You soul gems for creating new enchants too.

As you get higher using soul crystals is a must for enchanting weapons and armour and then re charging same as they deplete with use, you can be fire proof, poison or set fire too , even drain souls and drain life or blood with each impact or block. A word of warning for low level players , you will get a particular blade in one of the side quests which is the only way to defeat tree wraiths, don't ever throw it away, also don't forget to train in blacksmithing as its essential for making super advanced weapons and armour.

Yes, new enchants and recharging was what I meant. Made my Kellogg's Frosties Sword with a soul gem I found which was already full when I found it. So what's the difference between the different ones, petty, common, etc. I assume they hold different types/levels of creatures giving larger capacities or something?

Made my first enchanted weapon last night which was fun. Found an enchanting table in some dungeon. I'd cleared most of the place, coming to the last rooms and could hear someone banging away at a forge. Couldn't see where it was coming from but could hear it down the corridors. Love the atmosphere in this game.

 

Did two almost identical quests last night involving claws. Completed the first and randomly decided to start another which happened to involve the same things so was bored by the end.of that one. Might not get much of a chance to play over the weekend :(

LOL........great that you have your first enchanted weapon, don't get bored with claw quests as a lot of shouts start and get upgraded during these little joints and the thugs or whatever there called drop some good loot, the way to tell a shout is close is the chant will start when in the right room so it really pays to be thorough in these dungeons.

I think it was mainly because it was the last quest I was going to do before bed and was expecting something exciting then it was the same thing as I had just done, and I'd travelled ages to get there. Not that I mind walking around everywhere, the place is lovely to look at. Also I've not started the main quest so don't have any dragons to use with the shouts.

Just wanted to thank everyone in this thread for all of the information you've provided. I was a little tempted to give this game a go and thanks to everything I've read here I've decided not to touch it with a bargepole. As it were.

 

How on earth can you play this and do things like go to work, play with the kids, go shopping etc etc?

aha...believe me if you walk around enough there will be dragonsand not on the main quest line, some are easy some are .....shudder

I'm pretty sure you don't get dragons anywhere if you don't start the main quest line? I have two characters who have killed the first quest dragon and they've both encountered them in the wild, and two characters who haven't done that quest and they haven't seen a single one.

I've managed to not have kids so far, and I'm spending every other week on call and not being able to leave the flat, at the moment. So it's easy.

nope I reached level 24 before visiting the Greybeards and have killed 9 or 10 before that point, so long as you visit Whiterun and start the Jarls quest series, remember that you start the main quest simply by starting the game.

Before visiting the Greybeards? That's after killing the first quest dragon. I haven't collected/handed in the Dragonstone yet (and thus not triggered the first dragon fight) and not seen any up to level 20ish on two separate characters.

And I've sent my 18 month old to boarding school, divorced my wife and quit my job. /Plenty/ of time to play now.

So as you surmise the Dragon Stone is the trigger, its a shame as imho the Dragons are one of the highlights of this fabulous game, plus you get a real kick in the stats for killing them. I found my Archery skills advanced a lot quicker , one downside for me with the levelling system not giving you enough perks for all the skill sets I want to develop :(

I'm pretty sure the trigger is just the first quest dragon fight, just after you hand in the dragonstone.

 

I'm deliberately holding off activating the dragons on two of my characters. They are amazing and quite a lot of fun to fight, but it's also quite annoying if you're trying to do something and get jumped by one. The first time I encountered a random one I had no ranged attacks ready (only short-range spells and melee weapons) so I was pretty much completely unable to fight it. I took shelter in a nearby cabin but there was some mage guy in there who attacked me, and then followed me outside where the dragon was still waiting. :-((

All I've done on the main quest so far is talk to the first guy in Riverwood, the rest of the time has been spent wandering around so no dragons yet.

 

The baddest dude I've seen so far was someone called Krosis who I stumbled upon at the top of a mountain. I thought he was just another mate I could easily defeat but I had to run away as I couldn't touch him.

That's the one that killed my Lydia. Though I may have accidentally helped with my sword. I had to run away on several attempts. I think I finally got him at around level 30.

Kids so far...that you know of!

 

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to have a fiddle but I honestly can't see where to get the time.

It's a bit cold in here love.

Loving it.

:D I've been having lots of fun with it. 11 hours in now, level 9 I think. Whenever someone says "elsewhere" it will now make me think of the Khajiit.