I've decided to create this thread as a mean to discuss/argument the reasons given for the removal of spellcrafting for some vibility for this as a concern in hope it would be implemented in futur expansion(I play on console). Because by not saying anything it just looks like a good sale since I bought it in anticipation and I know a lot of people just don't take the time to write here, so I feel it's kinda my duty to do it.

There was two aspects that was given as of why it was removed, taken from http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615803-/60023826

- Uniqueness of spells

- Spellcrafting is "Spread-sheety".

Well as a start, The uniqueness of spells in the game is very questionnable. It works mostly as the spells in previous elder scrolls game, with more advanced and varied particle effects(while some others were removed.. such as levitation)
you still have most of the schools of magic including their respective spells with some additions including the dual wield(which doesn't change anything since it's just duplicating or boosting the effects).
For exemple, one of the difference compared to previous games is that projectile spells can now be short ranged using a beam type particle effect. The first spell you get in the game is actually that, as to make it feel fresh. But it's actually not that much different. In a spell-making utility you could still manage to have a short ranged projectile beam of ice , poison or whatever you'd want. It's just a matter of what you'd want to make which is the point of the spellcrafting system in the first place, a game content creation tool embedded inside the game. Something that Bethesda certainly used outside the game to create those spells in the first place, since it is the case with particle effects generator to which you can assign different behavior/texture/colors/scale you just need to add to that an actual effect based on stuff that's already there(fire damage , health increase, damage, area of effect, protection etc.). Saying this, it does sound spread-sheety( while it wouldn't reduce the comlexity of what is offered now..quite the opposite in fact). After all, it is somekind of spell making utility. Which brings me to this other, more global point.


The fact of criticising the spread-sheet aspect of this is a bit problematic in my point of view because of two reasons.

First, it doesn't have to be spreadsheety. It's just like saying that singing svcks because it sounds bad while it would only be true if you do it in a bad way. It could very well have been done in some sort of mini-game combining words, formulas, ingredients giving unknown results . Something that kinda exist for the potion making(not that much a minigame but still mixing with unknown results), and lockpicking(minus the mixing). So it would not be totally unknown to the style of this game. This is of course only an exemple. It could be done in any other way.. Hiding the numbers in the process for exemple would be another way to lose a bit the spread-sheet feel to it. It just requires an idea, willingness and time. Which I assume was lacking Bethesda at this point.
Also, spellcrafting in previous games was only available to the last rank of the mages guild. Which does not mean "in the beginning of the game" . So, it still allows for a lot of exploration in the world to buy spells and experience different effects before being able to make some.

The other point I want to bring out is that spread-sheetism is already in the game anyway and in a very huge amount of places. See any numbers in the inventory? in the skill menu? in potion making? enchanting? it's everywhere. You can actually calculate your ideal character based on all that is given as information without even playing the game. If that's not spread-sheety I really wonder what would be more than this.
The thing is echanting and the rest of what I named is fun , and it's spread-sheety as hell, you just need the components and then mix it up and then have a new enchant. Very easy(almost too easy in fact) and explicit, and it doesn't break all the other magical weapons available in-game. It's just something else that we can do that gives freedom of action. So why not make something similar for the spell system? It's something that used to differentiate the serie from all the others of the genre. Now with that gone and the decreasing number of skills since daggerfall I fear the next of the serie will lose even more of what made the serie so unique.

thanks for reading