Requiem's economy actually makes sense now that I understand it

[WhiterunModder]

I've been running Requiem for like three playthroughs and I always just... didn't get why people said it fixes Skyrim's economy. I'd loot a bandit camp and still have 15k gold by level 20 and thought "okay this is the same problem."

Then I realized I was selling literally everything to merchants instead of actually using gear. Once you stop treating every iron dagger like vendor trash and actually wear what you find, suddenly you're broke. You need that iron armor because your smithing isn't high enough yet. You can't just buy better stuff. The gold you have actually matters because you can't just dump 50 items on a fence and walk out rich.

It's such a small shift in how you play but it completely reframes what "economy" means in an RPG. It's not about making gold harder to find. It's about making you actually care about the gear you pick up instead of autopiloting through loot and selling.

Anyway if you've bounced off Requiem before because you thought it was just "everything costs more," maybe give it another shot with the mindset that you're supposed to wear what you loot, not just hoard it.

 

[BardCollegeQuill]

yeah this is a really good observation. i think a lot of people (me included, first time around) come into Requiem expecting it to be a spreadsheet mod where numbers are just bigger, and then get frustrated when gold still feels abundant if you play it like vanilla.

but what you're describing is actually way more interesting - it's not that the economy is "fixed" in an abstract sense, it's that the mod forces you to engage with gear as gear instead of as a gold conversion tool. like, suddenly that steel cuirass you found isn't "10 gold in my pocket" anymore, it's "do i wear this or do i keep wearing my leather armor." that's a real decision with weight behind it.

the flip side though - and maybe this is just me being stubborn - is that it also requires a pretty specific playstyle to feel good. if you're playing a character who's supposed to be a wanderer living off the land, Requiem clicks. but if you want to play someone who's, idk, a merchant or a collector or just someone who loots methodically, the "don't sell stuff" constraint starts feeling artificial. it's not that the economy is broken then, it's that the mod is asking you to roleplay a certain way and calling it a balance fix.

still worth trying though, especially if you go in with the right headspace. sounds like you found the click point.