For me the worst part of being a mage isn't even the lack of spellmaking but the horrific implementation of hotkeys and the favorites menu. I play on PS3 and therefore I am stuck with two hotkeys. Seriously svcks to try and get into a nice mix of spells to get through a battle when I constantly gotta pause the action just to switch spells.

In OB I would have at least 5/8 directions dedicated to spells for combat and the action never had to stop for me to switch them. The hotkeys in Skyrim are so broken that in order to switch using the hotkeys you basically can trade out two spells. But it can take several extra presses as the spell goes from R-L hands and so if you're just trying to get a restore health into your left it can be like three hotkey presses, then your ONE destruction spell needs another press to get back into right hand.

Sheesh.. no fun at all. I don't get the favorites menu. If we love the 'A' in Skyrim why slow it down into a crawl by pausing to a slow, composited menu to show selections?

Because of this I haven't gotten past 12 hours with my mage. I took him straight to college and through the MG questline and I was like "[censored], its over already?" Remember how awesome the MG questline in oblivion was? First an apprentice, then do stuff all over the place. etc etc..

And we won't even get into Morrowind. I think finding the damned mushrooms for whatsherface in Balmora took me longer than the whole Skyrim quest line

I am already reaching again to replay OB or FONV instead of Skyrim. Once you do all the main quest lines changing your character to re-do them is really not as much fun. I'm also replaying MW and its awesome becuase it has been so long since I played that lots of stuff is forgotten and fun again or epically nostalgic. Man just the table of faction dispositions for MW is jaw dropping. And Skyrim's role-playing is progress from this?

I find it very tiresome to play a pure mage in both Oblivion and Skyrim. I have an Altmer who is a pure mage, but it's like dragging a dead deer through mud. I'm slogging the whole way. I haven't gotten anywhere near finished with her because it's just so tedious. The mages are very high maintenance.

Casting is awkward, and I hate the fact that you have to put away your bow before casting a spell when you play an archer. Oblivion's system of allowing you to hold your bow in the left hand and cast with the right worked much better for me.

My favorite roll-up is my male Bosmer Stealth Archer who can take down just about anything with bow and arrow before they even know he's there. I loved using a bow in Oblivion and I love it even more in Skyrim. Very satisfying.

The warriors feel overpowered.

Absolutely.

I don't mean to be "Skyrim Apethetic" but the entire game seems dead on mostly any build. :/

I just can't wait till I have the $$$ to make the change to PC, hopefully the addition of modded content will make the game more enjoyable...

Oblivion? Really, cause I have so much time logged into Oblivion that mages are all I play anymore just because there is so much variety in what you can do with a mage in Oblivion that even after well over 1,000 hours of Obivion playtime I have not done everything I want to do with Oblivion mages.



I agree with what you say about the bow. It was pretty good in Oblivion but fantastic in Skyrim.

I find it very tiresome to play a pure mage in both Oblivion and Skyrim. I have an Altmer who is a pure mage, but it's like dragging a dead deer through mud. I'm slogging the whole way. I haven't gotten anywhere near finished with her because it's just so tedious. The mages are very high maintenance.

Casting is awkward, and I hate the fact that you have to put away your bow before casting a spell when you play an archer. Oblivion's system of allowing you to hold your bow in the left hand and cast with the right worked much better for me.

My favorite roll-up is my male Bosmer Stealth Archer who can take down just about anything with bow and arrow before they even know he's there. I loved using a bow in Oblivion and I love it even more in Skyrim. Very satisfying.

The warriors feel overpowered.

Was that last sentence supposed to be a complaint? After you just described your archer 1-hitting everything without a scratch? Everything gets overpowered eventually. That's the beauty of the RPG. Don't like it? Play master

Sorry, didn't mean to upset you. It really wasn't a complaint, just my personal opinion and, I just didn't finish the thought.

I meant that compared to the other classes they seem to start out overpowered. I have no idea how they end up as I haven't taken a warrior up very high. Archers don't start out strong. You have to be "sneaky" and cautious in the beginning. No the "kill 'em with two shots" only comes later. That's a part of why they are so satisfying to me.

You would think that mages would feel the same way but they feel like a lot more work. Again, no complaints just personal opinions.

Very boring. The way the game mechanics have been set up do not mesh well with mage play (I'm looking at you "favorites" menu) and what little replay value has been removed by taking out the spell making system. Magic in Skyrim is best as a melee/stealth supplement.

I'm gonna agree with this. I feel like magic is Skyrim's hotsauce. Goes good on everything, but chug that [censored] and you might regret it

It's a good and bad thing. I personally like it, but "true mages" might have to rip out their tongues.

Actually, my true mage is enjoying the magic system. Can't see what's wrong with it.

For me, I guess it has become the lack of varying spells. Do you enjoy magic more than you did in Morrowind or Oblivion?

Actually yes. Don't get me wrong, I want more spells but for me it's not a necessity. I feel like they stripped all of the excess things that were just in the game to be there. It's a good place to start from and it's already very good for me. Makes me utilize all the magic at my disposal.

i, too, grew bored with skyrim and contemplated starting new with some older games. i decided to give it one last effort.

i planned and am in the process of creating my most powerful character yet: yes, a hybrid, lol. only the most powerful skills and perks. then, whenever i play the game i can play however i'd like and not be restricted, at all.

i've advocated separate builds, but, i still grew bored. this method has rejuvinated my skyrim gaming sessions and the fun is back!

as well, i can strictly rp with my DiD builds.

it worked for me.

Just on a random note, what does DiD mean? I'm not new to Bethesda games, just new to these forums and I see that phrase everywhere