Hectire

Happening here, too. A workaround would be nice!

You think it is OK that you can defeat the last boss as if it were a normal mob, because it is a SINGLE PLAYER GAME? Every game needs balance especially RPGs. Where did I say he died faster than, or as fast as, normal mobs? I didn't. "Mere moments" is a pretty ambiguous amount of time, which generally implies it "wasn't very long." But, it also implies that it was not instantaneous, and that it took longer than "seconds." Also, this thread is about magic being too weak. So, the Alduin example was my counterexample illustrating why it is not weak when used properly. Your incredulous response makes next to no sense in this context. In fact, it's a bit of a non sequitur. The disagreement I have with this logic, is that because it is a single player game, you should only weigh how well you do versus the environment, not other hypothetical characters which do not exist as far as that particular save game is concerned. In multiplayer games, balance is much more of a comparison between what different players can do. In single player games, the comparison is weighted more heavily to how one fares versus the game's content. If mages are overpowered, and melee is MORE overpowered, then BOTH are overpowered. Mages are not by comparison underpowered in this scenario. That type of logic only makes sense in a multiplayer environment where the player community will tend to exclude classes/builds viewed as less powerful. In a single player game, being effective enough to be chosen for a group is a non-issue, and so the measure of overpowered/underpowered is a matter of whether or not a particular build can plow through the content without gratuitous challenge. That said, I've found my experience as a mage to be completely fine, and perhaps even a little bit easy. The game may need tweaks, yes, but it is a bit misleading to call destruction "underpowered." I'm also curious which enemies take 20 seconds to die, and which spell you're using against them? What level are you, and how many levels have you invested into Magicka?

That, Sir, is the problem. It's not a choice to max enchanting as a Mage, it's a must. And shouldn't a game be about choices? Without enchanting it is rather hard to get gear decent enough to support spell spamming, which is required on higher difficulties. Smithing is the same for every weapon based character. Which is wrong. I would like the option to skip enchanting as a mage. It would be even ok if some npcs could do the enchanting for you. For a high enough price.... Coming from a level 46 pure mage with 100+ hours and most of the map explored... Enchanting is a luxury and NOT required. Even before my enchanting was good enough to compete with my other gear, I was spamming Incinerate to my heart's content. I had to be a bit more cautious, but I could still easily handle everything thrown at me. Enchanting is a good investment, but it is not required. Once you can combine dragon shouts like Become Ethereal with things like Fire Storm, any enemy can be overcome with a bit of skill and timing. Alduin fell before my Lightning Storm and summoned minions in mere moments. Magic, if developed properly, is plenty good enough to play the game with. And, because this is a SINGLE PLAYER GAME, that's all I care about. I don't give two whits if a warrior, archer or hybrid build are better or worse. Each are their own experience with their own challenges. (For instance, archers kill me due to my low health, so my only counter is to keep my wits about me and dodge arrows. Though, I just got the Dragon Flesh spell, so maybe things will change ^^) What I find amusing is the talk of people complaining about magic at higher difficulties. The game is balanced for Adept. If you set it higher than that, that's your decision, and you can reap the insane consequences. I see absolutely no reason to play the game like that, as it is not how the developers intended it. The game simply cannot be balanced to allow for equal challenges among all builds at all difficulties, and so balance decisions have to be made for the default difficulty setting. The harder difficulties are for special challenges and may require very specific builds to overcome. This cannot be avoided. The bottom line is, if you are not focused on magic, you probably should focus on its utility spells, and largely ignore Destruction. If you want to use a Destruction heavy build, you'll need to spend the levels in mana and the perks to support it -- Alteration, Illusion and Restoration -- just as you'd need to spend the points in Stamina and Health, with weapon and armor perks for a melee character. A jack of all trades simply should not be using Destruction, it's inherently a very specialized skill. @OP: But, despite all of my above opinions, one of my own points can be used against me. This is a single player game. So, mod to your hearts content. You may not get a download from me, but judging by this thread, you'll have tons of fans. Best of luck!