a pure mage can be just as game-breakingly easy as a sneaky assassin, illusion+conjuration is just an instant-win button

Absolutely right. Depending on the enemy, you dont have to lift a finger except to cast frenzy and something conjured up.

You're just a Deaf Debbie Downer aren't you?

It is simple. magic is useless. Potions and food heal too. Smithing sets weapons to a specific level of needless power. Standing stone and Mara's bessing from her quest give a resistance to magic, which is needless unless you find yourself outnumberd by magic users.

Mages have little armor and their armor spells are useless until Dragonhide or whatever it is. they HAVE to use magika reduction enchants to even be on the level of a warrior or assassin using sneak archery or daggers.

http://cdn.head-fi.org/7/71/71b14a93_jackie-chan-meme_thumb7.png.

Again,. not useless. People dont always like to play as a warrior. Alot of people find playing as a mage quite satisfying and enjoyable.

because they love needing to hide behind summoned minions and frenzies to live...

magic is useless........................wot

i just don't know where to start, you know what,i won't. it's too much

Thats what a mage does. USES MAGIC instead of weapons. Being that traditional mages wear robes/clothing, of course they're going to stand back some and let their conjured minions take the brunt of the damage while casting other spells. Thats what makes them mages. Of course it would be foolish for a mage wearing clothing to charge into battle against an Orc wearing heavy armor brandishing a warhammer head on. One hit and their dead.

You simply just dont get the idea of mage playing. I wish you well with your warrior.

If you have to rely on MIND CONTROLLED enemies and SUMMONS to deal damage, might as well use companions and not do anything yourself.

Thats because mage-playing is a completely different way of playing, different way of thinking. Ive played as a mage without using mind control or summoned minions. Basically just go around casting fireballs. But that gets boring real quick. Ive played as a thief/assassin without using any Illusion magic but adding muffle and invisibility adds to the whole thief mystique.

Hey look, it obviously isnt for you, and thats fine. Just like a warrior isnt for me. But you dont see me going around calling it useless or whatever.

it works, who cares?

That is probably the single dumbest comment across the forums.

... ever.

Note that this is only true for Skyrim. Shield spells were generally better in previous games, and with Reflect Damage/Resist Normal Weapons/etc back in previous games and a custom heal over time/absorb health spell, a robe wearing wizard could simply walk into melee and laugh.

Plus, y'know, mages in lore gleefully abusing Fortify effects to lift a stablehouse and stand in blue fire for over an hour.

That is generally the issue. Skyrim mages play more like the traditional fantasy mage, whereas Oblivion and Morrowind mages play more like D&D 3.5 wizards (a.k.a Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards).

This is my first ES game so I had no idea about that. Thanks for the history

Clearly you've never played any kind of mage, or you're not smart enough to know how.

A dual cast Incinerate spell with the augment perks ONLY will do 285 damage a pop, plus lingering damage. Same for frost and shock.

I'll leave you with that. If you think that's "useless damage," then that'll just convince me your stubborness and stupidity are incurable.

Not to mention defending against a dragon as a warrior. How do you shield yourself from the fire breath? As far as I know you can't as a warrior. Fortunately for a mage, a ward will take care of that.

As long as it doesn't break...

Even if the ward breaks you're still taking less damage from a dragon's breath as a mage vs. warrior.

All for the low, low cost of 417 magicka!

Unless, yet again, you use cost reduction gear; at which point you realize that cost reduction gear makes the cost reduction perks absolutely useless.

As for the ward thing, that's because of how dragon breath is treated, basically like a bigger version of Flames rather than an inferno of fiery death. That's why your ward stands; not because wards are awesome but because dragon breath is effectively a novice level effect.

From UESP: Interestingly, Wards seem to be extremely effective against Dragon breath attacks. Because the game treats a breath attack as a series of quick low-damage attacks rather than a single strong one - basically, like a bigger version of the Flames/Frostbite spell - the regenerative nature of the Ward means you can completely block even an Ancient Dragon's breath with a Lesser Ward.

Cost reduction = smart mage.

Destruction magic is far from useless, you just have to use it tactically. No point trying to burn a Flame atronach because it ain't gonna do much, ice spells on the other hand will.

What about ice storm being cast at as group of bandits and a chief charging at you? But thats useless as well.

I thought you meant Ice FORM...