Mr. Walfington
Recruit
My recent playthrough I have powerleveled my main char, partner, brothers/sister, and all companions through smithing. I just made the same 2handed polearm over and over again as soon as I had the minimal resources to do so. If I needed money, I'd sell these, one of which easily cleans out an entire town's cash. I'd just go from town to town collecting best in slot gear for free for my char and all companions.
Even easier was making javelins. I power leveled my char's sister from level 1 to 20 and gave her best in slot gear within 1-2 hours. What points did she have invested? Zero. Just 1 END, 0 skill points, smithing hard capped at 5. She was still leveling up like crazy just spamming those javelins. That's when I realized I could do it on my main char and all the others who capped out smithing, pump out these javelins and get free levels, then rest everyone together in town to make it efficient.
Which led me to the conclusion... the gameplay is absolutely ruined by this. Free money, free leveling, without engaging in any of the intended, interesting game mechanics.
I'm sure it's something that can be fixed, particularly by changing the sell prices of crafted weapons and NOT advancing a char's level exp after they hard cap a skill. But at the moment this exploit is insanely strong.
Even easier was making javelins. I power leveled my char's sister from level 1 to 20 and gave her best in slot gear within 1-2 hours. What points did she have invested? Zero. Just 1 END, 0 skill points, smithing hard capped at 5. She was still leveling up like crazy just spamming those javelins. That's when I realized I could do it on my main char and all the others who capped out smithing, pump out these javelins and get free levels, then rest everyone together in town to make it efficient.
Which led me to the conclusion... the gameplay is absolutely ruined by this. Free money, free leveling, without engaging in any of the intended, interesting game mechanics.
I'm sure it's something that can be fixed, particularly by changing the sell prices of crafted weapons and NOT advancing a char's level exp after they hard cap a skill. But at the moment this exploit is insanely strong.