So, I was just wondering how viable it will be to play a character that does't use magic at all. TES has always had its races that distrust magic (Nords, Orcs) and it has always been possible to get along fine without magic. However, every video I've seen of gameplay has had nearly everyone as a spell-slinging hybrid or using class features like spitting fire. I know we don't have as many details about this game as we would like, but does anyone know if I will be gimped if I play a non-magic using Orc? If my Orc is going to have to spit fire or throw fireballs to be competitive in PvP, then I will have to switch to a Breton sorcerer.

It depends a little on racial skill lines, which they haven't announced yet.

Every race and class will start off with a Magika stat and a base magika pool. If you do not wish to use Magika you do have the option of selecting just abilities in the skill tress that utilize ONLY Stamina as a resource. By doing so you might limit yourself in PvP/PvE as you won't have the arsenal that someone who has opt'd to go Stamina with a secondary in Magika.

But you have the option to go strictly Stamina if you choose to do so. Is it viable? No one knows if any option is viable yet.

Do you have to use a resto staff to heal? That will probably be my only magic skill if you don't have to have a staff.

Only if you roll a Templar will you have heals with out a resto staff. Otherwise yes you will need a resto staff to have heals.

Ok thanks. I want to play an assassin type character so i was planning to roll a nightblade, but i may end up being a Templar with assassin weapons and skills unless the nightblade offers invaluable sneak skills.

That's the thing. If I won't be able to compete in PvP without using magic (no healing, no destruction, no fancy spell-like class skills) then I will just have to use a different character for my main. I'll still make my Orc for RP, but I'll be dissapointed if I'm gimped by putting all of my points into health and stamina and focusing only on melee skills.

I thinks its just more a result of the devs wanting to show off how casting and using weapons works at the same time and not at all that you need to mix to be viable. They are aiming to make ESO in the same way as past ES games where you have a choice of how you build your character. whether its pure melee, pure magic, or anywhere in between its up to you and you'll be viable.

Also to clarify, you might want to use spell caster as opposed to magic user. Because technically everyone will use magicka resource regardless of build. Based on past hands-on reviews and write ups, in general class abilities use magicka and weapon abilities use stamina. So again even non-caster type builds may use magicka based abilities.

Im sure you will be able to build straight melee type characters just fine. you will still have a magika bar and have access to some magic abilities but you could think of those as bonus abilities like buffs. one example would be reflect magic. that ability would probably use magika and you throw it up when you run in on casters to melee them down.

I myself will focus on a melee build but for an assassin with very little magic.

I feel the same way. I like to play characters that have some sense of purpose in the game world. I don't just make a toon and fill in the skill points from some template off a fan site. If it is possible to get as many skill points as they have said then every character will end up being a hybrid with a good range of magic. I would rather see the end game skill points adding up to completely fill out about one and a half archetypical development trees. Not three or more.

Allowing the players freedom to build their own templates is fine, but allowing them to max out all the skills really svcks the life out of character development. If you go hybrid you should be loosing the top tier of at least one of your main trees.

Like the other TES games, you'll have the ability to use magicka (everyone in the setting does) but you can choose to just not use it. I'm sure this will be no different. Choose physical only skills that use stamina and put no points into magicka. Boom. You's a warrior, dawg.

Honestly it sounds just fine to me. The only way Magika, Stamina or Health go up is by putting points into it, right? Instead of having to split points between Stamina, Health and Magika, you dump them in Stamina and Health. I can't imagine the base level of Magika is very high - so not really worth much.

Being a hybrid just means you get less points to use on abilities, but more variety in abilities. There are no cooldowns, so you keep using the abilities you want - and will be able to use them more since you are putting more pts into Stamina.

Mal

Well they said putting points into those arent just for raising the bar pool of each. they said every few points you spend in a line will give you different passive abilities and they make it sound like these passive abilities are much more important than the little bit the "staminia" pool was raised. Example putting points in staminia. at 3 points you get 10% stamina regain, at 6 points sprinting drains 20% less stamina, 9 points blocking drains 20% less stamina, 12 points your melee damage is increased by 3%, 15 points your total staminia is increased by 10%. and so on. So each point invested might increase your stamina bar by 3 points but its those passive bonuses that are really making your Stamina better. You will be limited to points so you need to decide what route you want to go. Lets at cap level 50 you will have only 60 points total (just guessing) so you could go 40 of what you like, then 10 and 10 in the others

I would imagine that it will be as others have said, but also couldn't you adapt your Orc's philosophy a tad? Differentiate between Sorcery and a Dragonknight/Templar's powers for example?

One is obviously magic, but the others are "racial" or divine in nature, or at least so he believes. Since it really boils down to his beliefs, and not facts, he could simply hate/distrust any magic that isn't the same, in his eyes, to his own. Perhaps he even believes that DKs belonging to other factions (Bonus fun: non-Orc DKs too!) are corrupt and not to be trusted.