Why not use the Slow Time shout before trying to cast it

I disagree. Magic has more variety than melee for me

It seems to me that the complaint is not aimed at all master-level spells, just the destruction school master spells. Most of the others are very useful. I use Mayhem all the time, but I like to sneak. The conjuration school's thralls are not meant to be summoned during combat. As for the destruction school's master spells, I only found lighning storm to be fun to use, and stategiclally viable. All master spells are supposed to be used as first strike weapons from a distance.

Agreed 100%. I've had plenty of warriors and archers, but mages are my favorite class. And I'm on PS3, so no mods.

Why?

I use them just fine. Mass Paralysis holds off an entire room if I need the time to cast. Or circle of protection if you are surrounded by Draugr. Or you could just cast invisibility with the Illusion tree.

Master spells aren't a win button. They weren't meant to be. They are One and Done spells. Fire one off as an opener, then switch to glass cannon mode. Trust me, you can wreak havok and tear an entire for to pieces in moments with 2 or 3 spells.

I don't see that as a problem.

Before I learned the master dest. spells I used to walk around dungeons casting the Master level Mayhem spell. hehe, that was a win button. Half the enemies in the dungeon would kill their own allies. The remaining half only needed a hit or two to finish them off.

It just seems odd that you can be a Master of destruction but have to rely on the things listed to get your spell off, but being an Expert of destruction pretty much requires none of this. Just dual cast away and rain destruction down on your enemies.

I'm not saying that it needs to be changed, I just find it odd. But I also like the idea of more spells or spells that are more situational. I just don't think they included enough in the game at the various levels.

If it was made faster then it would just become overpowered, it is fine how it is.

If you want to change magic, you should use mods like Tejon’s Simple Skyrim Spell Scaling Solution (TSSSSS) and Minimalist Magic Overhaul (MMO)

I really do love Skyrim - except in terms of magic. It's the one area where it's hands down worse than Oblivion or Morrowind, where you could be a monster with Destruction.

You still can in Skyrim, technically, but you've got to jump through a lot of hoops to do it.

I do believe it seems that most of the folks complaining about the Master Spells are the Destruction spells not being "win buttons". I find that that Master Illusion spells are very powerful indeed. But please bear in mind folks. That any Master spell will be only as good as the accompanying Skill tree perks that you choose with those spells.

If for one second, your character is not taking the appropriate perks along with the spells. Well, we all have to face the fact that a dedicated Mage, will have have a much better effect with them than someone who mearly dabbles in that magic skill tree. The point being here to illustrate the difference between someone, who has skilled up the magic skills to get his main character closer to level 81, and a Magic specialist whose stock in trade is in the Magic skills perk trees.

Granted, maybe I am stating the obvious here. But sometimes the Obvious needs to be stated to correct peoples' perceptions about the way things work.

why do so many people make simple things hard?

for me, it's obvious they made the spells take a few seconds too long. all they had to do was reduce it a bit to make it a better component of the game. i shouldn't have to rely on anything else to allow me the time to cast certain spells. plus, like it was said, the expert level spells are much faster and so the gap between the two is too large.

do i think master levels should take longer? of course. but, they went overboard.

and, it's another one of those illogical 'decisions' that gamesas made that just make you wonder if actual in-game testing occurred, at all: such as, the default jump height, the smithing experience system before the patch, the hud options/settings, no underwater combat but enemies that can kill you underwater, fast travel ok with horses but not carriages, repeated dialogue, the entire lockpicking system/perks, quest markers/weak instructions/no journal, etcetcetc.

That's a very good opinion. I respect that you feel that way. However, I disagree, I don't think they went overboard. And I certainly don't think that it's obviously too long.

You say there shouldn't have to be some other skill in use for you to cast a master spell, and you're right. However, there isn't. I regularly cast them without having to resort to something else to protect me. However, people seem to think that they were intended to be used in the thick of a battle when surrounded by enemies, and that's not the case. They are useful just before a battle starts, before the enemies are coming at you. Cast it, and watch the mahem.

When the enemies start coming after you, switch to a dw spell so that you can stagger them. The expert spells are your stay weapons. The Master spells are just icing on top to add to the carnage. They certainly were never meant to be your primary weapon.

You can even tell this fairly clearly by the fact that most of these spells are duration, AoE spells. AoE and DoT spells are never intended to be the primary weapon.