I've been mulling over starting this topic for awhile now and I'm just curious what others might want to say on the subject.

Will the spells in Skyrim move closer to the traditional RPG mold in ways of applications, I'm talking about cone and beam based abilities offensively.

I'd also like to know if the defensive spells (like Aegis) will have better durations. I'm not saying that short duration spells like Fire Shield, Glacial Wall, and Lightning Wall shouldn't exist simply that there should be a weaker, long duration buff available in addition to help guard against a surprise attack.

Yes.

We don't know. It'd be nice though. However, combining spells have been confirmed as of today.

Cheers mate.

There's 85 distinct spells effects, and a new contextual casting system.

Which is why I'm an elder scrolls customer, rather than a fable customer - instead of being a saaaad panda after hearing Peter Molyeux joyfully announce that he's cutting the spell selection by half again, I'm a very, very happy mage after hearing about 85 Skyrim effects.