I think magic is kind of hard to use in OB. For ranged magic, I hardly ever hit anybody cuz the thing flies so slow and the enemy can dodge it. But once I hit, it doesn't do much damage. For "on touch" magic, the problem is once you get close, you have to perform some gesture to cast the spell, taking quite a lot of time, giving the enemy to hurt you and knock you back, in which case you have to come closer again - and the whole thing repeats.

My suggestion is, make the casting time (also cool down time) a variable factor, which depends on your skill level. For ranged spells, either make the fireball bigger, or implement some guided missiles.

It wasn't difficult at all on PC and it was a bit of a pain on console, but you sort of learn their movement after a while and it generally works out well.

The magic system needs an overhaul, but not for this reason.

SLIGHT auto aim perhaps?

It's not that it's hard, it's that leveled enemies usually make any spell you thought was good obsolete when you level.

Basically what I'm saying, it's fine, leveled game mechanics is not.

thats why spells have area affects, one cool thing to be added though is if they added another attribute to spells that determines how fast they go

Oblivion magic was soooo easy to use compaired to the previous installment. I do agree it needs re balancing. (What follows is a personal opinion/idea)I'd up the damage and the effectiveness (easier aim) but increase the magicka and stats needed to cast also. Oblivion felt as though I could just run around casting fireballs non-stop....

HELL NO! Sorry for being a bit rash.

I hate auto aim.

Personally, I found MORROWIND's magic easily to use. Oblivion's was a joke and an embarrassment.

Daggerfall's? God, I never even managed to successfully cast one.

Heh, I would say the opposite. I found aiming spells to be really easy on the console, but a little bit of a challenge on the PC. I guess it just depends on whether you're more comfortable with a mouse or a thumbstick.

Ha! Yeah. If one wants to whine about magic, play Daggerfall. Morrowind had it mostly right, if you ask me, but the moving back from weapons to magic was cumbersome to a bunch of people, so I can see the frustrations. Oblivion, however, just made to extending your arm, and the 25/50/75/100 pewp.

the only people that could possibly have had any problems with morrowind magic/combat stance system were pirates playing with a prosthetic hook. how hard was it to take that entire second to switch. if you died because of that you have no business playing any real time video games. im just glad that they require you to drop your shield or weapon in order to cast spells now. sounds like a half way medium point.

The one thing I liked about MW's magic was that there was actually a reason to play a pure mage - the annoyance of having to remove your weapons made it kind of fun to play with a solid magic wielding mofo rather than an armoured tank swinging a claymore and casting spells behind a shield. I want magic to be something special. I don't want a tavern keeper casting fireballs at me because I stole an apple. I want magic to be awe inspiring and important. Maybe reserve the higher level spells for mages, (some will hate).