Because they know we're superior.

I remember being 15, where anything that could be used in juvenile dominance games, even something as lame as what kind of computer you used, would be used by myself and my fellow virgin males.

Luckily back then we kept it to school and didn't get to share our idiocy with the world via internet forums.

Make a mage/skirmisher...when you run low on mana, whip out the dual bound swords and wade into meele, charging up soul gems while you're at it.

Or get four "Reduce magicka cost for all spells by 25%" items and wonder why the heck you ever bothered to raise Magicka above 100.

I've played Mage and am currently playing theif/assassin. To tell you the truth I've had fun as both these types. I believe that this is a case of which playstyle you personal prefer. I usually don't like the hacking/bashing my way through everything. I like a more patient slower paced game.

I admit, my mage can't dish out half the damage my dual wielding rogue can, but boy is my mage way more fun! If i'm not blowing stuff up with fireballs and lightning I am using telekenesis to throw pots and plates at people from across the room. When I do eventually get bored of that I make the whole city kill each other while I sit back and ice my knee that took an arrow in it.

I don't really get that mentality either, TC. Probably comes from MMO's. It's a single player game, play it however you want. Doesn't affect me in the slightest.

I think mages are extremely powerful. I can frenzy a room full of people then finish off the last with destro. or a bound weapon. I can conjure a storm atronach and dremora lord and sit back and fling spells. And finally, I can paralyze a room while my minions do work.

Yup, mages svck...

Not to even mention enchanting, and the rest of illusion...

About 75% of players play as a NordFag (because the argument that a "black person belongs to Oakland" type thing is freaking valid, guise).

Nords hate magic = mages are "gay".

It's as simple as that.

umm... most of the people trash talking mages ARE mages who hate how mages svck so horribly compared to every other playstyle. no one hates people who play mages, theyre just identifying with our problem of poorly balanced and just not-fun magic.

and even so, people trash talk other playstyles in anything that allows other playstyles. people trashed the mages in dragon age for being easy mode. put 3 people in a room and all that. its human nature... learn to love it, because its not going away :celebration: . i personally love debates over which playstyle is best, it was really fun being a mage in WoW because between patches mages always shifted between OP and UP.

Many players have just spent the last half-dozen years being berated for not min-maxing or getting abused for not following the flavour of the month in MMO land - this can be pretty hard on the younger ones especially.
Sticking the boot in to others is how they justify their choices and acquire the confirmation from others that their own choice is valid.


Many older\more experienced gamers have a response of "Umm .... yeah whatever (and I care what you think because? you whiny prat, where's my ignore list) ... good luck with that man."


Forums are worse than in-game because some are there with the sole intent of voicing their opinions (stamp their feet) as loudly and frequently as possible and not there to discuss\assist\contribute.

I dont get the trash talk I have a pure mage and have alot of fun, but I imagine if I went pure destruction I wouldn't so I mix it up using illusion (frenzy) and summon x type atronach for large groups,and destruction for small groups I also dabble in alchemy for fortify destruction to get extra damage modifiers to my fire balls.

I admire anyone who can manage pure mage. I just don't think on my feet well enough for it. I go with a Leroy Jenkins "run in and start whaling on everyone" approach.

So? I use all three that complement each other.


One handed sword
Combat + Stealth + Enchanted + Alchemy

Alteration
Detect life, stealth
Paralyze, combat
Muffle, stealth
Resist magic, combat

"Spellsword is insane. Especially since your destruction perks benefit enchanted items, so I have a sword doing 320 damage with +80% damage enchants on my gear and my 1-hand perks, and an extra 134 magic damage due to fire and frost enchants on it (the enchant counts as both a fire and a frost spell when you have both, so it receives a 100% bonus). Then factor in double dremora lord and -100% destruction cost, and spellsword just rips stuff up."

WTF! Destruction perks and items? I haven't gotten to my magic playthrough yet, I can't wait to see all the other cool stuff they've hidden with the perk system.

@OP
Whenever i play Bethesda games, I never play just a pure thief/fighter/mage, they always throw in some useless spells or skills to turn you off of them... I mean, what's better for a mage, illusion or light armor? I know which one I want. And I'd rather sneak than use alteration. The whole "this build over that" I'd say comes from people used to posting on MMO/multi-player forums... Every big time skyrim player will probably play all kinds of different characters. Why would I start a new game with exactly the same type of character I used last playthrough? The reason beth's games are always the JAMBONE is because I can play it for 50-100 hours and start a new game that'll take me equally as long, with a completely or mabye somewhat different character type.

p.s. haven't played mage yet so maybe illusion and alteration are great, I'm making assumption here...

Don't forget that mages no longer take penalties for wearing armor. Now, anyone can be a mage with little drawback.

Short answer: series has become more "accessible" which means there is now a bunch of hyper competitive Wow players playing/discussing Skyrim.

I don't know I agree with the term "trash talking" but as a mage lover you have to admit, skyrim took both legs off the mage archetype and threw it in a dumpster.
I mean sure, you can "play" a mage, and you can even "play" the game fairly easily as a mage, but magic on the whole has lost all nuance, and its been downgraded from a swiss army knife to a rusty can opener.

Yeah, a bored god who's only trick is to twiddle its thumbs for a million years.

Lol its really more amusing to watch then my warrior save who kills everything in two swings.

I honestly dont like them yelling "watch the magic, that spell is dangerous! Dont go burning any houses"... All the time, being a warrior is the best of all. Thieves gets blamed for sneaking and all that..

becuase all other playstyles are OP compared to a pure mage, unless you want to watch the AI do most of the work(conjuration/illusion), most rpg's scale mage as week nothing's early levels, at high levels you reap rewards for sticking it out, not this game.
The other playstyles are right, but I still think the mage is the best to play, becuase it at least offers a challenge.

a warrior can be as strong as 1000 giants with a 500dmg daedric sword. you just cast one paralyze and be done with any warrior. warriors are helpless

I find it silly that players would trash talk other players for being mages. But I myself find magic to be http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1302338-a-small-observation-on-the-amount-of-spells-in-the-game/ from games past. To a point where I don't feel it would be worth it to play a pure mage, I did try but even if it was viable finding myself spamming the same spells over and over again due to a lack of any meaningful combinations of spells I just lost interest in it and keep to other styles now with magic to the sides as an extra to compliment the different physical styles.

Honestly, OP, I have no idea what you're talking about.

I haven't seen anyone bashing the Mage playstyle; just a lot of unhappy mages about their Destruction magic becoming useless after level 40 (which I can safely say is BS since I am LEVEL 60 with my mage and even FLAMES does decent damage still for a lot of mobs).

Because TES is traditionally a game with an interesting and varied magic system that allows a lot of freedom and control.

In this iteration they have removed the interesting, the varied, the freedom and the control. And in return we got.. what? Plasmids.
The spells are poorly thought out, youre stuck with the adept spells the entire game, gone is everything that made playing a mage fun, gone is the magic from magic.
Its very bland and there is no difference with other games, gone is the uniqueness.
That other games have better, more varied and more useful magic is just insult upon injury.

This is an incredible dissapointment. Its like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke, if youre old enough to remember that.
All flash and hip and 'new', but meanwhile all that was good about the old is gone.