Okay so the staff of Magnus.. What's it actually good for?

In my experience? Nothing.
I've never once gotten any use out of it, outside of when you have to use it to stop Ancano.

Exactly! It's supposedly a powerful staff, but the enchant doesn't absorb magic/health. It just drains it

Yeah, I just don't see the point in it. If it were an absorption effect, it'd be worth keeping around. Especially if it did a little quicker.
Even my vampire's pitiful health drain can kill faster.

I miss the actual 'Absorb' spells from Oblivion

Me too. A drain health & paralyze spell was my secret weapon.

Same, I dont use paralyse anymore, it's too expensive to use

Yeah, It has crazy mana-draw. And they pulled it out of Illusion(which was my favorite school of Magic), & jammed it into Alteration.

Yep! Alteration is rubbish, I don't see the point in levelling it just for paralyse - the only good spell in alteration.

Well, if you're making someone who doesn't wear armor, oakflesh, & it's ilk along with the proper perks can make you damn near indestructible.
That said, no I really don't care for it at all.

Yeah, I generally dont let enemy's get close due to dead thralls or Atronachs, and when they do I just become Etheral we need more spells though

Oh yeah. As much as I enjoy the magic system in Skyrim, it could use some filling out. Destruction's fine as is, though a few spells couldn't hurt. Restoration, I'd just throw cure spells back in, & call it a day. Half of conjuration's gone though, what happened to all the other summoned weapon types, & the bound armor? And I wouldn't mind if they threw water walking, & open lock back into alteration. As for Illusion, where the hell did the command spells go? I miss command humanoid, & command undead. Especially command beast.
But any spells they add are good, you can't have too much variety. I hope any larger dlc they add will include a few more shouts as well.

Yeah me too. Command was great! If they added open lock spells again I'd invest in Alteration, it's hardly fit for a Mage to pick locks

Lockpicking's beneath them. A real wizard just blasts the damn door down with a fireball.

Oh if only... Nothing stands in the way of a good ole fireball.

There's a cage in Halted Stream Camp which appears to be scripted to open if anyone attacks it.

Which is pretty awesome. Made my dream come true.

Really? I'll have a look

the staff svcks definitally.. I also miss the sweet alteration spells from morrowind like super jump (BEST SPELL EVER!), Slowfall and Levitate! Absorb spells from Restoration and mysticism as well as mark and recall and divine intervention were sweet spells that should have no reason for being gone as well.

I disagree. Alteration is awesome. It's the best tree for spellswords. Oakflesh and Stoneflesh are very helpful for low level. Paralysis is worth the whole tree by itself. Also alteration is super useful for the 30% magic resistance perk. 3 perks for 30%? Yes please.

Ah see I don't play as a spell sword, so I don't go close up but I can see the appeal, it's just not for me

I just want to put this entire paragraph into my sig. Some of the defining spells for schools and they just take them out. Smh. Walk on water would be insanely awesome in Skyrim. If I'm a mage, I want to feel like a damn mage. I should be able to distort time and space for any practical purpose. Not just shoot fireballs and other various "balls" it seems all spells consist of now.

Off-topic: I hate how you "shoot" every spell. I would love to target someone, use a fury spell, and just have it sort of consume them rather than shoot the spell. Fury seems like that kind of spell. Same with necromancy. The body should just rise, not get hit by your spellball. It's cool for things like destruction magic, but not all spells should do that.

And also, where the hell is my conjured dagger? My vamp would much rather use that then swing around a huge sword. It's just not very assasiny

Well, I used the staff when fighting Alduin at the throat of the world, when I used it on him, he seemed to stop shouting me. So it think it drained his shout power and can do the same with other dragons. It's useful against mages as it drains thier magicka, when that's drained it starts going for their health. It's my favourite staff of the game, you just need to know when to use it.

Well said

I used it on one of the Dragon Priests once, and he just stood there with a dumb look on his face while my teammates beat him up.

I suppose it's a good 'support' weapon, it doesn't really help when you've got a Orc with a war hammer running at you xD