My acceptance of the removal of Spell Making was 100% hinged on scaling spell damage, a mechanic used by many very successful games such as Guildwars, League of legends and Diablo series, just to name the more modern ones.

Hence there is no doubt that non-scaling destruction spells in the absence of Spell Making is an absolute disgrace.

Unfortunately, this is the mechanic we are given and Bethesda does not ever change core mechanics. Thus my suggested fix is to add a Fortify Destruction Damage Enchantment. Understand that my suggestion is a low cost fix which attains acceptable result. A better system could be conceived easily, but only at great cost, something Bethesda will never agreed to.

The advantage is thus, if you are a dabbler in destruction, or an wizard who uses every school, then destruction is secondary damage and current spell damage suffices. If you are aiming to create the pure destruction wizard, stacking Fortify Destruction Damage and Fortify Destruction enchantments would make you a destruction powerhouse at the cost of less slots for other schools.

This is also somewhat fair as Melee or Archery is dependent on smithing so Destruction dependent on enchanting is NOT unfair.

There are 2 issues with destruction
1) The spells cost a lot
2) Idiots on the forum compare it to broken smithing weapons

3) Spells become obsolete rather than growing with the character, even though they have different tactical uses that should keep them useful throughout the game

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Fortify_Destruction

Alchemy is your friend~

If a Draugr DeathOverlord has approximately 1300 hp and you have a fully perked expert level destruction spell available for 100 mana(a rather conserved estimate it may cost up to 50% more in reality), that means it would take at least 6 dual casts to die(6 x 200). Because dual casting costs 2.8 times much for only 2.2 damage, that means a cost of at least 1680 magicka. That is well over twice the amount of magicka even the squishiest, most glassy mage is likely to have. So it would require either the highborn power or approximately a half dozen powerful magicka potions to pull off. You cannot seriously tell me destruction functions within reason. Destruction is simply a lackluster form of offense.

What we really really really could use for a simple fix to this whole issue would be the ability to enchant destruction-fortify-damage into things, instead of just destruction-cost-reduce.

Just one item pushed into the game with the same effect as the potions would do just fine.

I agree destruction is a mess, I keep trying to use it for a spellsword, but just end up using runes for fun instead. Damage is laughable from destruction next to the sword in the other hand.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I hate the idea that I have to be good at/use (insert skill here) to be good at/effectively use (insert other skill here). It's ridiculous. I've yet to make a mage character in Skyrim for that reason. Every thread that I've seen regarding Destruction has at least one person saying "Use alchemy/enchant/other magic schools!" Well what if I don't want to? A mage made to specialize in Destruction should not have to use ANYTHING else to be effective at Destruction. That defeats the whole purpose of using it in the first place.

How about lowering difficulty to lowest possible?

The issue isn't "difficulty" it's the failure of mechanics to function effectively withing the game. We could beat the game with a iron dagger and a shield if we wanted to.

Destruction alone is weak lategame only, and is offset easily by mixing it with conjuration. Even in th lvl50s with destruction - you will do just fine with 2 x Dremora Lords at your side.

I feel my point is being missed, there are many ways to circumvent destruction's impotence-conjuration, illusion, use a godamn sword, ect. This does nothing to make the skill fun or effective. Just because a shield and armor (block and armor skill) serve their purpose, doesn't mean destruction shouldn't. Conjuration shouldn't have to be the most important skill for a mage. It is an option, and is currently a good option, unlike destruction.

With the Stagger Perk its more like a Sh177y stick, as that would stop anyone in their tracks lol

My two grievances with Destruction magic:

1: It can't stand on its own like all the other kill skills.

One-handed, two-handed, archery can all stand on their own in inflicting damage. the base cost for attacking with a melee weapon is simply the weight cost of the weapon. The base cost of archery is the weight of the bow plus having a nonzero quantity of arrows (of which you should be up to your ears with unless you're just a svcky shot or are intentionally limiting the number of arrows you carry). Magic? Have to have quite a hefty amount of magicka, even after the perks that halve the cost. Why? Because magicka regenerates at an agonizingly low rate. Potions you say? You either have to have a high alchemy to mix potions that have any actual substance to them, or have a high barter so you don't get bled dry... which is not standing on its own. Enchantment? Again, not standing on its own. The "powerful" Adept level spells don't amount to a hill o beans because you empty your magicka bar just trying to kill one of anything stronger than a rube mook. So you're stuck needling away foes with Apprentice level spells. Even with Impact, just doing that over and over gets... boring.

