spears could also be one handed, pikes being the two handed equivalent. Hasn't anyone seen a soldier with a spear and shield?

Yes I would like to see both version added for two different builds. An Orsimer with a pike and a spear and shield baring Redguard.

*sigh* with a buddy or two, you could get a phalanx going

meh

For example fire bolt and incinerate do the same thing, shoot a bolt of fire. But the mana cost for incinerate is ten times higher per point of damage. What would stop the player from using the base fire bolt effect to make a super cheap incinerate? Why would anyone cast incinerate or use that effect anymore?

Spell Creation's been gutted out of the engine. I doubt It'll come back.

You're actually wrong. Spellmaking is indeed very possible. You see many effects of spellmaking in the game already, any person who has taken the "Extra Effect" perk in Enchanting has experienced the fundamental aspect of spellmaking.

The biggest hurdles probably come from how a custom spell plays into leveling a skill, when it's multiple schools, and how to combine delivery methods. It's fairly easy to say "Let's make a fire spell that gouts for 80 damage per second" but it's a lot harder to say "Let's make a flame gout spell that shoots ice spikes and also frenzies nearby enemies with paralysis runes".

So it gets complicated, but I believe it's possible. I highly doubt it'll be the same level as the simple system in Morrowind and Oblivion, likely you can only combine like delivery methods, but it's better than sticking with an 8damage per second frostbite spell for 80 levels.

Incinerate can set multiple foes on fire and does greater damage to opponents already on fire. Its completely different from firebolt.
Animations can take days to create, especially the more complex ones you see in modern games. Adding in spellmaking in a limited way of combining certain effects in a school, changing duration, magnitude, etc would be a simple coding change.
Not really...if they do it right they shouldn't have to change any other spell in the game...we would just now have spells more on tier with the enemy mages we see in dungeons.

The next DLC, which is bound to be called Hearthfire (is was patented), is almost certainly going to be magic based...


Here's to hoping

I sort of hope not. I'd rather the spell combinations we were shown in Gamejam, instead of spell creation. We've had spell creation since Arena - its time to try something different!

The magic effects are the same, check the construction set. Difference is the projectile for a different look and mana cost per damage point.

You will run into this problem for every spell that has stronger versions. Heals, calm, fears, fire bolt, wards, turns.

Oblivion also had higher level spells that used more mana per point of damage than lower level spells. In Oblivion firebolt costs 56 mana and does 20 damage while blazing spear costs 106 mana and does 35 damage. The cost for blazing spear is 2 times the cost of firebolt and the spell only does 75% more damage.

Firebolt doesn't set other opponents on fire though. They may both have the same effects, but higher and lower level spells act in different ways.