i want to start by saying magic is underpowered....i've heard a lot of people going "oh look someone on youtube shows how you can cheat and get free magic costs to cast all the spells you want" BIG DEAL!!...magic is underpowered, it lacks punch, even with zero or near near zero magic costs, it takes a lot of spells to kill something...its totally unpowered compared to lets say bows...so i wish some people would stop saying, enchating is cheating cause it makes magic costs almost nothing, get a clue..magic is still undepowered and everyone knows it , you need free magic cost at higher levels to make destructive magic viable at all, so thats just a game mechanic to help at higher levels, but spells do need to pack more of a punch...i like destruction magic, but i use a bow also since destruction magic alone is a bit weak at times in certain situations.

Bahahahaha. Magic, underpowered?

Tell that to the Mages that kill me with magic spam.

I know how to play a mage without all that enchanting. It's simple: Movement + Impact.

It's an exploit but an optional exploit that nobody has to use.

Some people need to stop caring so much how other people play their game.

its a single player game, even if it is cheating it doesn't effect anyone. It would be different if it was multiplayer...balance would probably have been a much bigger issue

its not an exploit, you can go buy a robe of destruction, a helmet of destruction, a ring of destruction and amulet of destruction and wear em all and there you go, without even enchanting anything yourself, hiring an additional follower lets say in FO3 by killing dogmeat is an exploit, using enchanted items already in game or making your own isn't an exploit and shot for shot magic is underpowered compared to a bow for instance so its not cheating to have low magic costs, that makes the game viable at higher levels, otherwise magic would be useless at high levels..shot for shot its not overpowerful, compared to an arrow..so its not cheating to have low magic cost, the arch mage robes gives a 15% reduction to all magic and the expert robe of destruction gives like 20% reduction all by itself not counting anything else, so reducing magic costs isn't cheating, thats what i'm hearing a lot, so is using potions cheating? how about using heavy armor is that cheating? or swords that do massive damage, is that cheating? ROFL so lets get real here. using enchating, or magic potions and magic arrows and magic bows and magic swords isn't cheating, its just different ways to do damage and have fun.

Its a design oversight. I doubt they intended for Magicka to mean absolutely nothing when you wore the right gear. Which, like you point out above, isn't even that hard to do, nor does it require enchanting.

It's the kind of things 13-14 year olds argue about. When I was that age it was the c64 vrs apple iie.

you still have to put perks into enchanting so whats the big deal. I think thats what its there for. totally agree OP

Nope, not cheating by any stretch of the imagination. This is proven by the fact that, as someone has already pointed out, you can achieve it without the help of enchantment. Taking the burden of one school of magic off your magicka pool makes sense - a Mage will most likely be making use of alteration, restoration, destruction and conjuration. It's not like you are giving yourself infinite magicka full stop.

Gaming used to be seen as nerdy. Now it's becoming another field of battle for [censored]-waving antics. Great.

My issue is that its just bad design. The fact that you can become the best spell caster out there by wearing heavy armor and never leveling the appropriate schools of magick is just stupid. It would be like enchanting replacing having to level one-hand or archery....

You can't buy an amulet of destruction since the stores don't stock it. It's also not going to appear on any loot.

If you feel the need to justify it, it's probably cheating.

It's not like you can enchant, smith and alchemy your magic. Who cares but the 0 mana thing is more then enough for you not to call it under powered.

However it's these stupid perk points that make you question everything that would want to try other things and overall would prefer the game hassle free.

Destruction does too little damage for too much mana. This semi-exploit fixes the latter, but not the former.

Since it's a single player game do whatever you want. Multiplayer is the only way this would ever matter.

I'd rather be able to cast less spells for more damage than more spells for less damage. Having to stun lock mobs with nonstop fireballs vs 3 shotting mobs with archery is so of absurd. Also, even at higher levels, some caster mobs have crazy huge frost/lightning spells...totally unfair.

For you PC players: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2585

It's a mod that switches the Fortify Spell School effects between potions and gear. Meaning, gear does +x % more damage and potions are -x % spell cost.

well you just make your own, thats what enchanting is for

It's true mages are really underpowered damage wise. NPC mages are hard because they have to jack them up. If they were with equal with player mages they would be too easy.

From what many people are saying, NPC mages follow a different set of rules than the player. Also, if you patched resist is currently broken. May have something to do with it.

Oh that poor dead horse.

You sir, are a brilliant man.

Since it's a single player game, why do people get so offended when we refer to it as a cheat or exploit?

We don't care that you cheat, it's your game.

It's not a cheat if it's done within game mechanics, no use of console or glitching.

If you can achieve it that way, you're not cheating, you're mastering your chosen profession.