So far from what I have read, spellcasting requires at least 1 free hand or a staff.

Now, IMO this is a great way to diversify casters from fighters however I feel that it also limits a fighter's abilities in combat.

As TES is well accredited for its "enchanted items" etc... I feel that there should be some melee weapons that are enchanted that allow one to cast with them!

This would involve say, a 2h sword that can shoot lightning from its blade, a Hammer that can be used to slam the ground and produce AoE effects.

A Small change to what is already going to be an epic game, however if this isn't vanilla'd I do want to see a mod that allows this

Of course this would also limit a Fighter's abilities in combat at the same time, as it requires mana over stamina, so even if you can cast this 2-3 times in a fight it will make a huge difference.

A swarm of Ice Wraiths appear and begin honing in on you.
*sshhhing* Out comes your mighty Volcanic Claymore, and with one swift slash you send a wave of fire hurdling towards the swarm.

*KAH-PKRHHRKKKHKKHKK* The immense heat of the blast instantly melts 2 of the 5, you begin charging at them!

One mighty cleave through one leaves it severely wounded whilst the other 2 attempt to rip and slash into you, merely missing you by inches as you hold composure and dodge their attacks.

Another Hack and Slash and another is down, as you are about to finish the final Wraith the wounded one attempts to sneak up on you.

"Hahaha, Foolish Wraith" you say to yourself as you thrust your mighty sword into the ground, melting the earth on which you stand and produce a mighty burst of flames upon the area around you.

Incinerated and defeated, the Ice Wraiths lay slain on the ground to which you may loot and obtain their tasty tasty hearts, only adding to your power.

This is just one epic scenario of billions that could occur in such a brilliant game, and quite frankly if you have read all of this I hope you agree ^_^

LETS GET SOME COMMENTS AND PERHAPS STORIES OF HOW YOU SEE YOURSELF BESTING THE BEASTS THAT WALK THE FROZEN LANDS!!

Or how about we keep spellcasting the way they have it now, and have enchanted weapons the way they were in Oblivion and Morrowind (cast on strike (yes I know some Morrowind weapons were cast when used, I'm not talking about them))?

Or how about we use both, and you not be such a democrat?

It's unfortunate that I won't be able to cast spells with a 2 hander out, but at least I can quick swap.


I'm looking forward to how Enchanting plays out, hopefully they will incorporate what was fun in all of the previous games

Which one, Oblivion or Morrowind? :blink:

In Oblivion, your only option for weapon enchantment was "cast on strike," meaning some effect was triggered by hitting an enemy with the weapon.

In Morrowind, you could enchant weapons with "Cast When Used" enchantments, which allowed them to cast spells using charges contained in the weapon. For instance shooting fireballs out of a sword, or the classic http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Steel_Blade_of_Heaven#Steel_Blade_of_Heaven which cast Levitation on demand.

Some enchanted weapons in Morrowind were cast on strike. I should have clarified I only meant those ones, you're right.

I would rather the "one character can do everything" from Oblivion doesnt return.

I have no idea.
There is no way in heaven, oblivion or whatever that the new system will beat Arena and Daggerfall's level of customisation.
I realy do not give a flying rathet about how things look, I care for what they do.
I do very much like how its said spells will interact with the environment, but I fear that is all going to be scripted/ physics effects wich of course by default doesnt even come close to Daggerfall/ Morrowind.

I guess Ill be glad with anything that is not bioshock or whatever, where magic is indistinguishable from mutant powers or nuclear powers or whatever.
A core element of a TES game is the allowance to tweak each and every NPC variable.

One hand with magic and one hand with melee looks like the way to go in this game. Zap em and whack em like Bioshock.

I feel like this is probably true. I'm just slightly worried that they're going to draw too much influence from Bioshock.

Well because cast on strike require physical contact with target and cannot be invoked by hitting environment like OP describe, as well you cannot cast target enchants with melee weapons in Oblivion, only staffs capable to do thats but they are almost useless in close combat by ridicules reason we can parry with them all strikes without consequences since they are didn't have durability but cannot strike with them even if they looks like some heavy branch or stick or quarterstaff.
Staffs in Oblivion are fantasy energy guns thats all uses the same battery charges and even don't have of any requirements, now in Skyrim we can even akimbo such 'guns' for maximum damage I think thats make staves lose great portion of arcane mystery as magic tool and weapon.
Thats one of parts of bad enchanting implementation in Oblivion, fixing such flaw take many mods for me so in unlike of vanilla modoblivion much closer to previous games and feel more like actual TES game then another generic fantasy Action-RPG, so there is question why such work is done by modders while thats work of devs?

