I understand your position. I found the stalk and arrowshot tactic to be the most fun. When I tried pure mage I found I had to fall back on the same spell casting patterns in order to overcome my enemy like it didnt matter if I wanted a change of pace... in the end I just climbed a rocky slope or raised object and fired off my big destruction spells... my enemy never ran away just stood there and died and my spellcasting went uninterrupted. I liked the warrior style as well when my enemy came in close negating my upper hand with the bow. But the fighting style feels cumbersome like there is no real flow or fluid prowess. That said, I really liked the swish of daggers I could do although come to think of it daggers against a sword wielding foe was a little handicapped and not in my favour...

yes and very different
First , never but never just go in and start throwing fireballs , you will run out of mana faster than you can say skyrim and you die
playing a mage either conjurer /or destruction mage is a game of staying mobile and using support spells to help overcome the enemies
illusion/restoration/alternation

I have never thought playing a full mage is fun. However, a spell-sword is fun..

That's my plan for my next character. As a pure mage (who isn't using a re-balancing mod) I feel too reliant on Lydia. They just didn't give destruction the power to compensate for limited mana and physical vulnerability. There is also much less variety in spells than in the previous games. Sort of funny that in the first game to penalize you for using out-of-build abilities, they removed open lock, water walking, etc. I give them levitate, but removing all the others really gutted the fun of playing a mage. I still do, but have yet to finish the main quest.

Good response. ^this

I enjoyed pure mage or close to pure mage in OB but didn't as much in Skyrim so I switched. I prefer not to have very strong or heavy armor which means I need to be a ranged player. This worked fine as a mage in OB but got pretty cumbersome in Skyrim for me. I had to fuss switching out spells but also had no answer at all when I made an inevitable mistake of underestimating the number or the strength of the foe and then lost my range advantage as they charged me.

What I am finding is that archery is enormously easier and more effective in Skyrim than OB so my ranged attacks are archery rather than destruction. I also have a reasonably solid base of one handed too. My magic now consists mostly of healing and conjuring up a helper or a weapon. Although I have a good selection of destruction spells, I can't remember the last time I used one.

BTW, archery was realistic (as far as ballistics) in OB but more enjoyable in Skyrim although having arrows with the same flight characteristics as a rifle bullet is kinda bizarre. That is, in Skyrim, I can shoot a foe from what seems 130 meters away and have no arrow drop over that flight path.

You just need better gear. Either very high magicka regen or school based magicka use reduction will solve problems with running out of magicka. Use reduction is the best at this but can be raised to the point where spells actually cost nothing to cast so it can be abused. I usually get just enough magicka use reduction to make it reasonable. I can still run out but it takes a lot longer.

I've tried to play a full mage, but the lack of stealth-based magic attacks makes it pretty frustrating. Being the typical squishy wizard means I get my ass kicked unless I can either stay hidden or put some distance between me and any burly Nord bandit wanting to lop my head off. Thus, my mage-based characters still have some skill with a bow to balance it out. I am, however, having a completely awesome time on my third character, a Dunmer necromancer. Necromancy is probably my favorite magic addition by far.

I am curious, what kind of spells do your Necromancer use?

What sort of gear are you using? My mage is pretty kitted out in magical type garb to make the best use of her abilities but there may be options I've not considered...

Do you have the Recovery perk from Restoration?
(Magicka regenerates 25% faster (50% for second rank)

By the way, if you got the time.. maybe you could share with us what kind magic bonuses you have in total, on your current character, and what level he\she is?

She's definitely level 27 but thats all I know off the top of my head. She's pretty much put most of her eggs into the destruction basket and I think that's where I'm going wrong tbh...

Because I've neglected restoration I didn't even know that perk existed I need to look at this a bit more broadly I think...

Dread Zombie or Dead Thrall (made even better by Twin Souls perk) depending on the situation. If I kill someone really powerful, I generally "make a new friend" and keep them around as my undead companion for a while. Otherwise, I like Soul Trap, Conjure Dremora Lord, Invisibility, and any shock spells.

That is because when you are in combat, your magicka only regenerates at 1/3rd the rate it normally does (of course another way of looking at it is that out of combat, you magicka regenerates 3 times faster). Also your magicka does not regenerate at all when you are casting spells. So those continuous spells like the first tier destruction spells, and Wards, will svck you dry in a matter of seconds.

If you are on a console, all you can do is look for magic items, perks, and potions that increase your magicka regen, and reduce the costs for your favorite spell school. Also buy/create all the restore magicka potions you can and don't be stingy with using them. If you are on the PC there are mods that will fix the above issues, so your regeneration does now slow in combat, or when casting. Also, don't use Ward spells.

