Heres how things go for my level 47 mage with some recent trials.

Oh look, a deathlord overlord. Dual cast. Dual cast. Dual cast. Dual cast. Doesnt matter if im playing master or novice so long as im wearing my robes that let me cast destruction spells at -100% cost.
Even with those robes off I tend to just need a few of my huge stock of potions.
Conclusion: All difficulties too easy.


Variation: No impact dual casting.
Result: Magic does piss-poor damage compared to even basic sword-and-board combat at high levels. I was kiting this guy in circles for three minutes on Adept with my Flame Wall (which supposedly does 50 damage per tick).
Conclusion: All difficulties above Apprentice too...not too hard just way too tedious. I dont want my bandit camps to take an hour of circle-strafing to clear out.

Variation: Located Scourge with an Ebony bow to retest fight with ranged enemy. Master difficulty.
Result: 80% of the time stunlocked him. The other time (5 playthroughs of fight) he hit me with an arrow and killed me in one shot. Decided to run a series of variable attempts.
Second attempt: Full Superior Ebony Armor enchanted to improve health. Still one-shotted. Enemy doing upwards of 300 base damage I estimate
Third Attempt: Lowered difficulty to Adept and took of armor. One shoted.
Fourth: Difficulty on adept with armor. SURVIVAL.
Conclusion: Apprentice or lower for ranged enemies if im wearing robes otherwise one-shotted.


Overall conclusion: I cant find a godamn difficulty setting that works for my mage. Every melee enemy is a pushover unless i fight like an idiot without my good robes or potions or kiting. Every ranged enemy can one shot me at anything over like Novice. I DO enjoy a challenge but dying in one hit isnt a challenge, its a quick draw contest between me and every archer I meet.
One thing I found was that on Adept or Expert other mages provided a good balance of challenge. The lower damage of Magic attacks mean they didnt insta-kill me as often and they had Wards and Summons to make stunlocking them harder.


I will note that my new fighter is having a much better time down at level 18. Apprentice is perfect for him (RPing. He refuses to wear anyhting heavier than fur on his torso or cast spells). Im thinking the issue may be that the difficulty curve breaks apart at high levels.

I go with Expert difficulty when I play with Destruction. Works fine.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1379920-master-difficulty-is-the-best-way-to-play/

Yes I noticed that thread. Unfortunatly, im not of the camp that agrees. I play FPSs with the difficulty way up. Not RPGs. Like i said, i dont see the joy in every archer I encounter having the power to one-shot me. I appreciate your opinion on the matter, but I havnt seen any reason why, from either an RP standpoint or a difficulty balancing standpoint, Master should be the default.