I felt too cheap using Illusion. Summoning atronachs was boring and cheap also, but there is just no way to play as a destruction mage without exploits. I put about 70 hours into this character but I have to admit to myself that this just svcks. Damn.

Well, back to my sword and boarder. Sword and board with no smithing is the only fun character for me that stays fun after level 40.

Agreed. There just isn't enough unique kinds of magic in the world to use. It's either cheap mode (illusion) not-worth-it mode (alteration), or using exploits to lower cost on destruction just so you can last longer than 10 seconds in a fight with a high-level enemy.

It'd be nice to have corruption/shadow magic, druidic/earth elemental magic, and paladin/holy warrior type magic (and not the cute little Turn Undead kinda spells)

The spell schools themselves are just wholly uninteresting. Conjuration is so lame due to not being able to conjure some type of badass Hellstead or hellhound companion. It's just 3 atronachs, daedra, and some meaningless little wolf things, one that asplodes which is kinda cool I guess. Other than that it's a sputtering fart.

Bound sword and Bound bow are awesome though.

I understand what you mean haha! I start a new character to be a mage and in 15 mins i delete

I believe theyr'e bringing more spells to the new DLC?

I'm doing just fine with my mage characters. New spells really would be nice though.

I like play magic in this game. Its another way to play it.

The spells I miss in this game is lock picking spell, the poison spell and reflect spell.

It's all a matter of personal taste. I personally love mages and can't play sword 'n' board characters for more than about 15 levels.

Try Mindas Magic mod, it has a lot of good spells that really beef it up.

If you play on pc, get the Truly Balanced Destruction mod off of the workshop. It puts destruction on par with swords and bows. Get conjuartion madness as well because it adds things like trolls and centurions.

There oughta be a law patch!

I don't know. I'm mixed on it. I'm not used to playing as a mage at all, but I like the whole mindset of being a mage. You have to embrace all the schools of magic to make it viable. All in. I think that's pretty cool. Intelligence is the attribute that is supposed to tied to magic. And that's exactly what you need to be a mage in this game, intelligence. Aganst weaker enemies you can just blast a some destruction at it, but for harder enemies you need to be creative. I will admit the cost of higher destruction spells in relation to the damage they deal is garbanzo beanz. :\

The only problem I can find is the fact that can cast 5 lightning bolts equalling 125 dmg. With my magika lvl But I can get higher damag by casting sparks till my magika runs out.

Im on PS3 so i can't get any of the spells im about to mention, but...

Bethesda should take some of the ideas that Mindas Magicks came up with. He has some awesome spells.

I also am hopping for 2 or 3 new shouts. One of which is the Apocalypse Shout that Alduin Uses... its Chaotic, which is perfect for evil characters who have no mercy, and don't care about calateral damage. (My guy is a good guy )

I also think a cool Shout would be an earthquake that last for 10 - 20 - 30 seconds, and keeps all enemies and allies staggered expect you and other big guys (i.e Dragons, Giants, Mammoths, Flying Creatures of any sort... etc.)

And the Last shout i would like to see is one that summons a specteral horse, that is really fast. (This could be a spell)

i also like being a mage , i cant play as a worrior , sometimes in desperate moments when my mana is low i pull out daggers
but other then that i love being a mage .
i do want more spells as well .
druid type spells and black magic would be kewl as well ,

some of the effects of midas magic mod on pc are pretty awesome .
elemental bolt , entangle , theres one where you fire a spell at someone and they turn into a rabbit , but i just like the effect of the spell not its function .

I admit there are flaws and limits with magic, but it's really good and very fun. I like the spellsword play style, because you always have a good one handed weapon to fall back to.

We don't know, but I sure hope so. They have been constantly critizised by the fans of the series for having so few spells so I would believe they would add some though.

I'm surprised Alteration is defined as "not-worth-it"...maybe because in my modded installation, it's just an incredibly useful school (with spells like Teleportation, Mark/Recall, Stone Prison, Levitation, Shrink Enemies...).

I don't have much faith in new spells alone fixing Destruction. They likely have the same "Ohhh! ...Ahhh!" factor people experienced when seeing the original spells. Without some combination of some of the following: scaling, passive boosts through enchantments, initial mana cost reduction and/or sneak bonus, they'll likely become stale and useless as your game progresses.

Bethesda screwed up going with "Bioshock Style" magic and then gimping it in power and high mana costs because Bioshock was a shooter, it's spells were relatively powerful and "mana" was relatively plentiful. Just using the look of Bioshock's "magic" and abandoning the rest of the template... screwed. it. all. up.

Bioshock style magic demands Bioshock shooter style mechanics to work. There are those here that point out that you can't just sling Destruction spells and expect to succeed, but that is exactly what the magic style Bethesda went with demands. Had 2k used Bethesda's version of it's "magic" system, it would have bombed due to forcing the same frustrations upon the player.

I'm now playing a Battlemage with Conjuration/Alterarion/Restoration/Heavy Armor/One-Handed/Archery.. I only use summoned weapons and atronachs and this combination of summoning with weapons feels really nice to do.. and Alteration really helps with the armor rating (surely if you hate crafting like I do).. I'm having really much fun with the build and it feels really diverse, since you can in a battle constantly swap between summoning creatures/weapons and restoration and alteration spells.

I've tried several magic builds... and this one is by far the most fun for me!
I love the current Magic system, by far better than Morrowind or Oblivion, but I do agree that Destruction needs a boost...

There is no doubt in my mind that Magic demands more tactical thinking and intelligence in the heat of battle. This can be very tricky as when the adrenaline is pumping the mind can't think straight ! Im only level 18, so my pov might change as I progress further.

Some of my favorite characters are mages. But magic needs a boost and new spells. And I've said it before, I think the whole magicka cost reduction thing (perks/enchantments) was a bad design which lead to artificially inflated magicka costs.

I don't understand how Illusion or Conjuration can be considered "cheap". Is hitting an enemy with a blunt instrument "cheap" too?

I actually think magic is great. Not as good as Oblivion or Morrowind because there are less spells and no spellmaking. But still it seems alot more diverse than being a warrior that hits things or a stealthy character that hits things when sneaking.

One day I like to play Witchhunter like in Oblivion but differently because the way the skills are set.
Its a pity about mysticism but I will go to Illusion and trick my enemies then go for the kill with bow and arrow or with the flame as a side arm. Like in Oblivion I will not use a blade and blunt.
I use conjuration as a decoy as I snipe with the bow.
To replace athletics I use light armour and wear fur or leather.
A Breton with a bow. Hummm.

Destruction mage works excellent for me unless you go up to AoE master "takes too long to cast" spells.