Enchanting must have returned cast on use enchants as well have separate way to cast enchantment spells from one enchanted item for example
Obsidian Staff of Blazing Fire Mastery
Can shoot fireballs on swings and strikes when target at distance like oblivion staves and staves in modded morrowind.
Shooting uses charges, projective have different speed what can depend on quality of staff material (durability and cost) and magnitude of enchantment spell or charge usage, thats work well with enchanting limit thats depend on material and cost of base item.

But when target in close combat staff can be used as blunt weapon with all properties of such weapon (like apply of perks) different combat movies, speed, damage and durability and usable for parry, of course it will have unique model of Obsidian staff not broken wooden stick thats previously was used as toothpick for giant.
In close combat staff can do more damage then on target for one charge cost as well can apply fire damage overtime with each strike while such additional effect is chance based for on distant target shooting.

on equip such staff add fireball spell to mage spell book so mage (thats specialized in different then destruction school) can cast spell what he don't learned and don't have enough skills to do thats but have enough magicka to cast such spell difference in thats that staff shoot are not chargeable while spell is can be charged so mage swing with staff and shoot from it an fireball thats have fixed magnitude and uses charges and cast Fire Ball spell thats equipped in another hand and have chargeable magnitude thats depend only on reserves of magicka,
additionally such staff can increase skills of wielder in destruction magic school and temporally add an perk from it, when staff is unequipped bonuses will be removed as well as spell from mage skill book, additional there is can be also some interesting effects like improving fire resistance on equip in cost of ice weakness and fire damage on unequip or adding fire shield when parry to burn foes up all such effects can be constant (for expectational and artifact items) or be activated on use (for middle level and low levels ones)

All options of above can work separately as different enchant effects in one base item similar to different way of spellcasting with new magic system, but better if standard magic staves will combine at last two of them, while artifacts will have more variable ways of their usage as well can have some unique spell effects thats work only for them, like reanimation from Staff of Worms or Wabbajack from Wabbajack.

Additionally as magic tool for better concentration such staff can increase concentration checks (ability to cast spell without failure when interrupted by strikes or other disturbing effects based on skill levels in magic schools versus cost of spell so charged spells or powerful ones can be miscast with lucky strike watch your enemies and use tactic in combat)
and reduce penalty to spell effectiveness from wearing armors (with small enchant limits so spell effectiveness will depend on quality of armor but armor will always reduce it, both concentration checks and reducing of penalty to spell effectiveness as variables can be used in special traits, perks from special training in guilds)
In such cases Staff will really magical other characters can also use such weapons but until they have special training they will not feel all benefits while mages will have them, if someone think such features cannot be done thats is wrong because all such features was done previously by mods and involves simple scripting and even was available for Morrowind before.

If skyrim will have flawed Oblivion staffs
Then there will be again wooden boomstick thats shoot fireballs and uses soul gems as ammo thats have no difference in usage for skilled mage and barbarian who just take it as loot and receive all necessary arcane knowledge in one second, but now such sticks can be used in dual wield, what are powerful akimbo "gun" combination we will have, if we have such energy guns why all against of firearms thats uses gunpowder then?
I don't want to see such flaws from oblivion again but now multiplied by x2 from dual wielding, when better implementation is not hard to be done.

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Note to self: oh well thats was my one thousand post, I hope they all was were constructive and interesting for readers.

I'd relax if I were you... If they make it so you have to put away your sword to cast a restore health spell, that would just be SO dumb. In terms of controls it would be a step backwards towards Morrowind, rather than a step forwards from Oblivion.

But unlike of Daggrefall or Morrowind with special cast mode or cast button from Oblivion what can be usable with any equipment Skyrim will have dual welding so actually you don't need to put your sword for cast on use enchants while you have sword equipped unless you have bot hands equipped or use two handed weapon, but even in such cases we can still cast certain spells from enchanting
like on target enchanting from bows and staffs or even for certain melee weapons what need to have enemy in LOS or in crosshair and such enemy will be at certain not close distance from us them just swing with your weapon and spell will be casted.
As well there is can be also on parry enchants thats activate when we parry strike with weapon or block it with shields,

Not need to limit players only to on constant on strike enchants like in Oblivion thats reduce many interesting tactics.
Adding such feature will actually not a step backward like you say and not stay put in oblivion but actual step above of both systems since both of them will work in game.