Is magic over powered, or is level 12 too early to judge? : V

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:19 am

I've noticed I can stand there and block and barely take dmg with melee mobs and easily control the fight.
But level 12 ice/fire mages can nuke me to death in less than 10seconds if I don't get 1H kill cam kills or stun them.

Is this how it goes the rest of the way? I was going to go for the Shield skill to reduce magic dmg, does that even help? I don't feel like cheating my toon to 100 Destruction or whatever. I prefer to play TES games as a mix of some stealth, some magic, some fighting just to explore the different aspects of the gameplay.

But if it's like Oblivion where level 12 is the same as level 50... idk

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:31 am

As you level up it won't be so bad...I'm at about level thirty and I still just about got my butt whooped by an arch-necromancer last night. Really, your best bet is to have a contingency plan for spell casters (resistances, wards, sneak attacks, etc). I'd say get spell breaker if you use a sheild and have trouble with mages-that'll fix it.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:42 am

I was exactly the opposite, able to wade through hordes of mages, but constantly dying to one melee heavy hitter. So it depends on your build. There are other ways to get magic resistance,

Spoiler

apart from the alteration school, there are the Atronach and Lord stones, and the quest for the Temple of Mara.

The level scaling is a lot less all-encompassing than in Oblivion, so while some enemies scale to your level, you are actually rewarded for levelling up in this game.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:16 pm

I thought it was about playing a mage being overpowered, in which case level 12 would be way too early to judge.

But enemy mages scale in a very weird way, they have enormous magicka pools and generally are more powerful than your character would be on the same level if you created a mage. There's a reason for that, I don't remember how it works but I'm sure someone will post it.
It will get better, but even on higher levels magic (or elemental) resistance is a necessity, especially against various arch-mages. Just carry a set of resistance potions and you should be fine. And if you're sneaky, always target spellcasters first - this x3 with a bow is really helpful.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:12 pm

Thanks for the tips, I'm not a fan of carrying/relying on potions. Ill invest in the shield skill and keep enchanting. I can kill single mages, it's when they spam attack me in groups that the life bar just disappears.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:06 pm

I have a mage follower (toon around lvl 28 now) and everything is 10x easier. Since my mage follower has NPC style mana, she can just nuke all day and spam magic weapon attacks.

High level Necros and Mages no longer an issue, although the balance is ROFL, and it makes me lazy.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:09 am

I think that enemy mages are much harder than normal foes. That's for sure

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:44 am

At level 25 or so, regardless of your playstyle, the game will become boringly easy.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:40 am

At level 25 or so, regardless of your playstyle, the game will become boringly easy.

this counts for all sorts of melees, but not mages.

high lvl ice mages [censored] you no matter what, if you don't have enough magic restistance. depends on the difficulty though. on adept they are also very strong. master is just incredible, because of their double damage. this ice cloud instagibbed my lvl 47 warrior who had about 30% magic restistance to that time and about 400 hp

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:06 pm

Oh yeah! Over powered stuff in a single player game! Wooooo!

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:45 am

But enemy mages scale in a very weird way, they have enormous magicka pools and generally are more powerful than your character would be on the same level if you created a mage. There's a reason for that, I don't remember how it works but I'm sure someone will post it.

Enemy magics scale with your level, but yours don't. That's the secret. I haven't personally checked it with CK, but during the heated debate whether Destruction is underpowered or not, that statement was thrown around quite liberally by more than one person. And I suppose I'm one of 'em now.

Oh, and their magicka pool is too much to diminish via "normal" way (that is, without interactively using bolt on left hand and heal other at right hand at the same time).

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:15 am

Basically my Mage Follower can destroy anything, dual wields weapons, magics, wears plate armor. My toon, I block a lot and swoop in for the Soul Traps.

Skyrim probably should have been a 3rd person Tactics RPG, it would actually be balanced that way and you wouldn't have so many people modding dragons OUT of the game and ignoring followers and trying to create their own balance

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:29 am

At level 25 or so, regardless of your playstyle, the game will become boringly easy.

