Enchanting loop breaks the early game and nobody warns new players

[WhiterunModder]

I just realized something watching my partner play through for the first time. She picked up soul gems and started enchanting gear around level 15, and within like an hour she had gear so good that everything just dies. She wasn't even trying to optimize, just slapping enchantments on stuff she found.

The guides always talk about smithing loops or alchemy loops, but enchanting feels like the actual nuclear option. A decent weapon with a soul trap enchantment basically plays the game for you. You get free soul gems, you level enchanting stupidly fast, your gear gets insanely strong, and suddenly Draugr Deathlords are just... not a threat anymore.

I think new players should honestly get a heads up that if they start enchanting early they're basically soft-locking themselves out of any difficulty challenge. It's not broken in a "this is a bug" way, it's just that the progression curve completely flatlines once you figure out the loop.

Does anyone else think enchanting should have been gated harder, or is that part of the fun? Like I get that Skyrim is supposed to let you break it if you want to, but it feels weird that the most accessible crafting skill is also the one that trivializes the game fastest.

 

[DragonbornVet]

Your partner found the real exploit, honestly. Enchanting is absolutely busted if you know what you're doing, and yeah, it's weird that guides obsess over alchemy and smithing when enchanting just... works. Soul Trap on a weapon is basically the game's difficulty off switch. You're generating infinite soul gems while leveling the skill that makes your gear untouchable. It's elegant in a broken way.

That said, I'd push back a tiny bit on the "should have been gated harder" angle. Skyrim's always been about letting you trivialize things if you find the right path - that's kind of the design philosophy. The issue is more that new players stumble into it by accident instead of having to seek it out. Alchemy and smithing loops require you to know specific recipes or perks; enchanting just requires "put enchantment on thing." It's too intuitive.

The real problem is that early enchanting doesn't have a resource gate. You need filled soul gems, which you get for free from your own weapon. Compare that to smithing, where you need ore or ingots (finite until you grind mining), or alchemy where you need ingredients (also finite, though easier to farm). Enchanting loops itself infinitely with zero investment past the first soul gem. If soul gems were actually rare early on, or if Soul Trap required a higher Enchanting level, it wouldn't be such a soft lock.

I don't think it needs to be "gated harder" exactly - more like the progression should have a steeper curve at the start. But honestly? Part of me thinks this is just Skyrim being Skyrim. Your partner found a cheese strat on her first playthrough. That's kind of the game's fault for being so breakable, but it's also kind of the charm.