Why be a mage? : V - Skyrim

» Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:35 pm

Aww man. I was really following you here, until I got to the part with "Dragon Age 2" and "loved" in the same sentence

ROFLMFAO.............me too......... :facepalm: Almost fell out of my chair on that one.........LOL

I think my best days as a mage type were in Guild Wars as a Fire Elementalist, where I could NUKE the HADES out of mobs.......... :flamethrower:

» Mon Nov 28, 2011 8:21 pm

Needless to say I was a pure mage atronach in Oblivion. I use to charge my mana by standing in front of the guy who casts spells at the target in the Arcane University.

Well that sounds like fun, kill a mudcrab...-> fast travel to arcane uni, kill a rat -> fast travel to arcane uni...

» Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:19 pm

For Skyrim I play to RP after my first playthrough. I've got a sadistic dark elf mage planned that is gunna be nothing but insane. Think Richard the Warlock if anyone follows Looking For Group by chance. But I never was really interested in going pure mage because in Skyrim magic was like a parlour trick and I felt I had to play so defensively to be successful.

Now that magic looks like it has that FWOOSH effect I can properly play someone who enjoys burning others to a crisp rather than plotting what buffs I need before entering a battle.

» Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:00 pm

Because who doesn't want to do http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpAcanUJX7s.

» Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:40 pm

:goodjob: :goodjob:

Here's a bit of an odd question. I'm asking those ppl who played Elder Scrolls games either as pure mage's or with a heavy reliance on magic.

In Oblivion I played mostly as a warrior, dabbled in a little bit of magic, but not too much because I never gained enough majika.

For Skyrim, I think I want to be an archer, that is also strong with magic and one handed blade.

However, after watching the Skyrim demos a couple hundred times and seeing use of the Frenzy spell, hearing about raising zombies, etc., I'm thinking of putting more emphasis on magic....

So, what I'm asking is, for those of you went deep with magic in Oblivion, why did you choose to play that way? What were your favorite spells? What cool things did you do with them? Any unexpected results? What are your expectations for Skyrim? Anything else I should know or consider?

(When answering, please keep in mind that I'm largely inexperienced with magic (beyond simple destruction), and for many spells I may not know exactly what they do.)

THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT!!!

I play a mage in practically every game that allows me to do so for one simple reason:

Playing a mage is like being a living, breathing smartphone. Problem in the real world? There's an app for that. Problem in the game world? There's a spell for that :goodjob:

» Tue Nov 29, 2011 3:43 am

Because mages are awesome.

Master of the elements? Check
Can summon weapons out of nothing? Check
Can brainwash people, and animals? Check
Can turn invisible? Check
Can create force fields? Check
Can heal almost any wound? Check
Can move things with their mind? Check
Can summon powerful beings as servants? Check
Can open any lock with a gesture? Check
Can walk on water? Check
Can levitate/fly? Check
Can steal people's souls? Check

I can do this all day OP.

This is pretty much it. The best thing about magic is that you're always finding new things to do with it. I've always been a Destruction fan, but I'm always realising how many different approaches are possible when you use magic to its full extent.

» Tue Nov 29, 2011 12:13 am

You can shoot a flamethrower out of one hand and Emperor Palpatine lightning out of the other, then put them both away and summon a ghost bow so you can shoot a bear in the face with it.

» Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:49 pm

Playing on PC here so you can already guess that i use mods
I play as a mage because there are some really awesome mods to add more variety to the spells and items mage would use (i use FCOM) its kinda hard to balance the character on FCOM since you would die really fast unless you focus both on endurance and mage atr or on shield spell (is more powerfull on FCOM) also the spell effectiveness drops even lower when wearing armor when compared to vanilla oblivion pretty much forcing you use the shield spell unless you have a bodyguard of some sort.

» Tue Nov 29, 2011 12:29 am

Why be a mage? Looking for best reasons, favorite spells, etc

There's this possibly-annoying thing where, after a certain level, fighters aren't as stronger as we'd like with each level. Mages, with the crazy possibilities of spells, gain infinity powers once they get the momentum going. So I played battlemages to give my fighters an edge, and fullmages to try out those crazy spells as soon as possible.

My favorite spells come from conjuration. It's just so awesome that a fighter could suddenly maximize his offense/defense with magic armor, or that I could tease my godComplex by pulling daedra from the void. Summoning is so fun. All we need now are sixteen different fullmotionvideo summons for each daedric prince.

» Tue Nov 29, 2011 5:27 am

IRL you can hit someone with a big stick, or sneak around at night. You can't cast spells, though. That's enough reason right there to play a mage in a game.

You can, but then you'll have problems with the law.

» Tue Nov 29, 2011 3:25 am

Very Hard Lock? *cast spell* :meh: noob lock
Feel like sowing some discord? FRENZY SPELL :gun:

» Tue Nov 29, 2011 5:21 am

You can, but then you'll have problems with the law.

But you have to admit, it's a lot easier, they haven't invented real world psychic police yet, or crime reporting chickens. :evil:

» Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:22 pm

But you have to admit, it's a lot easier, they haven't invented real world psychic police yet, or crime reporting chickens. :evil:

True.
I always found summoning lighting from my fingertips kinda hard. :sadvaultboy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l04dn8Msm-Y

» Tue Nov 29, 2011 1:28 am

As said before, and this needs to be reiterated, you can shoot FIRE.

Mages are flexible, and can do many things, versatility at it's finest.

You are making the right move to be more magic-oriented.

» Tue Nov 29, 2011 3:36 am

Well in oblivion i choose to be a mage because i could do anything with magic that all the other classes could do with there skills and still be better at it. Need to open a lock? threes a spell for that. Invisibility? yep that to. Breath underwater? you guessed it. and to top it off you could do things with magic that the other classes couldn't do with there skills. Like summon a full set of deadric armor+ claymore from thin air without any wieght or instantly raise your relationship with shopkeepers and mercantile to always get the best deal. Mages in oblivion could pretty much do whatever they wanted with no down side.

This - swinging a massive war hammer ten times was nothing on a powerful touch in oblivion, nor was archery a match for a ranged destruction spell with a blast radius

A mage, while tough to play initially, became by far the most powerful class in Oblivion, and I hope it remains like that in Skyrim

Mages forever

» Tue Nov 29, 2011 1:41 am

The first time I'll dual cast a firestorm or something heavier...

HELL DONT WANNA MISS THAT!

» Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:12 pm

Ive played all types of character and i found you really had to plan as a pure mage. My most successful character (as in found it natural to play this style without too much thought) was a stealth archer sneaky type of character in Oblivion - he was good with alchemy and illusion and could handle a bow well so in most scenarios i would be picking enemies off with a poisened arrow from a distance and if i wanted to just get a quest done or escape i'd use invis or chameleon and summon the odd destraction! Worked really well and was loads of fun.