I want physics implemented in my magicka. I'm sure this has been done already, but I am new here so why the hell not?

There was a http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1150885-fire-propagation-like-in-farcry2/, but hopefully the moderators will deem your poll awesome enough to justify a second related thread.

I voted yes across the board, though as I posted in that other thread, exactly what is affected, and how much, might need to be limited to preserve sanity and some semblance of balance (ie, briefly setting a tree's branches aflame with a poorly aimed fireball would be great; setting the entire forest on fire and killing every creature and NPC within a 300ft. radius, not so much).

lol In oblivion I kept trying to shoot the water with lightning attacks to electrocute enemies.

Say what you want about Dark Messiah, it had some interesting ideas for things like this that Bethesda could use. I never playedthat game, just the demo, but I thought how you could make you enemies slip with ice and zap the water and everyone gets hurt (as seen in Bioshock as well) is a very cool idea. It could add a little diversity to the magicka fighting mechanics.

Although bringing something this awesome to a mage character would make the poor warrior characters even more left out. They need some cool stuff too, even in Oblivion the block-attack-block-power attack -block was blahh

I don't think fire or electricity effecting the area would nor improve the game in any feasible way (I can't imagine setting buildings and grass on fire, and changing the world permanently that way)
however, freezing lakes so that you can walk over them would be far easier to implement

Not necessarily. Can you imagine how incredibly powerful your engine would have to be to freeze over an ENTIRE lake? Games that are more simplistic (ie are specifically MEANT to do this, with little else going on besides freezing lakes) might be able to pull it off. But many of The Elder Scrolls games have lakes that cover vast areas, far too vast for an engine to manage efficiently without loss of quality to the frame rates. I played Dark Messiah, and it had some incredible moments with its simple use of freezing/burning/electrocuting enemies via infecting the environment around them with a well placed spell. I don't remember there ever being a body of water larger than a common house bathtub, or deeper than a sauce pan that you could electrocute/freeze over in DM. But if we could make a small island of ice large enough for us to hop onto, and then toss down another one to skip across a lake, that would be cool enough for me... though might negate the purpose of Water Walking spells.

fire= cahnce of ignition

electricity- makes a small volume of water electrifying, but not a large one. it would be cool if it could chain on enemies

frost- makes floor slipery, stops part of a body from working well (hitting an opponent in the leg while they run should trip them over and slow them down a lot, hitting them in the arm would cause them to have stiff arms that would affect combat

A balancing factor for fighter types could be making the elemental spells blockable with shields. I mean, a fire ball would be stopped by a solid steel shield, maybe not so much luck with an electrical bolt though... =P

The irony of applying science to magic. :facepalm: