Reduction cost enchants are lame if abused to zero cost. Why would I want to pigeon hole myself into two schools? I would much rather have a huge mana pool and spread the love between all the schools. It's not like you have a ton of variety as a Mage now anyway. I never really spend the time to level up my enchanting to that level anyway. I always mean to, but get distracted by things that are fun, as opposed to the craft grind. Even training is something that I forget about, and before I know it, I'm leveled up and I'm not goin to stall until I get training. I generally buy or find all the gear I need.

Another thing I noticed...

Two of the three Ward stones under the Mage guardian constellation have drawbacks.

None of the other stones for the other two categories have drawbacks.

One turns you into even more of a glass cannon with massive weakness to all magic, while the other saps your precious (as in water in a desert precious) magicka regen rate.

I would like to see the Staff system reworked, as well.

If Beth and TES are heading down the non-class path, which I do think is a good idea, and as anyone can learn spells and cast them, there is really no more need for 'wizard sticks' for non-spell casters, except that they are essentially a short term multi-shot weapon...a magick rifle if you like to think of it that way.

What I would propose (and I have mentioned this on other threads) is that a Staff (or Staves) should be a conduit and amplifier for the spells you already know.

The way I see it working is that staffs would increase your spell casting pretty much the same and with the same effects of our current dual casting, but obviously only requiring one-hand use. You could require them to be recharged using soul gems, but that would be a design/balance decision. Now, I would anticipate that you would only get staffs from the mages college (or equivalent), and you would either get one staff per skill level, meaning that at entry to the college you get a novice staff, then when you get access to apprentice spells you get access to that staff, and so forth. Perhaps the staffs could form part of a quest reward where you have to earn them.

Each level of staff would provide the bonuses for it's level of spells and all spells of lower levels, so at Master level you end up with a most magnificient piece of kit that makes you pretty important.

If this approach was adopted, it would save people having a chest full of staffs, or carting a bunch around with them, and would actually mean that having a staff would actually add something to the game, and it's more or less in line with more traditional concepts of the magic user, while still fitting in nicely with the current game concepts.

That second one turns you into an absolute mage killer though... combined with Atronach perk and

But yah, regen rate is to slow to cut in half.

Currently using Apprentice stone, albeit I'm not playing on Master (that'd be suicide ) so I can afford to... When I stack more magicka regen I'll drop it in favor of..... Ritual Stone prolly, maybe Mage Stone depending

I agree with some of this but instead of soul gems recharging, i would like if staffs fed off your magic. Your destruction skill should affect destruction skill staffs with increases in damage and reduction in cost

This.
Magicka regen doesnt even need to be there for me in combat.
Its convenient outside of combat, but during - it matters little to me.

If you run out of Magicka, there is still more than enough things you can resort to in order to finish a fight.

I only play mages, always have, in every RPG/MMO and its a non-issue in TES games for me.
Scrolls, Staves, Potions and since Skyrim - followers will get you through a fight.
Now if you overlook the use of the mentioned items then I can imagine you will find yourself frustrated every now and then ^^

The problem is, you have fighter mindset with a spell casting character. A high regeneration is nice between fights, but you need to approach each encounter with the knowledge that what you currently have in your magicka bar is the magicka you have to work with. Potions shouldn't be relied on except for emergencies.

What this means, is that you need to be more concerned with doing whatever you can to reduce how much your spells cost to cast, not how fast your magicka regenerates, or even how much magicka you have. Reducing the cost of your spells is critical during combat. Increasing your magicka regeneration is critical between combat. Why regenerate magicka when you can simply avoid spending it in the first place?

On a side note, I see a similar mistake with fighter types regarding health. Health regeneration is really important between combat, but is practically irrelevant while you're getting beat on. For during combat, a high AC is king. Why regenerate health when you can simply avoid losing it in the first place?