Didn't expect so many replies lol, anywho i am a Conjourer who uses illusion, alteration and destruction, i'm playing through the collee of winterhold quest line with my wabbajack

I just have to chime in and agree with Garrison here.

I currently have a 38 pure mage fully kitted in Draedic armour (Too bad armourtype has no impact on casting, part from running speed which doesns't really matter to this character #stagger) with a total of 100% magika reduction towards Destruction. If you combine that with the destruction perk that Staggers opponents.... Well let's just say it gets really boring and overpowered. I haven't played higher then this so I can't say anything about scaling over these levels, but right now i just blast anything that comes at me, be it Skewers or Dragon Priests and thanks to the Stagger-perk it doesn't matter at all if it takes several hits.

So if your continuing with your mage, spread your perks out, use atleast a few of the different schools, that should make it alot more fun.

Now im off to figure out what the heck I should play instead. Illusionist/Necromancer and murdering psychopath perhaps...hrm...

Or look at enchant. My Destruction mage did not take any cost reduction perks but put those into enchant instead. Right now, he is level 32 with some Destruction robes that reduce destruction cost by 12% and increase magicka regen. Plus he has enchanted a ring, amulet and circlet with Destruction cost reduction at about 23% each. He also has a ring that reduced Restoration cost by 23% so he swaps that with the Destruction ring. He just picked up the Ward Absorb perk in Restoration, so now he can hold up his lesser ward against mages no problem when wearing the Restoration ring and blast away with firebolts and flame spells for a long time.

The basic flames spell can be really powerful if you take the augmented flames perks and take the Aspect of Terror perk in the Illusion tree. I can now do 27 points of damage per second for almost no magicka with Flames, plus if you shoot it in bursts, the burning effect stacks and you can do quite a bit of damage in short order. When I am in close quarters, I use the novice spells more often than any other spell, saving the firebolts for when I am at range. If I am having trouble hitting someone or if they are in groups, I switch to an AOE spell but you have to be careful because those use more magicka.

With the cost reduction through enchant, I am having no problems with a Destruction/Restoration mage. When I get Enchant to 100, I will be able to put two enchantments on a single item. With that you can get free castign in two schools, but that seems cheap to me, so I will probably just go for substantial cost reduction. You could get a 75% reduction in Destruction and Restoration, for instance and a 25% reduction in Illusion and Conjuration, or you can get 50% reduction in four schools. Since you can wear a circlet and a falmer helm at the same time, you can reduce spell costs even further. You can also combine in game items, like the Arch mage robes and the savant circlet and you can fortify your enchantments up to 29% with alchemy to achieve a wide variety of possible cost reduction scenerios through enchanting that will save you a great many cost reducing perks.

Plus, with all the perks I saved by not taking any cost reducing perks, I have plenty to perks to perk out Illusion (9 perks) and Conjuration (4 perks to twin souls) as well as Destruction and Restoration. I am not bothering with the magic regen perk in Restoration, since a mere 50% increase in regen seems awfully expensive use to two perks to me.

Likewise, I am not perking Alteration. My mage does not wear armor, but constantly castign a mage armor spell seems tedious, especially since it only gives limited protection even with the three perks in mage armor. I'd rather just use Wards and focus on not getting hit, than worrying about mage armor. Personal preference there. I may spend two perks there to pick up dual casting someday, just to make my candlelight last longer. Its annoying to have to recast that all the time.

I find Illusion very fun, it is great to cast a spell then sit back and watch all hell break loose. Also if you are running low on health in battle it is very useful to use calm and watch your opponent walk away oblivious to what just happened. If you dabble in Conjuration there is some useful summons you can get as well as being able to raise the dead and conjure weapons etc. I find destruction fun and there is quite a variety of spells in the destruction school, you have fire, ice and lightning, as well as having them you have spray effects, walls, runes etc. I think everyone should at least try playing a mage, it will not be to everyones taste but it will be worth the experiment.

its ok its not that great just bcuz its hard to use for long range and wen u use it 4 close combat u end up surviveing but u have like 2% health!!!!

This is how awesome Mage can be sometimes: http://youtu.be/3z4jXCeQGKM

That's too funny. Of course the guy in the video made a bunch of tactical mistakes, like wasting all his magicka with all those dual casting shots. At that distance, you don't need to stagger and single casting is much more efficient. Then if he had switched to the magicka efficient flames spell sooner and used it in bursts so the fire effect stacked, he would have dropped that restless draugr with no problem. This video does demonstrate the necessity of managing your magicka pool though and it is absolutely hilarious.