there are some reagents which taste-testing is very dangerous. There is a perk that allows taste-testing to reveal two properties which helps a lot too.

[The Merchant Of Menace]

Well, it seems like it's been freshened up pretty awesomely from Oblivion then.

* The Merchant Of Menace waits impatiently for Friday.

[Dutchling]

You can also see which effects you can make (2+ ingredients and just make one select ingredients from that list. It really is a lot better than Oblivion.
Enchanting is also done differently. Initially you can only use one effect and in order to be able to use a certain effect you need to disenchant (destroy) another item with said effect. It is also totally free now and has a skill tree associated with it.

[LordMelvin]

snip

And so far as Ive seen, finding salt piles or buying enough of them to complement the masses of raw foods you have available is difficult... im always out of saltpiles with fucktons of food left to cook

am i just supposed to wander town to town to buy up all the merchants salt to complement the food available only in one?

though i will say, doing a kill bandit leader mission in a cave, i probably found 15 salt piles but also found like 20 each of cabbage, apples, tomatoes too...

i hope to god i can find a way to mine salt... that would be nice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_salt

Salt is an important and rare thing in any non-modern setting. So there's that.