I am level 8, and I have been wearing the Blue Mage Robes pretty much since the start of the game- I seem to have found them very early. They grant 50% faster magicka regeneration, which is rad, although what I am finding to be very unsatisfying is that every other mage garment/accessory that I now find is just nowhere near as useful as the robes. I have all of this cool-looking mage gear (Circlet of Minor Conjuration, Hooded Thalmor Robes etc), although wearing any of it seems to me to be a huge waste, since a little less magicka to cast Destruction or Conjuration spells just isn't as useful as magicka regenerating a whopping 50% faster. When will I start to find gear that will effectively replace the Blue Mage Robes?

you're only lvl 8, I come across these 50% magic recharge robes in all shapes and colors now (just sold 8 black ones and a blue one) and i'm at lvl 18 now
there's far better robes out there that decrease the cost of certain magic schools plus they recharge your magic even more
just need to play more

Hmm, I see. Still, it seems like giving up such a great level of magicka regeneration, even for robes that decrease the amount of magicka required for certain schools, will be a hard pill to swallow, what with magicka being at such a premium in this game.

Dude, you're level 8. Relax, you'll find (or possibly eventually create) something that suits your needs.

you misunderstood me I think
there's robes that do the 50% (or more) regeneration and decrease casting costs at the same time
like the minor robes of conjuration/destruction etc. they give you the 50% regen and decrease casting by 12% or something

Prepare to faint when you come across the robes with 75% and 100% later that you realize are completely useless. Additional Regen doesn't work in combat, only out of combat (where you don't need it). The equipment I use in the late game has absolutely zero regen, and concentrates on reducing spell costs and the size of the magicka pool, as well as other little bits. It's just more efficient to do that, and fall back on Alchemy for Magicka Potions than to hope for quick spurts of no combat where Magicka regenerates faster. The cost of the potions is easily eclipsed by the shear rate of money gain in the late game, and it guarantees you'll always have any amount of Magicka you require.

Just wait till you get the Arch-Mages Robes and Morekei's mask (get both through the College questline) 100% Magicka generation a piece. Plus enchanted other pieces with the same effect.

From level 1 up to my current level 11, all the robe I found that decrease a school's magicka cost also increase magicka regeneration by 50%...

But anyway you're only level 8, as others have said. It's rather silly to give gearing decisions this early on so much thought.

I thought it worked as long as you weren't casting? can anyone confirm?

I wear tons of +regen and fall back on my staff / enchanted sword when I need to regen.

I found Necromancer Robes at level 2 that have +75% mana regen. Too bad it doesn't work during combat... And too bad I don't want to be a necro.

There's a combat trip that changes the rate at which you regerate magicka when in combat.

What you're thinking of is the way regeneration stops altogether when you're channeling a spell or preparing spell/holding it for later use.

It can be hard to notice with lower regeneration. You'll see it more clearly later if you get a bunch of gear together than gives you, say, 250% higher regeneration, because then the in combat versus out of combat regeneration rate will be drastically different.

OK, thanks everyone for allaying my fears, and for giving me the friendly kick up the backside that I so richly deserve. Of course, at level 8, I still have a long way to go and I should just play the damn game and see for myself what other gear I'll be snagging. Thanks.

Recently my destruction spells stopped pausing mana regeneration, was yesterday. Am level 23 with 56 destruction. I'll try to figure out the difference between it regenning hyper-fast and hyper-slow. But it was very noticable. Held a dual-charged fire rune until my mana regenerated fully, so when I layed the rune I was able to cast another one immediately, which is F'ing ridiculously powerful. :flamethrower:

Recent perk purchases that would effect destruction.. only silent casting. I'll create a new cheat character to pinpoint what caused it.

Lame!

The really high +regen items convinced me to perk into alteration. Yes, I know the arguments against it. Turns out armor doesn't do much damage reduction, but that seems to affect everyone (not just us). Thing is, our 'block' mechanism really blows. Even though a ward can be channeled while attacking, it doesn't seem like a very good idea to do so. Stops all magika regen, drains magika, again only adds +armor and spell block (not physical). Does warrior block take stamina? Even a 2h warrior can block, but if I ward it seems like I'll run out of magika too fast.

Maybe it would have been a better idea to take light armor perks.

when you become arch mage at the mage college you get the arch mage robe and its got good stats like 100% increase on magic regeneration, 50 points more magic and some other effects, its obtainable fairly early on but its a bit tough, i died a lot, but i wanted to be arch mage and get the cool pad to boot.

Not to rain on anyones parade, but magicka regeneration bonuses do not work when in combat, effectively making those fancy robes all but useless.

My advice, it would be much better to invest in enchanting and wear light armour enchanted to reduce the spellcost of your most used school.

so you're saying the robes are the same as if they have 0% magic regeneration ROFL.. todd howard and the team isn't stupid, i use those robes and i notice a huge difference in the overall magic resources. i doubt you really understand how they work if you think that.i blast enemies all over the place with all my magic perks and regenration robes and rings and amulets etc, so all that stuff makes a huge difference.

They do provide regeneration. Just not in combat. You will recover much quicker outside of combat. Which includes some stage based fights, like the teleporting archer on the necklace quest.

Im lvl 50 and just killed a master mage that had robes that increased regen by 200% so youll be upgrading later on

i'm not sure how it all balances out but i only use robes and magic type stuff, rings, amulets, hoods etc and the arch mage robe i have has 100% bonus and i noticed it in combat from when i didn't have it, it makes a big difference when you play a mage..i don't even have to use anything but magic so i won't trade those robes and hoods etc for anything.

you're not seeing the big picture, there's lots of "in between" combat moments, especially in dungeons, so that in between time where the next set of enemies is coming up, that regeneration improvements make a HUGE difference, so it doens't matter if its only "outside" of combat cause overall in a dungeon run, its a real big advantage. and its very noticable, so the fact that its only "outside of combat" isn't important really.

You bought these in Riverwood, didn't you.

What will really kill you is that a 50% robe and a 50% hood are both on a body in the opening prison scene to be freely looted. Only mage armor to be found before you start the riverwood quests. I used those until I started getting upgrades doing the college of winterhold quests, which I highly recommend every mage doing starting at level 5.

Er ... not so much, if this was truly the case then why not just always switch to armor in combat and then switch back to robes out of combat? +regen DOES work in combat. go ahead and test it yourself. take a character, give yourself a few thousand health and magicka using the console, burn all your mana away, make a save, and time how long it takes to recover with 0 +mana regen gear vs some +mana regen gear. I tested with a simple +75% and saw a recovery rate of ... well big surprise, approximately +75%! ~9 seconds to recover without it, and ~6 seconds with it. And ... amazingly, this works with any amount of mana, proving that mana regen is a % of your mana pool/second, and that +regen gear increases that rate. In combat, it is 1/3 of your out of combat rate. This is all verifiable quite easily.