Enchanting "Fortify " at 100 skill level and 5/5 Enchanter perk with a Grand soul results in a 25% casting cost reduction for that school. This stacks additively; meaning that with 4 items (chest, ring, amulet and head) you can cast spells in that school for free. Combined with the perk http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Enchanting_(Skyrim)#Enchanting_Perks, players can cast spells from up to two schools for free with the same gear set.

With this reasoning I can be a Destruction + Conjuration mage able to summon Daedric Dremoras and then bust out master level destruction spells without needing to drink any magicka potion, use any restoration spell because my Dremoras be taking all the beating for me, and smash through any enemy in the game regardless of skill level and size.

Because I would have little use for more magicka I can now dump the rest of my perk points into my health and stamina, accompany this with a high level alteration mage armor spells and I can have the skin of a dragon with nothing but robes.

If you put your time and effort into creating such a build, you cannot possibly complain.
It's like becoming a king, then complaining when you have an army to fight your battles without you just rushing the doors.
Don't want those abilities?
Don't attempt to gain them, simple.

Mages are NOT OP! They are only "powerful" because of exploits from Impact, Fortify Restoration, and Enchanting. Without those, magic is a complete farce and Bethesda really dropped the ball. It goes from one end of the spectrum to the other. Horrid to Magnificient. One reason why I stopped playing mages, IMO, is because I don't like feeling dirty about myself.

but magic damage has a cap and at level 40ish without the use of alchemy it becomes tedious to kill most enemies

your point? its not like you're competing against people in this game

whatever you do is irrelevant to everyone else, the only valid thing is what you choose or not choose to do

it doesn't matter.

i only feel bad when i loose, anything that can help me win any fight even in normal mode is enough for me to feel satisfied.
being a mage with overpowered strategies does not make me feel dirty.
but i refrain from using magic spells, its just not my thing.

Even with infinite magicka mages are still underpowered.

If I have infinite arrows it doesn't make me a better archer.

Sneak archers, armour capped two handed warriors, dual wielders with dual enchantments on each weapon. Want to be OP, you can, same as previous games. Go up enough levels in Daggerfall or Morrowind, take skills you won't use in Oblivion to get +5/+5/+5 each level, and make DoT and HoT spells with managed magicka costs. Mages in Skyrim have it harder than some.

SIGH-

You mean you figured out a powerful build by using all the enchanting perk powerups? How unbelievably clever that was. I can assure you that you are the first to figure out how powerful enchantment can be. Well done,


additionally very good move to argue about destruction based on maxing enchant tree- as that is the core of the problem.

Personally, I was very eager to improve a set of armor I found and get the most I could out of it. But then I realized there is no "most"; no singular goal to strive for. Ultimately I gave up trying to improve the items at all.

I may consider only getting Smithing to 100 and improving them at exactly that point, because then there's no external interference from broken Fortify mechanics.

Good lord, I wouldn't bore myself by trying for that build. You can overpower anything if you choose to, I suppose, but that was true in OB as well.

I am playing a pure mage, not wearing armor, only using a bow sometimes, no other weapons, so mostly spells. Working on Destruction and Alteration only. At level 25 or so, I am still being challenged by the game and having fun.

This post is pointless. You're not competing with other people so who cares about overpowered things in this game. Use it or don't.

Destruction is weak as hell, and that's what most mages use.

mages only have superpowers for a couple levels, and even then only if you dump all your perks into ONE school of magic...in general being a mage in Skyrim is a fast way to die

You, uh .... haven't actually played through as a mage to confirm that it goes as smoothly as your comment here suggests, have you?

FFS. Is it really too much to ask you actually try it yourself before you condemn an entire build as OP? Independent verification and all that....



Uh... again, did you actually play it through like this for yourself? Considering what you describe requires that Enchanting, Destruction, Conjuration and Alteration all be at 100 skill level to do what you're suggesting, you would by necessity be level 32 even if you somehow did absolutely nothing else--never opened a locked door or chest, never talked to a shop or spell vendor, etc. With even modest increases in Speech and Lockpicking (to be expected if you plan to over bypass a locked door or chest and hope to ever sell anything, ever, to any vendor), from 15 to 30, you're now sitting at level 36 with this build. Even if you took increases in magicka over health and stamina at every level up to that point, you're at 450 magicka. Total. At Alteration 100 skill, the cost of Dragonhide is 494 points, or 247 with the master-level cost reduction perk. And it lasts for ... 30 seconds. 45 with the Stability perk.

OP. Uh huh...

Complaints like this are why things end up getting taken out and gimped. You people need to learn to grow some damn will power and just not use things you don't like.

Slightly off topic... do enchantment perks like insightful enchanter work on clothes or just armor?

I think people are just confusing over powered with no challege. Skyrim is a pretty easy game, you feel overpowered eventually

QTF

In oblivion you could get over 100% chameleon and that was just silly op. Even invisiblity (as you couldn't be heard or seen) was completely broken in oblivion.

No more OP than warriors by using the Crafting circle to improve each one until you get weapons that do 300 damage a piece and have a armor rating over a 1,000. They are both OP because they are exploiting a feature in the game to make them OP. In other words, if you go out of your way to make your character invincible, than that's entirely your fault.

Just letting people know that playing a Destruction Mage without Enchanting, Smithing or exploiting Fortify Restoration is fine even in Master. If you are having difficulties with magic without doing this, there are probably some things that you can still learn. You just need to play smart.

If you do not have 100% cost reduction, there is a real cost to using Dual Casting and Impact. One needs to manage magicka costs and balance between DPS and total damage output. It makes the game more challenging and more fun.

Im an Ice Artificer and i get Rofl Stomped by Bandits

none of my armor gear is really enchanted right now though, i usually end up pulling out chillrend, and even then im getting booted alot. Im on Master

A lot of people forget to utilize rune and cloak spells. They really give you a good leadoff and then whittle away an opponents health if they get too close.

Mages are the most fun from the late teens until the late 30s. After you hit 100 destruction and realize you will never do more damage, its not quite as fun. Its certainly viable, but you can't pump out the damage quite like a melee character can.

THIS. agree 100%



i did the exact biuld youre talking about and its not OP. ...so i have "unlimited power" for destruction and can now cast free lightning spells making me feel like darth sidious....cool.....but you might as well consider every fight youre in to take place on the death star....close to a railing......overlooking the reactor....and youre about to get a close up of said reactor.

i have a sneaky, archer vampire who has maxed destruction, one hand, and others. all my gear allows for free destruction and i STILL use my sword and arrows more....