Maybe it's a very subjective thing but I hate the higher tier robes. The Expert and Master robes look so mundane - the Expert ones especially look like something required in 'agricultural endeavors'. They have nothing that says: look at me, I mastered the damn elements... or I can bend the will of an entire town. Mages are not supposed to be stealthy... why do they have so bland robes?

On the other hand, the lower tiers of the College robes look pretty good. The only thing that bothers me here is that it's not very clear what magic school they belong too - the id. tags so to speak are not very clear.

It would have been cool to have a nice robe for each tier - and that they will get more flashier as you go up in ranks but instead, they look more and more uglier. And that Archmage thing... what is that? Looks like something pulled from a western movie. Why do I have this weird carpet on me? Is this the most awesome thing a mage can wear? C'mon

as far as I can tell in trditional fantasy lore the mage usually wears understated garbs.

Gandalf: one of the most powerful Wizards of Middle Earth wore relatively mundane and tattered robes in the first movie. even when he was restored as the head of the White Councel his Robes were not particularly ornate, they were just white.

True wizards do not flaunt their power and draw attention to themselves. Doing this draws unnecessary danger and they can be forced to kill someone when it wasn't necessary.

also, looking weaker than you are gives you the element of surprise.

With respect to all you said and to Gandalf ... this is a game. I want to look flashier... it's not even a MMO so why would I want to look inconspicuous ?! Inconspicuous to whom? To the NPCs?

Am I the only one bothered by this?

So...the most powerful wizards in Skyrim should go around looking like mundane beggars? I don't know the logic behind this; it's like saying the best rogues in the game should have their armor look like peasant garb so nobody suspects them being thieves. As it is, high-ter robes and the Archmage robes look like generic clothing and a poncho respectively.

Does wearing Armour afftect the power of your spells in Skyrim ? I equipped some armour with my Mage, but i cannot see anywhere, where my spell strength is at ?

My problem is that there is no real mage robe.

It's just the same mage's robe duplicated with different color schemes.

What happened to Oblivion, where robes came in different shapes and sizes?

What did they spend so much time on the different armor they didn't think to give the mage's a different pair of robes?

All the robes look the same, just with different color schemes. Honestely, that's the best they could do. Pathetic.

WARNING: Slight spoiler below.

It seems you re referring to the generic robes (Expert's/Master's Robe of... etc, although I have never seen a Master's) as the high tier ones. They are not really the only viable robes you get at high tier. And while I agree there need be more high tier robes for mages (for diversity's sake if nothing else) the Arch-Mage's robe is pretty distinct and very good looking imo (not to mention you don't need to use anything else stats-wise). Now, I wanted to enchant a robe for my use, and I couldn't find any non-magic robes that also had a distinct look, which made me a little sad, but the Arch-Mage one is what I am using anyway so it's all good.

Personally I think the arch mage robe is butt ugly, it doesn't even look like a robe. Looks like some crazy poncho. Hope there is something else with similar specs that looks better, I prefer the plain robes. I hope someone mods in some better looking mage robes, and some pointy hats!

Hooded Thalmor robes look best, problem is they're rubbish compared to other items. Getting them ASAP on my mage character didn't even help as they weren't as good as the starter robes.

elder scrolls mages did never look that "OMG WTF STARSHIP INC" flashy (as maybe compared to azerothian mages or mages from the warhammer universe).

I like them the way they are - especially the hoods they wear are quity symbolic and mix/matchable with almost all other equipment - that's how the classic elderscrolls battlemage look happened to be.

making my first contact to the elderscrolls by playing Daggerfall and battlespire - It was a look I missed most while playing morrowind btw.

how about you just choose the robes you want, get you enchanting to 100 then make the robes that you want to roll around in that would be better then any of the robes you're complaining about right now?

This is TES, not WoW with its ridiculously oversized, flashy cartoony gear.

disagree with OP. I like them, if you want over the top flashy robes mod some of the crappy overdone wow stuff in. No offence to wow players.

Forgot what book in skyrim it was in, but there is a TES saying that only a novice mage uses flashy spells and big explosions to kill things and destroy the world, the master mage looks normal and casts a simple spell to kill their enemy. Well, thats what the book said just in better words ^^

This bothered me too. As a mage I find so many different armours, but hardly anything for a mage. It seems as if they just couldn't be bothered with mages and focused most of their effort on pleasing warriors

I'm incensed by these comments about the Arch-mage's robes, I liked them.

I don't think people understand; it's not a measure of ridiculous cartoony WoW gear, it's the fact that you look less like a mage and more like a tradesman. The Archmage doesn't even look like an archmage, he's a dark elf in a poncho. Very few of the in-game robes actually look like robes; why shouldn't wizards have robes equivalent to the high-end warrior and thief stuff in terms of awesome looks? I mean, how would the thieves like it if their high-end armor (like the Nightingale set) looked like some furry monstrosity or peasant clothing?

Look at Oblivion and Morrowind. They had a vast (okay, so-so in Oblivion's case) variety of robes and clothing. The mages of the Mages' Guild actually looked like students and masters of the arcane arts.

I totally agree with the OP.

The only solution I found to pally the lack of mage aesthetic decisions was to invoke to use of the console in order to spawn the Psiijic robe, hood, gloves and boots. They come devoid of all enchantments, of course, offer no gameplay benefits. I then proceeded to enchant the gear and to renaim it, in order to avoid RP issues with the origine of the gear with names that fit the Skyrim setting. Overall, the set offers the most satisfying visuals to represent a powerful mage. Should this be considered cheating ?

I don't like them either. Not just this game. Dragon Age was a yawn dress to.

AM robes are just not it. Hell I ran with the Necro Robes from level 1 to 26. At least they had a Skull on them. I looted them off of the first dude I killed, out of the tutorial.

This mess about it being traditional? Come on.

To the people that like them as they are - good for you I mean it.

But I don't think I'm alone (as verified by the posts on this thread) in wanting some better looking things as you progress through the magic schools. Why are the first robes better looking than the Expert ones? The players using an 'armor wearing' character have a lot of options - and good looking to boot. I want the same thing.

Also, as a reply to the comment about finding a good robe and enchanting it - good look in finding one robe without piss poor enchants on them, already. Really now

The robes have 2 major things going against them - as they are: 1 - esthetics and no. 2 - functionality. The robes should suppose to give you a big bonus to mana regeneration but as it is the mana regen. doesn't work really well in combat. So you're better off as a mage by picking a full suit of armor (a good looking one), enchanting it with mana cost reduction to 2 magic schools of choice and that's it.

Seems like?

It's exactly what they did do!