Note well that Illusions in reality are not just mental but optical as well. Invisibility makes you harder to see but not flat out undetectable. If you're loud then they'll know someone is poking around where they ought not to be. Seems pretty logical to me. That's if you want to talk realism. If you want to talk about it being just a game then that's the way they intended it to be?

this.

It's still an illusion, your bending the light around you, hence, you can still see the shimmer of a human figure after they turn invisible.

Well, I guess now I know not to bother with Illusion. Been slowly levelling it for this, but yeah, if this doesn't work and the rest of Illusion svcks, why bother?

Er, Illusion doesn't svck, nor does invisibility for that matter. If anything, a master Illusionist is OPed.

Turning friend against friend isn't so bad. Neither is invisibility. I'm thinking they made the illusion school with stealth characters in mind though. Not such a bad thing if you're a stealth character or just want to change things up a bit as a full blown mage.

me likes the way you think

No because it is illusion magic.
You are tricking the mind not to register you, like the blind spot in your vision.

Then why do you actually turn invisible? Are you tricking your self too?

Its technically the same thing though since bending light is altering the mind. Since without an altered mind, you wouldn't have even perceived the light differential. I would think invisibility physically effected the mind of the opponent if you actually had to cast it on them (like Blind), but since we know that illusion can and does manipulate light, and that there's in game books describing illusion as removing light (a spell that's never been in a ES), I have to say its the bending of light. which is how it looks aesthetically, like you've bent light around you.

Yes, so there for it does make sense, it compliments sneaking. It is no longer a cheap way out of a battle. I like the entire illusion tree every spell in that tree actually matters now... :celebration:

Bending light is alteration.
Affecting the mind is illusion.

It really isnt hard.

Light has always been an illusion spell though. Light isn't matter, its energy, so it isn't effected by alteration. It can only be perceived by the mind, and body if its hot enough. Manipulating light has nothing to do with alteration. Alteration is the manipulation of matter. Illusion is the manipulation of the mind, which by connection is the manipulation of certain energies, namely light spectrum's.

Does this mind vs matter thing even matter? Invisible means invisible, not undetectable. Stop attributing not being seen with "not knowing I'm there". These are not synonymous concepts. Make a bunch of noise and you will still be detected.

"Illusion is one of the six schools of magic. It is similar to Alteration magic in that it seeks to change the world around the caster so normal physical truths no longer hold, but while Alteration magic is bound by the laws of nature, Illusion magic is not. Its weakness comes from the fact that while Alteration affects the entire world, Illusion magic affects only the caster and the target. Illusion spells can change a target's visibility, produce or remove light, produce or remove noise, charm a creature, induce hatred in it or calm it down, enhance or remove a creature's courage, prevent a creature from seeing or moving, or allow the target to see even in total darkness. The ability to enforce the caster's will on a target is also now part of this school, despite having once been considered to be Conjuration magic"
This is the way it is and always has been.
Alteration affects the world around you, Illusion affects the caster and the target. Invisibility affects you, and in affect to that effect, it affects the caster too.

If you really want to argue that invisibilty has no place in the school of Illusion, then we should be looking at the lore of the whole series, not Skyrim specifically.

Too bad they moved paralysis and light. Paralysis should have been making the target think they were paralyzed.

Which never really made sense to me. Then again, the schools and their effects have been shifted a lot of times before. Even losing schools, which pisses me off. Never understood why certain fans adhere to the lore more closely than even the devs do. Its almost like the devs say 'screw how it was, what we know, and what was written'. As a lore nazi, these kinds of inconsistencies and retcons piss me off even more. Which is also why Mysticism is still a school to me and light spells are still Illusion.

Yeah, I agree OP, invisibility in Skyrim only benefits sneaky characters, who with a high sneak score wouldn't even need to be invisible anyway. The people who actually benefit from going invisible are non-sneaky characters, but by nerfing invisibility to require you to also have high sneak score to remain undetected is redundant and renders invisibility completely pointless.

I'm a pure mage with like a 20 in sneak. I'm never detected when invisible.

Oh no, Im not arguing that at all, you misunderstand.
Invisibility has always been illusion rather than alteration.

My point is that you do not physically become invisble, but rather you affect the minds of those around you to 'edit' you out.
Similar to the blind spot in your vision, or how people have the amazing ability not to notice vagrants.

Even if it is fooling the mind, it says invisibility which means just visual. It doesnt erase your presence from the mobs mind. It just makes it so he cant see you. When a mob uses invis it doesnt make you forget he was there and so it shouldnt work that way for you either.

Doesn't sound like a sight thing to me. How exactly does enemies being able to perceive your
presence make it a mechanics / sight issue? Because you say so?

Maybe the characters minds that you are trying to trick are perceptive, and they realize it's
an illusion? Therefore their minds are not tricked into not seeing you, so they see you.

What level is your illusion skill anyway? Any perks? Dual casting?

I remember reading that if magic and specifically the ability to turn invisible were real, then all misdirection and such would no longer fool the mind. Since the mind works as a shortcut filter than has to determine what has and hasn't changed in a quick amount of time. Since things don't magically change, etc. The mind has a hard time seeing this when scened are interlaced with scenes that alter an object if they are interlaced with a black, or blank scree. Yet when they are not interlaces, and the transformations happen in front of you, you notice it. That might not make much sense, but you would have had to have read the book, which dealt with how the human mind processes. Assuming that Nirn races have similar minds etc.

In essence. Magic on Nirn, should negate all sneaking and misdirection.

Edit: Actually it was a show on Discovery or Science channel, cant remember which. But it is on demand right now. Cant remember the name, but it was something like mind games or something?

What you said doesnt make sense so I dont think its true, even if it is in a book.

Actually it makes perfect sense. I just didnt fully explain it, because it would take a page and a half, and who knows if anybody would even read it, or care. If you have on demand, then go check out either NatGeo, Discovery, or Science channel. Cant remember which one exactly, but threes a show on there called mind games, it has all the answers and explains it perfectly.

But you do physically become invisible. I'm sorely confused.