They're setup for clearing a bunch of baddies at once yet they take way too long to cast to be useful in surrounded situations...you cant even take a hit while doing that fancy casting move as it stops you cold, many times have i been stopped by arrows or weak attacks just before the spell was ready

I say either make them cast faster or allow yourself to be hit while casting without stopping you...otherwise they are useless in battle and mages already have alot against them so they need help

just a bored rant while i wait on my clothes in the laundry mat...share if you care

I think the casting time is fine, however the ability for enemies to stop you doing it is a pain.

become ethereal seems popular with master level spells

Practicality is the killer here!

Scrolls arent much good either.

I understand the logic behind it as you cant make something powerful too easy to use or people will use nothing but...however the delay is so bad I dont see players using them at all.

Just lower level spell spamming at everyones faces till they drop off!

I think the animation, time, and needing to not be hit make perfect sense for an incredibly powerful spell. I just wish I knew which spell that was.

Firestorm... you could spam dualcast fireballs and probably do more damage faster.... from far away... while moving.

Lightning storm. Ok I actually like this one, it is fun on weaker enemies far away because it is like a magic laser that turns them all to ash(fully perked). That and the fact that it continues as long as you have magic makes up for the fact that it takes forever to cast. But one strong enemy will run through the beam like it is a flashlight and put a mace in your forehead. Dual casting thunderbolt on the other hand will stop that enemy dead in his tracks and kill him about as fast. I loved this spell in the civil war quests. Perch myself up above the fort(when possible), and rain down destruction turning the enemy to ashes, but the civil war quests have an abundance of 'weaker' enemies as opposed to a few strong ones which is where this spell excels.

Blizzard... its just the cold wind spell only with a wider area of effect.

I've said this before but I'll say it again.

• Use the Invisibility spell from Illusion before you cast your master spells.
  
• Use one Invisibility potion you make with Alchemy before you cast your master spells.

Again there are going to be hoop-jumpers saying it's fine, but the stagger chance is too high and the spells become impractle (except Lightning Storm, that spell rocks, but again costs too much IMO), I doubt Beth wantes us to have to use a shout or a potion just to be able to cast a spell like this. Increase my damage taken by 25% while casting, I don't care, just fix Master spells, they are awesome but near impossable to use.

Agreed, its like those jerks saying silent casting is the answer to invisibility being tied to a firework.

Have you SEEN the useless perks you have to waste perk points on just to get to it?

Shouldnt have to do that just to make something useless...useful!

You make it hard for yourself.

Master spells work perfectly fine, maybe you need to use something that doesn't challenge you this much because you say it's near impossible for you to deal with this.
I think Bethesda want you to deal with master spells as they have great power and with great power comes consequences and you have to deal with it, these are ment to feel great and powerful.

• Fear your enemies before you use the spell.
  
• Cast Invisibility on yourself with spell or drink a potion.
  
• Sneak in and get the Silent Perk and cast the spell.
  
• Use the first Shout you learn in the game to throw them away from you before you cast it.
  
• Use a different shout that slow time down.
  
• Run away from them, cast some frost on the floor - go pass it, start casting and be ready when they get to you.

*Sigh* Use your imagination! Master spells are ment to be powerful and slow, that won't change because it is good now, very powerful feeling to casting them, if they made them less of an issue for you to cast, then they wouldn't have this cool effect anymore. You could just spam it all the time with no care in the world, god power.

Being Master spells, i'd relate to them being longer & more complicated to cast.

'I should be able to do 100 points of damage instantly!'
No, I don't think you should. If you were about to create a storm of fire or ice, or a huge jet of lightning, don't you think it'd take you a bit of time to cast? I think they're fine as they are. If you could cast them faster, they'd become over-powered because you could just spam them.

Have either of you met an Assassin or a well equipped Warrior?

"Great power comes consequences..."

Making a Mage character without mods is a bad idea anyway, magic svcks.

I agree that the Master Spells are rather impractical. Yeah sure, invisibility and Become Etheral makes it easy, but if you need those to be able to use them effectively something is not right.
The best way would be to simply reduce the cast-time, though you shouldn't be able to spam them nor should you be able to move while using them.

The problem isn't cast time. The problem is the effectiveness and lack of diversity of Master Destruction spells. Fire Bomb should do somewhere between 300 and 500 damage. Blizzard should be do 50 points of damage, be fast acting and more effective at slowing down enemies. Lightning Storm could always do more damage, it needs the least amount of changing out of the three.

And they could always add more Master Spells. How about a Meteor shower? Or a radial version of Ice form?

Mass paralyse + spamming the various elemental walls over your prone enemies is always good

Nice idea. I haven't even thought of that.

I don't know. I'm having fun with my redguard pure cloth mage on master. And yes it is challenging lol, but not so challenging to the point of being obnoxious. I actually have to plan my confrontations before I executive my attack, as opposed to just running in shooting sparks at people.

Seeing as how magic is tied to intelligence in the realm of tes, I find it insanely ironic that people are complaining that it now takes more intelligence to be a mage in skyrim. It's not just at stat you apply points to. Intelligence is now something you actually have to apply in order to be a successful mage. The irony is thick in this thread.

Become Ethereal. You can charge up the spell safely. The ether will break when the spell is released. With one word of become ethereal you can safely cast any master level spell.

There's something wrong if you need shouts/invisibility/potions/sneak to use the most powerful spells in the game effectively.

This.

But you don't. As a Mage, you should be avoiding melee combat. You take a step back, cast your spell and the enemies tend to be attacking you just as the spell starts. All you need is a little strategy, rather than running into combat without a second thought.

Except some Master spells take so long to cast that enemies have more than enough time to close the distance. Not to mention there's archers and other mages.

Hide around a corner. Use the environment. Or utilize shouts or other spells.

Again, requiring the use of "A" to make "B" effective. Especially in the case where Magic doesn't live up to the same damage potential as other combat options.

A lower casting time wouldn't hurt.