I've played a few mages before, and I want to know: how do you make it interesting? I always end up with 100% reduction, spamming fireballs and stunlocking the enemy. Boring.

So I want to know, does changing the difficult make it too hard, or does it make it more fun? What skills make a mage interesting for you? Etc etc.

well you can make it more fun, by doing things like going invisible, sneaking into a crowd of them, casting mayhem, then going invisible again, watch them kill each other, throw in a couple of conjured atronochs for kicks too. Or find objects in the room you are fighting in and use telekenesis to throw them at enemies. Stealth kills with summoned weapons and invisibility and muffled, casting wall of flames all over the floor in hallways, getting their attention then running into the fire. There's lots of ways for magic to be fun.

Work on all the schools instead of just the ones that "work best."

Don't go for 100% reduction. 50-75% on Destruction worked well for me, as I was still getting into enough trouble that I had to cast non-Destro spells in a single fight anyway, but was reduced enough that I wasn't playing "train the baddies around a rock waiting for my regen to bring me back up to speed" like the early levels.

Could also play your mage a little differently. Be an Ansei warrior from Hammerfell, use Bound Sword as your "Spirit blade", stick to light armor or clothing. Go down the Illusion tract for Silent Casting and be a mischievous Wizard-thief via Muffle, Invisibility, and Calm.

Magic is capable of just about anything in Tamriel. It's up to you how much of that pie you want to eat at once.

Maybe rely more on RP & defense versus offense - you don't have to power up as much RP why your mage can only cast X spell X many times per day...you could "handicap" yourself in a lot of ways! Also you could change up schools - more RP - you start in - say Destruction, but become disillusioned (no pun intended lol) and begin a new quest to master Conjuration!! This may level you higher - but you don't have to level up either!

Ohhh - RP a protector Mage - get companions to do the fighting & you just heal THEM - a vow of non-violence Mage (this HAS been discussed - not sure if you could keep to non-violence 100%...)

Soooo many options!

Could try a "Spellshield" as well. Destruction and Block has to be one of the most ridiculously potent combos ever.

I had the same issue, but on my new mage I went necrovamp and I purposefully did not take destro dual cast or impact and, although I will probably perk enchant someday, I am holding off for now. That means I cannot spam spells and I cannot stagger anything. Playing on expert and power leveled Restoration to 70 before I really started playing, so combat is a real challenge. I have to use all my skills and rely on necromancer spells (no summoning since I have the atronach stone) and illusion for things that are affected by it. Dwemer ruins are tough because the automatrons are not affected by illusion (without Masters of the Mind) and you cannot raise them.

I play mine as a spellshield, no enchanting, only robes. Heavy into block, alteration, restoration, and destruction, working up illusion and conjuration now. I only really use tue slow time shout. I like to think of him as a chrono mage. I play on expert, and he is one of the funnest mages I've played. Oddly enough he is also one of just a few non evil characters I've actually gotten to high level in the entire series.

Become a void-blade; summon atronachs/raise dead and then summon one of those Oblivion swords and fight alongside your minions. All you need to level up is conjuration, light/heavy armor and one/two handed/archery depending on what sort of weapon you like. It's fun to tank in heavy armor and a battleaxe while your two daedra are tanking alongside you.

This

If you tend to play mage or warrior play on Master, you should pump points into Enchanting to forever curb the frustration streak. You're gonna get VERY frustrating if you play Skyrim as a pure weapon user, or VERY bored if you're gonna play as a pure mage.

But then, MOST build (yes, YOURS, buddy *Not you, but, ya know*) that incorporate Enchanting and Smithing usually results in no-cost fireballs or invulnerable armor and one hit kill dragon weapons. BORED, ya know.

Here's my perfect build (I'm really damn proud of it). I have another Alteration-Restoration-Conjuration Warrior build but I'm going to work soon so maybe another time

Stealth Mage: (I picked female High Elf for role-playing purposes, since high elves are evil , and quite charming, not to mention hawt! (until you turn vampire , but still hawt! )

First of all, make a good face, because you will be role-play with this build for a LONG time.

• Enchanting: Get this to 100 ASAP. Just pick the middle tree
  
• Illusion: Pump points into the right tree, the left tree just leave it at Apprentice and wait it out for 100 Enchanting and no cost Illusion. You're gonna spam invisibility any way, so you don't have to worry about it taking to long to get to 100.
  
• Conjuration: Points into the Atronach tree (undead tree too if you feel like it), and Bound Weapon damage perk because you will rely on the bound bow after you have no-cost conjurations. Get to 100 so you can summon two atronachs or undead at the same time!
  
• Restoration: I played a vampire, so I get myself Necromage (mostly for the free no-cost slot so I can don't have to wear that ugly circlet), but also Necromage seriously increase duration of my spells (Conjured creatures and illusion spells)
  
• Archery: Put points in this at your leisure, but pick the left tree because you don't need ranger perk (most of the time you will be shooting in the shadow and then disappear anyway)
  
• Smithing: Just get to Arcane smithing, 100 this at your leisure. Get the Blade of Woe, use it at your leisure.
  
• Sneak: Obviously fill EVERYTHING in this tree.
  
• Pickpocket: You will have a TON of spare points by the time you reach 40ish. I usually like some points in here so I can take weapons and strip armor. It's optional

Forget armor and weapon skills. Role-play a bit. Pick any clothes you want(change clothes for the occasion), since armor unnecessary.

Imagine yourself the perfect predator. Turn invisible at your leisure, stalk your prey, turn them into chickens (Wabbajack ), strip their clothes and weapons and make them fist fight each other naked. Rout your enemies and make them run around to alert other enemies; it's an instant party. Rout animals and lure them into towns. Throw frenzy into camps and watch the chaos unfold. Throw 2 dremoras in the room and close the door. Shoot them with Bound bow from the distance, and when they come over, fus ro dah them off the cliff. Reset traps, put down runes.

All and all, when you get caught, just PUFF and dissapear; leaving your enemies dumbfounded before you strip him naked, set him on fire and slit his throat and have your Dremoras desecrate his corpses and murder his friends.

And don't worry about dealing damage. At 70-100 Archery, 100 Enchanting, and Vampire Necromage, your Bound Bow is pretty much a Daedric Bow (on Master), and with 100 Smithing and Necromage bonus for Smithing enchantments, your Blade of Woe can take an Ancient dragon down to quarter health with one swipe stealth. The fun part of this build is to screw around with your enemies.

Never are you truly overpowered, and never are you truly underpowered. You're the master of your enemies and your environment.