By now we all know about the ability to dual wield spells and some of the improvements that have been made in regards to magic.

What I really like so far is how there are many different variations of the magic that can be used, especially with destruction. The ability to hold down one of the triggers and to shoot out continuous flames like a flamethrower is simply outstanding. Being able to bounce lightning off of wall is fantastic and some of the shouts are simply amazing. I'm wondering though, if there is any way that we can use magic to alter the environment in any way. And I'm not talking about major "alterations" just simple things like spraying ice or fire on the ground.

This would be especially effective and useful for pure mages that don't really have any defense for attacking swordsmen. Being able to lay down a row or circle of fire in front of you would provide a great defense from possible attackers. Just a thought, and since it hasn't necessarily been rules out, I'm hoping that things like this will be in the game. For the pure mages (I'll be playing as a type of "mystic/stealth archer", what do you guys use for defense when you are getting attacked?

I think the flames spell makes little fires on the ground when you spray it at the ground.

After watching the gameplay footage for the millionth time today I just thought to myself how awesome it would be if we could cause our enemies to slip and slide on ice that are charging at us.

Fire in one hand,Ice in another
with the storm call shout...I will have the 3 forms of Elder Scrolls magic at my finger tips (I mean the more elemental magic,fire,ice,shock)

It would be cool, but you're gonna have to settle with slowing them down. Which is already pretty effective in combat. :happy:

You can't dual wield a descrution spell without picking the perk that allows you to do so btw :deal:

Fantastic
like on a mountain side,make them fall all the way to the bottom

oh,well thanks for the info

Im hoping for some kind of projection shield spell. At least to fight dragons at least

There are actually spells called runes(i think)which let you place environment traps kind of like what you were explaining :thumbsup:

I think that it has already been confirmed that fire spells will light the environment on fire. Whether or not this interaction will be purely cosmetic is yet to be known. However, if it is not purely cosmetic, here are some of my ideas which could be implemented:

Fire Spells: (lights grass, trees, dirt on fire) Upon entering the flames, enemies would have a chance to be set on fire, Ice based monsters would have a temporary defence and movement speed decrease.

Ice Spells: (freezes water, creates ice spikes/frost) Upon stepping on frozen water, enemies would be slowed and would have a chance to fall over, when stepping on ice spikes, chance to inflict a small amount of damage over a period of time. Fire based monsters (if any exist) would suffer a temporary damage decrease.

Shock Spells: (small chance to light objects on fire, electrifies water) Upon entering electrified water, enemies would take damage and have a chance to be paralyzed.

I'd love a spell that causes a remote explosion at wherever the targeting reticule is pointing to.

Runes are the answer to your question. And frost runes will slow the oncoming attacker. In fact I'm planning on only using frost for runes, lightning for my main, and no fire (it's too messy).

I'm gonna be a mage because I find the whole magic aspect of almost every RPG out there to very interesting. I don't know my first Oblivion playthrough was as a warrior and it was fun since it was my first time playing back in 06. but after that I tryed both magic and archery and I got instantly hooked to magic so im super excitied about the whole magic system in this game