Balancing in previous games doesn't need to be taken into account when deciding if different elements of THIS GAME are balanced though. Archers have bows as offense, warriors have swords/axes, thieves have daggers and mages have destruction magic. They have always been the main source of attack damage for those categories in every rpg of this type in history. But crucially destruction is massively underpowered compared to it's sister skills. This is the problem

His armor clearly said "Light Armor", but it was Dragonscale, which is obviously some of the best if not THE best in the game. He was very well geared.

I'm pretty sure they spent most of their time on world building rather than on fine tuning every perk/spell/item in the game to be perfectly balanced. Which it clearly is not, but I don't think its the giant problem you are making it out to be.

I know how TES games work (and don't work), and that is the problem. This skill doesn't work like previous games.

When I say that raising the destruction skill make no difference, I mean it. It has no effect on damage..AT ALL. The effect it has on mana consumption is so negligible, the difference can't even be noticed between 10 and 100. There is no reason to raise the skill other than perks.

I'll test this (again) when I get home, but I suspect if anyone here who has a high level mage were to use the console to lower his destruction skill to 10, yet keeping everything else the same, he would notice no change with the performance of his character. He might notice a slight decrease to mana efficiency, but that is it. He will do no less damage and will be equally effective in combat.

The skill only exists to limit which perks you can buy and which spells you can purchase. It seems to provide no other function.

No other combat skill in the game is like that. Even conjuration scales, since the level of your summon matches your characters level.

And regarding gear upgrades, there aren't any. Not for damage. Around 80-90dps is the highest damage you will ever do in the game. EVER. This works fine until you get to around level 40, as other have said. Then you will encounter creatures with 1k-2k health that can kill you in seconds. Then you have to fall back on another skill. Destruction loses its purpose, because its ineffective and other skills are blowing it away.

Using your summon as a distraction is fine. But when it is doing 5-10 times as much damage as you are, it becomes pointless to waste your mana on destruction spells at all. All that time and energy wasted on something that could have gone to a skill without an expiry date.

...No, you don't. Destruction is amazing. You're doing something wrong.

Well said.

I can't fathom the train of though used when one assumes that using a single skill is a smart idea.
Its a Character build, not stat grind for 50hrs....

The POINT is as a MAGE you get weaker not stronger. There IS something wrong.

I just though about something. Since you can enchant mana costs to -100%. Why the hell have I been putting my level up points into Magicka? :'(

Bethesda, I say, change all the -x% mana cost enchant effects to "+x% spell power" effects.

You chose poorly from a min/max perspective, so the entire game should be changed?

Really?

How self-absorbed are you?

You chose poorly from a min/max perspective, so the entire game should be changed?

Really?

How self-absorbed are you?

That aside, you're only going to get to -100% cost in one school.

Damage skills:

2H, DW, Sword and Shield, Bow = kill faster as you level past 35. You character will only need one of these. Play how you want.

Destruction = kill slower as you level past 35. Your character will probably need major supplements, such as conjuration - which changes your playstyle and goes against the other TES games. Btw, conjuration + any of the above is a far better combo, by miles.


understand?

That's kinda offset by the fact that a mage can have 2 frost atronarchs out while shielding himself, healing himself, lobbing fireballs and making the enemies fight each other. Melee gets the best pure damage because when melee focused damage is all you have.

I'm in my 40s and was obliterating everything on adept enough that I felt obligated to crank up the difficulty. Pretty sure I can kill most things with doublecast expert spells faster than a melee character could actually close on them.

Damage skills:

2H, DW, Sword and Shield, Bow = kill faster as you level past 35. You character will only need one of these. Play how you want.

Destruction = kill slower as you level past 35. Your character will probably need major supplements, such as conjuration - which changes your playstyle and goes against the other TES games. Btw, conjuration + any of the above is a far better combo, by miles.


understand?

So people are complaining that they can't two shot a dragon like in those videos? Why the hell would that be fun!?

I'm level 27 on my Mage right now and I find that leveling all the skills contributes to becoming a better mage and surviving, not just destruction. I did, however put a lot of perks into descturction (10/26 so far) and hope I can continue to be effective till Lv. 50. Not to mention I haven't even used the expert spells yet and I still feel really powerful. Is nice...

No, that is not true. As a character, when you gain levels some enemies also gain levels, that is the problem. And the higher you set the difficulty the greater this disparity becomes. There are no classes here. A magic focused character can summon minions, summon weapons, hurl lightning, heal themselves and others, raise shields to negate damage and use staves of various kinds. A melee focused character will block, swing, power swing, block. An archer focused character will sneak and shoot arrows. If you are truly unable to complete the game on the standard difficulty with a magic focused character then please elaborate. Otherwise this just reeks of number crunching envy. Again, this is a single player game. No matter how powerful your friend's character is or this guy you saw on youtube, there is nothing to stop you from doing the same, if big numbers are all that matter to you.

I'm in my 40s and was obliterating everything on adept enough that I felt obligated to crank up the difficulty. Pretty sure I can kill most things with doublecast expert spells faster than a melee character could actually close on them.

You really need to read into the problem. Spells don't scale. ANY OF THEM. So by the time you reach 40 your enemies are getting strong while you are stuck. Practically level capped. THAT is the problem. Please, I have said this to anyone who thinks spells are fine: Play a pure mage.

It would seem to me that if you can't boost your weapon because you don't have one (using destro magic) you need to weaken your opponent. A melee fighter does not stand a chance against a mage who has made them overencumbered to where they cant move. Or a mage who has drained their stamina to the point of not even thinking about power attacks. Or a mage who is slowly svcking the health out of his opponent while his opponents buddies are up in his face.

Spell damage is pre-scaled. It's amusing that you don't understand this.

Spell damage is pre-scaled. It's amusing that you don't understand this.

I'm in my 40s and was obliterating everything on adept enough that I felt obligated to crank up the difficulty. Pretty sure I can kill most things with doublecast expert spells faster than a melee character could actually close on them.

Spell damage is pre-scaled. It's amusing that you don't understand this.