and you know what, i'm fine not being able to block with magic in a hand and a sword in the other. that's fine. that makes sense. but my conceptually simple workaround has been thwarted by the hotkey system itself! on consoles, if you select a spell as one of your two hotkeys, when you hit that hotkey again (which would unequip anything else) it just equips that spell in your other hand too, unequipping whatever was there!
i don't know if this is something that could be adjusted, but maaan oh man i wish it would. i know its cool to dual-cast, but if a sword is coming down on me, i just want to be able to put the fire away for a second and block that ish, even if it's weak. the weakness is fine, i understand the concept of balance. i just want to be able to unequip. it would make being a battlemage a little more bearable, with less pausing and menu scrolling.
seems like this is a drop in the ocean for folks with gripes about the magic/melee combat style. anyone else know what i'm talking about?