Secondly...

2: There are far fewer ways to boost Destruction damage than the other kill skills have.

Let's list the number of ways the other kill skills can boost their damage.

Rote skill increases
Power attacks (melee only)
Critical hits
Sneak attacks
Perk tree root perks (+100% for all weapons under that skill for 5 perks)
Getting better weapons (at no base attack cost increase)
Smithing upgrades
Fortify skill potions
Fortify skill apparel enchantments
Elemental weapon enchantments

Now for Destruction..

Higher-tier spells (of which each tier's spells become progressively more magicka-inefficient for the damage they do)
Destruction perks (6 perk points expended to gain 50% for all destruction magic)
Fortify Destruction potions

Ten ways versus three ways... Does anyone see an imbalance in the numbers of ways to boost damage?

Impact is cool and all, and i'm glad it's there as an option alongside enchanting, but it it's no excuse for destruction to do pitiful damage, shields and bow stagger as well(albeit not quite as effectively) but with these damage potential is left unhindered.

Unfotrtunatly to use any of the damage skills (destruction, archery, one handed, two handed) you need at least one other skill to survive.

try being a two handed barbarian without an armor skill, just as hard as destruction with no support magic etc etc.

Bethesda switch things around from time to time and thats what makes their games so 'love it or hate it' and I for one love the fact I have to think about other spells instead of just throwing one shot area effect fire blasts.

My solution, low difficulty=less enemy HP=ownage without wasting whole mana pool on single opponent

I would never use destruction by itself as getting hit is an inevitability and focusing on just one skill will always be weaker than combining it with others, but right now a naked archer is much more than a naked destruction user in terms of damage output, in fact a naked archer is probably perfectly viable. This reinforces the point I am trying to make, skills should be good at what they do regardless of other skill usage. Clever and obvious combinations will always improve your effectiveness.

Care to explain how you approach the combat against five "insert enemy here" without relying on enchanting and alchemy.

edit: i did try to play a pure mage without enchanting and alchemy and it did not work out that well. I should not be forced to rely on 100 enchanting and alchemy to be effective spell caster

Lowering the difficulty isn't addressing the problem, destruction will still be the weakest tool available, especially since now since it is much easier to grab that steel dagger of the table and put it into that master necromancer's eye. Furthermore, I don't think skills should just feel like "tools". They are, but they should also be a part of your character, and where you can become a godlike master of conjuration or melee weapons, you ultimately only ever exert enough control over the destruction school to do a very limited amount of damage at a time, and a great cost. It is pointlessly restricted.

You don't need 100 in both but I'd say you do need 80 enchanting to be effective; I just don't think that's unreasonable. To be effective in melee, you need 90ish smithing, what's the difference?

You don't need 100 smithing for melee weapons to be worth using. You don't "need" it at all, even to kill the strongest enemies in the game even without intensive potion use.. It is their to help optimize your character alongside enchanting. Whereas an optimized or even halfway optimized warrior is impressive a fully optimized mage feels rather limited.

At the end of the day, you just need way too many different skills to make destruction viable, with natural leveling it's allmost impossible to play.

Well, no, actually. I've done just fine with unarmored warriors, archers, and even warriors with no weapon at all. It was much more satisfying (and much quicker!) to just punch a dragon to death than it was to try and kill them with destruction spells.

Actually, I agree with that. The only magic that works without crafting is Conjuration (IMHO, of course). I recently started a character using only conjuration and archery and it's been very powerful. I had a flame atronach and a bound bow by level 6 and did Forelhorst (my character test dungeon) at level 9. It was by far the easiest run through of that ruin ever.

I like Destruction and I don't agree that it's underpowered but I do agree that it does need support.

With novice difficulty you deal x2 damage while only receiving x0.5 damage
That would make destruction viable, right?