So I did that, but did anyone else find it rather short and pointless? The ending was a bit disappointing, you don't find out what the orb was for, or who the Psijiic monks were, or what they're doing with the orb. Personally I thought the Oblivion Mages guild quest line was better.

Was it because they spent so much time doing the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves guild and then they were like 'oh got 1 month before launch... wait did we do the mages storyline? Oh [censored]. Knew there was something on the to do list.' lol

Very short. I was expecting more than 1 quest not to do with the orb before I became Arch Mage.

If you do the radiant quests for your fellow novices, it extends it a bit, but it never feels as part of the whole as it does in the Companions and Thieves Guild.

Yup.