So, I've started a new character. My old one was a hack and slash type, with a bit of restoration magic under her belt. This new character I wanted to be solely a mage, but it seems to be near impossible. Especially in the beginning with such a low level of Magic skill and meter. Has anyone successfully done this, or is better to level up first before converting over to only magic? I've had to resort to bows and one -handed weapons between spells.

I'm pretty early in the game still, level 5 and on my way to the Greybeards.

I've done about a half-dozen pure mages to this point (Adept difficulty) and haven't had much difficulty in the early levels. The novice level destruction spells (flames specifically) are pretty powerful at the early levels providing you've taken the novice casting perk to halve the cost. I usually take the novice casting perks in destruction, restoration and alteration as soon as possible and all my skill points go into magicka for the first 10 levels just to get me a decent pool.

Hmm, I guess maybe my problem is I upped the difficulty level. Maybe I'll jump back to adept for a bit until I get the hang of being a mage. Thanks!

It's very possible. But first, are you doing a robes-only mage (no armor)? If so, that's tough to do until you get some fortify alteration gear so that you can continually cast Oakflesh, Ironflesh, etc. Also, the flesh spells aren't all that great compared to any other type of armor. But mostily it's the constant casting of those spells that's such a headache. You also have to be conscious of recasting them in the middle of a fight. If you forget, your armor rating goes to 0 and a Skeever can drop you like a rock.

I'd suggest enchanting everything you get your hands on. When you get to 100 you can dual enchant 6 different things with whatever you want. If you are going with robes then I'd say that fortify Destruction and Fortify Alteration is the way to go.

But if you're going with any type of armor there are still useful perks in Alteration but you can ignore the mage-armor spells.

I'd mainly concentrate on finding Fortify Destruction items and enchanting everything you can with them. Destruction is the only magick skill that directly causes damage so you need to be able to rely on it. But Illusion and Conjuration are very important too. At higher levels, both can become OP. With the Illusion master level spell, Mayhem, you can cause almost all enemies to fight with each other--and it's an area spell so lots of enemies will kill lots of other enemies. With the Conjuration perk, Twin Souls, you can summon two beings to fight for you at once. And by the time you get to that point you'll have the summon Daedra spell. In direct melee they kick ass every time. If you need ranged summons then Storm Atronauchs will take care of things nicely too. You'll never have to directly engage in combat yourself.

It's a great build and probably the most powerful of all (eventually).

The difficulty setting impacts Destruction Mage a lot more than other classes. Managing magicka is a big part of being a mage, and if you are a destruction mage, everything takes double the magicka to kill in master difficulty setting. I think the game is most enjoyable for a mage at Adept setting. On the other hand, conjuration mage feels very little impact from upping the difficulty to master because the battle balance between your summons and enemies is not changed.

I actually found it really easy at low levels. I could fry anything with a lowly double flame spell. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/imageshare/images/649591-1325687752.jpg

Get higher level though and you suddenly are not hurting anything with magic anymore and you have to use summons and other mean to win. I had to just retire my 'pure mage'.

You have to perk your your spend points well and level multiple magics to play it on high difficulty. Also never underestimate the effectiveness of the stealth mage. My mages always carry bows and daggers and I level sneak as my main non magic skill and level illusion as quickly as possible and spend perks in it. Calm and pacify after you have the "master of the mind" perk will save your ass a ton... not counting invisibility... yeah actually it becomes overpowered. Adept is a lot easier then master though. Even expert and a mage will die A LOT without super good planning.

Provided you know the mechanics of magic (typically if you've played other Elder Scroll games) then it's really easy to do.

If you want to specialize in a specific school of magic and not use other types it does get a to be quite a bit trickier. Using all schools of magic makes playing a mage very easy but only focusing on destruction for example can be very tricky.

If you do specify in only one school I would suggest using a follower to help draw some of the enemies attacks while you provide support.

If you use all the schools of magic and you choose good perks then you can make it on your own easily. Again, if you know the mechanics then it makes playing a pure mage very easy.