Destruction Mages are powerful and tactical.

[laquak84]

Part 2 is up with video and my skills and active menu showing. Really fun guys and thanks very much for the feedback. Next would be to utilise Whirlwind charge more.

 

*video turns pitch black thanks to fraps and camtasia duo :). Reuploading in a little bit with sactificed HD quality. *shakes fist*

Edited January 6, 2012 by laquak84

[laquak84]

New link to video is up.

[shall1976]

As someone stated before: the mage is broken in terms of the relative power of every other class. If this was the only class in the game the challenge would actually be great, but with melee and archery inflicting the damage they do the mage seems incredibly weak.

 

I think the overall solution to the game and difficulty (or lack) is to nerf melee and archery to increase the challenge and help level the balance of the classes.

 

Of course as a single player game this is all possibly irrelevant.

[Matth85]

The problem is generally how a RPG/TES game works, and how the mage "class" breaks it now. Let's take a look at how the system should work, and have worked for every RPG I know of:

You start of weak.

You get stronger.

You grind up your stuff.

You become a demigod.

 

This is how Daggerfall was, this is how Morrowind was, this is how Oblivion was, this is how most Final Fantasy are, this is how Dragon Age is.

Now, let's look at how the mage class works in Skyrim:

 

You start of weaker than the rest.

You become stronger, stronger than the assassin, but weaker than the warrior.

You hit the point you get quite strong, now about equal to the warrior, but weaker than the assassin.

You get weaker/everything scales over you. Now you are weaker than both the assassin and the warrior by miles.

You hit 60ish, having yet no scaled abilities and it takes you hard wor and 20 minutes to take down anything. On the other hand, Warriors and Assassins are demigods.

 

Generally, you never become the "super badass!!" that you are suppose to be. After hard work, you only get a glory level of 20-30ish. After that you are the underdog. On the other hand, the Bandit Mages at 40 hit you got 200 points per spell, and shoot like a turret. You, however, can cast 20ish spells, doing 40 damage per.

 

It's not that the Destruction mage is unplayable, of course not. My high level Battlemage wouldn't say it is impossible. However, it breaks the fun of "grinding" out and improving your character. I do not feel like an Archmage at level 70ish, because random Joe can kill me. I do, however, feel like the Harbringer and a warrior champion, because my warrior side works well enough - even if haltered by perks thrown into magic.

 

At least I love "grinding" out my character for a week, and end up being a demigod running around. By that I mean I will min/max and powergame, get the best weapons at the best time and genrally struggle to be on top. Not only did Skyrim remove powergaming, but there is no way to hit the "I feel like a god damn Dovahkiin!" feeling. At best I can exploit to have infinite mana, or make my weapon do 25 000 damage per swing, but that generally ruins everything. What is easily gained, is generally boring. It is the journey of working hard to progress your character, and finally being the walking dooms day that is fun.

 

That said, I do enjoy mages. I do, however, miss more spells. Especially Levitate and Open. Why do I need to be half a Thief to open locked doors? I can alter the damn reality if I want to >.<

[dragonalumni]

oblivion mages sucked in some respects, especially illusion capped out at like level 21 or something..

[laquak84]

Well do to high number of suggestions I plan on doing wards, walls and cloaks aswell to see if 100 hp can withstand higher bosses next time I am in tight spots.

 

Also 1080p version of the video is up. 1/2 asses 1080p but its better then 360p :D I am also learning a lot about video editing but the software I use sucks.

[FordPerfect]

Destruction Mages are powerful and tactical.

 

Wrong on both counts. 'Tactical' does not mean scurrying about and hiding from your enemies attack. 'Tactical' would be having varied abilities to counter varied attacks used at the right time. 'Powerful' is not killing your enemy with the death of a thousand static shocks, it is withstanding your enemies deadly attacks, countering and launching your own deadly attacks.

 

If you enjoy playing the 'willfully weak' character that's your choice, but don't wet my back and tell me it's raining.

[Matth85]

oblivion mages sucked in some respects, especially illusion capped out at like level 21 or something..

But we had spellmaking. I remember making myself a real explosive spell in Oblivion, after 150 houres. By that time I reently became Archmage. I felt justified blowing up stuff, and even then I ran out of magicka sooner or later.

What do we get in Skyrim? ... Well, we get non-scaled spells that do the same damage at level 1 as at level 80. Quite fair.

[dragonalumni]

the spell maker was also capped on illusion spells.

[Matth85]

the spell maker was also capped on illusion spells.

And a mage doesn't lock himself to 1 school. Magic in Oblivion was fine, because it was overall balanced out.

In Skyrim, everything is capped at 40+.