http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1307422-magic-cost-reduction-is-not-cheating/page__view__findpost__p__19674038

It's ignorant people like this that is going to ruin the game for the rest of us.


I guess smithed dual dagger sneak attacks for over 100 thousand damage before poisons isn't an issue either because you've never been 1 shotted by a thief eh? NPC and player values are different, stop ignoring the facts.

High magic reduction is not cheating IMO, but destruction suffers from a bad design choice.

These are the developers that gave us 100% chameleon and reflect in Oblivion, it's not really farfetched to assume they didn't look very closely at balance.

You really think enchanting should make the main perks for every spell school obsolete? With 99% certainty I can tell you this is not the case, and they just didn't really consider the variety of possibilities with enchanting...or smithing...and/or alchemy.

IMO, it's quite clear invisibilty (and 100% chameleon) didn't work as intended. The description for invisibility is that it makes you unable to be seen, but enemies can still hear you. (which they can't, although it says they can).

I've been reading through this entire thread trying to see the logic behind both sides of this argument. While I can agree with some points as to why people may feel 100% magicka cost reduction as overpowered, some of the arguments presented are not well thought out. Take the argument of a warrior with 0 skill in any magic pool donning gear with these type of enchants suddenly becoming a mage god. This makes no sense as that warrior's access to the powerful spells would be nonexistent at that skill level. Thus rendering the gear itself useless (possible exception with restoration and conjuration) until they gain enough skill to access those spells. This is especially true with destruction because the damage doesn't scale. Being able to use flames non-stop may be useful at earlier levels; but run up to lets say a giant while spewing those puny flames and expect to get your face rearranged. Even with restoration being reduced to 0 cost, the basic heal spell wont be able to out-heal the damage received from really powerful enemies unless dual-cast with the perk (even then it might not help). You actually need the good spells for the enchants to truly matter. Now once you actually get the right spells, you are pretty much set as long as you pay attention. You can still very easily get wrecked by certain enemies if you're not careful. Ever have 2 or more Ancient Dragons spawn on you at the same time? While on a console? With the resistances bugged?

Now for the argument of the role-playing aspect of using the enchants... I find it hard to believe that ANY true master of the arcane arts would have trouble casting spells of whatever school of magic in which they specialize in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible. Meaning, I would expect a master of destruction to be able to unleash a powerful storm of lightning, fire, and ice without so much as a single drop of sweat running down their face. Said master mage may even specialize in a second school of magic with similar results. However, if that master mage branches out further, some concessions must be made as he or she will have stretched themselves too far. Being, good at all schools of magic is entirely possible given the right training, discipline, and talent. Mastering one or two schools while still being proficient at the other 3 is viable as well. Trying to master everything is damn near impossible, and another matter entirely.

I wouldn't go as far as to go 100% reduction, but I now have a build that has about 90% reduction. Dual shooting incinerate takes away 1 fifth of my mana. I can tell you draughr deatlords and everything else that spawns at lvl 35 nearly dies when emptying your manabar on it. There is only one problem most of the time you face 3 or more enemies. I manage to kite them using calm, or a dual fired firebolt, but those are kind of iffy as well. Even with the low cost in mana I feel gimped, mages should be glasscannons not just glass. If I where Beth I would cap the reduction @ 90% and maybe up the damage of standard spells some. With that the can put spellcreation back in, because even I understand that spellcreaction with 0 mana cost is gonna be mayhem

+1

I guess there simply isn't a single person there for balancing out the game-mechanics or making sure, everything works well together. I guess they have some guys, who can throw in ideas -good ideas-, but nobody who makes sure, those ideas actually work well together. Nobody, who thinks about the needed limits to prevent one idea making another completely meaningless.

It's sad, because with (almost) no additional work the game could be so much better.

Sorry if someone already said this, but it seems that part of the problem is uninspired Perks in the magic skills. It's like a couple of devs realized that the perks were a little thin on the magic side and figured they would artificially increase magicka costs so they could throw in a bunch of -50% magicka cost perks. This kind of gives players an incentive to pick those perks and feel they are getting something.

Can you get -100% magicka cost without those perks? EDIT: Nevermind, realized they don't stack with enchantments.

Play your single player experience how you want. No one cares.