my mage reached level 40 this weekend and i was able to make my four sets of enchanted mage attire with 100% reduction in spell cost(each set dual enchanted with destruction first then with the other schools) and being a mage went from difficult to overpowered(but fun) in a manner of five minutes. there is a big bonus i noticed right off the bat, i never put a single point into conjuration magic i.e. wasting perk points for the novice, apprentice... perks to half the cost down wasn't an option for my primary build, with a 100% reduction now it brings all costs down to 0 which opened the road to utilize this and branch now as i was able to save the points from other magic trees perk points to not half the cost. if i need to utilize summons all i need to do now is open the menu, switch to my des/con clothing and presto i can make high level summons for free, and best of all i can actually pick perks that i couldn't before for fear of running out of points, for me i got to add all the illusion perks on the center and right side of the tree and the center and right side of the tree. some may say its cheating, i see it as letting my mage get some rest after all the running around waiting for magic to regenerate shes been doing for 40 levels. see below for my build to level 50.

http://skyrimcalculator.com/#15526

its a game mechanic to be able to get your magic cost down, i like enchanting but you can buy all the stuff to reduce your magic cost, as we level up the enemies are harder to kill so to me its just how its designed, not sure why people think its cheating, it takes tons of magic to take down some enemies, and as it is, magic is a bit underpowered, regeneration is too slow, and it lacks the punch it really needs at higher levels so its pretty important to get magic cost down to zero as a mage and thats a game mechanic its not an exploit or cheat, i can go to shops and buy a ring, amulet, helmet and an expert or master robe of destruction and reduce to cost down, but for some reason people think its cheating. kinda lame

I read in some other thread, that Aspect of Terror in the Illusion tree (very nice school for sneaky pure mages btw), also enhances destruction damage (due to a bug probably, but still) can someone verify this? Havent gotten there yet, but i would like to know

Yes, but only the fire spells, probably because they have fear in common.

If you were gonna exploit craft skills ... you were probably better off just turning God mode via console and it would have save you the effort.

I envy pure mages for their ability to get their spell cost down. My Two-Handed warrior also uses restoration, but my enchantment slots are all filled up (even with dual enchanting).. Thus, I am forced to spend the perks.

Ah yes, incinerate is also kinda "fearish" (enemies run away)... you re right, nice though, beeing a firemage for the most time, i will use it then once i get there

also BTT: Do i have to have 100 ench skill in order to get the full 25% reduction?

If this mechanic was intended to work in the game as it is now, they wouldnt have bothered with a magicka system. They was just make all spells a free to cast from the very beginning of the game. Same with Oblivions 100% Charmeleon. im sure the developers were gathered around their tables discussing how great an idea this would be <_< . Its not a cheat, its just a design flaw.

yes and no. you need to be at level 80 to get 5/5 on the first perk of tree then you need insightful enchanter, and i actual used 4/5 on the first perk of the alchemy tree to make +12% enchanting potions for 30 sec. this is what i did at least as it was part of my "after level 50" plan. at 100 of enchanting you can take the dual enchantment perk to have 2 enchantments on one item

i am on PS3 so i had to do what i did lol

The design flaws were in making destruction spells too weak, regen too slow, and not implementing damage enchants for mages. !00% cost reduction shouldn't be an issue, not because it's impossible, but because it shouldn't be attractive to players. I'd much rather kill things faster than have the longevity to kill them slowly.

agreed, i didn't do it to be a god, i did it to make my mage more viable to play for the reasons you mentioned above, sad i had to do it but the magic regen was killing me even with a pool of 460 and not putting any points into health until level 30. i was getting one shot everywhere. now with unlimited mage armor and wards i actually have a chance.