The real issue is that destruction magic just can't compete with other combat skills. It's functional, yes, and that's why I didn' have a problem with it at first....until I made a character that uses weapons. With the same amount of effort, it is much easier to focus on any of the other combat skills and ignore destuction alltogether. Sure, if you're a spellsword it can be ok because you have steel to make up for it. Pure mages CAN just spam the stagger ability but where's the fun in that? Once you get passed a certain level, these issues become more apperant. It's just spamming fireball dualcast over and over until the bad guy drops. Even if it was balanced, it's bland and weak in comparison to other combat skills with or without smithing and enchanting.

What?

This.

lol

It's all in the technique. It's free if you know how to use it. Short puffs of flame and let the afterburn work for you. Short puffs with 1 second interval has the same dps as continuous stream, and magicka regeneration is faster than magicka expenditure rate.

So...another exploit to make destruction manageable?

No, it's another tactic you can use to get more mileage out of your skills. Try it sometime. It works.

I'm one of those players who enjoys Destruction, so I must be in denial. But it's funny how I hear most of the posters in this thread complaining that Destruction is broken, and at the same time apparently haven't tried to play a Destruction mage. Maybe you all are just frustrated that you can't spam Incinerate all day?

My own experience with Destruction is pretty much identical to that of Abacus: it works if you focus on it. And yeah, you do have to bring a little more strategy to the table than when playing an axe-swinging tank.

By that, I don't mean you need to run out and make yourself a 100% cost reduction suit, or spam Fortify Destruction/Restore Magicka potions. For the most part, you do just fine with what you find in the game. I like to work up my Alchemy a little bit with my mages, but I have never felt like it is a crutch.

By strategy, I mean you have to manage your Magicka pool and adjust your tactics to suit the situation. That means using those 'useless' runes everyone complains about to draw out foes while your Magicka refills, dialing back to your Novice spells like Flames when you don't need Incinerate to blast away the few hp left on a bad guy, and using resources like scrolls, staves, shouts, and yes potions when things get hairy.

If you don't want to trouble with all that, cool - go play a fighter or slit throats all day with your assassin. Those are both fun choices, and I've tried them myself. For me, part of the fun of playing a mage in Skyrim is figuring out how to use my limited resource (Magicka) to best effect.

I have actually found that I die less when playing my mage than when playing my fighters, which are supposed to be OP in Skyrim. Why? Because Destruction magic gives you distance, rapid damage output, battlefield control options (Impact sure, but also slow effects via frost magic), terrain advantage (via runes/walls) and AoE. With all of those advantages, I don't even rely on armor or Alteration for protection. I find that levelling up my Destruction almost exclusively - along with a touch of Alchemy, though it's often 20 levels or so behind - is all I need.

Hey, call it minmaxing if you want - I call it playing a Destruction mage.