Not for me and my wife and kids. I guess its lucky my family and I are such bad players so we can still enjoy the game

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:04 am

Too early...

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:55 am

Magic will get weaker the higher in level that you get. There's going to be a point where magic won't be able to do enough damage or effects in order to surivive.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:14 pm

It depends on your build and play style. You can see the different viewpoints expressed in replies here as well as many, MANY threads about magic from the time the game was released.

Same thing with other types of play such as melee, of course.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:25 am

Magic is underpowered if anything.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:58 am

At level 25 or so, regardless of your playstyle, the game will become boringly easy.

In my experience at that point it becomes one hit kill or be one hit killed. At level 50 or so nothing can hurt you. Except if you play mage, then you need to employ the good old "run away screaming like little girl" tactic

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:25 pm

player magic is underpowered, enemy magic will destory you in 1 to 2 hits on almost any level unless you are built to handle them

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:38 am

I too had trouble with groups of mages early on until I got some amulets/potions with elemental resistances. Those ice spikes that slow you down are killer for melee characters if you get hit, and when you are fighting two or more mages, it is hard to avoid getting hit.

Unfortuantely, when the PC is playing as a Destruction mage, the PC never seems as powerful as the NPC mages.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:49 pm

At level 25 or so, regardless of your playstyle, the game will become boringly easy.

I actually found level 25-35 to be the hardest stretch in the game. That's when most of the high-tier enemies roll out. In particular TIII Unrelenting Force Draugr Death Overlords and a higher density of Bandit Marauders.

Skyrim's difficulty didn't really taper off until about level 47. Which is actually in-par with their other games except maybe Fallout 3.

Then again, I don't cheat or use exploits like Necromage artisan.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:27 am

Breton Warrior with the Lord Stone destroys enemy mages. That's what mine is. I have no issues with casters. But normally, yea, enemy mages are stupidly overpowered. I wouldn't mind so much if they ever had decent gear, but their gear is absolute crap no matter what level they are. They never have master robes or anything special, no amulets or rings, just nothing. And they all seem to have more health than most warrior class characters. It's really pathetic how they made them. If player destruction magic was that powerful nobody would be complaining.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:50 am

I find conjuration was always nice when I played a sword and board or two handed weapon wielding warrior. Creates a nice distraction opening lanes of attack, adds a ranged element with the atronachs ... and saves lots of mana for healing unlike destruction which requires constant blasting along with waste when missing ... am exploring destruction atm with a mod that lets damage scale with your skill rating and lowers the effect of impact to 50% ... decided to pick up a follower - which incidentally is just like having conjuration hehe.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:40 am

player magic is underpowered, enemy magic will destory you in 1 to 2 hits on almost any level unless you are built to handle them

Yeah, the balance is Lulz at 30 right now.
Fire dragon comes down, he gets pwned like a Wolf
Frost Dragon comes down, and it's a huge grind.
Frost dragon attacks a fort with lots of Mages, the mages destroy him like mortar fire.
I 1 hit kill any melee mobs that are not Ice Trolls or Giants etc..
Bandits fall down and die at the sight of me
1 mage dies instantly, unless he has exploding fireball which can 1 hit kill.. lulz
2 mages and I need my follower
4 mages, need to divide and conquer, otherwise explosions of death.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:27 am

93700' post='20545582']
. But normally, yea, enemy mages are stupidly overpowered. I wouldn't mind so much if they ever had decent gear, but their gear is absolute crap no matter what level they are. They never have master robes or anything special, no amulets or rings, just nothing. And they all seem to have more health than most warrior class characters [/size]

This really nails it. You are absolutely right

Risk vs. Reward.
For crying out loud, not a single enchanted neck or ring on a Ascended Necromage?
Mages are all risk, no reward. They would be a fun challenge if they at least dropped something worth looting.
When you get a Mage that can chain cast the frost wall, and never run out of mana, that's just stupid and arcadey